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2) Prayer is a
transforming relationship with GOD - The love of God
transforms us. God wants to communicate with us in love. Only in
loving God can we communicate with Him. God communicates with us
in His Spirit, who is love and unity. God is actively present in
our hearts when we welcome His love with gratitude and confidence.
The Spirit has been
given to us in Baptism. It is the Spirit who touches the substance
of our being and transforms us by His presence. The effect in us
is called "sanctifying grace". We are, then, united with the
Father. We are His sons and daughters. It is our vocation to
discover the Spirit who loves and calls us. This is the great love
upon which we reorganize our lives. We too love God and this love
moves us to change our behaviour. "Don't sadden the Holy Spirit".
The Spirit of Christ transforms us. We do not become good by our
resolutions or faithfulness. It is not our effort, our behaviour
that makes us worthy children of God. We do not make ourselves
"good". Only God is good. Only God makes us good. Neither can we
deserve God's love. God's love is a gift we accept with wonder and
gratitude. The love of God for me is a wonderful gift. We can do
nothing to reach God or gain His love. He has loved us first. He
reaches out to us.
It is in this
relationship with the Spirit that we are transformed. We are
called to live our lives guided and transformed by the Spirit who
loves us and teaches us how to love others like He loves us. On
our own, separated from the Spirit, we are nothing. It can happen
for instance, that somebody we know does something wrong to us or
to others. We disapprove of this action, we condemn it and demand
a reparation. We know "we are right" but at the same time we
experience feelings of anger and rejection, the heart moved by
other spirits, other than the Spirit of Christ. We should not be
surprised when our acquaintances discover the absence of love and
resent our intervention or reject it altogether. The Spirit
teaches us how to maintain a clean and loving heart even under the
influence of evil, how to be firm but compassionate,
straightforward and patient at the same time. The transforming
presence of the Spirit is shown in the quality of our
relationships more than in the righteousness of our enterprise.
3) Prayer demands a
complete surrender and gift of self to GOD - If we want the
spirit to be our friend and guide, we have to surrender our hearts
to Him. He is the hidden treasure we have discovered. If we want
God to communicate Himself to us we have to value Him more than
anybody else. He is the precious pearl we want to have. God's
HOLINESS doesn't demand from us distance but loyalty. God cannot
share our heart with idols or false gods. God is holy because He
is pure and faithful. He invites us, his children, to be pure and
holy like Himself: "To me you shall be sacred for I, the Lord, am
sacred, I who have set you apart to be my own" (Lev 20:26)
The secret of our
friendship with the Spirit is complete surrender to Him, loving
Him above everything else. He teaches us how to love everybody and
everything in God. To love everybody and everything in God means
to love God above everybody and everything. It means to detach our
hearts from every desire to control and possess things or persons
as our own. It means receiving everybody and everything as a gift
from Him. It means to value God and His love above all the gifts
He gives us.
The sincerity of our
surrender to God and the supremacy of His love in our hearts is
put to the test by choices, accidents, illness, losses and death.
The Ten Commandments, the experiences of life, temptations and
evil have a new meaning when we live in a loving relationship with
God. We certainly don't want to "create" conflicts and lead
ourselves into temptation, but we should not grow impatient with
daily conflicts or recurring temptations. Otherwise how would we
know whether we really love God above everybody and everything
else?
Only by our actions
can we discover the secrets of our hearts. The crossroads of life
do not only test our love for God, but are the highlights of our
love story with Him, if only we surrender to God and let His
Spirit guide us.
God is the shore, we
are the waves. The shore welcomes the wave, but doesn't retain it.
The wave reaches up to the shore and withdraws, only to come back
once more. Sometimes the encounter happens on a golden beach and
the waves break again and again, blending themselves with the sand
in a white embrace of foam and softness. At other times it is the
roaring splash against the abrupt, rocky cliff. And yet there is
also merging, embrace and unity. The cliff always strong,
unchanged, resounding, the tireless waves showing their might,
reaching high and deep into the rocks, eventually enjoying a brief
moment of quiet on a little patch of sand, among the rocks.
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