God's Master Plan must be your Plan.

God’s master plan must be your plan. We know God has a plan because he showed us the plan, his map to destiny. But more important, over and above his master plan, God revealed Himself to us. The biblical term for allowing man to know God and his plan is called Divine Revelation. Man has only two choices to understand reality; revelation or guesswork. The difference between these two options is certainty. Revelation allows man to be certain regarding the truth of the data God has communicated to man. This is because God revealed it to man and God is never wrong. With guesswork we are assuming our data and logical conclusions are correct. The wisest, most brilliant minds in history can not give man the guarantee that logical conclusions are correct. All they can confirm is that the conclusions are correct up to the point they are disproved. God’s truths are eternally correct.  God revealed data about Himself and his plan. Data which would never have been discovered and known by man except God communicated it to man. Because God decided to reveal his truths we can now be certain of our purpose in creation. We have been given a sun of truth to light our way and we need no longer stumble in the darkness. The thinking mind can observe the world and creation and point us in the direction of a supreme creator but only Divine Revelation can reveal the person of God and his instructions on correct living.   

Ultimate Reality

God revealed the answer to what is ultimate reality? to the Jews. The answer was Himself. The answer was God. The Jews did not deduce this fact but it was communicated to them by God. It is impossible for man alone to have discovered this fact. Man did not discover this fact like it discovered the law of gravity, or E=MC squared but man was told the nature of reality. We were told by God because there was no other way we would have found out this fact. It is a fact beyond our bounds to discover. God revealed to man something that is sacred and profound. So profound it goes to the heart of reality. God revealed his name. A name is sacred. It is a person’s symbol. The most sacred word to be known by man is God’s name. It was given to Moses at the burning bush. God’s name is “I AM” (JHWH). Ultimate reality is a person, an “I”. Personhood lies at the center of reality. God is unique; there is only one god; he is sole one “I”. God is irreducible. He has no limits; He is infinite; He is “I AM”. He is infinite living present, not bounded by time or space. He has no beginning and no end. The final truth of what is real, the answer to the questions “What is?” “What is that outside my being?” “What is really real?” is God. God is Ultimate reality. We know this because God revealed it to his Chosen people, the Jews. God is ultimate reality because he is ultimately real, the source of everything. All existence flows from God. God is creator. He creates. No other then God Creates. All creation exists because God makes it exist. God is the subject. Creation is a verb. It means more then the elements, laws and structures of creation. Its means to make existence itself. God also revealed why he enacts creation. The reason is his divine Character and Will. The character of Ultimate Reality is infinite truth, justice, love, holiness and goodness. God is a person with a personality. We who were created with the image reflect God is this way; we are also persons with a personality.       

You are not Detemined

We are not determined. We have free will, we are responsible for our choices and decisions. We can choose right from wrong. But we are also born with a selfish instinct. We are selfish by nature. It is a fact of human existence. This selfishness we call “original sin”. Our being conditions our choices and resulting actions. We do bad because we have badness within us. We also do good because we have goodness in us also. But we have a free will to choose. We can choose goodness over the badness within us. We are not determined but are led, pushed and pulled by our selfish condition. We are not victims of conditions or conditioning.  We can choose to obey our instincts or resist our instincts. This is the great battle of living. We are responsible because we can choose our response to life. We respond through our thoughts, words and actions. We can confirm this reality by external and internal experience. The external world is drawn to what is wrong. We see it in politics, business, economics and society. The “means justifies the ends” philosophy. Today more then ever the world seems to be overwhelmed with problems of it’s making; it’s own sinfulness We also confirm it when we look into our hearts and our tendency to do bad.  But we can choose alternatives that are contrary to our conditions and conditioning. All living is a relationship with God. Every thought, word and action, every moment of our lives are solely in the context of our relation with God. There is no other way to live. People whether they are ignorant of God, ignore, avoid, try to hide or accept God all have a relationship to God. We know this because all of creation and man in creation cannot exist without God. There are only two possibilities in this relationship; faith or sin. All that is not faith is sin. All that is not sin is faith. Faith is belief but more so; it is trust and fidelity. Sin is breaking the trust and infidelity. We are not determined because we can choose with our free will either faith or sin.

Forgiveness is Healing

Forgiveness is healing. We need healing in life because we break so much. We break promises, relationships, commandments and ourselves. We are broken by nature and we break by choice. Forgiveness puts everything back together. It mends, binds, repairs and restores. Forgiveness restores relationships. It restores our relationship with God and with our neighbour. Sin breaks, forgiveness mends.  Forgiveness mends the most serious damage in life, our disobedience to God’s law and will. We are possessed with free will and we choose disobedience. We decide that we are in charge, we can set our own rules and we know what is best. This denies reality. It denies that; as there are physical laws there are moral laws. It denies that God is in charge, that he sets the rules and he knows what is best for us. When we are disobedient we actually turn away from the source of all goodness, truth and joy. This results in life’s greatest problem; separation from God. When we separate from God we go into breakdown mode, our life force sweeps out of us. We decay. The ultimate decay is death resulting in eternal separation from God. Forgiveness and mercy is God’s response.

The Elephant in the Room

Christ forgives sins. Christ came to earth to save man from the disease of his soul which is sin. That was Christ’s purpose in his life. This purpose is continued from Christ’s time through to our present time and for the future of the world through the Catholic Church. The Church forgives sins because it is the body of Christ. Only the Church can forgive sins on earth. If the Church could not forgive sins there would be no hope of eternal life. We need God because He is infinite love and goodness. We need his grace because we are sinners. We need to be loved despite being sinners. When we admit we are sinners, we admit we are not intrinsically good. It is a fact that we are sinners; it is the greatest truth of human existence. The world denies this truth, avoids it, cannot accept it, and covers it up. It tries to bury this truth under fallacies, distractions, psychology, counselling, self help, religions, philosophy, superstition, addictions, hedonism, materialism and any other infinite avoidance tactics the human mind can conjure. The world perpetuates a fairy tale which it knows that like all such tales at it’s heart is a great untruth. The fairy tale is that it will all work out and we’ll live happily ever after. But no matter how the world tries, deep down it cannot ignore the elephant in the room; sin.

Agape: A New Kind of Love

Christ brought a new kind of love to the world. This love was new, never known nor seen ever before by man. This love was not romantic nor desire nor friendship, nor parental nor affection. The love that Christ showed the world was that love that made and powers creation. This love is not natural human love but supernatural and divine. This love went beyond human reason because reason could not realise this new love. Man’s love is temporary and transient. Man breaks his promises, bonds and his feelings of love are fickle, here today, gone tomorrow.  Gods love is permanent and real. God’s love is not a subjective feeling but an objective fact. God’s love is purposeful and motion. God’s love is not passive but infinitely proactive. God’s love powers the universe and everything in it. Christ showed us God’s love by his life and death. We call this love Agape.  It is the greatest of all loves because it is God’s love. We choose this love by the will. We choose this love by submitting our will to God’s will. For when we choose God’s will we allow God’s love to flow through us. Agape is the explanation for creation for it is the reason for creation. This love is the essence of loving God and loving our neighbour. It is to love God without limit and loving our fellow man without exception. Agape is the love of God above all else and the love of neighbour for the love of God. Agape love is a choice not a feeling. We can choose Agape love even when we don’t have loving feelings. When we obey the commandments we choice the greatest love which is Agape. This love is self-less, self-forgetting, self-sacrifice and other centered. It is the love that reaches out not only to our loving neighbour but to our unloving ones also. It is love of our enemies, those that hate, despise and want to do us harm. This is radical love because even when we are justified to hate, we are now required to love. Agape love does not discriminate against any fellow human because God created all and loves all. Jesus said:” You have heard that it was said, 'Love (agapao) your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love (agapao) your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” (MT 5:43-45) This love is unconditional, non-discriminatory, voluntarily chosen, active, volitional and self-sacrificing. It is the reflection of God’s self-sacrificing love for mankind. It is love of others even unto death. This love does not depend on any loveable or unlovable qualities that our neighbor may possess.

Holy through Virtuous Living

We become holy through virtuous living. We are all called to one purpose in life; holiness, but the purpose is lived uniquely to each individual’s endowments, state and circumstance. We are all called to be equally holy but uniquely holy according to our own lives. Virtue is the fruit of faith. But we must actively pursue virtue that leads to holiness. Being holy is our response to God’s salvation. Once we have faith in Christ it our responsibility to be active not passive in that faith. We receive God’s life into our souls through faith and it is active through virtuous living. A living faith naturally leads to virtuous living that produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We cannot save ourselves or be virtuous or be holy without God. But neither will God force himself on to us. We have to do our part. We must have faith and open our souls to God’s life but also develop the disciplined cultivation of virtue in our lives. We receive God’s life through faith and live God’s live through active virtue in our lives. In fact if we do not live God’s life received through faith through active virtue, God’s life within us becomes stagnant and eventually dies. God calls; it is our responsibility to respond. God calls us to live our unique true identity, the true-self, and when we do we are holy because they mean the same thing in the eyes of God. We find our true identity through faith but we must also live our true identity through virtuous living. Both go hand in hand.

Trust More not Try Harder

Trust more not try harder. The modern world promises that if you want to be happy, sort out your problems, get the life you desire you basically you got to “try harder”. We are given instructions, techniques, methods, tools, philosophies and knowledge on how to manage and guide our lives to our desired ends. Work at it harder, do things faster, fit more in, aim higher. Life today offers you a self help success formula that basically involves the following; Dream and desire the big dream, set the game plan, focus on your strengths, negate your weaknesses, climb the greasy pole, organise your time, dress to impress, manipulate your appearance, seize opportunities, use other people, design your perfect partner, be in control of your life persist until you achieve your goals and live happily ever after. But there is one problem. We don’t live happily ever after. We all have a pain inside, a space, a hole that never seems to satisfy. This pain points to something wrong. What’s wrong is that we are living a myth. But it’s worse then a myth. Myths are based on some truth. Our lives today are based on no truth at all. We are living an illusion, a lie. The ultimate truth is reality. Reality is God. Trying harder is an illusion. The perceived formula for happiness and successful living in the western world boils down to “try harder”. But faith is about trusting more. Trusting God, the creator of all things. Trying harder means we rely on ourselves, us, who are finite beings with a beginning and end on earth. Trusting God means we totally surrender to God and his will, God who is infinite and has no beginning or end.

God Answers Prayers

God answers prayers. God answers when we pray passionately, purposefully and in line with God’s will. God wants heartfelt discussions with you. He does not want empty words but words filled with genuine reaching to God. God does not need our prayers. Praying is for man’s benefit not Gods. God knows and controls everything about us. He knows what we need before we ask. He knows when we will pray, how we’ll pray and what we will pray about before the thought even enters our minds. But God wants to meet us half-way and he can only do that when we meet him half-way. Christ said "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:7-8). Christ wants sincerity in our prayers that can only come from our heart. Our deepest prayers usually are said in our darkest hours. When our troubles and sufferings are so overwhelming we bend obediently before God and request his loving care. Never doubt God always responds; he never ignores a prayer. He may not answer in the way we want but he always answers the way He wants, in accordance with His will. Often when do not see immediate tangible results, we think our prayers have been unheard or rejected. When answering prayer God responds to the attitude of our hearts. Our attitude in praying affects the results of prayer. Our selfish natures can hinder God’s response. Our attitude should be of total trust, expectation and dependence on God’s power. We become friends with God through prayer. We know God through prayer. Prayer is a matter of life or death. Life for the soul, or death for the soul.  

Prayer is Nourishment

If you want a relationship with God, you must talk to God. Like any relationship, its quality is dependent on communication. God seeks more then anything a friendship with you his child. If faith is the plant, prayer is the fertiliser, and good works the fruit. Without prayer our souls wither.  You cannot be or claim to be a Christian without prayer.  We talk to God by praying to God. The intimate life with God is expressed through prayer. Prayer is raising our mind, will and heart to God. Prayer is turning face to face with God.  We pray by deciding and acting on that decision to pray. Pray is nourishment and food for the soul. Our souls change when we pray. The soul responds to God’s presence in prayer. We are never closer to God then when we sincerely pray. The reason we pray is because we realise we are totally dependent on God for everything. God knows that man has needs. We are totally dependent on God’s grace, providence and goodness that those needs are met. We don’t pray because we are dependent on God. We are totally dependent on God in order that we pray to God. God is in charge of our lives, and our relationship with God determines what happens to us. Prayer is essential to the relationship because we need to be emotionally involved with God. God doesn’t want a piece of you, or part of you but all of you. When we pray he wants us to pray from our deepest centre; our heart. God wants honesty in prayer. God wants reality in our prayers. Prayer is powerful. The power does not reside in us but in God who hears us.  It allows divine power to work through us and in our lives. God wants our prayers, He wants to answer our prayers and respond to our prayers in accordance with His will.

Holiness is for Everyone

Holiness is not a subjective ideal incompatible with the modern world. It is the most practical application of right living this world has ever known. This modern age needs holy people more then any previous civilisation. It needs holy people because it itself is so unholy. We are holy things. We were created to be holy. Christ said “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” At first, this seems to be an unattainable standard; a hard teaching from our Lord. The Lord set high standards, the highest humanity has ever learned but he also gave the means; the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Every person, every circumstance, every life state is called to be holy. It is not exclusive to the religious or the spiritually gifted. Holiness is for every individual in society, no matter what their vocation or role. Holiness is our true state in life. All are called; religious and laity single and married, parents and childless, master and servant, captains of commerce and manual workers, rich and poor. Holiness is misunderstood and ridiculed by the modern world. It is a fact that the holy life is counterculture. It goes against the grain of today’s hedonistic, materialistic philosophy. Where the holy and the unholy interface there is a clash, friction and conflict. Opposites always clash by nature. The modern world misunderstands holiness because it misunderstands happiness. Holy people are considered unhappy people, to be pitied. It is considered unnatural and a waste of a life. In reality holiness is quite the opposite. Holy people are the most joyous, life loving, peaceful, strongest, loving people on the planet. Holy people experience the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Holy people know and embrace reality. They know reality is God. The world embraces an illusion, a feeling and bright lights. The prevailing philosophy of the western world misunderstands happiness thinking it is a warm fuzzy feeling and shiny sparkling things, whereas in reality happiness is a fact.          

The Apex of Revelation

God wants you to respond to Christ in faith. That is the whole purpose of Revelation; that we respond. Christ reflects revelation. He is revelation and completes Revelation. Christ communicated His Father’s nature and His father’s plan. He was the ultimate communicator. All of history acknowledges that Christ was the greatest teacher that has stood on earth. He is the greatest teacher and teaching the most important lesson in history; the meaning of life. Christ is the apex of Revelation because he is the sole mediator between God and Man. Christ has built the bridge, the path to God. Exactly the way God showed himself through history, Christ revealed God through his life. Christ communicated God and his plans through words, works, miracles, actions, thoughts and ultimately through his day to day life. Christ never wrote a book or composed a song but he speaks directly to us through time. He speaks to us through the Bible, the Church and the Holy Spirit. We are bound by space and time, but God is not. Since Christ is not bound by the laws of the universe he can speak to us directly now. Christ also revealed God gradually through his life, mission, and death and even beyond death. God works to his own schedule not ours. He communicated and showed us God step by step. After he rose from death he revealed even more of God’s plan; for example God showed his plan for the human body, he proclaimed his apostles mission. Even after he ascended into heaven he sent the Holy Spirit to communicate the last of God’s will and plan. It is the Holy Spirit that communicates the last of Christ’s teaching and work through the Church.

God reveals Himself in Stages

God is invisible so He uses visible things to communicate with the world. God throughout history has used various means to communicate; visions, voices, objects, dreams, books, nature, angels and people. The ultimate communicator of God was God himself in the person of Christ. The human mind cannot conceive what God is like. Ants are nearer trying to conceive the nature of humans. God is infinite. Our thinking minds are finite (as regards understanding). Because God cannot be conceived by humans, God uses the things of creation to communicate with man. God takes account of our human capabilities of understanding and our minds and speaks to us on our level. God sends us a letter in a form we can understand. Not alone does God communicate with man at specific points in time but through time. God revealed himself to man in stages. Knowledge of God is gradual. He does not hit us all at once with everything. Ultimately God revealed himself in three stages; God the father, residing above us and creator of man; God the Son, came down to walk beside us, saviour of man and the Holy Spirit, to reside inside us, guide and enlighten man. The understanding of knowledge and wisdom is gradual. All development and learning, is incremental, sequential and phased. God revealed himself exactly in this way. Throughout history up to Christ, God and His plan slowly formed into a clear picture. This history is recorded in the book we call the Bible. You have a part to play in God’s revelation. God asks you to receive and respond to his revelation. We are to respond to His revelation in faith.    

Holiness is Perfection

You were created to seek holiness not spirituality. The meaning of your life is to seek your true identity, your true-self. Life is a stewardship, a test, a vocation and a journey. Stewardship is trust. God trusts you with the gift of your life and desires that you assist him in perfecting it. This is holiness. Life is a struggle that tests us.  Our character and our holiness are perfected through trials and struggles. Our vocation in life is our holy mission. Our journey in life is our way to holiness. Holiness is the path to your true-self.  Holy means “set-apart”. It means to stand out from the ordinary, from what are the world’s accepted standards. To stand out from the ordinary is to be extraordinary.  There are only two roads to travel in this world. There are two roads in life one that leads to God the other nowhere (an abyss). These two roads lead either to goodness or evil, life or death, truth or lies. We have only two choices; either to be holy or unholy. The one determining factor that can change society and the world is holiness. Society needs holiness more then anything else. Society is unity and community. Society is unified in ideas and values about how life should be lived. Society is a community that shares these values about living with each other. The highest level and value of living is holiness. The most profoundly transforming person in the world is a holy person. Christ was the holiest person that ever lived. He was perfection and he changed not alone the world and creation but man’s nature itself. To be holy is to be pure, without blemish. Holiness is perfection. God created all things including man to be perfect. Perfection in man is holiness. We see the perfection of man in the person of Christ.  All of creation is holy. Matter is holy. We when we do God’s will; we are holy. We when we sin; we are unholy. Man’s value, esteem and dignity rest on the fact that he is a holy being. God delights in holy people and desires your holiness above whatever else you do on earth. Every human being that has existed, is existing and will exist, is called to be holy, to be perfect. Each person’s holiness is unique; unique to that individual’s character, soul, and endowments. As each person’s personality is unique so is their soul and their perfection. Holiness is attained by the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is attained by having the life of God in our souls.   

The Greatest Solution to the Greatest Problem

The most astounding fact in the history of man and creation is the Incarnation. The Incarnation means that God took on the nature of humans by conception. It is astounding because the creator became the creature. God entered creation and walked among mankind. It is astonishing that God who is the creator was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the blessed womb of a blessed lady. In Jesus Christ the human nature of man was combined with the divine nature of God. God took on the nature of man to save man because he is the God of Love. Through the Incarnation God reached for man who was lost and found him. It is the greatest solution to the greatest problem to have existed in creation. The problem was the separation of man from the Creator. The solution is greater than creation. The solution was God himself. But what was the solution of the Incarnation. The solution was that God who is infinite power, wisdom, truth, goodness and love emptied himself to become man who had emotions, bodily functions, hunger, thirst, pain, pleasure, hurts, sorrow, suffering, joy, desires, wishes, hopes, and laughter, everything that is a human except sin. The effect of emptying is humility. Jesus Christ was humble in his divinity. He that is infinitely powerful was infinitely humble. This is why nature and creation did not revolt when God entered the world and walked in his design. God became the person of Jesus Christ, a person with a divine nature and a human nature. Nature means the essence of something. It does not mean a part, or a subset, or divisibility but a whole. Jesus Christ was wholly God and Man. The body of man is visible, the soul of man is invisible but the soul’s fruits are visible. The same with Christ, his body was visible while on earth, his divinity invisible but the fruits of his divinity are visible.

God's Family on Earth

You were created to be participate in God’s family. God’s essential identity and essence is Trinity. Trinity is who God is. Trinity means there are three persons in the one God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God is a Family. God is an eternal family. God shares with humanity the essential qualities of a family; Parent, Child and love; Fatherhood, Sonship and the love they share. The Trinity is the perfect family unlike the human family. God’s purpose is a familial purpose; the Trinity, the family of God is stamped on creation. God is not alone our creator but our Father by grace. We are his children through Christ. We bear God’s image and likeness just as children bear the likeness of their natural parents.  Families are bound by the love bond. The Trinity is a love bond, a self sacrificial love covenant. So too is a human family, it is made of the bonds of love. God has also created a love bond with us his children. This love promise is never broken from God’s side because God always keeps his promises. Sin is when we do not keep our end of the love bond. When we are disobedient we walk away from God’s life and love. Sin causes death because it separates us from the source of life which is God. Sin separated us from God’s family but the self sacrifice of God the son re-established the love bond with God’s family. But greater then this humanity was adopted into God’s family, The Trinity. Humans through Christ are divinised. Christ established his Catholic Church as God’s family on earth. God commands all Christians to be members of his church for it is the guarantee of salvation, the guaranteed way to heaven. True Christians do not disobey Christ. God wants unity in his family. He wants his family at one on doctrine theology, morals, worship, and discipleship. His gift to assure unity is the Catholic Church. He does not want a divided family or a scattered family. He wants a unified family, unified as the Trinity is unified. He empowers his family on earth, the Catholic Church to communicate his grace and blessings to his children, like a good father.     

We are not Alone

Being a Christian is being a member of a family. We were not created to be islands. We were created to be part of a community. We are relationship and social creatures. It is part of our makeup and our nature. We cannot carry out our vocation as Christians by ourselves. That would be a contradiction. The family reflects God’s nature. At the center of God is a loving relationship. God is a trinity, three person’s in one. God’s nature reflects the nature of a family; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As a family is made of love so is God made of love. The love of God is the Holy Spirit which is the love relationship between the Father and the Son. The Son is the Father’s truth and the Holy Spirit is their love. God is not along and neither are we. God’s family nature is the opposite of loneliness. We should also never be alone as it is not good for us. And we are never alone as long as we reach out; reaching to God and to our neighbour. Loneliness is self-centredness as it focuses our attention on ourselves and not on others. God created us to be part of his family, we are his children, and he is our father. The true expression of this family is in heaven when our relationship with God is total. All Christians are born twice. Born once on the physical, material plane into our human family and a second time on the spiritual pane in to God’s family through the sacrament of baptism. We are born again but this time as a child of God; all Christians are our siblings and the Catholic Church our spiritual family on Earth. A physical family can fracture and break but our spiritual family is permanent even unto eternity. When you are baptised you enter the door to life in the Spirit. You are baptised into Christ’s death and Christ’s new life. So being baptised and becoming a member of God’s family actually saves us. Baptism communicates the death of Christ which saves us to us.    

Man was Born to Suffer

We were born to suffer. Existing in reality is the source of suffering. Everybody suffers. If you exist it is impossible to avoid suffering. It is ironic that we can spend our lives avoiding and running away from suffering so much so that we end up suffering even more. When we resist suffering we suffer more. All suffering is invaluable. This world is not heaven despite mans best and fruitless efforts to make it so. Man has convinced himself that he can create paradise on this side of death. Man is convinced that he can. Man can experience immense tribulation and joy at the same time. The greatest fear of man is suffering. But Christ said the thing you fear most is of greatest blessing to man. This truth is totally at odds with the world view that suffering is to be avoided at all costs. It is in the fire of suffering that our true-self is revealed and we become ever more like Christ. Everyone suffers but not everyone is blessed because they suffer. We are blessed when we offer suffering for and to God. When we suffer; our soul and spirit respond and receive God’s joy and comfort. God is a caring and fatherly God. He is a loving father that responds and sends his infinite comfort to his suffering children. All sufferers need and require care and comfort. As we suffer so shall we be comforted by God. Suffering breaks down our defences to God. The most proud, the strongest, the hardest of people are brought to their knees through suffering, but their souls also kneel. They become humble as they recognise their own weakness. They are ripe and open to God’s infinite power. Suffering opens us to God. We were created to be like Christ. Christ suffered. He suffered for the world. He took on the greatest suffering of all, the burden of sin and paid the price. The partner to suffering is love. The greater the love the greater we suffer. Love and suffering go hand in hand. Real love which comes from our hearts can be both immensely joyful and happy but also immensely sorrowful and mournful. These peaks and troughs, mountain tops and valleys are the price of love. Every person has a soul, a spiritual center. The soul is sensitive by nature.  Naturally we protect this part of our being but when we love it is necessary to expose our heart to another or others. To reveal our hearts is to love from the heart. If we never reveal ourselves we will never love. To not love is to be a dead thing.  This exposure comes with the greatest experiences in this life; joy and sorrow beyond our knowledge.

The Soul is Destiny Focused

We posses destiny focused souls. Our destiny is life everlasting. A life with God, that lasts for eternity. The end of this life is not the end of us. God has planted eternity in the heart of man. Man is built for eternity not for the here and now, not just for a few years on creation’s time scale. Man is built for eternity, because eternity is a nature of man. He has eternity wired into his being. Man perceives a future, perceives a life after death. Man through history has looked beyond death and confirmed eternal truths. Down will always be down, up will always be up, right will always be right, left will always be left. We can confirm that life is priceless. Our own life is priceless to ourselves. Our nearest and dearest are priceless. There is nothing more valuable in creation then the life of man. Something that is invaluable cannot end at death otherwise it is not priceless. Man gets his meaning, purpose and focus from his destiny. There is no other place he can look. Life is a journey. It is a journey that starts with an origin and finishes at a destination. If we want to know the meaning of the journey, we need to know where the end is. Our end can be found in our origin and nature. We were created on purpose and with a soul. A soul cannot be divided, broken apart or broken down. A soul cannot die. It cannot die because it is not made of matter. The soul is not subjected to the laws of space and time.  Souls are made of God and God is forever.

The Reality of Happiness

Modern man would seek happy feelings rather then objective facts. Man would rather pursue the appearance of happiness then the reality of happiness. The modern thinking mind is more subjectivist than previous thinking minds. “If it feels good, do it, if I feel happy, I’m happy with that” is the mantra of the modern mind. The prevailing philosophy is nothing matters only feelings. We live in a feel-good, pleasure seeking, gratification oriented world. When we feel bad, we make bad decisions; we make decisions based on getting rid of bad feelings. If we can’t get rid of bad feelings, we more often then not, try the escape route through unbridled pleasure, addiction or destructiveness. When we feel good we can often make even worse decisions. Feeling good is a very weak moral compass. There is a stark contract between feeling good and being good. Today being “acceptable” to the world is more important than being “right”. To be blessed, to be virtuous, to be holy, all Gods standards, are completely opposite to the worlds standards of power, pleasure and comfort. Christ is shocking. He should be shocking. He is from heaven. Christ’s message “the Good News” is shattering to the human heart. It is shattering because it is reality. Christ is revolutionary. He is the only true revolution is the history of mankind. His revolution was, to make known reality, show reality, be the way to reality. Remember the ultimate meaning of reality is God. Christ was revolutionary because not alone did he bring us the mind of God but created a new existence for man. Man listens to what he wants to hear but Christ told us not what we want to hear but what we need to hear. This “need to hear” is shocking.

New Body

You are raised in Christ. Christians have belief in the fact of the risen Christ. Christians have faith in the person of the risen Christ. The risen Christ means that Christ is alive and present now. Christians are risen in Christ by faith in Christ and baptism. Christ’s death vanquished sin. Christ’s resurrection vanquished death. Christ’s death destroyed our spiritual disease; sin, and his resurrection created a new human body. God promised that those who believe in Him will be saved. God keeps his promises. Christ is risen with a glorified new body. The new body man will inherit will not die. It will be the perfect body. When Christ ascended to heaven he brought the human body to heaven. The human body became divine. By the Incarnation, Resurrection and Ascension, man was made different but God was also made different. The body of the person of Christ was integrated to the Trinity. The result is that mankind has become partakers of the divine. The soul is immortal. The soul was always immortal. The soul is who we are, our individual consciousness, our truly unique personality. As no two personalities are the same; no two souls are the same. The moment of conception, is the moment the body begins as it is the moment God created your soul united with that body. The human body before the resurrection was mortal but after the resurrection it is immortal through Christ. As members of the human family we share with all an immortal soul; but also as Christians, members of God’s family, we now have immortal bodies. Christ’s resurrection changed the nature of creation. The purpose of creation is man. Creation changed because the nature of man changed. Man now has an immortal body as is his soul.

Faith is Affected by the Resurrection

Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Christ rose from the dead by the power of the Father. It is a historical fact. It is a fact of human history. It is a fact of history because like all facts of history is recorded by real and reliable witnesses of history. Real men and women witnessed the resurrection. Christ appeared to several hundred real people. Not one or two but hundreds. Not in one place or two but in several places. Not at one time, but several times. The resurrection does not depend on faith nor is affected by faith. But faith is affected by the resurrection. It was a real event affecting real people whose faith was affected. There was no mass hysteria or hallucination. Quite the opposite, there was questioning, doubt, and close examination. People at the time applied an evidential approach to proving that Christ rose from the dead. They wanted evidence and proof regarding the person who appeared before them. The risen Christ is real. He was not a mirage. The risen Christ was touched. To witnesses his body was alive and solid. He ate food. He spoke on many occasions. He gave guidance. He instructed. He walked. He set the foundation for his church. The risen Christ is real, as real as the over one billion people in history who believe that Christ is risen. The risen Christ is as real as the hundreds of thousands of real people who choose death and unfathomable suffering rather then deny Christ. The risen Christ is as real as the longest established organisation and largest church in history; the Catholic Church, the visible body of Christ on earth. The risen Christ is as real as all the Goodness that has flowed into humanity since His resurrection; Christian faith, hope and charity has changed the world. It has affected human thought, lives and treatment of fellow man like no other. Christianity has profoundly affected the foundation, the spring well of democracy, health and education systems, economics, social policy and society. Christ rising from the dead proves his divinity. Only God can rise from the dead, no man can, no creature can, and even creation can not cheat death. Only God can conquer death. By rising from the dead Christ conquered sin. The resurrection of Christ is our salvation.

Christians don't Suffer just for Sufferings Sake

All of humankind suffers. We cry a river of tears every day, but our spirits soar to the heavens also. Life is difficult. It is really difficult because we suffer. Oh how we suffer; illness, separation, loss, rejection, failure, dejection, disappointment, sorrow, mourning, pain, injury, ailments, disabilities, disease of body and mind, difficulties, broken hearted, broken vows and promises, poverty of mind and body, unloved, ignored, marginalised and death. To seek to avoid suffering is infantile; to ignore suffering or live as if it doesn’t exist is to live in denial or self delusion. Man does not understand suffering, Christians who know God do. Most of man’s suffering is in vain, Christian suffering has a higher purpose.  Christians don’t suffer just for sufferings sake. They suffer for love and to be blessed. To be a follower of Christ is to suffer. To follow Christ is to do the will of God. We are required to give up self centeredness for God centeredness; this equates to suffering. We must decrease for God to increase in us. This is the purpose of suffering. We grow emotionally and spiritually through suffering. Suffering teaches the soul, suffering is wisdom; it forces us to slow our thinking and think deeply. The wisdom of the world is made foolish before God’s wisdom.  If you have not suffered you have not learnt anything in life; nothing worthwhile. It is life’s greatest teacher. Suffering moulds the soul and being to God’s will. We receive our power to do God’s will through receiving the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest avenues for the Holy Spirit to do his work within us is through suffering offered to God. Suffering strengthens our capacity and character to love; to love is to endure suffering for the one that is loved.   God has a reason for every trouble, problem and suffering in our lives. Most people’s instinct is to resist and ask “why me?” or “what did I do to deserve this?”.  Denial and resistance naturally follows this type of thinking. They do not understand the purpose of suffering. Gods uses the challenges of life to reveal the true self and character. It is part of the growth process. The soul and spirit grows through the moment by moment process of living. The life force within us propels us through the ever presence of existence. This existence constantly presents us with problems. No one on earth escapes, none has a free painless ticket in this life. We are all equal in that we face suffering and problems in life.                    

Why Christ came amoung Mankind

Jesus Christ came among mankind in order to save man. To save us must mean we are in some danger, that we are doomed. If we were not in peril we would not need saving. The danger is sin. The peril is death.  Sin is dangerous because it separates from the life of God.  Death is peril because it separates the body from our souls. Being separated from God means we lose life and we eventually die. Love can only last so long when it is separated from the source of all love. Goodness can only last so long before it depletes when it is separated from the source of all goodness. Health and vitality can only last so long when it is separated from it’s source God. God is the source of all existence and everything in existence. Death comes to every human. Death comes because we have separated from god. Sin is our spiritual disease and death is its symptom. Our being is totally dependent on our relationship with God. God is the life of our being. Death entered the being of man when man when he choose to disobey God. Christ saved us by reconciling man with God. Christ who was God paid the price, the burden, the penalty for man’s sin. Man could not pay the price. Only God by becoming a man could pay the price. Why was there a price to be paid? Because the Law demanded it. Justice demanded the price to be paid. Our punishment was deserved. The debt was impossible to cancel. God could not just forget the debt. That would be the opposite of Truth which god is. It had to be paid in full. Jesus Christ came among mankind to show us the love of God. Through Christ we know the love of God. We know that all of creation was an act of love. Christ came among man to show us our true nature and identity; holiness. This is the true purpose of our lives to be holy to be what the church calls saints. Christ showed man who man is and who God is. Christ came among mankind to change the nature of man. Christ is God in human form. By God stooping, humbling himself, emptying himself to become the man who is Jesus Christ, raised the nature of man to the divine and supernatural level. God becoming man allowed mankind to become sharers in the life of the Son of God. We have become part of God. Christ came in order to save us, show us the love of God, show us our true identity Holiness, and raise our nature to the divine level.  Our part is to have faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Two Journeys of Life

We are all on a journey. In a sense we are on two journeys; one inner and the other outer. All journeys end in a destination, an end point. Journey’s have an end purpose to arrive somewhere, to realise a goal, to achieve something important to us. In the next life with God, there is no journey; we will have arrived to a place we call home, Our Father’s House. As we have an outer purpose so we have an inner purpose. In our pursuit of the outer journey, the outer purpose, we tend to forget the inner journey. We become focused on doing and having rather then the inner purpose of being. We are fixed on the physical movement of matter in the time and space dimensions of the outer world to the detriment of the deepening of our spiritual nature and holiness. The outer journey at the end is doomed to failure no matter how successful we are. All wealth, honours, position, possessions, and awards will turn to dust and their temporary fulfilment will pass. The success of the outer journey is always temporary by nature. The accomplishment of the inner journey, the inner purpose will last forever. It is important to realise that our inner journey should lead our outer journey and not visa versa. The inner journey is spiritual growth, strengthening of faith, hope and love, and our relationship with God. The inner journey is all about developing slow thinking which deepens thinking. The inner purpose is the purpose of the soul. The purpose of the soul is to unite with God. The soul’s three components; the mind, the will and the heart all share in the soul’s purpose. The mind’s purpose is ultimately to think about God and our relationship with God. The will’s purpose is to do the will of God. But it is man’s will and his choice to do so. This why he is free. The hearts purpose is to truly know and love God.

The Blessed and Blessedness

Man’s greatest aspiration is to be happy. Man’s greatest aspiration should be to know reality. He should desire to know reality more then happiness because then he would that the world’s definition of happiness and where it is found is just an appearance whereas reality is real and really God and contains the real answers. There is an obstacle in man’s path to true knowledge of reality; it is man himself. Man projects his definitions, his aspirations, and his pride on to his interpretation, his paradigm of reality. Reason and science lead man to knowledge of reality. But revelation and faith which is greater than reason and science leads man to know reality. God said that what man thinks is reality is actually just appearance. Man thinks that the purpose of life on earth is to find happiness, love (romantic & cosy) and success. Christ said that man’s wisdom regarding happiness and success are just an appearance of realities purpose. Christ definition of happiness is not the world’s definition. The world’s paradigm is that you must come first, be a winner, be rich, celebrated, an achiever, be top of the pile or famous to be happy and successful. Christ says that, you that are failures, broken, poor, losers, the forgotten, the suffering, and last are the real successes of this world. In his sermon on the mount (Mathew 5: 3-12), Christ says that these individuals are blessed and contain blessedness. Beatitude is perfected love and charity, ultimate happiness, an objective reality and state in that reality, our greatest good; it is the maximum standard for man’s life on earth. Man seeks, he seeks all his life, he seeks when he seeks, and he seeks when he thinks he is not seeking. He thinks he seeks happiness on earth. We can never be happy on earth because earth is not heaven. Whilst on earth we are living separate from the true and whole unity with God. Man seeks more then happiness, he seeks to be blessed. Blessed is the end but man confuses the means. Man seeks in all the wrong places, and hangs out in all the wrong joints like power, pleasure and riches. People want happy feelings, feeling good, pleasure and gratification. But these are all temporary. Feelings and gratification are fleeting and shallow. Here today or gone tomorrow. If you find happiness at all it is by chance. Blessedness is a permanent state, a deep state. It is not a happy feeling but an objective fact. We should chose this state, and receive it by God’s grace.

To be Christian is to be sacramental

Sacraments are not a fireworks display. They are not magic shows either. They are not a motivational seminar. They are not a pick-me-up or a shot of adrenalin for living. They are not about feel-good but about enabling us to unite with goodness.  Their purpose is not to elicit an emotional response or a rousing round of applause. They don’t make us feel different but their effect is to make us be and act differently. Sacraments are facts rather then feelings. We need sacraments because we are not in absolute union with God. We are separate from God because we are on earth not in heaven. We do not need sacraments in heaven because we are united totally with God. We can be close to God on earth, very close but not total unity. If we could totally unite with God on earth there would be no need for heaven. Willing participation and openness to the sacraments enables a profound spiritual change in our souls which is the sharing of God’s very life. This is the end and purpose of the Christian life. You cannot be Christian and not be a sacramental Christian. Christians should be sacramental because Christ was sacramental. Christ instructed his apostles to baptise all nations (Mt 28:19); Christ sent the holy spirit on to the apostles at Pentecost to strengthen them as the sacrament of confirmation strengthens Christians in living and proclaiming their faith; The Eucharist was instituted by Christ (Lk, 22: 14-20); Christ instituted the sacrament of penance, Christ said “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”; Christ explained the inviolability of marriage and through his revelation of the deeper meaning of marriage with the human race through his incarnation and sacrificial death, thus the sacrament of marriage; Christ fulfilled priesthood with his life, the mediator between God and man and ordained his apostles and successors in the Catholic Church to communicate his salvation through his sacraments. Christ healed the sick. Christ loved the sick and ill. Christ tended to the sick. Christ cried over the ultimate effect of illness which is death. Christ conquered death by rising from death. Christ raised the dead and woke those sleeping in death. His ministry was tending to the physically and spiritually sick. Christ gave new meaning to suffering by his death on the cross. The sacrament of the anointing of the sick reflects our Lords relation with the sick. To be Christian is to be sacramental. We receive very God’s life through the grace of sacraments.      

Body and Soul

Man was created in the “image” of God. We see the image of God in the person of Christ. The image of God is both spirit in nature and body in Christ. The image is both body and soul. The body and soul are whole and one. They are not two parts in one.  Man is both body and soul as a whole. Body and soul is man’s nature. Body and soul express each other.  Man’s body is both holy and sacred. Holy and sacred because God created man, Christ became man, the Holy Spirit resides in the temple that is man, man’s body will be resurrected and live forever perfectly for eternity in the glory of God. The body is made of matter. Man is cosmic. Man is made of star stuff and the material of creation. The soul is heavenly and divine. Man is the only creature in creation composed as matter and spirit. Man connects creation to the spirit. Christ connects man to God. All of creation is in Man, man is in Christ, and Christ is in God. Everything was created for man; man was created to love God. Without God there is no purpose or meaning to man. Without meaning or purpose to man there is no point to creation. Creation is for the purpose of man. Body and soul are united in one whole. One affects the other. How man treats his body will affect his soul and visa versa. There is balance between the body and soul. When man honours his body his soul thrives and is strengthened. When man abuses his body, the soul deteriorates and is weakened. When the soul falls into sin, the body is damaged and corrupted. Sin causes the separation of the soul from God. Death enters the body of man because man becomes separate from the source of life which is God. Christ conquered sin and death because he was God and man. He became body and soul and was also God. He broke the strangle hold, the curse on man. That is why we say he saved us. He saved us from sin and death.

Power to live Faith

Every human being struggles to live out their principles and faith. It takes power to gain and continue aligning our lives with what we believe in. In living faith we are living with opposition, challenges, opposing forces, hostile reaction that sometimes force us away from the narrow path. It is a fact that faith is challenging. The source of power to live faith comes from the Holy Spirit. Will power alone does not change character, habits or lives. The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Will power can be great initially but it soon runs out of steam. The will has a role to play but sustaining power for real deep change only comes from the Holy Spirit. We are creatures of habit, but we are not our habits. We can change habits. We are not victims of birth, genes, our upbringing, society, our character failings or weaknesses, our history, our circumstances or conditioning. God’s children are victors not victims.  We are victors because we have clear understanding of who we are and clear vision of where we are going and clear knowledge and power of how we are going to get there. We know our identity is in God and our security is in His power. Our vision is the Divine Vision. We have the greatest destiny in God’s destiny. We cannot be diverted easily, sidelined or get discouraged when we are focused on the divine destiny. Positive thinking, will power, trying harder will never really change us, not deep down. Permanent change only comes from deep within us, in our hearts. Change our hearts and we change everything, as day follows night. The Holy Spirit provides the power which is the means, to accomplish our transformation, our new creation which is the ends.  There are good habits and bad habits. The Christian character promotes the good habits we call virtues and weakens the bad habits we call vices.

The Purpose of the Sacrements

Grace comes to us from God through the sacraments. The purpose of the sacraments is to allow Christ act within us. It is Christ who acts in the sacraments in order to communicate grace to the participant. Outwardly a sacrament is a sign, it signifies what it does, but more then that; it actually gives grace. It signifies and it does what it signifies, at the same time. Christ instituted the sacraments to communicate and give God’s life to Christians. Christ sanctified every major transition phase of our natural lives to enable our spiritual lives to develop. Our spiritual life in anchored to our natural lives. Our natural lives develop sequentially, step by step, in a development process. Our spiritual development reflects the natural process. We are physically born into the world as we are spiritually reborn through baptism. Our physical bodies mature to adulthood as we mature spiritually through the power and effect of confirmation. We need food and drink to nourish and build physical bodies as we need sustenance and strength for our souls through the Eucharist. As we need to repair the body with medicine and care; we repair the soul through confession. The sacrament of marriage and Holy Orders prepare the Christian for the two most significant vocations of service to others; marriage, the lifelong service to spouse and family, priesthood; the lifelong service to the spiritual development of believers. The anointing of the sick strengths the serious ill for the final physical journey on earth. In the sacraments we participate in God’s life and work. The Holy Spirit transforms us into himself through the sacraments.

The Power of Grace is Infinite

Everything that is good in life is a gift. These gifts come solely from God. Good comes from God because God is goodness. God’s own life, God himself is his greatest gift. We call this gift; grace. God’s grace is God’s gift of himself to man. Grace is God’s union and intimacy with the faithful. Grace is the power of God himself.  The greater the grace, the closer we are to God, the closer the union. Man does not deserve any gift from God. God is the creator and owes no man any existence or thing but freely gives gifts out of his own goodness. Life is a gift that comes solely from God’s generosity. God continues to give grace but sin separates us from God’s life. To receive God’s greatest gift we must co-operate; we must choose and accept. It is freely given and freely received. God takes the initiative in sending his Grace to man, man must freely open his heart to receive grace. God does not force entry, man must open the door and receive God inwards. Grace heals our souls and lives and brings us closer to our true selves and perfection. God plants the seed of grace in our souls and grows is gradually. Grace comes solely from God into us; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, not from inside us out to God.   Because grace comes from God, we are required in life to fully focus on God himself, and put our full faith and trust in him, not ourselves. The soul can block or slow down grace coming into us. We receive grace by our degree of faith, hope and love within us. The power of grace is infinite, since it comes from God who is infinite. The fruits of Grace depend on our disposition. We must co-operate with God to receive the power of grace. Grace of God gives us power to live a personal life of holiness in an unholy world and to be witness to Christ. The power of grace includes charismatic gifts. These are supernatural gifts, unique to each individual Christian.

Slow Thinking is Deep Thinking

Slow thinking is deep thinking. Deep thinking is clear, accurate and focused. It knows it’s target, it’s purpose. Deep thinking is clear, it is all about specifics. Clear and to the point. Clear in that it is understood and it is understanding. It is clear in what it is saying. To be clear on big points, we must be clear on the little points. To be clear is to know what the point, the problem, that idea, the data, actually is. God wants us to have clear thinking to understand correctly the Truth. “Know the Truth and the truth will set you free”. The thinking mind can know the Truth through reasoned thinking. But a person can only live and unite with the Truth through the will and the heart. Fast thinking is confused thinking. Fast thinking is self serving, egocentric and sociocentric. The thinking mind seeks the Truth. That is it’s purpose, that is it’s end. Truth only comes from God. Fast thinking serves itself, and justifies it’s own truth. Fast thinking believes itself totally without hesitation or reservation, goes with the group think, is relative, is wishful. Fast thinking is dominated by the social image. Fast thinking must think a certain way in the belief that it is acceptable. Slow thinking is deep thinking because it is dealing with the fundamental concepts, ideas, issues and problems of life. It needs to be slow to dig deep. It needs time to deal with complex issues. Fast thinking is narrow-minded, only operates from it’s point of view. It is self cantered and selfish. Slow thinking is wide-minded, as broad as the universe and creation.  It is other-centred thinking, thinking of others rather then itself. Fast thinking is very likely illogical thinking. It needs to join things up fast. Any sequence will do. Any meaning, sense or conclusion that seems right or feels right will do. Slow thinking is logical, reasoned and sensible.  Slow thinking is discipline for the thinking mind. Fast thinking is wasteful, inefficient and leads to the downfall of man. Our world is filled with the results of fast and weak thinking.

The Great Hunger Within

The cure for modern man’s depression and emptiness is faith. Man hungers, man seeks, faith is food and finding. Man, all his life hungers for something. Our Bodies and our souls need sustenance and nourishment. Food sustains the body. Faith sustains the soul. Everything; matter, the universe, the world, nature and man hungers for something. Only God does not hunger. If everything hungers except God; then everything that exists must be moving towards God. Everything in reality moves; it is a conclusion of reason and science that there is nothing that exists that is not in motion. Planets, star systems, like all matter in the universe are moving. Time is a reality, a dimension of existence and creation; time is matter changing distance through existence. Everything moves because of love. Love because it is the God of love that created the universe and keeps it in motion. The physical laws of the universe are the laws of love. If there were no universal laws there would be chaos in creation. But creation is ordered because there is love. Man has physical hunger but also spiritual hunger. He hungers for God, truth, justice, love, beauty, wisdom, goodness and himself. God placed this hunger in man’s soul for a purpose. The purpose is to ensure man seeks out god. If there was no hunger in man he would not seek. God has promised “Seek and you shall find.” If you seek and keep seeking you are automatically guaranteed to find God, in God’s time and way. Seek wisdom you will find wisdom. Seek love and you will find love. Man seeks in his time and way but man finds in God’s time and way. Much unhappiness in the world is man created. God has also placed unhappiness in man to keep man moving in the right direction; home to true joy. The best things in life are free. The worse things we have to pay for. The best things in life; God, joy, happiness, love, truth wisdom are all free. They are free because they are given by God freely. God will not push these things on to man because God is love and love doesn’t push anything against the will of the recipient. The recipient must be open to receive, must seek, and must want. It is so simple; seek and you will find. Just look for God’s abundance and goodness and you will receive. God’s love is overflowing and bountiful.