Topic, about various passages from the Bible

[lukaswide37]

Three disasters befalling those who turn away from the Creator
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Words of the Gospel according to Saint Mark. Mark 4:35-41.
That same day, when evening came, he said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." So they left the crowd and took Him as He was in a boat, and other boats followed Him. Suddenly a violent wind arose.
The waves were washing over the boat until it was already filling up. He slept in the back of the boat, leaning on the headrest. They woke Him up, saying, "Teacher, don't you care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the lake: "Be silent! Be quiet!” Then the wind stopped and there was a deep silence.
And he said to them, “Why are you afraid? You still don't believe?” Then great fear came upon them, and they said to one another, "Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
God does not promise us a life without storms, but He promises us that in our storms He will always be with us. The storm that happened to the disciples on the lake allowed them to discover the mystery of Jesus even more deeply. Who exactly is He?
Nothing helps us discover the presence and power of Jesus like critical situations. On the one hand, we experience great fear, on the other hand, we never feel so close to God.
Our prayers in times of peace are like dusting old furniture with a feather duster. But when a black cloud of danger appears on the horizon, prayer turns into breaking down the door to heaven.
So if you are constantly faced with problems, storms of life, waves of anger from people you work or live with, winds that destroy all the hope you have carefully built up for years, it may be because you have neglected what is essential: prayer!
Perhaps it became so soporific that it even pushed Jesus into a corner, at the "head" of the boat. God "falls asleep" when our prayers put even us to sleep and we no longer want to get out of bed. Would you talk to your most important person while receiving him in bed?
Is it polite to fall asleep in a chair while talking to a guest whom you offered coffee during his visit? Turbulent waters, lightning fire, and violent winds were the three plagues that befell humanity when it turned away from God.
The tribe of Noah was flooded with water, the tribe of Sodom was punished with fire from heaven, and the generation of Babel was scattered throughout the world by whirlwinds. The wisdom of the rabbis saw these as three messengers of God's warning for disregarding love for the Creator.
The lesson that the disciples received probably happened so that they could rediscover Jesus. Lethargy in the spiritual life is a great danger to human existence. Jesus was at the headboard.
In the Greek text this place was called PRYMNA, meaning the stern, the helmsman's place. PRYMNETES is a helmsman or manager, as well as a ruler. Jesus was in a place where everything is in control, but the disciples let Him fall asleep. This expresses our sluggish attention, our spiritual sluggishness.
I think about our world, which has already experienced great tsunamis, fires in huge towers in Manhattan, and hurricanes that have devastated the coast. How many of us will awaken to true spiritual awakening after these signs? Only God can calm the elements, and we still think we can navigate this world on our own. Lack of faith brings an excess of timid fear.
Think about your life's storms. What did they tell you about the place you have given Jesus in the boat of your life? Where is God in your schedule when you live in fear and have devastating storms over and over again?
Maybe you're saying: where is God if this happens to me? If you want everything to calm down outside and inside you, awaken your conscience and call on Jesus!
Place Him at the center of your attention again, enthrone Him and declare Him in your soul as King! However, if He continues to be only a "mascot" of your spiritual life, you will become a prey to forces that are too powerful for you and you will not be able to cope with them.
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[lukaswide37]

Forgers of truth

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Matthew 16:16. The eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, just as Jesus had commanded them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him. However, some people did not believe it. And Jesus came to them and said, “I have been given full authority in heaven and on earth.So go and make disciples in all nations! Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”Many of us have probably experienced visits from mysterious guests who knocked on our doors and wanted to talk about God with a Bible under their arms. Yes, they are Jehovah's witnesses. Personally, I think their visit is an indictment of our sloth and neglect of two basic Christian duties: knowing God in the Bible and evangelizing.Gone are the days when children on the streets of Constantinople argued about whether Jesus Christ is co-essential (Greek: homousios) or only co-similar (Greek: homoiousios). Many Christians today would not be able to say anything about the mystery of the Holy Trinity.A fragment from the Gospel of Matthew is a wonderful testimony of the faith of the first disciples of Jesus in the Holy Trinity. The difference and at the same time equality of the Divine Persons in this text is indicated by placing them on the same level, but separately. No one is equal to God, only He Himself in other persons.The Father and the Son are certainly distinguishable, and the Holy Spirit is also included in the same row. Baptism is to be administered in the Name, not in names. One Name, i.e. one God, but at the same time Three on the same level. The entire Trinity performs an action that belongs only to God.Baptism, which is the work of the Trinity, frees us from sins, sanctifies us, makes us children of God, and these actions are the work of God alone!When Jesus forgave the sins of the healed paralytic, the scribes thought, "Why does he say that? He blasphemes. Who can forgive sins except God?” (Mark 2:7). The Jews understood perfectly what Jesus meant by this."Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because not only did He not keep the Sabbath, but He also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18).Jesus did not deny to the Jews that this was so. He was truly making himself equal to God by calling Him his Father! If he made himself equal to God, he was either God or a blasphemer.We know from history that the religious decision-makers of that time chose the latter option and considered Jesus a blasphemer. Otherwise they would not have dared to crucify Jesus. He was crucified because he never denied that he was God, especially at the judgment of Caiaphas.It is similar with the Holy Spirit. He does not appear as some "soul of the Father" or "soul of the Son" or an impersonal power, but as an independent Person. And yet He is the same God as the Father and the Son! "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will teach you all truth" (John 16:13).Theology says that the Father comes from no one, the Son comes from the Father by true generation, the Spirit from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit, referring to himself as "I", is a Person, and not some impersonal spiritual breath: "While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Three men are looking for you. So come down and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them” (10:19-20).We do not have to be outstanding experts in dogmatics, but it is enough for us to know at least as much as we know today to not only close the door to the witnesses of the spirit of lies, but also to stop their mouths from falsifying the truth!I am sending an additional comment to donors

 

[lukaswide37]

A sign heralding something beautiful

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Mark 4:26-34. Jesus told the crowds,“The kingdom of God is like a man throwing seed into the ground. Whether he sleeps or wakes, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, and he knows not how. The earth produces the crop by itself: first the blade, then the ear, and finally the whole grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he immediately takes the sickle, because the harvest time has come.”He also said: “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or in what parable shall we present it? It is like a mustard seed. When thrown into the ground, it is the smallest of all seeds on earth. But when it is sown, it grows and becomes larger than other shrubs, putting out large branches, so that birds can nest in its shade.In many such parables he spoke to them, according to what they could understand. And he did not speak to them without a parable. He explained everything to his disciples in private.To leave the body and stand before the Lord; to be plucked like a tiny cedar branch from the tree from which it had previously drawn sap; be like a seed that is thrown straight down into the earth, but grows above it, soaring towards the sky.Before this incomprehensible destiny comes true, man experiences a painful being thrown into the ground, a painful detachment from the tree, a painful abandonment of what is corporeal. Even this world God created, separating light from darkness.Even though he wanted to save us, he threw himself like pure grain from heaven into the dirty soil of the human body. Even when he ascended to heaven, he broke away like a cedar branch from the tree of the human race. It is not easy when it is our turn to carry out God's program for the exaltation of our human nature.Sometimes it means detachment from your own dreams, leaving the desires of the body, throwing success out of your hands. Naivety must fall very low, like a seed, to grow into the mustard tree of wisdom.As long as we are in the area of metaphors and symbols, we do not understand much of it. Jesus only explained all these secrets to his disciples. Why? Because you have to be His true disciple to understand that an apparent failure in this world is actually an announcement of an incomprehensible happiness that is not of this world.Anyone who clings to a version of a successful life on earth might feel hurt by the obvious truth that nothing in this world is permanent and sooner or later everything will end. So before the grain withers in the palm of your hand, or the cedar branch withers on the tree, or the spirit wastes away in the body, may the strength of God's arm tear us away and give us a NEW CHANCE FOR PERSISTENCE!What does it mean that a seed must be thrown into the ground, or a cedar branch torn from a tree? Maybe it's that one day we will be abandoned by the hands that hugged us, or torn away from a loving family and carried away by loneliness. Who can agree to this without frustration, anger and despair?Frustration is an unbearable feeling of emptiness after someone or something, or a lack of fulfillment that we expected. You may be looking for a husband or a wife, but no one comes your way. Maybe someone you trusted betrayed you perfidiously and left you, throwing you like a worthless seed into the soil of sadness.Maybe you don't have any reasonable proposal to fulfill your dreams and life aspirations. Isn't this a sign of something more beautiful? If we are not fit for this world, then which world are we destined for?True happiness comes closer to those from whom false success moves away. However, for someone for whom GOD is only GOD, detachment, throwing in, leaving are terrible words, because he cannot imagine happiness outside this world and maybe it is actually safer to speak to him in parables?

 

[lukaswide37]

Beware, this good leads to evil.


Exodus 24:3 When Moses returned, he told the people all the words of the LORD and all the statutes of the law, and the people unanimously said,"We will do everything the LORD has said." Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose at dawn, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and erected twelve pillars, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel.He then ordered the young Israelites to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings of bulls to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and poured it into a bowl, and sprinkled the other half on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people, and they said,"We will do everything that the Lord has said and be obedient." Then Moses took some blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord makes with you, according to all these words."Matthew 13. 24. And he told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. While the people were sleeping, the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.When the grain grew and sprouted ears, the weeds also appeared. Then the servants went to the owner and said, "Master! You sowed good seed in the field. So where did the weed come from?». And he replied, "This is the work of the enemy." Then the servants said,"Do you want us to go and kidnap him?" He replied: «No. For when you gather the weeds, you could also pull up the wheat with them. Let them grow together until harvest. And at harvest time I will say to the reapers: First gather the tares, bind them in sheaves, and burn them. But carry the wheat into my granary."Today, brothers and sisters, we have a very difficult task because, as you see, these readings are somewhat related to each other by a similar gesture. Moses makes the Covenant between God and Israel by sprinkling, as if throwing, drops of the animal's blood, as if he were sowing blood on the people.And through this gesture of sowing seeds by the sower, these two readings raise a very difficult problem and it certainly requires precise expression on my part, but also some attention on your part. Misunderstanding this problem may also end badly in our interior.The host in this parable says something unusual. He says that when you gather the weeds, you should not uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow until the harvest. I don't know if there is any farmer who would actually do this, or if any farmer who actually cultivates the land would say such words.Well, in the laws of the soul, in the internal laws, different processes take place than in the laws of nature. Nature is only an image here, but we can already see clearly that no farmer, a farmer in his right mind, wise, would behave in such a way that he would leave a field overgrown with weeds if he cultivated something,for example, when any plant is cultivated, it is not left it is in the weeds, it is only weeded and cleaned constantly, it is a noble plant. It's a seemingly simple comparison. The elements of evil are only left in the world because we know that this field symbolizes the world, because goodness matures thanks to their presence.The farmer left the weeds only because the weeds made the wheat grow even higher and was forced and determined to grow even more. And in the same way, God leaves elements of evil in the world, because thanks to their presence, good is forced to do even greater good, to grow.There is evil that reveals an even greater good, and there is a bad attachment to good. A person can become so attached to what is good that this attachment can become an even greater evil. There is evil that affects a person so much that in the end he becomes noble and good.It happens that someone has only flaws embedded in his nature, and when he looks at himself, he sees only bad things in himself. He sees that he is imperfect in his outer form, in his body.That he lacks a lot, that he may not be handsome, beautiful or pretty. He also sees that he has many internal faults, many bad tendencies, maybe even addictions. And by observing oneself, seeing only shortcomings in oneself, it may happen that in the end this experience of the defects of one's existence will allow the wheat of goodness and humility to grow in him.No man will look at himself with humility because he sees that he is actually very small, very weak, very flawed. And it also happens that someone, thanks to numerous such wheat virtues, advantages and values, whether physical, material, intellectual or even spiritual or moral, is so satisfied with himself that he falls into the greatest vice.The weed of pride and self-satisfaction appears in his life. And this is what this Gospel is talking about, that everything in the world is not that simple and that there is a presence of evil in our lives that leads us to good.There are good things that lead us to evil paths when we accept them wrongly. When you have only values and qualities, you are at risk of the worst vice - pride.And when you have only flaws and weaknesses, it does not prevent you from growing in humility. Let us look at this Old Testament illustration from the first reading, where Moses stands, sprinkling the people with the blood of a slaughtered animal and says: 'Thanks to this blood we have a covenant with God', a bit of a strange way of making friends through the death of some creature.Moses concludes Israel's covenant with God, committing them to fidelity to God's words. By sprinkling the blood of the slain lamb upon the people, the death of one creature gives growth and life to the rest. But let's ask in simple human terms, can death be creative?Well, everyone knows that's not the case. Can dying give birth? Everyone will say no. Can good fruit come from a bad tree? NO. But can a good tree grow around bad trees? Does your weedy spiritual life, or your dying for others, make sense?Can your suffering finally lead you to happiness? After all, suffering is not usually a mere trial. Suffering usually overwhelms us, sometimes it kills our hope, it seems to sow the tares of doubt in a way that is terrifying to us.Suffering is also not satisfied with just any answers and eliminates superficial advisors. When a person suffers, it is not enough to say just anything, and it is also not enough for someone to come and try to offer advice on this suffering.Suffering makes a person look for the most important answers, the truest ones, and in suffering only true friends remain. Because in poverty only a friend remains. So, on the one hand, suffering is a powerful, terrible experience. On the other hand, it is a sieve of wisdom and a filter through which only a true friend will pass.Jesus says in this parable that when you gather the weeds you do not pluck up the wheat. The farmer clearly states that eliminating weeds from this field may result in the wheat not being able to stay on the ground.

 

[lukaswide37]

Tormenting doubts
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Mark 3:20-35. Words of the Gospel according to Saint Mark.
One day he entered the house and such a crowd had gathered that they did not have time to eat bread. When His relatives heard about everything, they came to stop Him. It was said that he had lost his mind.
But the teachers of the law who came from Jerusalem said that Beelzebub had possessed Him and that He was casting out demons by their leader. Then he called them to himself and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot survive. And if a house is divided internally, such a house will not be able to survive. So if Satan has risen against himself and is divided against himself, he cannot endure, but it is his end.
After all, no one can enter the house of a strong person and steal his things unless he first binds him. Only then will he rob his house. I assure you: All sins will be forgiven people, even the blasphemies they have committed.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven: he will be guilty of eternal sin. For they said, "An unclean spirit possessed Him."
Then His mother and brothers came. Standing outside, they asked to call Him. Meanwhile, many people were sitting around Him. They told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside, asking about You.”
He answered them, “Who are my mother and brothers?” And looking at those sitting around, he said, “These are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister and mother.”
I imagine Mateusz as a mature man who is constantly thinking that he has calculated his bills incorrectly. He starts again, and when he finishes, he is not sure whether he has missed something and starts counting from the beginning.
He is never sure, never determined. This is a man who is tormented by scruples.
Similar situations occur during confession. You confess your sins and when you finish, you immediately doubt whether you have said everything. Where do scruples come from? I know from experience that people overwhelmed by the need for perfect cleansing have in the past omitted serious sins.
They used to swallow camels, but now they strain out mosquitoes. A person who has neglected his conscience for several years and sacrilegiously received Holy Communion will, after some time, begin to worry his conscience in its perverted form where there is no question of sin.
Scrupulosity is rooted in the shift of guilt from what is essential to what is unimportant. Someone can steal millions but hold themselves or others accountable for pennies!
When Jesus came to Matthew, he did not check him or take stock of him, he did not detect any defects in his accounts, he did not look for his mistakes or imperfections. He looked at him and called him. He gave him love that took him out of the neurotic need to hold himself and others accountable.
A scrupulous person wants to be absolutely authentic and accountable to God and himself, down to the smallest detail. However, man is not an angel, and God sees shortcomings even in angels.
Repeating confessions, fear of missing some "sin", constant dissatisfaction with oneself ultimately produce the opposite effect to that intended: instead of the peace that comes from perfection, they bring anxiety, suspicions of imperfection and shifting one's dissatisfaction onto others - in malicious criticism, complaining, blaming others for own unbalanced moods.
A scrupulous person feels like he is sinning at every moment. That's why he keeps confessing. He is convinced that he must pay God with his best deeds for tolerance, because he believes he does not deserve love.
The word "scrupulous" comes from the Latin scripulum. It is a Roman measure of weight of 1.137 grams. So scruples are a trifle, the smallest possible measure, the lightest burden.
This attitude towards conscience has nothing to do with spiritual life, because it is a psychological problem.
Until we heal our inhibitions and personality degenerations in Jesus, there is no point in talking about inner or spiritual life, because it is not asceticism, but anxiety neurosis.
Christian spirituality is not aimed at achieving internal perfection, but at meeting Jesus, living with His love, with His gaze. It's not about bills, but about love that counts with a person and does not settle accounts with him!

 

[lukaswide37]

An admonition with tears in the eyes.


Acts 20. 27+.
Paul said to the elders of the church in Ephesus: For I have made known to you the saving plan of God, without concealing anything. Take care of yourselves and of the entire flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops.
Be shepherds of the Church of God, redeemed by His own blood. I know that after my departure, ravenous wolves will appear among you and will not spare the flock. Even among you there will be people who will begin to speak lies in order to draw away the disciples.
Therefore be on your guard and remember that for three years, day and night, I did not cease admonishing you all with tears. Now I commend you to God and His word of grace. It can strengthen you and give you the goods intended for all saints.
I have never coveted anyone's silver, gold or clothes. You yourselves know that I earned my and my companions' living with my own hands. I have constantly given you an example of the need to constantly strive to support the weak, remembering the teaching of the Lord Jesus who said: "Happiness consists in giving rather than receiving."
Jn 17:11. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one as we are.
When I was with them, I protected them in Your name, which You gave Me, and I protected them. Not one of them was lost, except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Now I am returning to You, and I say this in the world so that they may be filled with my joy.
I taught them Your teaching, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but to protect them from evil.
They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to this world. Sanctify them through the truth! Your teaching is true. Just as you sent me into the world, so I also sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them, so that they too may be sanctified in the truth.
Today, brothers and sisters, we have two dramatic texts, because they tell about two departures. Paul, having visited the church in Ephesus, an ancient community, senses that he must go to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit has given him signs that he will die there.
And he comes out of the community to the shore, people fall to their knees, they cry because they have become attached to him, they love him and they are moved, but he warns them to be careful about the unity of the community. So that those priests who led this community would guard the community and themselves against evil, against apostate teachings, against divisions. However, he knows that his departure is inevitable.
There is a similar scenery and atmosphere in the Gospel. When Jesus prays to God, he asks Him that the disciples remain united and that the world does not swallow them up, that they do not forget the purpose of their lives and all that Jesus did for them, because he filled them with eternal life in himself.
Both texts are quite moving, they move us deeply, because it is proof of the authentic concern of Jesus and Paul for the unity of these people and that they do not lose somewhere along the way the goal of life, which is eternal life in God. This is proof of true care, true love, and love, as we know, is shallow in our world, for example because of these shallow TV screens.
The world of the spirit, fortunately, has retained depth, depth of love and depth of care. There are no actors anymore, although there is drama, true care from another person is a rare phenomenon, because true care is care for immortality, care for eternal life, for someone not to die.
It's not about doing well for someone for a while, but about not perishing in eternity.
And what is rare, brothers and sisters, in this world is all the more valuable and all the more sought after. In our interpersonal relationships, concern for oneself, egocentrism, or pretending to care for someone, or shallow concern, only for material goods, for education, for health, or for finances, appear more often.
These are short-term concerns and sometimes even threaten happiness, because happiness is something different than having everything. Happiness is having eternal life.
We have certainly often encountered such manifestations of unhealthy or apparent care: egocentric, narcissistic, possessive, and even emotional blackmail, entrapment, manipulation, intimidation, demands, claims, pressure, and forcing compliance.
All this may appear to be caring for someone, but in reality it is either preying on someone, or possessing someone, or controlling someone for your own self-gratification, and not for someone's true good.
And good, if it deserved such a name, can only be that which is indelible or eternal. So we can only call eternal life in God good. Caring can be slavery when we care for someone in order to possess them and make them dependent.
We can even tell ourselves or someone else that it is love, but it is parasitism. By manipulating someone's sense of guilt or sense of duty, or forcing someone to behave with anger, sadness, pretending to be hurt, abandoned, disappointed, we may force someone to think that we care about them, but in fact we will be taking advantage of them.
Against the background of such sick, toxic, addictive, immature, primitive behavior, Jesus and Paul appear as fully mature characters, because they care about eternal life, they make sure that someone does not perish forever.
Jesus and Paul did not enslave anyone. Jesus says: "I am going to the Father," and yet he himself once said that a hired servant leaves the herd when he sees a wolf. So does he not care about the apostles? Jesus cares about them very much.
We heard him praying, asking the Father, begging the Father so that none of those to whom he preached the word and whom he loved would perish, so that he would not perish like a son of perdition. So it's not so much that Jesus or Paul leaves, but rather that they remove themselves to cover God the Father, to make the Heavenly Father more visible.
It happens that it is not evil, not suffering, not a bad person, not the person who rejects us, but sometimes even a person who loves us very much and can truly obscure God from us, and this would be the greatest loss.
People are children of God, and man's goal towards other people in this world is to reveal God rather than cover him, even with good. Even being good to someone can obscure God.
The care that is revealed to us in these texts is a feature of love, an active love that seeks someone's good. It does not even limit itself to seeking the good itself, but goes so far as to sacrifice, to remove oneself, to leave, even at the cost of losing the person one loves, as long as that person does not lose love itself, God himself.
Caring is caring about someone, to put it simply, but also caring about someone's purpose, meaning, and eternal survival. It is not limited to doing something today, now, ad hoc, but also thinks, feels, empathizes and prays, begs that someone will not perish and that someone may have eternal life.
Such care is true, credible, authentic, original, flowing from the love of the Holy Spirit, it is dynamic and does not remain stationary. It also testifies to the living dynamics of someone's spirit, coming out of itself, heading towards someone, or even removing itself from someone's life, so that only God can be closer to this person than even me.
In Latin, the word "care" is very close in pronunciation to the words "strive", "follow", "aim for a goal". As if this holy care had to be pursued constantly, even to death, as in the case of Jesus or Paul, as long as someone lived.
Let's see, Jesus and Paul do not run away, but head towards death, so that those to whom they preach the Word of life may have eternal life. To die for those for whom they want to sacrifice themselves, this is self-sacrificing care. Jesus says in the Gospel today that he sacrifices himself for them, and does not run away, does not leave them in this vale of tears, but sacrifices himself for them.
The non-Christian Plato said that love is the desire for immortality. But for whom? For yourself or for others? If for others, then also for yourself. If only for yourself and not for others, it is not known whether it is attainable even to the one who seeks it. Amen.

 

[lukaswide37]

Satan's last stronghold

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Jn 19:20-26. Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,Father, I pray to you not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their teaching, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so let them be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.I have given them the glory that I received from You, so that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them and you in me - let them become perfect one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them as you loved me.Father, I desire that those whom you have entrusted to me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have bestowed upon me. For you loved me before the creation of the world.Righteous Father! The world didn't know you, but I knew you. And they knew that You had sent Me. I have revealed your name to them, and I will continue to reveal it to them, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I may be in them.”Today's readings all (3) tell us about the inevitable confrontation of two worlds: the world of God's love and the world in which we live.We live in a world full of hate, suffering, disease, sin, and no one is really doing well in this world, even those who are said to be doing well. They suffer too.Therefore, God had pity on us and, as we hear in today's readings, decided to take us out of this world through his Son. Then we talk about our salvation. To save someone means to save someone, it means to free someone from some trouble, and this world is a trouble for us.His plan to save man is fulfilled with his crazy love - his Son. It's hard to call it normal love when someone loves us so much, as we have an example of in his Son, Christ.God, in love with man, became man himself to do something incredible in us: to unite us with himself, to unite creation with the creator. This world and the ruler of this world, Satan, jealously fight for each of us, for each person,using all their strength to discourage man from crossing into the world of love in God. The evil spirit does everything to disgust us with God and to accuse us in God's eyes, so that we do not have the courage to believe that we are worthy of being loved by God, by Jesus Christ, because of what He has done.In these two readings, especially in the first reading and the Gospel, where it talks about Stephen being stoned and Jesus announcing his love at the Last Supper, both Stephen and Jesus are shown looking into sky.Before his death, Stephen is shown as someone who looks up to heaven and sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father. This sight of Jesus allows him to experience the moment of stoning as if without pain.At the Last Supper, just before these words, Jesus, also looking at heaven, looking as if at the Father, speaks these words full of love and asks his Father for us. This is what they are focused on: heaven, and their attention is focused on the Father, to be one with the Father,and this allows them to go through even such moments of life as stoning or crucifixion - it is difficult to imagine a worse kind of death. And yet they experience this worst kind of death in the easiest way thanks to the fact that they are focused on the Father.This sight brings them relief in these difficult moments. Stephen was stoned for looking at God, for love, for unity with Jesus, with His Father.Jesus was crucified because he remained in unity with the Father. And on the one hand, the world does everything to crush someone who is focused on the sky, to distract this person from God.And on the other hand, gazing at this sky, gazing at this Father, makes even the worst fate in life, even the most tragic death, the most dramatic version of existence, become bearable, as if death became unnoticed.The powerful claws of the forces of darkness are jealously trying to keep the last foothold that Satan and his spirits have left - the world of people. They have already lost all other worlds, only our world remains, which is still influenced by demons.So there is a fight going on for us, but which side I will stand on, which side you will stand on, it all depends only on you - whether you will stand on the side of those who stoned and crucified, or whether you will be focused on God.The fight against darkness can only be won thanks to unity with God the Father through Christ and in the Holy Spirit. Stephen looks up to heaven and sees the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of the Father, because he was full of the Holy Spirit.And this fullness of the Holy Spirit allowed him to survive this most dramatic moment. In the Gospel of the Father, Jesus asks us to be one with God, as He Himself is with Him.And this unity is the Holy Spirit, this is love, this is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we have no contact with God the Father. And our relationship with Jesus then comes down only to the knowledge that there is such a person somewhere, but knowledge is not unity.Faith is not the knowledge that God exists, but unity in love. We probably couldn't do anything on our own to love God, or even become interested in Him, or take even a step towards Him. He loved us first, not us.This fragment from the Gospel of John reveals to us this unique will of God to love us. Jesus asks the Father for us to love him, he does not even ask the Father for the Father to love us, he only asks the Father for us to love the Father."Holy Father, I am praying not only for them. Father, I want them to be with me, just as You are with me, in unity."God cares that man cares about God, because God knows that this is happiness for us. God asks Himself for me to love God. What kind of love is this?The Son of God asks for God's love for man, because man does not even want to ask. This may be an imperfect comparison, but let's imagine that a wife asks her husband: "Husband, please do everything you can to make your child love you as much as possible."All this convinces us that God cares about me, about you, about us. So movingly, Jesus asked his Father for us, so that we too may have unity with the Father in heaven.This passage is full of feeling. Jesus, with unconcealed feelings and perhaps tears, asked the Father in front of all the disciples for the disciples' love for the Father. No one who has heard these words from today's Gospel with their hearts rather than with their ears can say: "My existence is a mistakeor I am useless to anyone. Why do I live at all? Why was I born? My life is meaningless."Even if any of us have thought this way until now, after hearing this fragment of Jesus asking for each of us, it is very difficult not to believe that we are worthy of God's love, that we are not worthless."Holy Father," says Jesus, "I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am. That they may see my glory, which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world."Truly, anyone who listened to these words must not feel unnecessary in the world or worthless. Amen.

 

[lukaswide37]

Nothing will make you happier
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Jn 15:9-17. Jesus said to his disciples: I have told you these things so that my joy may fill you and that this joy may be perfect.
For this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do everything I command you.
I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you all that I have learned from the Father.
You did not choose me, but I chose you, and I ordained you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide; that my Father may give you whatever you ask in my name. This I command you, that you love one another.
Love needs constant support, development, and care so that it does not dissipate like smoke, end like a dream, fly away like a frightened bird, or wither like an unwatered plant.
It requires striking the words of the Bible like a chisel against the rock of the heart to crumble it, that is, to make it a broken heart. God's love is gained persistently every day by imprinting the teachings of Jesus into our own souls. It is a tedious carving of the heart, full of effort, struggle, palpable resistance of selfishness, and constant improvement of details.
This love exists to make man's joy complete. Jesus cares about human happiness, and according to Him, nothing makes us happier than caring about loving God.
If a person neglects to inscribe His teachings on the tablet of the heart - which is harder than stone - his interior remains insatiable and restless. The last, six hundred and thirteenth mitzvah (commandment) of the Old Covenant ordered the Jew to write a Torah scroll for himself, letter by letter, with his own hand.
In this way, the inspired words were not to be personally written down on parchment, but written into the human soul. Jesus wants even more from his disciples. He desires constant effort not only in meditating on His teaching, but above all, constant effort in lovingly knowing everything that He has revealed to them.
People in love often use poetry because they cannot find words to express their feelings in everyday terms. They quote Eliot or Rilke, because love needs a special language that not only moves feelings, but also pushes one to extraordinary feats.
Every human word seems like a poor packaging for expressing even simple love. What words are needed to express God's love for man or man for God?
Something more than poetry is needed here. That is why Jesus uses words such as commandment, command, order, teaching, praeceptum! Despite such strong words, this love has no element of control.
Many people complain about the indifference of someone they love. But not everyone needs the kind of love we offer. Often the love we give to someone is not love at all, but coercion or suspicious checking of the other person.
Jesus knew what kind of love the disciples needed and he gave them such love. He also knew with what kind of love they wanted to love and he encouraged them to do so.
Erich Fromm compared giving love to providing moisture to a plant. I show my love by providing the plant with the moisture it needs. I cannot assume that all plants need the same humidity, because I may damage or destroy many of them.
It is not enough to want well. You also need to get to know what your loved one expects.
Our ideas about love are not only deformed, but sometimes even harmful to others. If we don't get rid of our personal ideas about love, we may have a problem with people running away from us. If I don't know what kind of love God expects from me, I may also miss Him.