Do not worry about tomorrow

Ash Wednesday began the season of Lent, when the Church observes a 40 day period before Easter. Lent was earlier called the Quadragesima, which comes from the Latin word for forty. Lent means springtime. It is a time to renew our relationship with God - just like in spring everything blossoms with new life, so in our spiritual lives, we should blossom like new flowers.

Jesus said:

Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and everyone who seeks finds, and the door is open to anyone who knocks.

Which one of you hands his son a stone when he asks for bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you, then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will give good things to those who ask Him

Matthew 11:7-11

and:

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow nor reap. They gather nothing into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they? Can any of you by worrying, add a single moment to your life span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say "What are we to eat?" or "What are we to drink?" or "What are we to wear?"

Matthew 6:25-32

The common thread in both sayings of Jesus is faith. If one has faith, one would not worry about tomorrow, trusting that God will provide. The sisters of Missionaries of Charity, to name a good example, do not have any income other than donations from people. They live out this trust in Providence, and their needs are actually provided for. How difficult it is to actually trust everything to Providence.

Fasting is a way to leave aside the worry about food, and remember God. It helps to foster solidarity with those who have little to eat. By fasting or abstaining from things that we like, we live out the message of Jesus, that "life is more important than food and the body more important than clothing". We come to terms with what we really are - creatures of God, who enjoy all good things because of His Providence and Mercy, not because of our merit.

Avoiding things of this life that give us joy is one way of living our the sentiment to God that our real treasure is not the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the things we enjoy, but God Himself. God is far greater than any of these. We have the gift of faith, through which we know, more surely than anything else, that God will keep His promise to grant us eternal beatitude if we are faithful. We hope that we will see God face to face and spend eternity with Him, and we live with that hope always.

Searching the depths for truth

Hi,
Let me now lead you in prayer, praying to the God of all things, our creator, the master craftsman, the genius of truth, yet so loving and good that his grace has filled my life. So much grace that I feel it is unfair that I receive so much grace. Why me? Why does God choose me to simply shower his blessings in great measure? Someday, when both of us are together, he will tell me more. Why?

Lord,

Nothing, not the music, not the pictures, not the faces, not the empty promises of this world can every satisfy my soul. Precious Lord, if you have created my soul to burn without you, you have known every aspect of it and every dimension of it. Its sense, its eyes, how it sees, its ears, how it hears, its mind, what it conceives.

Lord, I thank you for my soul. For when all books are away, all meaning is clouded, all water is gone, my soul cries within me. When I fall and am entrapped in sin, my soul cries out and I can hear it within me. Precious Lord, let me burn, burn, burn with the flame of pure fire, inflamed by the love you place in me.

I will love each moment I am with you and not seek any thing but the grace you place in my soul. The gloss of existence that disappears with the rain of Christ's light. The light that makes everything seen as what it really is. The light that makes things visible for the pure beauty of their existence.

Have Faith

All of us have trying times. Jesus was put to the test and so are we. Our Lord calls us to have faith at all times. To trust in him and his promises. Our Lord always keeps his promises, far more than any human person. Let me share some promises our our Lord from the Bible:

"As you sow, so shall you reap"

"In the measure that you use, will it be given to you"

The lesson we have here is clear and strong. So shall you reap. will be given to you.

Both words are affirmative. Some of us may have a darkness when we do good. When we love. There may be apparently no returns. Yet, the Lord tells us like as if it already is confirmed.

Indeed, so shall you reap. There is nothing more than sow that is said here. Therefore, do not worry because sometimes in hard times, you may only sow and sow and sow and apparently be hurt and pained and shamed.

Do not worry because the Lord tells us in the affirmative. It is true. O yes it is that the rewards will come. Maybe a month, a year, a few years.

So love, love and love more. Love in good times and bad. Love when it is returned and when it is not. Look at the meaning of what our Lord did. The rewards of the souls were after Jesus died.

At one point, Christianity was a message in the hearts of 11 faithful men afraid of the world and branded as traitors. These, who did not leave the Lord when he said:

"And you, would you also want to leave?"

Let us take the example of Saint Peter, who says:

"To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life."

A poem on faith:

Whenever there's a problem,
Wherever there's despair
Just bow your head in prayer and know
That God will always be there.

When things look bleak and dreary,
When it seems that no one cares,
Have faith, my friend, in our Lord
And he will answer all your prayers.

I know sometimes it's hard,
Things don't seem to work out right,
But it truly is quite pointless
To kick or scream or fight.

When you really need an answer,
On HIM you can depend.
Only FAITH can move a mountain -
So, have FAITH in God, my friend!

We need to talk

A thought crossed my mind yesterday. I have felt lonely. I need to talk to someone. But yesterday, I realized that with God it is the same way.

God has all the nature of love. He is FULL of love. This is why he sent his son - Jn 3:16. And just as we would want to talk to someone whom we love, so also, God wants to talk to us. He watches us, his beloved children every moment seeing us ignoring him. He wants only to talk to us.

Prayer is not a means to go higher in Gods eyes. That is only a consequence. Prayer happens because we need to talk to the one who loves, just as we would want to talk to a person we love. When I think of prayer this way, the doors to pray open readily.