Let God be God

To think that we understand God is an illusion. If we can put boundaries and imprison God in our ideas and feelings, He is no God at all.
Instead, God invites us just to delight in being in this immense ocean of His presence that is always Love.

Greater peace

I experience greater peace in letting myself be disturbed than in the comfort of my self-defined boundaries.

Everyday

The title of my blog is "everyday compassion". It is also my personal name for God.
While going through my blog posts one time, a question came to my mind: My blog's name is "everyday compassion", don't I have to post something everyday?
In reality, I experience God everyday, so it wouldn't be that difficult to post something on a daily basis, no?
Wrong. It's not possible to post my daily experiences of God on a daily basis, not because of time or technical constraints.
It is not possible because in many ways we have an experience that is so deep and so true that we know that it is a God experience, but we cannot aptly describe it in words. We can attempt to jot down something, but words are always inadequate.
And I guess it should be like that. The more we recognize the presence of God in our everyday experiences, the more we are surprised, that, yes, He is that, but He is infinitely more.
And that is why He is God. He cannot be totally explained.
So I will be like a child. I will enjoy His presence. I will not try to fit Him into any category. I will simply enjoy and bask in His many surprising ways.

On being happy

There is no perfect life, no perfect situation.
We do not wait for everything to be in place so that we can be happy.
We can always be happy. Every here and now is an opportunity to be happy.
Life always offers purely gracious moments but we need clear eyes and an uncluttered heart to recognize them.

Purely gracious

Yesterday I chanced upon a former professor. It was quite dark and I wouldn't have recognized him had he not greeted "buona sera". I am sure he did not even recognize me, but he has always been a very cordial person. In fact he was one of the most approachable professors in the university.
Then I suddenly remembered that today, January 17, memorial of Saint Anthony of the Desert, is his name day. Name day or feast day or "festa di onomastico" is something big here in Italy and in religious congregations. So I just greeted him "buona festa". The greeting just came out of my mouth. I didn't even think about it. It just came out spontaneously.
Somebody once told me that people's actions are always motivated by personal interest. And I agreed with her because when we really look deeper and closely at our words and actions, there is always something for ourselves: self-defense, self-promotion, or just simply feeling good about oneself.
Last night I realized that this is not so true after all. There are moments in our life when we just say or do something good just like that, without thinking, without any calculation.
There are moments when we are face-to-face with pure gratuity.
I don't even know whether my professor remembered me, or if I will see him again. They didn't matter.
I greeted him and I know that at that time it was an experience that was purely gracious. It was an experience of God.

A Christmas carol

The other day I watched the film "A Christmas Carol". It's a classic, and watching it made me reflect on certain things.
The ghost of Christmas past. It made Scrooge reminisce his past. You feel sort of sorry for the neglected boy who turned out to be the arch-enemy of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge.
Who we are today is greatly influenced by our past. It might be helpful to remember this in order to have more compassion towards people.
The ghost of Christmas present. It made Scrooge see the lives of the people who presently come in and out of his everyday life.
No man is an island. Being human means being related to people. Our deeds, misdeeds and omissions have repercussions on the lives of the people closest to us, as their lives have consequences on the lives of others. We can say that every deed, misdeed or omission has a ripple effect. It makes me remember the film "Pay it forward".
The ghost of Christmas future. It made Scrooge have a vision of what will be in the future. Scrooge asked the ghost if what he has seen "will be" or "might be".
It is never too late to change. Yes, our past has a great impact on who we are today, but if we just try to be honest and to see our life now in terms of its effects on others, or on that good person that we are deep within our hearts, we can always change and go through the road of conversion.
Thanks, Ebenezer Scrooge. I guess this is your life's message for me now.
"God bless us, everyone."

My prayer for the year 2012

May we always be aware of the presence of God in our everyday lives.
May He be the source of our joy and creativity.
May He be our hope in times of difficulties.
May He wipe away the tears we shed in the silence of our hearts.
May He give us the fullness of life, in fidelity to His promise and in response to the deepest desires of our heart.
May God bless us and our loved ones.
Happy new year.