Bits of the Gospel

Lord, help us see again! That we may see again the tragic fact of drug addicts, of alcoholics, of workaholics, and other addicts. Open our eyes to see their tears, and our ears to hear their continuous cry. Above all help us to open our hearts and do something to help them. Lord,help us to find out ways to help them. Help us build a rehab for them, a rehab that first of all is found in our hearts and then in buildings. Lord, this group is ignored. Their poverty is overlooked. That already justifies our attention to them but especially because you want them to experience your love. Amen! NB: Sometimes I wonder whether we are not too much interested in doing other things such that we fail to see the addicts right inside our homes, our schools, our parishes and even to see the addicts that we are!

I must release others from all my attempts to control, coerce, and dominate them with my love. In their freedom from me, other persons want to be loved for who they are, as those for whoom Christ became a human being, died, and rose again, as those for whom Christ won the forgiveness of sins and prepared eternal life. This is the meaning of the claim that we can encounter others only through the mediation of Christ. Love as the deed of simple obedience is death to the old self and the self's discovery to exist now in the righteousness of Christ and in one's brothers and sisters. [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditation and Prayer] Why is there so much urge to hold on and control, manipulate and use others? Trinity blessed, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, hear us. O Lord, deliver us from from this vice. Teach us to let others free as you do. To your glory and praise. Amen!

[This is an exerpt of a reflection given by a young boy during sharing the Word of God.] The destiny of the Christian who is called is to share a life with Christ in glory. [Rom 5:2] I realize that the promise is contained in the Word "in hope". Without that hope, the upward calling does not make sense. Hope raises my eyes up to the one who has promised me GLORY. I'm not seeking this glory that the world gives in abundance but that fades away easily. I thank God for you all, my brothers and sisters, my fellow youth and you Fr. Nicholas. This kind of sharing makes my prayer richer. I want to pray more when I discover that God desires it too. Thank you!

Lord, I now know that my days are a gift from you. When I am down and weary; it is time to rest not to be restless. Troubled by your apparent silence, I now know you are always there, sitting besides me. Your presence is your answer! Each restless minute spent next to you distracts me from noticing your presence, and I continue to feel down and down, lonely and bereft. Lord, it is then that you place your ever so tender right hand on me. Yet, deep into the dreadful distraction, I fail to feel that gentle touch, because so gently it is that only in calmness and stillness of heart can it be felt. You raise me up then and I stand on the hilltop; to see far, farther than my vision is used to. You help me to walk on wearly land. Yet I forget that it is your strength and not mine. I fail to see that I am up on your shoulders. I raise myself up more than I am or can be. Lord, I now know that I have to learn to journey with you, alongside you. I have to wait patiently as you point out ...

Trust is that precious attitude towards yourself, other people and God. Nothing is more ruinous and precarious in life than to mistrust the spontaneity of a person. It so much dangerous to life that a little mistrust puts other off and makes them feel suspected and judged even before they are given a chance to be heard. I have met people who simply "psychologize" and analyze people as a tool to relationship. This destroys trust badly. It is like exposing everything personal and invaluably secret about the private life of another. It is making what would be decent in secret to be public defamation. People love the sincerity that emerges from the attitude of trust. Trust, in fact, is the capacity to encounter and accept others just as they are. And before being a virtue, it is a target in life which has to be achieved through hard work, determination, and prayerful engagement with the Almighty God. Yes, no one is more loved that a person who accepts others simply, naturally...

Let me begin by clarifying that this Solemnity should be understood in the context of Resurrection, the Easter Event. The Apostles are clearly sad. The Lord has in the last days behaved "strangely", like one really serious when He says, "I'm going to my Father and your Father, My God and your God." And even more saddening facts, "The world will hate you [read, will treat you badly. Think of the Good Friday Facts fresh in mind!] just they did to me!" (John 16:16-20). It did not feel good at all, nor did the disciples seem to receive it with the faith expected [They received it with the faith they had, their little faith!) Ascension, as it is presented to us, is clearly the feast of glory. First, if we still stick to our faith that God cannot lose his Glory [Not even theoretically!]then we've already admitted that the Son kept his glory through his earthly life: birth, life, teachings, suffering, death and resurrection, even to Ascension. For us t...