Reflection for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time – August 7, 2022

By Rod and Connie Determan, Notre Dame Associates

Just as in the Second Reading Hebrews 11:16 “But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one.” my desires were to see where God could fill my life and look for a better homeland. There isn’t a GPS or a How to Manual on this so I asked God to open my heart.

Pause

My life and the world seemed quite out of control and I wanted to take some time to find this homeland.  What I needed to do in my life was to PAUSE to recognize God.  I started to take time to recognize God while I went on walks, spent time with family and friends, and even while I was working.  I used the word PAUSE in my prayer life.  I pondered and prayed on the pauses in my life to recognize God.  I did this for an entire year.  It was a simple prayer of PAUSING.

Love

The year after that, I spent the entire year on the word LOVE.  It was amazing how the word LOVE would be in reflections and how it grew in my heart.

Peace

This year, my word is PEACE.  I initially prayed for PEACE for others, the world, but an amazing thing happened.  God’s PEACE grew in me.  As in the Gospel Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be”.  This has been the blessing I needed to grow in PEACE and LOVE and to find God in my daily walk.

May you too, find your treasure in Jesus as it says in Luke 12:32…..for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.