Saturday, November 28, 2015

Reflections


The problem with those who do not reflect on their lives is that they remain in darkness and are not able to know who they really are and how they relate to God and to others. 

The problem of those who reflect all the time is pride. It is thinking that they are better than others and concentrating on the self. 

No way around it, except to focus on Christ and see oneself and the world through Christ. Even God is not centered on God-self; the Son focuses on the Father, the Father on the Son, and the Holy Spirit on the Father and the Son. Love is about the other person. 

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Don't Kill Your Baby

Being pregnant means you have your baby in your womb. This baby can be one second old or nine months old it is a still your baby. People use clever words to describe what is happening to you but the most simple truth is that you are carrying your baby.  You are not carrying yourself or part of yourself but rather another person like you, boy or a girl, brought to life by you, and fully dependent on you.

For you to even consider killing your baby, you must be going through the most difficult of times. You may have been raped by a stranger or a family member, you may have an abusive husband or boyfriend that beats you and your kids, you may be so financially poor that you cannot provide food for your children, you may be in a family situation that will tumble if one more child comes on the scene, you may be addicted to drugs and afraid your child will be addicted.   These and many other tragedies that can surround you must not bring you to take your baby's life which is one of the worst tragedies that a person can encounter. 

If abortion is legal or not it makes no difference. You know in your heart that it is not right. There is no law higher than the law of love placed within you. You will have to lie to yourself to allow yourself to go against it. There is always an alternative to abortion and those of us advising you to save an innocent life, must make every effort to provide you with these alternatives and make them accessible to you or else your child's blood is on our hands as well.

Once you turn to God for help and unconditionaly trust in Him, He will provide you with the grace to make the only good choice, the endurance to handle the difficulties that come along your decision, and people who can truly guide you. Give life and He will give you joy in your heart that no one can take away and no hardship can overshadow. Trust in God and say "YES" to your baby in face of the the cruel challenges of life. Abortion is not the answer. Love and endurance of one's cross is the answer that never fails. 





Thursday, July 16, 2015

Moments of heaven

While everyone else is living in the business of everyday normal life of happiness, excitement, laughter, triumph, success, health, relaxation, courage, and comfort, as well as sadness, depression, crying, defeat, failure, sickness, stress, fear, and pain, we step sometimes into unexpected moments of joy that blur and shadow everything else. Theses moments, detached from time and space, trump the pleasures and sorrows of life and render them all insignificant. They are experienced by everyone, although some more than others. Those who cannot process them, move on and delete them from their memories. Others cherish them as transcendental experiences beyond this world and try in vain to re-live them. As we travel fast in the realm of life these experiences jolt us into "moments of heaven."

An example would be a ten year old boy playing a game on the street with the girl that he loves, and all the other kids are playing around them and with them. A jolt of courage leads them both to confess their first love to each other. The world disappears around them, and they enter into a state of being never experienced before and which will never be experienced again.

A second example is kids playing while grown ups are engaged in conversations about the day. But when a person steps away for a short break, he hears a melody that captures his soul and paralyzes him, making him careless of everything and everyone else around him, while letting the melody fill his spirit like wine pouring into a glass. A third example would be waking up from a dream realizing an encounter with the living God that renders one humble to the core. All these are "moments of heaven."

We do not respond affirmatively to God's call in order to attain heaven. We do it because of love. We love God and what God is about. Yet  these experiences give us windows into heaven. They for a brief moment remind us that what matters most is beyond our control. They show us briefly that the lures of life are nothing compared to what God has prepared for us. While worldly powers drag us toward experiences of emptiness, these moments assure us that life has its wonderful secrets that await us. God wants us to freely choose Him so that we can live life abundantly toward infinite moments of heaven.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Temptations: The Bat and the Lion

A very powerful creature hits randomly here and there and destroys brutally leaving nothing but darkness where he strikes. The strike is so strong and sudden, it crushes everything in an instant. Fear of being hit by this force threatens even the strongest of believers. It comes from above, from outside and hits so hard and leaves death, emptiness, and deep darkness. The force appears so dark and so big like a huge bat with extended wings the size of a mountain. Pure hate and evil are directed solely toward the destruction of the human person.

The human person sits next to a big calm lion, but is thinking to herself can this lion be zapped as well. The lion remains calm and when the evil force is directed toward the human person, the lion transforms into an angelic being that shields the person so ever gently with calmness and absolute certitude.  The person is unharmed. Despite the victory, the person remains in fear of the next blow and frustrated that such a being is allowed to return to strike her again.

It is not to every one that I write my dream. I write it to the person that has completely dedicated her life to the Will of God. Every now and then in the spiritual life of such a person, God allows the evil one to direct his ugliest blows toward this person. The temptations are so hard to fight and endure because the persistent and creative evil one knows well the person's "fears" and "wants" and comes to her aggresively from every dark corner. The human person suffers and struggles to avoid this real spiritual death but eventually remains unharmed because she dwells in the presence of the calm lion. 

In the beginnings the person had allowed herself to be lured but as the person grows stronger spiritually and becomes more fearless, these cases diminish in numbers and durations and the evil one resorts to other creative dark methods to shake the person off her strong hold. The human person enclosed with humility recites the song of the psalmist: "Shepherd me O God [beyond my wants, beyond my fears] there is nothing that I lack … Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side". [Psalm 23]





Sunday, May 24, 2015

Someone will always not like you

A brave young lady delivered her speech in front of hundreds of people at a graduation ceremony and proclaimed: "Someone will always not like you … I am not religious … what matters most in the end is that you like yourself." She stated that in life, you must be who you are no matter what anyone else thinks of you and no matter how much pressure is placed upon you to be someone else. Her Good News that she wanted to share is summed up in "It is good to be you".

She delivered her speech with conviction, courage, and a strong sense of self knowledge. These virtues are lacking today among many of our young Christians. Her words must inspire us to be truly who we are, not more and not less. Boasting by words or actions about how pious we are is as much a spiritual error as being embarrassed of our beliefs and way of life. Being true to ourselves is being who God created us to be: "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire" [St. Catherine of Sienna]

Her words "Someone will always not like you" are echoed in our scriptures "You will be hated by all" [Matthew 10:22] and in the life of our God who was furiously hated up to the cross of death. Her words are echoed in today's world by how we destroy ourselves. Yes, in this world someone will always hate you and in the end it is important that you like yourself, but a true Christian can never stop here. 

A Christian must go further and believe that in the end One will always love you and like you unconditionally. And that with this One you can count on the graced Christian to also love you and like you unconditionally, even if you have no faith, or share a different faith, or live a different way of life, or are a source of persecution to this Christian and to others. 

The human eye is a great tool, but without the light that comes from above and enters within it, it cannot fully be what it is intended to be. You are intended to love and in order to love to your full potential you must freely let the light enter you and overflow within you, and yes, it is good to be you.

Friday, January 30, 2015

A True Christian

Once we encounter Jesus, in whatever state we are at in life, we are empowered to be liberated from the gravity of what holds us down and lifted up through the challenge of the cross to the joyful abundant life of a true Christian. 

true Christian is someone who is being transformed, in grace, through the cross into another Christ -- By nature, only Jesus of Nazareth is the true Christ of God. When we are being transformed into another Christ we begin to see others as Christ. We feel drawn to love even those who hate us.

As true Christians we become aware that every thought, word, and action that proceeds from us is directed toward Christ himself, and whatever we hold back from those in need, is held back from Christ himself. Jesus words are clear: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did to me." and "Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me." [Matthew 40 & 45] 

No matter how irrelevant our thoughts, acts, and words are, they must always be interactions of love toward the other. There is not even a small moment in time where that is not commanded of us (John 13:34): in times of war or peace, stress or tranquility,  in interactions with a child or an elder, with a family member or a stranger, in every place and every case and at all times. Moments of failure will challenge us, but within God's mercy we can only be humbled and become more dependent on God. 

The secret then is to always place ourselves in a state of humility and prayer, while sheltered in God's mercy. On our own we will never get far since"With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." [Mark 10:27] We must strive to unify our will with God's in order to call ourselves "True Christians." 

















You Are Called

"Why does he eat with 'the rejected' and sinners?" they asked. Jesus replied: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners." [Mark 2:16-17]

Are we those who are well, or are we those who have been rejected and enslaved to sin? "Amen, Amen I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin." [John 8:34].  If we are honest with ourselves we will recognize that we are the ones whom Christ is being criticized for eating with. We are the ones he is focusing on, so that he may heal us from our emptiness and call us into holiness.


The Holy One of God comes in humility and eats with us at our table, so that he can draw us to himself when he is lifted upon the cross (John 12:32), and have us share in his eternal banquet at his table: "You who have stood by me in my trials … You may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom."[Luke 22:27-30] 

What we are hearing and seeing here is given to us so that we may never think that our sin or state of being is greater than the mercy of God. Jesus makes it clear that he comes to call the sinner not the righteous. So this call is for you and me and not for some holy person. The righteous is deafened and blinded with self-glory and is unable to hear or see Jesus until he or she is graced with a touch of humility.