Magis Catholic

Striving to love God more everyday.

About

Recent Posts

Receive New Reflections

Connect With Me

Archives

  • Forgiveness Is God’s Highway

    The Christmas season of 2019 gives us both a beginning and an end. First, it is the start of another blessed year in our Catholic faith, which we celebrate with the birth of Our Lord. Secondly, 2019 also marks the end of a decade. I believe that we are at the precipice, and what we do today will impact the days ahead.

    The question of how we go back to God is a simple one, but there will be many ways to answer it. Today, I would like to consult with the powerhouse of the Bible that is St. John The Baptist.

    This guy was just amazing. Just imagine the character of the man who called out and stood up against a king. St. John The Baptist was strong, courageous, and passionate. We can expect no less from he who the Bible calls “the voice that cried out in the middle of the wilderness”, calling the people to be reconciled to God. In other words, the mission of St. John The Baptist was to prepare the people for the Gospel who is Jesus Christ Himself.

    At this point, let’s do a quick review of Isaiah 40:3-5 which is very rich material for quiet reflection:

    “A voice cries out: In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; and in the desert a straight highway for our God.

    The locations in which the verse is placing us is very important. The Scripture is telling us that we need to prepare the way of God “in the wilderness”, meaning to say that we need to make an effort to give Him easy access to us amidst the noise and mess of day-to-day life. When He calls us, will we hear Him? If today we hear His voice, will we answer His call?

    Meanwhile, “in the desert” translates to our places and moments of solitude. When a person is alone, he is called to build a straight highway for God. Here in Metro Manila where the traffic is a reality, the idea of an empty road and fast commute is almost heavenly. It is fitting and strangely relevant imagery for the Bible to ask us to give God a highway to the heart.

    Both in the loneliness of our souls and in the busyness of our lives, a straight path for God means that when He knocks, our doors are open. When He comes, our souls are ready to receive Him. The message of St. John The Baptist begins with an openness to God, a soul that expects Him.

    Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be lowered; the rough ground will become level, and the mountain ridges made a plain. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all humanity will see it at once; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

    In a homily from 2018, the priest explained it in this way: “the valleys, mountains and its ridges, as well as the rough grounds” all represent our excesses and our shortcomings. These images were meant to focus our attention to our defects; the weaknesses, flaws, and imperfections in our character that discourage us and possibly causes us to sin.

    When a soul is burdened with the weight of past mistakes, the guilt of bad habits and questionable life choices, as well as the anger and hurt from past trauma and negative experiences, the soul tends to close in upon itself. It is overwhelmed. There is no peace, and the ego holds on to the past for its identity. It cannot accept new information; cannot change its own limiting beliefs, and more importantly, it cannot move forward.

    But the good news is, the presence of God in our lives (because we have opened ourselves to Him) is enough to set us free. The Lord has given us our identity as the children of God. And as God’s children, we need to recognize our dependence on God and in doing so, begin to trust Him more and more. He is in control of our lives, and all things happen for the good of those who love Him. He is above any circumstance, situation, or challenge that we may be facing.

    Forgiveness is the highway

    However, we can only embrace this new identity after leaving behind the old one. To leave our past selves behind means to accept what has happened – both the good and the bad – for what it is, and to set it right if needed. Only then can we be free. And so the core of making straight the path for God is forgiveness. Jesus showed us the way. Christ, in His perfect example, taught us that the forgiveness and mercy of God will give us the grace to forgive others and to forgive ourselves. He is our Teacher, our Healer, and our Redeemer. God is the loving Father who runs to His prodigal son with open arms. He has showed us His love and mercy so that we can feel secure as we go through the process. It starts and ends with Him.

    How do we then experience the forgiveness of God? We pray. We go to the Sacrament of Confession to feel God’s tenderness and His love. All we need to do is to ask for the grace to accept and let go of what is past, and follow God where He leads.

    Our great consolation is the promise that His path is that of unconditional love, the kind that saves.

  • Why We Need To Focus Our Gaze On Christ

    There will be moments in our lives when we will feel lost, overwhelmed, and stuck. We drift in between interactions, work deliverables, and difficult choices. We are busy, and yet, never fulfilled.

    It is exactly in those times that we need to run back to God. We return to the God who is wise, loving, and faithful. He is the One who walks above the raging sea; the One who calms the storm.

    In the last Mass, the priest reminds the people: Focus your gaze on Christ.

    When we focus our gaze on Christ, we will see His hand working in our lives. It is only when we look to God that we begin to realize how much He has blessed us in the past. We see His generosity as we become aware of the blessings and relationships that we are thankful for, the experiences that fill us with joy, and the challenges that we have successfully overcome. We see how much we have changed in the course of a year, and how God has pulled us through.

    When we focus our gaze on Christ, we will have peace because God goes before us. Building on our gratitude to God, He then reminds us that He is faithful to His promises. His plan is to give us a hope and a future: plans of prosperity and abundance for each one of us. And if we truly believe that God has our best interest and our happiness in His heart, then we will not be conquered by fear nor worry. In His hands, we can surrender all of our cares, dreams, goals, and struggles. Knowing that Jesus is the aim and direction of our lives is enough to push us through to a better tomorrow.

    When we focus our gaze on Christ, He makes His presence known. God always meets us where we are. The Bible says that nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ. He is Emmanuel, the God with us. The God who walked, dined, and laughed with us. He shared in our humanity, and restored it to Himself. And it is in the present moment, if we are mindful and open to Him, that we feel His comforting presence and His constant love.

    The truth is that God loves you without any conditions. He loves you, not because you did good today. He loves you, and not despite your sinfulness. He loves you because that is who He is. He is Love, the well through which living water flows. By loving God more and more, we begin to have more love that we can share to others. His grace is the cup that overflows. And when we love, we love in the now. Not yesterday. Not in the future. We love now, and so the challenge has always been to show the proof of our love through our kind words, loving manner, and by small acts of compassion and mercy.

    And so my prayer is that as we then try to focus our gaze on God, may He grant us: First, the grace we need to see the blessings and gifts He has given us. Second, the grace to trust Him fully and with firm hope in His promises. And third, the grace to be mindful and open to His Holy Presence in the present moment so that we can experience and share His love to others today.