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It is known that we think little about death. We also witness that when we know that our relative is lying on his deathbed, the doctor gives up and science does not help, there are also cases where we deceive ourselves and those who should prepare to meet God as believers. However, our faith teaches us that our coming into the world was not an accident and that the end, the death of a person, is not a definitive end, but a transition to a new life.

To the Jews who did not want to accept the teachings of Christ, when Jesus knew that the fulfillment of his mission on earth was near, he said: “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (Jn 8:23). From the events, the words of the Lord Jesus, it is known that the Jews cannot accept and understand two things: they do not know where Jesus comes from and where he is returning. This they do not understand, even though he keeps telling them that he came from the Father and is returning to him again. Jesus knows that his departure to the Father will be accomplished by his death and suffering. It seems that this departure of his is understood by the Jews as the death of suicide and they, on this path of his, they do not want and cannot follow, but whoever wants to really follow, find and understand the Lord Jesus must believe that his death is the ransom price for the world.This means that when Jesus is lifted on the cross, he will be able to heal and heal all people who are bitten by the sin of the serpent. With the help of faith, people can understand that Jesus is the Son of God, who by his death on the cross reconciled the Father for our sins, and thus showed us the way to his Father, that is, he became a “way” for us.

For us believers, these words are not a path to pessimism and hopelessness, but on the contrary, they are hope and optimism for us. A person of faith, even if it is difficult when saying goodbye to his loved ones at the moment of death, knows that it is not the final end, and therefore we must not take death tragically. Remembrance of her is not the reason for us to break in our attitude. Lord Jesus is our model and example. We see that for Jesus, his death by going to the Father was a victorious ending of life.

It is necessary for us believers to adopt this attitude of Jesus and learn to live with the thought of death. It is wonderful when a person does not have to fear that death can meet him anywhere and at any moment, that he is always ready to appear before this Christ in whom he believed, according to whose words he tried to live and whose reward he hoped and believed. It is amazingly beautiful and valuable to live in the presence of God and to be able to accept his will, be it at midnight or in the morning.

For us, today’s Gospel is a lesson that the suffering and death predicted by Jesus are a guarantee of new life. Michael Quist in the poetry collection Your eyes writes in the poem “Lord, I don’t have time…” and after recognizing the meaning and value of Jesus’ words, he exclaims in the end: “Lord, I already have time!” This should find a response We should not only realize that we have to find time, but we should also say to Jesus more often: “Lord, I already have time!

Let us imagine God as mercy. “I don’t judge you, either. Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

The Gospel shows us, sinners, when we accuse other sinners before Jesus. We can have more perspectives on the passage about the woman caught in sin, the behavior of those who brought her before Jesus, and the behavior of Jesus. It is necessary to realize that the gospel leads us to humble behavior and acknowledge our sinfulness, as well as the fact that the forgiveness of sins comes from Jesus. The recipients of the gospel are us, each of us. The Pharisees are satisfied with their pseudo-righteousness and will not receive the mercy that was given to the woman they brought to Jesus. The woman is aware of her situation. According to the Law of Moses, for her weakness, of which she was caught and is now accused, she was sentenced to death by stoning. It is true that in the time of Christ, such punishments were rarely carried out. However, the Pharisees are not so much concerned with the woman as they are with attacking Jesus, whom they hated, because he thought differently from them, reproached them for their hypocrisy, and drew people behind him.

They tempted Jesus so they could accuse him. According to them, the answer they expected from Jesus should be either strict rightist or lax. And one answer or another was to be used against Jesus. Jesus found himself in a situation where he had to take a stand on the fate of a person drawn into responsibility through the authority of power. However, Jesus does not reject law and justice, and he also did not reject mercy but gave justice and mercy a true meaning. The Pharisees did not expect such a masterly answer. Jesus told them: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn 8:7). In these words, the Pharisees understood that they are not without sin either. There are other sins, such as adultery. They, too, have their sins. Jesus gave them a moral lesson in just a few words. Can anyone immediately ask: “And where was the accomplice, the accomplices…?” John writes: “When they heard this, one by one – starting with the elders – they disappeared until he (Jesus) remained alone with the woman who was standing in the middle” (John 8:9). They left, but their shame had nothing to do with humility.

A serious reminder to each of us – regret? The proverb says: “A crow sits with a crow, and equal seeks equal.” Or: “Wolf with wolves.” They easily destroy their conscience and others as well. We are weak people. However, when we humbly confess our sins and awaken in our hearts pain over our sins and those of others, we can expect mercy from our God. He is our God. We know that when we renounce sin again and again, we are strengthened in our love for Christ. We realize the significance of Christ’s suffering for our sins. God is a just Judge, but he is also merciful. We want to live in Christ and Christ to live in us

The Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord stands at the beginning of spring… This annunciation also stands at the beginning of the Gospel of St. Luke. This divine truth that God will send a Redeemer to the world, interpreted by an angel to the poor girl Mary, is the first Gospel, the first joyful news of the New Testament… The Virgin Mary is the first human being who received this joyful news. That is why we honor and praise her – as the Mother of our Redeemer.

Every year, we witness the fact that in many country competitions are held for the title of a beauty queen, or a ranking of the world’s best athletes is compiled. However, who will remember in a few years the names of those who briefly shone with glory today? New names will come and old ones will fade away… However, Marian’s veneration has been already two thousand years old! Her prophetic words: “From now on, all generations will bless me” (Luke 1:48), are really coming true.

How did she get such respect and fame? She was not an artist, she did not display her beauty or her clothes for admiration. She was not even a powerful ruler of the world… At first glance, it would seem that there were many more examples of virtues in the history of the Church. There were great martyrs, preachers, penitents, and mystics. Maria’s life is mundane and simple in contrast. That is why it is a constant admonition for us not to be deceived by external splendor. In Mary’s life, we ​​admire the basic and solid features of the Christian ideal, unadorned, in their original beauty. We admire the beauty of her soul: “You are all beautiful Mary, there is no spot in you…”, we sing about her. That’s what the angel called her during the annunciation: Merciful (Lk 1, 28). Elizabeth: Blessed among women (Luke 1:42). We call Myja the Queen of Heaven. Queen of all saints… Temples are dedicated to her,

Her glory and honor grew from the fact that she gave human life to the Redeemer of the world. God honored her with many spiritual gifts. She is full of grace, a Mother and a Virgin, but he did not free her from anything that belongs to human life. Already on the fortieth day after the birth of Jesus Christ, she learned that a sword will pierce her soul. We see her traveling with the Child into Egyptian exile, looking for her son in the temple and standing under the cross on Golgotha ​​in immense pain.

Alone without original sin, she suffered more than any sinner, than any mother. Her pain is great, but unbroken… Stabat Mater dolorosa… Steady Mother painful…, we sing about her. Nevertheless, she decided to give great consent to the angel’s announcement. All this – joy and pain, also fills the life of today’s woman, mother. That is why everyone rightfully runs to her to find strength in her moments of suffering and worry. Therefore, let’s try to maintain and strengthen our respect for our heavenly Mother. She is the mother of our Savior, our heavenly mother, and our Orodovnica. This respect for her will help us more easily overcome the pains and crosses of everyday life that weigh on us.

The saints experience “that to those who love God, all things work together for good” {Rom 8:28}. But not all have such faith. “If there were a God, certain things could never happen!”, unbelievers often argue. One of them argued his atheism: “There are wars and horrible crimes. And what does God do? Either he doesn’t want to prevent them, and then he’s no good, or he’s not able to prevent them, but then he’s not omnipotent!” However, the existence of evil is also a temptation not to believe in God the Father. Objections of this kind are ancient. That is why the Church Fathers wrote treatises entitled God is not the cause

The Providence of God of various kinds of evil (cf. the writings of St. Basil). Because God is infinitely good, he can only act in the world of good. And yet there are earthquakes, floods, natural disasters, and also crimes committed by wicked people. So where does evil come from? From the sin of the first and the sins of all mankind. St. John Chrysostom says that God permits them, not prevents them. But why? It seems the answer is not easy, and therefore Chrysostom reacts decisively against those who take offense at God’s strange indifference, reminding us that divine providence radically exceeds divine intelligence. We must firmly believe that even evil must be used for good. God acts like a physician who heals the sick even as he makes the sick suffer, when at his cures for them. These words were explained at length by St. John Chrysostom, who was persecuted and died in exile. Among the saints who have lived recently, let us mention
Blessed Frederic Ozanam, who writes: “If you would have me confined to my bed these days that I have left to live, it would be too short a time to thank you for the days I have lived. And my last words would be a hymn of praise to your goodness.” It’s a faith-based response, but it’s universal. Can it apply to all evils? They are so varied.

Lent is a serious time. We meditate on the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus. It is right that we accept Jesus as God the Son. Jesus did a lot for us to believe in his mission, and yet we see that many cannot make up their minds. That is why he said the words to them: “You know me, and you know where I am from.” And I did not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him because I am from him and he sent me” (John 7:28-29).

They heard his sermons and saw the life of Jesus many. Accepting his teachings means radically changing your life. On the other hand, they saw their indifference, and convenience, and did not have the strength to get rid of these weaknesses. They felt fear, so they preferred to settle for a neutral position. Yes, a lot is said and thought about God, faith, and Jesus Christ today. We see both negative and positive attitudes around us. Each side and decision has its reasons. We come to Holy Mass to be strengthened by Jesus’ word and Body in the Eucharist. This reminds us of the death on the cross, that is, our redemption, our liberation from sin. We come to strengthen our relationship with Jesus, which our Church teaches us about. We often realize in our lives that we must not be Christians only in church, or when we pray privately at home. Before the shrine, let’s draw strength and resolve to persevere on the way to Jesus. Yes, we sometimes feel that it is very difficult, and it hurts when we want to follow Jesus whole and whole.

We know from our own lives that even though this decision was painful and difficult, it was still the right and beautiful decision. As a priest, I can say from my own life that I have never regretted my decision to become a priest. After all, Jesus said: “And everyone who leaves houses or brothers and sisters or father and mother or children or fields for my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29). Today, after several years of priesthood I know that the profession of a priest is difficult, but I can say that if I had to decide about my profession again, I would not hesitate for a minute. However, I also know from your life’s journeys that more than one of you had and must make difficult decisions in your faith and Many of you have also become convinced that when you put Jesus’ words into practice in your practical life: “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23), that Jesus will not owe anything to his faithful.

If we have once decided on Jesus, we must not think that it only hurts once in our life. We certainly don’t want Jesus’ words from the Gospel to apply to us: “You know me, and you know where I come from. And I did not come of myself, but he who sent me is true…” (John 7:28). We believe that Jesus is our God, eternal Love, who loves us above all. We do not want to be among those about whom John wrote that they wanted to seize him and kill him when Jesus told them who he was and why he had come.

There are three kinds of egoism. The first is personal, which is condemned; the second is familial, which is justified; and the third is national, which is celebrated. Among the apostles, egoism was between the family, (collective and national/. Envy is the daughter of egoism and the mother of superiority.

Love of God and neighbor is the pinnacle of perfection, the foundation of all virtues. It is therefore easy to say that the opposite, love of self, is the source of all evil. So at least the French authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, including Bossuet, were fond of saying. La Rochefoucauld argues that all virtues dissolve in self-love like salt in water. Love is only true if it is selfless. And yet Aristotle already points out that reality never corresponds to the lofty talk of disinterested love. Would that be correct? What’s wrong with having to love ourselves? After all, we wouldn’t live any other way! What use would others benefit if we meant ourselves ill? The great philosopher of antiquity even dared to say that there is no but that we love ourselves. A mother loves her children because she considers them part of her person. We love a friend because he is our “second self.” This doctrine, to be sure, seems a little noble. Life does is not corrected by denying reality for the sake of some ideal motives. Aristotle’s doctrine needs to be supplemented, namely not by preaching and false encouragement, but by pointing out new facts, and new realities. The only way out of egoism, Aristotle, sees in true friendship. With a friend, we share interests, ideas, and a part of life. Those who do not have a friend are ultimately harming themselves. Christianity this fellowship between people has been strengthened in a strange supernatural way. In Christ, we are all one, as limbs of one body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12 .). To love our neighbor. Him, then, means to love oneself. On the contrary, even true love for oneself is for the benefit of others. The Gospel does not say that we are to love our neighbor and not ourselves. We are to love him as ourselves (cf. Mt 19:19).

Why, then, is selfishness the source of evil? “Selfishness” we usually refer to a love of self that is disordered, unreasonable, that does not reckon with the fact that neighbors belong to us. According to St. Paul’s simile, this is probably the case, as if the eye said to the hand, “I don’t need that one! Or as if the head said to the feet: I don’t need it. you!” (1 Cor. 12:21).
Egoism, then, harms itself. It thinks it likes itself, and yet it destroys itself. It deprives itself of everything that makes it beautiful, great, and strong: the union of grace with all men and with God. In that sense, of course, he is right St. Maximilian the Confessor, declared that the source of all virtues is the love of God, while the source of all vices is “self-love.” The egoist artificially isolates himself. Hell is then eternal loneliness.

Who belongs to the Church? Those who have been baptized. Many of them have left the Church, but they have no part in the life of the Church, but they belong to it. Children, always remain daughters or sons of their parents, even if they quarrel with them or leave home. However, those who have not been baptized but live according to conscience, doing good, also belong to the Church. Jesus said by their fruits, you will know them. Of course, by lasting fruit.

What does scandal mean? Becoming a stumbling block to someone’s faith, a stumbling block. Someone is following Christ, and we stumble at his feet. Either by bad example or bad counsel. We stop him in his tracks. Something may be a stumbling block to someone that is not a stumbling block to another. How do we find that measure of when something is an offense? When the apostles were asked. Does the master not pay your taxes? Jesus said to Peter. Go catch a fish, take the money out of it, and pay for yourself and for me so that, we are not a stumbling block to them. The principle applies here. Be careful.  Even if something doesn’t offend me, the other person is sensitive so I’d rather not say something, even though there may be nothing wrong with it. But some people want to be offended by everything. They see offense in everything, We are not to blame for such offense.
Who and when can be damned? The state of hell. The Bible has 6 or 7 different degrees. St. Thomas Aquinas takes them up. They are different states and not cauldron, fire devils. Jesus was talking about Gehenna. Gehenna was specifically a place outside the walls of Jerusalem, in the valley of the brook Gijón, where there was a so-called dung gate where garbage was taken out of the city as well as sacrificed animals, and it all burned there. We can imagine what the smell was like. Figuratively, it brings out the state of the soul. This image of fire is used by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 64. Those. who oppose God will be burned with unquenchable fire.

Do we have experience in giving testimony? The principle applies that the more credible a witness is, the more important and necessary his testimony becomes. John the apostle describes the testimony of Christ, which we should know in our faith and should not bypass. Jesus said to the Jews: “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. But there is someone else who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true” (Jn 5:31-32).

Jesus acts as the Messiah, and according to the laws of the time, rightly so. That is, in Jewish law, it was valid that the sentence could become valid only when the facts of the act were witnessed by two witnesses. The Jews knew this regulation from the book of Moses, which we call Deuteronomy. There it is written: “One witness shall be of no avail in any guilt or crime which any man hath committed; the decision will depend on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15). Jesus knows these regulations. He is sent by God, and he is approved by several testimonies: the testimony of John the Baptist, his deeds and miracles, the laws of Moses, or the books of the Holy Scriptures and by God the Father himself, who is his crown witness to him. The deeds that Jesus does are the deeds of God, and the voice of the Father calls to faith in Jesus Christ, as every unbiased person knows. Jesus Christ is the ambassador of God. We realize that whoever rejects such testimony is outside the law, his trial is false and invalid.

Centuries, and now millennia, have not changed anything for some. There are people in our environment who try to include Jesus in some group they have created, just so they don’t have to recognize Jesus Christ as their God and Lord. This is how they say about Christ that he did not exist at all, which is denied by Joseph Flavius ​​- Jewish historian, Pliny, and others, who accurately captured in their works the time when even we believers say that Christ lived among us. Others want to assign Jesus to the philosophers, others to the reformers. Some regard Jesus as a politician and generally as a person similar to us, but with a higher intellect for his time. But we know that Jesus cannot be included anywhere. He is not a social rioter, nor a dreamy thinker. He is God’s messenger, he is the mediator of salvation, therefore his words also apply to us, so that we believe, and we will be saved.

For us, the teaching of Christ is the teaching that shows us the way to eternal bliss. Let us repeat with St. Paul even today: “I know whom I have believed and I am sure” (2 Tim 1:12). Amazing confidence that can bear everything for Christ, that can move mountains, and that is the testimony for us that about itself says Jesus in the Gospel.  The testimony of Christ is unshakable when we have surrendered ourselves completely to Him.

1. If God loves us, why do we as individuals live full of insecurity, fear, and hatred? Why are we discontent, and emotionally unstable, fall into anxiety, grief, and self-limitations, and do not feel his love at all?
2. If God loves us, why are families breaking up at the societal level, children rebelling against parents, generations being pitted against each other, and rivalries and hatred reigning everywhere?
3. If God loves us, why are there wars, hunger, poverty, injustice, discrimination, oppression, and lack of freedom? Why don’t we as a society live a wonderful plan of love, justice, and peace?
4. And deep down, a discontented question gnaws: If God loves us, why don’t we try? Why isn’t our world a paradise where we live in harmony, peace, and justice?
A. The Problem
Before we would like to solve a problem, we must know the problem. If the problem is not formulated, the solution will never, we will never find it. If our car breaks down, we go to the mechanic to tell us what’s wrong. If our watch breaks down, we ask the watchmaker to fix it for us. But if it’s a broken life, who do we go to? If the world doesn’t go in the right direction, we’re supposed to ask the Creator of the world what’s going on. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23). That which does not allow God’s glory to be manifested in the world’s love and the realization of his plan of happiness, peace, and unity, is called sin. Sin is the cause of all the evils that afflict humanity.
God has poured out a flood of love upon us. But we are under an unbreakable glass that allows us to watch the rain of love fall, yet we don’t even get wet in the water of life. It is sin that keeps us from experiencing God’s love. Ever since Satan deceived our grandparents in paradise, who believed that by their strength they could gain happiness and human fulfillment, all the unhappiness in which we live began: Man has drifted away from God, the source of life, separated from his wife and blamed her, and made friends with the creature who rebelled against him. Since then, hatred, hostility, and vindictiveness have reigned. Immediately afterward, the stronger (Cain) killed the weaker (Abel). Wars, injustices, the pursuit of wealth, and all the evil that exists in the world began. Our problem is that we are sinners, and therefore we are distant from God’s love. The worst thing is that we cannot avoid it because sin is not something we can prevent from coming into us, but something that is born out of the nature of our being. Why does the lemon tree always give bitter and sour fruit and not sweet and tasty? The reason is simple: it has the roots of the lemon tree and cannot give any fruit other than lemons. And so we also bear the fruit of sin because our roots, our hearts, are sinful. We need someone to change our hearts…

We are sinners, and that is why we sin. Because our roots are the roots of sin, it stands to reason that they bear the fruit of sin. When King David recognized his sins and confessed them, he said that he was a sinner from conception, that he was born a sinner. Indeed, I was born in iniquity and my mother conceived me sinful. (Ž 51, 7). Sin is like our shadow. It cannot be separated from us. They are only two ways to be free from the shadow: Remain in total darkness – which is even worse, to be light, because light has no shadow – which, however, is for human powers impossible. To want to save one’s life with one’s strength means, falling further into hopelessness and helplessness. When the first space satellites began to be sent to the moon, the fundamental problem that humans faced was that they didn’t have enough energy to get there -they were falling to earth. And the higher they got, the harder the fall and the worse the consequences. The same thing happens to us when we want to achieve happiness through our strength and means and realization of our life: When we seek false paths: materialism, humanism without God, communism, and capitalism…, when we believe in false idols: Satanism, divinity, greed, mind control, transcendental meditation, predicting the future…, when we depend only on ourselves: the fulfillment of one law, our righteousness, our good works…

We are blind, unable to find the way. And no one else can help us, because others are – like us – blind. We need power from above, which we do not have. Two drunken men boarded a boat to sail to the other side of the river. It was already dark. They rowed all night without it, to reach the other side. At dawn, after partially sobering up, they discovered that they had not advanced a meter because the boat was tied up. We, too, are bound by the rope of sin, which does not allow us, to try as we may, to attain the salvation that is on the other shore. Neither our good intentions nor our good deeds, nor our righteousness, is not able to secure our salvation. And it matters not at all what the rope is. The little bird cannot fly whether it is tied with a steel chain or a thin thread. Either way, it cannot fly. We need someone to cut the rope of sin… Sin is not believing in God, not trusting in God and trusting more yourself, preferring yourself and negating him, rejecting his will, to arrange our life according to ourselves. This means worshiping an idol.

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the greatest. Jesus tells the Jews about this secret of authority and love: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. What the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19).

Jesus explains to the Jews his relationship with God – the Father. He emphasizes that God did not cease to be active even after the work of creation, as the Jews thought, but constantly maintains and manages the world. His son is his equal in nature, power and right, and majesty. This relationship is explained in theology in dogmatic by the doctrine of God in three persons – “De Deo Trino”. In the Gospel, John presents a serious idea: God has entrusted everything that he owns to his Son, namely: power, life, and judgment. From the Gospel, we see that Jesus does not make demands for people to believe in him, he does not rely on human authority, but on the authority of God. Jesus heals on the Sabbath, which offends the Jews. What God can do: raise the dead, and judge human deeds, he gave that to Jesus, his Son. From this, Jesus deduces for them that whoever does not honor him does not honor God – the Father either, but whoever believes his words gains eternal life.

Why can the Lord Jesus do what his Father does?
This he explains by saying that whatever his loving Father shows him, he also does. Whoever sees the Lord Jesus sees God. He who can listen to him listens to the Father, but also he who ignores him rejects the Father. Without him, we have no life, no salvation, and no way to God. And yet we accept the words of the Lord Jesus: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). That’s why we look at Jesus as a landmark not only of history but also of humanity.

This means for us that indifference to Christ does not exist. Each of us must make a decision – either to accept Jesus or to reject him. We want to accept it. That is why Jesus is close to us, we see in him our Judge, who in the hour of our death will be a landmark of bliss or damnation. He earned this rank by his love for God the Father and us, his brothers and sisters when out of love he came among us to redeem and save us.

We believe that Jesus is “Truth”. We believe that the judgment upon us will be what we deserve and that it will be just because he will not punish for himself, but for the Father, whom he propitiated. Therefore, it is our effort to be fully lived through life and be respected by is authority. Whoever does not respect authority on earth offends and deserves punishment. Whoever does not respect authority for eternal life despises the love of Christ and therefore prepares himself for eternal damnation. Even when preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we should realize, that this may be the last opportunity to apologize to God for our sins.

The thought of meeting Jesus as a Judge will lead us to a responsible approach to eternal values. Therefore, when questioning the conscience, or during various discussions about the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments and other commandments, let’s not say and convince what my opinion is, how I like it, or how it suits me, but let’s look at Jesus.