On my heart...

As I sat in Mass this morning, I realized that something has been on my heart for awhile, and I am really struggling with it... There is so much our Catholic faith teaches us about love of neighbor and the corporal works of mercy, but I personally fall short of living these out on a regular basis.

It's so easy for me to like or tweet an article/quote about serving others or to pass along different service opportunities (engaging myself in them from time to time, yes), but, when it comes down to it, am I walking the talk? And I don't even necessarily mean doing service projects - how am I helping and interacting with people in my own community, how am I getting my hands dirty in God's work? I've used the excuse of grad school taking up my time for far too long - by no means have those in charge of my leadership program set out to drown us in content so much so that we fail to have time and opportunities to live out what we study, to be Jesus for others.

Why is it so hard to act with consistent efforts? Why has love of neighbor become something we admire others doing or something we reserve for the first Saturday of the month? I, sadly, don't think I'm alone in feeling this. I think it's a reality for others too. We're paralyzed because we don't know what to actually do, we get caught up in the busyness of life so as we pass by on genuine care and need of others, we get caught up in the "drama" of our own lives...

So, what now? What do I (we) need to do so that my (our) actions speak louder than words? I know the first answer should probably be to (continue to) bring this to prayer. But then...? Is it a matter of little actions, making a conscience effort each day to do one more thing than the day before to help me (us) become closer to those around me (us)?

I feel like I am just throwing out ideas, and I apologize if those ideas don't seem to be going anywhere, but I just can't seem to get it off my heart. So, I appreciate you letting me put my thoughts (however jumbled and raw) on paper, and I ask that you pray for me and anyone else who is struggling to understand what it looks like to more authentically live the Gospel in daily life. Thank you.