Everything is Possible with God

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" Mark 10:25

This is just such a hard story to understand. On the one hand you see Jesus looking at this rich young man lovingly.  Then right after, condemning him to a life of eternal damnation just because he would not sell all he had and give the money to the poor.  How many of us would be able to do that at the drop of a hat?  Not many, I'm pretty sure of that! I was thinking if only that man stayed and listened. If only that young man followed Jesus!  He would have heard Jesus' teachings, and little by little, he would have desired to do what Jesus wanted him to do.  

Jesus said to His disciples, "Everything is possible with God."  We shouldn't give up on ourselves just because we can't follow Jesus perfectly! Just because we can't give up everything and go to the ends of the earth and spread the Gospel. Just because we get impatient with little things and are ungrateful or cannot really forgive.  Jesus already paid the price for our salvation.  We just need to follow Him day after day, and we will change slowly but surely.  

St. Paul wrote to the Philippians: " And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

Lord Jesus, teach me Your ways and make my heart like yours.

Don’t Give Up

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" Mark 10:25

This is just such a hard story to understand. On the one hand you see Jesus looking at this rich young man lovingly.  Then right after, condemning him to a life of eternal damnation just because he would not sell all he had and give the money to the poor.  How many of us would be able to do that at the drop of a hat?  Not many, I'm pretty sure of that! I was thinking if only that man stayed and listened. If only that young man followed Jesus!  He would have heard Jesus' teachings, and little by little, he would have desired to do what Jesus wanted him to do.  

Jesus said to His disciples, "Everything is possible with God."  We shouldn't give up on ourselves just because we can't follow Jesus perfectly! Just because we can't give up everything and go to the ends of the earth and spread the Gospel. Just because we get impatient with little things and are ungrateful or cannot really forgive.  Jesus already paid the price for our salvation.  We just need to follow Him day after day, and we will change slowly but surely.  

St. Paul wrote to the Philippians: " And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

Lord Jesus, teach me Your ways and make my heart like yours.

Silence is Gold

“When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; So do one’s faults when one speaks.” Sirach 27:4

There is a saying, “To speak is silver, silence is gold.” Then there is this amusing Roman nugget: “Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses" which translates to, “If you had remained silent, you would have remained a philosopher". One wonders if the Latin philosopher Boethius who is said to have penned this was of a taciturn nature. 

Sir Humphrey Appleby simply translated it to this:”If you'd kept your mouth shut we might have thought you were clever.”

I’ve certainly had my stupidity on display many a time but of course I prefer to forget those instances. I think the best conversations I’ve had were the ones where I turn the spotlight on the one I’m speaking to. When I really, really listen to others, and am genuinely interested in what they are saying, I get rewarded because most people are fascinating. There’s always something to learn, and enjoy second hand from anyone. Unfortunately, I tend to interrupt, eagerly wanting to share my own experiences. And then looking back at the interaction, I regret not listening more and asking more questions. 

In the same Bible passage, we find, “The fruit of the tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.” 

Father, I don’t particularly want to be known as clever or smart, but please help me in my speech to show love, caring and generosity for others. 

Indomitable Spirit

“He knows how we are formed; He remembers we are dust.” Psalm 103:14

We are perishable earthen vessels, from dust we are created, and to dust we will return. Death is at work in us every minute, every second of every day. Cells, tissues are dying, memories wither, ideas change. And yet God chose to put His indomitable Spirit within each of us. We either bring it out and let it shine forth, or we squash and destroy it in selfishness and greed. 

Whenever I think of the indomitable spirit God has put in man I remember the survivors and victims of the Holocaust. I think of people like Gerda Weismann Klein, who wrote about it, and travels the world to tell her story. She and her husband Kurt started a foundation to stop hunger and to teach tolerance. 

In 1942, she and her family were separated. She and her brother were sent to slave labor camps, her parents to Auschwitz, and her father was sentenced to the gas chamber. 

Hours before her father boarded the train to Auschwitz, he looked up from his Bible and told her to wear ski boots when she boarded her train. It was June, how could he have known that 3 years later, those boots would save her life as she trudged on a 1,000-mile death march in the dead of winter through Germany to Czechoslovakia? In her book, “All But My Life”, she recounts how the faith, love and courage of her family, of her grandfather,  kept her from killing herself.

She remembers the last night her parents were together, “And so they talked on through the night, animated and happy. They faced what the morning would bring with the only weapon they had - their love for each other. Love is great, love is the foundation of nobility, it conquers obstacles and is a deep well of truth and strength. After hearing my parents talk that night I began to understand the greatness of their love. Their courage ignited within me a spark that continued to glow through the years of misery and defeat. The memory of their love - my only legacy - sustained me in happy and unhappy times in Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, Switzerland, England. It is still part of me here in America."

Father, thank You for the Spirit You put within us. May we always radiate hope and courage in the midst of darkness.