The Faith of Our Abundance Life

Today's readings are from http://www.usccb.org/nab/081107.shtml

From the 1st reading we can read about this :
“When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,that he would give you,
a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,
with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner,
with cisterns that you did not dig,
with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant;
and when, therefore, you eat your fill,take care not to forget the LORD,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

I am so amazed even the Lord swore for my abundance, the land with fine, large cities that i did not build, houses that full of goods, and etc. If I want to translate to my language it would be like this. God swore to give me : a house that full of love and comfortable for me to live with my family, Passive incomes so that I always satisfy the needs of me and my family, cars or transportation so that I can go to many places God want to show me, and etc.

Maybe some people might say that how come God swore the abundance but there are so many poverty in the world? I was thinking like that, but again today I get the answer from the Gospel:
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,you will say to this mountain,‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I dont ignore the facts that out there, there are still many people who are hungry or suffer. However I take these passage for the context of my life. What I can do is just give thanks to the Lord for the abundance that I have right now. I keep believing that if I have the faith of the Abundance and believe in the Word that God swore. Nothing is impossible for me.

Thank you Lord!

The Abundance Of Our Life

Brothers and sisters:Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver.Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,so that in all things, always having all you need,you may have an abundance for every good work.

As it is written:He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;his righteousness endures forever.The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (2 Cor 9:6-10)

This verse taught me about the principle of sow and reap, what we sow is what we will reap. If we sow bountifully thought we will reap bountifully action. If we sow bountifully action we will reap bountifully habit. If we sow bountifully habit we will reap bountifully character. If we sow bountifully character we will reap bountifully life!! So how do we get a bountifully life?

God is so good that we live in abundance. He is able to make that all things always having all that I need. If life is so abundance what do we need to complaint for? why we don't be a generous person? the abundance is so great that it will be always enough for everyone!!

If you don't believe that our life is so abundance, try the principle of sowing and reaping.
Sow the thought which is full of abundance, and see what is your life look like.

Praise the Lord for His greatness in the abundance that we receive in this life.

The Image of God

Yesterday I attended a mass which homily talk about the image of God. I was quite surprised by the homily when the priest told us that we tend to have the image of God which we like. We tend to wrap it by the image that we want to receive, or which we are comfortable or happy with.

I am also still do that thing, I have the image of God who is like a loving father ( I think many of people have this image ) and also merciful God who always forgive me, lastly as a great teacher who will always teach me how to grow more and more.

Those images are not wrong, its not a matter of right or wrong, but with this tendency ( which is also normal ) I might not be able to get the real image that God want me to have. I think may be not everyone will have the same image.

The new image that I receive is the image of God who challenge me to do or answer His calling. I just also learn about listening to God's voice. I think God's voice could be in many form : our self talk, our intuition, or even just an idea that pop up during our free time. This new image add in the richness of my relationship with Him.

The point that I want to add is do I receive the image of God that He want to show to me? or the Image that I am comfortable with? for some people the answer is yes, for some people might be no. The most important thing is what are we going to do as the response of our answer?

Faith, prayer and The Secret

I have just read today's reading which are taken from here. The first reading is really interesting, when I see that after looking by themselves, the promised land which is so abundance. The Israelites were so pessimistic and discouraged themselves. Instead of being positive like Aaron who wanted to see at the abundance not to the "challenge" which is the presence of the fierce inhabitant on the promised land.

From the first reading, I asked my self, how many times that in my life, or even in the last one week that I discourage myself by focusing to the negative, to the scarcity? Even the abundance is already in front of me. It just need me to take action to take it, there is no free lunch!!

With the moaning and groaning, complaints, pessimistic of the Israelites even God also became angry with them and He said this :
The LORD also said to Moses and Aaron:
"How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD, I will do to you just what I have heard you say." (Num 14: 26-27)

God will do to them as what He have heard them say, what does this mean?
Now I want to go to the Gospel reading, instead of being like the Israelites, the woman who has not seen the abundance in front of her, but she believe, she know in her faith. She keep asking Jesus to heal her daughter, she keep trying and trying through the rejection she get from the disciple even from Jesus. Guess what? She never give up!! Until Jesus said "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. (Mattew 15 :28 )

Why Jesus said that? Let it be done for you as you wish... I want to relate this to the book of the secret or the Law of Attraction. We can see that the woman focus in the healing of her daughter, she know and believe that her daughter will be healed. Before she met Jesus we don't know how many times and fervent she had been praying for the healing of her daughter.
Then she took action, she asked, persistently and believe... with this she was sending her will to the universe and the universe send the answer to the Son of God to heal her daughter.

I was surprised when I reflected these to readings in my life. How many times I was like the Israelites? How many times I was like the woman? both of them get what they wishes, God give them both. Both of them have the same persistence and faith, in different ways or wishes. As the Law of Attraction says "Like attract like". Interestingly Jesus also taught this to us, even our ancestor from the time of moses also taught this to us. If you really ask for something and you really believe it or not, whether it is bad or good wishes, you will get it.

you also can refer to my post about the review of The Secret book at http://seeds-project.blogspot.com/2007/08/secret.html

Sacred Scripture -5-

Return to Sacred Scripture ~4~

This is the last post regarding the Sacred Scripture refering to the CCC, I really hope this small contribution on my perception regarding the Sacred Scripture may help you.

As you can see I don't really give any addition on the 4th posting, because I think it is quite clear. However I am always open for any discussion or comments. Please feel free to give any feedbacks to me.The mystery or I would say the experience of reading and understanding the Word of God has helped me to grow in my spiritual and personal growth. Surprisingly this is also aplicable for non Christian, you can reflect more on the principle that God's Word deliver through this writing.You may try it what the Scripture said, try to open it today and read it, and see how you can learn from it.

On my next posting I will also put my perspective as a Christian on what I receive and understand from my journey in my personal growth.

SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life."Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful."

132 "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture."

133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

IN BRIEF

134 All sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, "because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642: cf. ibid. 2, 9: PL 176, 642-643).

135 "The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God" (DV 24).

136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11).

137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully "understood except by the Spirit's action' (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).

138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.

139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their center.

140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God's plan and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfils the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.

141 "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord" (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps 119:105; cf. Is 50:4).

Sacred Scripture - 4 -

IV. THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE

120 It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.
The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.
The New Testament: the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and Revelation (the Apocalypse).

The Old Testament

121 The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.

122 Indeed, "the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately so oriented that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, redeemer of all men.""Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional, the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings "are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way."

123 Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).

The New Testament

124 "The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament"96 which hand on the ultimate truth of God's Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit's guidance.

125 The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures "because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior".

126 We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels:
1. The life and teaching of Jesus. The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up."
2. The oral tradition. "For, after the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed."
3. The written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus."

127 The fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is evident both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it and in the surpassing attraction it has exercised on the saints at all times:
There is no doctrine which could be better, more precious and more splendid than the text of the Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord and Master, Christ, has taught by his words and accomplished by his deeds.
But above all it's the gospels that occupy my mind when I'm at prayer; my poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I'm always finding fresh lights there; hidden meanings which had meant nothing to me hitherto.

The unity of the Old and New Testaments

128 The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.

129 Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself.Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament.As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.

130 Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfillment of the divine plan when "God [will] be everything to everyone."Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God's plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages.

To Sacred Scripture ~5~