predication.net

Prayer and work
Advertising is often made for various false ways of prayer, pseudo mystic practices, and the result promises: “You will feel good.” As we have stated, Christian prayer achieves an incomparably higher goal – a conversation with the Father and cooperation in his work. The ancient monks understood her that way, and therefore no one it is not surprising that they literally took the admonition of St. Paul in the letter to the Thessalonians: “Pray without ceasing. And thank (God) for all living conditions. That’s it God wants you in Christ Jesus “(1 Thess. 5: 17-18).
However, spiritual people asked how to do this command when the said prayer’s daily life is disturbed by so many distractions. The only possible answer to this question is the one Origenes gave in his book On Prayer, which I quoted a moment ago: “He who prayed with good things prays without ceasing. “The word” prayer “must therefore be understood in a broader sense 54 words of meaning. Everything we do according to God’s will, he elevates us to the Father. Saying written prayers is only one part of the great “prayer of life,” although essential. The saint also composed in this spirit Augustine’s work 0 the work of monks. He opposes the opinion of certain Syrian monks, called Messalis; it is the “prayer” according to which he should be a spiritual man only pray. Work! That, too, is a good prayer.

The Benedictine motto became the response to this teaching. – ora et labora – pray and work! But let us raise another objection: Prayer is, as we have said, dialogue, conversation with God. Applies to also for work? Sure, but under one condition – if we work towards the same goal. They unite in a family, husband, and wife, as they discuss together. But still, they are more united when they work together to build a common house. Similarly, work connects us to heavenly The Father if this continues the common work of the world’s salvation. They placed this inscription on the grave of a simple worker, the father of a family, and his new son: “If work is a prayer, then you have prayed for all your life. “

God’s will is the first rule of piety. If two people decide to work together, they must agree on what they want to achieve. Popularly, this is expressed by the saying that a car does not move if one pulls forward and the other back. Conflicts in projects destroy even large companies. Conflicts will disrupt peace in families. In God’s life in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we observe the opposite, a noble example for the Christian life. The second divine Person accepts the will of the first person unconditionally for his own, and this complete acceptance becomes the Son of the Father. Analogously, we also share this great mystery of God. If we do God’s will, we become sons of God.

The passage of the gospel is also understood in this sense, which, if misinterpreted, seems to diminish the appreciation of the Mother of God, Mary. Jesus was told: “‘Your mother and relatives are standing outside and would like to see you.’ But he answered them, My mother and my relatives are those who hear and fulfill the word of God ‘”(Lk 8,20-21). After all, there is no distinction in God’s perfection “Nature” and “will”; it’s the same. And so man, who does God’s will in his life, participates in of divine nature, it becomes almost about loved one’s relatives. We see the peak of kinship with God in Mary with her dignity as the Mother of God. Theologians, however, rightly distinguish a twofold aspect in this privilege. He speaks of “physical motherhood” associated with fact procreation because she gave birth to Christ in the flesh. But his “Fiat” to God’s will became a mother in the spiritual sense; workers in the Father’s Vineyard, she was the first to be counted among those who hear God’s word and act on it. In the above text of St. Luke, Mary’s person does not want to shrink, but Jesus wants to underline that spiritual kinship is higher than bodily. It coincides with the universal Christian vocation to be children of God.
“God’s will! You don’t feel how infinite sweetness is in this word? “often said St. Magdalene di Pazzi. Gerard Mayella had the same invocation on his lips: “God will! God’s will! “When the bee lay for the sick, where he also died, he hung a sheet of paper on the door, on which it was written in capital letters: “Here it does God’s will, what God wants, how He wants it and so on as long as he wants. “

Learn to be humiliated before God
Imagine a situation: Two people entered a temple to pray. One was a successful young, ambitious man who was successful at work and had no need for anything; the second was the mother of three small children, who took care of herself with her small earnings household. The young man prayed in this way: “God, I have everything, I don’t miss anything. I have accomplished a lot in my life. Hey, even with your help, but I always give in a bell more than the others. You can’t blame me. ” My mother knelt in the back and prayed saith, “Lord, I know that I do not deserve your generosity, but please give me the strength to today she was able to take care of her children, and although it is difficult for me to never lose trust in you.
Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (cf. Lk 18.14b). This is the rule of life that Christ is encouraging us with today preserve. The introductory story’s mother humbled herself and acknowledged God as her Lord, while the young man perceived God behind him, behind his being. We already know whom prayer was more effective.
The parable comes from Luke’s own source. The author states at the beginning addressees of the parable. The addressees are disciples who pray with their own feelings of justice just as the Pharisees do and just as they despise their neighbors. The parable depicts the Pharisee as a representative of the Jewish religion and a toll collector as a public sinner to be avoided. The Pharisee prays in silence; does not speak that he would perform in prayer. He calculates sins that do not concern him and his own pious deeds, but he does not ask for anything. On the other hand, the toll booth has nothing to do with it to be described before God and before men, remains humbly to stand behind, regrets, and begs for forgiveness. And just the toll booth left apologetic. God has love in repentance to the sinner and endows him with his goodness and grace of forgiveness.1 Which attitude is closer to us? The attitude of the Pharisee or Toll Charger? A young man’s attitude who did he perceive God through his success and comfort or his mother begging for strength in trouble and trust in God? Only when we humble ourselves before God will we really promotion. Except there is another challenge from Jesus: Whatever you did to one of my youngest brothers, you have done this to me. (cf. Mt 25.40).

So it’s not here only that we in the church before God will humbly kneel and ask for forgiveness and outside, in everyday life, will not be greater than us; there we will be someone, and no one will leave he doesn’t even dare ask us for anything. This is not the right attitude at all. Our sincere relationship with God must necessarily be reflected in relationships with our neighbors. I know we are not perfect and often failing, but we have a temple for that, “God, forgive me to the sinner.” Let us become more and more humble, and I assure you that we will not be left without rewards. Let’s try very hard. Everywhere we do, let us see God and his requirements, then we will really live properly. Maybe it sounds too sweet and unrealistic, but living like this is not easy at all. But there is nothing more effective than deserving of heaven. Let’s think about it. Few people have heard of the woman named Lilia’s Trotter. She was a young art student in England in the 19th century. She was a very talented painter. When noticed by a famous artist and Professor John Ruskin, he took her under his supervision and was soon able to watch her improve in painting. He said, “She was my best student.” A glorious future awaited her. It didn’t happen.
In 1898, when she heard a missionary from Algeria preach, she responded to God’s call to carry the gospel to Africa. She worked for 40 years in Algeria, where God gave her many opportunities to use his own talent. She captured the landscape’s beauty with beautiful watercolors, and her illustrations adorned her books and leaves. She could be famous; she could pray, “God, thank you, I’m not like, but she wanted to be like the others because God was in the service of the others. She chose God, he took care of her, and she did not regret it. Let us also now choose God, let us not be afraid to humble ourselves, for God has promised him to promote us; let us not refrain from serving our neighbors, for our service will be rewarded and
let us never stop praying the way the publican prayed: God, be merciful to us sinful

On the speeches and teachings of Jesus, which follow the news of his entry into Jerusalem, the optics of the optics again, and follow the thread of narration the exact dating that leads to the Last event dinner.
Evangelist Marek writes at the beginning of Chapter 14: “He was two days before the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.” (Mark 14: 1) He then informs of the anointing in Bethany and the betrayal of Judas. Nat o continues with the words: “On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when they killed of the Passover lamb, they said to him about the disciples,  Shall we go and prepare the Passover for you? ‘”(Mark 14:12) In contrast, the evangelist John uses and the only general statement: “He was about before the Easter holidays … At dinner … “(John 13: 1-2) The supper of which John informs takes place “before the Easter holidays,” while the synopsis describes the Last Supper as an Easter dinner. Therefore, it can be seen that, unlike John, they are based on a timetable shifted by one day.
We will still have to return to the often discussed problem of these different chronologies when considering Jesus’ Last Supper and the ordinance of Eucharist.

Jesus’ hour, let’s stay with John, who is in his report on the Last Supper, which Jesus spent with the disciples before his torture, emphasizes two specific things. First, he tells us that Jesus demonstrated to his disciple’s foot-washing service, which was the role of slaves. Regarding the washing of his feet, John also speaks of the prophecy of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. John’s second specific aspect is Jesus’ farewell speeches, of which the culmination is the high priestly prayer. To Your attention, would we had to focus on both focal topics. “It was about before the Easter holidays. Jesus knew that his hour has come to leave this world for the Father. And because he loved his world, he loved them to the extreme. “(John 13: 1). With the Last Supper comes Jesus’s” hour, “to which from the beginning of the whole acting (compare John 2,4). The essence of this lesson John indicates in two basic words: it is an hour “from the run,” “transition” ( meta basis), and at the same time an hour of love (agape) reaching to the extreme.
Ob and these concepts are mutually explanatory, and impossible to separate them from each other. Love itself is a transition process, transformation, emergence from the limitations of human existence
subordinate death. We are all separated and ultimately inaccessible to each other in a different bone that we cannot transcend. This at a glance, the impossible “meta base” takes place through love to the extreme. Come out of the boundaries closed in on each other individuality, that is agape – a breakthrough to what is divine.
Jesus’ “hour” is the hour of the great transition, the hour of great transformation. And this remelting of occurring and through agape. It’s agape “up to the extreme “- how does John want to anti-chip the last words of the Crucified:” It is finished ” – “pedestal.” (John 19:30). This end (body), this totally the surrender of oneself, the transformation of the whole being, is at the same time a gift of oneself to death. When in this place – as in many other places of the Gospel of John – Jesus says he came out from the Father and returns to it, we come to the ancient scheme of departure and return (exitus – reditus), which was developed mainly in Plotin’s philosophy. After all, however, going out and returning to John is something completely different from what this philosophical scheme means after them. For Plótin and his followers, “going out,” which replaces the divine act of creation, becomes descent and ultimately bankruptcy. It’s a fall from a height “One” towards ever lower zones of being. Return, on the contrary, consists in purification from matter, in the constant ascension and purification, which deprive the soul of that which is low and lead it back to union with that which is divine.

On the other hand, Jesus’ going out presupposes creation, not as decayed, but as a positive act of God’s will. This outing is a process of love, which shows its true essence precisely in descent – from the love of creation, from the love of the lost sheep -, and so what is truly divine is revealed in the descent. And Jesus, who returns to the Father, does not fear his own human nature as something defamatory. His descent’s goal was to receive and lift all humanity, to lead all people – “everybody” – home. At this return, something new happens: Jesus does not return on my own. It does not get rid of the body but draws everyone into itself (cf. John 12:32). Meta base and applies to everything. When in the 1st chapter of the Gospel of John he says that “his own” idiots) did not accept him (cf. John 1:11), now we hear that he loves “his” to the extreme (cf. John 13: 1).  On his descent, he reassembled “his” – the great God’s family; made foreigners “their own.” But let’s listen to what the evangelist says next: Jesus “He got up from the table, took off his clothes, took a canvas apron, and he girded himself. Then he poured water into the sink and began washing the disciples’ feet and staring at the apron he was girded. “(John 13: 4-5) Jesus demonstrates to his disciples the ministry of a slave,” he humbled himself “(cf. Phil 2: 7).

In the great hymn to Christ in the Letter to the Philippians, Christ makes the opposite movement be as Adam. The first person from his humanity tried to reach for divinity. On the other hand, Christ descends from his deity into the sphere of humanity, “takes on the nature of servants” (cf. Phil 2,7), and becomes obedient to death on the cross. At the Last Supper, Jesus demonstrates the same in a single gesture. In a symbolic act, he expresses the whole depth of their salvation ministry. He undresses from his divine brightness, so to speak, kneels before us on his knees, washes and wipes our dirty feet to make us worthy to sit at a table at God’s wedding feast.

There is a paradoxical expression in the Apocalypse that they redeemed their redemption “in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7.14). This means that what washes and purifies us is Jesus and love that goes to extremes. The act of washing and feet expresses the same fact: Jesus and the servant of liberation free us from our pride and makes us “pure,” able to unite with God. 

Brothers and sisters! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Johan 3:16).

God did not want death for the world, the death that Adam chose in paradise; but he sent us a new Adam, Jesus, to destroy death and give us life. However, John further states that the darkness did not accept him. Jesus is the true light in which any hint of darkness disappears. Faith in him places man in the light of his conscience to live as a child of God. Jesus is God’s gift to men. God descended to earth so that we could ascend to him.
Sin created a chasm between us, but Jesus, by His sacrifice on the cross, bridged that chasm by victory over death. He who believes has eternal life, but those who reject Jesus because they “love darkness more than light” pronounce judgment on themselves. In Jesus, God himself addresses His love for people and awaits an answer. No one is freed from deciding for God or against. Our answer is the faith by which we love God, and He loves us. He gave himself and his love is a challenge to follow according to Jesus’ life. Today’s Sunday is called Sunday laetare, that is, Sunday of joy. But why should we rejoice now, in the fast? Many of you may be asking: Can a Christian rejoice in fasting? The Church is giving us this Sunday to immerse ourselves more deeply in the mystery of God’s love and mercy, for everyone who “believes in him” will gain eternal life. And we have the right to ask God for this faith. The Gospel of John is permeated with love. The cross that man gave to Jesus turned his love into the center of infinite love that reaches every man of all times. He who sees the cross with faith cannot see only the wood and the dead Jesus in it. The first Christians depicted the cross as a flowering tree that bore fruit. The fruit of life. What Adam has done wrong has been corrected by God with love and mercy. But one sees this only when one looks at Jesus’ sacrifice with faith. And in this faith we can say today: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, gather all your loved ones; dance and draw from the rich sources of comfort. “

Faith. Brothers and sisters, how many times have we heard the word faith, and perhaps it has become commonplace for us. Therefore, John emphasizes: “He who believes in him …” to remind us of the main condition for gaining eternal life. Faith. The firm, determined, able to sacrifice oneself for Jesus. In everyday life, we encounter a situation where our faith is tested. It is a mistake to say that today’s world is an unbeliever. It can be said that faith is flourishing today. Everyone believes in something. But faith is not like faith. We keep trying. Many opinions, seemingly the best solutions, enter our lives. Today’s supermarket of religions is crowded. How can we choose the right path? The most attractive for us is the most pleasant, the one that does not ask for acts of self-denial. But life teaches us otherwise. How many have already taken such paths, and yet later admitted that they have strayed? But God loves man and leaves no one in the dark. It gives grace to faith, but why doesn’t everyone respond by faith? Why doesn’t this one believe him, even though we tell him about God and his love for him? It’s hard to answer. But we can approach it with our experience.
Imagine the crucial moment when we said to God: I believe! It is a moment that has changed our lives. It gave us the goal of life, the joy of suffering. That’s when it was decided if I wanted eternal life. Jesus on the cross convinced us that there is eternal life in him. And we are to be happy about that. To be a Christian is to rejoice because our goal is Love, and the way to it is love for every human being. We are not alone because with us is God, who loved the world so much. The Word makes us think about how I love God? What do I do to make my faith in him always greater? Cardinal Ratzinger says that “our faith must be growing.” We cannot stay in one place all the time. Just as we do not wear the same clothes that we received as children, we must constantly renew our faith. Staying in one place can, and often does, lead to a loss of faith in God. First comes indifference, then doubt, and finally unbelief. Let’s avoid this. The devil is looking for many ways to dull our faith. Let us not be discouraged by difficulties. My zeal and love for God and neighbor grow in us. This will protect us from indifference, the disease of today.

Brother sister! Faith is a very valuable gift. Many of us received it from our parents, others had to go through the difficult path of searching, but no one can say with certainty that: I cannot lose it.

Paul Claudel, a famous French poet and convert, wrote: “Young people who leave faith so easily have no idea how much it will cost them to regain it.” There is a way to lose faith, but there is also a way back. God is love and will not allow anyone to get lost. He’s still here waiting. It knocks, but we have to open it.
Raymond Franz has been at the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses for 40 years, describing the errors of his life in The Crisis of Conscience. Before, he was fully convinced that this was the true faith, but later he saw the contradictory

events that took place on people in this group. He survived the crisis of conscience because he believed others and saw others. I either believe that God and eternity exist, or I believe that there is no God and death ends with everything. I either believe that there is eternal bliss or I believe that my desire for eternity is in vain. I have to choose! What will you choose? Sun or dark night? I’ve already made my choice. I believe because the senses are not enough for me. I believe because I cannot accept the idea that everything has only a beginning without an end and without the meaning that my whole life is a journey without a goal.
A priest was telling a story from his parish. The young couple got married. But he found another girl, left her, and left her with the baby. After a few years, widowed, he lost his home, his job. He became homeless. He finally came to the first woman in a deplorable state, full of fear and guilt. To everyone’s surprise, she accepted him. When asked how she did it, she replied, “If I didn’t have faith, love for God, I certainly wouldn’t even notice you.”

Faith. A treasure that is so fragile, but on the other hand unshakable strength and support in narrowing. Its fruit is eternal life. But he still needs the water of life, which is the Eucharist and the word of God. To be effective, he wants our whole, I BELIEVE!

He who believes in him has eternal life. In a little, while we all confess together, I believe in God. Let’s think more deeply about the words to remind us and enliven in us personally, I believe. May the love by which God loves the world inflame joy in our hearts. For we know whom we have believed, and we expect eternal life.

1. Scope of the question
What exactly is “God”? She didn’t do that question once a problem, but it is already a problem for our time. What about us? Can the word “God” say? What fact does it express? How can this fact affect a person? If we want to get to the roots of this question, let’s try first o religious-philosophical analysis. We will discover the source of divine experiences and consider why the topic”God” determines human history. Although it can be heard everywhere today crying, “God is dead!” we see the question of God in ours Wednesday is all the more burning.
Where does the idea of ​​”God” come from, from what roots are it growing up? Why this seemingly useless and for our country as if, after all, a useless topic remains the most burning topic in history? Why does it appear in so many forms? According to external signs, we can say that they basically exist only three forms that circulate in various variations such as notes, polytheism, and atheism. History of humanity in relation he walks to God in these three ways. Even atheism, which seemingly ended God, constantly returns to God’s question and deals with her passionately. If we want to follow the basic questions before us, we would have to present two divine experience roots, to which many others form of experience. Van der Leeuw expressed Their tension, a well-known Dutch religious phenomenology, paradoxically the sentence that God – the Son – is present in religion’s history before God – the Father. 

We should say more correctly that God the Savior, the Redeemer, is before God the Creator. But even in this clarification, we must be careful that this formula cannot be understood in terms of a time sequence, for which there is no evidence. If we can follow the history
of religion, the theme of God always appears in both forms. The word “before” can only mean that the Savior stands in front of the Creator for living existential interest for real religiosity. In this dual form in which humanity has seen its God, it is a double starting point for religious experience, as we already are they talked about it. The first starting point is one’s own experience of an existence that transcends itself and brings us by someone, albeit in the most encrypted way to »completely to another. « This is again a very multi-layered process – complicated as human existence itself.

Theologian Bonhoeffer said, “It is time to put an end to God who is for us only a substitute, a patch on the edge of our incompetence, and whom we invoke when we are at the ends. They did we would find God not only in need, in failure, but in the middle of the fullness of earthly life. So it turns out that God is not a way out of an emergency that loses its function when our skills will improve.3 In the history of human struggles o God is both ways, and both, it seems to me, are equally justified. Both human helplessness can bring us to God and the fullness of life. Whenever people have come to know fullness, wealth, beauty, the size of their being, they must have realized that it is to gift. As a human being, I am bound by this wealth to make sense and accept that sense. Also, inadequacy shows a person the way to something else. Man is alone the question, its invincibility, the boundaries on which the caliber within itself, and the desire for something infinite (probably in the sense of Nietzsche’s words that every joy longs after an eternity, and yet we experience it only in an instant) this limitation and desire for infinite and unlimited it never leaves a person, it makes him feel that it is not enough for himself, that he will reach himself only when he comes out of himself and focuses to something else, infinitely great.

We come to the same conclusion if we notice human loneliness and security. Loneliness is certainly one of how man meets God. If a person feels small, he understands that his existence is a great call for “You” and that he cannot remain alone with his “I.” Loneliness one can experience to varying degrees. It can be until, to a certain extent, saturated when one finds replenishment in the friendly You. But there is a paradox in that. According to Claude, everyone that man finds will eventually appear as an unfulfilled and unfulfillable promise.4 Every human You are basically disappointing because there is a time when no meeting can overcome the ultimate loneliness. Though man finds human You, and when he himself is found, he changes even in loneliness and in the great call for the absolute reaching into the depths of the soul! And not only the misery of loneliness and the experience that no community will fulfill our desire completely, but they also lead to the experience of God. However, the path to God can lead1 to joyful safety. Just the fullness of love and self-discovery can make a person feel what he cannot call and create himself; he can make him realize that he receives more than he can give love and find yourself. In the light and joy of finding oneself, the closeness of absolute joy and complete can emerge, finding yourself behind all human searching. With all this, we just hinted at how human existence becomes the starting point for the experience of the Absolute, which from this point of view we understand as “God the Son,” the Giver of salvation.

Another source of female knowledge is the confrontation of man with the world, with his immensity and power with which man constantly meets. And here again, we see that the cosmos in its beauty and immensity, with its shortcomings, horror, and infinity, brings man to know some exceedingly everything, threatening a man and carrying powers. One thus gains the uncertain and distant image that crystallizes into an image of God the Creator and Father. We’ll stick to the questions, and of course, we’ll come to the delicious problem that presents us to God in history in three forms – monotheism, polytheism, atheism. It seems to me that then the unity of these will be revealed in three ways. Unity, which, of course, cannot mean indent site. Nor can he promise that if he digs enough noise sideways, everything will eventually merge into one and outer form that he will lose its meaning. Such evidence might be to try philosophical thinking, and in which it would be overlooked the seriousness of human decision-making would certainly not correspond to reality. If there can be no question of identity, a deeper look could lead us to realize the difference between them.

The great paths lie elsewhere than the three outer ones suggest formulas that say, “There is one God,” “There are more gods,” There is no God.” In these three sentences and their religion is not only an irremovable contradiction but also a definite one, a relationship that we cannot guess when pronounced. Yes, to prove that all three systems are ultimately convinced of absolute unity and uniqueness. In this, unity and uniqueness are not believed only by monotheism. Not even in polytheism, there were not many gods that people prayed to and placed their hopes absolute. Still, it was clear to them that even above the gods, some believe that this being is only one or, in the worst case, as the original opposite’s eternal rebellion.

To strive to love God with all my heart.
Believe me; the kingdom will fall when there is no love in it… These are the words of the song Three nuts for Cinderella, and they are really true. Love unites people; unloving divides them. In the same way, love for God unites us with God; sin separates us from him. Alone, in union with the other (God, man…), one can live fully. It is in unity the future; there is extinction in the division. Let us return to the gospel, to the words of Jesus: “Every kingdom within divided, the house is broken down, and the house is broken down ”(Lk 11: 17b). In such a kingdom, the community has no future; its future is extinction.
The principle of internal division and extinction, in this case, applies to Satan’s empire; if it is divided on the inside, namely on the miracles of Jesus and the power of the devil, they could not exist; he would be paralyzed by double track. The gospel implies that power demons connected with Jesus are practically ineffective, as the case shows healing of the dumb. This power is not divided but is a unity that defies God.  Jewish exorcists (literally “your sons” v. 19) cast out evil spirits by the power of God and not in collaboration with Beelzebub. Likewise, in Jesus’ expulsion of the wicked spirits, the power of God is manifested.1 This connecting element among Jewish exorcists and Jesus did not notice or want to notice Jesus. Jesus was “persona non grata, “and it was necessary to get rid of it. How? Let us accuse him of cooperating with Satan.

Except evil never completely obscures good. Goodwill always stands out. So did Jesus in the gospel. He could not be convicted of working with the devil, for he preached God’s kingdom! Today, kingdoms exist little. One could say that this is Jesus The “message” about an internally divided kingdom is no longer up to date. But let’s try to replace the word kingdom with the word heart. Then it would come out – Every human heart internally divided – triggers. In this wording, it is already very relevant because it is it’s about each of us. It’s about us and our relationship to God, to man, to the world, to life. Our hearts must be properly and perfectly cut, that means to love God, man, life… If it is to beat fully, our heart must be on the right side – on the side of life, on the side of love. God is also on this site by its law. It is enough for us to love others when we are to respect life, then God will dwell in our hearts. We have only two options:
to love or not to love; to say to God, “All right, I will listen to you,” or
“I won’t listen to you.” We can only choose one option. You can’t live like that is something I will listen to God, and in something, I will not love someone; I will love someone to hate and harm him! Every human heart internally divided triggers.
An encouraging example: Henryk Sienkiewicz, in the novel Quo Vadis, describes Christians’ heroism during the persecution of Emperor Nero. Everyone who was dying then was dying for Christ’s sake. Their hearts were fixed on God, and therefore they deserved eternal glory in heaven. Witness such torture was also the apostle Peter. He stood in the top row of the arena. Nobody noticed him. He got up, and he blessed the crosses of those who died under the fangs of animals and blessed their blood, their suffering, their dead bodies transformed into formless masses, and their souls flying away with the blood of soaked sand. Some sent glances at him, and when they noticed the sign of the cross high up, their faces brightened. The scene gripped Peter’s heart. He prayed, “Oh, Lord! Thy will be done, for mine, the sheep perish, that they may glorify thee and bear witness of the truth. You ordered me to graze them, I give them to you, and you count them. Lord, receive them, heal their wounds, soothe their pains and give them more happiness there than they experienced flour here.  If we choose Christ with all our hearts, we have the same reward for it. God, he will receive us; he will heal our wounds, soothe our pains and give us more happiness there with him, how we experience flour here.

Seek to keep God’s and the church’s commands more responsible parents who are here and have a good experience raising children will definitely give me the truth when raising a small child who is three years old is really very difficult. Children’s pedagogy calls this period the “period of the little king.” You are a child. He begins to realize his “greatness,” and many times, the position of the smallest in the family abuses “for his own benefit.” He is restless, disobedient, everything he wants must get … it feels most important in the family. But let’s think about our childhood to the heavenly Father. We feel like too great before God, before men? Do we feel like little kings?

Only he who keeps all the commandments of God and will teach will be in the kingdom of heaven great (cf. Mt 5:19). Note that it is important not only to keep all the commandments and to be great, but it is necessary to learn only then to be great in the kingdom of heaven.
When a person “only” observes or obeys the Law, it remains unclear why the commandments maintain: out of conviction, out of fear, or out of comfort and calculation? However, he sincerely fulfills the Law; the man accepts the will that is the basis of the Law and manifests itself so that through its perfect behavior, it comes to light the meaning of the law.1 So, what is keeping the commandments about? What’s the point? It’s up to us; they were great in the kingdom of heaven. It’s about God and us. God gives it so that it contributes to the normal functioning of the world. If we want our world to work normally, and if we want to live normally, we need to keep God the law. Everything that God has commanded and that the Church has commanded is to develop man; it’s not built against man but for man. Today, the big “fashion” is to declare: Me I keep God’s commands – I don’t steal, I don’t kill, I have nothing to do with anyone, and I am good. The Church invented the church laws; it has nothing to do with God, you I don’t have to keep! But what is the Church, resp? Who is the Church? The head is Christ, and we are her limbs. Christ and I are the Church. The church is not far from me; The Church is not just the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, the priests…, each of us baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we are living members of the Church.

When you do this, we will realize, we will certainly not say, that ecclesiastical laws do not apply to us. They concern us! If we didn’t see it that way before, we already know that, and it obliges us all the more to live accordingly. Let us keep the commandments and teach others to keep commandments, and we have a place in the kingdom of heaven. And let’s do it all with love and out of love for God and neighbor. Let’s start today; let’s not put it off until then because then we wouldn’t have to make it.

Jesuit Salvadore Ferrão, who worked on Mozambique missions, says: During the civil war in this country, the local bishops of three different Christian churches organized a prayer meeting for the end of the war. They also invited enemy leaders to their pages. Together they read the article of Matthew’s Gospel, in which the verse “Blessed those who spread peace because they will call them sons of God ”(Mt 5: 9). In The reaction of hostile leaders, she was surprised, “Where have you been all these years?” they asked. “Give us this book, we will return, and we will tell our people to stop the war. ” 2 give us God’s word and God’s law, and we will live by it. Such a sentence, such an order of God, stopped the war. It happened for God through the Church. We will speak against God and the Church and act as “small kings,” or we will keep God’s commandments, and so we deserve the heavenly one’s kingdom? Can I answer for all of us? – Sir, help us maintain your commandments, and thus to teach that we may be great in your kingdom.

At the end of Jesus’ woe “addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees, St. Matthew in the context of the speeches given by Jesus after he enters Jerusalem – mentions the mysterious year of Jesus, which the evangelist Luke places in the circumstances of Jesus’ journey to the Holy City: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning them, what they were sent to you, how many times I wanted to gather your children, how a hen gathers its chickens under the wings, but you didn’t want to! Behold, your house is left to you desolate … “(Mt 23: 37-38; cf. Luke 13: 34-35) These sentences reflect Jesus’ deep love for Jerusalem, his deep desire for the Holy City to receive a message which to him to proclaim and which places Jesus in the great line of God’s messengers of the history of salvation.

The giant comes from a protective and caring mother bird, and the Old Testament: God “found his people in a deserted land …
He grabbed him and watched him, cutting him like a pupil’s eye. As the eagle awakens and his nest, he circles over his cubs, so he spread his wings, grabbed him, and carried him on their wings. “(Deuter. 32: 10-11). Mention should be made of this and the beautiful words of Psalm 36: 8: “God, how precious is thine mercy! People are fleeing into the tone of your wings. ” Jesus situates his public performance and his intentions to the nearness of God’s mighty goodness, which protects Jerusalem with its outstretched wings (cf. Isaiah. 31: 5)
However, this goodness asks for the free consent of the chickens, and they are reluctant: “… and ye would not.” (Mt 23:37)
The misfortune of this rejection is described by Jesus in mysterious but unequivocal me with words that draw from the old prophetic tradition. In the face of the clutter in the temple, the prophet Jeremiah announced God’s statement, “I have forsaken my house, I have cast it out I am my inheritance … “(Jeremiah. 12: 7). He declares the same Jesus: “Yours is left to you desolate.” (Mt 23:38). The temple is no longer the place where it resides. It will remain empty and will only be “your mom.” These words of Jesus have a remarkable parallel with the historian of the Jewish war, Joseph Flavius. Tacitus also included his report in his historical work (Hist. 5.13).
Joseph Flavius ​​informs about unusual events, which took place in recent years before the Jewish war team outbreak and which in various ways upsettingly signaled the end of the temple. In total, the historian mentions seven such signs. I’ll touch only one of them, which corresponds remarkably with the threat of Jesus just described.
The event took place on the holiday of Pentecost in 66 AD Christ. “When the feast called  Pentecost arrived, the priests came to the inner temple at night. Precinct to perform the sacred service according to custom. Then, according to their words, they first noticed the movement and heard hu kot. There was a polyphonic call: ‘Let’s pull away from here! ‘”(Jewish War VI 2acm) Anything really happened, one thing is obvious: a few years ago, dramatic events of the year 70, the temple was fortified by the mysterious realization that its end is near. “Your house remains desolate to you. “-” Let’s get out of here! ” In the first to the person of the plural, typical of God’s Old Testament statements (cf. e.g., G n 1,26), God himself declares that he will leave the temple and leave it “desolate.” A world-historical break hung in the air, which was supposed to be of unimaginable significance.
Immediately after the statement about the desolate house, although Jesus does not yet directly announce the destruction of the temple, its inner end, that it ceases to be a place Encounters of God and Men – In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus follows the great eschatological speech, in which the main themes are the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, the judgment on the world and the end of the world. This speech, recorded with several names by all three synoptic, is possibly considered the most difficult Gospel text. This is mainly due to the complexity of the content, which applies in part to historical events to date, but even more so to the future, which transcends perceptible time and reality and brings them to an end.
It is announced what is to come and what breaks our categories. Still, at the same time, it can be expressed by examples from our experience, however, which is relates to what they have to denounce, necessarily inadequately. Therefore, it is understandable that Jesus, who theoretically always speaks in continuity with the Law and the Prophets, interweaves the whole speech with statements from the Scriptures, into which it brings the novelty contained in its mission,
in the mission of the Son of man. Also, the vision of the One to come is abundant expressed in terms of images taken from a tradition that is to bring us closer to what cannot be done to describe in words; it is necessary to have difficulties with the content also add to the text all the problems of the history of the editors. They do not want to describe Jesus’ words what is to come, but to update the data of tradition; they could those who have further reproduced these words of Jesus to develop this visualization about the circumstances of their times and the abilities of its listeners. In doing so, they made sure of their submission and remained faithful to the essence of Jesus’ messages.
However, this book’s task is not to enter into the detailed problems of the history of editing and the tradition of the text. It is enough if I point out the three elements of Jesus’ eschatological speech, which illuminate its entire composition’s basic intentions.

Encourage a change of life according to the example of Jesus.
After talking to a friend, I will never forget to thank you for the interview. Let already be concerned about anything; whether it was reprimand, encouragement, or just that non-binding talking, it’s always been beautiful; talking to the person to whom we are matters. If he warns me, I can’t be angry, because he cares about me if he encourages me, I will be all the more pleased because he cares for me, and if he praises, I will not be in a hurry, because I care and pride would take my boyfriend.
Jesus also came to Nazareth and spoke to the people in the synagogue. He was castigating them. But he had castigated them as friends: “When they heard this, anger overwhelmed everyone in the synagogue” (Lk 4:28). Anger carries with it other dangerous reactions of the angry man – they drove him away, they wanted him thrown off the hill, they wanted to kill him. Let’s think about the cause of anger. Jesus teaches the people of Nazareth. But he does not want to act any miracles; he wants to learn words. He wants to admonish them as their friend. But that angry listener with weak faith. Also, Jesus goes even further in his friendly admonition. With references to Elijah and Elisha, he suggests to the Jews that God the promised salvation will be taken from the people of Israel and given to the Gentiles. This indicates that the situation is serious and the people must change. It made the audience furious, so they fanatically want to plunge Jesus into the abyss without due judgment.

The Jews acted in effect. They didn’t like it when someone spoke out against him, and as the happiest solution, they saw the killing. However, they failed. They haven’t had it yet hearts hard enough to kill him. However, as we know, Jesus was killed. By whom? Those who had hard hearts. Doesn’t it remind us of anything? We don’t kill Jesus either hardness and dislike in our hearts? The Lord Jesus teaches, “Whatever you did to one of these least of my brethren, ye have made me ”(Mt 25:40). Let’s realize that our neighbor’s disinterest, our injustice to others, our excessive ones striving for wealth and easy life will be easy to look at, so are we are killing Jesus. Let’s stop now; we begin to have a sincere interest in others, let’s be always fair; we will not smell wealth and a light life at all costs. We appreciate it you, Jesus, be precious in our hearts. Now is the time; rupture time of our hearts, a time of sacrifice for our neighbors, a time of likeness to Jesus, a time the practice of our souls, the time of listening to the friend of Jesus.

This story also tells you how to train your soul: “One man had it fixed
rake. When he wanted to pay, the store owner said, “It’s free. I’m glad I did it for you. He could not accept it and insisted on at least a minimum fee. However, the owner still refused to accept the money. Eventually, he lost his temper and shouted: Why don’t you let a man
do something good and enable him to enrich himself on the soul?  Let’s learn to do good and also learn to accept good. Let’s practice our soul and let us bring love into our world; let us bring Christ into it. May Jesus be for us the prophet who is precious in his – in our country.

There are often paintings of “all the saints” in churches. Painters usually solve the problem of the subject of some parity. There is a holy pope, one bishop, one king, one virgin, etc. Albrecht Dürer, however, intended not only to express the multitude of saints but for all that this union binds together. Therefore, he painted how all these diverse people lookups where God the Father is holding Christ on the cross. Nice, the mystery of Christian holiness is expressed here. It is love to God. However, its hallmark is love for the cross.

The letter of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians could be called by defending the cross of Christ. Moses’ law taught the people to discern what is good and evil, but evil has not prevailed. Only the cross of Christ won by sin. Therefore, it is necessary to grasp this cross by faith, baptism, denial. Wed I am through the law he died to the law, that I might live unto God. With Christ, I am nailed to the cross (Gal 2:19). The letter ends with a glorious one praise of the cross: But I do not want to brag about anything else, just the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified for me and me for the world (Gal 6:14). It is, therefore, a cross needed by a Jew; it is a supplement to the Law, the culmination of a revelation.

This revelation, originally given only to the chosen nation, then penetrates the whole world through the cross. In the letters of captivity, which are addressed to the Gentiles, they build a set. Paul’s cross is a symbol of peace in a world that is divided and hated. The office of mediator of peace belongs to the Church because it stands the cross of Christ, and from him, Christ reconciles with the Father the whole world, the cosmos. The shackles they wear are a symbol of Paul’s that this great work is already beginning to penetrate the world. That, truly, cross, yet he hates it, resists it, is foolishness to him. Because the word The cross is foolishness for those who perish, but for of those who are on the path of salvation, that is, for us, is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18).

The perfection of a Christian is therefore unthinkable without a cross.
Christ became the new Adam by his death and was born to us for the new world with his blood (Rom. 5). Christ’s death is “enforced” in every Christian to be in God’s life (Romans 6). Those who see nothing but the earth are, of course, the enemies of the cross. For the Jews also ask for change, and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we declare it of the crucified Christ, for the Jews a stumbling block, for the Gentiles folly, but for those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ – God’s power and God’s wisdom. For what is with God “Crazy,” is wiser than men, and what is “weak” with God is stronger than men (1 Cor 1: 22-25). 
A positive value of the cross. So, the more one penetrates the mystery of the Christian of life and perfection, the more he begins to understand the positive to the cross’s positive value. He realizes that without him, he would not have progressed. It begins to penetrate the meaning of the statements made earlier read but did not understand, such as we know the words with  Theresa of Great: “Either suffer or die!” What a sense it should prolong life on earth and not continue in perfection, not to develop eternal life? This then happens to cross, as the book Following the Christ writes with enthusiasm in the chapter entitled On the Royal Way of St. of the cross: «He who cannot understand the heavenly things, only he who is
he succumbed to endure adversity for Christ. And God is not anything more pleasant, nothing more saving to you in this world, than willingly suffer for Christ. And if you could choose, you should rather want to suffer adversity for Christ than enjoy many pleasures because you would be more like that of Christ and all the saints. »

The inner and penetrating understanding of the cross is gained through life and grace. It is difficult to write about this subject. Nevertheless, Cornelius and Lapide tried in the interpretation of the Letter of St. James (Chapter 1, v. 2) to summarize the reasons which the Fathers of the Church give to prove that we have to rejoice in afflictions and difficulties. Calculates four:
1. The difficulties and adversities of us, according to St. Johannes Chrysostomus, wakes him up from his numbness and lack of interest in religious things. He who has been too good for a long time forgets God, feels well in the world. That is, he does not desire another better. Not even does he not want to be better; what he has is enough for him. Thus, of course, it goes down with him with water without being careful. However, if he encounters difficulties, he suddenly feels unhappy, he realizes his weakness, he learns from experience that he doesn’t have nearly as much strength and virtue as he thought. 
2. St. Johannes Chrysostomus also gives the second reason why I should enjoy difficulties and persecution. They are a sign that we are called to salvation and that we are sons of God. The world in us begins to know the image of Christ and therefore begins to treat us the way he treated him.
3. A similar reason is given by St. Ephraim in his praise to the cross. The Christian life is to be like Christ, in his footsteps. What else can bring us closer to the Crucified than the cross?
4. The monk Antioch us, who in the 7th century began to take notes for the spiritual life from the homilies of the Fathers, indicates the fourth the reason we should be happy for us trouble met. It protects us from our two greatest enemies: sin and passion. Laziness and prosperity lead to all minerals. The man whose they pursue life accidents, they do not think easily of vanity, they do not kill precious time by laziness.