Go with God

 

Go with God, don't settle for less.

In today's first reading, Abraham, after waiting for many years for the fulfillment of God's promise to make of him a great nation, tries to make a deal with God.
Since he has become an old man, and his wife Sara is way past her child-bearing years, surely this promise of God will not come true in the literal sense? So Abraham uses his brain and thinks that perhaps God meant to use another way. Could it be that God's promise will come true through his son, Ishmael, from the slave-girl Hagar? So Abraham tells God to bless Ishmael.
God promises that He, indeed, will bless Ishmael.
But God didn't have Ishmael in mind as Abraham's offspring from whom a great nation will come. God meant that Abraham and Sara will have a son.
And we know for a fact that, indeed, a son was born to Abraham and Sara who was way past her child-bearing years: Isaac.

When we trust our own logic, our own resources, we have very limited possibilities. When we trust God, we can reach for the stars.

Finding myself

Doing God's will is the goal of my life. It gives meaning and direction to my life. Indeed it is a paradox that when I lose myself in God, it is then that I truly find who I am.

Chosen

 

God knows each one of us from all eternity, even the minutest details of who we are, even the things that we have already forgotten. He loves each one of us in a special way. And God's love for one doesn't diminish his love for the others. I don't know how God does it, after all, He is God and surely I cannot fathom the depths of God's being.
God chooses and calls each one of us from all eternity. He calls us for a mission. And on this depends the meaning of our life.
But mission is not equivalent to "role" or "work". Mission does include doing something, but it is just a part of it. Mission is our special participation in the building of the Kingdom of God. Of couse God can build His Kingdom even without me, but God is so generous and magnanimous that He wants me to have a part in the building of this Kingdom.
In today's Gospel, Elizabeth and Zechariah both insist that their child's name is John. The neighbors say that there is nobody in their family named John.
Well, to fulfill our mission means to create our own path, perhaps to venture on ways unknown. For some it may mean being alienated from the people closest to us. But it is okay. We have to look into our heart and hear the echo of the voice that is part of our truest self: I have chosen you. I send you. I am with you.

God first

When God is in His proper place in our life, it is easier to arrange and rearrange the other places.

Laws

Jesus said, "Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them." (Mt 5:17)
What an appropriate Gospel passage for me as we, Filipinos, celebrate our Independence Day.
There are some consequences in my life:
First, To be truly free, we need the law. Aristotle defined law as reason free of passion. Our passions are not bad. Nay, they are even necessary because they give color and flavor to our life. But our passions need to be put in place, which is the function of the law, for our sake and for society's sake.
Second, The challenge is to go beyond, not against, the letter of the law; to go right to the spirit of the law. To obey the law for its own sake is slavery. We are called to obey the law because of what it promotes: the true good of the human person and of society. In other words, we obey the law out of true love and respect for ourselves and for others.
Third, When we are guided by a correctly-formed conscience, and this is always a work in progress, the law loses its "oppressive" hold over us. There is an inner "law" that dictates what we think, say and do, and they are not against external laws. When we have acquired the mind and the heart of Jesus, all other laws are unnecessary, because the law of love guides us from within.

Love

Love is a choice of the heart, enlightened by the mind and carried out by the will.
Or,
Love is a choice of the mind, that becomes desired by the heart and carried out by the will.
Or,
Love is a choice of the will, that acquires a motivation from the mind until it becomes desired by the heart.

Love can begin from the heart, from the mind, or from the will, but it isn't love until the three are united.

Principles

To live by principles is a sign of maturity.
But how do we know the authenticity of our principles?
True principles are guided by universal values that don't change, that don't become outdated by the passage of time, values that are not dependent on gender, race or social class.
Here is the test: We live by authentic principles when, in spite of being alone we are at peace. Otherwise, it is only egoism.

Seeking what is true and good

 

God, in this journey of seeking what is true and good, grant that I may have a humble heart that acknowledges that I cannot be self-referential.
Grant that my intelligenec be purified of its desire for confirmation.
Grant that I may have open hands to receive and to let go, knowing that truth and goodness are not mine to keep; rather, they are yours that you so willingly share with me.
God, you are the truth, you are goodness.
And when you share a part of Yourself with me, no matter how small it is, even if they be the crumbs, I know that is enough for me.

Bloom

We can never bloom until we decide to grow our roots in the soil where we are planted and dare to stretch out our branches to infinite horizons.

God as number one

To make God the number one, the top priority of my life is the best thing I can ever do. It gives me a stable base on which to build my life. The other things do not lose their value; nay, their true value becomes clearer in the light of God.
To make God the number one does not mean I always have to be constantly saying prayers. No, it rather means that my life itself is a prayer, a constant seeking to do God's will.
To make God the number one is to live life to the full. It frees me from the illusion that I am the center of the world, which is the cause of a lot of regrets and disappointments that rob me of true joy.
To make God the number one is to never feel alone even in the deepest moment of solitude, when people let me down and my old securities crumble. I know that when I don't feel that God is walking beside me, He is in fact carrying me in His arms.

I-don't-know

We say “I don’t know” for two reasons.

The first is when we really don’t know. Then it is followed by “I would want to know if it is possible” or “I would want to know if it is necessary for me”.

The second reason is when we want to save face. It’s like saying “I don’t know and I don’t really care”.

To know the difference is to be wise. To accept the difference is to be humble.