Jesus Christ provides a path that will lead each Christian from darkness into the light. He invites everyone to follow him. Each Christian is encouraged to create a life of fairness, a life of social justice based upon Christ’s teaching. Each Christian is encouraged to seek goodness, holiness, kindness; each Christian heart is invited to turn away from stony barrenness of sin and to turn toward the gentle, loving illumination of God’s grace. There is much spiritual blindness in the world. Avarice, selfishness, lust are acceptable and encouraged by the society. The simple life and teachings of Christ remain radical. His life, his character, his sacrifice wait to fill a particular place of importance in the lives of each believer. As adopted children of God, each Christian is asked to adopt the ways of Christ, to adopt his worldview, to adopt his compassion.
His life is an example of supreme hope, supreme compassion. Christ was concerned about the wellbeing both physical and spiritual of all. There was never anyone too dirty, too weak, too rich for him. His Spirit was filled with humility, charity. His holiness surpassed the holiness of others because he asked for nothing for himself, because he prayed to God and encouraged others to pray, and because he was obedient to the will of God. The Gospel encourages us to listen and develop a mind like Christ. The Gospel encourages us to nurture a longing for Christ, a longing to experience his kindness, holiness, goodness; a longing to witness firsthand his humility, charity, compassion, and mercy. This feeling when nurtured with truth, obedience, patience, and hope can help each Christian to find honest wisdom and to understand and love the words of Christ. Lucky is the Christian who seeks to live his entire life based on the teachings from the mind of Christ.
There are many things to divert our thinking, to tempt us. There are deficit talks, nuclear weapons, abortion, welfare, child abuse, domestic abuse, slavery, energy crisis, housing shortages, food shortages, genocide. Each day these appear on television, on news shows, on the internet. Each day we hear of so many tragedies. Each day the Holy Trinity emerges as a reminder of something better, something lasting, something hopeful. Humility is missing in the world of hype and hyperbole. Humility is conveniently misunderstood for weakness. Penance and contrition are also seen as lacking virility, lacking strength. Everyone wants to live a good life filled with the latest technology products, the latest catalog products. This is a time of vanity, a time of consumer induced insanity. The love and grace of God is an afterthought. Buying the latest flatscreen television or gaming system defines many households, many Christians. We must remember the Holy Trinity; we are asked to make decisions pleasing to the Holy Trinity. With humility and obedience we are asked to love and serve God. It is a radical request. We approach it wearily. Some see it as a great risk. Leaving the tempestuous world with all of its neon lighted charms behind us and walking step by step forward to eternal life, to heaven, to salvation involves an evolving wisdom and love for God of a true faithful, loyal Christian.
Showing posts with label Holy Trinity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Trinity. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Peace Be With You
In modern times there has been a lamentable acceleration in self-consciousness on the part of being Christian publicly, a fearful progress of acceptable doubt and hypocrisy, and a notable development of the estimation and valuation of the status quo which mutes the true meanings and lessons of Holy Scriptures. Christians continually face all types of criticisms which aim to narrow the scope of our belief in God and his importance to all people. That Christ lived is accepted as historical fact; that Christ is the son sparks all types of debates and conflicts.
As individuals, we, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ, must do more than attend church routinely, scheduled between a manicure and your car’s wheel realignment. Our lives must be filled with and display our passionate love for the Church universal; for Christ who lived among men and preached love and fairness; for God who only asks for our sincere love and respect and who offers love, mercy, and forgiveness; and for the Holy Spirit who is there guiding us toward goodness, holiness. Our devotion must be true. Our devotion must be filled with humility, charity, reverence, and mercy. Our devotion must be natural, reflecting all that we believe, encouraging us to increase our good works and to share our love with all who are in need of it.
The “lamentable acceleration in self-consciousness” concerns each Christian. The one truth that all Christians should accept is that God loved us so much that he sent his son to save us from sin. This act of love should never be forgotten. As Christian’s our lives should be dedicated to the application of love extended beyond ourselves, extended to our neighbors. Our secular world encourages us to limit this love and creates barriers to easily, gently expressing it. We are encouraged to remember ourselves and our comfort first, encouraged to utilize resources first for personal gain and enjoyment and then for public good, encouraged to be sceptical and suspicious of our neighbors and all that which is unseen by us. This self-conscious leads to selfishness, greed, envy, lust. This self-consciousness leads us away from the Church, away from God, away from salvation.
How easy it is for us to forget or discount the goodness and holiness that we encounter in our daily lives. How easy it is for us to forget “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We must take time to consider these words individually both in context and out of context. We must find a way to breathe hope, a way to breathe life, and a way to breathe love into these words, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
We live in a time dependent upon expert testimony, eyewitness testimony, and all types raw data both explained and unexplained, computer generated models, scientific tests, scientific models. We are constantly searching for signs, reading signs, avoiding signs. As Christians we are asked to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As humans we sometimes doubt this. Pop culture and the secular world prey on our insecurities, looking for ways to cast doubt and suspension on the religion. This is not new, it has been occurring for the last two thousand years. It will continue into the future. We must open our hearts, souls, and minds to God. Demanding signs from God is not the answer. Living all life of love, hope, and peace is the answer. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we love God and want to please him. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we know that the things that Christ said will make us better human beings filled with empathy and compassion. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because the Holy Trinity leads us toward salvation.
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor. Human beings are by nature inquisitive, filled with all types of questions, filled with doubt. In the right context doubt is good; but there are some events, some parts of our lives of Christians where we must blindly, lovingly proceed based upon faith, hope, and love; proceed with no visible signs or evidence beyond the goodness and holiness within our hearts and the lessons from the Holy Scripture. We must always remember that Christ said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
It is our obligation, our responsibility to find and develop our own way to apply this to our lives. We first must take the time to understand and acknowledge the request. Then, we must allow ourselves time to create our own application of the request as individuals and as members of the universal Church. Is God asking for a warm, loving, hopeful passion or a cool passivity? We must always remember that we live and exist within multiple communities in need of our empathy, compassion, and prayers. Please do not limit your kindness, your goodness, your hopefulness to simply one community. Never fear love, never fear the pain of love. Remember the pain and suffering and sacrifice of Christ.
Being Christian will always be risky, will always be radical. But remember to meet doubt with love, confront doubt with love.
As individuals, we, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ, must do more than attend church routinely, scheduled between a manicure and your car’s wheel realignment. Our lives must be filled with and display our passionate love for the Church universal; for Christ who lived among men and preached love and fairness; for God who only asks for our sincere love and respect and who offers love, mercy, and forgiveness; and for the Holy Spirit who is there guiding us toward goodness, holiness. Our devotion must be true. Our devotion must be filled with humility, charity, reverence, and mercy. Our devotion must be natural, reflecting all that we believe, encouraging us to increase our good works and to share our love with all who are in need of it.
The “lamentable acceleration in self-consciousness” concerns each Christian. The one truth that all Christians should accept is that God loved us so much that he sent his son to save us from sin. This act of love should never be forgotten. As Christian’s our lives should be dedicated to the application of love extended beyond ourselves, extended to our neighbors. Our secular world encourages us to limit this love and creates barriers to easily, gently expressing it. We are encouraged to remember ourselves and our comfort first, encouraged to utilize resources first for personal gain and enjoyment and then for public good, encouraged to be sceptical and suspicious of our neighbors and all that which is unseen by us. This self-conscious leads to selfishness, greed, envy, lust. This self-consciousness leads us away from the Church, away from God, away from salvation.
How easy it is for us to forget or discount the goodness and holiness that we encounter in our daily lives. How easy it is for us to forget “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We must take time to consider these words individually both in context and out of context. We must find a way to breathe hope, a way to breathe life, and a way to breathe love into these words, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
We live in a time dependent upon expert testimony, eyewitness testimony, and all types raw data both explained and unexplained, computer generated models, scientific tests, scientific models. We are constantly searching for signs, reading signs, avoiding signs. As Christians we are asked to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As humans we sometimes doubt this. Pop culture and the secular world prey on our insecurities, looking for ways to cast doubt and suspension on the religion. This is not new, it has been occurring for the last two thousand years. It will continue into the future. We must open our hearts, souls, and minds to God. Demanding signs from God is not the answer. Living all life of love, hope, and peace is the answer. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we love God and want to please him. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we know that the things that Christ said will make us better human beings filled with empathy and compassion. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because the Holy Trinity leads us toward salvation.
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor. Human beings are by nature inquisitive, filled with all types of questions, filled with doubt. In the right context doubt is good; but there are some events, some parts of our lives of Christians where we must blindly, lovingly proceed based upon faith, hope, and love; proceed with no visible signs or evidence beyond the goodness and holiness within our hearts and the lessons from the Holy Scripture. We must always remember that Christ said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
It is our obligation, our responsibility to find and develop our own way to apply this to our lives. We first must take the time to understand and acknowledge the request. Then, we must allow ourselves time to create our own application of the request as individuals and as members of the universal Church. Is God asking for a warm, loving, hopeful passion or a cool passivity? We must always remember that we live and exist within multiple communities in need of our empathy, compassion, and prayers. Please do not limit your kindness, your goodness, your hopefulness to simply one community. Never fear love, never fear the pain of love. Remember the pain and suffering and sacrifice of Christ.
Being Christian will always be risky, will always be radical. But remember to meet doubt with love, confront doubt with love.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Concerning Conversion
When, then, we ask why a crime was done, we believe it not, unless it appear that there might have been some desire of obtaining some of those which we called lower goods, or a fear of losing them. - St. Augustine
Each day each living person breaks one of God’s commandments thereby sinning and moving away from God. Sometimes these sins are small, sometimes they are great. But, all sins can be described as crimes against God. Sin must be mentioned during any discussion concerning conversion, redemption, and salvation. The Holy Trinity exists and provides lessons and examples of holiness for us to imitate. True understanding of the Holy Trinity requires loving humility and a loving desire to respect and serve God; pleasure in life is not found in earthly delights but in the glory and power of the Lord. All Christians learn that both goodness and holiness are created by both actions and statements; goodness and holiness create a good life when sincerity and humility are present. The Holy Trinity reminds faithful Christians of God’s place in their hearts, minds, and souls. The Holy Trinity reminds loving Christians of God’s power and glory. The Holy Trinity reminds upright Christians of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Contrition is necessary for all Christians; repentance before God for all sins against his laws is required and necessary for good spiritual development.
The ultimate goal for all Christians is to love and serve only God. When that occurs, the highest wisdom becomes available to us, the earthly world loses it charms, and we move forward, closer to the gates of Heaven.
Further, it is easy to cull from the Gospels the salient points of Christ’s teachings on fairness, social justice and to present them in an easy to understand format. But still some of the lessons lose their force because of the current morality thought which downplays sins while raising up the scientific belief of natural behavior. Individual responsibility and free will are lost within latinate words and pompous sentences. All men are human beings. All human beings are sinners. No latinate or psychological constructions can change that basic truth. All sinners are responsible for their sins. All Christians should read the Bible and reflect upon what they have read; Christians should form their own opinions on the Word of God; this requires patience and fortitude. It is currently fashionable to question the validity of Christ, the validity of God because of the notion of the “self-made man.”
But, remember that this religion, Christianity is a religion. Remember to always keep reverence and love for this religion in your hearts. Allow it to change your ideas, teach you how to hope, love, pray. This religion asks for the passion and obedience of its believers. This religion asks for the diligence and witness of its believers. This religion asks for the humility and charity of its believers. This religion offers forgiveness, redemption, salvation. All Catholics should listen to and then learn and then affirm the Eucharist prayers. Within those words are honest yearning to be God’s humble servant while acknowledging the unworthiness of the desire because of simple fact that each person is human and all humans are sinners who need forgiveness and understanding. All Catholics have the free will and the responsibility to choose when to go to confession, when to accept Holy Communion, when to attend Mass, when to pray.
All Catholics have to navigate around all types of sin and vice in their daily lives. Modern life is often chaotic. The secular world presents many options, many temptations to distract and/or divert our affection and attention from God. This is to be expected; the Bible provides lessons on how to fortify the loving and humble heart and soul.
Patience and prayer can lead to wisdom.
Each day each living person breaks one of God’s commandments thereby sinning and moving away from God. Sometimes these sins are small, sometimes they are great. But, all sins can be described as crimes against God. Sin must be mentioned during any discussion concerning conversion, redemption, and salvation. The Holy Trinity exists and provides lessons and examples of holiness for us to imitate. True understanding of the Holy Trinity requires loving humility and a loving desire to respect and serve God; pleasure in life is not found in earthly delights but in the glory and power of the Lord. All Christians learn that both goodness and holiness are created by both actions and statements; goodness and holiness create a good life when sincerity and humility are present. The Holy Trinity reminds faithful Christians of God’s place in their hearts, minds, and souls. The Holy Trinity reminds loving Christians of God’s power and glory. The Holy Trinity reminds upright Christians of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Contrition is necessary for all Christians; repentance before God for all sins against his laws is required and necessary for good spiritual development.
The ultimate goal for all Christians is to love and serve only God. When that occurs, the highest wisdom becomes available to us, the earthly world loses it charms, and we move forward, closer to the gates of Heaven.
Further, it is easy to cull from the Gospels the salient points of Christ’s teachings on fairness, social justice and to present them in an easy to understand format. But still some of the lessons lose their force because of the current morality thought which downplays sins while raising up the scientific belief of natural behavior. Individual responsibility and free will are lost within latinate words and pompous sentences. All men are human beings. All human beings are sinners. No latinate or psychological constructions can change that basic truth. All sinners are responsible for their sins. All Christians should read the Bible and reflect upon what they have read; Christians should form their own opinions on the Word of God; this requires patience and fortitude. It is currently fashionable to question the validity of Christ, the validity of God because of the notion of the “self-made man.”
But, remember that this religion, Christianity is a religion. Remember to always keep reverence and love for this religion in your hearts. Allow it to change your ideas, teach you how to hope, love, pray. This religion asks for the passion and obedience of its believers. This religion asks for the diligence and witness of its believers. This religion asks for the humility and charity of its believers. This religion offers forgiveness, redemption, salvation. All Catholics should listen to and then learn and then affirm the Eucharist prayers. Within those words are honest yearning to be God’s humble servant while acknowledging the unworthiness of the desire because of simple fact that each person is human and all humans are sinners who need forgiveness and understanding. All Catholics have the free will and the responsibility to choose when to go to confession, when to accept Holy Communion, when to attend Mass, when to pray.
All Catholics have to navigate around all types of sin and vice in their daily lives. Modern life is often chaotic. The secular world presents many options, many temptations to distract and/or divert our affection and attention from God. This is to be expected; the Bible provides lessons on how to fortify the loving and humble heart and soul.
Patience and prayer can lead to wisdom.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
A Saturday in the City
It's Saturday. I am alone on my roof. The time is 6:57 PM. I can see a small group of people having a dinner party on a nearby roof. Every so often I can hear a woman laugh. I can not clearly hear the conversations. Every now and then I can hear a stray word or two.
I like this time of day. I enjoy being at this spot. The sky is a modern, renunciant blue; the clouds are white and patient encouraging concentration, meditation.
I think of the Holy Trinity. I think of eternal peace and unity.
I realize that there are many lessons waiting for me to learn. Sharing goodness and mercy is sometimes difficult. I am not very good at telling jokes.
I am good at listening. I do have a pretty good imagination.
Tonight, I want to say, "Alleluia, alleluia."
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