Recently I’ve been thinking about the idea of setting our minds on what is above and how nothing in this world truly satisfies us, but God. Our souls long for Him.
In the past few months, I’ve finished graduate school and have started up a private practice in clinical mental health counseling. Through the many ups and downs of life that I see in my clients and in my own life, we can begin to feel restless. We put so much pressure on ourselves. Between our work and other life duties such as cooking, cleaning, exercising, and relationships—there is always something more to do.
But what really matters most in this life? It’s our relationship with God. It’s loving others, acts of generosity, evangelizing, being there for one another, or visiting the sick. These are the things that give us true peace, purpose, and fulfillment—helping us anticipate what heaven will be like. Ultimately, the pressures that we put on ourselves in our daily lives and our desires for earthly things won’t matter in the end. As Pope Francis observed, “I have never seen a U-Haul truck behind a funeral procession.” It’s the good that we do for the Lord that we take to heaven.
Catholic speaker Matthew Kelly stated that “We’re too busy doing just about everything that doesn’t matter.” When was the last time that we thought to ourselves, “I’m all caught up now?” It never really happens. Kelly said that “the most important things are hardly ever urgent.”
Resetting our focus on those things that really matter, those things that are above, is a constant process. For me lately, seeking what above means going to confession and daily Mass more often and trying to help others when I see them in distress. What does it mean for you to seek what is above? What is Jesus inviting you to do?
Reflection by Jenny Labrousse ’16
