Author Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 173942 times)

cassini · « **Reply #105 on:** May 23, 2025, 05:03:46 AM »

Fr Sean again.
Love Requires Faith
Jesus tells us as we begin this week that whoever loves Him will be true to His word and whoever doesn’t love Him won’t be true to His word (Jn 14:23-29). If we aren’t true to His word we don’t love Him. To be true to Jesus’ word means to lovingly obey His Commandments and live the eight Beatitudes. So we need to reflect on the notion of love and what it entails. Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ve fallen out of love with my wife/husband?” What causes a person to “fall out of love?” Love isn’t something we “fall” into or out of. Love is a spirit or an attitude that motivates us to invest our life in another. It is a free action in which a person commits himself or herself to another person without counting the cost. The cost is the sacrificing oneself for the good of the other. It doesn’t just happen. You don’t wake up one morning and suddenly realize, “I’m in love,” or “I’m not in love.” It is founded on faith in oneself and in the one whom the person chooses to love. Without faith, not just natural faith but supernatural faith, love doesn’t last.

Kinds of Love
There are three kinds of love: Erotic, Filial, and Agape. Erotic love is the bonding that takes place or the spirit that is shared between people who are romantically involved with one another. Romantic love has much more to do with the imagination than with reality. This kind of love is given to hyperbole and it doesn’t last. It is the shallowest kind of love. In romantic love the lover forms his or her own image of the beloved which does not always reflect who the beloved really is. I can easily be a false image created out of infatuation. Someone said that on its own, erotic love is like a flower that opens its petals in the morning but withers in the heat of the sun of reality by evening time.

Filial Love
The second king is filial love which is the spirit or attitude that binds people together as friends. This love is based on mutual trust and respect. The development of filial love is essential if romantic love is to have a healthy future. Without filial love, people can’t be friends, and without friendship, erotic love is doomed from the beginning.

Agape Love
The third kind of love is Agape or Sacrificial love. This is the highest kind of love without which forgiveness is impossible. Why? This kind of love comes directly only from God and is unconditional. Jesus demonstrated agape on the Cross. The Crucifix is the visible sign of Agape love which is always sacrificial. Jesus, through His Catholic Church, calls each of us to practice this kind of love. Marriage calls for this kind of love from husbands and wives. Sacrificial love goes beyond friendship. How? This is the love Jesus talked about when He said: “No greater love does anyone have than to lay down one’s life from one’s friends” (Jn 15:13) and “You must love your enemies.” (Mt 5:44). Neither erotic nor filial love motivates a person to die for others. This kind of love desires the best for the person, even if he or she hates you or tries to destroy you. Agape love is necessary for sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is impossible without God. Without Agape love friendship won’t last. Why? Friendship won’t grow without forgiveness and generosity. Why? We’re all flawed and there are always disappointments or obstacles we must overcome if the friendship is to continue and grow. Forgiveness is essential. When someone sins against us, at least in that action or moment, he or she is our enemy. So when we sin against our friend, in that action or in that moment we become his or her enemy.

Choice Rather than Feeling
Agape love does not rely on feeling or the heart. Rather it comes from the will. It’s not something we must “feel” before we do it. It’s something we freely decide to do. In the process of choosing to do it we experience a change of heart. Romantic love comes from the heart – it has to do with feeling and it influences how a person views another. Filial love also comes from the heart and influences a person’s view of another as a friend. Agape comes from the will to do the greatest good known through reason and divine revelation, and in the process influences how we feel and how we act.

Love's Foundation
What is love based on? Love is a bonding emotion that connects us in human relationships. The basis for all relationships is faith empowering us to trust. All love presumes trust and cannot exist without it. There’s no trust without faith and there’s no love without trust, therefore faith is the basis for love. When people say they “fall out of love” with someone, they are talking about step two instead of step one. They don’t “fall out of love.” Rather their love for the other ceases because they stopped having faith in or believing in one another. When faith deteriorates so does trust. The person “falls out of love” because he or she ceases to have faith in the other person. In Hebrews 11 we read that “Faith is constant assurance concerning what we hope for and conviction about things we do not yet see.” Assurance concerning what we hope for is dependent on whether we can trust the one we love to help us attain that hope. If we see that the other person’s word isn't reliable our faith in him or her dies. Our Catholic faith is based on our acceptance of Jesus' word as trustworthy helping us attain the hope of eternal happiness. This is the basis for our love of Jesus. If we accept Christ’s word, it is logical that we would also accept Christ Himself. Faith comes through hearing and hearing comes through listening to the word that is believable.

What's Jesus Saying to Us?
This 6th Sunday Jesus says to us through His Church: “If you love me keep my word, and my Father will love you, and we will come to you and make our dwelling with you.” Here we see Jesus linking love and faith together. We can’t love Jesus without believing His word and having faith in Him. If we have faith in Him, we must love Him. We can’t not love what we have faith in. That would be unreasonable. The person who believes Jesus’ word and has faith in Him will love Him. Faith and love together make a person receptive to Jesus’ gift of peace. Peace is always based on justice. Justice is the foundation for peace. They are partners. Without justice, peace is impossible. Many people are desperately seeking peace within themselves and with one another. However, that sought-after peace very often escapes them. Why? They never ask about justice. They don’t listen to Jesus’ commandments and obey them. Justice calls for doing what is right. What is right is that which is in accord with the will of God. Jesus has revealed God’s will to us. However, if we don’t believe Jesus’ word and trust in Him, we won’t love Him and benefit from His love. We can pursue peace forever but only Jesus can give us the peace the world can’t give. To benefit from Jesus’ peace we must live our life according to His word, not ours. Then we will experience what Jesus is talking about when he says: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” This is the peace that comes from loving Jesus based on keeping His word are the lens through which we see and do everything. Love based on faith generates hope which in turn gives us peace of mind, heart and soul. (fr sean)

Something To Ponder
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness - you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation - you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death - you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep - you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace - you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
If you can read this message - you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
So: Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like nobody's listening. Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

cassini · « **Reply #106 on:** May 28, 2025, 12:44:01 PM »

Fr Sean again.
The Ascension: An End and a Beginning

The Nepalese poet, Santosh Kalwar, wrote in his book, “Quote Me Every Day,” “Every beginning has an end and every end has a new beginning, don’t worry, broken soul, life will one day come to an end.” Everyone knows that his or her life that began in the womb will end one day but Christians know that while life on earth ends they also know it will have a new beginning in Heaven that is endless. Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven marked the end of His visible presence on earth offering men and women salvation from their sins. It also marked the beginning of His Church as the visible sign on earth through which He continues to offer salvation to men and women until the end of time. The Ascension marked an end of His physical presence on earth and the beginning of His Sacramental presence giving everyone the opportunity to unite with Him in His Church if they so choose.

Jesus’ Ascension

Jesus’ Ascension occurred forty days after His Resurrection to assure His Apostles and disciples that it was really Him. “In the time after His suffering He showed them in many convincing ways that He was alive, appearing to them over the course of 40 days and speaking to them about the reign of God” (Acts 1:3). Jesus was preparing His Apostles to promote His mission after His return to His Father, when in His Name they would continue to call men and women to repent and reform their lives by becoming God’s children through the power of the Holy Spirit. He promised them that, “within a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit … then you will be my witnesses … yes, even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:5, 8). After telling them this, Jesus “was lifted up and a cloud took Him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). The end of Jesus’ human ministry sparked the beginning of His ministry through His Church bringing His faith, hope and love to all nations until He returns. The Church is Jesus’ body and His witness to what He has done, is doing now, and will continue to do, namely offer hope to human beings to be lifted up from the pit of sin, suffering and death to the heights of grace, joy and glory. Through His Catholic Church Jesus remains active in the world as its only Saviour.

Ending Vice and the Beginning of Virtue

Suffering and death are the bane of humanity. They’re the result of Adam and Eve’s sin, as well as our own personal sins. To put an end to these and offer a new beginning Jesus commissioned His Apostles that “In His Name, penance for the remissions of sins is to be preached to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47). It’s in the act of repentance and seeking God’s forgiveness that we are being saved in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “And you, O child, shall be called prophet of the Most High; for you shall go before the Lord to prepare straight paths for Him, giving His people a knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Lk 1:76-77). Jesus is the Forgiver who reconciled humanity and divinity in Himself as both God and man in one Person. An old saying reminds us that “to err is human but to forgive is divine.” You and I cannot forgive without God’s grace. Forgiveness is always a sign of God’s Spirit at work in the human heart. This is the great gift Jesus brought to the world and He commissioned His Church to continue offering it especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).

An End and a Beginning in Us

Forgiveness marks an end and the beginning of a new outlook in our life where the darkness of sin gives way to the bright light of God’s mercy. St. Paul’s plea to God was for all of us when he prayed: “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, grant you a spirit of wisdom and insight to know Him clearly. May He enlighten the eyes of your mind that you can see the great hope which His call holds for you” (Eph 1:17-18). The great hope is the opportunity to repent and obtain forgiveness for our sins. God has made that possible because, “He has put all things under Christ’s feet and has made Him, thus exalted, head of the Church, which is His body; the fullness of Him who fill the universe in all its parts” (Eph 1:22). In Jesus’ Church we’re privileged to know “how infinitely great is the power that He has exercised for us believers” (Eph 1:19) through His Church. He has eased the fear of death by promising to prepare a place for each of us and then return to take us there when we die, if we die believing in Him. “I am indeed going to prepare a place for you, and then I shall come back to take you with me, that where I am you may be too” (Jn 14:3).

Ends and Beginnings in Life

We experience lots of ends and beginnings in life but the most important ones are when we experience the power of Jesus in His Church’s Sacraments, especially in the Holy Mass – the end of the old relationship with Jesus and the beginning of a new one with Him. We must not keep this secret from everybody else. Jesus calls and prepares us in Confirmation to be His public witnesses in the world where we live. This witnessing doesn’t make us superior; rather it makes us humble because we know we’re unworthy to represent Jesus Christ. But we do it because Jesus asks us and the world needs it. The glory of God is man and woman fully alive. We can’t be fully alive unless we view the end of something as a call from God to begin anew by making the most of the present opportunities to look forward to a bright future. Death ends life on earth but it makes the beginning of life eternal. (fr sean)

cassini · « **Reply #107 on:** June 04, 2025, 11:14:01 AM »

Fr Sean again.
Pentecost: The Spirit Made the Difference

In politics it’s the economy that matters. In religion it’s the Spirit of God that matters. True politics is about the art of governing to protect and honour people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The economy is the system by which a nation, community, or family manages its goods and resources so that all can have a decent living. True religion is the visible structured organization - Church - through which people are adopted by God as His children and in which they publicly express this intimate relationship with Him and with one another in the process of achieving salvation from their sins and becoming holy. It is God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that unifies the Church members with Him and with one another as one family – a holy family. True political success is judged by the health of the economy. Religion’s success, the success of the Church, is judged by the activity and visibility of God’s Spirit made visible in its members. A strong economy reflects good politics. A strong Church reflects the influence of God’s Spirit on the individual and communal spirit of its members. God’s Spirit is a spirit of charity because God is love. We witness God’s Spirit in us when we love our neighbour as we love ourselves and as God loves us. A loving person has known God and has received His love. But “The man without love has known nothing of love, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). What is love? It always begins with God and is basically an attitude of caring for ourselves and for one another that flows from God’s caring for us. The Holy Spirit reminds us in: “Love, then, consists in this: not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and has sent His on as an offering for our sins” (1Jn 4:10). Love is always initiated by God and reflects His Spirit influencing the spirit of the one who loves. Love isn’t love if its goal is influenced by a spirit of selfishness.

The Kind of Spirit Has Consequences

The kind of spirit or attitude we have makes all the difference in how we live and move and have our being each day. A good spirit or attitude - one influenced by God - enables us to face problems, disabilities, and disappointments with positivity. A bad spirit - influenced by Satan - pulls us down along with those around us. Our spirit is the expression of what’s in our mind, heart, and soul. Every relationship begins with a meeting of spirits rather than a meeting of bodies. When we meet one another we first encounter each other’s spirit. Our spirit is either receptive to or dismissive of the other person’s spirit. The kind of spirit we have determines whether a relationship grows or dissolves. Our spirit either embraces the other person’s spirit or rejects it. So it is in our relationship with Jesus. “No one can say that ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (I Cor 12:3b). Our spirit either embraces Jesus’ Spirit or rejects it. The difference between our spirit and Jesus’ Spirit doesn’t just reflect Him, it also reflects the Father. As such the Holy Spirit is a Person – the personification of the love which the Father and the Son have for one another. When a person receives our spirit he or she receives us into his or her life. When our spirit receives the Holy Spirit we welcome both the Father and the Son into our life and they in turn enable us to share in their loving relationship with one another. The Holy Spirit makes us sharers in God’s love. When we invite the Holy Spirit to influence our spirit we are asking the Father and the Son to bring us into their relationship so that we can experience their mutual love and truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love and Truth.

The Pentecost Event

On Pentecost Sunday Jesus’ Church as God’s Family was born through being incorporated into the relationship of the Father and the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit enabling the Church to preach God’s Word to be heard in all languages. After His Ascension Jesus’ Apostles and disciples, including His Blessed Mother, huddled together in that upper room in Jerusalem fearing what might happen to them. Suddenly, while praying, “Tongues like fire appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them... All were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamations as the Spirit prompted them” (Acts 2:3-4). Their prayer disposed their spirits to be receptive to the Holy Spirit who changed their spirit of fear into a spirit of enthusiasm and courage to go out and inform the world that Jesus is Lord and the only Saviour of mankind. That’s what the Holy Spirit does when we let Him join our spirit and turn us into courageous, generous, sacrificial, and self-giving persons in the cause of holiness and truth. “The Spirit Himself gives witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16). It’s God’s Spirit of Love and Truth that makes the difference in our life and world.

Inviting the Holy Spirit to Join Our Spirit

Even though the Holy Spirit hadn’t been fully revealed in the Old Testament the Psalmist was inspired by Him to believe that, “When You (God) send forth Your spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30). When we ask the Holy Spirit to join our spirit we develop a spirituality that’s sustained, directed, nurtured, and deepened as we grow in our relationship with Jesus in His Catholic Religion. Our spirituality is the daily combination of all our thoughts, words, and actions that reflect the Holy Spirit’s influence over our human spirit that unites us with Jesus in His Church. “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him…. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God … and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with Him so that we may be glorified with Him” (Rom8:9, 14, 17).

The Holy Spirit is Jesus’s guarantee that His Church will always teach God’s truth. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26). This is the biblical basis for the Church’s teaching on the infallibility of the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra on faith and morals. The Church is the Holy Spirit’s Temple wherein He purifies our spirit from all sin in Baptism, bonding us with Jesus in the Holy Mass, forgiving us in Confession, and in Confirmation He empowers us to be Jesus’ public witnesses to God’s love by loving obedience to His commandments. The fruits of the Holy Spirit when we let Him purify our spirit empower us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, meek, and chaste (Gal 5:22-23). Without God’s Spirit our spirit would be loveless, joyless, miserable, impatient, unkind, mean, and lustful. Thus God’s Spirit makes all the difference in our life because He always brings us to Jesus who wants to save us from our sins and who brings us to His Father so that we can experience His love as His adopted children.

Prayer Inviting the Holy Spirit to Influence Our Spirit

We should invite the Holy Spirit daily to guide our spirit so that our decisions, based on His love and truth, will deepen our relationship with Jesus in our thoughts, words and actions. The Church teaches us to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us daily: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shall renew the face of the earth. Oh God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Thy faithful. Grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen! (fr sean)

Author Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 173942 times)

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Re: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live