Have you ever thought how awesome the name of the Lord is?
Before you realize how good, great and awesome the Lord God is, you have first to know that God is love. And the love of God is the foremost basis of our existence as human being. God's love is the root of human relationship and all the other relationships.
God is love. He is perfect and He is perfectly happy. He doesn't need anything. He is not lonely because He is not alone. Even when we say that there is only one God, we should remember the Blessed Trinity: The Father, the Lover; the Son, the beloved; and the Holy Spirit that binds the Father and the Son.
Indeed, God is overflowed with happiness. And He wants to share His happiness with us that is why He created the world. He created Us. This is how we define the Love of God for us. His love is unselfish. He aspires good things for us.
BEAUTY
(kagandahan)
Many people are mistaken about the concept of beauty. At times when we say that the person is beautiful, we mean his/her physical appearance. That is the beauty which we first see in a person. For some, to be beautiful is to use a few whitening products like soap or lotion with the belief that they will be beautiful when they use those. I believe this beauty is just the front cover of our being.
Real beauty is skin deep. A beauty that goes beyond what the naked eye can see. A beauty that is from within. A beauty that comes from within. And what could be the best way to be beautiful? That is to be happy. Finding happiness with peace in your mind and in your heart. When a person is happy, the beauty comes out naturally.
Remember, it is written in the Bible that we, humans, are created in the image and likeness of the Lord that is why we are beautiful.
GREATNESS
(kadakilaan)
The Lord created us through His image and likeness and that make us distinct from the rest of His creation. The Lord wants us to be great. We are made to be great.
Every human being is unique. Every one has what the others don't have. We are given talents and abilities for us to cultivate and eventually share to one another. We are given free will to decide what best suits us or what is not good for us.
Our talents will shape us and mold us to be God's greatest creation.
Though each one of us has different personalities and attitudes or behaviors, we have to help one another and compliment each other. Let us set aside the "crab mentality" attitude that we have in us. God wants us to be the best and God brings out the best in us. If at times, we lose hope and chooses to give up, let's motivate each other and remind each other that we are God's greatest creation.
ABUNDANCE
(kasaganahan)
During creation, God made a paradise for humans to live and to take good care of. He puts there everything man needs. He gave man more than what is enough.
In the Bible, there are several times that showed how the good Lord give His people more that what they asked for. The first miracle of God during the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1-12), when they ran out of wine to serve for the people, they went to Jesus.
There were six stone jars each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to them to fill the jars with water.
When the jars were filled with water, Jesus asked them to taste the water and bring it to the master of the feast. When the master of the feast tasted the water, it became wine.
This shows how great God is and how great his love for man is. We just have to strengthen our faith to him.
Unfortunately, in this day and age, many people are poor. Poverty becomes a perennial problem in our country and in some countries around the world.
We believe in fatalism. We put our actions or the events in our life to fate: horoscope, swerte, lotto, game show, etc. We believe that we are powerless and we cannot do anything other than what we actually do.
Another expression of poverty is being poor in spirit. We depend our happiness through material possessions. Most peoples' illusion is: happiness depends on the amount of his salary. Money is the root of evil. There is something more than luxuries. Our faith in the Lord that He alone can provide us with life's extravagance.
When God created us, He gave us power over his creation. He gave us the resources. He has faith in us that we can achieve something and be somebody someday.
Let us always put in our hearts and minds that the love of God is unselfish. It is pure. It is so unconditional. God who truly loves always sees the good in us and always wishes what is good for us.
Beauty, Greatness and Abundance are some of the expression of the love of God for mankind. Other than these, His greatest love is best expressed in our relationship with Him, with our neighbors and with his creation.
1. RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
In Deuteronomy 6:5 it says, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your (mind and) heart and with your entire being and with all your might."
This is how the way we should love God for the reason that He created us. All of us came from Him. Everything we have, everything around us comes from God.
The First Commandment states "You shall not have any other Gods than me." Clearly, this tells us that we should love God above all things. His love for us is the main reason why we are here on earth.
Many relationships failed because they were blinded by fame, power and wealth. They forgot that to be rich is to be under the care of God's loving arms. They neglected to place God as the center of their relationship. How many families were broken because they don't see the love of God and that they find it hard to show it to their children? How many children got lost because parents weren't able to find time to express the love of God?
When you fail to see the wondrous and amazing love of God to mankind, then you also failed your relationship with God and to the rest.
All relationships are rooted in our relationship with the Creator of the World.
2. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS
What does the Bible says in loving others?
In Luke 6:35, it says, "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and wicked.
This is what the Lord asks us to do, to love our neighbors the way He loves us.
This may be hard for some of us. Some will say that it is easier said than done. It is not easy to love the person who hurt us and who caused us pain. We find it hard to forgive those people who wronged us.
We hardly notice that we are nurturing anger and hate in our hearts. And God doesn't like to see His children living in pain and hurt. It is true that it is really hard, but have we ever thought that God forgives us every time we sinned regardless of how big or small it was? And He sent His only son to redeem us from the Original Sin committed by Adam and Eve. This shows how great His love is and how merciful the love of God is. He allowed his only Son to suffer and die on the cross to save mankind from sin.
Conversion of the heart is what we need if we find it hard to love others. The Golden Rule tells us to "Do unto others what you want others do unto you." Show mercy and compassion if you want them to be kind to you. Give and share what you have even though you don't have enough if you want them to return love to you. Be humble and meek if you want them to appreciate you. Do not be boastful or too bragging. God's love works in Silence and that silence is the loudest sound that vibrates in the world especially in our hearts.
Forgive. This is what the Lord did.
Forgive. And you will be forgiven.
3. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WORLD
The story of Creation is one of the clear manifestations of the love of God for us. He created the world to be our home. He created man to become the steward of His creation. And being the steward, we are given the responsibility to take good care of His creation. Being God's stewards means taking charge of the environment, nature and the people.
Our environment is one of God's greatest gifts to us. It encompasses His greatest art works. In Genesis 1:28, that is when he said to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
We should understand that not because God said we should rule the earth, we can do whatever we want to do with it. Yes, we can really do what we want to do but let us remember that we are molded and created through God's image and likeness, which means we are rational being having the ability to think properly than the rest of His creations. And by this, it is understood that we are intelligent than all His creations. We are blessed to think what is good and not, and what is right or wrong for the people and the environment.
As I said, we are called to be stewards of His creation and not merely exploiters of the environment. Man's greed is destroying the very beautiful gift God has bestowed upon us. As Christians, we do have the duty to protect and care for our environment. We should do our part before it becomes too late for us.
This is written in Laudato Si, the second encyclicals of Pope Francis. He calls the people of the world to take fast or swift and unified action for our environment. We have to heed this call and start within ourselves, our families and communities.
When we care for the environment, we show how we love God.
Let us all remember that we are all connected to each other. As the lyric of the song goes "Ang lahat ng bagay ay magka-ugnay, magka-ugnay ang lahat."
All three relationships are interconnected. When we love God, we love others, too. And when we love His creation we show how we appreciate the love of God for us.
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The Arzobispado de Manila employees had their annual Lenten Retreat at the Mornese Center of Spirituality in Calamba, Laguna on February 17-19, 2016. The three day retreat was given by Bishop Teodoro Bacani. The topic was in line with the celebration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
This is a personal reflection of the wandering soul.
