"Life is difficult"



"They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me" (John 15:21).

 When I reflect on the words of Jesus from the Gospel reading of today, I can't help it but think of "Life is difficult" - the opening statement of Scott Peck's famous book The Road Less Traveled. 

 "Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult -once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.
...
Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Do we want to teach our children to solve them?" (The Road Less Traveled, p.15).

 The words of Jesus, spoken some 20 centuries ago, tell us the same thing in a simple and yet much profound way. The difference, however, is instead of relying solely on our skills and resilience, we rely on God who is our strength.  

 Jesus predicts that the world is going to hate and ridicule His followers. It's very easy for us to do the same; to hate those who hate us and ridicule those who ridicule us. We act like that when we do not know God - "for they do not know the one who sent me" (John 15:21). The verb "know" has a very deep and intimate sense of knowledge in the Bible. Knowing does not simply mean obtaining information.  The concept of “knowing” something or someone takes on a special meaning in the Semitic languages and this specialized meaning has to do with relationship, and primarily a relationship that is based upon the making of a covenant. God made a covenant with us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and He will never abandon us even during the darkest hours of our existence. 

 Life is difficult and full of challenges but you can overcome all challenges because God is with you. Deepen your relationship with God and follow the commandment of Jesus "Love one another" (John 15: 17).
Yours,

Fr. Nareg

Read the Word of God. Today's readings are: Isaiah 49:1-6; Acts 20:25-38; John 15:17-25

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

… for the least among all of you is the greatest (Luke 9:48).

Image
  … for the least among all of you is the greatest. Jesus predicts his passion and crucifixion. His disciples could not perceive it and fear prevents them from asking Jesus any questions. To deflect the conversation they start arguing as to which one of them was the greatest. The disciples haven’t yet learned the lesson of reversal expressed in the Magnificat (1:46-55) and the beatitudes (6:20-49). Jesus corrects them with an illustration, as he places a child next to him. The one who receives such lowly and weak members of the society receives Jesus and the Father who sent Him. Moreover, becoming the least through service of others is the true indicator of who is greatest.  Becoming the least makes us  rely not on our own resources but it’s a deep spiritual insight of our ultimate dependency on God. Only when we recognize this dependency we can open ourselves to hear the call of God.
Read more

Then and Now

Image
Today we read the parable of the sower. This is one of the parables of Jesus that has been imprinted in my mind since early childhood. And sometimes when you know something then you think you know it. There is no need to revisit right? Not always! Let's look at the biblical text:  “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.”  (Luke 8: 5-8) It is clear that Jesus creates 4 categories in this parable. My first way of internalizing the message of this parable was creating categories: The Word of God grows depending on the kind of soil your heart is. and those categories are almost permanent. My more mature sense of spirituality helped me shift my focus from "the kind of soil
Read more

Instruments for Special Purposes

Image
The 2 readings on today’s liturgical calendar are deeply interconnected.   In his 2nd letter to Timothy, St. Paul describes our human condition through the analogy of household articles; some made with gold and silver and others made with wood and clay. Similarly, each one of us has parts of our character that we are proud of and others that we are ashamed of. We may have some habits that reflect our maturity and other habits that expose our inner conflicts and struggles. St. Paul exhorts his disciple Timothy and all Christians to engage in the act of self-cleansing to become “instruments for special purposes”. Self-cleansing to St. Paul consists of fleeing the evil desires of youth and pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace. Not engaging in foolish and stupid arguments and quarrels and n ot being resentful.  In other words, self-discipline is the first step towards change. Self-transformation happens when we identify the bad clusters of our being and repl
Read more