What Does it Matter?

How often have you heard those words said?  How often have you SAID those words?  We want to see cause and effect, but sometimes the effect is not visible to us, or not in the way we wanted, so we go about pretending that our actions have no effect.  What does it matter if I go to church on Sunday (and why would you ever go on a weekday?).  What does it matter if I spoil my kids?  What does it matter if I give to this charity or that?  What does it matter what the schools are teaching our kids (and why should I waste my time going to a school board meeting)?  A friend told me how her children wanted her to say that all religions are relative --- how do you know you’re right and they’re wrong; what does it matter?

Today I heard the Parable of the Sower read at mass.  I’ve come to see an importance in that parable that is rarely spoken of.  The focus is often on where the seed hits, and what happens afterward, but what about the Sower afterward?  I’ve come to see that we are the Sowers of seeds, as in that Gospel.  We are going along our path of life sowing seeds --- in things we say, things we do, things we write --- and then we continue along our path.  Rarely do we see the results of those seeds, because we’ve moved forward and the seeds are back there.  On a few occasions I’ve seen great blessings have occurred to some people because of my sown seeds ---- often seeds I did not even know I was sowing!  I wrote a blog about some thoughts, and someone said it changed their life.  I gave a book to someone and 6 months later he thanked me greatly for what that book had done for him --- I no longer even knew his name or what book he was talking about.  And once, because of something I wrote, someone sent me an email when they were in great distress, and my subsequent actions saved their life.  That I became aware of those effects was a great blessing for me, but much of the good we do in life yields no effects that we see.

In Luke 16, the rich man didn’t care if Lazarus couldn’t get his food scraps --- what does it matter? --- but then Lazarus was in heaven and the rich man wasn’t --- and he begged Lazarus for even a drop of water.  Then he begged Lazarus to tell his brothers so they understood that their actions DO matter; they matter eternally. 

Another rich man made a large donation at temple, and a poor woman gave only two pennies ---- but God had seen that she had given more. 

It seems that more than ever people are saying that everything is relative; there is no truth.  What does it matter?  The Gospels don’t matter. But Jesus died for the truth.  His death mattered.  We must have faith.

We want to see the immediate effect of what we do, or else we think it doesn’t matter.  Sometimes it takes a long time before we see the effect of our actions, and sometimes only God sees them.  But if we live as Jesus died to show us how to live ---- love God; love your neighbor --- we can have total faith that our actions, our thoughts, our prayers do matter.  He said so.  I’m afraid many who stop doing good, who stop believing, who stop living a moral life will find themselves at some point crying out for a drop of water when they finally see the effect on which they placed no importance, on the truth they couldn’t accept on faith.  What does believing in Jesus and living a Christian life matter?  We each will find out.  And the Divine Mercy prayer is most appropriate:  Jesus, I trust in You.