Maintaining Relationships – Are we Accusers or Comforters?

We are again being bothered by a brewing outburst of feelings among some members of our community. Is it something new? I don’t think so.

Pondering deeply… this is the root cause of all troubles that have arisen in our community - Maintaining relationships.

It seems the strength we used to be proud of as members of the community is again being tested. Maybe not among those who are in the ground but in the upper echelons of the community. However, if it is happening up there, surely it could be happening in every level down the line. Have we become so proud of our own achievements and that we have become blind or unable to distinguish the work of the devil from the work of the Holy Spirit? If we remain set to our ways and reluctant to examine our thoughts and attitudes, we shall remain undisciplined and subject to the influences of the evil one.

There are two forces we have to contend with in our struggle to the daily challenges of our lives. The forces of good and the forces of evil. The former symbolizes unity and the latter of division. Consolations govern unity; accusations lead to division.

If our words are often full of accusations – founded or unfounded - towards one another, then it creates division. The relationship turns to mistrusts and suspicions. One’s shortcomings are magnified to the extent that one is made to feel useless and unworthy.

In contrast to the divisive nature of our thoughts is a kind and compassionate heart. If we tend to look at people with kindness and compassion, then we become comforter ourselves as the Holy Spirit is the comforter of souls. This brings unity and love among friends and families.

St. Paul exhorts all of us to fill our thoughts with “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is gracious.” (Phil 4:8)

Let us all be comforters, not accusers of one another.

Making Prayer The Center Of Our Lives

The mission order has been issued for us all last 09 January at the CFC Conference in Araneta Coliseum. To go and spread the word of God among all the people. But how can we if we ourselves are not prepared to do the task at hand? It is essential that we must first look into ourselves.

Fr. Steve Tysman (from the devotional book, Sabbath) in his reflection to today’s Gospel reading appropriately said that we must at first develop the desire to receive what God has to offer to us.

“It is this desire for God that we have to develop. One of the best ways to preserve our holiness is always to cry out to God from the depths of our hearts and to always seek whatever might be his next gift for us.

If we examine the lives of the saints, we will see that at the heart of their lives is their prayer.”

It also took me quite a time to develop this habit of finding the right time for my personal prayer. More than 10 years in fact. I practically tried everything to have a consistent prayer time. But I persevered. In our lives as Couples for Christ, during household meetings, it is often monitored by our household heads how we are doing in our personal prayer time. Wouldn’t it be funny if we keep on saying the same thing that we are still in the process of developing or looking for the right time for this? It’s funny, but it also happened to me. as I have said it also took me quite a time to develop the habit.

One of the books that helped me resolved this matter is the book “Byways of Blessedness” by James Allen. Each one of us has a natural body clock that determines when we have to go to sleep and what time we wake up. Since everyday, we each have our schedule fixed to do what we have to do each day; we find it hard to put in a real and consistent time to put in our personal prayer time.

If I can not find the right moment in the usual time I have everyday, then I have to make one – this is what I have resolved. I adjusted my body clock to rise up 1 – 2 hours earlier that I am used to. Adjusting our body clock is not easy. I struggled and persevered until it became a part of my schedule everyday.

This struggle has become the beginning of my journey and it is now the challenge of maintaining it that I now must face. But with God and prayer as the center of our lives, how can we fail?