The Building of a Civilization of Love

The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help others to “grow”. Develop your capacities, not only in order to become more “competitive” and “productive”, but to be “witnesses of charity”. In addition to your professional training, also make an effort to acquire religious knowledge that will help you to carry out your mission in a responsible way. In particular, I invite you to carefully study the social doctrine of the Church so that its principles may inspire and guide your action in the world. May the Holy Spirit make you creative in charity, persevering in your commitments, and brave in your initiatives, so that you will be able to offer your contribution to the building up of the “civilisation of love”. The horizon of love is truly boundless: it is the whole world!

- Pope Benedict XVI, WYD 2007 MESSAGE, Growing in love each day


3:12. Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect: but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus.
3:13. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and stretching forth myself to those that are before,
3:14. I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.

-St. Paul to Philippians

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Truth on trial: First Station: Jesus is condemned to death

Adam was created in the image of God
His nature, the human nature is to magnify the truth.
Adam failed, we fail all the time to magnify the truth.
When scared to death, we rather betray the truth than die.
Jesus the perfect man, he rather die than betray the truth.

Real Life is in the truth not in the flesh
Adam separated from truth and become corruptible and died.
Jesus holds our nature in the truth and restores it into incorruptibility
His divine power is not about preserving us in the flesh, but in the truth
Man experience God's greatest powers when his sins are forgiven.

So much violence because we are trying to preserve our flesh like Adam
Yet our flesh does not hold us together or gives us peace.
Truth holds us together and harmonizes us
We should struggle to stay in the truth, to stay honest, to keep our integrity
We should struggle to magnify the Lord like Mary
Magnifying the Lord is the vacation of mankind.
Truth is the narrow way to paradise

It is so easy to drift away from the truth and loose our way to paradise
Sometimes under pressure, we even convince ourselves it can be okay to lie
Yes, the devil the liar and murder from the beginning knows how to scares us to death
The devil gives us two choices: lies or death
But there is an other choice: prayer, and wait for the Lord.
The devil can only offer lies and death, but God always offers life if we remains in the truth.
In truth, even if there is temporal death, there will be life again.
Jesus is set to prove this for he is the truth itself, and the way, and the life.
So at various occasions from the beginning in Gethsemane he showed the weakness of human nature
But he also showed the strength of his divinity by holding on to faith in the Father
At every turn, he strengthen humanity in the faith that there is no death in the truth.

Temporal life dwells in the flesh and in the world
But eternal life dwells in the truth
And we should aim for that which is eternal and not permit the evil one to deceive us.
When we want to save lives, we should ask ourselves what life we want to save:
Temporal life or eternal life?
Will saving temporal life save eternal life as well or will the contrary happen?
When we lie to save temporal life, we loose eternal life, so what is the point?
The devil deceives us that we have to lie if we love
He tells us that we can lie and save lives
But when we accept, we may save the temporal but the eternal is lost.
Like those who condemned Jesus, we choose man over God
But eternal life is in God not in man.
Now it is clear why Jesus would choose death
What point is he making?
Him who rose the dead back to life is accepting death and commending it
He tells us that if we want to be with him, we have to pick up our crosses
Adam refused the cross by avoiding confrontation with the serpent
He accepted to leave the path of truth choosing the lie of the devil
He believed that the creature cared more about him than the Creator
He observed the parade of the animals and went for life in the flesh forsaking life in the Spirit
He abandoned truth and became corruptible

Jesus undid this fall of Adam by accepting the cross
Jesus reopened the way to paradise that Adam closed after him.
The way to paradise is the way of the cross.
Paradise is protected by flaming swords of cherubim.
To cross that fire we have to be incorruptible for that fire will destroy every corruptible thing.
Or we have to cross that fire if we want all our corruption to be destroyed so that only the pure remains.
And the pure is the truth
The truth is Jesus,
Only he can pass through the fire and live
Only he can enter death and transform it
Only in him we can cross over to Paradise



 

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. - John 1.
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " - Jhn 14.6

Meditations:
1. link1
2. link 2
3. Short meditations and prayers


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