BIG Changes
are Coming if You..... Talk with
Him – Walk with Him – Pray to Him – Follow Him – Romans 5:5 — “…because the love of God has been poured out into our heart through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Whatever our definition, or our understanding of, or our feelings regarding love, and whatever type of love we have received from the special ones in our life, it cannot be compared or equated in any way with that “Love” that God gives freely to each and every one of us. God’s love allowed Mary to live a life dedicated to Him, to bear a son — Jesus Christ — and to give Him up to the Cross for mankind. God’s love allowed countless men and women to become martyrs and saints and innumerable others to live their lives in dedicated service to mankind for Him. God’s love, so overwhelming, forces one to find an outlet through which to share that love, to be complete, for us to find fulfillment. Since each of us wants to be loved, why is it so difficult for us to allow God’s love to enter our hearts and guide our lives? It is hard to accept or believe that we are loved to that degree by anyone – overwhelming yet very humbling. Why do we deserve to be loved so greatly based on the lives we lead? In our minds we don’t deserve it, but He pours out His love on us without limits. Maybe it is the commitment that frightens us. If we accept His love, then we may have to change our lives. Maybe the struggles in our life make us think that we are being punished and not loved – maybe our life is being lived contrary to what we think God wants. By ourselves, these and other similar feelings are very difficult to overcome, but by just giving in, opening our heart to let God’s love come into our lives, makes these changes easier to accept and accomplish. Not all at once but gradually, day by day our lives change for the better, and we become closer to God as He becomes more important to our lives. His love is overwhelming – beyond our comprehension. But striving to fathom its immensity, we become more and more aware of the gravity of our infidelities. We see them as rejecting God’s love. Sin is saying “no” to love. But God’s love surmounts all failures as seen in His assurance, “I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks.” Hosea 11:4 He loves us with a forgiving, healing, redeeming love, regardless of what we have done. We need to know that God loves us because we do not always love ourselves. We are aware of our weaknesses, our selfishness, our failures, our sinfulness, and we wonder how God could really love us. But God continues to love us with an everlasting love. We must come to know Him as a loving, kind, forgiving Father who welcomes His errant children with open arms. When we are convinced that we are loved, only then can we be open and honest. We have often heard “To err is human, to forgive is divine”. God is always anxious and eager to forgive us. He assures us: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool” Isaiah 1:18. “How could I give you up…or deliver you up…My heart is overwhelmed, my pity stirred…for I am God and not man.” Hosea 11:8-9 Only Love – Divine Love can continue to forgive in this manner. The power of God’s love, related through His words, can effect within us a complete transformation. Our thinking, our attitude, our relationships to others, will gradually change. St. Paul is quite emphatic when he advised us “acquire a fresh, spiritual way of thinking, you must put on that new man.” Ephesians 4:23-24; “Your attitude must be that of Christ.” Philippians 2:5; “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2 St. John’s gospel relates, “If you live in Me and My words stay a part of you, you may ask what you will – it will be done for you.” John 15:7 God wants to speak to us. He wants us to listen in the quiet of our own being, and only then respond in our hearts. Our consciousness of God’s great love makes us deeply aware of His loving presence, and in the quiet of our hearts we whisper, “I love you too”. As we spend more time in prayer, our relationship with God grows and becomes more intimate. He reveals Himself a kind, loving God, who provides for us at every moment of our existence. With this experience, we rest in His presence and feel His love warming and enveloping us. God puts a genuine hunger for a more intimate personal relationship with Him in our hearts. This awareness responds as a transformation takes place within us, developing a more personal relationship with God – a spiritual way of thinking – a new mentality as our minds become conformed to the mind of Christ. We believe and trust that God is compassionate and wants to forgive us more than we could even want to be forgiven. The word of God through the bible speaks to us of love, and by comparisons it is said to be the greatest of all virtues. This is most often transmitted to us as a need to love – to love God – to love our neighbor and even to love ourselves, but not often do we get the message that this love we give comes first from God to us. Our ability – to love – is directly affected by our ability - to be loved - to accept love from God and others. In John 1: 34 “… love one another as I have loved you…” and in Isaiah 43:4 “Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious and because I love you…” Currently 70 percent of the Catholic families in this Archdiocese do not or cannot support its ministries or those of their parish or community. Is God’s love left wanting, unused, unaccepted, unrealized or undiscovered? This Annual Appeal is about “developing the life of the Archdiocese through ministry”- ministering to its people, helping them to find God’s love and grow in that love. As love grows, so does trust in the Lord. As trust grows, so does the desire to share God’s love and ourselves with others. God calls each of us to a specific role or ministry during our time here on earth. By ourselves we could never accomplish the task; hence He gives us our unique gifts which we need for our special work. Since these are gifts, they are freely given just as is His love. God asks only that we be open to receive them, just as for His love. So, just what is our unique talent? When focusing on talents, we tend to forget that our real gift is not so much what we can do, but who we are. “What can we offer each other?” but maybe it is better to say, “Who can we be for each other?” We may have only a few talents, but we have many gifts. Our gifts are the many ways in which we express our humanity. They are part of who we are: friendship, kindness, patience, joy, peace, forgiveness, gentleness, love, hope, trust, and many others. These are the true gifts we have to offer each other. Teresa of Avila (1515-1580) put it in a different way. “Christ has no body on earth but yours: Yours are the only hands with which He can do His work; Yours are the only feet with which He could go about the world; Yours are the only eyes through which His compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world. Christ has no body on earth but yours.” With God’s love in our heart, we can fulfill the plan He designed for each of us. We can find inner peace once we understand our calling; because our serving and living our unique call, true joy and happiness is realized as we give ourselves to others. Our love from God is so filling we cannot help but share its magnificence with those around us and then experience His grace and abundance in the world. Opening our heart to God’s love will be a life-changing experience. As we learn to completely open our heart to God’s love, the meaning and richness of our life will reach fulfillment. May the love of God in our heart lead us to support the ministries serving His people in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Many of the thoughts above contain excerpts from “Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening” - a daily guide to scriptural prayer by Msgr. David E. Rosage - an excellent beginning to accepting God’s love through His own words. Developing the life of the Archdiocese through ministry |