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It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness, he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.
It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.
~ John Paul II, World Youth Day, 2000 (Rome)
I have said before that I realized my life makes no sense apart from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; as time goes on, this realization is coming to be ever more meaningful. When I look at a crucifix and see the sacrifice of my Savior, it is clear that there is nothing more important than that, anywhere. If I never read another word, if I never sleep another night, if I never see another day, it doesn't matter; because Jesus' death on the cross reveals everything. That very moment in time is the meaning of life and the answer to death. All I have to do, for the rest of my life, is to look upon that cross...and become so enamored and unified that I become a living reflection, and let no other worldly concern pull me away from that goal of the perfection of charity. To love as God loves, that completely self-giving and wholly-self-sacrificing love.
God has willed us into being, out of his perfect love, and he holds us in existance. His grace is everything yet he requires but one thing from us: our willingness to cooperate with His plan for our lives. God calls us, each and every one, by our names, quietly guiding us, revealing his plan step by step. Each moment, we have a choice; accept or reject God's plan? Every moment of every day, we live out our choices and consequences of those choices, and each one either leads us toward the cross and self-sacrificing love, or causes us to flee into the selfishness of our own desires. There is always an option; do we act out of love? Or do we flee from the shadow of the cross?
Ultimately we must make that choice; are we willing to be crucified alongside our Lord, our happiness aligned with the deepest gift of self in accordance with God's own plan for us? Are we willing to offer ourselves to God every moment of every day?
Our own greatness resides in our humble acquiescence to walk in accordance with God's holy designs upon our lives. We are called to be holy; we are created for love, and we are formed to love as God loves.
When we look upon the cross, we should understand that this suffering is in fact the perfection of charity to which we should all aspire. And there is no greater glory to offer to God than to abandon ourselves and our entire lives into His loving hands.
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11 comments:
Kind of in the same vein:
Did you ever hear the Toni Braxton song, "There's no me without you"? I think of that often in relaton to Our Lord.
beautiful..i often ask myself what if i would one day doubt the existence of God, and walk away from the one true faith?
And the answer will always be: How wretched you will be, for you have no reason to be alive at all.
Ah Adoro, do you know the exact date for Easter 2008? I can't wait to receive the Sacraments next year! And if you know of any sites/books that will help me receive them with the greatest of reverence and respect next year, do tell me.
Went though a lot of resources as of now, but would be grateful for more. How i yearn to receive the Eucharist every Mass now..
Karyn, I don't know the exact date right offhand, will have to look for it.
You may want to read Scott Hahn's "The Lamb's Supper". Also go to Adoration, or if there is no adoration chapel near you, then go into a church, kneel or sit near the tabernacle, and read John 6 over and over again.
Karyn,
Even better while sitting in the presence of the Lord, read Sacramentum Caritatis by Pope Benedict XVI. It is a wonderful treatise on the Eucharist, and full of practical stuff of how to enter into the mystery even more.
Here's a real good one, "7 Secrets of the Eucharist" by Vinny Flynn. Gave me lots to ponder.
Thanks for those book suggestions...can't believe I didn't think of them! I have another one at home I'll look up - it describes a lot of Eucharistic miracles.
Wow!
I loved just the title of this post - it has me imagining . . .
The Easter Vigil will be March 22, 2008.
thanks, for all the suggestions :)
Will look up the pope's encyclical first, heard of it before.
Ah, managed to find out ..easter is on March 23rd itself. Lovely..it comes much earlier next year.
Yes, very lovely - I'm counting down the days for the same reason as you.
thank you for your blog !
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