Daily Gospel Reflection

Beware Unholy Haste

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we're exploring the genius of the Gospels, the genius of Catholicism, and how to apply this message into our lives. Today's gospel, we've actually heard two or three times in the last couple of months, and that sometimes presents a challenge for us, but it provides a great opportunity for us to realize, okay, how do we approach scriptures that we are very, very familiar with? Let's take a look. This is coming from Luke, chapter 2, verses 16 through 21. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God. For all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. So the shepherds are going to Bethlehem, to the manger.

And you remember we're looking for a word, a phrase, an idea, and a virtue. During Advent, we picked one of each, but as we move through the year, we're just going to pick one. We're going to pick a word, a phrase, or an idea. One of those and a virtue. The word I pick today is haste. Haste can be a good thing, can be a bad thing. It can be holy haste, and there can be unholy haste. I think when we look at our lives, our lives are moving very quickly. We tend to be in a hurry and very busy and maybe all the time.

And so I think it's an opportunity for us now, 1st of January, to step back, think about, all right, do I need to slow down? What does slowdown look like? Where is the holy haste in my life? Where is the unholy haste in my life? And what speed of life is most appropriate if we really want to live the gospels? We really want to live the gospels. So the word for today, haste, holy haste, unholy haste, the virtue of the day, patience. Patience. Because what drives unholy haste is impatience. Impatience to do something, impatience to see someone, impatience to get something, impatience to accomplish something, impatience to enforce our will onto a situation or a circumstance or whatever.

And so very often when we're in this unholy impatience, we're absolutely outside the will of God and we're trying to enforce our will or bring our will about my will be done rather than thy will be done. The Word of the Day, haste, virtue of the day, patience. The wisdom of Jesus is as radical and relevant today as ever before. So have a great day and go on out there and don't just be yourself. Be the best version of yourself. All that God created you to be.