Why Should I?

Each weekend at mass, our parish provides children's bulletins created by Liguori Publications which contain reflections on the Gospel appropriate for children. As you may recall, this week's Gospel (Matthew 3:13-17) spoke about Jesus' baptism. John the Baptist was reluctant to baptize Jesus. He couldn't see the point. After all, Jesus should be baptizing him! It is only when Jesus insists does he agree to do it.

"The Good News Weekly" spoke about all the things children (and let's face it, adults also) have to do that they wonder why they should. For example, Why should I go to school? Why should I go to mass? Why should I do my chores? Amazingly, my children were actually able to come up with good reasons why they should do these things! It gave me hope that I'm doing something right :)

I think at some point, we all wonder about the things we have to do and whether there is actually a reason for them. On our better days, we understand the good reasons. On days when we are tired and worn out, we start to wonder why we bother. The best reason we have is because God wants us to. As the bulletin stated "Why should I? is a question we all ask at times. God can work through people when they do what is expected of them without always knowing the why or the how of it."