A Christian Life Program

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A Christian Life Programme


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Contents

Description Page

Brief Introduction 2

Part 1 Who is Jesus Christ? 3

Part 2 What it means to be a Christian

Part 3 Loving God

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Part 4 Loving Neighbour 21

Part 5 Repentance and Faith 27

Part 6 The Christian Family 34

Part 7 Strengthening the Christian Family 42

Recommended Reading 48

Plan of Life 53

Cover: The Light of the World (by Holman Hunt)

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Brief Introduction

This Christian Life Programme is created for all those that have an interest in Jesus Christand his life.

It assumes that the reader has some knowledge of the Life of Christ and it tries to presentChristianity as a practical way of living. Part of the intention is to present a Plan of Life.Simple everyday things that can put us in the presence of God.

In this case it does not cover in detail such maters as Christian Doctrine, preparation forbecoming a Christian and preparation for receiving the sacraments. In short it is but a smallcommentary on what is a very large subject.

It has been prepared by ordinary Christians (laity) that want to live out their Christianvocation in the everyday ordinary circumstances of life. Another part of the intention is to giveencouragement and help to those that want to follow Jesus. Accordingly it does not presentall the possibilities of living a Christian life (even if this is possible) but relies on theexperiences of those that believe and want to build on that believe based on the experience

of other ordinary Christian folk.

One of the experiences which most of us encounter is that being a Christian is too difficult weset the bar at absolute perfection and of course we find it difficult to make the first jump, thebar is too high. No! the starting point is wherever it is for that individual with all of theimperfections that this starting point may have. Being a Christian is a life time challenge andperfection cannot be achieved over night.

We may well have encountered questions from friends, colleagues and acquaintancesconcerning certain aspects of doctrine that they have difficulty in accepting believe and theyget bogged down on this or some other doctrine and consequently never start out on theChristian path. The answer is we all have to start where we can and if we have some doubts

about some aspects of doctrine we need to pray that Jesus will enlighten us as St Theresesays At the hour of our death, in the twinkling of an eye, He will cause rich fruits toripen on the tree of your soul.

One of the misconceptions about being a Christian is that we have to be full of goodness andpurity otherwise we are not pure enough to be Christians. Whilst perfection is the goal it is alife time of work in its achievement. The story of the harsh ships captain puts things intoperspective. He was considered a cruel man by the crew but every time the ship docked heattended Mass. Someone asked him why he was so cruel but went to church. His answerwas that he had so far not killed anybody and but for the going to church and receiving thesacraments he may well have. Being a Christian did not make him perfect but it did reducethe level of his cruelness.

In the words of Thomas OKempis He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness saysOur Lord. In these words Christ counsels us to follow His life and way if we desiretrue enlightenment and freedom from all blindness of heart. Let the life of JesusChrist, then, be our first consideration ".

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Part 1 Who is Jesus Christ

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Part 1 WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

Introduction.

As Christians, we derive our identity from a person, one whom we can be truly proud of. He

is truly impressive.

Millions today claim to be his followers, almost 2,000 years after his death.

Countless numbers have been martyred for their faith in him.

The book about him, the Bible, is easily the No. 1 best seller of all time.

It is this person who won for us our salvation, who restored us to our relationship with God.In him we can have a full and a new life.

Thus, realizing the importance of this person to us, we want to know him more fully. And sowe ask: "Who is Jesus Christ?"

The uniqueness of Jesus.

Having been born and raised as Christians, we take for granted our conviction that Jesus isthe Son of God. But this was not so for his contemporaries. They found it hard to accept thathe was not just an ordinary person (Mk 6:3). Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary,the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? are not also his sisters herewith us? And they were scandalized in regard of him.

What we want to know is whether there is any reason not to put Jesus on the same level asBuddha, Confucius, Lao-Tze, Socrates or other wise men. Was Jesus more than just a greatreligious man or moral teacher?

History is full of men who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, orthat they bore messages from God. Even the person who this very day founded a newreligion.

How is Jesus different from them all?

Three things that make Jesus an absolutely unique figure in human history:

He was pronounced and his coming was expected. Because of Old Testamentprophecies, people for a long time were waiting for the messiah, which saw itsfulfilment in Jesus.

Once he appeared on the scene, he struck history with such impact that he split it intwo, dividing it into two periods: BC and AD.

Every other person who came into this world came into it to live. Jesus came into theworld to die. His death was the goal and fulfilment of his life.

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Some details about his life.

Jesus was a young carpenter in Nazareth. For three years he became an itinerant preacher.He was never more than 100 miles from his home. He had never been into cities with apopulation larger than 50,000.

Within 3 years of preaching he was dead, murdered in Jerusalem on the fringes of theRoman empire. He was crucified for stirring up the people.

By right he should simply have faded into complete oblivion. Instead, he is surely the mostfamous, honoured, and best loved person who ever walked the earth.

What was he like?

A very attractive personality. Warm, personal, dynamic. A major attraction of the times.People are constantly amazed at his teaching and works. Mk 9:14. And presently all the

people, seeing Jesus, were astonished and struck with fear: and running to him, theysaluted him.

Strong in mind and body. He outwitted the leaders of his day in discussion as a boy oftwelve, and later as a man who did not have their educational advantages. He was able tofast for 40 days.

Down to earth. Not a romantic or a dreamer. Courageous.

A magnetic leader. He summoned Simon and Andrew (Mk 1: 16-18) , And passing by thesea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea forthey were fishermen.And Jesus said to them: Come after me; and I will make you tobecome fishers of men. And immediately leaving their nets, they followed Him . Jamesand John (Mk 1:20), And going on from thence a little farther, he saw James the son ofZebedee and John his brother, who also were mending their nets in the ship. And

forthwith he called them. And leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with his hiredmen, they followed him and Levi (Mk 2:14), And when he was passing by, he sawLevi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith to him: Followme. And rising up, he followed him.All of them followed him immediately.

A man of extraordinary authority.

He broke long standing traditions for the sake of a higher righteousness. He healed thedisabled and the sick. He gave orders to nature which were obeyed. Not confused or unsureof himself or of his mission. He resisted the desire of his followers to make him a politicalking. He rebuked Peter for standing in the way of his fulfilling the mission given by theFather. Mt 16:21-23. From that time Jesus began to shew to his disciples, that he mustgo to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief

priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again .And Peter taking him, beganto rebuke him, saying: Lord, be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee. Whoturning, said to Peter: Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thousavourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.

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Very human.

He showed tenderness and personal concern. He experienced anger and grief (Mk 3:5),And looking round about on them with anger, being grieved for the blindness of theirhearts, he saith to the man: Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and hishand was restored unto him.Love (Mk 10:21), And Jesus, looking on him, loved him

and said to him: One thing is wanting unto thee. Go, sell whatsoever thou hast andgive to the poor: and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me .Compassion (Mk 1:41), And Jesus, having compassion on him, stretched forth hishand and touching him saith to him: I will. Be thou made clean . Sadness (Mk 14:34).And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Stay you here andwatch.

Jesus' claim to be God.

Jesus is totally unique from any other personality and so is clearly worth knowing. But isthere more to him?

Is Jesus worthy to be the centre of my life?

This is a question we have to answer. There is something more to Jesus than to any otherperson. He is worth paying more attention to than any other man. BECAUSE HE IS GOD.Perfect God and perfect man.

How do we know he is God?

By his miracles? Miracles only show that God is working through a person. A man couldwork miracles and not be God. Jn 14:12. Otherwise believe for the very works' sake.

Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shalldo: and greater than these shall he do.

So how do we know? The answer simply is that Jesus himself told us so. Time and againthroughout his public ministry, Jesus claimed to be God. Mk 14:61-62. But he held hispeace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said to him: Artthou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed God?. And Jesus said to him: I am. And youshall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God and comingwith the clouds of heaven. In Gospel of St. John, Jesus again speaks of his divinity. Jn12:45, And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. 10:30, I and the Father areone. 8:58. Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham wasmade, I AM.

Jesus' claim to divinity is a far different claim than Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed evermade. None of them ever claimed to be God.

Quote from C. S. Lewis.

"On the one side clear, definite, moral teaching. On the other, claims which, if nottrue, are those of a megalomaniac, compared with whom Hitler was the most saneand humble of men. There is no half way house, and there is no parallel in otherreligions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him, 'Are you the son of Bramah?', hewould have said, 'My son, you are still in the vale of illusion'. If you had gone toSocrates and asked, 'Are you Zeus?', he would have laughed at you. If you wouldhave gone to Mohammed and asked, 'Are you Allah?', he would first have rent his

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clothes then cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, 'Are you heaven?', I thinkhe would have probably replied, 'Remarks which are not in accordance with natureare in bad taste'. The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out ofthe question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is eitherGod or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines thewhole mind of man"

Also, Jesus claimed that he could forgive sin. Story of the paralytic at Capernaum. Mk 2:3-12.

Quote C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

"Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We canall understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe andI forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of aman, himself not robbed and not trodden on, who announced that he forgave you fortreading on other men's toes and stealing other men's money? Asinine fatuity is thekindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told

people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people

whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was theparty chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes senseonly if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded inevery sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply whatI can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivaled by any other character inhistory".

False, Deluded, or Lord.

Jesus' claim to be God must be either true or false. If false, then we have two and only twoalternatives. Either he knew it was false, in which case he would be a liar, or he did not knowit was false, in which case he would be a deluded.

Could Jesus have lied?

If he lied, then he would have been deliberately deceiving his followers. But not only wouldhe have been a liar, he would also be a hypocrite, because he told others to be honest,whatever the cost. Could he have been a demon, because he told others to trust him for theireternal destiny. If he could not back up his claims and knew it, then he was unspeakably evil.

A fool, because it was his claim to being God that led to his crucifixion.

But we need only look at his person, his words and his work to conclude that he could nothave been a liar.

We can see his moral purity, dignity, sound intellect, air of truth. Consider his character that

is so original, consistent, perfect, high above human greatness. He carried out a plan ofunparalleled beneficence, moral magnitude and sublimely, and sacrificed his own life for it.Would he die for a lie? The results of his life and teachings have been lives changed for thebetter, thieves made honest, hateful individuals becoming channels of love, etc. Such a mancannot be a liar.

Could Jesus have been a lunatic or deluded?

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In Jesus we do not see any abnormalities or imbalance that usually go along with beingderanged. In fact, his poise and composure would be amazing if he was insane. He spokesome of the most profound sayings ever recorded. Such a man cannot be a lunatic.

If not a liar or a lunatic, the only alternative left to us is that Jesus did speak the truth. Hewas, and is, the Son of God as he claimed.

Throughout scripture, we can read about a number of Jesus' contemporaries coming to therealization that he was God.

Simon Peter. Mt 16:13-16. And Jesus came into the quarters of Cesarea Philippi: andhe asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is?. But theysaid: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the

prophets. Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?. Simon Peteranswered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.

Martha. Jn 11:27. She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ, theSon of the living God, who art come into this world.

Nathanael. Jn 1:49. Nathanael answered him and said: Rabbi: Thou art the Son ofGod. Thou art the King of Israel.

Thomas. Jn 20:27-28. Then he said to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither and see myhands. And bring hither the hand and put it into my side. And be not faithless, butbelieving. Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God.

The centurion. Mt 27:54. Now the centurion and they that were with him watchingJesus, having seen the earthquake and the things that were done, were sore afraid,saying: Indeed this was the Son of God.

Even the evil spirits. Mt 8:29, And behold they cried out, saying: What have we to do

with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?Mk1:24, Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come todestroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.Mk 3:11-12, And the uncleanspirits, when they saw him, fell down before him: and they cried, saying: Thou art theSon of God. And he strictly charged them that they should not make him known.Lk4:41. And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: Thou art the son of God.

And rebuking them he suffered them not to speak; for they knew that he was Christ.

God confirmed Jesus' claim.

As many as there were who accepted the divinity of Jesus, there were also others whorefused to accept him. How can we have confirmation of Jesus' divinity?

God Himself confirmed it. In the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jn 11:41-42.They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes, said: Father, I givethee thanks that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: butbecause of the people who stand about have I said it, that they may believe that thouhast sent me.In this miracle Jesus was giving a demonstration concerning His divinity. Tothe Jews, God alone was the one who had the prerogative to give life or to take away life.But the most conclusive proof is Jesus' own resurrection from the dead. The tombs of othergreat religious founders of all the great world religions are still with us. Only Jesus' tomb isempty.

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Conclusion.

Jesus is a man whose words and life demand a response from us. He is making claims thataffect us.

If he is not God, then we should have nothing to do with him, because we do not want to be

followers of a liar or a lunatic.

But if he is God, then we should seriously consider him. Our response will have eternalconsequences.

For the believer he or she loses nothing. To go through life believing in Jesus provides uswith unique and lasting experiences and opportunities. When we are called to leave this lifewe will again meet Jesus but this time face to face. Say as the non believers claim this willnever happen then we have lost noting.

On the other hand say we are right the non believer has lost everything, the opportunity toknow Jesus in this life and the loss of eternal life in paradise.

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Part 2 What it Means to be a Christian

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Part 2 What it means to be a Christian

Opening

Sharing is at the heart of being a Christian along with loving and believing in Jesus Christ.Sharing the experiences of the Gospel, Jesus own words and our faith. Each and everyone

of us are on the same journey some say on the top deck of a Clapham omnibus guided byAlmighty God. God will never give up on us and if we persevere each and every day we shallbecome true friends of Jesus Christ.

Fundamentally its a privilege to be a Christian and for which we should be eternally grateful.

Misconceptions or incomplete notions about Christianity

Religious System

There are many misconceptions about Christianity. One of the misconceptions aboutChristianity is that it is merely a religious system, a set of religious practices, rules to befollowed and matters of habit rather than the experiences of faith.

A presence at Mass once a week, going to holy communion once a year, abstaining frommeat at the prescribed times and fasting as well as observing all the other rules andregulations of the church, dont necessarily bring us closer Christ and such observances areonly part of being a Christian.

It is often the case that we care very much about whether or not we have observed therequired abstentions before receiving holy communion but at the same time our hearts andminds are far from (some say a million miles away) witnessing the real presence of JesusChrist in the sacrament of the Eucharist and thinking about receiving the body and blood ofJesus Christ.

In being overly concerned with the rules of the Church without having the intention ofGlorifying Jesus Christ we are not fulfilling our role as Christians.

And so brothers and sisters merely observing the rules of the Church does not in itself makeus Christians. But obeying the rules for the love and glorification of Jesus Christ certainlydoes help to make us Christians.

Moral System

Another misconception or incomplete notion is that Christianity is a moral system.Christianity embraces the highest of moral codes but Christianity is not a moral system.

Many non Christians also observe high moral standards and on this subject Christians may

have little to teach non Christians.

It is not enough to claim on the one hand to be a Christian but to show by our actions andwords that we are no different from non Christians. All around us must be able to recognisethat there is something special about us. In all things we are the representatives of JesusChrist and should act accordingly.

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What do we mean when we talk about morals. We mean being honest, truthful, loyal, beinggenerous, treasuring peace, refusing to harm others, supporting friends, relatives andacquaintances etc. These morals are also observed outside of Christianity.

However being a Christian requires much more than conforming to a moral system. We needto have faith in believing in Jesus and to have Jesus always in mind, offering all of our faults,

difficulties and the good things to Jesus.

People should be able to recognise in us that this person knows the life of Jesus Christ.

Humanitarian System

A Christian is sometimes equated to a humanist someone who is good and kind and friendly.To the humanist the world is basically good, a place to be admired for its beauty, theresources of which are to be enjoyed. Man himself is essentially or potentially good,separated from the rest of the created world by his reason.

The humanist cause finds its way in trying to correct abuses of privilege, fighting fordemocracy, placing man first in all things, stressing the dignity of man and respect for the

individual. Of course as a Christian we also share many of the hopes of the humanist, but asignificant difference between someone who is first and foremost a humanist and someonewho is a Christian is that a Christian believes that he needs the help and grace of God tomake things good. A humanist does not necessarily share this view but believes that manhas it within himself to overcome evil.

Escape from the realities

Another common misconception about Christianity is that it is an escape from the realities oflife. The misconception is that Christianity is a dream world of make believe, the opium of thepoor. Christianity is not about escaping reality but actively participating in all aspects of life,accepting the joys as well as the sorrows of life for the sake of Jesus Christ. Jesus in his own

words tells us in the gospel of St. Luke "If anyone wants to come with me ,he mustforget self, take up his cross every day and follow me". St. John again reminds us inhis letter that our love should not be just words and talk ;it must be true love, whichshows itself in action".

Being a Christian is the opposite of escaping from realities, we have to be optimistic andpositive in our attitude towards God and our lives. Using the circumstances of everyday lifeto move closer to Jesus.

Its not easy to escape reality in following the path that Jesus has set for us such as beingfollowers of Christ, taking care of family, being blessings not burdens to all those around usincluding our friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ and the Church and last but not leastto be active Christians.

What then is Christianity

The essence of Christianity is union with God at every level of our being. St. Therese ofLisieux considered by some as the greatest saint of modern times summed up whatbeing a Christian really means when shortly before she died she explained that herlittle way to heaven "is the way of spiritual childhood and the way of trust andabsolute self surrender to Jesus Christ". In one of her prayers she again offers inspirationon this subject when she prays "O my God I offer thee all my actions of this day for the

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intentions and for the glory of the sacred heart of Jesus".Her book theThe Story of aSoul provides an insight into what it means to be a Christian. Covering such topics as theChristian family, preparation for the sacraments, devotions, pilgrimages and her own littleway to Heaven.

Being a Christian means always trying to imitate Jesus Christ. Jesus himself says to us in

the gospel of St. Matthew "You must be perfect just as your Father in heaven isperfect".

Thomas A'Kempis in his compelling book" Imitation of Christ" constantly reminds us of howwe are wholly dependent on Jesus for our eventual salvation. He writes this for ourinspiration " He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness says Our Lord. In thesewords Christ counsels us to follow His life and way if we want true enlightenment andfreedom from all blindness of heart. Let the life of Jesus Christ, then be our firstconsideration. The teaching of Jesus far transcends all the teachings of the Saints,and whosoever has His spirit will discover concealed in it heavenly manna. But many

people although they often hear the Gospel, feel little desire to follow it, because theylack the spirit of Christ. Whoever desires to understand and take delight in the wordsof Christ must strive to conform his whole life to Him".

The penny catechism definition of being a Christian is "to serve God in this life and to bewith him forever in the next".

What makes us Christian is our loving, personal relationship with God and our whole lifeshould become an expression of this relationship.

As Christians we know that our lives are full of things passing we are called upon to pray forthings eternal.

Some Important Truths

a) One important truth about our being a Christian is that it is a relationship initiated by God

not by ourselves . God has chosen us, we have not chosen God by ourselves. St. Paulmakes this very clear to us in his letter to the Ephesians when he writes "For it is byGod's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the results of your ownefforts, but God's gift so no one can boast about it".

b) Another is that when we are truly converted as Christians we take on a new life as St.Paul explains to us in his letter to the Galatians when he writes "So far as the law isconcerned however, I am dead killed by the law itself, in order that I might live forGod. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I thatlive, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the son ofGod, who loved me and gave his life for me".

c) Another truth is that we share in the eternal life of Christ. Our life does not end with

physical death. In Revelations it says " He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of thingshas passed away ".

Some of the Practical Implications of being a Christian are:

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Trust

We can trust in God our Father to help us in every way to achieve salvation. Jesus in thegospel ofSt. Matthew tells us "Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stonewhen he asked for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for fish? Badas you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more then

will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him".

Worrying

In being a Christian we ought to stop worrying. Jesus reminds us in the parable of the RichFool, the futility of worry, when the man told himself I will tear down my barns andbuild bigger ones, where I will store my corn and all my other goods. Then I will say tomyself lucky man ! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take lifeeasy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself! But God said to him " You fool ! this very nightyou will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept foryourself? And Jesus concluded, this is how it is with those who pile up riches forthemselves but are not rich in God's sight".

Brothers and Sisters

We are all brothers and sisters in God's Christian family. There are real opportunities todemonstrate this brother and sisterhood as we move on to join or form prayer groups, biblestudy groups, lay societies and associations, they abound in our communities. There is thechance to share our time, our joys our sorrows, and common interest in Jesus Christ. Most ofus don't find this opportunity for sharing anywhere else.

Peace and Joy

It is our faith in Jesus Christ that gives us our identity as Christians. This faith should createfor us Peace and Joy in spite of all our circumstances.

We should be experiencing in our lives Joy, Hope, Trust and Peace if we are truly followersof Jesus Christ and his teachings. St. Paul in his letter to the Hebrews says " Keep yourlives free from love of money and be content with what you have, because God hassaid, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you".

So we say with confidence "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can mando to me".

The Challenge

And so brothers and sisters the challenge of being a Christian is to give your life to God, tolive for God and God's plan according to his will. It is important to keep this in mind because

God is the source of Christianity. And Jesus words of 2000 years ago have the samemeaning today. His truths are enduring and unchanging. They cannot be reduced or watereddown to suit man's fancy and convenience. We have to take the word of God as it is andbase our life on it.

In this we are reminded by St. Paul's letter to the Colossians "You are the people ofGod; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselveswith compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with oneanother and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against

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someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. Andto all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. The

peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to thispeace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. Christ'smessage in all it's richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct each otherwith all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns and sacred songs; sing to God with

thanksgiving in your hearts. Everything you do or say, then, should be done in thename of Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.

St. James, in his epistle poses the question of whether it is enough to be a good andreligious person ? When he says " Take the case, my brothers, of someone who hasnever done a single good act but claims he has faith. Will that faith save him ? If oneof the Brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food tolive on, and one of you says to them, I wish you well, keep yourself warm and eat

plenty, without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that?Faith is like that, if good works do not go with it, itis quite dead".

What good is faith if it does not lead us to reach out to others and to share with others whatwe have ? Is faith enough, is it really following Jesus, to only sympathise with and to pray for

those in need. It does not matter how strong our faith is , it does not matter how muchtheology or biblical knowledge we have or how orthodox we are , it does not matter howmany Masses we attend or how many rosaries we pray or other prayers we say. If we do notreach out in action and share what we have with those who do not have, whether their needbe material, emotional or spiritual, then we have not become true followers of Jesus.

To be a Christian is not just to concentrate on ourselves but to find our path to Paradise byentering fully into the mainstream of human living, to become part of it through loving andsharing and building, everyday and at every opportunity. We must ask God what do youwant of me?

Our faith, our prayers, our devotions, our knowledge, using our talents and gifts must

produce concrete examples of loving God and loving neighbour.

Maybe this is a good point to consider as Christians what our ultimate aim is which is "toserve God in this life and to be with him forever in the next".

This may also be a good point at which to reflect on the last four things. Death, Judgement,Heaven or Hell. There is basically no escape whatever our beliefs as reminded by the storyof a man in a Damascus Inn where he met Death. In trying to escape he travelled night andday across the desert to Samaria, feeling tired he stopped at an oasis for water and againmet Death. I was also surprised to see you in Damascus said Death it was always to be inSamaria.

We can share the prayer" May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts; let the message

of Christ find a home with you".

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Part 3 Loving God

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The Christian Ideal Loving God and Loving Neighbour

Loving God

Introduction

Loving God together with loving Neighbour, form the core of Christian life. These are the twomost important aspects that identify us as true Christians and followers of Christ. Loving Godand loving our neighbour make us a royal race set apart. This is what Jesus wants us to beand we repeat these words very often at Mass. We must all learn to get beyond the wordsand thoughts and try by the Grace of God to practice what we say we believe in. We cannotbe true friends of Jesus if we wilfully ignore his commandments.

Jesus in the Gospel of St. Mark, says in response to a teacher of the law "The mostimportant commandment is this " Hear ,O Israel the Lord our God ,the Lord is one. Lovethe Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind andwith all your strength". The second is this :"Love your neighbour as yourself." Thereis no commandment greater than these".

Loving God is a Commandment its not a nice to have or do.

With all our heart

Loving God with all our heart is not necessarily an emotional kind of love. It is loving Godwith all our will.

In loving God with all our heart we are not talking about love that is carnal, or based naturalinclinations, self will, hope of repayment, or feelings or emotions which are changeable.Jesus call to love is based on a commitment, a decision to love. It is to express things inactions and deeds.

St Therese of Lisieux who is ranked by some as the greatest Saint of modern times, says oflove "How sweet is the way of love! True one may fail and be unfaithful to grace, butlove knows how to draw profit from everything, and quickly consumes whatever maybe displeasing to Our Lord, leaving in the heart only a deep and humble peace. Loveshows itself by deeds"There is but one thing to be done here below: to love Jesus,and to save souls for Him that He may be more loved. We must not let slip thesmallest opportunity of giving him joy. We must not refuse Him anything

St. Paul's says in his letter to the Corinthians "I may be able to speak the languages ofmen and even angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gongor a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledgeand understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains but if Ihave no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my

body to be burnt, but if I have no love, this does me no good".

"Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; Love is not illmannered or selfish or irritable; Love does not keep record of wrongs; Love is nothappy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Loves never gives up; and its faith , hope,and patience never fail. Love is eternal.

Loving God with all our hearts means putting the Lord first in our lives. This requires a basicdecision from us to obey him through our obedience of the commandments. It requires the

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development of a personal relationship with Him built up through prayer and regularlyreceiving the Blessed Sacrament. We cannot hope to love God if we do not talk to himregularly and get to know him.

As a Jesuit priest said just before he died "We must always have Him as our companion.Even though we at times reject Him, He is ever knocking at the doors of our hearts.

His hope is to enter, live there with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and fill every tinycorner of our soul".

So we love God with all our heart when when we choose what we believe God is asking ofus, rather than just doing our own thing.

With all our soul

Then, loving God with all our soul. In the Old Testament the soul carries a meaning of life, itis integral to our physical existence and without a soul we are dead. And so to love God withall our soul is to love God with all our being, giving our lives to Christ. It is the supernaturalaspect of our belief in God.

The soul is the inner essence of our being or personality it's who we are . It's our conscience,our inner self, our identity. It's how we define who we are. It's our will, where we make ourdecisions and choices.

The choices and decisions we make ultimately come back to our soul back to who we areand what we're made of. And then the decisions we make in life one after another become aseries of choices, decisions put together in an ongoing pattern to determine our lifestyle andbehavior.

So, to love God with all your soul means that you will love him in the way you live, in thechoices you make, in the behavior and lifestyle you adopt.

With all our mind

Loving God with all our minds denotes committed service. It is something we do rather thanfeel. St. John in his epistle tells us " My children, our love should not be just words andtalk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action". In a practical way we love andserve God by trying to keep our minds uncluttered and striving for holiness. Whenever anevil thought enters our mind we try to immediately dismiss it and not to dwell on it askingJesus to help us. We must endeavour always to use our minds according to God's truths andnot according to the ways of the world. In this case we can often ask ourselves what doesGod want us to do in a particular set of circumstances. We will always get a positiveresponse and that it will be the right thing to do in those circumstances.

We should spend our working and recreational day thinking about God. This is a very useful

exercise, the results of which are incalculable with regard to our goal of loving God.

We can share the experiences of a 17th century Monk called Brother Lawrence, who in hismonastery kitchen discovered an overwhelming delight in God's presence." A little

perseverance, he said, was needed at first to form the habit of conversing all the timewith God and referring all actions to him. However after a little care one felt stirred byhis love without any trouble. We ought to act very simply with God, he advisesspeaking familiarly with Him, and asking for help in situations as they arise. Godwould not fail to give His help as he had often experienced. Thoughts he said spoil

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everything. All evil begins there. Wemust take care to set them aside as soon as weobserve them not necessary for the moment or for our salvation, so that we can beginagain our conversation with God, wherein is our only good ".

We must try to as hard as it may be to have presence of God throughout the day. Trying toblot out all unpleasant distractions as soon as they arise. Praying short prayers through the

day. Praying the Angelus at noon time. Avoiding gossip and slanderous conversations.Offering our work and everything we do to the glory of God. Offering as mortifications all ofthe unpleasant things that happen to us throughout the day. We must also use our mindsactively for God's purposes, in this, God is also asking us to keep his commandments as apractical demonstration of our love.

Our catechism says that love is the most fundamental of our passions, which is aroused bythe attraction of good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtainingit , this passion is satisfied in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed

With all our strength

Loving God with all our strength means keeping faith throughout our lives. Attending to the

little everyday things of life. This means our time, money, energy, possessions, gifts, talentsand abilities.

St. Therese offers this advice. If it be His will that throughout your life you shouldfeel repugnance to suffering and humiliation-if He permits all the flowers of yourdesires and your goodwill to fall to the ground without any fruit appearing, do notworry. At the hour of our death, in the twinkling of an eye, He will cause rich fruits toripen on the tree of your soul.

We give our time in prayer, by daily reading of the scripture, attending Mass perhaps evenon week days if we have the opportunity. By being active in the community these are allexamples of giving time to God.

Giving our money means being generous to Church, family, friends, and those need. Whenwe talk about giving back our gifts, talents and abilities, we are following Jesus parable of theThree Servants in which the Master entrusted five, three and one talents to the servantsaccording to their abilities and he was very disappointed by the servant that did not use theone talent to gain benefit. God has given each and everyone of us gifts and talents which hewants us to use for the benefit of the community. God said in the parable to the servant whoused the talents " well done you good and faithful servant, you have been faithful inmanaging small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on inand share my happiness ".

The Saints of our Church are wonderful examples of using their talents and being trusted byGod. They have a strong love of God and we could learn from them on how to follow their

examples. Reading the Lives of the Saints can also assist in trying to perfect our love of God.One day nobody can predict when God is going to ask an account of all of us on how wehave used the time, money, energy, possessions, gifts and abilities, He has blessed us withand so we must prepare ourselves so that we can give a good answer and receive Hisinvitation to come in and share His happiness.

Jesus our model in loving God

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In all these matters we must have in mind that our prime example in loving God is JesusChrist. And when we think of this we can be reminded by Thomas 'A Kempis in his book TheImitation of Christ and the quotation from this book as follows Keep constantly in mindthe saying The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Strive towithdraw your heart from love of visible things and direct your affections to thingsinvisible. For those who follow only their own inclinations defile their conscience, and

lose the grace of God.

In St. John's gospel Jesus says " My food is to obey the will of the one who sent me andto finish the work he gave me to do ". With these words we too can have in mind thededication and mission of Jesus Christ.

In St. Luke's gospel we are reminded of the human nature of Jesus when he prays " Fatherif you will take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will however but your willbe done ". Even under considerable pressure Jesus is obedient unto death.

In St. Mark's gospel we have an example of Jesus in prayer. " Very early the nextmorning, long before daylight, Jesus got up and left the house. He went out of town toa lonely place, where he prayed ". Again in the gospel of St. Matthew we see that

Jesus always made time for prayer." After sending the people away, he went up a hillby himself to pray ".The Challenge

Loving God is not as vague and impractical as you may think. Loving God involves specific,actions, as well as decisions and personal commitments from each and everyone of us. Wedemonstrate our love by our actions. We can hope to perfect this by a Plan of Life.

You cannot love God if you do not know him. You cannot know him if you do not talk to himand read his sacred scripture. To know God is to love Him.

Jesus has showed us the way to true Christian love by his words and example as recorded

in the Bible.

In the words of another great saint of the church, St. Augustine.

"We cannot win our crown unless we overcome, and we cannot overcome unless weenter the contest and there is no contest unless we have an adversary and thechallenge our adversary brings."

The hope is that we come to a little more awareness of the importance of God'scommandment to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with allour strength.

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Part 4 Loving Neighbour

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The Christian Ideal Loving God and Loving Neighbour

Loving Neighbour

Introduction

Loving our neighbour, together with loving God, are fundamental Christian values. In thecase of loving neighbour Jesus is presenting us with a real challenge as it is not always easyto follow this commandment. Nevertheless it has to form part of our Christian life. Our hopeis that Jesus does not count our failures but our sees our struggle.

When we hear of people whose needs are desperate, we sometimes wonder whatGovernments or charities could do to help. Its common that we first ask what are othersdoing to help, Governments, charities, the rich if the need be money. Its sometimes the casethat we do not see a role for us to play but only roles for others.?

The apostle St. John makes very clear our obligations in his first letter when he says:

"We love, because God first loved us. If someone says he loves God, but hates his

brother, he is a liar for he cannot love God, whom he has not seen, if he does not lovehis brother, whom he has seen. The command that Christ has given us is this:whoever loves God must love his brother also".

This is at the very heart of Christian values and beliefs. It is synonymous with the truth thatwe are all God's children and equal in the eyes of Almighty God.

At this point we have to consider two things. Who is our neighbour and what do we mean bylove. Our neighbour is basically anyone who needs our help. The people who live around us,those who we share the Mass with, our colleagues, friends, acquaintances, strangers in aword basically everyone. The form of love mentioned here is not necessarily a love based onemotions and feelings. Its possible that in many situations we do not necessarily like that

person who in the particular circumstances we are faced with has become our neighbour.The main aspect of our love is that we do not wish anyone any harm and we want to helpsave souls including our own. Of course there are other forms of love but we have to startsomewhere with an understandable form of love and one that we may find we can aspire to.

Father Bede Jarrett in his book Meditations for Lay Folk writes:

All lay folk must be included, for upon each lies the obligation of doing what eachcan for her or his neighbours soul. None are exempt.

To love one's neighbour as a commandment of God.

The concept of loving one's neighbour is not some nice altruistic concept made up by well

meaning men and women. It is a call from Jesus Christ himself.

Again our obligations are made very clear to us when Jesus tells us in the gospel of St.Mark:

The most important commandment is this ,Listen Israel !The Lord our God is theonly Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all yourmind, and with all your strength. The second most important commandment is this

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:Loveyour neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment more importantthan these two.

Jesus also makes this commandment very clear in the gospel of St. Matthew when he says:

" You have heard that it was said, 'Love your friends, hate your enemies.' But now I

tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you maybecome the sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad andgood people alike , and gives rain to those who do good and to those to who do evil.Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the taxcollectors do that! And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything outof the ordinary ? Even pagans do that you must be perfect just as your Father inheaven is perfect.

Again we go back to the question who then is our neighbour in the gospel of St. Luke whenJesus answers a teacher of the law in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

There was once a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho whenrobbers attacked him ,stripped him ,and beat him up leaving him half dead. It so

happened that a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the man, hewalked on by, on the other side. In the same way a Levite also came along, went overand looked at the man ,and then walked on by on the other side of the road. But aSamaritan who was travelling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, hisheart was filled with pity. He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds andbandaged them. Then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an Inn,where he took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them tothe Innkeeper." Take care of him, he told the Innkeeper and when I come back thisway I will pay you what ever else you spend on him. And Jesus concluded, in youropinion which of these three acted like a neighbour towards the man attacked byrobbers?

The teacher of the law answered, "The one who was kind to him. "Jesus replied, "Yougo, then, and do the same." We have all experienced Good Samaritans in our lives.

On one occasion a long time ago the car broke down on a desert track in the NamibianDesert. It was at sun set with darkness falling on us and the nearest town circa 100 kmaway. Nothing but sand all around us. After about an hour and nothing to do, no tools, noexperience to deal with the situation we can hear the noise of an vehicle coming towards us,at first just a faint sound but very soon we can see the headlights of the oncoming pickuptruck over loaded with passengers. The driver stops comes over to see what is wrong thengoes back to collect some tools and immediately gets to work on repairing the car with hardlya word spoken and no money changing hands, he fixes the car, wishes us well and like shipsin the night we vanish from each other. The sad thing is we forgot to pray for our Samaritanand those around him. God bless him wherever he is, almost certainly he is not still in this life

as he was in middle age some 35 years ago.

It's not easy. We need God's wisdom.

For many of us it is not easy or natural to love everyone. Some would even say impossible atfirst sight. And it is impossible if we rely on our own abilities or inclinations. We can only loveall of our neighbours by the grace of God. And how do we obtain God's grace? We obtain itthrough asking for it in daily prayer, regular attendance at Mass, and regularly receiving the

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holy sacraments as well as learning from the Lives of the Saints who are good examples ofloving God and other people.

St. Therese, St. Alphonsus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, St. John Bosco, and St.Vincent de Paul for example. In the case of St. Vincent de Paul he was the friend of the poor,monarchs and bishops alike. He was not born a Saint. This man who has become an

example of love and compassion for millions over the past 300 years, admitted that bynature he was rough and cross. It was the grace of God that made him tender, loving andalways concerned for the needs of others.

He inspired the French writer, lawyer and professor Antoine-Frdric Ozanam and others tofound the St. Vincent de Paul Society. At his death in 1853 there were 2000 members.Today there are 700,000 members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in a 142 countriesdedicated to helping the poor and saving souls. See how the ripple of helping neighbourmultiplies.

In the case of St. John Bosco he was once asked by a British Prime Minister how hecontrolled the boys under his charge. He answered by encouraging the boys to receive theBlessed Sacrament every day.

St. Catharine of Siena tells us that we have a distinct obligation to help our neighbour, sothat if this help be withheld we are guilty of sin. She notes, for example, that in the 18 th Psalmwhen we pray to be spared from the sins of others we are really supposing that the sins ofothers may be our own very fault, and that it is quite possible that God will judge us not onlyfor what we have done but also what others through us have committed. Thus upon us reststhe responsibility of countless others, of all those upon whose lives, either directly or,indirectly, our influence is brought to bear'

God's love contrasted with the world's idea of love

As mentioned before the love we are talking about here is not carnal, or based on natural

inclinations, self will, emotions and feelings. Jesus call to love starts with the common goodin mind and ends in doing all things for the sake of Jesus and the glory of God.

What does God mean by love, what is he telling us to do? In the gospel of St. Matthew'sJesus tells us:

The King will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my Father, takeyour inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For Iwas hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave mesomething to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and youclothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visitme. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feedyou, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you

in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and goand visit you. "The King will reply, I tell you the truth, Whatever you do for one of theleast of these brothers and sisters of mine you do to me".

Jesus also was very clear to his disciples in the gospel of St. John when he said to thedisciples:

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"My commandment is this; love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love aperson can have for his friends is to give his life for them. And you are my friends ifyou do what I command you".

God is also asking us to keep his commandments as a practical demonstration of our love.Another demonstration of love is to put the wishes of others before self and we often

experience this in family life where our spouse puts the needs of the family and others first.Many find God's meaning of love through their family and service to the community.

In all this we should not choose the people we must love. All men and women in need of ourhelp are our neighbours.

How do we love in everyday life.

In St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians defines love as this "Love is patient and kind; it is notjealous or conceited or proud; Love is not ill mannered or selfish or irritable; Lovedoes not keep record of wrongs; Love is not happy with evil, but is happy with thetruth. Loves never gives up; and its faith , hope, and patience never fail. Love iseternal.

St. Therese in her "little way to heaven" explains to us how she came to love her neighbour.As she meditated on the words of Jesus "Greater love than this no man hath, that a manlay down his life for his friend."

She writes:

As I meditated on these divine words, I understood how imperfect was the love I boremy sisters in religion, and that I did not love them as Our Lord does. Now I know thattrue charity consists in bearing all my neighbours defects, in not being surprised atmistakes, but in being edified at the smallest virtues. From all this I conclude that Iought to seek the companionship of those Sisters for whom I feel a natural aversion,

and try to be their good Samaritan. It frequently needs only a word or a smile toimpart fresh life to a despondent soul. Yet it is not merely in the hope of bringingconsolation that I wish to be kind ;if it were, I should soon be discouraged, for oftenwell intentioned words are totally misunderstood. Consequently, in order that I maylose neither time nor labour, I try to act solely to please Our Lord.

In the writings of a 15th century mystic, Thomas A Kempis in his book "The Imitation ofChrist Thomas writes:

"Turn your eyes upon yourself and beware of judging what others do. In judgingothers a man often goes astray, and easily sins; but in judging and examining himselfhe often toils fruitfully. Try hard to be patient in tolerating other's faults and infirmitiesof whatsoever kind, because all of us have much which must be tolerated by others.

Thomas goes on to explain that it is obvious how seldom we assess our neighbour aswe assess ourselves. If all men were perfect, what then should we have to toleratefrom others for God's sake".

We have to learn to avoid disliking others, looking down on all those less fortunate than usand those that we maybe inclined to despise. All of these traits go against the wishes ofJesus Christ.

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It has been said that "Neighbours as mirrors reflect us. The passage goes on to explain ourdeath will be an echo of our lives. What we see that is disagreeable and evil in ourneighbours is usually the reflection of what we are ourselves. And what we see that isagreeable and good in our neighbours is usually a reflection of what we are".

Father Bede Jarrett writes that If every Catholic were a credit to her or his religion and

openly professed the whole round of faith, the evil of the world would be cowed.

The Challenge

Nobody says it is easy to be a Christian but the challenge is in the struggle and what thestruggle brings. The starting point is not as one aristocrat did trying to hunt tigers in thecorridors of his palace. This may be considered as aiming high and a challenge which mostcertainly will never be achieved, wasting our time, possibly our lives. The starting point isdealing with the everyday small things of life and bearing small fruits which over the span ofa life time can add up to a substantial amount of fruit.

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Part 5 Repentance and Faith

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REPENTANCE and FAITH

Introduction

Christianity is initiated by God. It is one of God's mysteries why we have been given God'sgrace to be Christians, followers of Christ. Jesus makes this clear to us in the gospel of St.

John when he says You did not choose me ,I chose you and appointed you to go andbear much fruit, that endures. And so the Father will give you what ever you ask for inmy name.

God extends his invitation to us to follow the life of Jesus Christ and so earn for ourselvesthe crown of eternal life. This invitation has been with us as long as we have known about

Almighty God. For most of us the invitation is not something that is new.

We therefore need to respond to this invitation cheerfully and with good hearts. If wereceived an invitation from someone we considered very important, most of us would takegreat care in responding to the invitation, we would not want there to be any mistakes made.So how much more care should we take when the invitation is from Jesus Christ himself. Infact our response requires amongst other things repentance, that means reforming our lives

and faith which entails belief in the Gospel. Have faith in Him and the message he brings.

Repentance

Repentance and Faith go together they are linked by an umbilical cord. Each is inadequatewithout the other.

What do we understand by repentance. In this context we mean several things. Firstly theword Repentance comes from the Greek word Metanoia meaning change of mind. It meansturning away from evil, sin, wrong doing avoiding trying to run our own lives and thusignoring the help of God. A good means of being truly repentant is to make a goodconfession. It is in the confessional box that we bear our souls to Christ and to man and thus

become the humble of heart that Almighty God is seeking in us.

A story is told about St. Jerome, that one night while praying, the Infant Jesus appeared tohim and asked St. Jerome "what will you give me on my birthday". The Saint, replied Iwill give you my heart. Yes, but give me more. I'll give you all the prayers andaffections of my heart. That is good, but I want something more than that. I give youall that I have and all that I am. This gift I already have and there is something more Istill desire. I have nothing. What can I give you, who are God? Jerome give me yoursins that I may pardon them all in the tenderness of My love. God is infinitely mercifuland it is incumbent on all of us that we humble ourselves before Almighty God in thesacrament of confession.

We must be truly sorry for our sins, for the hurt it has caused Jesus Christ and the harm it

has done to others and have a firm purpose of amendment. It is important to remember thisbecause we are often tempted for various reasons to be sorry for consequences of sin ratherthan the sin itself. Every time we commit a mortal sin we cause great suffering to Jesus.

We must make a conscious effort to put our lives in order. In all this we make a gravemistake if we think we can do this through our own efforts. We can do nothing worthwhileand meaningful in the eyes of God without his grace which we receive through regular prayerand receiving the sacraments as often as possible.

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In Repentance as with Faith we must not rely on feelings. Our feelings are constantlychanging, always blowing hot and cold. No, we must depend on God's grace and thestrength we draw from it.

If we are really serious about wanting a lasting and loving relationship with God, we ought tobe specific about the sins we renounce. We should calmly recall our sins, in what we have

done with the full knowledge and full consent against Gods commandments. In ourconfessions we should straightforward, honest, open, concise, and to the point. Sin togetherwith ignorance separates us from Jesus and the love of God.

In Friends of God St. Josemaria writes:

You well know the obligations of your Christian way of life; they will lead you safelyand surely to sanctity. You have also been forewarned about the difficulties, or

practically all of them, because you can already get a rough idea of them at thebeginning of the road. Now I wish to emphasise that you must let yourselves behelped and guided by a spiritual director, to whom you can confide all your holyambitions and the daily problems affecting your interior life, the failures you maysuffer and the victories.

If, alas, one falls, one must get up at once. With God's help, which will never belacking if the proper means are used, one must seek to arrive at repentance as quicklyas possible, to be humbly sincere and to make amends so that the momentary failureis transformed is into a great victory for Jesus Christ.

You should also get into the habit of taking the battle to areas that are far removedfrom the main walls of the fortress. We cannot go about doing balancing acts on thevery frontiers of evil. We have to be firm in avoiding the indirect voluntary. We mustreject even the tiniest failure to love God, and we must strive to develop a regular andfruitful Christian apostolate, which will have holy purity both as a necessaryfoundation and also as one of its most characteristic fruits. We ought as well to fill all

our time with intense and responsible work, in which we seek God's presence,because we must never forget that we have been bought at a great price and that weare temples of the Holy Spirit.

What other advice do I have for you? Well, simply to do what the Christians who havereally tried to follow Christ have always done, and to use the same means employedby the first men who felt prompted to follow Jesus: developing a close relationshipwith Our Lord in the Eucharist, a childlike recourse to the Blessed Virgin, humility,temperance, mortification of the senses ('it is not good to look at what it is not licit todesire,' was St Gregory the Great warning) and penance.

You might well tell me that all this is nothing but a summary of the whole Christianlife. The fact is that purity, which is love, cannot be separated from the essence of our

faith, which is charity, a constant falling in love with God, who created and redeemedus, and who is constantly taking us by the hand, even though time and again we maynot even notice it. He cannot abandon us. 'Sion said: "The Lord has forsaken me, myLord has forgotten me." Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness to thechild of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.' Don't these wordsfill you with immense joy?

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In Christ is Passing By the Saint writes:

A Christian's struggle must be unceasing, for interior life consists in beginning andbeginning again. This prevents us from proudly thinking that we are perfect already. Itis inevitable that we should meet difficulties on our way. If we did not come up againstobstacles, we would not be creatures of flesh and blood. We will always have

passions which pull us downwards; we will always have to defend ourselves againstmore or less self-defeating urges.

We should not be surprised to find, in our body and soul, the needle of pride,sensuality, envy, laziness and the desire to dominate others. This is a fact of life,

proven by our personal experience. It is the point of departure and the normal contextfor winning in this intimate sport, this race toward our Father's house. St Paul says:"That is how I run, intent on winning; that is how I fight, not beating the air. I treat mybody hard and make it obey me for, having preached to others, I do not want to bedisqualified."

To begin or sustain this conflict a Christian should not wait for external signs or niceinner feelings. Interior life does not consist in feelings but in divine grace, willingness

and love. All the disciples were quite capable of following Christ on the day of histriumph in Jerusalem, but almost all of them left him at the shameful hour of thecross.

If you are really going to love, you have to be strong and loyal; your heart has to befirmly anchored in faith, hope and charity. Only people who are inconstant andsuperficial change the object of their love from one day to the next: that's not love atall, it's the pursuit of selfishness. When love exists there is a kind of wholeness acapacity for self-giving, sacrifice and renunciation. In the midst of that self-denial,along with painful difficulties, we find joy and happiness, a joy which nothing and noone can take away from us.

In this adventure of love we should not be depressed by our falls, not even by seriousfalls, if we go to God in the sacrament of penance contrite and resolved to improve. AChristian is not a neurotic collector of good behaviour reports. Jesus Christ our Lordwas moved as much by Peter's repentance after his fall as by John's innocence andfaithfulness. Jesus understands our weakness and draw us to himself on an inclined

plane. He wants us to make an effort to climb a little each day. He seeks us out, just ashe did the disciples of Emmaus, whom he went out to meet. He sought Thomas,showed himself to him and made him touch with his fingers the open wounds in hishands and side. Jesus Christ is always waiting for us to return to him; he knows ourweakness.

Faith

In St. Paul's letter to the Hebrews we have that inspired definition of faith

"To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things wecannot see.

"St. Paul goes on to tell us that

"It was by their faith that the people of ancient times won God's approval".And the same istrue for us. It is by our faith that we shall be saved. What does this mean? well amongst

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other things it means believing that Jesus came to be our personal saviour. God knows eachand everyone of us, He knows what is in our hearts and he has given us the means to growin faith by his grace, through prayer and the blessed sacraments. Faith is not just a feeling orwishful thinking or taking a blind leap into the unknown. If our faith is based on feelings andthe like, it will always be changing, never constant. We cannot trust our feelings but we cantrust the grace of God.

We can take concrete and practical steps in keeping faith such as daily prayer, visit to theBlessed Sacrament, going to Mass as often as possible receiving the sacraments regularly,practising presence of God, daily mortifications, spiritual reading, praying the rosary andfellowship.

St. Paul goes on to further define faith:

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which heobtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he beingdead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; andwas not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had thistestimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for

he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re-warder of them thatdiligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which hecondemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8 Byfaith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterreceive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling intabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For helooked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was deliveredof a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the

stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afaroff, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they werestrangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainlythat they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country fromwhence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But nowthey desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to becalled their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 17 By faith Abraham, when hewas tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his onlybegotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19

Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence alsohe received him in a figure. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerningthings to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessedboth the sons of

Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, whenhe died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gavecommandment concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidthree months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they werenot afraid of the king's commandment. 24 By faith Moses, when he was come toyears, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25 Choosing rather tosuffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for aseason; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures inEgypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook

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Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who isinvisible. 28 Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest hethat destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 Byfaith they passed through theRed sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30 By faiththe walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 Byfaith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had

received the spies with peace. 32 And what shall I more say? for the time would failme to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also,and Samuel, and of the prophets:

St. Josemaria defines faith in Friends of God as:

Faith is a supernatural virtue which disposes our intelligence to give assent to thetruths of revelation, to say Yes to Christ, who has brought us full knowledge of theBlessed Trinity's plan for our salvation. 'In old days, God spoke to our fathers in manyways and by many means, through the prophets; now at last in these times, he hasspoken to us through his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, throughwhom also he created this world of time; a Son who is the splendour of his glory andthe figure of his substance; all things depend, for their support, on his word of power.

Now, making atonement for our sins, he has taken his place on high, at the right handof God's majesty.'

If we turn now to St Mark we will find he tells us about another blind man beingcured. As Jesus 'was leaving Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude,Bartimaeus, the blind man, Timaeus' son, was sitting there by the wayside,begging'. Hearing the commotion the crowd was making, the blind man asked, 'Whatis happening?' They told him, 'It is Jesus of Nazareth.' At this his soul was so firedwith faith in Christ that he cried out, 'Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.'

Don't you too feel the same urge to cry out? You who also are waiting at the side ofthe way, of this highway of life that is so very short? You who need more light, you

who need more grace to make up your mind to seek holiness? Don't you feel anurgent need to cry out, 'Jesus, son of David, have pity on me?' What a beautifulaspiration for you to repeat again and again!

I recommend you to meditate slowly on the events preceding the miracle, to help youkeep this fundamental idea clearly engraved upon your minds: what a world ofdifference there is between the merciful Heart of Jesus and our own poor hearts! Thisthought will help you at all times, and especially in the hour of trial and temptation,and also when the time comes to be generous in the little duties you have, or inmoments when heroism is called for.

'Many of them rebuked him, telling him to be silent. As people have done to you, whenyou sensed that Jesus was passing your way. Your heart beat faster and you too

began to cry out, prompted by an intimate longing. Then your friends, the need to dothe done thing, the easy life, your surroundings, all conspired to tell you: 'Keep quiet,don't cry out. Who are you to be calling Jesus? Don't bother him.'

But poor Bartimaeus would not listen to them. He cried out all the more: 'Son ofDavid, have pity on me.' Our Lord, who had heard him right from the beginning, lethim persevere in his prayer. He does the same with you. Jesus hears our cries fromthe very first, but he waits. He wants us to be convinced that we need him. He wantsus to beseech him, to persist, like the blind man waiting by the road from Jericho. 'Let

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us imitate him. Even if God does not immediately give us what we ask, even if manypeople try to put us off our prayers, let us still go on praying.'

Consequences of Repentance and Faith

The consequences of repentance and faith are salvation from sin, Satan, death, forgiveness,

eternal life with God. Thomas A'Kempis writes in Imitation of Christ:

"Always keep in mind your last end, and how you will stand before the just Judgefrom whom nothing is hid ,who cannot be influenced by bribes and excuses, and who

judges with justice. O wretched and foolish sinner, who tremble before the anger ofman, how will you answer to God, who knows all your sins? Why do you not prepareyourself against the Day of Judgement, when no advocate can defend you or excuseyou but each man will be hard put to answer for himself? While you live, your labouris profitable and your tears acceptable, for sorrow both cleanses the soul and makes

peace with God"

Through repentance and faith we enter into a new life in the Holy Spirit.

"He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness says Our Lord. In these words Christcounsels us to follow his life and way if we desire true enlightenment and freedomfrom all blindness of heart. Let the life of Jesus Christ, then be our firstconsideration".

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Part 6 The Christian Family

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The Christian Family

Opening

The Christian Family is at he very centre of Christianity and affords each and every one theopportunity to strive for sainthood which is necessary if we wish to live with God in the life to

come.

For most of us our main opportunity for sanctity is through the family. It is very important asparents to be a good example to our children. If they see that we are kind, gentle, patienttolerant and loving, practising the virtues, our children will most probably grow up to be thesame or even better. If on the other hand they see temper, impatience, lack of generosityand lack of affection, they will likely be adversely affected by these traits that they witness.

God's plan for families:

The family is to be the basic unit of society.

The catechism states: The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and

image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In theprocreation and education of children it reflects the Fathers work of creation. It iscalled to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading ofthe Word of God strengthen it in charity. The Christian family has an evangelizing andmissionary task.

The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husbandand wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability,and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom,security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, fromchildhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use offreedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.

The family is according to God's will is to be the basic unit of society and this isconfirmed at the very start of the Bible in Genesis 1: 27-28." So God created humanbeings, making them to be like himself. He created man and female, blessed them,and said, Have many children so that your descendants will live all over the earth andbring it under their control." Genesis also explains that after the creation " but for theman himself no suitable partner was found. The LORD God then put the man into adeep sleep and, while he slept, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the fleshover the place. The rib he had taken out of the man the LORD God built up into awoman, and he brought her to the man. The man said:

'This one at lastis bone from my bones,

flesh from my flesh!She shall be called woman,for from man was she taken.'

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and attachs himself to his wife, andthe two become one.

A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family.This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation

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to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference point by which thedifferent forms of family relationship are to be evaluated.

In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with itsfundamental constitution. Its members are persons equal in dignity. For the commongood of its members and of society, the family necessarily has manifold

responsibilities, rights, and duties.

A Place for Teaching and Training Children

The training ground for children, in the way they are liable to grow up and the values thatthey will adopt throughout their adult live is the family. They will in the main modelthemselves on their parents, grand parents, older brother and sisters. For many, whether ornot they survive as faithful followers of Jesus Christ will depend on the example set by theirparents.

Jesus tells us in the gospel of St. Mark " If anyone should cause one of these little onesto lose faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tiedround his neck and thrown into the sea ".

A Place for Transmitting wisdom and values of life

The family acts as the primary source for passing on wisdom, knowledge and theexperiences of life. This is a good opportunity to teach by the example of loving God andloving neighbour. The family is the place for your children to witness the profound effect thatJesus Christ has in your lives and how you are trying to make him the centre of your lives.

Again the family is an ideal place to learn to pray together and also to learn the lessons ofthe Word of God through the scriptures.

It is supposed that several of Jesus parables are inspired by things he remembered theBlessed Virgin Mary doing such as mending old clothes making bread and cleaning the

house.

The catechism states: The family should live in such a way that its members learn tocare and take responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the

poor. There are many families who are at times incapable of providing this help. Itdevolves then on other persons, other families, and, in a subsidiary way, society to

provide for their needs: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and theFather is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneselfunstained from the world.

A Place for training Leaders

The church as society in general is always in need of leaders. Those generous beings who

despite the difficulties say yes to God and the needs of society in undertaking to be servantsof us all. Servants who in fact are the leaders of us all. Without such leadership we cannotprogress and develop our full potential. There must always be individuals who say yes. It iswithin the confines of the family that the qualities of leadership are nurtured and developed.

A Church

There are many examples we know of as role models for Christian Family life such as two ofthe most inspirational. One is the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. No talk on the

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Christian Family could be complete without reference to them. Of course they are theultimate in Christian living. Although factually we know so little about their lives. Neverthelessthere is sufficient in the New Testament to give us endless food for meditation and reflectionon good Christian family life. Another family many find inspirational is the family of St.Therese of Lisieux called by Pope Pius X, himself a saint as "The greatest saint of moderntimes". St. Therese wrote this " God granted me the favour of opening my intelligence

at an early age and imprinting childhood recollections deeply on my memory. Jesusin His love willed perhaps, that I know the matchless mother he had given me, butwhom His hand hastened to crown in Heaven". St. Therese was only four and half yearsold when her mother died yet she remembered her mother clearly for the rest of her life; sheacknowledged the influence she had on her during those early years. She goes on to say"that God gave me a father and mother more worthy of Heaven than of earth."I thinkthat this is a marvellous thought for children to have of their parents. St. Therese's familyexperienced many of the joys and sorrows that we also experience. There were a couple ofchild deaths in the family their was also financial failure but despite their trials and tribulationsthey were a happy family full of joy and hope and devoted to God and devoted to theirneighbour.

Parent's, in particular circumstances Fathers to be priests of their families

St. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians " Wives submit to husbands as to the Lord.For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over theChurch. And Christ is himself the saviour of the Church, His body. And so wives mustsubmit completely to their husbands just as the Church submits itself to Christ.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved his Church and gave his life for it. Hedid this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing itin water, in order to present the church to himself in all it's beauty, pure and faultlesswithout spot or wrinkle or any imperfection. Men ought to love their wives just as theylove their own bodies.

A man who loves his wife loves himself, no one ever hates his own body . Instead hefeeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ does the Church. For we are members ofhis body. As the scripture says, " For this reason a man will leave his father andmother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one. There is a deep secrettruth revealed in this scripture which I understand as

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