The endless road...

I'd like to direct you, dear readers, to my friend Joshua's blog. He's a newcomer to the blogosphere and his recent entry on 'The Endless Road' is something I think you guys ought to read.

He makes several observations that I would like to muse upon. Firstly, one's goal in life.

For many people ,life is but an endless road.We don't know where we are going and we are dragging our feet as we go along.As for me,...
I know where I'm going.I'm going to heaven..not now..i will be there upon completing my race in life..what race>>???
The race that God has laid out..not easy yet not impossible...

This is something that we'll do well to remember. It is from God that we come and it is to Him that we will finally return, for judgement to Life in Heaven or to Everlasting Fire where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9.48).

Jesus Himself also knew where He came from, and from Whom He came from and to Whom He will return (John 13:3). This gave Jesus strength and purpose in life as He knew His origins and His goal. We too need to know this so that we will have perspective and see all things as God sees.

Think about it. Neighbour irritating you? The electricity is cut off? You get sick? Put it into perspective, see the big picture and see them as bumps and hurdles along the road to eternity and you won't get your undies into a bunch. It ain't easy. But is sure ain't impossible. Not for God anyways. Knowing this will make us reliant of the strength of the Mighty and Immortal One and will encourage us to let Him bear the seemingly overwhelming burdens with us. Problems that seem large get small pretty quickly when measured against the infinite.

Our life on earth is our journey on the road. The road is important lest we take a wrong turn and end up elsewhere. We must frequently check so that we remain on course. For Christians, our Road, our Way is Christ Jesus.

Life is our journey on the Road to Eternity, but the journey, no matter how blissful or torturous, is not the destination. Keep the destination in mind.

surely I say unto you...i am by no means a holy ,staunch and religious Christian...no no no...
however,
I am close to God.

Who is a holy, staunch and religious Christian? Is it a person who walks around with a large cross, hands and eyes lifted up to heaven with a look of glum solemnity? Is it the guy with ashes on his head, dressed in the latest Armani sackcloth suit and Prada sole-less shoes?

Holiness means being set apart for God. A holy person is one who knows who he is and Whose he is. When you realized that you were created to love God and serve Him in this life and to be with Him forever in the life to come, then you're holy. And that means being close to God. A holy person is one who is deep communion with God, wherever he is, he knows who he is.

There is no Church me, home me, office me, driving me, bar me, school me. I am a person. I do not have multiple personalities. I am, or should be anyway, the same person no matter where I am or who I am with. Yes, I should be all things to all men, omnia omnibus, but that does not mean that I have to compromise my beliefs. The unity of the person reminds us that we are and continue to be children of the Father no matter where we are and how far we roam. Like the parable of the prodigal son, no matter where he was and what he was doing, he never ceases to be the Father's son. Similarly, we too must keep that in mind and behave like children of our Heavenly Father regardless of where we are, who we are with and what we are doing so that others will know, through our works, that we are Christians. Remember. Who you are and Whose you are. Always.

And please be joyful. No one like a righteous prude. The joy that we have in knowing God and being close to God should radiate from us. If there is no joy, then God is not with you. How can the Gospel be preached when we who are Christians have no joy? Who in their right mind would want to join a bunch of up tight joyless fellows?

Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem meam. I will go to the altar of the Lord, the God Who gives joy to my youth.

Be joyful, radiate God's love and God's joy at all times and in all situations and rejoice in the Lord.

but why am I close to God?
Let me put it in other terms...Imagine a guy who loves a girl and finally has her as his girlfriend...wouldnt he be interested to know more about that girl...what she likes ...what pleases her...what makes her mad...etc..In the same way God is like a Father whom I love and want to know and to please....I wouldnt want to do anything that would make him mad...imagine wanting to make the girlfriend whom you love so much mad at you...doesnt make sense does it??now the question is ..what makes me love God so much??alot of Christians i come across say to me..no feel lah...
it is simply because they do not know the nature of God....God is actually a nice and cool guy with a BIG sense of humor...how i noe???read the Bible la.through that i have developed my walk with him ..people tell me no feel but they hardly read the Bible themselves...how to feel>??u dono the nature of a girl how to fall in love with her????simple rite???

You can't say you love God if you do not know God. The Church, quoting St. Jerome, says ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ. It is through the Scriptures that the entire history of salvation is laid out. We can see God's fatherly care for the people He had chosen despite their frequent infidelities. We can see Gods faithfulness and God's love, God's great love for us. So great was His love that He sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus to die for us when we were still sinners. Scripture is revelation. God reveals His inner life, His personality and His love and through the pages of the Holy Scriptures, God speaks to us today. We can't love someone we do not know.

Many people today love sports stars or celebrities, but who are these people? What are they like? Are we truly in love with them or with their 'stage personality'? Who are they as people? Are they nice, decent people? Can we truly love them when we have never met them?

Kids these days would read all sorts of magazines and tabloids to try to get a more intimate glimpse of their idol. They join fan clubs to discuss their idol with like minded people. They organize trips to catch their idol in concerts. Because they 'love' him, they want to be close to him and be with him. They visit the places where significant events of his life had occured such as his birth place and his school and they keep memorabilia such as the world cup ball, the first CD, an autographed card. They do this because these objects give a certain connection to their idol, gives them a physical object through which their love and devotion can be channelled.

We can't love God unless we know more about Him. God has provided us with the ultimate tabloid magazine with revealing snapshots of Himself. His bio is there, His likes and dislikes, His favourite people etc. The Bible reveals this God of ours. The Bible paints an intimate portrait of God, our Creator, Ruler, King, Lord and our Father. The Bible introduces us to God's friends, the Patriarchs and Prophets and the Saints. We often imitate our idols. Let's imitate God's Son, Jesus.

God has a fan club as well. It's called the Church. God's fans meet up daily to be with Him, to read His Works and His writings. We meet up to talk about His deeds and to praise Him. We visit the Church where He is truly and really present in the Blessed Sacrament, we stay there is prayer with Him.

We also visit the Holy Land where the footprints of God can still be discerned. We visit the Basilica of the Annunciation where the Word was made Flesh, the Grotto of the Nativity where the Christ was born, the Church at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, the Cenacle where Jesus instituted the Eucharist and celebrated the first Mass. We want to walk the Via Dolorosa in the footsteps of Christ and at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we want to touch the spot where the cross, on which hung the Saviour of the World once stood. We want to touch the tomb of Jesus the first witness of the Resurrection. In doing this we grow closer to God.

Like memorabilia such as autographed cards and baseball bats, the Church has the relics of the saints and pieces of the True Cross, the titulus or title on the cross, the nails and the crown of thorns. These physical objects allow us to channel our devotion and touch the divine. They serve as memorials of the past and pledges of the things to come.

We can't love God if we do not know Him. Jesus said that if we love Him we will follow His commandments. We can't follow what we do not know.

Read the Bible, God's love letter to His children. When we finally meet Him, He'll probably ask us how we liked His book. What would your answer be? Ooops, I didn't get to reading it. Ooops, I lost my copy. What? You have a book?

Think about it.

Read the bible. And go and say hi to Joshua =).