Look no further than the Scripture readings for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time to guide us into what we must do if we allow the life of death and resurrection of Jesus to be our guiding light. It is so easy to live a spiritual life that simply skims the surface. In this time of incredible energy as we plan for the future of the archdiocese, do we really want to skim across the surface of our spiritual lives? Do we want to do the same old things even though these are not the same old times? We are being called to a revival of our own personal lives, our communities’ lives and our Church.

What kind of a hopeful and prophetic example do you want to give to your family or to strangers? Do you want the major purification act of your Lent to be giving up chocolate or beer? Or what will it take for each of us to plumb the depths of our minds and hearts and listen to that still inner voice as God speaks to us?

If we want to hear God’s voice, we have to make ourselves available to it. That means we have to clear out unnecessary busyness and confusion in our lives. Many of us deal with details day after day, but we all have those brief moments that we give away to cheap and meaningless stuff. We waste our time when we could choose to be still, and be courageous enough to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

There will be no surprise about what the Holy Spirit asks us to do. It is going to sound like what we hear in the Scriptures this weekend. We should not take revenge on those who hurt us. We are to turn the other cheek and lend our cloak to others, even though we know it will not return to us. The Holy Spirit asks us to love our enemies, as well as our friends, as radical and crazy as that may sound.

At first, those who observe us may claim that we are crazy. In some ways, they are correct. The Bible tells us that our wisdom is not God’s wisdom and our time is not God’s time. So if you were judging by the world’s wisdom, or by what makes life more convenient for us, then we will fit in fine and nobody will notice our prophetic presence. But if we do what Scripture asks us to do, and we do it with love and hope, people will move from thinking us crazy to wondering how we can live this way and what gives us the power to do that.

If someone notices your prophetic example and asks you how you have the courage to live that way in our present age, are you ready to answer them? Can you speak to them about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Can you speak to them about that relationship moving you from hopelessness and cynicism to being hopeful and compassionate? Are you ready to tell them about your old way of life and how life has changed because you have come to know Jesus?

If you do not know how to do that, you might take advantage of the Evangelization 101 workshops happening throughout the archdiocese. They will help us find the ways in words to bring our witness to other people, without shoving it down their throats. Let’s go beyond chocolate and beer, and really encounter the living Christ, the one who gives us life.

Father Donald Wester is the pastor of All Saints Parish in St. Peters.