Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, who is greater than our hearts, exposes us to our true selves, not for judgment and condemnation, but for understanding and compassion.
The Holy Spirit helps us not to run away from our weaknesses but to look at them as opportunities of grace.
The Holy Spirit helps us to rejoice for the good that is in us and for the good that we accomplish, seeing in them our participation in God, who is "the Only good" and from whom all good things come.

God-centered

Today's Gospel was the Conversion of Saint Paul. The priest very wisely reminded us that conversion is first of all interior, allowing God to be the Lord of my life. What is seen on the outside is a natural consequence of the change within.
Perhaps the reason why my many resolutions fail within a day or two is that I focus more on the right thing to do, the right thng to say, the right thing to feel. Instead, I should be more focused on who is really the "hinge" that moves me.
What happened to Saint Paul is what happens to us when we allow God to take hold of our heart. There is no room for volunteerism, only for waiting, for opening ourselves to receive God as pure gift. Our weaknesses, our relapses will not frighten us, because we give up our agenda, we renounce the desire to have control.
And when we are no longer focused on "being" good and in "doing" good, but just on God, that is conversion. It is when we really start to be good and to do good.

God bless all families

We didn't come into this world by ourselves. We weren't born alone. Our birth may have had different circumstances but it was always by way of another person. Good or bad, in joy or in sorrow, we cannot deny that we are tied to our families. With a little humility and sincerity, we will say that we owe our life to our family.
No family is perfect, as nothing in this world is perfect.
Let us pray for families: those who courageously face life's challenges; the weak and wounded families; those who are suffering; those who dream a better future; those who only live for the present moment, without a higher horizon; those who struggle to put together the broken pieces of their life; those who wait, because circumstances force them to, and those who wait with trust in their heart because God is faithful to His promises.
Lord Jesus, you who chose to be born in a family, bless all families of the world. Amen.

Invisible to the eye

Life with God always calls us to transformation. We are always on a journey. We can never say that we "have arrived".
In this journey one thing that we commonly do is to make resolutions. We do it after our daily meditation, after a retreat, or after a deep experience. And this is not bad. But we shouldn't be content at this.
Jesus calls us to go deeper, to look at what we value the most, what it is that moves our thoughts, words and actions. Often this deeper motivation is hidden. It can even be sugar-coated or packaged in a way that we can no longer see it in its truth.
The spiritual journey is to see this truth - in its imperfection and its various contradictions. And this imperfection is okay. Jesus is merciful to the weak. It is the arrogance of the haughty that Jesus hates.

My choice

A lot of people think that I have given up so much when I chose the consecrated life. And these people have different reactions: regret, surprise, pity, admiration, disdain.
But giving up something in favor or something else is not really anything new. It is part of life. It is the necessary step to make in order to capture the meaning of this wonderful gift called life, give it form and configuration.
Happy feast of Consecrated life. Pray that despite our weaknesses and limitations, we may be a ray of God's goodness.

What worries me

I am not afraid of my weaknesses because they enable me to turn to God.
I am more worried of my pride because it blinds me into thinking that I can do without God.