Faith! So simple! Catho

[normandth]

359. As sweet as lambs

The setting in motion to evangelize will become strength and salvation of God, with God.

Jesus tells us to pray:

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Luke, chapter 10, verse 2

The two quotes are one. Let’s pray to the Trinity and act. Since the following sentence is:

“Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.” Luke, chapter 10, verse 3

We seem to have nothing at first, but we have the Lord; we have everything. Let's not be afraid to challenge gently, with respect and charity and many wolves will become as sweet as lambs again.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

358. The best possible intentions

The first condition for the evangelizer, after a sincere encounter with Christ, is to put one step in front of the other and to go forward, to place one word after the other, in the best possible intentions, and to share them is to use one's arms and legs, one's heart to reach and embrace the hearts of others.

The idea here is crystal clear. This sentence of Paul is a reminder of his meeting with the Lord and the precise moment when he decided to train for the mission and to evangelize: “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it”.

We’re invited to the same evangelization as Paul, by who we are and where we are. It takes “me”, “us”, with the evangelizers, with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit promises to help us, after our agreement and the decision to walk, to offer us his strength to proclaim the Gospel everywhere and “all the Gentiles might hear it”. It's major. The decision to evangelize allows God's action to unfold within us and to assist us. We will observe and feel the difference.

The decision to evangelize will prepare us to receive what we need for the journey of evangelization. Let’s be evangelized by God, then let him evangelize from our heart.

Let's feel what is said here:

“Lord, I am your servant, the child of your maidservant; you have loosed my bonds. I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!” Psalm 116, verses 16 to 19

In the church and in the world, I will give thanks to the Lord by telling his wonders. Let’s become servants of the Word of God and let's go, and evangelize!

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

357. Implementation of the mission

The saints sometimes had to leave a lot, they had to deprive themselves of the “well-being” that they had acquired and they started following Jesus. They agree to let their person be formed, to change their rules of conduct. They let themselves be led by Jesus. They remain the same, but they improve inside, when they accept the Lord’s presence. From the outside, we will be able to perceive the light of God, especially in their eyes.

Some will say that they let themselves be led by the ear. With God, this is never the case. When the saints follow Love, it’s easy to be attracted and to adhere freely. They follow the Shepherd to the enclosure of peace. Paul states:

“I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace”. Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 1 to 3

Let's place our interests in something lasting, in the Heart of Jesus. Let’s set ourselves the task of bringing our interest received from the Lord to as many people as possible, so that our heavenly bank-building spiritual capital increases.

The more we find people who walk and pray with us, the more we’ll increase our chances of remaining firmly anchored in Christ. Let’s evangelize to receive from God and receive from others and evangelize ... again.

The evangelists realized their evangelization by writing, painters by painting. And us? What will be the defect that we can transform or the quality, by the grace of God, which will be used as a springboard of holiness for us and for our neighbor?

May we offer our failings to Jesus and he will come and have a meal with us. He will then entrust us with the grace to watch over his flock.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

356. Let's sow peace

Jesus said to the disciples and Apostles:

“As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.” Matthew, chapter 10, verses 12 to 13

This affirmation of Jesus, “Let your peace return to you,” is twice comforting and once disappointing.

It’s twice comforting because it guarantees us that the peace we offer will bring Jesus’s peace to the person who receives it. It's nice to know that when we do good, it transforms people. This brings us joy and that’s the second comforting.

Peace, joy, hope, love and the other goods that God offers are free and they are to share with great deployment. The world is improving day by day with those graces received from God.

What is disappointing is that it’s possible that people do not want it. Hard to believe that a person would refuse God’s graces. But that seems possible. We will find it painful for this person.

The grace of God will not be lost since it’s already there. If what we offer comes from God and not from us, and if the person refuses the graces, we’re sure not to lose peace. It’s a sign that we’re working with Jesus and not for our own sake to add a number of conversions to our acquisition rather than giving to the person their freedom and responsibility to choose. God leaves him his freedom and his responsibility, we must also leave it to him.

Let's pray for him and give him to Jesus. Let's continue the road with the Trinity in search of interested souls who ask for a little push, a small encouragement of sweetness and accompaniment.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

355. A happy exchange

Jesus reminds us of what the grace of evangelization confers on us:

“Everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.” Luke, chapter 12, verse 8

We will enter into a happy exchange, between us and the Trinity, then between us and the people on the road.

We invite our families and friends to come for coffee, a meal, shop, play, practice recreation and sports, we can also invite people to a mass, to a teaching of faith, to an evening of prayer.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

354. Hopefully

Paul speaks of Abraham's faith:

“He believed, hoping against hope, that he would become ‘the father of many nations,’ according to what was said, ‘Thus shall your descendants be.’” Romans, chapter 4, verse 18

We know about the mission of Abraham and the promise of God to give him many descendants. Now let’s imagine that we’re evangelizing and that many people are converting to Jesus Christ. We too will have many descendants.

For this, we must carry on, let ourselves be lifted up by the Spirit and set to work. We must accept to evangelize if we want God to give us strength. It’s when we are in motion that we receive God’s graces. Otherwise we’ll not discover the missionary grace that God offers us.

We may have the grace to pray. The grace of the missionary is also to be discovered, to remove the cover of what closes and freezes us to receive all the graces of evangelization.

"Hoping against all hope," Abraham believed. Let’s imagine if we believe it too, the spiritual descendants we’ll have, and the grace we’ll live every day! We too can, we too must hope.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

353. To be released

Jesus says that we are not the only ones to be saved:

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” John, chapter 10, verse 16

People follow Jesus without knowing it and Jesus welcomes them as they are. As christians, we’re invited to seek, with Jesus, the people who don’t seem from his enclosure, to encourage them to follow and talk to them about his Love.

Too many people today live in fear and rejection, violence in many forms. Let’s pray for these people to be released from the tormentors of violence, scorn, hatred.

Let’s pray also for the violent and unhappy people to become converted and models of faith, love and peace. May their hearts be healed from the injustices they also experienced in their childhood.

Let’s continue to evangelize them with values, joy, hope, peace. Because these values are worth more than gold. The presence of Jesus in a life is worth more than anything.

Happy are we to know that Jesus is in our life! Let’s pray for Jesus’ presence to spread in the world. Joy will grow in us each time we present to the Trinity a person interested in adhering to his Love.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

352. Jesus is real food

Jesus confirms to us that he is God:

“I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John, chapter 10, verse 11

Jesus is the true Shepherd. We have no other shepherd than Jesus. Yes, there are people in the Church who help as shepherds, who help in conversion and keep the flock together to lead it to fresh pastures.

But Jesus alone gives real food. Jesus is also the only one who gave his life for us, who saves us and guarantees eternal life.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas

[normandth]

[normandth]

351. God-like

John tells us:

“Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John, chapter 3, verse 2

We are children of God. Our parents offered us the grace of Baptism and we became children of God.

We grow in faith every day. We come to Mass, we listen to the Word and we live the Eucharist. We are privileged: “We are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed”. We know at least that by abiding in God we will freely enter, through the resurrection of the Son, into his Kingdom.

We’re always between two realities; God's children and at the same time, we are not yet complete in the faith. Faith allows us to hope in God and to feel his Love in our hearts, but it’s not complete for us simply because we’re not fully restored. We hope, however, to experience the fullness of Love in God.

We want to be totally transformed into God. Some people are quickly transformed and others are transformed gradually, according to the rhythm of each person. We are never stationary when we walk with others in the Church.

Sometimes people are already saints, but it’s because they dare a conversion of each day strongly supported on the graces received at their baptism.

The more we find ways to walk with Jesus, the more our lives are transformed, often without our knowledge. We have everything in us to become saints. We have everything in ourselves to follow Jesus indefinitely. The more we are with him, the more we are connected to the essence of existence.

The new American Bible, 2011-2014

Book: Up! Let's go!, Normand Thomas