NEW BEGINNINGS (10)

NEW BEGINNINGS (10)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect….

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity. Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence and solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……

Loving God,

Give us,

A Pure Heart, that we may see You,

A Humble Heart, that we may hear You,

A Heart of Love, that we may serve You,

A Heart of Faith, that we may abide in You. (Dag Hammarskjold)

Our last meditation was on being pure of heart as being single-minded, having only one desire: to follow the Lord more closely, more intimately and having no other agenda than to do his will and fulfill his purpose for us.

God loved us so much that He sent His son Jesus, who willingly took on human flesh and chose obedience and surrender to His Father’s will for us. Because of Jesus, all you and I need to do today is to place our faith in Him and listen, obey His Word.

Obedience or surrender to God’s will and purpose is essentially an ongoing practice and not a one-time action! Surrender happens through many experiences and creative practices which bring us into personal and intimate contact with God….which help us care for the small things of life with love and bring us into the bigger, larger and greater picture.

God continues to reveal His will and purpose for us and our surrender to his will is a lifelong process and not a one-time finished product…. So we must continue to pray and search and discern His will and purpose for us. We must learn and strive to surrender our plans and bring them into harmony with His plan.

We do not strive to bring God’s will into harmony with our will or to get God to change his mind or his plan for us. We strive to bring our will into harmony with His will.

One of the great Indian poets, Tagore, had the following to say in one of his inspiring poems:

“I thought

that my voyage had come to its end to the last limit of my power,

the path before me was closed;

that provisions were exhausted and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity.

But I find that thy will knows no end in me.

And when old words die out on the tongue,

new melodies break forth from the heart;

and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders.” (Tagore).

“I find that thy will knows no end in me…When old words die out, new melodies break forth from the heart”. So we must continue to pray and search and discern His will and purpose for us.

Let us join this great poet in praying for the grace to “raise my mind high above daily trifles” and learn to “Surrender my strength to thy will with love” as expressed in the following poem…..

“This is my prayer to thee, my Lord,

strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart.

Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength never to disown the poor,

or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love. (Tagore).

One day, Jesus was in a Samaritan town. Tired form the journey, he took rest at Jacob’s well. The disciples went to buy provisions. On their return they found Jesus in conversation with a Samaritan women. They said to him, “Rabbi, eat something”. He responded, “I have food of which you do not know”. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (John 4:1, 31-34). My food – what I hunger for, what I desire, what I long for, what would satisfy my deepest hunger is the Father’s will.

Jesus taught his disciples: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (God’s way), they will be satisfied” (Mathew 5:6).

Surrender to the Father’s will is what Jesus deeply desired. Jesus did what the Father willed of him. He was sent by the Father with a mission (with orders) and he remained obedient to the Father’s will. He says, “I have come, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38); “I always do what is pleasing to him” (John 8:29). Jesus taught his disciples that the real and only proof of love is obedience (John 14:23).

The dynamic and the moving force, the mainspring and the core of the life of Jesus was one of continuous self-surrender. His life of obedience has taught us that……

• The only way to peace is to do the will of God. There can be no peace when our will is at variance with the will of God.

• The only way to fullness of Joy is to do the will of God. There can be no joy when our will is not aligned with the will of God.

• The only way to power is to do the will of God. When we go God’s way, we go with His power. When we go our way, we rely on our power which tends to weaken.

• The only way to freedom is to do the will of God. We are free only in God’s wisdom. Our ignorance makes us unfree.

Surrendering to God and obeying His will and purpose for our life brings us into the abundance of his life and love that Jesus came to offer, “I have come so that you may have life and life to its fullness” (John 10:10)” . If you hang on to your desires, plans and rights, you may be happy for awhile, a satisfaction for the moment, a sense of accomplishment for the present, or a temporary relief from stress or longing.

We are often tempted with transitory longings, desires of the moment, cravings for the passing pleasures of life. Surrendering our desires, wants, rights and wills is hard to do. We are all often like children. When we want something, we want something and we really want it then and there! Those of you who have tried to go on a diet, know well that if you don’t surrender your desires, wants and cravings, you will not have the desired result. The same is true of our spiritual life. If we do not surrender our desires and open ourselves to the will and purpose of God, we will not know the ultimate fulfillment of our life.

Surrender to God is a choice we must make with every breath we take. You may not be happy about it right now, but in the bigger picture of life, you’ll be glad you chose to surrender to God.

Let us continue to strive to be pure of heart, to be single-minded, having only one desire: to follow the Lord more closely, more intimately and having no other agenda than to do his will and fulfill his purpose for us.

God is perfect and perfect wisdom.

We do not pray in order to change His will,

But to bring our wills into harmony with His.

(William Temple)

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs