Do you hear the voice of love?
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By Father John Catoir, JCD
Faith hears the voice of love speaking and abiding in one’s heart. It pervades and penetrates one’s whole being.
God is always acting in our lives. He usually speaks ever so softly. The message is simple, “I have come that your joy may be full.” He wants you to know that you can face the hardships of life and still find contentment. The knowledge of God’s love will sustain you. He wants you to be appreciative of the fact that He is supplying you with hope, inspiration, strength, and encouragement.
Coping with the miseries of life can be challenging. If you’ve had a parent who wasn’t there for you when you were in need, you know what it is to be miserable, emotionally drained. Nevertheless, God wants you to recover and move forward. He speaks to you. From the deep recesses of your mind the Lord whispers, “Be happy anyway.”
Perhaps you’ve experienced betrayal by a trusted friend; someone who was caught stealing from you. You were furious at first, and it turned to hurt. Then you hear that inner voice saying, “Be happy anyway.” Jesus came to earth that your joy may be full, and He speaks to you frequently about it.
Life is shattered time and again by broken hearts, unexpected deaths, and spiteful neighbors. Sometimes your own human weakness brings added misery. Through it all, faith hears the voice of love speaking a language that seems foreign to our ears.
When we try to understand how God thinks, we look to Jesus for guidance. And what do we find? At the heart of God’s great love for us we find The Way of the Cross. “For this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving an example, so that you should follow in His steps.”- 1 Peter 2:21.
Christ’s passion and death show us true love. Jesus is the way. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life out of love for His friends.”-John 15-13.
The passion of Christ was a Spiritual demonstration of how we are called to live our lives in self-giving, without counting the cost. “The memory of the Passion of Jesus is the door which leads to intimate union with God.”-St. Paul of the Cross. By depending on God’s strength and joy we gain victory over death, and joy gradually prevails over sorrow. By serving God and neighbor as best we can, we suffer many crosses, but joy soon follows. We hear the faint words of God, “Be happy anyway.”
How is it possible to recover from abandonment, betrayal, or the death of a loved one? In the natural order it isn’t, but by listening to our inner voice, we gain perspective. All the miseries that surrounds us, gradually lose their power. We begin to pay them no mind. We only listen to the words: “Be happy anyway, my chosen one, holy and beloved; clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and all will be well,”- Colossians 3-12.
May the Lord be your strength and your joy.
Father John Catoir is a retired priest from the Diocese of Paterson.
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By Father John Catoir, JCD
Faith hears the voice of love speaking and abiding in one’s heart. It pervades and penetrates one’s whole being.
God is always acting in our lives. He usually speaks ever so softly. The message is simple, “I have come that your joy may be full.” He wants you to know that you can face the hardships of life and still find contentment. The knowledge of God’s love will sustain you. He wants you to be appreciative of the fact that He is supplying you with hope, inspiration, strength, and encouragement.
Coping with the miseries of life can be challenging. If you’ve had a parent who wasn’t there for you when you were in need, you know what it is to be miserable, emotionally drained. Nevertheless, God wants you to recover and move forward. He speaks to you. From the deep recesses of your mind the Lord whispers, “Be happy anyway.”
Perhaps you’ve experienced betrayal by a trusted friend; someone who was caught stealing from you. You were furious at first, and it turned to hurt. Then you hear that inner voice saying, “Be happy anyway.” Jesus came to earth that your joy may be full, and He speaks to you frequently about it.
Life is shattered time and again by broken hearts, unexpected deaths, and spiteful neighbors. Sometimes your own human weakness brings added misery. Through it all, faith hears the voice of love speaking a language that seems foreign to our ears.
When we try to understand how God thinks, we look to Jesus for guidance. And what do we find? At the heart of God’s great love for us we find The Way of the Cross. “For this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving an example, so that you should follow in His steps.”- 1 Peter 2:21.
Christ’s passion and death show us true love. Jesus is the way. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life out of love for His friends.”-John 15-13.
The passion of Christ was a Spiritual demonstration of how we are called to live our lives in self-giving, without counting the cost. “The memory of the Passion of Jesus is the door which leads to intimate union with God.”-St. Paul of the Cross. By depending on God’s strength and joy we gain victory over death, and joy gradually prevails over sorrow. By serving God and neighbor as best we can, we suffer many crosses, but joy soon follows. We hear the faint words of God, “Be happy anyway.”
How is it possible to recover from abandonment, betrayal, or the death of a loved one? In the natural order it isn’t, but by listening to our inner voice, we gain perspective. All the miseries that surrounds us, gradually lose their power. We begin to pay them no mind. We only listen to the words: “Be happy anyway, my chosen one, holy and beloved; clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and all will be well,”- Colossians 3-12.
May the Lord be your strength and your joy.
Father John Catoir is a retired priest from the Diocese of Paterson.