What can we do to accomplish the works of God? Reflection for Monday, May 5, 2025

In our culture, we are often focused only on what we do. But in answer to the question about how to accomplish the works of God, Jesus makes a more important observation. Accomplishing the works of God is about who we are. Readings for Today.

Table of Contents

What can we do to accomplish the works of God?

So, what do you do? How often is it we make our primary identity about what we do. We can define ourselves by it. I am a doctor. I am an engineer. I am a construction worker. Often we go to work when we feel sick. It is called presenteeism. And we can belittle those who are not working.

Today Jesus is asked a question about how to accomplish God’s works. We might suspect Jesus’ first answer would be about what we need to do. And to be sure, what we do is important. We often rightly say that actions speak louder than words. But Jesus wants us to know from where our works should arise.

For to be a disciple is not just to go around doing good works. While good works are important, good works do not outweigh our faith. For the primary task of a disciple is to follow the teacher. That is to say, to make a claim that in all we do we seek first to believe in the one sent by the Father.

Failure to ground what we do in our faith in Jesus has many potential problems. It could mean that we do good works, but they do not help insofar as they may not be what God wants us to do. And to follow Jesus means engaging in the constant discernment about what God’s plan is for us in our lives.

Second, this type of discernment is born from silent waiting. It is clearing our mind so that God can help fill it. It is waiting patiently. And this is not an easy thing to do. How often do we gravitate to doing those things over which we have some control?

So we can focus on things that are not as important because by doing so we can accomplish something. In schools, there can be a temptation to focus on the cost of paper instead of what things are printed on the paper to educate. We can ignore the awful sounds coming from our car and focus on cleaning it instead.

Sometimes we focus on doing things so that we do not have to interact with people. People can be difficult. It is not always easy to help the poor. Living simply by sacrificing what we want, instead of focusing on what we need is challenging. Following Jesus is hard. Challenging.

But it is impossible to follow Jesus if we do not follow. Following Jesus relying only on our own efforts is a real challenge. For our lives must be about focusing on Jesus. Doing the works of God means to focus on becoming more and more like God. It means asking God to so influence who we are, and not just what we do.

The works of God are amazing indeed. But to witness to what it means to accomplish the works of God, then it is that we must recognize that the works of God are quite different than the works of humans. The works of God become our identity.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update. You can subscribe to our podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.