Student Daily Reflection

“But why?!”

“Because I said so.”

How many times did we hear this as children? In teaching us to do the right thing, to be honest, giving, caring, and contributing people, our parents and mentors worked to instill within us a certain sense of duty and obligation, even if it didn’t make sense to us at the time. Having lived through many experiences before we were even born, they knew already what was right and healthy for us, and they passed on this wisdom to us even by insisting tasks of us that we didn’t understand. Just do it. Eat your vegetables, wear a jacket, apologize, share. Why? Because it’s good for you. And eventually, we began to see and learn those things for ourselves, no longer having to ask the question, but realizing deep within our own beings what was expected of us and what would serve our lives and the lives of others to the fullest. We began to do things because they were good and ought to be done, not because they ought to be rationalized. We began to act justly for the sake of acting justly. To serve for the sake of serving. To love for the sake of loving.

In the reading today, Titus outlines a series of guidelines for encouraging fruitful, moral behavior in light of the transformation of self made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Each person is upheld to his or her own standard according to their different place and duties in society in order to best serve that society in the name of Christ. Such upright behavior is expected of all Christians for the sake of the continuing of the work of our savior and for the good of the whole community in functioning smoothly. All of this is to be done obediently, exemplifying the model of Christ, without hesitation, in virtuous works and integrity of soul.

Luke likewise echoes the same sentiment in the gospel reading. We are all good servants to Christ on earth, humbly going about our lives in pursuit of Him by fulfilling all of the tasks that He has laid out for us. Even the ones we do not understand or are the most difficult or painful, even the ones that are the most mundane and ordinary, even the ones we feel obliged to do without any real explanation as to why they are necessary, knowing that they are all a gift to us from God for our own good, we do with a open and willing heart. Certainly, God, our true parent and teacher, knows what is best for us, and if we only do our best to follow God’s will for us in our lives, we will work through the trials, duties, and the celebrations of our days with excellent joy, eagerly awaiting the moment when we will be called up from the material obligations of this world to the great banquet of the next, satisfied in our work and eager for the love and rest that only Christ can bring us.

This is our vocation, to act justly for the sake of acting justly, to serve for the sake of serving, and to love for the sake of loving, because Christ has blessed us with such a model and mission in our time on earth. We strive to model ourselves after Him so that we can be transformed in Him, rather than for the sake of any worldly glory or recognition and even at times without full understanding. We trust the journey which God has laid before us, knowing that God alone knows what is best for us and that in God alone we can put all of our faith. In this we find true sanctification, not for our own good but for the good of the cross, resting not in our own control or confidence but in confidence of Christ, humbly proclaiming “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.”

The beautiful thing is, with our trust given faithfully, God will do the rest, whatever that may be.

And here to end with a quick, anonymous quote for good humor’s sake:

“God put me on this earth to accomplish a few things. Right now, I’m so far behind that I’ll never die!”