I attended a retreat this afternoon about Death and Fullness of Life. The priest started the talk with the gospel regarding Mary and Martha, the two sisters who welcomed Jesus. Martha was busy preparing for food and Mary was there listening to Jesus. He compared the retreatants as Mary (we have chosen the best part). Martha on the other hand is not to blame for what she did because she has served Jesus in her own way. Are you lost? The question hit me, I can deny the fact that I am always at a lost. When we are lost, we don't realize it immediately, we pretend that everything will be fine, but the more we pretend to be on the right path, the more we get lost.
There are certain things that lead to our lost. One is success when want success by all means and all costs. How do we measure success, we are misled by the world because we measure success by the wealth we acquired, by the power, who we are and what we have become. We take pride of our achievements. Second one is LOVE it so nice to fall in love but it has to be with the right person at the right time. We are often misled by this word, just like the song "What I did for Love" in the name of love. It is such a beautiful thing and yet it lead us to sin and temptation. Another word is Fame or Power. If you want to slay a dragon you become a dragon yourself in the process. Sometimes we try to do everything or anything just to hang on to dear power just like the politicians do. Another one is money, they say that money is everything, but they're wrong money can't buy everything. When we are focused on those things we become at a lost. When we are at a lost we have this devil's beatitudes
Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, and too distracted to have time for God
Blessed are those who wait to be asked, expect to be thanked
Blessed are those who are touchy with a bit of luck they may stop going to church
Blessed are the troublemakers
Blessed are the complainers I'm all ears to them
Blessed are they who are bored with the minister's mannerism and mistakes
Blessed are they who expects to be invited to his own church
Blessed are they who are easily offended
Blessed are those who do not give their offering to carry on God's work
Blessed are those who refuse to forgive
Blessed are those who always sees the fault of others not his own
You had a good life
Why did this happen?
How did this happen?
Temptation is convincing and easy it is deceiving us. We have to listen to our "inner voice" which is our conscience. It serves as our reminder that what we are doing is either bad or good. As Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Walk that way, believe in Him, and the truth will set us free and will give us a happy life. Relationship is always the source of strength and inspiration but it can also be a great source of pain, if we have wrong relationships especially for married people having affairs. Same is true with our relationship with our brothers and sisters, parents, friends etc. Perhaps if a relationship will lead you to be good then take care of that relationship but if it will lead you to evil or break other relationships then avoid it. Our relationship are with God, with our self, with others and with life situation. We find joy in our relationships so we treasure this relationships that we have although there are relationships also that brings us pain so that we will become stronger like gold tested in fire.