predication.net

Both stages of the path of enlightenment are characterized by a larger 
magnanimity. Leave the love of possessions and give place to love, which imitates God’s love, which longs to be given. It is often inappropriately called “altruism”, but this term generally refers to active forms of congenital magnanimity. He is like that in the virtue of love for his neighbor fire and enthusiasm that an altruistic person can rarely boast of.
Love for people grows gradually because they are God’s children and in many ways, they reflect Christ’s presence. A glimpse of Christ’s presence in the needy, which man catches on the path of purification, now replaces care and interest in everyone we meet. I can still love my enemies, and this is a clear sign of the effect of virtue. Psychology does not see any sense in this. For her love of enemies is a pathological trait. He does not neglect the virtue of love on the path of enlightenment at all the aspects of justice and its requirements, because all virtues complement each other. A person can be hungry and thirsty for justice, and at the same time pray for oppressors and persecutors. The saint then gave us an example, Maximilian Kolbe wrote: “Do not be sad about difficulties of our time, but offer your lives to all souls saved by the love of God.” A special love, called “apostolic enthusiasm”, is a sincere desire to fulfill the Christian mission by bringing salvation to the world. This element has a special importance on the path of enlightenment. Although all Christians are theoretically called to spread the gospel in a way that belongs to their profession, apostolate — work and for the spiritual good of people — will be an opportunity only for those people who read such books as this one. If you are reading this book, you are probably called to be apostles, and witnesses of the gospel. Even if your vocation is a vocation of prayer in a closed way of life, whether in the community or solitude, you have probably been chosen by God’s providence to consciously do something for the kingdom of God. The effect of the path of enlightenment should be important to you.
A person on the path of purification will be able to work in the apostolate with enthusiasm and professional interest. Effort, failure, and lack of opportunities will be difficult and demanding for him. Although we are sure that I am fulfilling God’s will, we expect some earthly reward or at least some encouragement, as the apostles also expected. “See, we left everything and followed you. So what of it will we have?” (Mt 19, 27) There are always certain limits to what we give because we are limited in what we can give at all. We work only by our forces; thus, we completely exhaust them and reject the impulse of infused virtues. it’s sad when the religious life and the spiritual state can create so much habitual mediocrity, that then every answer to he understands and perceives the fervor of infused love as a threat to others. As individuals, we are sometimes deaf to the call of poured love. We admit it when together with others we criticize those who feel the desire to do a little more.
But when the moment comes in which the apostle reaches another step on the spiritual path — the path of enlightenment will stop him to depend on the opinion of other people. It will be difficult for others to cope with impartiality towards criticism, with impartiality and with zeal. It can be painful for an apostle to find no support. He will then feel abandoned, isolated, and misunderstood, but he will find help and support in the power of love.
Contemporary psychologists who have researched more advanced stages of inner life noticed the effect of infused virtue, but they could not name it. Fritz Kunkel, an American psychiatrist dealing with spirituality, sensitively wrote about the manifestations of infused personalities: The closer we get to the center, the more we leave behind ideas, and the more our fears turn into anxiety. And anxiety, if we face it, turns into awe. What before seemed like a dark force, now appears as a force of light. After the Great and strong wind comes to the earthquake, after it the fire, and after the fire a quiet, sweet noise (1 Kr 19,11-13).
The terrible and destructive aspect of divinity — “tremendous” in theological language — creates a subjective experience in man, which is necessary if our religious beliefs and our austere theology are shattered by God’s grace. We live in a prison that we call our castle. A foreign soldier breaks through the door to deliver us, and he will tear down the walls of our castle. And we fight with him until the last strength of our doranyan “me”. We call the soldier a scoundrel, a villain, and a devil. And we defend ourselves until we are exhausted, overwhelmed, and disarmed. And then, looking at the winner with impartial objectivity, we recognize our defeat and the winner: St. Michael puts his sword into its scabbard with a smile.

We often dwell on various life events. One of them is an illness. No person has not been or will not be sick. And no one is more eager to see a child’s recovery than a parent. This fact is dramatically depicted in the story of the boy’s father, who suffered from epilepsy. This man must have heard hundreds of reports of Jesus’ miracles; maybe he even saw some with his own eyes. Now he asks Jesus to show the same power and mercy to his son. “If you can do anything, have mercy on us and help us!” (Mk 9:22b) The parents’ great desire for their child to be healed. They must have already tried many times to find a doctor. They were even so close that they begged Jesus’ disciples. But it is interesting to note that they were unable to cure this son.

Why? They wondered about it themselves, and that’s why they asked Jesus. They received the answer: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything except prayer.” Let’s note well this answer:
“…only by prayer”. The healing that Jesus gives is not only about the healing of the body, but also of the soul. And therefore only human ones are not enough abilities. Man does not have a solution to all problems. But God is Lord even over man, he can do everything. We must gain such trust in him that we can turn to him in joys, but also in sorrows. The key to the growth of our desire and zeal is prayer and fasting. To pray in truth and intercede effectively, we must believe and trust that “the earnest prayer of a righteous man availed much.”(James 5:16). Such a conviction will lead us further than prayers, which are only the repetition of requests. Rather, we will enter into God’s presence, discern what is in God’s heart, and then pray according to his will, uniting our heart and will with his heart and will.

When a person is healthy, he is satisfied and can work with joy and spread joy around him. Let’s learn to ask for such health. For the health of the body, but also of the soul. Then we will freely experience life with Christ. We have something to pray for – for ourselves, our beloved children, for our parents. Let’s not forget that the most effective is prayer. 

St. Augustínus lived a very free and scandalous way of life in his youth. Faith and relationship with God somehow did not attract him. And yet he had a mother who never stopped asking God for him in her prayers. She prayed for him for about 18 years. And it paid off! Today we venerate her son as a saint. Even Monika herself got this promotion. 

It is worth asking, and it is worth praying, dear brothers and sisters!
God, we want to pray often and daily for ourselves and for all those whom you have entrusted to us. Give us perseverance in prayers.

The short story is about a man who wanted to get rid of his shadow at any cost. Escape seemed to him the best method. But the shadow was always behind him, no matter how fast he ran. Finally, the person falls to the ground exhausted, and dies. At the end of the short story, there is a lesson that it was enough to stand in the shadow and your own shadow would disappear.

The philosopher Seneca was a pagan, and he taught his students: “If you don’t know which port you are heading for, no wind will be happy for you.”

Christians are aware of the cross’s importance, need, and value for our salvation. Jesus says: “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself and follow me.” For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:24-25). On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus begins preparing his disciples for the moment he came into the world. He speaks for the first time about his suffering, which he will undergo in Jerusalem under the leadership of the elders, high priests, and scribes. Jesus knows that torture and death await him in Jerusalem. But death will not end his mission on earth. He tells the disciples that he will rise from the dead on the third day. The apostles did not understand at that moment what Jesus was saying about the resurrection. They could imagine suffering and death quite well. Certainly, the apostles did not have the right idea about the mission of the Lord Jesus. In Jesus, Peter sees the Messiah. After all,

And the Messiah should die before their visions of the prophesied Messiah would come true? So it is hard to wonder at Peter’s behavior, that he takes Jesus aside and tells him: “Lord! This must not happen to you” (Mt 16, 24). Why did Peter say such a bad thing, one may ask, when Jesus tells him: “Get out of my way, Satan! You are an offense to me, because you have no sense of the things of God, only for men” (Mt 16:23)! This is what Jesus says to Peter, whom he praised when he confessed who he thought he was. Jesus calls Peter “Satan”. We are not surprised at Jesus, because Peter is still only thinking in terms of intentions relevant to their house. The Messiah was to free the nation from the yoke of the hated Romans. They only understood the expected and prophesied kingdom of the Messiah in earthly terms and did not understand that the Messiah, Jesus, came for something much more. He came to save and redeem all men,

Whoever goes against the will of God is an enemy of God. The devil by his disobedience and every man by his sin set himself against God. Whoever does not accept the will of God is an enemy of God. Peter discourages Jesus from the plans of God, and that is why he is so harshly rebuked by Jesus. Peter wanted to oppose God’s plan.

It is very difficult to imagine life without questions. Jesus asks his disciples: “Who do people think I am” (Mk 8:27)? But at the same time he asks: “And who do you think I am” (Mk 8:29)?

The Gospel says that Jesus becomes more and more known. The surrounding notices what he teaches, and his miracle es, confronts Jesus’ life with their own. Jesus begins to have more followers, but also enemies. In the crowd, they start talking about Jesus as John the Baptist, as Elijah, or as one of the prophets. They do not know why Jesus came into the world. He is considered by many to be one of them, with the fact that he is gifted by God with special graces. Only Jesus knows that the nation has not yet recognized that God is turning to them, that he is sending them his Son. The crowd occasionally meets Jesus.

Only the Twelve, whom Jesus himself chose from the crowd, remain with Jesus permanently. Jesus knows about his death to reconcile people with the Father. The cross – like a lengthening shadow, falls on Jesus’ path, and a serious and urgent need emerges for him to initiate his disciples into the mystery of his life and mission on earth. He must prepare the disciples to obtain an unequivocal judgment of himself. In the silence of the circle of the Twelve, he asks the disciples serious questions. To the second question: Peter answers him: “You are the Messiah” (Mk 8:29). Peter’s answer is a great moment in the history of mankind. With Peter’s answer, the veil of the mystery of redemption is torn for the first time. In the light of faith, what the Holy Spirit caused, man, Peter utters God’s mystery, which cannot be known by human senses, which can only be seen in God-given faith.

Jesus asks us to know how to say “no” to our “I”. Jesus wants us to always know how to say “yes” to God. Only the one who denies himself, who says “no” to himself, can begin to follow the Master and may confess to him. Jesus clearly expresses this before his martyrdom by comparing that we must take up the cross, as he did, and we are obliged to carry our cross. This is how we manifest our full union with the Lord. Our faith is in fulfilling the will of Christ, and then we share in God’s love.

Many people encounter the teachings of Christ. They know about his teaching, they know it, but do they keep it? Do they follow his orders? Do they live by them? Here is a place for serious thought. We understand – who is Christ? Knowing Christ does not mean believing in Christ. Believing is different from knowing. Whoever wants to be Christ must follow Christ. Christ came into the world to sacrifice his life for the whole world. Christ rightfully asks us to submit everything in the world, our life, to Him. With their actions, they proved what we know what we hear, and what we talk about. Faith in Christ alone is not enough. We know that even the devil knows who Christ is, but he does not act accordingly

We cannot be blind people who, with their unwisdom, will lead their wards into a lie, a mistake – into a pit. Let’s look at history, and how many misguided people lived in it, who were convinced of their private truth and at the same time lived in the darkness of lies. Just mention names like Napoleon, Hitler, St, alien, and many others.

Jesus tells the healed man: “Do not enter the village” (Mk 8:26).

Even nowadays, we have to be very attentive to many ideologies, we have to learn to distinguish the truth from the false truth, from private opinions, which, however, are presented to us so truthfully and believably as if they were the absolute truth. It is enough to look at the power of the media today, which also presents supposition, probability,y, and various unexamined currents of thought as a life path for every “normal” person, and if we do not follow this pattern, we are considered strange at best.

If today you are against abortion – you are unfashionable, if you are in favor of chastity before marriage – you are unfashionable, if you are in favor of the natural family – you are discriminatory, etc. We are truly surrounded by so many “offers” of different truths and teachings. / Here we can also mention and analyze what problems the Pope sees today, such as excessive subjectivism, practical materialism, religious indifference, consumerism, hedonism, and secularism./

In history and even today, among all the teachings, one thing stands out. This teaching gives answers to man’s various questions, this teaching makes a man free. This teaching would never allow any hatred. He does not want the fear of his followers, but their joy. He does not want to leave them in the darkness of ignorance, but to teach the Truth. It is Christianity. It is the teaching of the incarnate Word, the teaching of the Son of God himself, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to reveal to us the truth about God and about ourselves, as Blessed John Paul II also says. in his first encyclical Redemptor hominis. The teachings of Jesus Christ were preserved for us by the apostles, and we still have them in the Holy Scriptures.

All of us who, in any way, have a responsibility to raise our children, but we also have a responsibility to ourselves so that we don’t fall into the pit. Do we know this source of knowledge, the source of Truth? Do we read the Holy Scriptures? Where else, if not right there, can we find answers to our questions and confront offers of different truths from the world? Here our eyes are untied so that we, as blind, do not lead others to blindness. We have heard how many evil lies have done in the world, the devil himself is the father of lies, and he is also the father of these mistakes and pains. However, we are children of light, we have a lamp that illuminates our paths.

The Gospel excerpt of the celebration of the holy Slavic confessors Cyril and Methodius (Mt 28, 16-20) contains the so-called missionary order that Jesus gave to his apostles before his ascension. This is the complete conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel. The whole scene has a festive character. The disciples ascended the mountain as once in the Old Testament, Moses ascended Mount Sinai, where God appeared to him. Now the resurrected Lord has appeared to his apostles and is handing them his spiritual testament.

With power
In a short speech, Lord Jesus first speaks about himself: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Mt 28:18) These words echo the Old Testament prophecy from the Book of the prophet Daniel, where it is said about the Son of Man: “And to him was given the government and the kingdom, so that all nations, tribes, and tongues served him; his reign is an eternal reign that will not pass away, and his kingdom that will not perish.” (Dan 7, 14) We know that one of the titles that the Son of God used during his earthly ministry when he spoke about himself, was the precise “Son of Man “. The glorified Lord is appointed Lord of the world and Judge of all nations.

Emanuel
Matthew put his entire gospel into the awareness of God’s closeness, which in the person of Emmanuel – Jesus Christ received a new and permanent way. In the beginning, at the birth of Jesus Christ in Mt 1:23, the angel announces to Joseph: “Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which in translation means: God with us.” The newborn child was not named Emmanuel, but Jesus. The evangelist wants to show that in the case of the citation, it is not primarily about determining the name that the Son of God is to bear in human nature, but about the fulfillment of his mission on earth. The newborn baby will be “Jesus = God is salvation” and “Emmanuel = God with us”. At the end of today’s Gospel passage, in Mt 28, 20, an assurance is heard, which is the very last sentence of the entire Gospel of Matthew: “And lo, I am with you always, until the end of the world. The resurrected Christ is still present in the Church and teaches in it what he taught during his earthly life. Jesus’ last words before his ascension are the key to the entire Gospel according to Matthew. It is a source of hope and strength for believers that we are never alone on the journey of proclaiming the Gospel.

Evangelize and catechize
O someone I want to notice the command of Jesus himself. It contains four verbs: go, teach, baptize, and teach. Verbs have their logical order. First, the announcer must reach specific people. The second step is the act of faith, based on which it is possible to baptize. It is expressed by the verb “teach.” The Greek verb “mathetéusate” literally means “make disciples.” So it’s not some kind of disinterested announcement. the ascension is the key to the entire Gospel according to Matthew. It is a source of hope and strength for believers that we are never alone on the journey of proclaiming the Gospel.

Evangelize and catechize
I want to note the command of Jesus himself. It contains four verbs: go, teach, baptize, and teach. Verbs have their logical order. First, the announcer must reach specific people. The second step is the act of faith, based on which it is possible to baptize. It is expressed by the verb “teach.” The Greek verb “mathetéusate” literally means “make disciples.” So it is not some kind of disinterested announcement. After that, the next verb is “baptize”. Baptism is given in the name of the Holy Trinity. The baptismal formula is a synthesis of the entire history of salvation, which is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Acceptance of baptism does not end the process of faith. The deepening in the truths of faith continues, therefore the fourth verb is used: “teach”.

We are dealing with two dimensions of the Church’s activity. The first is evangelistic or missionary activity. It is the proclamation of Christ’s gospel to those who have not yet heard of it. The second is catechetical activity, i.e. deepening the faith of the already baptized. Both activities are necessary for Slovakia. Some still have almost never heard of Christ and the Church. Often this is because parents have completely neglected Christian education. While school education in Slovakia has its structure and also at the parish level catechesis takes place in various forms, e.g. before receiving the sacraments, activities within the framework of experiencing the church year, etc., family catechesis is significantly neglected. At the same time, all church documents remind and emphasize that the first teachers of the faith are parents. The reality is that the child encounters the liturgy, prayer, and the basic truths of faith, often only when preparing for the 1st St. reception.

The permanent formation of the already baptized becomes perhaps even more urgent. The number of baptized but non-practicing believers is increasing. It is a challenge for the Church to reach those who profess to believe but are not in any contact with the parish community. As a priest, I can address those who, for example, come regularly to the Sunday St. Mass. The challenge remains, how to speak to those who “need” a priest and the Church literally a few times in their life: at their marriage, at the baptism of their children, who will then hopefully still join the 1st St. reception and confirmation.

The solemn feast of the Slavic saints to proclaim the faith sets before us the task of being comprehensible by our faith. I don’t just mean the means of expression. I mean intelligibility by the authenticity of our faith. Whoever sees our life according to the gospel will feel that it is not something formal, customary, or theatrical, but sincere and true.

No wonder the Lord Jesus sighed inwardly… He left them there, got back into the boat, and left. How could those who a moment ago witnessed the miraculous multiplication of bread, and in general, admire so many extraordinary healing, ask him for a sign? However, according to their expectations, the Messiah was to boast of some more spectacular, more showy act, some astronomical feat; but the Lord Jesus did not allow them to put him on the level of a magician.

Even today, some think that some miracles would happen that would dazzle and convince atheists.

But, first of all – they certainly would not convince, because today’s man would not be able to explain them rationally.

Secondly – they happen even today, e.g. healing that doctors cannot explain by natural causes; we had many such extraordinary healing during the Renewal in the Holy Spirit congresses (e.g. in May 1993 in Czestochowa, Warsaw, Kielce, and Lublin), which society, in general, does not even know about, because our publicists were not at all interested in these phenomena.

And thirdly – if we understand a miracle as a phenomenon against nature or above nature, then nature after all – it is not only paralyzed bodies, broken arms and legs, but also paralyzed souls, defeated consciences, and broken hearts; and how many such healing, enlightenment, conversions take place during exercises, missions or visiting the image from Jasna hora! These signs can convince people of goodwill, although for others they are no signs.

And aren’t the sacraments of Jesus Christ the seven most miraculous signs – but commonplace? And isn’t the Sacrament of the Altar – the Eucharist, the most miraculous sign among them?