“Growing in the assurance that God is always holding us!”

(Based on 1 Pet 1:10-16 and Mk 10:28-31 – Tuesday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II)

One day a person who was going through much spiritual and mental perplexity called up his friend.

He knew that his friend was able to remain sturdy and confident, even in the midst of troubles of life.

And so he desired to learn from him this secret to stay calm

“Tell me,” the anxious friend asked over the phone, “how is it that you can trust God so easily? How is it that you always got hold of God?”

For some time, the person was silent.
And then, taking a deep sigh, he replied, “It surely did take me a while to know and learn this.

But let me be honest with you.

Even now I have my moments when I don’t know if I have got hold of God…
… but one thing I have learnt over the years: ‘God always has a hold of me!”

It was this assurance that God was always holding him…
… that allowed this person to remain calm and confident in his journey of life.

Are we ready to grow deeper in this fact: That God is always having a hold of me…
… and this assurance that translates to a life of trust and confidence!

Our lives in the Lord, is a spiritual journey…

The greater assurance we have in the promises of the Lord, the more pleasant will be our journey
The stronger our assurances in the Word of the Lord, the swifter will be our progress in this journey towards the Lord

The Gospel of the Day presents Jesus declaring His assured promises to those who follow Him, sincerely and wholeheartedly.

Jesus tells to Peter and the other disciples:
“Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and the sake of the Gospel, who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age…
… and eternal life in the age to come” (Mk 10: 29)

This incident takes place right after the encounter of the rich young man with Jesus (Mk 10: 17-22)

This man was proposed by Jesus to sell all his possessions and then follow Him.

The man, however, found it hard, to let go off his attachments, and instead let go of the Lord.
He went away sad!

Peter, as the leader of the disciples, however, contrasts this “possessive and worldly” tendency of the rich young man by telling Jesus, “We have given up everything and followed you” (Mk 10: 28)

Perhaps, there was a growing concern among the disciples, as to whether their radical decision to commit themselves to the Master would go in vain!

Perhaps, there was an apparent fear within the disciples, as to whether their decisions to leave their professions, their families and their aspirations to follow the Lord would go fruitless!

And so the Lord, with a candid straight-forwardness replies that their sacrifices would surely assure them of rewards…
… of a much higher quality and eminence.

How often do our lives also sometimes sink in hopelessness, thinking whether our expressions of faith would end up in meaninglessness!

Sometimes even fearful thoughts and anxious emotions may cross our mind…
… will the various sacrifices and pains that I take up for the Lord, go in vain?
… will my unshed tears, my unspoken prayers and painful sighs, end up in futility?
… will the efforts I make to grow in love and nourish others in faith, lead to fruitlessness?

But the Lord assures us, that none of these efforts – small or great, noticed or unnoticed, seen or unseen – will escape the penetrating eyes of the Lord and go unrewarded.

All our actions, done in love, has an assured reward!

What is however, most essential, is our total focus on the Lord and unflinched commitment to Him.

The Lord most certainly assures us of rewards and gifts.

But, in this pursuit, let us not stray away, or lose focus of Him!

Our lives ought to be impelled by the love for the God of rewards…
… than merely the rewards of God!

Our lives must be lived in faithfulness to the God of gifts…
… than being fascinated only to the gifts of God!

As we begin this new month of March, let us seek to have the Lord Himself as our greatest reward…
… our finest gift!

When we grow in the assurance that God is always holding us…
… we can remain calm and confident in this journey of life.

Yes… GOD IS ALWAYS HAVING A HOLD OF ME!

Are we ready to grow deeper in this awareness?

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
HELL

We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him.
But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbour or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.
To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from Him for ever by our own free choice.

This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.” (CCC # 1032)