Meditation on Loving Trust

+ IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT +

From de letter of Paul to the Colossians

(One of the "captivity letters". Written in prison, in Rome or Cesarea.)

New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV)

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

 2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

 3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel

 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.

 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

(Loving Trust)

9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

(Total Surrender)

10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

(Cheerfulness)

11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

(The most -or one of the most- ancient hymn to Christ, in the New Testament)

 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,

 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-- all things have been created through him and for him.

 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

 21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

 22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him--

 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

 24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

 25 I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

 26 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.

 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

 29 For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

Loving Trust

God's will for me (Col 1:9) is a way of fullness and of eternal happiness.

To serve God is to reign, to be free from the slavery of sin which brings sadness and depression into my life, into my family and into the world (the human family).

Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona

At the center of the Nativity Façade: the scene of the birth of Christ, on a column with names in spiral (the antecessors of the Messiah down to Abraham). This column is crushing a serpent, symbol of evil, and sin which enslaves man's heart. Surrounding this column, a thick fence, symbol of this slavery to sin from which Christ sets us free. Incarnation is Redemption!

"The love of God has been revealed"

From the Letter of Paul to Titus

(The second reading in the Christmas Midnight Mass)

NRSV

2:11 For the grace of God (“The Love of God”, in the liturgical text) has appeared, bringing salvation to all,

 12 training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,

 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds (Catalan Liturgical Text: with a passion to do good).

 15 Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you.

Biblia Catalana Interconfessional:

2:11 Déu ha manifestat la seva gràcia, que és font de salvació per a tothom

 12 i que ens ensenya a abandonar la impietat i els desigs mundans per viure en aquest món una vida de sobrietat, de justícia i de pietat,

 13 mentre esperem que es compleixi la benaurada esperança, que es manifesti la glòria del gran Déu i salvador nostre Jesucrist.

 14 Ell s'ha entregat a si mateix per nosaltres, per rescatar-nos de tota maldat, purificar-nos i fer de nosaltres un poble ben seu, apassionat per fer el bé.

Catalan liturgical text:

2:11 S'ha revelat l'amor de Déu  que vol salvar tots els homes...

14 Ell s'entregà a si mateix per nosaltres per rescatar-nos de l'esclavatge de les culpes, deixar-nos nets i fer de nosaltres un poble ben seu, apassionat per fer el bé.

Further up, on the Nativity façade, JHS: "Jesus Savior of Men" (in Latin).

On top: A cypress tree and white doves on it

The cypress tree is symbol of eternity, because it points to heaven and is evergreen, symbol of the risen body which never dies again. The doves are our souls, said Gaudi, attracted towards eternal life by THE LOVE OF CHRIST on the Cross. "Raised on the Cross I will draw everyone to myself".

Above the tree: a symbol of the Most Holy Trinity. A T, the initial of God in Greek, Theos, God, the Father (it is also the Hebrew Tau, the last letter of the alphabet, symbol of eternity, like the Greek Omega). An X, initial of Christ in Greek, Xristós, and a dove, the Holy Spirit. Therefore a symbol of the infinite mystery of life and love which is our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

There are many other signs of the Most Holy Trinity in the Sagrada Familia. The most visible one: the Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus on the bell towers, in three colors. Yellow, the color of light (the Father creator of light, in the beginning), red, the color of blood (the Son, the Redeemer), and orange, the combination of red and yellow, the Holy Spirit which comes from the Father and the Son. The Eternal Love between the Father and the Son, poured into our hearts in baptism.

"Lord you have ‘captured us’ with your freedom"

A vocational poster by the Saint John of God brothers, in a parish in Barcelona. The progressive experience of being free from the sadness of sin, thanks to our relationship with Christ, draws us closer to Him, attracts us to Him, more and more.

In a website on Judaism, by a Rabbi in Israel:

What a pity that, in western languages, we have introduced the word "commandment" to refer to the words spoken by God to Moses at Sinai, after the people had been freed from slavery in Egypt. The word "commandment", not the only possible translation of the original Hebrew word (Dabar: which simply means “word”) in Exodus 20:1, implies that someone commands and another obeys.

But the spirit in the original text is not that at all. God has set his people free from slavery, and the people commit themselves to a covenant with their saving God, in a spirit of love and thankfulness for the immense love received.

Exodus 20:1 Then God spoke all these words:

 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

 3 you shall have no other gods before me.

 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work-- you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

 13 You shall not murder.

 14 You shall not commit adultery.

 15 You shall not steal.

 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Another meditation by a Rabbi on Catalan TV:

God can take care of himself. But men must be shown the way to human dignity. This is the essence of the badly called ten  “commandments".

_______________________

From the meditation on Loving Trust, Given to the missionaries of Charity in Sabadell, on August 19^th, of the Holy Year 2000

1.      God delights on those who trust in his loving kindness.

Sl 147,11: The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (New International Version, NIV)

His pleasure is in those who fear him, in those who hope in his faithful love. (New Jerusalem Bible, NJB)

Psalm 147 is a hymn to the All-powerful

Vv 2-3: The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted (els cors desfest, in Catalan) and binds up their wounds. (NIV)

2.      Loving trust:

1 C 13:1-8

v. 7: Love is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end. (NJB)

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (NIV)

How to love like this?

1 C 12:31: Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

3.      Nothing can possibly separate us from the Love of God revealed to us in Christ:

Rm 8, 31-39

After saying this, what can we add? With God on our side who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. .....

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rm 8:28: We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those he has called according to his purpose.

"Everything, even our sins". (St. John of the Cross)

An anonymous prayer, attributed by some to a bishop in the Roman Curia:

Jesus to the sinful soul, but nonetheless infinitely loved:

“Love me as you are, do not wait to be holy, to love me, otherwise you would never love me. I love you as you are, in your best moments and in your worst moments. Therefore, you should do the same: love me as you are, in fervor and in dryness, in fidelity and in infidelity, I love you with an unconditional fatherly and motherly love. The moment will come when  you will be a better person but, for the moment, I love you as you are. Do not wait to be holy, in order to love me, otherwise you would never love me.”

Jesús al alma pecadora pero infinitamente amada:

“Ámame tal como eres, no esperes a ser santo (a) para amarme pues entonces no me amarías nunca. Yo te amo tal como eres, en tus mejores momentos y en tus peores momentos. Ámame, pues tu también tal como eres, en el fervor y en la sequedad, en la fidelidad y en la infidelidad, yo te amo con un amor incondicional de padre y de madre. Ya llegará el momento en que seas mejor, pero de momento te amo tal como eres. No esperes a ser santo (a) para amarme, pues entonces no me amarías nunca.”

4.      We lovingly trust that we are "destined" to eternity with God:

1 Te 5,9-10: For God did not appoint us (destine) to suffer wrath (condemnation) but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake (alive) or asleep (dead), we may live together with him (for ever, v. 4,17: we shall stay with the Lord for ever).

5.      God is our help: Is 41:13; 42:6 (light of the nations); 43:1; Lm 3:55

God is the faithful "husband": Is 54:5

God loves us with an everlasting love: Jer 31:3

6.     Some thoughts by Mother Teresa:

·        God is love. He loves each one of us. We can find this beautiful text in the Bible: "I have called you by your name, you are mine. Waters will not overwhelm you, fire will not burn you, I will give you nations. You are precious to me, I love you. Can a mother forsake the fruit of her womb, even if one was to be found, I will never forsake you. I have marked you on the palm of my hand". This is how God talks to us, to you and to me, to that leper and to that alcoholic woman, to the person with a mental disability and to the little infant: "You are precious to me. I love you".

·        Because God loved the world so much, He gave his Son to die for the world. And Jesus said: "I have loved you as the Father has loved me. Love one another as I have loved you". The gift came to us from the Father, it came to us from the Son, and now the gift comes from us: "Whatever you did to one of the least among you, you did it to me". ... God identifies himself with the hungry, the seek, the naked, the homeless: with those who hunger, not only for bread, but also for love, for attentions, for being someone to someone; with those who are naked, but not of clothes but of the compassion so few give to those whom they don't know; with the homeless, not only because they lack a house of bricks, but because they feel abandoned, with no one.

·        Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him. He knew suffering and solitude. He knows your pain. Wounded, divided, full as you are of pain and wounds, accept Jesus as he comes to your life and recognize him once more when he comes back under the aspect of misery.  Be not afraid in your suffering. God loves you. So miserable, weak, and sinners as we are, and God loves us with a love full of pardon and infinitely faithful.

+ IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT +

Meditation on total surrender

+ IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT +

Total Surrender as a consequence of Loving Trust

Total surrender of our lives to God is a consequence of our loving trust in Him! A consequence of understanding his will for us as a path of freedom, as a path to joy and cheerfulness.

"Our total surrender to God means to be entirely at the disposal of the Father as Jesus and Mary were. In giving ourselves completely to God, because God has given himself (completely) to us, we are entirely at His disposal..." (Constitutions n. 24)

The lyrics of a Spanish song, of which I do not know the author:

"Tres cosas tiene el Amor que no se pueden olvidar:

Que Dios nos amó primero,

que hay que darse por entero (Total Surrender)

y ponerse a caminar... y ponerse a caminar".

(“Love has three things that cannot be forgotten:

That God loved us first,
that we have to surrender completely (to God and to others),
and start walking, … and start walking”.)

God has loved us first (1 John 4):

 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 9 God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

The “reasons of the heart”

"The heart has reasons that reason does not understand", said the French philosopher Paschal.

A false idea of God, blocks total surrender

Behind egoisms there is often a lack of trust in God. A false idea of God. The false idea of a punishing God or even of an evil God.

Nietzsche’s false idea of God: “God cannot exist, because if God existed, he would be like a terrible spider on the world, threatening us to punish our faults in time with eternal punishments. This would destroy human freedom.”

We have to say to Nietzsche: You are wrong. If something becomes clear with the Cross of Christ, a crucified God, is that God is not a spider on the world. God is love, God is mercy, God is forgiveness.

The parable of the talents.

The servant who hides the talent, does it because he fears his master, whom he believes to be corrupt, and evil. Seeking to harvest where he has not planted.

“Do you not realise that what died on the Cross was fear?”

Fear dies on the Cross because death dies on the Cross. Death cannot keep the Author of Life captive.

Hebrews 2:14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.

 17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

“Yee shall know the truth and the truth shall set yee free” (In big stone letters on the main building of the University of Texas at Austin)

John 8:31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples;

 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

 33 They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?"

 34 Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.

 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

The truth about God, seen on the Cross: God is love, mercy, forgiveness.

“Revelation of God, Salvation of Man”. Is the title of the thick book by the well known Catalan Theologian, Dr. Rovira Belloso, teacher of several generations of priests in Catalonia.

God is an infinite mystery of Life and interpersonal love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This mystery has been revealed to mankind through the incarnation of the Eternal Son of God, who has revealed the Father (and the Spirit) to the world. And both, the Father and the Son have sent the promised Holy Spirit, which leads us to the knowledge of God.

The Holy Spirit led the very early Christian community to some understanding of the mystery of the most Holy Trinity. Although it will always remain a mystery beyond our understanding.

Saint Agustin’s famous experience at the sea shore…

Three divine Persons, not three Gods, but one only God. The concept of person is introduced into western thought, thanks to the deep Christian theological discussion about the most Holy Trinity.

"Person", was a term used by the ancient Greek and Latin drama players to designate the mask worn by the actors. "Per sonare", "so that it can be heard", since there were no microphones then.

This term is filled with an entirely new and deeper meaning, and it comes to designate the three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The reality of a personal God. And since we are in his image and likeness: were are also persons, personal beings, with an infinite dignity and worth.

This is an unquestionable contribution of Christianity to the world.

At the time of the Roman Empire, the idea of “personal dignity” of every individual did not exist. This is why slavery was common. "Servus res est", "The slave is a thing", the Romans said. Therefore it could be sold, abused or killed without any problem at all. The new born was often left to die, if the parents did not want him or her.

Christians will show a much more human conduct, which will become very evident to the Roman society.

Christian doctors did not leave Rome when epidemics broke out. Pagan doctors did leave the city to avoid death. The difference was evident to all, and brought many to Christ.

Nowadays, with the faith crisis in our world, there is a certain return to paganism and its inhumanity. The personal identity of the embryo and of the unborn is questioned. While the Church teaching is loud and clear: whenever we have human life, from the very moment of conception, we have a human person, with its infinity worth and dignity, being Image and Likeness of God.

Human beings in the embryo phase are being frozen, destined to experimentation, clonation, or destruction. Every year 50.000.000. children are killed in the mother’s womb, through abortion. More than 1.400.000.000. in the world, since 1973, year of the depenalization of this crime in the USA. A fourth of humanity is missing.

And these are only surgical abortions; the chemical ones, which are the majority, fruit of the famous pill of “the day after”, or those resulting from other abortive anticonception practices, are impossible to count. We are in what has been called a Culture of death. A culture that needs to rediscover the mystery of the human being image and likeness of a personal God. Most abortion laws, and laws that allow the manipulation and destructions of embryos, say: “the unborn is not a person”.

The mystery of evil, and Heaven and Hell

Sometimes the wrong idea of a punishing God comes from the great difficulty of minimally understanding the mystery of evil and hell.

An atheist professor tried to convince his students that God did not exist; that God could not exist.

He asked them in class: "Did God create all things?"

They answered: "Yes he did".

He asked them: "Does evil exist in the world?"

They answered: "Yes it does".

He then said: "Therefore God created evil, didn't he?"

The students did not know what to say. It certainly seemed an impossible puzzle to solve. If evil existed, then God had created it. If God had created evil, then either God did not exist or God was and evil god.

But, suddenly, a young student stood up and asked the professor: “Sir, may I ask you a question?”

The professor said: “Of course, go ahead”.

The student asked: "Sir, does cold exist?"

The professor answered: "Of course cold exists; have you never experienced cold?"

The student answered: "Sorry, Sir, but, properly speaking, we could say that cold does not exist. What does exist is heat. And the absence of heat we call 'cold'".

The student further asked: "Sir, does darkness exist?"

To which the professor responded: "Of course darkness exists, have you never been in a dark room?"

The student answered: "Sir, to be exact, we can say that darkness does not exist. What does exist is light, and the absence of light we call 'darkness'".

And he went on to say: "In the same way, Sir, properly speaking, we can say that evil does not exist either. What does exist is LOVE, and the lack of love we call 'evil'".

This young student was Albert Einstein, who would become the greatest scientist of all times. A Jew and a great believer in God. He often expressed a great admiration for the mind he discovered behind creation.

Therefore, to the troubling question of how such a good and loving God can coexist with something as terrible as evil and Hell, we can say: God did not create evil and he does not condemn anyone either. It is the individual who, making use of his or her freedom, chooses to live with God or away from God. To Love God wholeheartedly, to Surrender Totally to Him, or to part from his presence. The absolute coldness and darkness of the Absence of He who is the warmth of Love and Light, is evil and Hell.

I Thirst

Total surrender to God is also fruit of the understanding that God thirst for my response to his love for me

Pope Benedict the XVI, in his last encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Love). Says that God, as love, is not only Agape (Spiritual love that expects nothing in return), but is also, in some way, Eros (a love that thirsts for my personal response).

To show this, the Pope points to the many texts in the Bible where the sponsal relationship of God with his people is expressed in terms of human love.

Hosea 2:13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD.

 14 Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

 15 From there I will give her her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

 16 On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, "My husband," and no longer will you call me, "My Baal."

Saint Agustin, in his famous work, Confessions, says: "What am I, to you, my God, me apparently an insignificant part of your creation, that you ask me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And if I don't do it, you threaten me with the worst of miseries."

The first "commandment" or Word of God (DABAR) to us:

Deuteronomy 5:6 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

 7 you shall have no other gods before me.

...

16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

...

28 The LORD heard your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me: "I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they are right in all that they have spoken.

 29 If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!

(Catalan version: so that them and their children would be for ever joyful)

...

2 You must therefore be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left.

 33 You must follow exactly the path that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.

...

6:1 Now this is the commandment-- the statutes and the ordinances-- that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy,

 2 so that you and your children and your children's children may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.

 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.

 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,

 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

0 When the LORD your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you-- a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,

 11 houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant-- and when you have eaten your fill,

 12 take care that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 13 The LORD your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear.

 14 Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you,

 15 because the LORD your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the LORD your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.

 16 Do not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.

 17 You must diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his decrees, and his statutes that he has commanded you.

 18 Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may go in and occupy the good land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give you,

 19 thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

 20 When your children ask you in time to come, "What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?"

 21 then you shall say to your children, "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

 22 The LORD displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household.

 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors.

 24 Then the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our lasting good (Catalan version: so that we will be for ever joyful), so as to keep us alive, as is now the case.

 25 If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right."

Call to total surrender to God, as a warning against Idolatry!!

A warning against having other gods. Our God is a jealous God, because only God can be our happiness and total fulfilment. And He wants us to be happy and totally fulfilled for ever.

Turn to me and be saved, for I am God, and there is no other

Is 45:20 Assemble yourselves and come together, draw near, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge-- those who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.

 21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no one besides me.

 22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

 23 By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."

 24 Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; all who were incensed against him shall come to him and be ashamed.

 25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall triumph and glory.

The first “commandment” in the Gospels

Matthew 22: 34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,

 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

 36 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

 37 He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

 38 This is the greatest and first commandment.

 39 And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Mark 12:28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

 29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;

 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

 31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

 32 Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other';

 33 and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbour as oneself,'-- this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Lk 10: 5 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?"

 27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself."

 28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

The fascinating example of the saints’ total surrender

Saint Therese of Avila: After long years of a lukewarm religious life, one day contemplating the image of a suffering Christ on the Cross, she decides deep inside to lead a radically new life in total surrender to God's will, with the lemma: "To suffer or to die".

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: His whole family follows him to the monastery for a life of prayer and penance, which Saint Bernard made very appealing with his tremendous enthusiasm for Christ.

Saint Benedict: two years in a "horrible and difficult cave" near Rome, where he had gone escaping the corrupt atmosphere of the great city. He will attract thousands of followers who will enthusiastically evangelize the Pagan Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empire. The monasteries, under the marvelous Rule of Saint Benedict, will become schools of love, humility and obedience, following the example of Christ who humbled himself and became obedient for our salvation even to the point of dying on a Cross.

Total surrender an the evangelization

Total surrender to God in the difficult work of evangelization, a task of all the Church.

Paul's testimony,

2 Co 11:18 since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast.

 19 For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves!

 20 For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face.

 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone dares to boast of-- I am speaking as a fool-- I also dare to boast of that.

 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

 23 Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman-- I am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death.

 24 Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters;

 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.

 28 And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.

 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

On the urgent need to communicate Christ to others, two stories about two modern Pauls:

A modern Paul, in Texas

A modern Paul, in Barcelona, la Señora Viñas

Some thoughts from "the Constitutions"

"Jesus trusted His Father with an unshakeable trust. His trust was the fruit of His intimate knowledge and love of the Father." (Constitutions n. 23)

Luke 23:46: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

John 15: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; remain in my love.

John 17:24: You loved me before the foundation (creation) of the world.

John 10:30 and 17:22: The Father and I are one.

"Our total surrender to God means to be entirely at the disposal of the Father as Jesus and Mary were. In giving ourselves completely to God, because God has given himself (completely) to us, we are entirely at His disposal..." (Constitutions n. 24)

John 15:

5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

Cheerfulness….

+ IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT +

Meditation on Cheerfulness

+ IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT +

Cheerfulness, the outward expression of inner joy and peace, is the fruit of Loving Trust and Total Surrender to God.

It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit within us:

Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness,

 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions,

 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,

 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Deep joy and cheerfulness is the fruit of a life of true and humble holiness and "service" to God (to serve God is to reign) and others.

Let us learn cheerfulness from the children

The little girl who could not pray the Our Father

Saint John Marie Vianney, in a small country village in France (during the revolutionary times) found a little peasant girl, and during a simple conversation with her asked her:

"Little girl, do you pray de the Our Father?"

The little girl, very saddened, answered: "No, I cannot pray the Our Father".

"Why?", Saint John Marie asked, "why can you not pray the Our Father?"

And with tears in her eyes, she told him:

"I cannot pray the Our Father because when I say the first word, Father, and I think that the Good God (Le bon Dieu) is my dad in Heaven, I am so deeply moved that I start to cry, and I cannot continue to pray. I cannot pray the Our Father".

Jesus asks us to learn from Children

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

 2 He called a child, whom he put among them,

 3 and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Mt 19:13 Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them;

 14 but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."

Mt 21:12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."

 14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.

 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became angry

 16 and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself'?"

Mark 9:33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"

 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.

 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."

 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,

 37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Mk 10:13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.

 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."

 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Luke 18:15 People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it.

 16 But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

 17 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."

1 Peter 2:1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.

 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation--

 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Jesus, the great teacher of Israel is speaking. Some want to bring some children to Jesus so that he can bless them. But the disciples think that their master has too many important things to say, to have time to waste with those children. Their surprise must have been great when they see that not only does Jesus wants the children to come to him, but he says that we have to learn from them and be like them, if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Children are, in fact, the best teachers of:

Loving Trust (in their parents, from whom they receive everything).

Total Surrender (they have no other option than to put their lives in the hands of their parents).

Cheerfulness (they normally play and laugh all day long. They leave all the worries of life to their parents. Jesus calls us to do the same with his teaching on the flowers of the fields and the birds in the sky).

We don't talk about being childish

1 Corinthians 3:1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,

 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant

 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;

 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

Ephesians 4:11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,

 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.

Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;

 9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

 10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

 11 About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding.

 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food;

 13 for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness.

 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

The joy and cheerfulness of admiration in the face of life and existence.

The story about a child on the Andes. Told by a missionary to the Christian community of the Sagrada Familia Parish in Barcelona, to awaken our missionary and cheerful evangelizing spirit.

“A little girl lived high up on the mountains, with her grandmother, in a humble mud cabin. One night the little girl gets up from bed and goes outside the cabin, and gazes in awe at the sky which was almost white with stars. She had never seen the sky at night so amazingly white with stars, and so she run into the cabin to awaken her grandmother.

"Grandma, grandma, quick, quick, come out, come out ..."

The grandmother was tired and did not want to get up from bed.

The little girl insisted: "Grandma, grandma, ... come, quick, I must show you something incredible..."

Finally, the grandmother accepted to come out with her granddaughter and see what she wanted to show her.

The girl, pointing to the stars said: “Grandma, look, look…!!”

She looked up at the night sky white with stars. She had seen it many times and was no longer impressed. She went back to sleep; she was very tired. She left her daughter gazing at that marvel of the universe in utter awe and admiration.”

My brothers and sisters, if creation is awesome, even more awesome is the God who is behind creation, and REDEMPTION. Let us ask God to have the child’s vision on life, on salvation, on the Saving Cross and Resurrection, on the Hope of Eternal Life…

Let us run away from the dullness of routine. “Oh priest of God, celebrate this Mass as if it was your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass.”

Joan Oró. Catalonia's NASA scientist, in Houston

Joan Oró was a young boy in Lleida, Catalonia. His father was a baker, and he would stay up many nights helping at his father's bakery, to have the bread ready early in the morning. He would often walk outside, at night, and gaze in admiration at the stars.

He was not at all satisfied, he would claim, about the answer to his questions on life and the universe given by religion. He dreamt about becoming a great scientist and discovering, one day, the secret behind the mystery of life and the universe.

As a university student he went to the University of Houston, in Texas, and eventually became one of the leading NASA scientists. His main preoccupation was to discover the origin of life in the universe, and he was part of the NASA team set up for this very purpose. He had the opportunity to personally analyze the stones brought back to earth by the Apollo missions to the moon, as well as the stones brought back by later missions to other planets.

I met Dr. Joan Oró at the University of Houston. I was a young university student and he was a world famous scientist. We were both part of the small Catalan community in Houston. I remember him to be a very humble and gentle man.

Towards the end of his life, he developed a most surprising theory on the origin of life in the universe. He was convinced that life, any form of life, even human life, was the result of chance. He apparently did not believe in God. He did not see the creating mind behind creation of which Albert Einstein talked about. Chance, he thought, had to be the explanation of it all. He thought that every certain number of galaxies (a large number, no doubt), there had to be "an intelligent civilisation".

"Joan, hold on to your faith"

Later on I moved to Austin, from Houston, and lost touch with Dr. Oró. Who, by the way, has recently died, back in his home Catalonia. There, in Austin, I kept growing in the faith and discovering many wonderful things about the Word of God, and the meaning of life in the light of faith, mostly thanks to my evangelical friends on campus.

But one day, someone told me something that sunk me into a deep depression and confusion. This atheist friend of mine, an economics doctoral student, whom I admired for his intelligence, told me that my talk about God did not have any sense because we are only "twenty five cents worth of chemicals". There was no soul, no spirit, no God, nothing but impersonal chemistry...

During the whole academic year I was not able to concentrate at all. I failed all my courses, which was a terrible humiliation for me, accustomed, up to then, to quite good grades most of the time. My most troubling problem was that I was not able to convince myself that my friend was wrong, that the soul did exist, that the spirit did exist, that God did exist. But reason alone was not able to convince me. I remember looking at my body with great anxiety and asking myself: “where is the soul? Am I only chemistry?”

I was renting a room to an good and gentle old Catholic lady, Ms. Zivley, who was an institution of campus. She run a typing service and was much loved by all the students on campus. I went to her in desperation at the end of the academic year and told her about my great problem. I had failed all the subjects, because I could not concentrate, unable to give a self-convincing answer to an intelligent friend of mine who had told me that my talk about God did not make any sense, since (supposedly) we were simply "twenty-five cents worth of chemicals". She later told me that she had observed me during the academic year, and had never seen a young man so troubled as I was; and she had seen thousands through the years.

She listened to me attentively and then said the words that became, for me, the light at the end of the tunnel. Holding her fists tightly closed in front of me, as if strongly holding on to something, she said to me: "Joan, hold on to your faith... hold on to your faith".

I did not immediately understand what she meant by that, and what faith had to do with my problem. But later, little by little, I realised that that was the key to the issue: FAITH; IT WAS A MATTER OF FAITH, AND NOT ONLY REASON. The difference between my friend and I was not intelligence but FAITH. I had faith and he did not.

Faith and Reason: the “two wings” of the Human Spirit

Later on, in my theological studies, I learned that the church teaches that the human spirit has two wings: Faith and reason. They are both needed "to fly", to grasp the meaning of life and of the universe. Faith, or Loving Trust, in God, our creator, sheds a powerful light on us, illuminating our mind, our reasoning. At the same time, our faith has to be reasonable. In other words, it has to bring reasonable answers to real questions. These answers cannot contradict reason. Faith is reasonable, we cannot believe in a square circle, but is not the fruit of reason.

Faith is from the heart, which has its “own reasons, that reason does not always understand”, as Paschal said. Faith is an act of Loving Trust in God, our Creator, and Saviour. “Love believes all things, hopes all things”.

In the face of atheism I have the right to feel sad and offended

Shortly after my “enlightening” conversation with Ms. Zivley, a young preacher came on campus with a very comforting message. He had just been preaching at Harvard, which, by the way, started out as a protestant theology school. In a big auditorium, speaking to several hundred students, who were listening to him with great interest, among many other things he said the following.

"When I hear someone say that the universe, and life in it, is fruit of chance, I personally feel quite offended. I feel as offended as would have felt the son of Miguel Angelo, the famous painter of the marvelous Sistine Chapel, if he had entered the chapel with a friend of his, from school, after the chapel was finally completed, and this friend would have commented: 'how strange, someone must have thrown paint to the ceiling, and it has dried out in this incredible way'.

The son of Miguel Angelo would have been greatly offended because what was on the ceiling was not the work o chance, but the work of his father, who had put into it all his love and intelligence.”

“My brothers and sisters, God has put all his love and intelligence into creation, and so we do have the right to feel offended when someone says that it is all the result of impersonal chance."

Admiration about the incredible gift of life and existence: “We have all been –not us, really, but the atoms in us- inside of a star.”

In the Catalan School of Theology, in a subject on Faith and Science, the priest giving the course explained the following. At the beginning of the universe, some 15.000. million years ago, what appears are the most simple elements, mostly hydrogen: one electron, one proton, and one neutron. The universe is, apparently, more than 95 % hydrogen. The clouds of this simple gas gather up and form the stars. Inside the stars, due to the tremendous pressures and temperatures, atomic fusion reactions take place, as a result of which hydrogen atoms fuse together to form a more complex gas, Helium (the other main component of the Universe. All other elements don’t amount to more that 1% of the mass in the Universe). Much energy is liberated in the process, which is the origin of the light and heat that comes to us from our star, the sun.

At the heart of the stars, at incredible temperature and pressure, other atomic reactions take place which produce all the other, more complex, elements in the universe. Among them the elements that will make life possible: Carbon, Nitrogen, etc...

When the star has consumed all its hydrogen, after thousands of millions of years, it eventually expands and dies out with a great explosion. This explosion sends to the universe all the elements that have been "cooked" inside. The elements that will eventually become the living beings, thanks to the intelligence and love of our creating God.

Every element in us has been “cooked” at the heart of a star!!

Therefore, we can say, and scientist do say it, that we are "star dust".

"I did not exist, I exist and I will exist for ever", says a Christian author (Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguory?).

"God has given me the gift of life so that I will experience the joy of being a gift to others" (A Catalan priest, founder of the Arrels Foundation, which ministers to the homeless, specially in the marginalised district of Raval, in Barcelona.)

The dark night of the soul: enemy of cheerfulness?

A prelude of a greater intimacy with God, and deeper more solid inner joy.

When human lights go off, we can see the light from God above.

"Do not cry at night, because tears will not let you see the stars".

Saint John of the Cross:

“Oh precious night that joined the lover with the beloved. O precious night more radiant than the dawn.”

In the midst of “exquisite suffering”, inflicted by the very own members of his order, who did not want to be reformed, John writes one of the greatest pages of Christian mysticism: The Dark Night of the Soul.

“Oh, how well do I know the fountain that runs and flows though it is night.”

Saint Francis' "perfect joy"

St. Therese of Lissieux, will be able to smile in the last moments of her terrible agony, and say as her last words: "Oh my God, how much do I love you".

The dark night of the Church

Sadness may come to us in discovering or being scandalised by the miseries in us and in the church.

Martin Luther asked his good friend Erasmus of Rotterdam: "why do you stay in this so corrupt church". Erasmus answered: "I stay in this so corrupt church in the hope that one day it will be better; in the same way that the church accepts me with all my faults, in the hope that one day I will be better."

Internal secularization of the church, probably the main problem in the church today

The greatest problem in the church today, according to the bishops in Spain, is the problem of the Internal secularization of the Church. Their document Teologia y secularización, has been praised by the Vatican and proposed as a model for all bishops' conferences around the world. In summary, it says that the spirit of the secularised world has entered the church. Within the church there is a spirit of dissent, of not agreeing with the hierarchy. As if the true church was the "democratic" non-hierarchical church, and the hierarchical church, lead by the pope and the bishops, was not the true church. What the church teaches "officially", does not reach the laity, because different church groups with their representatives in theology schools, have another "non-official" opinion. This brings about great confusion and tension into the church.

Two thought by Paul, on cheerfulness

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

 5 Let your gentleness ( or cheerfulness) be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Romans 12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;

 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;

 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

 9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;

 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.

 12 Rejoice in hope (Catalan Version: Let Hope fill you with joy), be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.

 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

 20 No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads."

 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let hope, the hope of eternal life, fill you with joy

A cheerful deacon

A married deacon in Barcelona, was famous for his constant cheerfulness, in spite of his marriage problems and other problems in his life. When asked about the cause of his joy, he would always answer with a great smile in his face: “Eternal Life awaits me”.

“Qué Guay, vius per sempre” (How great, alive for ever!!)

On the day of the burial of my grandmother, not too long ago. My nephews, with ages between 5 and 12, were very sad and disturbed seeing how a dead person whom they had loved so much, was put into a whole in a cemetery, inside of a coffin.

Their uncle priest decided to do some catechesis on the hope for eternity that Faith gives us. I told them:

Do you see these cypress trees in this cemetery?

They are saying two things, and the second one is even more important than the first one.

They are saying: “these bodies are buried here, but their souls are not here, their souls are with God in Heaven.”

Where does the cypress tree point to?, I asked them, and they all responded like a little choir: “to heaven”.

And the other thing they say is: “Notice that we are ever green. If you come here twelve months a year you will see that we are always green. Therefore we are symbol of the risen immortal body. These bodies, one day, on the great Day of the Resurrection, at the end of time, will come back to life, will rise from the dead, not to die again, immortal”.

When my nephew, Max, who is 10 years old, heard this, he exclaimed from the depths of his soul: “Qué Guay, vius per sempre” (How great, alive for ever!!).

Let not sin take away cheerfulness from your lives

If there was “red button” that would allow us to be free from sin and suddenly become holy, most of us would rapidly press this button. But this button does not exist.

Human life is a constant battle. But Christ has won the victory on the Cross. Our Faith, our Loving Trust in God, which has to lead us to Total Surrender to God (who sets us free) and to others, is our victory. And Cheerfulness should be the outward expression of that victory.

And please, remember, what Jesus tells you every day of your life:

“Love me as you are, do not wait to holy, to love me, otherwise you would never love me. I love you as you are, in your best moments and in your worst moments. Therefore, you should do the same: love me as you are, in fervor and in dryness, in fidelity and in infidelity. I love you with an unconditional fatherly and motherly love. The moment will come when  you will be a better person but, for the moment, I love you as you are. Do not wait to be holy, in order to love me, otherwise you would never love me.”

A final thought by Mother Teresa:

"A cheerful missionary of Charity is a net that catches souls".

As Peter did, we also “fish” at night. We, in the midst of the darkness in the world, and sometimes, in our own dark night, we attract souls towards Christ with the light of our Cheerfulness. A cheerfulness which is the fruit of our Loving Trust and Total Child-like Surrender to our Saving God, who sets us free, and to our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. In this we are always moved by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Eternal Love of God poured into our hearts.

+ IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT +