Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
When it comes to the will of God, there are no little things, there are no unimportant things, there are no insignificant things.
Because God wills it, whatever it is, even if it seems insignificant, even if it seems unimportant, because God wills it, it is significant, it is important.
It's not the thing itself, it's the fact that God wants it, that gives it any value.
And because it's God himself who wants it, because that thing is the object of God's will, its value, its value is immense, incalculable, it's part of God's plan.
So Samuel, the first book of Samuel, tells us about Saul, and twice he made the mistake that we often make, we try to make excuses for not doing God's will perfectly, especially for our venial sins we make excuses.
In chapter 13, Samuel, or rather Saul, is told to wait seven days before offering a sacrifice.
He doesn't wait, still offers a sacrifice, whether seven days or not seven days, whether he offers it or Samuel offers it, same thing, right?
Just these little details don't matter.
And instead, they do, because of that transgression, Saul loses his dynasty.
Our Lord would have given him descendants on his throne, and yet because of that disobedience and that little matter, insignificant matter, little detail, seven days, not seven days, Samuel offering, Saul offering, who cares?
Our Lord cares, it's the object of his will. He loses the dynasty.
Then what we read today, everything is put under the ban, but everything, well, that doesn't include the best oxen, the best sheep, whether we kill the king or bring him back and make him a slave, same thing, substantially fulfilled the mission, doesn't matter, these details are insignificant, and yet they are significant, because God wills them, and Saul loses the kingship itself.
I say this in reference to venial sin because it's venial sin that tricks us, fools us, deceives us very often, it's so unimportant, it's just venial, that's not what makes it terrible, what makes venial sin terrible is not that it's venial, it's the fact that it's a sin, that it offends God, that it's against his holy will, the will of God for us, and it has consequences, it's a rejection of what God wants to give us.
Knowing how human beings, how we work, it's tough to be convinced about this, at least practically speaking, and for this to really make sense and to convince us, we must know God's will, do God's will, and love God's holy will, even in the details, and how do we love God's holy will?
Well, the easy, so to speak, the easy solution, the easy remedy is to enter into the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady.
If this doesn't convince us, if we just can't convince ourselves that, man, God's will is important, even in the details, even in insignificant things, enter into the heart of Our Lady, and your perspective will change.
If we do that, our perspective changes.
When we enter into the heart of Our Lady, what do we find there?
Our Lady pondering the word of God, loving the word of God, doing and commanding the word of God.
If we enter into Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, she will give us a glimpse of her perspective, how every detail of God's holy will, it's not just important, but utterly amazing.
My goodness, we don't know what we're losing when we commit deliberate, venial sin.
If we enter into the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady, we will see, we will know God's will, love God's holy will, and live it in our lives in every detail.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.