A player on the high school girls’ tennis team I helped coach this fall had just finished a tough match; she eked out a win against a slightly superior opponent from the best team in our league.
I told our coach, “She was not as good as that other girl, but…” and he finished my sentence, “Her desire was greater.” His diagnosis was precise. Our girl wanted it more, so she worked harder.
In a recent edition of his podcast on the Desert Fathers, Bishop Erik Varden vividly depicted the desire we must have for God; a hunting dog, he said, that has seen the hare, will never stop pursuing it. Other dogs who are simply running alongside will eventually give up, but that dog, undeterred by their desertion or by obstacles in his way, will keep running until he outruns the quarry and pins it to the ground.
What differentiates the hound that keeps running from the hounds that give up the chase? The former has seen the prey. He knows what he is after. The hare has imprinted itself on his mind.
Have I seen Christ? In other words, have I met Him in the sacraments? In prayer? In His Scriptures? In sacred art? Have I taken the time and put in the effort so He can imprint Himself on my mind? The deeper my knowledge of Him, the greater will be my desire. If I am truly invested, I will be undeterred by others’ turning away, or even by my own failures.
We are so easily distracted and discouraged by what other people are thinking or doing, what we imagine their motives or opinions to be. Jesus gently says our name, as he did Martha’s: “Martha, Martha! You are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing” (Luke 10:41-42). He has to repeat our name, to help us settle down, calm ourselves, and focus on Him. He is the “one thing necessary.”
The story is told that someone asked St. Thomas Aquinas, “How can I become a saint?” He replied simply, “Will it.” This is because God, for His part, is already willing it. God passionately desires our sanctification. We know this because Jesus discloses it to us through parables like the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the Prodigal Son; as Fr. Mike Schmitz recently declared in his Parables tour at the Detroit Opera, ‘We are relentlessly pursued and, when found, ridiculously celebrated.’
Keep your eyes on the prize, and talk to Him about the many things making you anxious and worried. Hear the tone of His voice as He says your name, and pray this prayer, “Jesus, you are the only thing I have need of.”
Sr. Maria Veritas Marks is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
