(Judith 16.13)
In our lives, there is a window that opens up to Heaven,
A few leave it unlocked.
Many keep it closed.
And so life looses its taste.
It is simple – we are not here forever.
We are just tourists in this world.
In fifty years time most of us won’t be here.
Our name will already be forgotten.
It is wise to keep reminding ourselves this…
because we then we realize that we don’t have to worry too much,
we don’t have to struggle too much,
we don’t have to make so much fuss…
Life is like working on a project that we’ll soon finish
and then we go back home.
So the little time we are here on earth does not disturb us so much
because we know we shall soon go to rest at Home.
This is good to bear in mind. But it is not enough!
In life knowing things is not enough.
Being told not to worry because ‘this too will pass’ is not enough.
How can I not worry about my children’s future?
How can I love my wife with her biting tongue?
How can I feel affection for my husband who is so quick tempered?
How can I accept my companion who always stings me?
How can I refrain from watching those movies?
How can I not sin?
I’d love to… but I can’t.
I’d love to… but I don’t have the strength.
I have a tyrant inside me who does not let me to do what I want.
The preachers recommend that I try harder!
They seem to imply that “if I really want, I can do it”.
Perhaps they are strong enough to succeed when they try.
I am not.
Not even St Paul was strong.
“the good thing I want to do, I never do;
the evil thing which I do not want – that is what I do!”
Who will rescue me from this body condemned to death?
Who can approach me to give me a ray of hope?
Who will keep my window open towards Heaven?
I give thanks to Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus Christ is truly alive.
With power.
And he wants to penetrate into my life.
As he thrust himself into the life of the bride and groom at Cana.
As soon as he knew about their problem,
He did not sit there staring at them. He did something.
He worked a miracle.
He did the impossible.
He changed water into wine.
Water – the symbol of problems, worries, difficulties,
Into wine – the symbol of feast, joy, freedom.
Yes, I know this very well from my own experience:
When you have Him, wine never lacks.
When you have Him, life takes on another taste.
When you have Him, life becomes Paradise
And the impossible becomes possible.
He
He is the only one that has compassion on us.
He
He is the only one that can do something really positive
in our life.
How can you not love Him?
“Sincere (you are) to the sincere
but cunning to the crafty,
you save a people that is humble
and humiliate those with haughty looks.
Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp,
my God lights up my darkness;
With you I storm the rampart
with my God I can scale any wall.
This God his way is blameless;
the word of Yahweh is refined in the furnace,
for he alone is the shield
of all who take refuge in him.”
(2 Samuel 22, 27-31)