Jan 27 Mon
Am I like an instrument in God’s hands?
The Greek word σκεῦος (skeuos), which in the New Testament refers to an instrument or a vessel, is a good image to express how we, Christians, are in God's hands to accomplish His will.
We are instruments of God. In the Gospel, the disciples are considered instruments in God's hands, destined to carry out His purposes. This highlights the Christian's vocation to be an instrument of God's work in the world.
God unites our fragility (we are earthen vessels) with the strength of his grace. This is a source of hope, for although we are weak and vulnerable, we are also bearers of the “treasure” of the Holy Spirit.
St. Thomas Aquinas affirms that God, as the principal agent, operates through creatures as instruments to carry out His work.
Thus, he declares: ‘The sacraments of the New Law not only signify something but also produce their effect. But they do not produce it by their own power, but because they are instruments that God uses for this purpose.’
This concept resounds deeply in the texts of St. Josemaría, who stresses the importance of being “docile instruments” at God's service so that our life is a channel through which God acts in the world.
The Lord wants us to be his instruments to remind all around us - by living it also - that the call to holiness is universal in concrete terms, and not exclusive to a few, nor to a particular state of life, nor conditioned by the abandonment of the world: that any work, any profession, can be a path to holiness and a means of apostolate.
That is why St. Josemaría advises us: “Do you really want to be a saint? -Fulfill the little duty of each moment: do what you must, and concentrate on what you do.
Our response should be “Lord, help me to be faithful and docile to you, ‘sicut lutum in manu figuli’ - like clay in the hands of the potter. –And so will I not live, but you in me, Love. You will live and work in me.
All this with the humility of an instrument:
Here we are, consummati in unum! In unity of petition and intentions ... with the renewed desire to be effective instruments in his hands ... foster in your hearts the eagerness to transmit, with your prayer, a heartbeat full of strength that reaches every place on earth, to the last corner of the planet where there is a man who generously spends his existence in the service of God and souls. Thus, due to the ineffable reality of the Communion of Saints, we are in solidarity - cooperating - in the task of spreading the truth and peace of the Lord.
So, neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God, who gives the growth.
Together, these approaches invite us to understand our Christian vocation as a call to be active and conscious instruments in God's hands, humbly participating in the marvelous work of redemption.
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