Today’s second reading is one of my favorite passages in all of the Pauline epistles.

“Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”

One of my favorite saints, St. Teresa of Avila, used to say that to those who reach the eternity and blessedness of Heaven, the most miserable and wretched life on earth will appear no more than one night at an uncomfortable inn.

All she is saying is what St. Paul says in today’s second reading.

It’s hard to look past the sufferings, though, isn’t it? The toil. The sense of drudgery, futility, frustration, fruitlessness.

How do we develop eyes of faith? How do we keep our eyes fixed on the kingdom? What does it look like to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” as Jesus instructs?

The answer comes, at least partly, in today’s Gospel: the Parable of the Sower.

We must pray to be good soil. We must DAILY turn to God in sincere, personal prayer.

We must nightly examine our day and ask ourselves, in what ways were we faithful to the Lord? In what ways was our faith of shallow root? Have our frustrations and tribulations disheartened us more than they should have?

In what ways are we letting the thorns of the world choke our spiritual vision–the vision of faith? In what ways are we judging ourselves by the standard of the world? Are our hopes and dreams–the desires and treasure of our heart–rooted in the world’s vision?

(Don’t be confused about this, either–I am convicting myself here!)

Am I “working for God,” as Thomas Green S.J. would say? Am I doing what I want, doing what I think God SHOULD want me to do (whether He does want that particular gift from me or not)? Am I giving God what I like and what I want Him to like also?

Or am I “doing God’s work?” Am I developing in prayer and discernment a sensitivity to His heart, giving Him service and love in the forms that HE truly wants from me?

This is not, I think, a simple yes or no for any of us. Certainly not for me! There are degrees of doing God’s work in any one respect, and we can be doing God’s work in one area of our lives while working for God (which is not bad a place to start!) in others.

I believe that it’s through prayer and a maturing, personal relationship with God, through the aid and healing of the Sacraments, that we slowly develop an ability to do God’s work. As our relationship with God grows, we then develop that Pauline perspective. We are able to see it, to grasp it in our hearts and not just our heads.

“Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”

(I recommend Thomas Green SJ and Timothy Gallagher SJ for further exploration of how to begin prayer and how to discern the will of God for you)