“For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20)

In the beginning, the Apostles were not able to accept the testiomny of the others, they couldn’t believe it – until they really met Jesus after His resurrection.

And then they couldn’t refrain from speaking about it.

Today, when the pace of life is crazy, and we are told to observe proprieties and to follow changing fashions, we feel awkward about admitting to our faith and speaking openly about it. We find it difficult to share the experience of what God does for us in our lives. And many people would believe in Him, if we were able to talk about Him openly.

That’s why I encourage you to make that step! Maybe at home, maybe at work, maybe at the grocer’s, and maybe here, in this blog, in the “comments” section?

Feel invited!

Dosia

“I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18)
When Mary Magdalene, the first to have come to the tomb, saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance – she didn’t understand the sign.

Later she saw two Angels in the tomb – and still she did not understand.

She saw Jesus talking to her – and she didn’t recognize Him.

But Jesus didn’t give up. He stayed by her, calling her by the name and giving as many signs as she needed not to doubt.

What’s interesting in this event is that she was persistently coming back to the tomb. She was looking for the Lord and asking everybody about Him. She wept. She missed Him.

Encouraged by this story, I know that it’s essential for me to meet the Risen Christ personally. He is present in sacraments. He gives me the signs of His presence in various ways and through various people. I may always meet Him, if only I desire and seek to meet Him. He’s seeking for me all the time – so that I wouldn’t fail to meet and recognize Him.

Dosia

“Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” (John 13:38)

Even though He had known in advance Peter’s faults, Jesus did not write him off. Even though He knows our weaknesses – He never writes us off.

In His presence we don’t have to – and we shouldn’t – pretend to be anybody else than we are.

Dosia

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Jesus offers the truth that liberates.

Every day, from the morning on, I learn to use the gift of freedom. And this is not easy at all, since the impulse to dominate and to fulfill my selfish needs makes me try to subordinate my husband and children and thus abuse this gift.

And yet Jesus wants me to see HIM in the other person, so in my closest family as well. He wants me to renounce myself and to change – not the others, but myself.

Then I’ll really be free.

Dosia

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.” (John 5:39)

Not only is studying the Scriptures difficult – as it takes quite some time and effort – but accepting their message is even more demanding. Mere “study” at the level of the intellect is not enough: you have to let the Word touch you and guide you.

Your lifelong love affair with the Bible may start with reading the excerpts selected for everyday Mass. They are God’s personal letter to you, they shed light on your life situation and they give this unusual sense of being united with the members of the Church in the whole world, because we all listen to the same Word.

Reading the Bible is like sitting at the feet of Jesus – close to a Friend, who speaks directly to you. To you and to me. There are times you may not understand a friend of yours, and so it may happen here. If you spend enough time with Him day by day, you’ll eventually find the explanation of things that are beyond grasp today.

Dosia

“Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 4:1)

And Jesus didn’t change the Law, but He fulfilled it in Himself. And He repeated the promise: “Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19)

Just look how much the Lord loves us: he never gives up encouraging us to stay faithful.

Maybe it will be easier to meet our commitments if we offer each other a well-meaning support?

Dosia

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him” (Jeremiah 17:7)

If you entrust your needs and expectations to the Lord, He will satisfy them all in His own perfect way.

The need for self-esteem and recognition? – “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine!” (Isaiah 43:1)

The need for safety? – “The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand” (Psalm 121:5)

For being understood? – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)

For strength? – “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13)

And finally:

Love? “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 17:7)

Dosia

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:45

It’s good that God’s sense of justice is so completely different from the human version of it, because we’re always given another chance – despite our weaknesses and failures.

So let’s be grateful for God’s mercy, for His love, which accepts us as we are. His love comes always before everything else; it heals, liberates and changes the old into the new.

Dosia

“… your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,..” (Matthew 6:7-15)

Isn’t that wonderful that we’ve got the Father in heaven? And that we are the heirs of heaven? And that He looks after us all the time? And that we may actually call Him “Abba, Dad”?

Today is our Children’s Day, too!

Dosia

When he went out after this, he noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting at the tax office, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ (Luke 5:27)

Tax – a charge imposed by the state for transportation of goods across its borders (dictionary definition).

My home – my castle, my state. In my state, it is ME who collects taxes by imposing my will, my mood, my laziness or my selfish attitudes upon the others. And it is ME whom He calls to follow Him. And not only that. IT IS ME He wants to stay with, because He knows how much I need Him.

Dosia