Day 31---YOLO?

1 And this is the false argument they use, 'Our life is short and dreary, there is no remedy when our end comes, no one is known to have come back from Hades.

12 Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our sins against the Law, and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.

WISDOM 2: 1,12

You never thought the Bible will talk about YOLO, did you? Well, look at that! The book of Wisdom still applies to us today! The men being talked about falsely reasoned that life is 'short and hard, so let's do whatever we want and then punish those who try to tell us we are wrong and who oppose our way of life!' You only live once. Yes, this is true. Except your soul is immortal... so it's more like... 

YOLFAYDIYWTEUIHOH: You only live forever and you decide if you want to end up in Heaven or Hell.

And if you think, 'oh well, I'm a good person, I wouldn't go to hell' well, let me tell you that hell is not only the place for thieves, murderers, and rapists, but for those who willfully reject God and His grace. Like, for example, when we say 'look God, I know this is what you ask me to do, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do this instead' or when we have an encounter with God, He shows us His love and mercy, and we still choose our sinful life rather than to repent and be healed. 

In the words of Stephen Colbert: Yahweh or No way! Heaven will always be unattainable if it weren't for Christ's sacrifice on the cross--so it's not like only those who are absolutely perfect go there. But, like we've said before, you gotta want it, you gotta strive for it, you gotta attempt to earn it.

And look, here the book of Wisdom is telling us that those who follow the way of the Lord can expect much persecution because people are just not going to like to be reminded of what they are supposed to do. Yeah, you might lose friends over it, even family members might stop talking to you or treat you badly.   And it's going to be hard. And sometimes people will lay traps for you and will try to make you fall so they can say 'see, not so holy after all, huh?' But always keep in mind that Jesus had to go through the same thing: they tested him and couldn't make him fall, so they ended up arresting him, torturing him, and killing him. 

So when it gets rough, just remember: God is on your side! Don't be afraid! Keep your eyes on the Lord! When you are being persecuted, then remind yourself that you must be on the right track. Yours is the kingdom of Heaven! Don't believe me? Then believe Jesus, because he literally said the exact same thing:

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10).

Day 25--Pharisee or Tax Collector?

10 'Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, "I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like everyone else, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here.

12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get."

13 The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

14 This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.'

LUKE 18:10-14

We, human beings, have a tendency to be arrogant. When we wander around the world without God, we think that we can do it all on our own. And once we realise that only God is our happiness, we can still fall in the trap of holier-than-thou. It's sooooo easy to see how God blesses us and how He acts in our lives, that we can end up acting like the pharisee, saying "thank you God for making me a good person, not like them..."

Don't get me wrong--everyday, I thank God because He rescued me from the person I was becoming and He protected me in very dangerous situations I kept putting myself in as a teenager and young adult. And I feel so lucky that Jesus and Mama Mary protected me (thanks to the prayers of my mother, mostly) from falling deeper into sin. But this doesn't make me better than you, or you, or you! And I ask God to please give the not only the humility to recognize that I am nothing without Him and that all that I have is thanks to Him, but the love to see you, you, and you as His beloved and not feel that I am better than any of you.

Because I was that pharisee. And I am fighting not to be anymore, and I pray that God helps me not to be it anymore. Because, see... pharisees were not murders, or thieves... they were righteous people, role-models even. But in the process of going through a checklist of "things to do" they forgot that the number one thing to do was to love God, and their neighbours as themselves (which we talked about yesterday).

And I'm not saying that "oh, since being a pharisee is bad, let's just be sinners!" No! Because Jesus explains to us that the tax collector was truly sorry for his sins and clamoring for God's mercy. It's not like "oooh.. well, I'll just do this and I'll just say I'm sorry later " (which many people think that is what the sacrament of confession/reconciliation is like. HINT: it's not).

All I'm trying to say here is that we should all strive for the perfection of the pharisee while at the same time recognize that we need God's mercy, like the tax collector did. It is important to do good things that appear good and not good things that appear evil because we need to give testimony of our relationship with Christ. But our relationship should be a thing of the heart, the will, the soul, and the mind as well as an external demonstration. 

So, what if instead of pointing fingers and saying "thank you God that I'm not like her or him" we say "Lord, have mercy on this friend, or this family member, or this coworker. He/she needs you so much. Please reveal yourself to him/her. May he/she encounter you and feel your love!"

I want you to know that the purpose of this blog is not to point fingers in a pharisee-like way. This blog is me saying to you "Hey, I'm broken, I'm plagued with flaws, but the Lord loves me so much. And I love Him. And knowing Him is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And He loves you too. And He's died for you. And He wants to hang out with you. Call Him!"

If God can love me, an ordinary pharisee, be sure that He loves you.

Day 10-- Forgiveness!

21 'If the wicked, however, renounces all the sins he has committed, respects my laws and is law-abiding and upright, he will most certainly live; he will not die.

22 None of the crimes he committed will be remembered against him from then on; he will most certainly live because of his upright actions.'

EZEKIEL 18:21-22

No matter how bad we have messed up in our lives--no matter how low we have fallen. The Lord wants to forgive us. In the Lord's mercy we will find LIFE!!!

Not only is He willing to forgive us, but, if we repent, none of our sins shall be hold against us! But repentance here involves not only feeling sorry for our sins, but turning our lives around: conversion, respecting the laws of God, being upright. 

It will not be easy and we will certainly err at times, but, in the words of Pope Francis: "the Lord never gets tired of forgiving us!"

Let's take it a step further-- since forgiveness will give us life, it is only logical that we too must forgive those who have hurt us in order to embrace that new life! This is a very hard thing to do!!! People have stepped all over our hearts, have hurt us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But hate, bitterness, and resentment are internal--they do not make the other person pay... they just make us wither. Forgiveness will set you free.

If you find yourself unable to forgive, remember that God forgives you, who have also done wrong. Sounds familiar?

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..."

It is in the measure we forgive that we will be forgiven.

And if you still can't forgive--ask the Lord to help you!

Day 8--God's soft spot for you

'God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring it.'

JONAH 3:10

So the people of Nineveh were being really bad and God send Jonah to tell them "You know what, that's it... I'm destroying Nineveh!!" But the people of Nineveh believed in God and repented!!! They were afraid of destruction so they turned to go and did penance: they fasted, they prayed, they put on sackcloth (very unattractive, I know).

And God saw their repentance. And He changed his mind.

God forgave them and spared them from the punishment. Why? Simply out of love-- He's got a soft spot for us when we asked him for forgiveness. 

So don't ever feel like God couldn't possibly forgive what you've done in your life--because He can and He will, if you are truly sorry.

If you need to reconcile yourself with the Lord, don't hesitate. Go to confession, seek His mercy. It's not the priest who is forgiving your sins---it is Jesus!! 

So come clean, let Jesus put you back together.