IT kien ħames sigħat u nofs sewqan mill-ajruport għall-komunità remota f'Mighigan ta 'Fuq fejn kelli nagħti irtir. Kont naf b’dan l-avveniment għal xhur sħaħ, imma ma bdejtx il-vjaġġ tiegħi li l-messaġġ li ġejt imsejjaħ biex nitkellem fl-aħħar imla qalbi. Beda bil-kliem ta ’Sidna:
... meta jiġi Bin il-Bniedem, se jsib fidi fuq l-art? (Luqa 18: 8)
Il-kuntest ta ’dawn il-kliem huwa parabbola li qal Ġesù"dwar il-ħtieġa li jitolbu dejjem mingħajr ma jgħajjru"(Lq 18: 1-8). B'mod stramb, huwa jtemm il-parabbola b'dik il-mistoqsija inkwetanti dwar jekk Huwiex ser isib fidi fuq l-art meta jirritorna. Il-kuntest huwa jekk l-erwieħ humiex se jippersisti jew le.
WHAT IS FAITH?
But what does He mean by "faith"? If He means belief in His existence, His incarnation, death, and resurrection, there will likely be many souls who intellectually assent to this, if only privately. Yes, even the devil believes this. But I don’t believe this is what Jesus meant.
James jgħid,
Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. (James 2:18).
And the works Jesus demands of us can be summed up in one commandment:
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. (John 15:12)
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:4-7)
The Holy Father, in his most recent encyclical Caritas In Veritate (Love in Truth), warns that love unbound from truth carries grave consequences for society. The two cannot be divorced. We can act in the name of social justice and love, but when it is unhinged from the "truth which sets us free," we may be leading others into iskjavitù, whether it is within our personal relationships or within the economic and political actions of nations and governing bodies. His timely and prophetic encyclical once again highlights the false prophets who have arisen, even fi ħdan il-Knisja itself, who claim to act in the name of love, but move away from authentic love because it is not enlightened by the truth which "has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth" (encyclical, n. 1). Clear examples are those who promote the death of the unborn or promote gay marriage whilst claiming to uphold "human rights." Yet these very "rights" are paving the way to grave evils which threaten the lives of the weakest members of the human community and overturn the inherent and inviolable truths regarding the dignity of the person and human sexuality.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
FAITH: LOVE AND TRUTH
Kif ktibt fl Ix-Xemgħa li tfaqqiegħ, the light of Truth is fading, except in those who, like the Five Wise Virgins, are filling their hearts with the oil of faith. Love is growing cold because of the increase of evildoing, that is, actions which are intending or claiming to be good but are intrinsically evil. How dangerous and confusing this is, and how many are being led astray!
Il-problema vera f'dan il-mument ta 'l-istorja tagħna hija li Alla qed jisparixxi mill-orizzont uman, u, bit-tnaqqis tad-dawl li ġej minn Alla, l-umanità qed titlef il-bearings tagħha, b'effetti distruttivi dejjem aktar evidenti. -Ittra tal-Qdusija Tiegħu l-Papa Benedittu XVI lill-Isqfijiet Kollha tad-Dinja, Is-10 ta ’Marzu, 2009; Kattoliku Online
Ħafna profeti foloz se jqumu u jqarrqu b’ħafna; u minħabba ż-żieda tal-ħażen, l-imħabba ta 'bosta tibred. (Matt 24: 11-12)
Faith, then, can be considered this: imħabba u, Verità in azzjoni. When one of the three elements of faith is missing, then it is a weak or even non-existent faith.
Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Rev 2:3-5)
PERSVERENZA
In this day when truth is being redefined, when authentic love is waning, and compromise is epidemic, it is crucial that we, like the woman in Christ’s parable, jippersisti. Jesus warned as much:
All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed…’ Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:27, 38)
If you are like me, however, then you will have good reason to doubt your personal strength. This is good. God wants us to depend on Him completely (and we must, for we are fallen creatures in need of grace to be transformed into whole human beings). In fact, He is providing for us in these extraordinary times an ocean of graces preċiżament għall perseverance. I will explain this in my next meditation.
