The first line that stood out to me this morning was Paul saying, “whom by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.” I want to be honest with y’all, and I want what I share each morning to be trustworthy. I don’t want to just make something up because I feel like I need to have some great insight every day.

And today, I don’t.

A few other lines stood out to me, but mostly because I don’t understand them.

Paul says, “let those having wives act as not having them.”

Then in the Gospel, Luke makes a point to say, “Raising his eyes toward his disciples…” Why tell us that?

And then Jesus says, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.”

I basically wrote in my journal, “Well, I got nothing today. No wisdom. I need help with these. These are hard teachings.”

So instead of trying to make something up just to have something to send y’all, I surrender. Maybe today I’m supposed to listen instead of talk.

What do y’all see in these lines? I’d really like to hear what God is showing y’all.

I pray each of you receives the grace you need today.

Keep up the good fight.

I’m praying for you. Please pray for me.

I wanted to follow up on what I sent yesterday before I start my prayers this morning. Today’s reading reflection is coming in a bit, but I wanted to share this first.

One thing I actually wrote in my journal yesterday, but didn’t put in my reflection to y’all, was “I must rely on the Church Fathers for help.” I didn’t understand those readings, and instead of trying to make something up, I surrendered and asked y’all for help.

Well, last night I was listening to Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, and he was talking about Jesus in Gethsemane and “Not my will, but yours be done.” He talked about Jesus having a human will and a divine will, and those two wills being perfectly aligned. There is a synergy there. His human will isn’t erased. It is perfectly united with the divine will.

That word synergy really stood out to me.

I think sometimes I look at God’s will like it is competing with mine. I want to be independent. I want to make my own decisions. I want control. So surrender can feel like God gets His way and I don’t get mine.

But maybe that is completely backwards. The closer my will gets to God’s will, the more I become who He actually created me to be.

That took me right back to Paul’s strange line yesterday: “let those having wives act as not having them.” Maybe Paul isn’t telling me to love Kim less. If marriage is my vocation, putting God first should actually make me love Kim more and better. God’s will and my vocation aren’t competing with each other.

Maybe surrender isn’t giving everything else up. It is getting myself out of the way enough to let God put everything in the right order.

And I had to laugh a little. I wrote that I needed the Church Fathers to help me, didn’t even tell y’all that part, and then Pope Benedict helped me see it a little clearer that night.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:25–31; Luke 6:20–26; Luke 22:42