FIVORIAMBEN'NY KARENY
Day 27
RAHOVIANA Andriamanitra dia niditra tao amin'ny nofo tamin'ny alàlan'ny tenan'i Jesosy, afaka nilaza fa nanao Batisa Izy fotoana tenany. Tampoka teo, Andriamanitra - izay misy ny mandrakizay rehetra - dia nandia ny segondra, minitra, ora ary andro. Nasehon'i Jesosy fa ny fotoana dia fihaonan-dàlana amin'ny lanitra sy ny tany. Ny fiombonany tamin'ny Ray, ny maha-irery azy tamin'ny vavaka ary ny asa fanompoany iray manontolo dia norefesina ara-potoana avokoa ary mandrakizay indray mandeha…. Ary nitodika tany amintsika Izy avy eo ary nilaza…
Izay manompo ahy dia tsy maintsy hanaraka ahy, ary izay itoerako no itoeran'ny mpanompoko koa. (Jaona 12:26)
How can we, who remain on earth, be with Christ, who is seated in Heaven? The answer is to be where He is on earth: in the fotoana ankehitriny. The moment past is gone; the one to come hasn’t arrived. The only moment that dia, is the present moment. And thus, that too is where God is—that’s why it is the Grace Moment. So when Jesus said, “seek first the kingdom of God”, the only place to seek it is where it is, in God’s will in the present moment. As Jesus said,
…the kingdom of God is near. (Matt 3:2)
The spiritual pilgrim, then, is not one who runs ahead, but one who carefully and lovingly takes one little stepping stone at a time. While the world meanders down the wide and easy road, God’s will is expressed in whatever the next demand our state of life requires. Just as Jesus kissed His Cross, we should kiss these little moments of changing diapers, filing taxes, or sweeping the floor, because Ery is God’s will.
At the age of 12, Jesus sanctified the tsotra when He left the temple in Jerusalem and returned home with his parents.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them… And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man. (Luke 2:51-42)
But for the next 18 years, Our Lord did nothing more than the duty of the moment. So one would be tragically wrong to say that this was not an tena ilaina part of Christ’s ministry and witness. If Jesus transformed the skin of lepers years later, in Nazareth he was transforming the nature of work: God was sanctifying the duty of the moment. He made hallow doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and wiping sawdust off the furniture; He made sacred carrying water, making the bed, and milking a goat; He made holy casting a fish net, hoeing the garden, and washing the clothes. For this was the Father’s will for Him.
Ny haniko dia ny manao ny sitrapon'izay naniraka ahy sy ny mahavita ny asany. (Jaona 4:34)
Then at first, the work of the Father was to be a carpenter! Could we not imagine that this next little saying of Jesus was perhaps an echo from the wisdom of Mary or Joseph when He was growing up?
Izay mahatoky amin'ny kely indrindra dia mahatoky koa amin'ny be. (Lioka 16:10)
Yesterday, I spoke about total abandonment to God by being faithful in each moment, whether God’s will brings consolations or crosses. This abandonment includes letting go of both the past and the future. As Jesus said,
Na ny zavatra madinidinika aza tsy voafehinao. (Lioka 12:26)
Or as the Russian proverb goes:
Raha tsy maty aloha ianao dia hanana fotoana hanaovana izany. Raha maty alohan'ny vita dia tsy mila atao.
Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade puts it this way:
Our only satisfaction must be to live in the present moment as if there were nothing to expect beyond it. — Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Fialana amin'ny fanompoana masina, translated by John Beevers, p. (introduction)
Ary noho izany, “Do not worry about tomorrow,” Hoy i Jesosy hoe: “tomorrow will take care of itself.” [1]Matt 6: 34
There is a verse in David’s psalms that is packed with wisdom, especially in our era of uncertainty.
Fanilon'ny tongotro sy fanazavana ny làlako ny teninao. (Salamo 119: 105)
God’s will is most often, not a headlight, but just a lamp—enough light for the next step. I often talk to young people who say, “I don’t know what God wants me to do. I feel this calling to do this or that, but I don’t know what I should do…” And my answer is: do your homework, do the dishes. Look, if you are doing God’s will moment by moment, striving to be faithful to Him, then you won’t miss the turn in the bend, the opened door, or the signpost that says, “This Way My Child.”
Think of a merry-go-round, the kind you played on as a child that revolved in circles. The closer one came to the middle of the merry-go-round, the easier it was to hold on, but at the edges it was pretty tough to hang on when it got going really fast! The center is like the present moment—izay iarahan'ny mandrakizay amin'ny fotoana-dia Grace Moment. But if you’re “on edge” hanging onto the future—or holding on to the past—you’re going to lose your peace. The place of rest for the pilgrim soul is in the ankehitriny, the Grace Moment, because that’s where God is. If we let go of what we cannot change, if we abandon ourselves to the permissive will of God, then we become like a little child who can do nothing but sit resigned on his Papa’s knee in the moment. And Jesus said, “to such as these little ones does the Kingdom of Heaven belong.” The Kingdom is found only where it is: in the Grace Moment, for Jesus said:
…the kingdom of God is near. (Matt 3:2)
FAMINTINANA SY SORATRA MASINA
The duty of the moment is the Grace Moment because that is where God is, and where His servant must be.
Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? …Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:25-26, 32)
Jesus is also present each moment in the Blessed Sakramenta.
Her e is a song I wrote called Here You Are…
Misaotra amin'ny fanohananao sy ny vavakao!
Manatevin-daharana an'i Marka amin'ity Karemy Retreat ity,
kitiho ny sora-baventy etsy ambany mankany famandrihana.
Tsy zaraina amin'ny olon-kafa ny mailakao.
Henoy ny podcast an'ny fandinihana anio:
Podcast: Milalao ao amin'ny varavarankely vaovao | Download
fanamarihana ambany pejy
| ↑1 | Matt 6: 34 |
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