Repent and remove your sandals of Pride 3rd C lent
Remove the Sandals of Ego and repent and turn to God
My Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One day a disciple came to pay homage to his master. He carried flowers on his both hands. When he entered in the presence of his master he heard a sound saying “drop it”. He thought it may not be right to offer flowers with left hand so he dropped the flowers from his left and he continued. When he was at the center he heard the same sound again “drop it”. So he dropped the flowers from his hands. He thought the master may not like the flowers. When he was very near to the master when he was about to bend his knees he heard the same sound “drop it”. He was shocked. Didn’t master saw that I drop the flowers? Then he heard the sound saying “drop it. Drop it not the Flowers but your Ego. Then come and pay homage.”
Yes dear brothers and sisters in our first reading we heard God is asking the same kind of a dropping off. Remove the sandals. If you happened to be in any of the Mosques or in the eastern Hindu temples or some Asian churches you have to remove your sandals or shoes. Taking off our shoes reminds us of our smallness and our poverty. Here God is asking Moses to remove the sandals. Because you are in the holy presence. If you wish to be in the presence of God, you need to remove your sandals. What are these sandals that you wear? IN Jesus’ time only the sons wear the sandals not the slaves. We know when we read the story of the prodigal son father says the servants to bring the sandals for his prodigal son. We have to remove the sandals we wear in our heart. The sandals of egoism, the sandals of power, the position, money, authority, the sandals of worries, tension, anxieties for tomorrow, sandals of hatred , un-forgiveness, revenge, pride etc.,. We can not enter in the presence of God wearing all these sandals of pride and ego.
To make it simple take the word “SIN” S-I-N. Sin happens when I stand out in the center of our life. Take that I from the Word SIN which is our egoism, the “I-ness” and bend it as much as you can and you know the most you can bend is to make it a zero. When your I become a big Zero then you place it right in the same position where you took the I from SIN then you get back your true nature SON. You become sons and daughters of God .When you change from the I centered life to Other centered life you get back your son-ship. When you remove I, the pride the ego from you then you can see the presence of God throughout your life. Then you can feel it experience it. Until and unless you are not ready to remove the sandals of your reason and ego you can never experience the loving God. God is asking us today trough the Gospel to repent. Remove I and become Zero. God is asking us to become SON.
Isaac Newton said “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
But even if it’s the way of the world, maybe it’s not God’s way. Jesus tells us “Unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” No mention of whether you’re a good person or not. No consideration given to hard work and noble intentions or whether you come from a “good family.” If you don’t repent, you’ll perish. And not just die a peaceful death, but be executed in a way that would make Isaac Newton conclude that you must have been a very bad person.
The reason for that is we’re all sinners. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God, as St. Paul wrote. Sure, we might think we’re a little better than the guy sitting next to us, but even if that’s true we’re still full of sin. No matter who we are we don’t have the right to stand before God and tell God that He is obligated to bless us. God accepts us only out of the goodness of His heart, not because we deserve it in some way.
The gardener asks the man to give it just one more year. He’ll care for it and till it and fertilize it. And if it still doesn’t bear fruit by then, then he’ll cut it down. But just give it one more chance.
Though God's salvation is always available, only those willing to change their core lives ever notice it. Repentance is the first step in our redemption. That is why Jesus gives the strong warning in today’s gospel; "If you do not repent, you will all perish."
Teshuvá was the key concept in the rabbinic view of sin, repentance, and forgiveness. The Jewish rabbis taught that repentance required five elements: recognition of one's sin as sin; remorse for having committed the sin; desisting from repeating this sin; restitution for the damage done by the sin where possible; and confession. One who followed these steps to teshuvá was called a "penitent." In fact, Jesus invited his Jewish listeners to such repentance. “Repent” (Greek, metanoia), implies not just regret for the past but a radical conversion and a complete change in our way of life in responding and opening ourselves to the love of God. Repentance, or a turning away from one path to another, is not so much finding God as being found by God. Literally, in Greek, “Metanoia” means “turn around.” “A decision which changes the direction of a person’s life or behavior.” Turn to God. Trust in God, not in your idea of what you deserve and don’t deserve. We are called to abandon our false gods of money, power and pleasure and return to the one God, who “secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed.”
Imagine that you are in Love. If you are in love, you want nothing to come between you and your beloved; and the effort must be made daily both to avoid creating obstacles and to getting rid of any that may have appeared. You want straight paths, no hills or valleys! That is just another way of speaking of the spirit of repentance, seeking to keep completely open the channels of love, life and rejoicing which deepen with every passing day. Repentance is not being sorrowful and heavy, Feeling sorry and weeping but turning from the evil life to Godly life. Truing back to sin and turning to God. Remember Both Judas Iscariot and Peter were sorry for their sins but Judas turned to himself but Peter turned to God.
We need to live lives of repentance, because we never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own. Let us repent while we have the chance. Let us turn to Christ, acknowledge our faults and failings and receive from him mercy, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. There is no better way to take these words of Jesus to heart than to go to sacramental confession; and there is no better time to go to confession than during Lent.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One day a disciple came to pay homage to his master. He carried flowers on his both hands. When he entered in the presence of his master he heard a sound saying “drop it”. He thought it may not be right to offer flowers with left hand so he dropped the flowers from his left and he continued. When he was at the center he heard the same sound again “drop it”. So he dropped the flowers from his hands. He thought the master may not like the flowers. When he was very near to the master when he was about to bend his knees he heard the same sound “drop it”. He was shocked. Didn’t master saw that I drop the flowers? Then he heard the sound saying “drop it. Drop it not the Flowers but your Ego. Then come and pay homage.”
Yes dear brothers and sisters in our first reading we heard God is asking the same kind of a dropping off. Remove the sandals. If you happened to be in any of the Mosques or in the eastern Hindu temples or some Asian churches you have to remove your sandals or shoes. Taking off our shoes reminds us of our smallness and our poverty. Here God is asking Moses to remove the sandals. Because you are in the holy presence. If you wish to be in the presence of God, you need to remove your sandals. What are these sandals that you wear? IN Jesus’ time only the sons wear the sandals not the slaves. We know when we read the story of the prodigal son father says the servants to bring the sandals for his prodigal son. We have to remove the sandals we wear in our heart. The sandals of egoism, the sandals of power, the position, money, authority, the sandals of worries, tension, anxieties for tomorrow, sandals of hatred , un-forgiveness, revenge, pride etc.,. We can not enter in the presence of God wearing all these sandals of pride and ego.
To make it simple take the word “SIN” S-I-N. Sin happens when I stand out in the center of our life. Take that I from the Word SIN which is our egoism, the “I-ness” and bend it as much as you can and you know the most you can bend is to make it a zero. When your I become a big Zero then you place it right in the same position where you took the I from SIN then you get back your true nature SON. You become sons and daughters of God .When you change from the I centered life to Other centered life you get back your son-ship. When you remove I, the pride the ego from you then you can see the presence of God throughout your life. Then you can feel it experience it. Until and unless you are not ready to remove the sandals of your reason and ego you can never experience the loving God. God is asking us today trough the Gospel to repent. Remove I and become Zero. God is asking us to become SON.
Isaac Newton said “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
But even if it’s the way of the world, maybe it’s not God’s way. Jesus tells us “Unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” No mention of whether you’re a good person or not. No consideration given to hard work and noble intentions or whether you come from a “good family.” If you don’t repent, you’ll perish. And not just die a peaceful death, but be executed in a way that would make Isaac Newton conclude that you must have been a very bad person.
The reason for that is we’re all sinners. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God, as St. Paul wrote. Sure, we might think we’re a little better than the guy sitting next to us, but even if that’s true we’re still full of sin. No matter who we are we don’t have the right to stand before God and tell God that He is obligated to bless us. God accepts us only out of the goodness of His heart, not because we deserve it in some way.
The gardener asks the man to give it just one more year. He’ll care for it and till it and fertilize it. And if it still doesn’t bear fruit by then, then he’ll cut it down. But just give it one more chance.
Though God's salvation is always available, only those willing to change their core lives ever notice it. Repentance is the first step in our redemption. That is why Jesus gives the strong warning in today’s gospel; "If you do not repent, you will all perish."
Teshuvá was the key concept in the rabbinic view of sin, repentance, and forgiveness. The Jewish rabbis taught that repentance required five elements: recognition of one's sin as sin; remorse for having committed the sin; desisting from repeating this sin; restitution for the damage done by the sin where possible; and confession. One who followed these steps to teshuvá was called a "penitent." In fact, Jesus invited his Jewish listeners to such repentance. “Repent” (Greek, metanoia), implies not just regret for the past but a radical conversion and a complete change in our way of life in responding and opening ourselves to the love of God. Repentance, or a turning away from one path to another, is not so much finding God as being found by God. Literally, in Greek, “Metanoia” means “turn around.” “A decision which changes the direction of a person’s life or behavior.” Turn to God. Trust in God, not in your idea of what you deserve and don’t deserve. We are called to abandon our false gods of money, power and pleasure and return to the one God, who “secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed.”
Imagine that you are in Love. If you are in love, you want nothing to come between you and your beloved; and the effort must be made daily both to avoid creating obstacles and to getting rid of any that may have appeared. You want straight paths, no hills or valleys! That is just another way of speaking of the spirit of repentance, seeking to keep completely open the channels of love, life and rejoicing which deepen with every passing day. Repentance is not being sorrowful and heavy, Feeling sorry and weeping but turning from the evil life to Godly life. Truing back to sin and turning to God. Remember Both Judas Iscariot and Peter were sorry for their sins but Judas turned to himself but Peter turned to God.
We need to live lives of repentance, because we never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own. Let us repent while we have the chance. Let us turn to Christ, acknowledge our faults and failings and receive from him mercy, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. There is no better way to take these words of Jesus to heart than to go to sacramental confession; and there is no better time to go to confession than during Lent.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
2 comments:
About 3 years ago I dropped into a black hole – four months of absolute terror. I wanted to end my life, but somehow [Holy Spirit], I reached out to a friend who took me to hospital. I had three visits [hospital] in four months – I actually thought I was in hell. I imagine I was going through some sort of metamorphosis [mental, physical & spiritual]. I had been seeing a therapist [1994] on a regular basis, up until this point in time. I actually thought I would be locked away – but the hospital staff was very supportive [I had no control over my process]. I was released from hospital 16th September 1994, but my fear, pain & shame had only subsided a little. I remember this particular morning waking up [home] & my process would start up again [fear, pain, & shame]. No one could help me, not even my therapist [I was terrified]. I asked Jesus Christ to have mercy on me & forgive me my sins. Slowly, all my fear has dissipated & I believe Jesus delivered me from my “psychological prison.” I am a practicing Catholic & the Holy Spirit is my friend & strength; every day since then has been a joy & blessing. I deserve to go to hell for the life I have led, but Jesus through His sacrifice on the cross, delivered me from my inequities. John 3: 8, John 15: 26, are verses I can relate to, organically. He’s a real person who is with me all the time. I have so much joy & peace in my life, today, after a childhood spent in orphanages [England & Australia]. Fear, pain, & shame, are no longer my constant companions. I just wanted to share my experience with you [Luke 8: 16 – 17].
Peace Be With You
Patrick
Salvation is always the ending of the minds fascinated identification with the dead and unchanging image of what it was. It is the complete reversal of the
"natural" order of things a METANOIA - the Greek word for repentance, meaning precisely a turning around of the mind, so that it no longer faces into the past, the land of the shadow of death, but into the Eternal Present.
So long as the mind is captivated by memory, and really feels itself to be that past image which is "I" it can do nothing to save itself; it's sacrifices are of no avail, and it's Law gives no life.
After years of therapy, I had a metamorphosis - I asked Jesus to have mercy on me & forgive me my sins. He delivered me from my inequities. Praise the Lord!!
Peace Be With You
Patrick
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