As God is unconditionally compassionate to us, we are called to be compassionate to others. In his compassion God shows us mercy not judgement, understanding, not rejection. Many times what blocks us from being truly compassionate is our tendency to judge others from our perspective, without knowing the full picture. We tend to compare the other to ourselves. But our roads are different. The truth is "There go I but for the grace of God." God calls us to die to this process, He calls us to see the other with the heart of God. Someone has said: "Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, that prevents us from really being with the other." Ask for the grace to have a compassionate heart.
When St Paul struggled with his proverbial thorn he wrote: "Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.' I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
The mystery of weakness! How often do we experience this human weakness and try with our human strength to overcome it, but fail. We feel like we are swimming upstream against a strong current, We seem to get nowhere. We fail to remember the words of God to Paul. Our weakness is a grace moment calling us to turn to God, who can use our weakness to manifest his glory through us. In him we can do all things. Without him, left on our own, we are powerless. With Paul, let us boast of our weakness, rather than be frustrated by them.
We have witnessed and maybe experience one natural tragedy and human-caused tragedy after the other. It is easy for us to question "Why"? But that begs the real question. We expect God to protect us from these things, while as a people we act contrary to God's Commandments. Could these tragedies be a wake-up call from God? Like the people of the Old Testament, we have a double standard. God is to keep his promises, but as a people we can do whatever we please. In our morals and our laws, we have rejected God. But why should the believers suffer along with the non-believers? That has been the mystery. Is it to draw the faithful closer to God? Is it to be a witness to the non-believers? We don't know. But what we do know is that the faithful remnant will enjoy eternal glory with God. Those who persist in rejecting God will not. Like Joshua, let us choose to serve the Lord, in spite of tragedy.
What Jesus teaches us is that our actions should reflect our words and our words become alive in our actions. Let our yes be yes and our no be no. To be holy means that there is no division between our words and actions. James tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. Anyone can say "I love you." Words come easy. But true love is shown in deliberate signs of love. In adages we are familiar with, we would say: "Back your words with action", or "Don't just tell me, show me," "Words are cheap. The proof is in the pudding", "Do it darn it, do it".
aintliness means living without division between word and action. If I would truly live in my own life the word I am speaking, my spoken words would become actions, and miracles would happen whenever I open my mouth.
My diocese of Houma-Thibodeaux in Louisiana suffered extensive devastation as a result of hurricane Ida. Please pray for the people. At times like this we can lose hope or be grateful to God for sparring the lives of his people. We don't know why God permits these catastrophic events, but we know he did not cause them. But in his plan we know that God brings good out of the worse scenario. At these times, we need to turn to God, who is our hope in times of darkness. Our faith may be tested in order to be strengthen, like iron in the fire. But with the grace of God, we will continue the path to him.
In the midst of all that is happening in the world around us, it is easy for us to lose hope and despair. To do so is to fail to remember the promises of God and the signs of the past. His promise is still relevant. "Fear not. I am with you". He is the God of the living. He has overcome evil and death and his love is stronger than any form of death and destruction. In the midst of the chaos that surrounds us, he is present. In the midst of the storm, Peter was able to walk on the water as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. It was when he made the surroundings his focus that he began to sink. We are called to "walk by faith and not by sight". The prophetic words of Habakkuk come to mind: "For though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit appears on the vine, though the yield of the olive fails and the terraces produce no nourishment, though the flocks disappear from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD and exult in my saving God." (3:17-18)
There is a major difference between natural talents and spiritual gifts. We all have different natural talents. These natural talents come from God. We are to use them for our good and the glory of God. But how aware are we of the spiritual gifts God also gives us, who are baptized and confirmed? We have many more spiritual gifts than natural talents. Where natural talents are celebrated by others, our spiritual gifts are not. But these latter are probably less used than the former. These gifts are like buried treasure. We have been given the gift of the Spirit in Baptism. With this gift from God comes all the gifts of the Spirit for our growth in holiness and for our service of others. As we develop our natural talents, so we are called to develop our spiritual gifts. But first, we need to identify these gifts, learn about them, exercise them under the lead of the Holy Spirit, so that these gifts, along with our talents, can give God the glory that is his. What are your natural talents? Celebrate them. What are the spiritual gifts that you are open to use as the Spirit leads? Glorify God through them.
