God has high expectations for His children. He wants us to be virtuous, wise, generous with our love and time, humble in our relations with others, and intimate with Him through a life of intense prayer and worship. These qualities do not come naturally to most of us.
In fact, they run contrary to our wounded human nature. So God, our loving Father, is committed to teaching and disciplining us.
It should not come as a shock that God disciplines us. As we read today in the letter to the Hebrews (12: 6-7): “Endure your trials as discipline; God treats you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”
Many of the trials we face come either directly from the hand of God or come from other people and are used by Him to discipline us, to build up our virtue and strength, and to make us wise and courageous. As I look back on my life, I realize that my parents and all of my best coaches and teachers taught me and formed me by use of discipline. They held me responsible when I made mistakes and taught me how to get back on track. They invited me to be faithful to daily tasks and build good habits and develop virtue. They challenged me to sacrifice momentary pleasures for the sake of greater goods. It only makes sense that God, our eternal Father, would do the same.
In the end, true discipline is a tool of love in the hand of a parent or a coach. “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by Him; for whom the Lord loves, He disciplines…” (cf. Heb 12: 5-6). Parents who take the time and energy needed to discipline their children demonstrate a great love for them. Their perseverance, their attention to details and their willingness to spend the time and energy necessary to discipline their children demonstrate a deep and abiding love. These qualities of good parents are mere reflections of the love that God the Father has for us and exercises toward us constantly.
As God’s children, we need to be patient. We need to trust in His providence and wisdom. “At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it” (Heb 12:11). Sometimes, we see the fruits of discipline afterwards and can rejoice in the blessings of those who have loved us enough to discipline us. I am convinced that there are many blessings that come our way through the disciplines administered to us and the disciplines we administer to ourselves, which we may never even see or recognize. God is so good to us!
In today’s gospel, Jesus is asked if only a few will be saved. He responds with the challenge: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Lk 13:24).
Let’s pray hard today for the grace to accept the loving discipline coming from the hand of our Father in heaven, so that we might be strong enough to enter through the narrow gate into the joys of God’s kingdom.
Fr. Peterson is Campus Minister at Marymount University in Arlington and interim director of the Youth Apostles Institute.
(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
