A Bounty Like No Other
Saint Matthew’s Gospel, of the four Gospels, alone uses this particular verse in telling of the Parable of the Wicked Tenants:
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it” (Matthew 21:43).
The Navarre Bible explains this verse should, “fill the faithful with hope and a sense of security.” Although all may seem lost, the vineyard owner, God, remains in control of the vineyard. With these words, Jesus assures anyone aiming to bring glory to God a place in the vineyard.
Jesus encourages the faithful to remain hopeful, no matter how rejected they feel in this world. Rejection does not indicate defeat; instead, He encourages with the words:
“‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone …” (Matthew 21:42).
Jesus is the cornerstone rejected, crucified and raised to become the foundation of the Church. Rejected like no other, He produced a bounty like no other. It is the grace of that vineyard He longs to share with the faithful.
The “wicked tenants” tended a vineyard carefully fashioned by the land owner. A vineyard was created to profit not only the vine growers but also the beneficiaries of the bounty. God has provided each of us with our own perfectly constructed vineyard. How can we offer back to God what He has given us? How can we be “the vine growers who will pay Him the proceeds at the proper seasons” (Matthew 21:41). Primarily, we accomplish this by sharing the good news and loving others.
We can begin with our families. The only experience with Christ some of your family and friends may have is how they meet Him in you. We may experience painful rejection for our faith. That does not excuse us from the charge to be Christ in the world and to share the grace of what we believe. People may not wish to hear our words, but as the old hymn reminds us, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
Another way to share the vineyard’s yield is through invitation. Consider hosting a weekly small group in your home or at your parish. Trust me, a vineyard filled with eager tenants longing to follow and please the land owner is always a great blessing. My entire reversion to the Catholic Church began with one such invitation. A woman at my parish reached out and asked me to join her small group of faith sharing.
I remember the night the group met for the first time. Most in attendance had never participated in a book club, never mind a “religious book club.” To overcome my nerves, I convinced myself this would be my only night. However, after the host served the yummy snacks, I knew I would be back for another week. Week after week, I learned a little more about the Scriptures and Jesus’ great love for me. Eventually, it was much more than the snacks which attracted me to the group—it was the accountability, the fellowship and the blossoming of my faith. I soon began to arrive with a journal and a Bible, complete with handy dandy tabs to assist me in finding scripture passages.
Ten years later, I now host a weekly small group. We have read countless inspiring Catholic books and Bible studies. We have shared countless yummy snacks, cups of coffee and, yes, even glasses of wine. The small group meetings, like the promise in Matthew 21:43, help us to be hopeful and maintain a sense of security.
The truths of this parable remain: an allegory about a carefully constructed vineyard intended to produce bountiful fruit yet misused for selfish desires, along with a rejection of the land owner’s authority. We may feel the wicked tenants have won, but instead, we find comfort in Jesus’ words from Saint Matthew’s Gospel. In the end, the vineyard belongs to those who labor, even in the most imperfect ways, to accomplish God’s will.
What joy I have discovered in my small group as we share common struggles of faith. Buoyed by our friends on those days we may feel we labor in vain, our efforts themselves please God. How it gives us a sense of security to know we are not the only one seeking to know God and His will better and to share in the hope that we will be the vine growers with whom God will choose to share the vineyard.
Allison Gingras is the founder of ReconciledToYou.com - where she shares the beauty of the Catholic Faith with honesty, laughter, and relatable examples from every day, ordinary life! Her newest project is the Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women (Gracewatch.Media/Connected) and includes her first book, The Gift of Invitation: 7 Ways Jesus Invites You into a Life of Grace. Allison hosts A Seeking Heart with Allison Gingras on BreadboxMedia.com; and is a Social Media Specialist for Kennedy Brownrigg Group and WINE: Women in the New Evangelization.
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As an Author, Storyteller and National Speaker he seeks to emanate the light of Christ to the whole world. Meet Graziano Marcheschi the Senior Programming Consultant of Shalom World as he beautifully describes the essence of Shalom ministry. Prelude They don’t come often. Days of singular focus where everything works together and everything hangs together; days free of crippling self-awareness when we surrender to the flow and the unfolding of events …and of God’s grace. Such was my daughter’s wedding day. I awoke happy, looking forward to the day without any of the father-of-the-bride wedding day jitters. Everything was just as it should be. Throughout the day, I found peace in every moment. The Mass, presided over by our local archbishop, was perfect—his homily a brilliant breaking open of the word of God. The reception, my father-of-the-bride toast, the 20-foot-long banner unfurled on cue by my nephews professing a father’s love for his little girl—all holy, all part of a seamless flow. Nothing could disturb the perfect balance. Even my daughter-bride’s frantic whispers in my ear that the caterers were serving the “wrong” menu brought no alarm. “What do you mean, ‘the wrong menu?’” I asked “It’s not what we ordered!” she stressed. But the food was good. Too good to upend the equilibrium of that special day. I visited with friends and family members. “Thank you so much for including us,” one said. “Of course, of course!” It all went by so fast, so smoothly, so like it was being guided from somewhere far beyond. But the real grace of that day, what made it exceptional and unique, was my lack of self-awareness and self-preoccupation. Of course, I was there. I wasn’t withdrawn or in a daze. I was fully aware, though not of myself, but of all that was beautifully, gracefully unfolding among us. It was a rare magic I’ve tasted but a few times in my life. A Puzzle When I first encountered Shalom World ministries, I wondered why a Catholic organization would adopt such a Jewish name. Friends who know of my work with Shalom often ask the same question. So, I decided to look deeper to better understand a word that’s peppered my vocabulary for as long as I remember. Like the Italian “Ciao” or Hawaii’s “Aloha,” Shalom is a prosaic word used to greet and bid farewell: “Shalom!” when you meet someone. “Shalom!” when they leave. Though most commonly translated as “peace,” shalom holds a much deeper meaning for the Jewish people from whom we’ve borrowed the word. Much more than the absence of conflict, shalom implies a sense of completeness and wholeness. The word derives from the verb “shalem” which suggests a fullness and oneness in body, mind, and state of life. It celebrates an inner tranquility or harmony that manifests itself in the urge to give back, to restore and to make something whole. When a Jewish person greets another with shalom, they are wishing them health, well-being, and prosperity. The same is true when Jews or Christians bless someone with the famous invocation from the Book of Numbers: “The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (Numbers 6: 24-26). This is not the “peace and quiet” that we sometimes scream for in times of stress. It is a tranquility and harmony that we can’t manufacture and which only God can give us. Only from God himself, from “his face” shining down upon us, from his protection encircling us, can we receive the inner peace and completeness that are the real meaning of Shalom. Scripture identifies God with peace to such an extent that Shalom becomes a name of God. In the Book of Judges (6:24) Gideon builds an altar to the Lord and calls it “Yahweh-Shalom” (“God is peace”). When we wish shalom to someone, we are wishing God upon them. A Foretaste Through a Christian lens, shalom becomes another word for the kingdom of God. In its deepest sense, the kingdom is Jesus Christ himself. In his person, Jesus embodies God’s kingdom. When he says, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand” Jesus announces that in his person, as both God and man, heaven and earth have met and God’s kingdom, God’s very presence, is now among us. And what do we understand the kingdom to be but God’s rule over us, his reign extended through the earth, a manifestation of the very attributes of shalom—completeness, safety, tranquility, harmony, and peace. In a book entitled Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, author Cornelius Plantinga presents the Hebrew bible’s understanding of shalom this way: “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. … In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.” What a perfect description that is of the kingdom of God. As Christians, when we say shalom, we wish for the fullness of the Kingdom. We pray for God’s governance over us as individuals and as nations. We long for the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in us. Shalom on the lips of Jesus was a reminder to the disciples that what he brought was but a foretaste of what was to come in the fullness of God’s kingdom. This understanding of shalom is what I experienced on my daughter’s wedding day—a sense of harmony, the absence of struggle and of self-preoccupation, the letting go of fear and trusting effortlessly in the providence of God. That’s why Jesus rebuked more than the winds when the disciples cried out, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” in response to the sudden storm that filled them with terror as Jesus lay asleep in the back of the boat. He took them to task because he was disappointed that they had surrendered shalom. They weren’t simply anxious; they were afraid at their core. They forgot they weren’t in real danger because the lord of heaven and earth was in the boat with them. They feared he would let them down, sleep through the danger and let them drown. But true shalom means knowing we are never in mortal danger; remembering we are always in the hands of the lord of heaven and earth. It means trusting, at the core of our being, that in God’s hands we find safety, comfort, harmony, and peace. If you wanted to create a ministry to bring the good news of the gospel to millions around the world, if you dreamed of a print magazine, television programming, and round the clock prayer that encourages readers and viewers with the message of Jesus— “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have conquered the world” (John 16:33)—what would you call that ministry? How about Shalom World?
In Luke 10:19, Jesus told the 72 other disciples, "Behold I have given you the power to tread upon the serpents and scorpions and upon all the forces of the enemy and nothing shall ever harm you." We read in Luke 4:17:21, "Jesus stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me, to bring glad tidings to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." Rolling up the scroll, He handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at Him. He said to them, "Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." In the Book of John 14:12, Jesus said, "Amen, I say unto you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these because I am going to my Father." "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."—Acts 1:8. From these different passages in the scriptures, we can say that the Lord’s will and design for our lives are for us to live a power-filled style of living. The source of this mighty power, this divine power in our lives, is the Holy Spirit. It is not from our own wisdom or knowledge or ability but from the Holy Spirit. However, many people, including Christians, do not live in the power that the Lord wants them to have. Many Christians claim for themselves only a minute portion of what God has made possible for them in Christ Jesus because they are ignorant of what the Holy Spirit can do and wants to do for them and through them. In John 7:37, Jesus says, "Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as scripture says, "Rivers of living waters shall flow within him." When Jesus mentioned the "living waters," He was actually referring to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the uncreated power of God. Jesus says in Luke 13:11, "If you then who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will my Father in heaven give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Some people describe His power as "dunamis," a Greek word meaning "dynamite." But I believe that this power that the Lord is giving us is more powerful, more potent than all the atomic bombs and weapons combined in this world. We have an awesome God and His power is mighty. There is no limit to His power. There is no description to His power. His power creates as well as destroys power that is not of Him and from Him. His power is Divine in nature and nothing is more powerful than divine power. Allow me to share with you some principles to obtain power-filled living: 1. Have a constant, moment by moment, right personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He should be number one in our life. He should be the King, the Lord, the Savior of our life 24/7. In John 15:7-8, Jesus said, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want, and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciple." Every time I read this passage in the scriptures, a feeling of tremendous excitement starts to "well up" within me. 2. Be an imitator of Christ. In other words, we should strive to be like Jesus in every way. As a matter of fact, this should be the number one goal of a Christian. This necessitates for us to talk like Jesus, think like Jesus, act like Jesus did, have an attitude like that of Jesus and do what He commands us to do. Furthermore, it means "dying to self" so that we will be truly "alive in Him"(cf. Romans 6:11). I believe it is not impossible to achieve. Yes, we can achieve all of these through the power of the Holy Spirit. With God, nothing is impossible at all. In Philippians 4:13, Saint Paul states, "I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me." 3. Constant, day-to-day, communication with God. This is what prayer is—communication with God. We can do it with our eyes closed or our eyes opened. We can do it kneeling down or sitting down or standing up or walking around or even lying down. We can do it anywhere we are. We can do it with verbal outburst of emotion or without verbal words. Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you. For everyone who asks, receives; and for the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Now, how many Christians do you think pray but do not really have faith that God is going to do anything great? On the other hand, how many Christians have faith but do not have the discipline to pray? If we want to see the supernatural take place in our lives, we need to live a lifestyle that is focused on constant communication with God. In Phillipians 4:6, Saint Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." In James 4:2-3, we read, "Yet, you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure." 4. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul says in Ephesians 5:18, "And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." Every day, we should ask the Holy Spirit in faith to fill us with His presence, His power and His grace. In Luke 11:13, Jesus said, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" 5. Obey the Lord's commands and the promptings of His Holy Spirit. In 1 Samuel15:22, the word of God says, "Obedience is better than sacrifice, submission than the fat of rams." Our obedience to the Lord and His commands for us really moves the heart of God. Once, I was praying over a man born blind in a Catholic Coptic Church in Bethlehem, Holy Land, during a Healing Rally. This Arab Christian, named George, was 58 years old and I could only see "the white flesh" in his eyes. I could not even see his pupils because they were covered with this "white flesh." As I was praying over George, I heard the Lord's voice in my heart, telling me to command the "spirit of blindness" to leave him in Jesus' name. I obeyed what the Lord was telling me to do. Minutes later, he said he could see "shadows," then, as I continued to pray over him, he said he could see "lights" and finally he said he could see "everything" around him. George was totally healed of blindness that day! Only in obedience to the Lord and His commands can we experience the miracles unfolding before our eyes. The following year, I went back to the Holy Land as a tour leader for 48 pilgrims. We went to Bethlehem and I came to the same Church looking for George. But Father Yacob the Parish priest told me “You can no longer see him here. George has been out there sight-seeing ever since he was healed of blindness." 6. Saturate your entire being with God's words. Jesus said in John 6:63, "My words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. "Psalm 109:105 tells us, "Your word, oh Lord, is a lamp for my feet and light to my path." Indeed, God's word is power! In Revelations 12:11, the Word of God says, "We conquer Satan by the word of our testimony and by the blood of the Lamb." The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (CCC) 104, states, "In sacred scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God." "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet His children, and talks with them." Saint Jerome, one of the Doctors of the Catholic Church, says that "ignorance of scriptures is ignorance of Christ." 7. Let us avail ourselves of the sacraments of the Catholic Church, especially the sacraments of reconciliation or confession and the Eucharist. CCC 1422 states, “Those who approach the sacrament of penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against Him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion." It further maintains, "Jesus calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the proclamation of the kingdom: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’" In the Church's preaching this call is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and His gospel. Also, baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is by faith in the gospel and by baptism that one renounces evil and gains salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life (CCC 1427). In order for God's power or anointing to remain in us, we should also avail ourselves with the Sacrament of the Eucharist daily, if possible. The Holy Eucharist, The Documents of Vatican Council II tells us, is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (Lumen gentium, number 11; cf. CCC 1324). "At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. This He did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace and a pledge of future glory is given to us’" (CCC 1323). We encounter Jesus in a very special way through the sacraments of the Church. Needless to say, the sacraments are also great sources of power in a person's life. 8. Have an expectant faith, a kind of faith that can move mountains. What is the Biblical definition of faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrew 11:1). Jesus said in Luke 17:6, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you." "And without faith, it is impossible to please God."(Hebrew 11:6). Faith is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is God's will for us to have a supernatural kind of faith, a faith that can move mountains. We are all unworthy to be used by the Lord. Early in my ministry of preaching, teaching and healing, I reminded the Lord that I am unworthy and I feel unworthy to be a vessel of His power. He spoke into my heart. He said, "My son, I shed my precious blood for you on the Cross in Calvary. By doing so, I made you worthy of my love for you." I, then, asked Him to grant me the faith that can move mountains. Faith can move the heart of God. How to Use God's Power? 1. Use it in the Name of Jesus and by the power of His Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 2:9-11, Saint Paul says, "For God has highly exulted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend of those of heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father." In November 2007, a lady called from Michigan asking me to pray with her for the dead fetus in her womb. She said, "I'm four months pregnant, but tomorrow, the doctors will have to remove the dead fetus from my womb. I am very scared of the doctor's procedures and very distraught over what happened to my baby." She said all the tests had confirmed the demise of the baby in her womb. As we started to pray, I sensed that the Lord wanted me to speak life into the dead fetus. I followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I spoke life into the baby at least three times in the mighty name of Jesus. But I did not hear from the lady again until February 2008, which was five months later. She told me that she just delivered a healthy, eight-pound baby girl. When I asked her what happened, she said that on the day when the “dead” fetus was to be removed, the doctors were startled to detect heartbeats in the ultrasound. Truly, there is power in the Name of Jesus if we invoke it with love and reverence and with expectant faith. 2. Use it for God's glory. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Saint Paul says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God." All honor and glory rightfully belong to God alone, for, without Him, we are nothing and we cannot do anything."(cf. John 15:5). When I pray for the sick, for instance, I always ask the Lord for His name to be glorified through the healing of the person. 3. Use it with humility. There is nothing except pride that can block, warp or dilute the power of God. Psalms 18:27 says, "For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down." Therefore, the more humble we become, the more power and anointing from God that will reside upon us. 1 Peter 5:5 reads," Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Jesus Himself is the model of humility par excellence. According to Saint Paul in Phillipians 2:5-8, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” 4. Use it with boldness. We should always remember that "the Kingdom of God is not only a matter of words but of power" (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:20). The power of God should be used with boldness in the Holy Spirit. When the power of God is unleashed in our midst to further the Kingdom of God, it will always accomplish its intended purposes. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Saint Paul wrote, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self discipline." In Acts 4:31, the word of God says, "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." My brothers and sisters, because of their boldness in the Holy Spirit, the apostles and the disciples had turned this world "upside down" and "inside out" and this world has never been the same. The good news is that we are also called by the Lord to do the same by virtue of our baptism. 5. Use it in love. Love is the key that opens the Kingdom and the heart of God. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, the word of God says, "So faith, hope and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." For sure, if we use God's power with love, everything will be possible for us. In John 4:16, we read, "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." God bless you all!
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No trip lasts forever, but how do we convince a child that it is time to let go? I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a while, and out of all the jobs available, I found myself pedicabbing. That's right, I was tasked with bicycling people around the city. Of course, I was in the best shape of my life. I carried numerous people, covering upwards of 100 miles on a weekly basis. I gave rides to celebrities, political figures, conference goers, and the nightlife thrill-seekers. My most memorable fare was an unexpected family just leaving a restaurant. As chance would dictate, I was in the exact vicinity searching for my next customer, and I yelled: "Hey, y'all need a ride?" These two parents were doting on their seven or eight-year-old child. He was celebrating his birthday, and when he saw me, the kid immediately started tugging on his father's arm and pleaded: "Pappa, Momma! Can I please take a ride? Please? Please? Pleeeeeeease?" They both looked at him endearingly and said: "Of course. It's your special day!" Without asking the price, the father asked if I could give them a nice long tour of Uptown Charlotte. Hence, I was tasked with showing them all the spots I could think of that would interest the youngster. We weaved in and out of traffic; I showed them parks, beautifully lit buildings, waterfalls, monuments, and statues…We even stopped to listen to troubadours and watch street artists and magicians. No doubt, this child was having the time of his life. The gentle summer breeze rushed through our hair, and I, too, felt a certain joy knowing I was making this kid's birthday extra special. Hopefully, it would last a lifetime—it certainly has for me. A Life Lesson The trip came to an end, and when it was time to disembark, the kid immediately started to whine and plead: "No! Pappa! I'm having so much fun. I don't want it to end. Please, let's continue!" I definitely hear the hint of a tantrum as I start to see tears well up in this kid's eyes. I simultaneously see the father beginning to worry. After such a wonderful evening and giving his son all he asked for, would he also be forced to play the ‘bad guy?’ I am now convinced the Holy Spirit inspired me to intervene, not because I was trying to give grand advice or bestow memorable life lessons. In fact, my motivation was that I saw an opportunity to be well-tipped for all my efforts. I now see that what was said paved the way for me to learn a much more important lesson—a lesson God is trying to teach us all. Turning around in my seat and smiling, I said to the kid: "Thank you so much for sharing your special day with me! I was privileged to make this day so special for you. I can honestly say I had just as much fun giving the ride as you probably had taking it. But what makes this experience so special is that it can't last forever. If all great things never ended, this experience would no longer be extraordinary; there would be nothing to compare to this exciting activity. But now that it's over, I hope you take this experience and treasure it forever." The father smiled at me and said: "Thank you." He was undoubtedly relieved that his son no longer showed signs of throwing a tantrum. In fact, the kid did something I thought was even more shocking. He grabbed his father's hand, looked up at him, and said: "You're right, Pappa! It's time to go home. Thank you." Twelve years later, I realized that what I said to the kid was nothing compared to the lesson I was to learn from the response he gave his father. The world provides an array of thrills, experiences, and distractions. Some bring joy, while others just give the illusion of such. I had a great life as defined by the masses: I ended up going on to have a promising career, and I traveled the world and continued to enjoy worldly (often sinful) things. In short, I refused to get off the perpetual exciting ride. But even when I was most estranged from the faith, the Holy Spirit was still working, paving the way for when finally God said: "It's time to disembark." I now realize that, like this kid, my response needs to be to grab God's hand and say: " You're right Pappa! It's time to go home."
Untold graces and miracles are available to those who practice surrender. I frequently tell my friends about ‘surrender,’ but I receive this question in return: "What does surrendering look like in reality? Am I supposed to ignore the dirty diaper?" The short answer is no! Clean the baby and toss the diaper. Each moment in our lives is a gift from God. Every second is pregnant with possibilities. I can surrender my exhaustion, frustration, joy, or confusion by giving God access. In doing so, I am letting Him determine solutions. I use my freedom to yield to the One with a better plan. How do I know it is better? Because He is the Alpha and the Omega. Although we each have various challenges, the same principles apply. The answer lies in our perspective. Essential to surrender is how we look at any given situation. For instance, I can either go: "Why does the baby always wait until I am ready to leave the house to dirty her diapers?” or instead, be more positive: "That was a close call. I'm happy it happened at home." The latter isn't always my first thought, but I'm making progress. Assuming that various people and situations are specifically intended to frustrate me makes me a target. Pay attention to your perspective. How do you react when something or someone upsets you? Do you feel personally attacked? A positive way to combat that is to flip it around. God has a different plan for me today. Shifting from a target mentality to a recipient of God's grace is all in one’s perspective. Crosses of Our Own Making Being a recipient allows me to receive invitations from God throughout the day. I can freely agree or refuse to be His instrument in any situation. It's letting God's Will be accomplished through my yes. In this, I imitate the Master and grow in virtue. Can you begin to see how surrender works? How much of the anxiety and fear that we experience is self-imposed? I once read that many of the crosses we carry are of our own making. Talk about self-defeating. Thinking that we are obliged to handle everything independently is one way we have unnecessary crosses. Do I see it as another dreary diaper change? Or do I see it as an honor to be able to help my daughter, who cannot help herself? We can practice surrender in small and inconsequential ways, thus growing in holiness. The other segment of surrendering comes from allowing yourself to become a gift from God. Our yes to the Lord through our surrender will enable Him to position us as His instruments in each circumstance. I cannot begin to share how often this happens to me. In giving my yes, I know without a doubt that God will provide. And boy, does He! I am continually surprised by the words coming from my mouth (or written on the page). Repeatedly, it is spot-on. God knows. I do not. The One Who Knows Surrendering frees me from having to solve every problem or carry its weight. I am free to be used by the Almighty in His redemptive work. It allows God to be Father, Savior, Healer, and Sanctifier in and through me. In this way, I become a gift to someone else. It's a win-win! In this little way, I get to participate in his salvific work while He does all the heavy lifting. Those people and that situation are precisely where I am supposed to be because, where I am, there is the Trinity for whom nothing is impossible. "No action, however insignificant, if accepted and performed as coming from God's hand, and in conformity with His will, is anything other than redemptive and a sharing in the great work of salvation begun by Christ's Passion." (He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek) Who is the perfect example of surrender? Our Blessed Mother. She showed us how to surrender in her fiat: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) At the Cross, she was not angry, spiteful, cursing, or asking why, nor was she a passive doormat. Instead, Mary simply stood there, giving her fiat in quiet surrender to God. It is a process of letting go, not into thin air, but into the hands of our Father. When I look back on my own experiences, in those moments of helplessness when life threw me on the asphalt, crushed me on the ice, or shattered the silence as each son shared yet another loss of their little one…Knowing why didn't make it any better. These are the times of surrender and fiats. It is not quitting, rolling over, or giving up. It is handling our problems in confidence and surrendering them to the One who knows the next perfect step. Let it be, Lord, I trust in you. Lord, I give You every moment of my day and access to everything in my life. I welcome Your solutions. I am precisely where You want me to be right now. Pray the Surrender Novena: shalomtidings.org/prayer_categories/novenas-to-our-lord
How can your peace be restored when facing the challenges in life? Sewing is one of my favorite hobbies. I especially enjoy putting together pieces of fabric to create quilt tops. One particular design of mine is called a ‘Crazy Quilt.’ It consists of sewing random scraps, of otherwise useless pieces of fabric, together in such a way that it resembles a mosaic pattern. One day, when working on Crazy Quilt blocks, it occurred to me that each block resembled broken pieces of pottery that, when put together, recreated its own beautiful pattern. It also reminded me that sometimes life can feel like it’s broken into pieces, yet in the Potter’s hands, God can reconstruct those pieces into a new life. God is the source of all peace, but concupiscence caused by original sin can result in God’s peace within us being severed by challenges, temptations, or sin that draw us away from Him. Severed peace makes life feel broken and without purpose. But there is hope, for there’s always hope in God. The Book of Genesis, when read through God’s lens, is clearly the most wonderful love story—our love story with Him. Throughout the creation passages in Scripture, God remarked that everything He created was good. However, on the sixth day, when God created mankind, He said: “It was very good!” Why ‘very good?’ Simply because God created us in His image of goodness so He could love us and be loved in return. A Gentle Reminder All mankind was meant to love completely and live in peace under His protection. However, humanity, through Adam and Eve, chose to challenge God’s goodness, disobeying Him and thereby stepping out of His protection and peace when they chose to believe Satan (the Prince of Lies) over God. Their unfortunate choice, called ‘original sin,’ resulted in the shattering of their peace through the challenges, temptation, and sins that entered outside of God’s protection. His peace had been broken. God is good and He loves us, so He didn’t leave us this way. The Bible’s entire Old Testament details centuries of His efforts to re-establish the relationship He had with us in the Garden of Eden. However, as He was trying to get our attention, the Prince of Lies began to confuse mankind through temptations that led to more sin, pulling humanity further from God. Not to worry though, for Saint Paul reminded us that ‘God is for us’ and that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39) How? Because God came for us Himself. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”(John 3:16) It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have a say when the choice was made to commit original sin, but we can reverse the outcome of that sin by choosing to accept and follow Jesus, the Son of God, who is the Prince of Peace(Isaiah 9:6). He wants to lead us back to the Father in Heaven, but often, getting to Him is difficult when we have to step over all the painful broken pieces in our lives. Remember, Scripture is His love story to us. He knows our struggles and assures us that He is our refuge and our strength. Back to the Crazy Quilt It’s amazing when the numerous fabrics, patterns, and colors of a Crazy Quilt that are stitched together somehow blend to create a beautiful quilt top. Scripture reveals that God’s pretty crafty too. Not only is He a potter (Isaiah 64:8), but also He knits (Psalm 139:13), and I like to think He even sews. I wonder if He might see mankind as His own ‘Crazy Quilt’ creation. Although not His original design, we’re a collection of broken pieces all put back together again; He has recreated us, for “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”(2 Corinthians 5:17) So, when challenges, temptations, or sin are severing the peace within us, let this inherent thought bring you comfort: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”(Romans 8:28) What’s that purpose again? God created us in His image of goodness so He could love us and be loved in return. Is there anything better than a warm quilt and a wonderful love story with a happy ending?
Is it a miracle or a coincidence? I had been working on an article for several days, arduously trying to get my facts right so that the end product I presented was as authentic as possible. Then, all of a sudden, I hit the wrong button, and almost all of what I had written over the past few days disappeared from my entire computer. Nothing worked, no matter how much I tried and how many IT experts I consulted. I had two choices either to try again fruitlessly to retrieve my lost work or to rely on the power of prayer to somehow miraculously retrieve it. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures In the meantime, I felt that I had made a copy of the unfinished work somewhere in the process. So I searched everywhere, in every nook and cranny, in every plastic bag I now use as my case or valise, desperate for a copy of this lost venture, but without success. Trying to replicate all those hours of thought and written words was such a dirge, but I tried to console myself. I desperately prayed to all the Saints of God, particularly one of my favorites, Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron Saint of lost things. My eagerness to finish the article caused me so much anxiety that I even lost sleep over it. I couldn’t content myself until I found the missing half of my article. This continued until the weekend, when I finally decided to dive into a new version of my original idea, forfeiting any hope of finding any semblance of my original thoughts. I sat by my computer, hit my story on the desktop, and thought about where I was to begin revising my original story. Suddenly, I glanced towards my printer, where I spotted a sliver of four pieces of paper protruding from my printer. I ignored it because it must be a remnant of what I was working on earlier. However, before hitting the print button on my latest endeavor, I extracted the A-4 pages. Surprisingly, the article's title matched exactly what I had been desperately searching for over the last week. I couldn’t believe my eyes. How could this be so? An article that I, and every close and known acquaintance of mine, had been unsuccessfully searching for over the past week or so surprisingly appeared on my printer out of the blue. This spiritual experience left an indelible mark on my psyche. I know we leave so many existential happenings to ‘coincidence’. I realized how gracious our God is in allowing His Holy Angels and Saints to come to our aid with the slightest requests.
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7 Comments
I need the power of God in my life
I need the power of God in my life
I really need His power, and the fire in my life and Ministry.
While on a shut in, here in my home seeking the face of God in fasting ,prayer and studying his word I picked up my phone to search and see what others felt concerning experience the anointing, and Power of God in there life ,I know I have a calling of God on my life,I am 76 years of age,I have been in ministry for 55 years .I am at the point in my life where I want the power of God to come Into my Life and use me to help others get deliverance in the name of Jesus!I connected with your powerful teaching .Please pray that God will use me for his glory!
Please kindly pray for me
This is a very good teaching I woke up this morning of Sunday 10th March 2024 wanting to read more about the power of God and I was lucky to come across this notes I believe in the power of God and may his will for my life be made perfect in the mighty name of Jesus .Thank you for the good read.
I’m every grateful for this teaching