The fulfilment of the soul is to find
God, and to live in His Presence. Finding God means finding the pearl of great value of
the Gospel. Blessed is He who finds God in his life, he has found the treasure of infinite
value that gives hope, peace and joy in this world and the fatherly reassurance of
salvation for our next life.
But to find him is merely a path, a way of desire, and this is what Jesus has offered us.
It is like walking on a tight rope, with the danger of falling into the abyss at anytime.
Jesus has promised to help us when he said: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one
comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
To live in the Presence of God means to be made righteous and justified by our faith in
Jesus Christ the Son of God, who has offered us salvation if we repent of our sins, deny
ourselves, take up our crosses daily and follow him.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Since we have offered our intelligence and our flesh to sin, we must renounce that sin and
accept Christ as the ruler of our lives, we must desire to learn from him who is meek and
humble of heart.
No one can be in the Presence of God unless he or she repents of all past sins, and come
before Him with a sincere and contrite heart. Sincerity means identifying sin and feeling
ashamed of it, it really means a commitment to change, which is very difficult, and can
not be made alone.
Holiness is not something that any human being can acquire by prayers or charity works
only, it is a state of the soul which only God can measure.
Prayer is conversation with God and we need to pray always without losing heart (Luke 18:1), prayer is the fuel to the fire of our faith, no prayer, no fire; no fire, no light; no light and we are in darkness.
When God refers to tithing or to paying
ten per cent he refers to giving 10 per cent of our time to Him in prayer and good works,
this means over two hours daily dedicated to prayer and other religious activities. But we
gladly spend countless hours behind the television set feeding our souls with garbage than
spend time with God. Our sanctification means giving time to God in prayer, to people in
need as we do good works, it means also giving alms and sharing our good fortune with
those less fortunate, it means sharing our happiness by smiling and being pleasant to
everyone, it means becoming the light of Christ in this world of darkness.
Humility is the key to the treasure of wisdom and holiness bound within, it can be open
after long perseverance. But many are mistakenly covered with a false humility that
attracts the praise of men. It is very common for spiritual people to fall into the trap
of believing in their own humility and holiness which in reality is a false belief, the
destruction of the soul.
Unless God builds the house, the builder works in vain (Psalm 127:1).
My opinion, or the opinion of others regarding my humility or my closeness to God is of no
value, what really matters is how God sees me. He is my creator, he is my judge and he is
the dispenser of the grace that makes me holy, therefore I have to be with Saint Paul
working my salvation with fear and trembling, since there is nothing good within my flesh,
and the only goodness in me is the spirit of God that is always accusing me of sin.
Being guided by the spirit to do what is good and to hate what is evil, the souls embarks
in a journey in the Presence of God. The road is narrow and difficult, only a few will
find it and even those who find it may easily go astray if they don't persevere.
To live in the Presence of God, we must live our faith by prayer, the reception of the
sacraments of the Catholic Church and works of charity. Let us come before God many times
during the day to praise him and thank him for his infinite majesty, glory and mercy, let
us come confidently to be blessed by him.
No one can love God unless he loves his
neighbor. God gives us daily opportunities in all the people around us to express his
love. I can not find God unless I treat others as I would like them to treat me, unless I
feel pain in the pain of others and move myself to do something about it.
God is truly to be found in the need of others. If I help another human being, I have a
beautiful encounter with God, because God dwells in that human being and needs my love if
I am to respect the commandment of Jesus "love your neighbor" (Matthew 19:19). Therefore, I must forgive everyone if I expect to
be forgiven, I must love my enemies as Christ says if I am to find God also in them. If I
hate my enemy, I am rejecting God, simple as that.
It is not easy indeed, but that's how we will be judged on the last day:
I was hungry and you didn't feed me, naked and you didn't clothe me, sick and you didn't
visit me, in prison and you didn't care. And the Lord will say be accursed you evil doers
because whatever you did to the least of these your brothers, you did it to me (Matthew 10:42).
God will repay our love for others. Saint John teaches that we can not love God whom we
don't see unless we love our brothers and sisters.
If we run away from the needs of others, we run away from God and no matter how we pray we
simply won't find him again. He will provide daily opportunities for us to come to him as
we accept and love everybody around us.
The
Work of God
www.theworkofgod.org