THE FIRST WORD UPON AWAKENING

When I awake in the morning, You, Father, are already there, and all night You have watched over me. Then You expect me to turn to You and my first word to be consecrated to You, gladly and joyously! But sometimes I forget and let myself be carried away by moods. What a pity!

How important is this first word: the greeting to You! It places me in the truth of being, for who in the order of the redeemed Creation would not greet You?

All the angels and saints, burning in love for You, sing praises to You. The souls of the departed hope in Your mercy, to behold You soon from face to face. And the irrational creatures? They too, by their very existence, proclaim Your praise, for from You they have received life.

The book of Wisdom tells us:
“Whoever gets up early to seek her [the Wisdom], will have no trouble but will find her sitting at the door. Wisdom is brilliant, she never fades. By those who love her, she is readily seen, by those who seek her, she is readily found”. (Wis 6:14,12)

You, Father, are the source of all wisdom. To meditate on You and on Your love is the “perfection of wisdom” (Wis 6:15).

Now I have a new day ahead of me; a day created by You, also for me. Let me live it in such a way that, before nightfall, I can say: “Thank You, Father! This day was a good step to bring me closer to You on the way to eternity. Your wisdom was with me, and helped me and toiled with me (cf. Wis 9:10)”.

THE WORD “FATHER”

THE WORD “FAHTER”

“Father” – what a wonderful word Jesus gave us to make the Eternal God understandable to us.

God is not just invisible or even unreachable for us! We can trust the reports of the Holy Scriptures, which tell us about Him. God wants to be very close to us; and in many ways He wants to make us understand that He loves us and wants to live with us – His children.

This is expressed in the word “Father”, and it is able to speak to our heart in depth. In the word “Father” is expressed a whole YES to us human beings and to our existence. God never takes this back! Even if we reject His love for us, His YES remains over us. It invites us to turn back, to come home, not to close ourselves to His love for time and eternity.

Our Father has spoken this YES to us humans irrevocably in His Son Jesus. In doing so, He calls us out of our remoteness from God and leads us into His closeness.

„For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16), Holy Scripture testifies to us. In Jesus He gave us His heart.

The way is now open to the heart of the Father. The Son has taken away all obstacles at the cost of His own life. If we believe in Him and receive forgiveness of our sins the Father’s love can come to us without obstacles and live in the security and joy of the children of God.

What hinders us to follow this invitation? We should set out with confidence! The Father awaits us because He is our Father….

The ‘Ahabs’ of this world have to convert

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1 Kgs 21:17-29

Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Up! Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, in Samaria. You will find him in Naboth’s vineyard; he has gone down to take possession of it. You are to say this to him, “Yahweh says this: You have committed murder and now you usurp as well. For this – and Yahweh says this – in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your blood too.” Read More

Overcoming greed

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1 Kgs 21:1-16

Naboth of Jezreel had a vineyard close by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria, and Ahab said to Naboth, ‘Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it adjoins my palace; I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will give you its value in money.’ Naboth, however, said to Ahab, ‘Yahweh forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage!’ Read More

The gifts of the Holy Spirit (6/7): THE GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING

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“The Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:10)

While the gift of knowledge helps us to withdraw from the attraction of creatures, recognising in an inner sight their nothingness (inasmuch as they were created out of nothing), and makes us realise that all life and beauty proceed from God; the gift of understanding helps us to penetrate the mystery of God with the light of the Holy Spirit Himself. Read More

The gifts of the Holy Spirit (5/7): THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE

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“What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life?” (Mt 16:26)

Through the first four gifts (fear of the Lord, piety, fortitude and counsel), the Holy Spirit guides our moral life above all. Through the last three gifts (knowledge, understanding and wisdom) He directly guides our supernatural life, i.e. our God-centred life. Read More