#79: Religious Freedom Is Essential For Peace

The most valuable thing that we have is friendship with God. I refer to that condition of the soul by which we can receive communion without committing sacrilege. I mean the life of grace, when the Holy Spirit dwells within you. I mean the key that unlocks the door of heaven, the clean soul, purified not by your merits but by the sanctifying grace which purifies you. 

Neither ten good deeds, nor a hundred can cleanse your soul. Only priests can administrate the sacrament of penance, which has this effect for the recipient. 

Neither ten books with beautiful thoughts, nor a hundred can feed your soul, only priests can consecrate bread and turn it into the body and blood of Christ, which has this effect for the recipient. 

To enjoy this great good, we need to live in a society that respects religious freedom. Each individual must be free to practice religion in public and private settings. This includes freedom of access to places of worship and freedom of religious ministers to serve the congregation and administer the spiritual benefits. 

Today's reflection is based on a passage from the first book of Samuel. The quote is 1 Samuel 6, 1-21. I recommend that you pray before you read ahead to ask the Holy Spirit for enlightenment. 

Points for reflection.

1. Those have power should consult wise men and follow their recommendations: return to the people their sacred objects and also repair the wrongs with a valuable offering. In this way, the powerful regain the esteem of the people. In every house and every school parents and teachers should allow their children to have religious experiences. Do not be afraid of what a person or a religious community can do; in contrast, fear a gang of godless men.

2. The people must participate freely in worship activities. The joy of participating in the spiritual goods is shared with the community. If your community has religious freedom, take every opportunity to meet God in the sacraments, especially the confession of your sins and communion. Also participate in other acts of devotion, such as:

• pilgrimages 
• rosaries 
• adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. 

3. Finally there are those who choose not to go. They are those who do not appreciate the sacred things. They feel no hurry to meet God. They have lost their sense of wonder. Their attitude towards God is the same as more or less everything else: “whatever”. They live on the benefits that Christianity has given us through the transformation of the savage tribes into civilized society but are not interested in corresponding to God with a little of their time. These are like the 70 men from the reading who saw the ark but were not there to celebrate the return with offerings, and died. A man without religion is like a zombie, a walking dead.

Let us ask Mary, Queen of confessors, that we do not lack spiritual assistance in our lives.

Thank you for making this reflection with me. Here you are appreciated and loved in Jesus Christ. You are the reason for my blog. 

God bless you.

Please leave your comments so that others may benefit from your thoughts.

#78: Three symptoms of separation from God

The love between two people is manifested every day through faithfulness. Faithfulness is manifested through communication with messages filled with love.

Two people are thus united by a circle of love that binds them together. Love is the uniting principle and the couple remains faithful to each other through constant exchanges of loving messages.

The communication is made not only with words but with all the ways that people have to express themselves and by the acts done in favor of their loved one. Thus, the words, details and services rendered to the beloved, are ways to communicate love.

The same is with God, but with the difference that love, loyalty and communication are perfect in one direction and flawed in the other. From God to you, love is perfect and its manifestations are insurmountable. From you to God, infidelity, disordered attachments and infrequency in prayer, sometimes even breaking the circle of unity and deforming it.

Sin is like an infidelity in the loving relationship between two people. If God is first in your life, you will not allow sin in your life, nor will you even go near to places where people commonly go to sin.

Today's reflection is based on a passage from the first book of Samuel. The quote is 1 Samuel  4, 12-18. I recommend that you pray before you read ahead to ask the Holy Spirit for enlightment.

Symptoms of a person separated from God.

1. A person separated from God becomes a spectator of the negative changes occurring around him. While the apostle is a leader who looks after the beloved ones of his Beloved, the spectator just sits apathetically.

2. A person separated from God is found away from the road or at best on the roadside. In other words, this person spends much of his time in sinful activities or near those who are engaged in sin. Sin has shaped his body and has impacted on his physical appearance and mood.

3. A person separated from God loses, one by one, the temporal things to which his heart is attached and ends up neglecting his health and life of grace. At the end , his life is empty and his spiritual blindness does not allow him to regain the path to happiness.

These people separated from God need good advice, though often they do not want to listen. If this is the case, then at least pray for them.

Let us ask Holy Mary, Morning Star, to guide our steps towards full union with her Son Jesus Christ. Remember the motto: "To Christ through Mary."

Thank you for making this reflection with me. This is a place where you are appreciated and loved in Jesus Christ. You are the reason for my blog. God bless you abundantly.

I'd love to know what this reflection meant to you. Do not go without leaving your comments, your purposes, whatever you want.