To be one

With all of humanity
we are called to be one with the rest of creation:
and with it, we are invited to move together
into a deeper relationship with the loving Creator.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, 16th century

Called to be one
E Pluribus unum. Out of many, one. Divided by our own diversity, we are called to be one. To serve one purpose: to glorify God.

Relationship
With unity of mind, we are called to a deeper relationship. Are we ready?

Trusting difficulties

All the difficulties we meet in following Christ and bearing witness to His Gospel can be overcome by opening ourselves trustingly to the action of the Lord.
Pope Benedict XVI, 13 June 2012

difficulties
Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." A cross is not a piece of jewelry that we hang around our neck. A cross is a cruel tool for executing vigilante at Jesus' time. To deny ourselves and to take our cross is not an easy thing to do. No wonder we find difficulties in following Him!

trust
But Jesus also said,  “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” His yoke is easy and His burden light. I'd say that Jesus is talking in relative terms here. The cross that we bear is difficult and tough. But the alternatives are worse. The alternative is to live "easy and flabby", to satisfy all the desires that we have, etc. But we will be worse off later on. We shall see that in the end, that His way is a better way. His way brings eternal peace. His way is the real highway.

To be holy

Looking at Mary, we recognize the loftiness and beauty of God's plan for everyone: to become holy and immaculate in love (cf. Eph 1: 4), in the image of our Creator."
Pope Benedict XVI, December 8, 2007, angelus address on the solemnity of the immaculate conception

Saturday is traditionally a time to commemorate the blessed virgin Mary. It is on that first Saturday in between good Friday and easter Sunday that she chose to hope rather than to despair. She might not know the full details on what would happen the following day, but she trusted. She trusted that God would have the last say on the awful reality of her own son's death on the cross the previous day.

So, like Mary, let us be mindful of our own limitation. We are incapable of understanding the fullness of God's divine providence in our lives. What happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow might seem to be beyond our grasp. Yet, we recognize one thing: that God's plan is lofty and pretty. That 'His plan is so that we all become holy and immaculate in love in the image of our Creator'. In other words: to bring joy (eventually) to our lives, to teach us to become the best version of ourselves. And for that we can only do one thing: to trust.

Sorrow's touch

God is touched by our sorrows
and does not allow them to last forever.
St. Claude de la Colombiere

Sorrow
Here we are Lord, your church militant, fighting our way into heaven. We are sorrowful because of the hardship that we have to endure. As the prophet Habakkuk says,

For though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit appears on the vine,
Though the yield of the olive fails
and the terraces produce no nourishment,
Though the flocks disappear from the fold
and there is no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD and exult in my saving God.

We are hopeful people. Because we believe that the Lord is on our side. That the Lord will bring forth justice toward His sons and daughter here on earth.

Allow
This is the key word. That God allows it to happen. Whatever the circumstances. We believe that we are never tried beyond our strength. St. Paul puts it this way: "No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it." Yet, Mother Teresa would also say, “I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.” The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Listen

"Pay attention, come to me; listen, and your soul will live." Isaiah 55:3

Pay attention, come to me
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” CS Lewis once said. Whichever one he choose to use, it is an invitation from him. Invitation to be a part of his family.

Listen, and your soul will live
Listen in. He is there waiting to feed our soul. Let us humble ourselves and purge the urge to whisper, speak, and shout back to Him. Let us instead listen in, so that our souls may live.

Branches of Christ

Each of us is like a branch which lives only if it grows every day through prayer and participation in the Sacraments, through charity and union with the Lord. Those who love Christ, the true vine, produce fruits of faith for an abundant spiritual harvest.
Pope Benedict XVI, May 6, 2012

Branches
Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing."Without Christ, we can do nothing.

Growth through prayer and sacraments
Growth through our relationship with God, the source of all being. Prayer in all things. Even the simple alleluia will do. Sacraments. The need of a visible sign of an invisible reality in our lives are stronger than ever. We want something concrete to grasp the reality of faith. That is where sacraments upholds us.

Growth through charity and union with the Lord
Charity, the greatest of all virtue. To be in charity means to care with what matters to others. Union with the Lord. To say like Mary says, "let it be done to me according to Thy words." To mean what we pray in the our Father, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."

Those who love Christ...produce fruits of faith for an abundant spiritual harvest.
What's the fruits of our faith? St. Paul says to the Galatians church that the fruit of the spirit is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." Let the fruit be abundant in our lives, so that we can share it with others who are along the way to Heaven as well. 

All things fail

"All things fail, but you, Lord of them all, never fail."
St. Teresa of Avila

All things fail.
Yesterday, the computer system in our research computing facility failed. As a result, a couple of us were not able to log into our own computer to do work. I know I fail at times too. When I choose sin over grace. When I choose self pity instead of self sacrifice. Blocking His grace to come and work on my imperfections. GK Chesterton would say, "The rare strange thing is to hit the mark; the gross, obvious thing is to miss it." How many times have I failed in believing this following verse?
But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.

But you, Lord of them all, never fail.

The Lord never fails. He always succeeds. He is the epitome of perfection. The only logical thing for us to do is to trust. To trust in His providential plan. To believe that our hope is not a vain hope. Our hope is in a person who never fail to go beyond our own expectation. Jesus, I trust in You.

Pilgrims

"Every one of us is a pilgrim. We are all drawn forward, with purpose, along God’s path. Naturally, then, we tend to look back on life – sometimes with regrets or hurts, often with thanksgiving and appreciation – and we also look ahead – sometimes with trepidation or anxiety, but always with expectation and hope, knowing too that there are others who encourage us along the way."
Pope Benedict XVI, Regina Pacis Center, Amman, Jordan, May 8, 2009.

Here we go. I will be writing every day. A reflection. Frustration. Hope. Anything. For me to reflect. I hope that it will bring hope. 

Pilgrim. 

A term that means that we are nomadic. We don't just settle in one place or time. We move constantly. As Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman said, "To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often."

Drawn Forward.

We are drawn to move on. To look beyond the past and into the future. Which way is forward? It is God's path. We will grow in this path. 

Looking back: regrets. hurts. thanksgiving. appreciation. 

That is what past looks like. There is a lot of these 4 things. Regrets of the things that had been done or had not been done. Hurts from what others did to us. Thanksgiving for the love that has been given to us. Thanksgiving for God's hand in all things. As the psalmist said, "Unless the LORD build the house,

they labor in vain who build. Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch. It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, To eat bread earned by hard toil—all this God gives to his beloved in sleep." Appreciation. Appreciation that in the end: all that happen in the past is part of His loving providence. 

Looking ahead: trepidation. anxiety. expectation. hope. 

Trepidation for uncertainty. Trepidation that some how in some perverse way, everything that we have built would collapse and tumble. Anxiety for the future. Will the things that we want will come to fruition? Will my will be done? Expectation. I expect that Christ will be in control. Which means that I have to lose control. Hope. Hope that there will be rainbow after the strong thunderstorm. Hope that there will be hope after despair. Hope that when things don't make sense, that can only mean one thing. He is God. I am not. Thank God for that.