Can you interpret your life?

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

Today the Lord Jesus warns to interpret the times in which we live. The most important thing is to interpret the time we have been given in this world. What is it all about?

Friday 23 October 2020

Can you interpret your life?

 

Gospel

Luke 12:54-59

Do you not know how to interpret these times?

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?

‘Why not judge for yourselves what is right? For example: when you go to court with your opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you thrown into prison. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny.’

 

Prayerful reflection

“How is it you do not know how to interpret these time?” Do we know how to interpret our own life and situation?

We believers are a privileged group. We know that God has made us for himself, that he wants us to live with him forever. Then you may ask, why did he not create me in his very bosom, so that when I first opened my eyes, I would see him in all his glory? Why did he create this universe where he is in no way visible, nor can we in any way grasp him by any of our senses – sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing. For those who only go by these senses, then he doesn’t even exist. Why did he then put me in this world so full of evil, such as war, killings, sickness and distress of all kinds?

The starting point of everything and the end of everything is Love. First, it is God’s love for us. Of courses, how can we know the love of a God who is in no way accessible to us. He lives as the Bible says in ‘unapproachable light.’ Yet he created the universe out of love. Then he created each human being uniquely. There may be billions of human beings, among them all there is only one me. God loves each person so much that he wants what we can only describe in the poverty of human language as an eternal nuptial relationship.

To prove his love for us, the unseen God of the universe actually became a human being and lived among us, just like any of us. He was so ordinary that no one except one, that we know of, recognised him as Son of God while he lived. That person was Peter. In Jesus God invites us to repent of our sins and be reconciled with God the Father. Jesus shown his extreme love by willingly undergoing the Passion and then Death on the Cross. He could do no more. He gave his life in such a cruel and brutal way so that we could live. He offered his life in reparation for the sins we have committed.

God’s love is sure. His is pure love. He gets nothing, but I get everything. He gives himself. But what about my love? How can I prove my love for him? How can I offer him pure and unadulterated love? In this world of darkness, sin, pain and suffering – all of human making – I can live for God. I can recognise his love in Christ Jesus and live for him, praying and doing his will even though the whole world goes against me.

I can make him and his will, the only treasure I desire and happily forfeit everything in the sure hope that when this time is over I will be able to give myself to him. Love is to give and to give myself to the beloved. I can make God my beloved as he has made me his. This life becomes an engagement and the next become the nuptials.