Category: Spirituality

Salvation is not a reward or a payment we get to deserve through our works (which we cannot do fully on our own in the first place). Neither is it an automatic qualification we become entitled to after the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Salvation IS a FREE GIFT of LOVE, which we RECEIVE only out of love and wholehearted faith in the person of Jesus Christ, with the deepest honor, respect, and gratitude for all that He has done.

If we say then that we love Jesus, how can we disobey His commandments and do evil to our neighbour? On the other hand, we also cannot claim that believing in Jesus automatically makes us perfect or without sin. But believing in His mercy and love, we come again and again in repentance, seeking His grace to be able to help us in our journey of faith so that we may persevere to the very end, not forsaking what we have received but surrendering all things, even our helplessness and allowing God to complete the good work He has begun in us.

A relationship of love consist of the cooperation of the two persons involved. It also requires commitment, sacrifice, and many times, a time of trial and testing. When one hurts the other, it needs forgiveness. But before that, a recognition of the offense, repentance and coming back. It also requires trust in the other person, that one can be forgiven and accepted not because one deserves it, but because one knows how much one is loved. One does not however continue hurting the other, but intends to do better and change for the sake of the beloved.

HEAVEN is seeing the face of God, and the face of God is the face of LOVE. Who can therefore go to heaven? They who do not turn away from love.

And how do we know what love is? We know love by knowing JESUS. See the cross and you will know the way.

But is it possible to know love through other means? It isn’t easy to answer that, for being God’s creatures, I think we all have a certain capacity to know love, to receive it, and to give it.

But to be able to know LOVE in such a way as Jesus has shown it, to the highest heights and to the deepest depths, beyond the very limits we are even capable of comprehending, God Himself coming down toward us, becoming man and dying for us in that darkest hour of forsakenness, pain and even death… I don’t think I could ever know such a love other than by knowing it through Jesus.

Without Jesus, how do you save a sinner? What do you tell the brokenhearted? The poor? The sick? The lonely?

It is Jesus who brings not only eternal life, but a life that is worth an eternity.

It is Jesus who loves the person, and it is love that saves.

With Jesus, we are never alone, even in our pain. With Jesus, we find healing.

It is Jesus we are truly longing for. And to those who seek Him, I trust His Mercy. To Him, there is nothing impossible to reach us where we are.

Being patient does not mean one is weak.
It doesn’t mean one becomes happy by being abused.
It doesn’t mean one forgoes justice.
But it means that one is strong enough
with the love of Christ
and desires mercy for those who sin
and are still lost.
It means having a firm hope
that justice will triumph in due time,
and no evil could escape the Hand of God.
It means being able to look at all things
within the light of Jesus’ resurrection,
and with that light,
we find a joy that never falters
no matter the sorrows
along the way.

Faith, hope and charity go together. Hope is practised through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts God’s mystery and trusts him even at times of darkness. Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sakes and gives us the victorious certainty that it is really true: God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into the sure hope that God holds the world in his hands and that, as the dramatic imagery of the end of the Book of Revelation points out, in spite of all darkness he ultimately triumphs in glory. Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. – DEUS CARITAS EST, Encyclical Letter, Benedict XVI (Read more…)

1. It is not God who willed sin and pain into this world

If God ever allows evil, it is to accomplish a greater good.

Heroism, perseverance, courage, compassion, mercy, faith – these are the things that shine brighter in the darkness, the greater good that arises out of evil and pain.

That greater good is what I must focus on. If God ever allows pain and misfortune or any kind of injustice to touch me, it is not with malice that He does so, nor with indifference.

He is very much aware of my suffering. His is the kind of love that will not forget me even if a mother should forget her child. It is that same love that has willed a greater good for me to last for eternity.

“…because God didn’t make death; neither does he delight when the living perish. For he created all things that they might have being. The generative powers of the world are wholesome, and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor has Hades royal dominion upon earth; for righteousness is immortal… but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.…” (Wisdom 1:13-15;2:24, WEB-BE)

2. The most important thing that God desires for me as a result of His love is to save my soul

This may or may not include providing me with material wealth. This may even include a lot of sorrow. But whatever His plans may be, it is to keep me from falling into sin.

God loves me and is not waiting for me to fall but to rise again. His goal is not to inflict me with pain but to heal me and give me life.

I may not be aware of it, but He is there supporting me, defending me from evil and accomplishing my healing. He will never allow me to be tested beyond the capacity He gave me to bear it. And should I ever feel all is lost and hopeless, God will provide a way out to save me.

“No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor. 10:13, WEB-BE)

3. God blesses us all and provides for our needs differently

To some, He gives material blessings, to others, spiritual strength. When we need some form of support, God sometimes sends us people who would be channels of His grace.

Sometimes, it is God Himself who directly gives it to us. During such times, should I ever think I have received less? Or do I praise God for giving me Himself and personally taking care of me?

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing.” (Psalm 23:1, WEB-BE)

4. God loves me even in my imperfections, even when I’m weak in the midst of trials

His love for me is beyond all my mistakes for He has loved me even before I tried to be good, and even after I tried to be good and failed.

“Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Cor. 12:10, WEB-BE)

5. There comes a time when I must take a leap of faith

Sometimes, I may never truly understand everything that is happening, especially all the unfairness and cruelties in this world.

But if I truly believe that there is a God (which I have previously processed with my intellect, heart, and spirit), then I must hold on to that belief.

“Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” — C.S. Lewis

“The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.” (Psalm 34:17-18, WEB-BE)

6. Everyone’s got a wound, a hurt and a deprivation of some sort, but I can’t continue to live life by always clinging to that hurt that holds me back

I’ve got to accept things as they are and just do the things that are still within my power to change.

Complaining will never do me good. It will only take away my peace. What can help me is the will to surrender to Him who loves me and who can do all things for my sake.

7. God often closes the wrong doors for us so that we may enter the right one

Rejections hurt. Doing my best only to find that the way has been blocked has often been a source of stress and frustration for me. But I must remember that sometimes, it is God Himself who closes the door. He blocks the way because it may be the wrong way. In this perspective, I can be thankful for rejections because they can be blessings in disguise.

 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.” (Psalm 32:8, WEB-BE)

8. I should remember to detach myself from the outcome of my labors

We plant the seeds, but it is God who blesses the harvest. We do our very best, but we must wait in patience for God’s plans to unfold at the right time.

“God does not require that we be successful only that we be faithful.” — Mother Teresa

9. In times when I really feel tired, I must rest

God does not expect us to be strong all the time. He knows our frailty and He understands when we need to rest. Times like that, may I learn to rest in Him.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10, WEB-BE)

10. The greatest sufferings on earth could never match the joys God has prepared for us in heaven

Why must I live as though this is the only life God has prepared for me? Why must I expect every good to be accomplished here? God has prepared so much more for us, infinitely more!

Even if we are deprived of all the good things people see in this world, we can still be happy. We can still hope for an ending that far surpasses all our greatest imaginings and desires.

“But as it is written, ‘Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.’” (1 Cor. 2:9, WEB-BE)

If God cannot heal our most painful sufferings on earth,and provide a heaven whose joys far outweigh our every tear, then He is not a just, merciful and powerful God. But if He is who He says He is,as I believe Him to be, we truly have no idea of the bliss and glory He has lovingly prepared for us in that blessed life where our joys shall have no end.