Bits of the Gospel

This is Vocations' week. The Fourth Sunday of Easter this year falls on Sunday, April 29, 2012. It is forty ninth edition. This week coincides with the novena of St. Joseph Cottolengo. What a coincidence! Then the message of Pope Benedict XVI talks of vocation as the gift of the Love of God. That places vocation at the heart of all the mystery of incarnation and the salvation history. The Pope writes: "Every specific vocation is in fact born of the initiative of God; it is a gift of the Love of God! He is the One who takes the “first step”, and not because he has found something good in us, but because of the presence of his own love “poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5).In every age, the source of the divine call is to be found in the initiative of the infinite love of God, who reveals himself fully in Jesus Christ." St. J B Cottolengo too thought that to be "called into the Little House of the Divine Providence is a sign of favor"...

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!

Lent kicks off with that evangelical call: Repent and believe the Good News. Lent is really a time to renew one's life. The things to be done emerge from the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday: Pray, Fight evil by fasting, and offerings. Then, we have Ashes calling us to the reality of our humanity. We are "made of clay", simple earthenware which should by all means "bring us down" to our senses. That act of imposition of ashes right on our foreheads makes us reflect [moreover when we see ashes on the foreheads of our brothers and sisters]. We are not only reminded of our precariousness but also of the need to rely on God. That cannot be possible unless we are humble enough to take seriously the call to repent and believe the Good News! The image of sackcloth is very touching. We are not dressed in "purple linen". Nothing close to that. We dress in the rough sackcloth [made of sisal threads!] to remind us of our duty to fight the evil. What evil? The evil wi...

[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!

Lent is a period or better a season wherein one reviews a number of setbacks in his life and tries to find remedy for them. It is a season calling for personal responsibility. To be Proactive is to accept and take responsibility for your life. You can't keep on blaming your parents or grandparents for everything. A Proactive person recognizes that they are "response-abled." Genetics, circumstances, conditions, or conditioning are not to blame for their behavior. They know they choose their behavior. A reactive person, on the other hand, is often affected by their surrounding. He/she finds external sources to blame for his/her behavior. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and performance, and they blame the weather. External forces act as stimuli that we respond to. Between the stimulus and the response is your greatest power--you have the freedom to choose your response. One of the most important things you choose is wha...

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 ...