“I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.” (2 Tm 1: 6-8)
Our Lord asks us “to bear our share of hardship for the Gospel” and not to “be ashamed of our testimony to Him,” but, at the same moment, He knows that we need help; we need “the strength that comes from God.” He is always ahead of us: He is always pouring out His grace upon us, and we can trust His grace and His presence with us more than our abilities. He is with us always, especially when we serve Him in our brothers and sisters, with “a spirit of power and love and self-control.”
“Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Lk 6: 45)
My heart can be a store—a store of goodness or a store of evil. This is my responsibility and my concern, what I will put into my store. From my storage I can produce either good or evil. When my heart is full of God’s words, collected from daily readings, my retreats and meetings with my merciful God in the Sacrament of Reconcilliation, we can produce good much easier.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom 8: 13).
St. Paul often uses these opposites: in the spirit—in the flesh. The first calls us to life, to eternity, to everlasting communion with God—the second calls us to the world, to life from my perspective and focused on my pleasure. His conclusion is so sharp: “you will live”—“you will die”.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed the man who seeks refuge in him” (Communion Antiphon).
“…you are to be His witness before all humanity, testifying to what you have seen and heard.” (Act 22:15)
Saul. A persecutor. “Sent women as well as men to prison in chains” (Act 22:4).
St. Paul. A witness. “HIS witness before all humanity”.
They look like two different people. From our perspective. From God’s – the same love for Saul and to St. Paul. And He repeats the same message: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).
Me and St. Me. It sounds like an opposition from our perspective, but not from God’s.
“O God, who taught the whole world through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Paul, draw us, we pray, nearer to you through the example of him, whose conversion we celebrate today, and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world…” (Collect)
“Follow Me” (Mk 2:14)
He said to Matthew. I am so happy that He looks at us in a totally different way than other people do. ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mk 2:16).
I think Heaven is full of people who, if it had depended on us, would have received the permission to be accepted to purgatory at the most.
He invited tax collectors and sinners to accompany Him. He has also invited us. He has invited you to be a husband or wife, not because you are faultless, but because He loves you and knows your potential. And He gave you the best person in the world to help you to be that kind of person.
“Follow me” is to join Him in our daily life. With prayer we are able to be more focused on our vocation. With Him we are able to see the others in a different perspective. Like He sees us. He saw Mathew’s heart, not his profession. He saw his future, not the past. His saw in him an apostle, God’s child and evangelist.
How do you look at your husband or wife – do you see their past or their potential?
The only way to learn how to look at the other people is to look at Our Lord and ask Him for His eyes and His heart to see the others properly. We all need to follow Him.
“Remain in Him” (1 John 2:27)
A simple instruction: remain in Him. It is about intimacy with God. And it is about our private internal dialogue. Whom have you invited to be a part of your daily internal conversation? Who is your first adviser to ask for comments for daily situations? Because if you don’t let Him into your own monolgue, and if you don’t let Him remain your chief interlocutor, your internal dialogue will remain the same and nothing will ever change. You know too well all these daily comments: he/she doesn’t understand me, I’m so lonely, everybody is using me, no one appreciates my work, etc.
But if you train your internal dialogue to take place in close proximity with Our Lord, you will receive the best comments possible. With Him your heart will grow, your eyes will be open to see good things in you, your life and all around, and your ears will hear the Good News – even if it’s hidden in the conflicting emotions. He will appear in the comments you offer to the others.
“In times past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets: in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son” (Alleluia verse)
“This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.(…) Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”.(Ne 8: 9 – 10)
Although today is Thursday and not Sunday, I can still give it to the Lord and see things I can thank for and feel joy. I can appreciate my nearest and dearest, concentrate on the good in them. I can be thankful and from gratitude there’s only one step to real joy.
„I am thankful:
– when I can tidy up after a meeting because it means that I have friends;
– for the taxes I pay because it means that I have revenues;
– for the clothes that are too tight because it means that I have something to eat;
– for the lawn to mow and the house to paint because it means I have somewhere to live (…).
– for the tiredness and pain in my muscles because it means that I have worked hard;
– for the alarm clock that wakes me up in the morning because it means that I can live another day.” (Lasse Lundberg)*
It can be so helpful to change the way you think.
Have a good day!
Basia
*From the book of Liv Larsson “Gratitude and happiness as a lifestyle”, 2011.
Apparently, people need twelve hugs a day to feel well. These may be physical, verbal or visual hugs.
This is so because we need food for our feelings, a food coming from other people or spiritual food that we get from prayer or meditation*.
I must agree with it when I watch our kids, who, by their nature, need much hugging all the time, even in a conflict situation.
I must agree with it when I am waiting for and appreciate each good word, a compliment from my husband, children and friends.
I must agree with it when I experience extraordinary peace and appreciation when I spend time with God at the Adoration. He has seen me and could say a lot of good things about me whan I was still under the fig tree.
“When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
(John 1: 47-48)
If it is so, I shall hug today, in a more aware way, above all those whom I love very much, so that they never doubt that. And I wish the same to you.
Have a nice day.
* read in “7 Habits of Highly Effective Families” by Stephen R. Covey
Dorota
When I reflected on today’s Gospel, I thought about different crop that the same seed can bring. Isn’t it just like with our different duties, things to do, for example making a tea or a coffee for somebody. Can we talk here about different amounts of crop?
I thought that maybe if we co this tea right, the crop may be thirty times what was sown. If we do it willingly, it may be sixty times, and if joyfully – a hundred times. Right, willingly, joyfully. The same thing to do and we can express with it so much.
Today I am sending you my greetings as joyfully as I can:)
Father Jarosław
On the beach by brother tells me a joke:
– For seventeen years of our marriage you have been correcting me every time I say something.
– Eighteen.
On the trams I sometimes saw the inspiring slogan “Keep the distance”. Also in a marriage if we don’t keep the distance we might come to the erroneous conclusion that the spouse is only good for corercting. Weithout the distance that presupposes respect for differences we are not talent hunters we do not care for good and do not support the development. We are then rather a toxine that clips the wings. But there’s a chance even for the couple from that joke: eighteen years is still something else than fifty years. The parrot sentence “you’re wrong” can still be reprogrammed to “It’s very interesting, why do you think so?”.
M
