TRANSCRIPT:
I was reading, in My Daily Bread, here, a passage, and it just really struck me. Let me see if I can tell you where this is. This is Book 3, Part 1, Chapter 4, on removing obstacles. And in paragraph 3, Our Lord says “You insult me if you make me compete with any created being for your attention and love.” When I read that, I was just hit because I have frequently felt insulted in my life when I had to compete with my children for my wife’s attention or if I had to compete with a TV or a video game to get the attention of my children or if I went to a meeting and the person I was meeting with had their head down, stuck in their phone, when we should have been talking. And I know how it has made me feel.
But to think that I’m no better than those people (in fact, I may even be a worse sinner than the people that I’m insulted by) and then to put that into the perspective of thinking about Our Lord- who was all perfect and all loving and did everything for us and suffered for us when He didn’t have to- that about brought me to my knees. It was a visceral, physical kind of reaction about the degree of insult that I give Our Lord when I give my attention to things of the world, other created things that I’m not engaged in an act of charity, as He would, but I’m doing it for myself or for my own enjoyment, or I’m procrastinating when I should be saying my prayers or doing something else. It’s really something to think about: how we insult Our Lord with our daily choices and actions. I hope this gives you some opportunity for prayer and meditation.