Second, you must forgive yourself. It is a risk to trust, but taking the risk is better than living with the absence of trust: anxiety, defensiveness, criticism, polarization, conflict, injustice and so on. Finally, take your lack of trust to God in prayer.
Jesus is trustworthy and loves us unconditionally, and he will guide us to mend ruptured relationships and restore the peace and security that come from the virtue of trust in God. When my family and I get together, it does not take long before we start reminiscing about the old days. The nieces and nephews do not quite understand what we are talking about, but they seem very interested.
My father and his buddies would go into the bayous and noodle for catfish. A noodler puts his hands into the muddy water feeling for a hole where the catfish rests. It is a teasing process until the catfish lunges after the hand. My dad gave me my first noodling lesson when I was about 7 years old.
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I had a great desire to go into the water, but I was scared. My dad slowly took me down and showed me how to noodle. Do not be afraid of the snakes and turtles. They will not bother you. They are afraid of you. Sadly, we can go through life just on the surface. We go from one thing to another—job, school, appointments, e-mails, Facebook, etc.
We are a society on the run with activities, destinations and deadlines.
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In fact, some people are afraid to be still and silent, to go into the deep of their souls. Similarly, I was afraid to go into the deep water because I was so distracted by my surroundings. For my father and his friends, their going into the deep provided food for the family. For Peter and the disciples, fishing had probably become routine, but Jesus stepped in and everything changed. When we go into the depths of our hearts, we see our limitations and our sinfulness, like Peter, but God knows who we are with our faults and failures. Consider the difference between snorkeling and scuba diving.
A snorkeler stays on the surface where it is safe, but misses out on so much. The scuba diver, however, goes deeper and sees so much more.
The fact is that with a deep loving relationship with God you bring a richness to the people with whom you interact and to the activities with which you are involved. You bring a freshness, a joy which is Christ himself. You are better able to enter into what people are going through. True love is unconditional, sacrificial and forgiving. This love is only possible with an in-depth relationship with the Lord. Jesus was telling Peter that in order to feed others he would have to be able to enter into their loneliness, their sufferings, their sins, their indifference and their doubts.
Otherwise, he would be on the surface with them and not in the depths where the Spirit dwells. How do we throw into the deep?
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Jesus gave us the Church to continue our spiritual journey and his mission. The Church invites us to more personal prayer, reading and listening to the Word of God, celebrating the sacraments, especially reconciliation and the Eucharist. Devotions, such as adoration or the rosary, also deepen our spirituality. Perhaps getting involved in a charitable cause will be of assistance. What you see and hear on the surface is really only a call to seek the treasure that lies in the depths. Do you have the courage to go deeper?
From the time God breathed life into Adam and Eve, mankind has tried to replace the breath of God with its own. Adam and Eve were fooled by Satan into believing that they could become not just like God but God, and so they ate the forbidden fruit. Thus, they were separated from the communion they enjoyed with God.
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Human beings have boundaries, and when those boundaries are crossed, disaster follows. Men and women have been fascinated with towers — tall buildings. It is a show of ingenuity, creativity, strength and power. Go to any large city and you will walk in the shadow of tall buildings. What is the quality of life in the shadow of those buildings? The tallest building in the world thus far is in Burj Khalifa, Dubai, and it is 2, feet tall. Biblically there is nothing wrong with tall buildings, except possibly the motive for the building.
Is it pride taking the place of God?
In Genesis 11, the people were united by their common language to do good. However, they left God out of the equation and decided to build a tall tower. So, God came down and said that He originally gave them one language and one culture to praise and worship Him, but they used it for their own self-aggrandizement. As a result, He confused their language so no one understood what another said. They were then isolated from each other. The nature of sin is separation from God — pride. God is not needed; we are self-sufficient. Reflection will show us the similarities today in our secular culture — materialism, individualism, selfishness and greed.
Families, friends and nations may have the same language and culture, but that does not guarantee unity, love and respect. Daily we see the anger, hate, separation. The foundation values of unity are rooted in God, not in language or culture. The Lord said he gave a new heart, not a heart of stone but a heart of love. The Tower of Babel grew out of the old heart of rebellion, arrogance, and yearning for total freedom.
Pentecost is often called the reversal of the Tower of Babel. They were afraid to go out; then the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
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In order to avoid the Babel disaster in your life and live the grace-filled life of Pentecost, I suggest that you pray for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit — wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. Finally, you know you live in the Spirit if you have the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and charity.
In Romans , St. I am going around the Diocese confirming our young people. The challenge they most frequently mention is social media. They see it as both good and bad, depending on the use. They say they spend too much time on social media and not enough time on prayer, forming positive relationships, or participating in the life of the Church. In its April 23, , issue TIME Magazine had an extensive article on social media and its possibility for good and bad, and how we are transformed by it or whether we transform it.
For instance, all of us, but especially young people, check our phones on an average of 47 times every 19 minutes of our waking hours. Not only does this leave little time for anything else, but also our young people are being transformed by what they see and hear. Some say that without discernment, social media can control our thoughts and behavior. This will take place especially if we are not connected to transcendent values, such as the Gospels and teachings of the Church. Technology is disconnected from the transcendent. One of the initial goals of technology was to connect people globally.
Unfortunately, that connection evolved into increasing divisions along racial, cultural, and ideological lines.
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Social media tends to remain on the surface, rather than delving deep below the surface. Jesus gave us the Church to help us go below the surface to the very depth of our souls where God is present and where transformation takes place. In trying to help young people face the challenges of transforming the world with transcendent values, Pope Francis has called a Synod on Youth for this coming October.
In preparation for the Synod, the Holy Father called to Rome young adults to obtain their input for a draft document that will be discussed during the Synod. Representative young adults from around the world will participate in the Synod. Though the use of media will be part of the discussion, other topics will be discussed, such as contraception, abortion, homosexuality, cohabitation. It is the hope of the Holy Father that young people will discern these issues in light of the Gospel values and the teachings of the Church.
Young people want a clear answer as to why the Church teaches what it teaches. Hopefully, the Synod will give them a better understanding so they can be better witnesses for Christ and better able to discern the worldly values that the media bombards them with every day. Finally, besides the Synod, there will be a World Youth Day in Panama in January , during which many of the Synod issues will be discussed. This coming August, our diocese will have a gathering of between to 1, of our young people to discuss the Synod and World Youth Day issues.
These are indeed graced, Spirit-filled events to help our young people become holy in a world that does not support the values of Jesus Christ and his Church. Hopefully, our youth will transform the world by Christian values, rather than be transformed by the values of the world. In fact, we can say He has created us precisely to become like Him — Holy. That is our vocation — Holiness, in the sense of authenticity, truth, wholeness, and no duplicity. His exhortation is to remind us that our call is to become holy.
Jesus, through the Church and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has given us the means to holiness. Furthermore, he addresses the concrete challenges we face today on our journey.