Author Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 1847392 times)

cassini · « **Reply #165 on:** July 03, 2026, 01:53:49 PM »

The Prevailing Spirit Leads to Success or Failure
As a human being you are composed of three parts: body, soul, and spirit. Your body gives you a physical presence; your soul gives you your intellect, will, and consciousness; and your spirit is the dimension of your soul that enables you to commune with God and with others. Your spirit is always influenced by either the Holy Spirit because you either follow Jesus or Satan’s spirit because you follow the world of which he is king. Thus, examining your spirit as to which spirit is influencing you is very important. St. Ignatius of Loyola emphasized the importance of discerning the dominant spirit in a person’s life. Is it the spirit of God or the spirit of evil, the spirit of consolation or desolation that is influencing your spirit? Discernment is very important because the evil spirit disguises himself as a good spirit. It’s easy to be fooled. Someone said, “Be careful who you trust, salt and sugar look alike!” The dominant spirit within us determines to whom we’re attaching ourselves. The Holy Spirit unlocks the rich depths of what God has given you, while a selfish spirit directs you to what’s convenient or easy. Every football coach knows the importance of his team having a winning spirit. To be part of a successful team it’s essential for every member to be motivated by a winning spirit. There’s a saying that goes, “If you think you can, you will. If you think you can’t, you won’t.” The same is true for any group striving to achieve its purpose. The Holy Spirit leads the creature to the Creator who is the source of his or her strength, which is necessary for success while an evil spirit leads the creature away from the Creator, which brings failure and a loss of happiness.

What’s Necessary to Belong to Jesus?

Jesus’ Church warns us that, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9). To be Christian is to belong to Christ made possible by being initiated into His Church in the Sacrament of Baptism. That requires adhering to His teaching, obeying His Commandments, and practicing His Beatitudes. But we can’t belong to Jesus unless we freely choose His Spirit to influence ours. Productive human relationships require the mutual acceptance of one another’s spirit through which we communicate and achieve unity with one another. Similarly, relationship with Jesus requires us to freely allow our spirit to be led by His Spirit since “… no one can say: ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). To reject a person’s spirit is to reject the person and what he or she stands for in terms of his or her principles. Rejecting a person’s spirit closes you off to his or her soul since the spirit is the dimension of the soul that makes communication possible with God and with one another.

What’s Necessary to Act Like Jesus?

We should constantly ask God the Father to send us the Holy Spirit so that we can daily embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior of our life and welcome Him to dwell in our soul with His Father and the Holy Spirit. To embrace a person’s spirit is to allow oneself to be influenced by him or her. We know we’ve received Jesus’ Spirit when we act like Him. Therefore it’s important to know how Jesus acted. Actions express your values; values express your habits (virtues or vices); habits express your character; character expresses your identity. Christian actions express Christ’s values, especially the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity along with the natural virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. Practicing these virtues create good habits, which create good character, which create a Christian character.
Over 500 years prior to Jesus’ birth the prophet Zechariah foretold Jesus’ values: “See, your King shall come to you; a just Savior is He, meek, and riding on a donkey … He shall banish the chariot … the warrior’s bow, and He shall proclaim peace to the nations” (Zec 9:9-10). God’s Spirit inspired the Psalmist to reveal that, “The Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all His works. … The Lord is faithful in all His words, and holy in all His works, the Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Ps 145:8-9, 13-14). Jesus is God-in-the-flesh, now resurrected from the dead but still present in His Church’s teaching, in her Sacraments, and community through the power of the Holy Spirit which He bestowed on Peter and the other Apostles and their successors. When your spirit is led by the Holy Spirit you act like Jesus by practicing what He values, namely meekness, humility and peace, mercy, anger controlled by charity, kindness, compassion, faithfulness, goodness, holiness, helpfulness toward the weak, and prayerfulness. So when we uphold these values and practice these virtues we know that Jesus’ Spirit is influencing our spirit and that we belong to Him as members of His holy Church.

Inviting the Holy Spirit to Influence Your Spirit

We should begin each day asking the Holy Spirit to guide our spirit throughout the day by praying, “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your divine love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructed the hearts of the faithful, grant that by that same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.” Receiving Jesus’ Spirit gives us a hopeful future, based on His promises and not on wishful thinking. “If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through His Spirit that dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). It’s the Holy Spirit that enables us to trust in Jesus’ assurance of help in our trials when He bids us to, “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt 11:28-30). Jesus’ yoke is submission to His Father’s will. God’s will is never a burden because He doesn’t ask us to do anything without giving us the necessary grace for its accomplishment. As Christians we never have to carry our burdens alone. Through the Holy Spirit we are empowered not by our learning and cleverness but by becoming like little children trusting in Jesus. Christ’s Spirit is God’s love in action in our lives purifying our communion with Him and with one another. Therefore, in Mother Teresa’s words: “Today recall the love of God for you and for me. His love is so tender. His love is so great, so real, so alive that Jesus came just to teach us that------namely, how to love.” That love becomes real and effective in us when the prevailing spirit guiding our spirit is Jesus’ Spirit. The influence of the Holy Spirit over your human spirit is the key to Christian living. Being a Christian doesn’t create Heaven on earth, but it does point the earth towards Heaven and towards the height of human happiness. Let the Holy Spirit be the prevailing Spirit in your life, enlightening, encouraging, enlarging, and enhancing your soul so that you can make more room for Him to work in you and through you. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, welcome Jesus Christ as the honored Guest of your soul on a daily basis through fully participating in His Church where He meets all your spiritual needs in the reception of her Sacraments, especially in the Holy Mass. The spirit of the creature is fulfilled only in the Spirit of the Creator. Amen! (fr sean)

Incredulous · « **Reply #166 on:** July 03, 2026, 02:24:37 PM »

Thank you the beautiful instruction and meditation Cassini.

cassini · « **Reply #167 on:** July 18, 2026, 12:29:33 PM »

What Is the pH of Your Soul

On a scale of 1-5, with “1” indicating the statement is “Not true of me at all,” “2” somewhat true, “3” mostly true, and “4” “Definitely true of me,” how would you assess the impact of God’s Word on the way you live your life? It is important to assess ourselves periodically on the reality and depth of our Faith in Christ as He calls us to be faithful members of His Church - His body on earth.

Rate Your Faith

Jesus identifies the different levels of receptivity His Word receives from those who have been exposed to it in Matthew 13: 1-23. Which soil do you think you have been, are now, and want to be? This gives us a basis for assessing ourselves on our Christian Faith and practice.

Use the following 20 and rate your answers from 1 to 4 and be honest because when you die you can’t avoid the truth that will either free you or imprison you:

1. I make a sincere effort to heed God’s Word by reading the Bible and attending Holy Mass. 1 2 3 4

2. I sincerely look for God in other people and in creation. 1 2 3 4

3. I have a good understanding of my Catholic Faith. 1 2 3 4

4. I put my heart into living my Catholic Faith. 1 2 3 4

5. I sincerely turn to Christ so He can heal and console me.1 2 3 4

6. I feel blessed to have God’s Word and His Sacraments available to me in His Church. 1 2 3 4

7. I hear God’s Word but I don’t understand it.1 2 3 4

8. I give into temptation easily. 1 2 3 4

9. I fill my mind with material things that cause me to think about immoral and selfish things. 1 2 3 4

10. I am lukewarm about practicing my Catholic Faith. 1 2 3 4

11. The practice of my Faith is a series of highs and lows. I am not consistent. 1 2 3 4

12. I become angry with God when things don’t go right for me. 1 2 3 4

13. I believe God should protect me from all failure and pain. 1 2 3 4

14. I attend Mass only when I feel like it. 1 2 3 4

15. I am fickle about the practice of my Faith. 1 2 3 4

16. I am more concerned about financial security than my relationship with Christ in His Church. 1 2 3 4

17. I work on Sundays and so I miss Mass. 1 2 3 4

18. I would not miss Sunday Mass for anything, unless I was sick. 1 2 3 4

19. My Catholic Faith is my most important gift.1 2 3 4

20. I believe all my success in life is due to my Faith in God. 1 2 3 4

(If you are “rich soil” your ratings for each statement would be as follows: 1-4; 2-4; 3-4; 4-4; 5:4; 6-4; 7-1; 8-1; 9-1; 10-1; 11-1; 12- 1; 13-1; 14-1; 15-1; 16-1; 17-1; 18-4; 19-4; 20-4. Ratings other than these means you have work to do in order for your Faith in Jesus and His Church to mature)

What conclusion can you draw from your responses? Are you happy with yourself as a believer? If God used this scale to measure your fitness for Heaven, would you make it?

The Value of Faith

Listen to what Faith in Christ does for St. Paul: “I consider the sufferings of the present to be as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us ... the world itself will be freed from its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:18-23). As far as St. Paul is concerned, his Faith in Christ is worth any pain, inconvenience, discomfort, or sacrifice because it contains the only guarantee of freedom and happiness for every man and woman. St. James 2:14-26 reveals that genuine Faith expresses itself in good works and doing good works enhances our character and outlook in life. Faith is always a plus in living the present and facing the future. Faith is generated through hearing and heeding God’s Word.

The Effectiveness of God’s Word

For the person who sincerely receives God’s Word and makes himself or herself “good soil,” the result is abundant fruitfulness. In Isaiah (55:10-11) God reveals that His Word, once it is preached, is never without result. It is never ineffective. Once the Word is proclaimed it is always active - creating, enlivening, redeeming, perfecting, saving, uniting, forgiving, healing, encouraging, and loving mankind. This is how God expressed the power of His Word revealed through Isaiah: “Just as from the heavens the rain and the snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; my Word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” This pericope has always been my motivation in preaching and teaching the Word of God especially when people resist it. On the one hand, all we have to do for God’s Word to be fruitful is to put it out there and it will do the work. On the other hand, if the Word isn’t preached and taught it can’t do anything. God has put the power of His Word in our hands and so we have the ability to release that power or restrict it. Jesus calls every member of His Church, especially the bishops and clergy, to be evangelists and catechists. This revelation through Isaiah is the antidote to any discouragement we might feel due to people ignoring or dismissing God’s Word. Like the Apostles, instead of being discouraged we should actually be encouraged and make an even greater effort to spread the Word, like the seed-sower, letting it fall on everyone hoping to hit some fertile soil. Thus we must be outward looking, not inward, when it comes to bringing God’s Word to the world.

The Church’s Duty Is to Sow the Word Everywhere

Embracing the Catholic Faith in Jesus is completely dependent on hearing God’s Word – Jesus is the Word Incarnate. Our Catholic Faith is our response to God’s Word preached by His Church in the person of her Pope, bishops and clergy. If our Faith is weak, fickle, inconsistent, we know we’re not being receptive to God’s Word. Our heart is hard like the “footpath…rocky ground …full of thorns” (Mt 13:1-23). If our Faith is strong because we are “good soil” our soul is expanded thereby giving God more room to work in and through us. The choice to heed the Word or ignore it is ours. God doesn’t force us to listen to Him. He has given us the gift of free will and respects the choices we make. However, every choice we make has consequences, which we cannot escape. We need to reflect on choices we’re making each day to ensure that we’re doing our part to make ourselves fertile ground for the Word the Holy Spirit is sowing in us through His Church. There is a serious crisis of Faith in the Church today and a terrible ignorance of whom and what Jesus’ Church is as the sower of His Word, the Truth that sets us free to enter Heaven, outside of which there’s no salvation. Jesus and His Church are one; she is His Bride. He told His Apostles, the ordained leaders of His Church, that, “Anyone who rejects you rejects me and anyone who rejects me rejects Him who sent me” (Lk 10:16). He warns us that, “Anyone who disowns me before men I will disown before My Father in Heaven” (Mt 10:33). It is important to recognize that we cannot accept Jesus without also accepting His Church. It is through His Church that we come to know, hear and meet Him personally and communally in His Word and Sacrament, especially in the Holy Mass and Reconciliation. (fr sean)

Truth

“The more a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it” (George Orwell)

Perception

Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me.”

cassini · « **Reply #168 on:** **Yesterday** at 02:04:12 PM »

God’s Justice Exposes Evil

God’s justice exposes evil since evil is always an act of injustice. But while God is just He is also merciful because He permits the grace of repentance to those who confess their injustice and commit to acting rightly by making restitution for the damage caused by their injustice. On the other hand Satan is neither just nor merciful but pretends to be by appealing to human selfishness. As people prone to sin we have difficulty being just and merciful in our dealings with one another. Justice is about giving another his/her due while mercy is about giving someone another chance to change and get it right. Both justice and mercy are necessary in the proper treatment of every person. Justice portrays God’s ethical standard and what He calls us to be. Mercy reflects God’s compassion and willingness to forgive the repentant. God’s justice and mercy are essential for peace. Mercy without justice generates irresponsibility. Justice without mercy can turn into cruelty. Jesus exercised mercy and justice in His treatment of the woman caught committing adultery when He forgave her sin but told her to act justly and “sin no more” (Jn 8:11).

We Hear Little About Justice

We hear a lot about mercy but not much about justice. Do you know that the words “just” and “justice” together are mentioned over 900 times in the Bible while “mercy” and “merciful” are mentioned together over 300 times. Many are of the opinion that there’s no justice in this world. Satan, to whom this world belongs until Jesus returns, is neither just nor merciful, although he pretends to be merciful by persuading people to see themselves as “good persons” when in fact no one is good except God alone. Social justice gets all the press, even within the Church, but we hear little about Divine justice, which calls for obedience to the Ten Commandments and living according to the Beatitudes in our relationship with God and with one another. The inspired author of the Book of Wisdom (12:13-19) proclaimed that, “There is no God besides You who have care of all ... For Your might is the source of justice ... You judge with clemency... And You taught... that those who are just must be kind ...” God revealed that justice must be applied with a merciful heart that recognizes the dignity of the person who acts unjustly but seeks to repent and make restitution when given a second chance.

5 Types of Human Justice

The Catholic Church teaches us that, besides divine justice, there are five kinds of human justice, namely Distributive, Procedural, Retributive, Restorative, and Compensatory. Distributive justice ensures that resources and benefits are fairly distributed among the members of society. Procedural justice addresses the resolution of disputes and the allocation of available resources. Retributive justice differs from distributing justice in that it addresses accountability for wrongdoing and the appropriate punishment for the crime. It focuses on the necessary payback for the crime. Restorative justice addresses the needs of both victim and criminals in order to restore unity in the community. And finally there is Compensatory justice which addresses the required compensation for the suffering and losses of the victim. All of these types of justice are necessary for the good and progress of order in society.

God Judges with Clemency

God is merciful but He loves justice. “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in my faithfulness I will reward the righteous and make an everlasting covenant with them” (Is 61:8). In Wisdom (12:13-19) we learn that, “God is just and the source of justice … He rebukes audacity … He judges with clemency … and lenience … He teaches us to be kind and gives us hope … He permits repentance for our sins.” God judges with clemency because He wants everyone to be His obedient and loving child and so gives each man and woman every chance to repent and reform his or her life. The word justice comes from the Latin word “jus” which means “law.” The purpose of Law is to make justice visible and ensure its application. Good law promotes the common good, which requires justice as its foundation if the best interests of the people are to be served. As Pope Paul VI said, “The dove of peace comes to rest only on the tree of justice.” Justice and peace go hand-in-hand and call us to be honorable and fair in our dealings with one another. “Justice and peace shall kiss” (Ps 85:11). If a law doesn’t uphold justice it’s a bad law that protects evil and causes conflict. Legalizing abortion, euthanasia, sodomy, transgenderism, sterilization, promoting IVF is bad law because it legalizes what is contrary to God’s Law and the law he has infused in nature known as the Natural Law. We uphold justice when we abide by God’s law that always takes precedence over man’s law. “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Necessity of Divine Justice

Human justice needs Divine justice in order to ensure that everyone will get what he or she deserves. Thus it is a blessing to know that God will judge everyone according to whether or not he or she observed the Ten Commandments and practiced the Beatitudes during his or her lifetime. St. Thomas Aquinas (Q 91 a4) taught that human behavior needs not only human and natural law to ensure that people are just, it also needs Divine Law because it enshrines Divine Justice. St. Thomas Aquinas provides four reasons for the necessity of Divine law.

1. Since men and women are created for eternal happiness, they need God to give them a law that would lead them to that happiness, because they could not do so on their own.

2. Human judgment is uncertain, especially on contingent and particular matters. Because different people form different judgments on human actions, from which often flow different and contrary laws. So that men and women may know without any doubt what they ought to do and what they ought to avoid, it was necessary that humans be directed in their proper acts by a law given by God, for it is certain that such a law cannot err.

3. Men and women are not competent to judge interior intentions, but can only judge exterior acts which can be seen. So that virtue can be perfected it is necessary for men and women to conduct themselves aright both in interior and exterior actions. Human law could not adequately curb and direct interior acts, therefore, it was necessary for this purpose that a Divine law should supervene.

4. Human law cannot punish or forbid all evil actions. In order to do away with all evil actions, human law would have to eliminate free will and do away with good actions as well. It would hinder the progress of the common good, which is necessary for human interaction. In order to forbid evil and ensure that no evil goes unpunished, it was necessary for Divine law to intervene, whereby all sins are forbidden. Divine law makes sure that no one gets away with any injustice.

God Is the Author and Arbiter of Justice

Since God is the Authority who determines ultimate justice and is the final Arbiter of what is right and wrong, divine justice sees to it that all good actions are rewarded and all evil actions are punished. Divine justice assures us that while an unjust person may evade the blind eye of human justice, he or she will not escape the all-seeing eye of Divine Justice. We can feel betrayed by the lack of human justice, but we can be encouraged by Divine justice. Thank God for His justice enshrined in His Law, by which our individual conduct is judged, both in terms of what we have done and what we have failed to do. Let us thank God who provides justice for all.

No One is Good but God

Divine justice sees to it that God’s “will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Mt 6:10). God sent His Son to show us how His will is done and He sends us the Holy Spirit to enable us to do it. The Holy Spirit “…comes to the aid of our weakness …” (Rom 8:26-27). We’re weak because of Original Sin, which makes us prone to selfishness and sin. We see this in political legislation framed as for the “common good” according to a materialistic ideology, and not according to God’s revelation. The common good must always reflect God because Jesus reveals that, “God alone is good” (Lk 18:19). Therefore the “common good” must be what brings people closer to God, building a culture of life, not death. In an atheistic world what’s perceived as “good” for an individual, political party, or the prevailing ideology reflects man’s will rather than God’s will. What is truly good is always just and moral. Today, what many people consider good, even some within Jesus’ Church, is what suits their agenda irrespective of what is in accord with the Ten Commandments, and the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. Evil always presents itself as “good” because otherwise our will, which is always attracted to the good, couldn’t choose it. If something doesn’t reflect God, it isn’t good. As an example we see evil presented as “good” by governments that frame pornography as “sɛҳuąƖ health” or “sɛҳuąƖ freedom” or “sex education” and use all kinds of lies to impose it on children and teenagers in school.

The Final Judgment

In Matthew’s Gospel (13:24-43) Jesus uses the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds to speak about the Final Judgment of every person. Jesus sows the seeds of Faith while Satan sows the seeds of sin. God’s justice will expose evil’s pretense to satisfy your desires. God will judge every person according to His standard of justice, not ours. “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12). How do we determine what’s “righteous?” “Right” is that which accords with God’s will as revealed by Jesus and taught by His Church. God has given us the Natural law (CCC 2000, 1956) infused in nature and the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17) as our measuring rod. Jesus has given us the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12) to measure our Faith. Jesus’ Church has given us her Seven Precepts (CCC 2041) along with the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy (CCC 2447) to measure our fidelity as her members. Jesus has provided us with the Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help us maintain a true sense of what’s just as we struggle with decisions about how to relate to God and to one another.

The Need for a Universal Lawgiver

Without God and His Church we’ll tend to create our own system of justice to suit ourselves and support our attempts to be gods, each with his or her own truth and moral standard like false gods. Therefore we need an objective system of justice and an objective moral standard that’s independent of our thinking and independent of any particular ideological or cultural norms. We need someone to assure us that there is a universal “right” (intrinsic good) and by default a universal “wrong” (intrinsic evil) that applies to everyone in every age. For this we need a Universal Lawgiver that enshrines and applies a universal justice, who doesn’t change and calls everyone to embrace what’s “right” for everyone and reject what’s “wrong” for everyone. That Person is Jesus Christ the Divine Jesus and the Administrator of Divine Justice. (fr sean)

cassini · « **Reply #169 on:** **Yesterday** at 02:05:54 PM »

Do You Understand These Things?
   “Things get a little easier, once you understand,” so goes the line of a song about a father reading a letter he found in the pocket of his dead son’s pants explaining why he lived the way he did and asking for forgiveness. The dictionary defines understanding as the “perception and comprehension of the nature and significance of something.” Since perception and comprehension of an event require time to process adequately, perhaps this is why there’s so little understanding in a world that practices snap judgments mostly based on false assumptions and driven by feeling rather than reason. The heart, more than the intellect, creates the environment for understanding. Tolerance is understanding’s child. But tolerance isn’t about condoning or accepting evil but rather the capacity to endure pain or suffering through understanding its value when united with Jesus’ suffering for the salvation of the world. Understanding, the second of God’s gifts mentioned in Isaiah (11:2), following Wisdom as His first gift, reminds us that it follows from wisdom. Wisdom and understanding are essential not only for effective leadership but also for the practice of humility in creating healthy relationships. St. Francis prayed: “O Master, grant that I may desire to understand rather than to be understood.”
   King Solomon was known for his wisdom which enabled him to discern the difference between right and wrong. Wisdom is acting in accord with one’s knowledge of God. Wisdom is God’s gift that provides the insight to make right judgments. A right judgment is about long-term gain for all involved. Long-term gain for every man and woman is ultimate happiness with God in Heaven. At the beginning of Solomon’s reign God promised to give him whatever he asked for. So, recognizing his lack of experience as a young king, Solomon asked God: “Give Your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge Your people and to distinguish right from wrong” (1 Kgs 3:9). God praised him for making such a selfless request because he asked for what he needed to be a wise and understanding leader. Sadly, in later life Solomon abandoned God, the Giver of wisdom and understanding, through embracing the gods of the women with whom he consorted. God’s wisdom was replaced by the lies of the false gods and his understanding heart became blotched with selfish desires. Thus, his kingdom fell apart. We can’t truly judge what is right or wrong without an understanding heart. Having an understanding heart is a gift from God through being receptive to the guidance of His Spirit. We can’t achieve understanding on our own because of our fallen nature that leaves us with a darkened intellect and a weak will. Our biases, desires, dependencies, circuмstances, beliefs, etc., diminish our understanding by blurring the eyes of our wisdom. To overcome these self-imposed limitations, we must admit to God that, “The revelation of Your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple” (Ps 119:130).
   Jesus founded His Church on Peter as the visible sign that He had established His Kingdom on earth so that people could enter it. Jesus used parables (Mt. 13:44-52) to help people understand His Kingdom, and the Church as its visible sign on earth. Jesus wanted us to understand the preciousness of the Kingdom and how we must give up everything in order to possess its treasures. He compared it to a man finding a treasure buried in a field and then selling everything he owned to buy the field so he could possess the treasure. Jesus is teaching you and I that we mustn’t allow any possession we have to prevent us from entering the Church where we find our greatest treasure, namely Jesus Himself. Again, Jesus compared His Kingdom and His Church as its visible sign on earth to a dragnet thrown into the sea collecting all kinds of fish, edible and inedible. The image of God’s Kingdom as a dragnet serves to remind us that the Church, which is God’s dragnet on earth, casts her net out on the world to pull in all kinds of people, the good, the bad, and the ugly in hope of converting them. Perhaps that’s why someone said that, “in Heaven we find all saints, in Purgatory we find all souls, but in the Church, we find all sorts.” Jesus asked His disciples, and continues to ask us, point blank: “Do you understand all these things?” (Mt 13:51). They said they did. But we know from their behaviour later on that they didn’t. It wasn’t until after God’s Spirit of Love descended on them that they had their “Aha” moment. That Spirit-inspired understanding changed their perspective by giving them a new sense of belonging and a new conviction as members of Jesus’ Kingdom made possible through and in His Church. Do you understand how God’s Kingdom is made visible in Jesus’ Church here on earth? Do you understand that as a member of Jesus’ Church you belong to His Kingdom? Sadly, I think this understanding is sadly lacking here in Ireland.
   Do you understand the Catholic Faith? Do you understand the difference that belonging to the Church makes in your life? The Catholic Faith gives believers an understanding heart that is massaged into life by Jesus in and through His Church’s Sacraments. St. Paul, inspired by the God’s Spirit, deepens our understanding of how blessed we are to know what God offers us as members of His Kingdom through being baptized into Jesus’ Church: “Brothers and sisters: We know that all things work for the good of those who love God, who are called according to His purpose … to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:28-30). God’s purpose for us is to love Him and our neighbour, which flows from an understanding heart that endures everything through His grace. Jesus defines the characteristics of such a heart in the “Our Father” and the “Beatitudes” (Mt (5:3-12). This kind of heart judges wisely by understanding God’s law rather than relying on man’s law. In the words of the Psalmist, “I have said, O Lord, that my part is to keep Your words. The law of Your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Ps 119:57,72). God’s law reflects words of justice, “permitting repentance,” and clothed with mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation and hope. There’s no one more understanding than God who has revealed His heart in Jesus Christ, the personification of wisdom.
   This is why we need to deepen our understanding of ourselves, our neighbours, Jesus’ Church, and God Himself. We do that by constantly listening to God’s Word in the Bible, interpreted and faithfully preached and taught by His Church’s magisterium. As with Solomon, God wants you and me to have an understanding heart so we can judge wisely, distinguish good from evil, right from wrong, and just from unjust, so we can bring truth to a world fraught with lies and swamped in a culture of death. So, let us pray with St. Benedict: “Bestow upon me, O gracious, O holy Father, an intellect to understand You, perceptions to perceive You purely, reason to discern You, diligence to speak to You, wisdom to find You, a spirit to know You; a heart to meditate upon You, ears to hear You, eyes to behold You, a tongue to proclaim You, a conversation pleasing to You, and a perseverance to look for You. Grant me a perfect end - Your holy presence. Grant me a blessed resurrection, and Your recompense, everlasting life. Amen!” Do you understand these things? Life gets easier once you understand and know that the best is still ahead! (fr sean)

Whose Invitation Do Accept: The World’s or Jesus’?
World: “Follow your heart”
Jesus: “Follow me”
World: “Believe in yourself”
Jesus: Believe in me”
World: “Find yourself”
Jesus: “Sacrifice yourself for the good of others”
World: “Be true to yourself”
Jesus: “Be true to me”
When we follow the world, we have a blind guide and will end up in a ditch.
When we follow Jesus, we have a Guide who shows us the way to happiness, teaches us the truth about ourselves, God, and the world we live in, and leads us to everlasting life.
Do you understand the choice and its consequences?

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Author Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 1847392 times)

cassini

Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live

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Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live

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Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live

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Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live

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Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live