I have done my first RCIA Catechumen presentation for the year 2018 at St. Albert the Great Parish last night on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and despite the heavy snow and the frigid temperature, we were almost full house - about 20 or more including sponsors. I feel bad because I wasn't feeling very well and definitely not in my A game and feels like I was floating in the air when I was doing my presentation. It could be a combination of many things - lack of sleep, fatigue, pressures both from work and driving in this treacherous, horrendous snowy conditions and blood sugar dropping down.
While there was some kind of feeling of guilt or sorry by not able to give my best because of my own limitations, I have come to realize that things like this happen and the only thing I can do is to rely and trust that even in this seemingly poor performance in the secular standard, still, God is at work. I have received in the end a lot of compliments and this proves that His power is not diminished and in the end, His will and purpose always prevails. Isaiah 55:11.
When we talk about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, we could not help but to talk and reflect on the issues of pain and suffering, life and death, and many other hosts of issues about the will of God happening in our lives. There is a great many of us, well meaning Christians/Catholics that without blinking eyes would always profess that we want the will of God to happen in our lives. If we examine ourselves seriously, for most part it is more a wishful thinking and not really faith or an act of surrender to God. This is because we have a different understanding of what God wants to happen in our lives versus our own determination of what we want to happen in our lives. This is the reason why Churches of prosperity preachers are mostly well attended than those who preach the true Gospel. The Gospel of the Cross and Resurrection. That God's will for us is to be with Him in heaven and before we are re-united to our resurrected bodies at the end of time, we will have to carry and bear with our crosses for the rest of our lives. I am not sure if there is a better way to put it but there are hardships and obligations that come with our faith and Jesus Himself affirms that the road to Heaven is narrow and full of trouble. Mat. 7: 13-14.
The highest attribute of God is love. In this same love, He created us and the whole universe and the many other things that science have not proven or have not yet explored. In this same love, God calls us and invites us to love him back. This He did by giving us the gift of "free will." That in choosing to love Him back, He will not violate that gift. That as a free man, I will gladly and freely choose God and to live my life in accordance to His statutes.
So, if God will hinder me or intervene that I don't pull the trigger of a gun to kill a person, then I am not free. If am forced to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and visit the sick, as I am forced to do good just like a machine with an "on" and "off" switch, then I am not really free. It would have been better for God to have created machines that He can manipulate to bow down before Him in worship anytime He wishes. But then, His very own nature is violated.
I know this is a bit overwhelming for many of us and I don't think I can find enough words to truly give justice to what I am trying to say. But I remember an ancient story somewhere that probably best parallel how God's will happen in our lives...
There was an old farmer who lives in his own farm with one horse and with his wife and only son. One day, the horse got loose and ran away. A neighbor came and remarked "what a bad luck, the only horse you have as a source of your income is gone." The farmer shrugged his shoulders and said " what do I know about good or bad luck?" After a few days, the horse came back with 100 more wild horses. The farmer now owns not only 1 horse but another 100. The same neighbor came back and exhorted "maybe it is not bad luck that your horse ran away." The farmer again shrugged his shoulders and said " What do I know about good or bad luck?" A few more days, while his son was training one of the wild horses got kicked and broke his leg. The nosy neighbor came back again and sarcastically remarked "definitely not good luck, your son who helps you in the farm is now a cripple." Again, the farmer remarked "what do I know about good or bad luck?" A few more weeks, war broke out and militia came to their town and forcing all ablled body to join the army. When they got to the farmer's house and found the crippled young man, they left him behind because he is of no use to the militatry.
I don't remember how the story ended, but I think the story reveals that there are things that happen in our lives and we won't really know what God intends. For me the moral of the story is not to worry about the "good" and the "bad" that happen in our lives. The will of God is not only manifested in the "good" but also in the "bad." His ultimate will in our lives is that we be with Him in heaven. But this is only possible for those who will persevere in faith until the end. For only a man of faith can exercise the virtue of trust in God's love in the midst of all the "good" and "bad" that may happen or is happening in our lives.
When we come face to face with Him, we can ask all the questions. But for now, we pray for the grace to persevere, to trust, hope and believe in the love of God. Amen.
While there was some kind of feeling of guilt or sorry by not able to give my best because of my own limitations, I have come to realize that things like this happen and the only thing I can do is to rely and trust that even in this seemingly poor performance in the secular standard, still, God is at work. I have received in the end a lot of compliments and this proves that His power is not diminished and in the end, His will and purpose always prevails. Isaiah 55:11.
When we talk about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, we could not help but to talk and reflect on the issues of pain and suffering, life and death, and many other hosts of issues about the will of God happening in our lives. There is a great many of us, well meaning Christians/Catholics that without blinking eyes would always profess that we want the will of God to happen in our lives. If we examine ourselves seriously, for most part it is more a wishful thinking and not really faith or an act of surrender to God. This is because we have a different understanding of what God wants to happen in our lives versus our own determination of what we want to happen in our lives. This is the reason why Churches of prosperity preachers are mostly well attended than those who preach the true Gospel. The Gospel of the Cross and Resurrection. That God's will for us is to be with Him in heaven and before we are re-united to our resurrected bodies at the end of time, we will have to carry and bear with our crosses for the rest of our lives. I am not sure if there is a better way to put it but there are hardships and obligations that come with our faith and Jesus Himself affirms that the road to Heaven is narrow and full of trouble. Mat. 7: 13-14.
The highest attribute of God is love. In this same love, He created us and the whole universe and the many other things that science have not proven or have not yet explored. In this same love, God calls us and invites us to love him back. This He did by giving us the gift of "free will." That in choosing to love Him back, He will not violate that gift. That as a free man, I will gladly and freely choose God and to live my life in accordance to His statutes.
So, if God will hinder me or intervene that I don't pull the trigger of a gun to kill a person, then I am not free. If am forced to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and visit the sick, as I am forced to do good just like a machine with an "on" and "off" switch, then I am not really free. It would have been better for God to have created machines that He can manipulate to bow down before Him in worship anytime He wishes. But then, His very own nature is violated.
I know this is a bit overwhelming for many of us and I don't think I can find enough words to truly give justice to what I am trying to say. But I remember an ancient story somewhere that probably best parallel how God's will happen in our lives...
There was an old farmer who lives in his own farm with one horse and with his wife and only son. One day, the horse got loose and ran away. A neighbor came and remarked "what a bad luck, the only horse you have as a source of your income is gone." The farmer shrugged his shoulders and said " what do I know about good or bad luck?" After a few days, the horse came back with 100 more wild horses. The farmer now owns not only 1 horse but another 100. The same neighbor came back and exhorted "maybe it is not bad luck that your horse ran away." The farmer again shrugged his shoulders and said " What do I know about good or bad luck?" A few more days, while his son was training one of the wild horses got kicked and broke his leg. The nosy neighbor came back again and sarcastically remarked "definitely not good luck, your son who helps you in the farm is now a cripple." Again, the farmer remarked "what do I know about good or bad luck?" A few more weeks, war broke out and militia came to their town and forcing all ablled body to join the army. When they got to the farmer's house and found the crippled young man, they left him behind because he is of no use to the militatry. I don't remember how the story ended, but I think the story reveals that there are things that happen in our lives and we won't really know what God intends. For me the moral of the story is not to worry about the "good" and the "bad" that happen in our lives. The will of God is not only manifested in the "good" but also in the "bad." His ultimate will in our lives is that we be with Him in heaven. But this is only possible for those who will persevere in faith until the end. For only a man of faith can exercise the virtue of trust in God's love in the midst of all the "good" and "bad" that may happen or is happening in our lives.
When we come face to face with Him, we can ask all the questions. But for now, we pray for the grace to persevere, to trust, hope and believe in the love of God. Amen.
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