As I write this reflection, we are in the midst of a busy time on campus. Students are registering for next semester classes and we are closing in on the end of the spring semester. Registration time typically brings lots of questions from students and planning meetings for future endeavors. Wrapping up another semester usually includes a sense of urgency and anxiousness with looming class projects, papers and final exams. Combined with the usual busyness of everyday life, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed.

There is one particular sentence from today’s readings that grabbed my attention and I couldn’t seem to let it go. Interestingly, it did not come from the first reading, responsorial psalm or the Gospel passage. It in the single sentence in the “Verse Before The Gospel” from Luke 8:15 that held my attention. It reads, “Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.”

Recently, I have been meeting with various groups to educate them about chronic stress and to decrease what many call “burnout” or “low resiliency.” My work in this area has made me realize that the prevalence of these feelings are more common in society than any of us probably realize. Most of us feel daily stress, and these feelings appear to be having detrimental effects on our ability to work, play, and have quality relationships. Interestingly, however, one of the important characteristics that I have found among people who demonstrate high “resilience” is that they have a quality relationship with God. “Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.” How fitting. I feel like Luke is trying to tell us something here about our relationship with God and our ability to live with the stressors of day-to-day life. “Keeping the word” means to me that we keep God on the forefront of our thoughts and actions and to do so with a “generous heart”, or a readiness to give our best selves. If we can do this, then we will “persevere” or be resilient in a way that helps the world (and ourselves) by “yielding a harvest.” But the single word that grabs my attention the most, is “blessed”. Not only will we persevere, we will be blessed by and through our actions. To me, this means that we will not just survive through our days, but we will thrive. Generously keeping the word in our daily lives allows us to thrive in our daily lives. This changes our perspective from one of “getting through the day” to one of joyfully being present in the day - being blessed! Isn’t it interesting to think that stress management was taught to us long ago by Jesus and many others with all the strategies we need supplied for us in the Gospel readings? Have a blessed day through your generous heart.