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Day 23 – Irresistible Love

Cantonese

Mandarin

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The deeper we enter into our distant country, the further away we are from the true Light. It is like entering into a jungle by yourself, you will easily get lost and risk being devoured by wild beasts, that is the devil. It is also like a one-way-ticket into a black hole, devoid of light, love and every goodness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth, as described in the Scriptures (Matthew 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). We know very well that symbolizes the conditions of hell.

The opposite is what Jesus is preparing for us, the many dwelling places that He assured us of in His Father's House. However, Jesus didn't just leave us on earth to do His own things in heaven. We know that He cannot wait to be united with us eternally in heaven. Jesus does not want to leave us orphaned on earth either. He wants to remain with us and in us. He desires to provide us with the best while we are still en route to the Father's House.

Jesus spent three years of His public ministry not only to prepare His Apostles but also all of us for our journey back home. Besides His teachings, He created a whole support system for us before He ascended to the Father. He instituted the Sacraments to grant us special graces, and more importantly, the Church to perpetuate and administer those Sacraments to us. He gave us His beloved Mother to accompany this Church of which we are a part. He left us His Word through the Gospels to guide us and to remain with us spiritually. But He wants to go even further. His love for us is beyond measure. He wants to dwell in us physically so that He abides in us and we abide in Him. And so, He humbles Himself to stay with us in the Eucharist. It is a sign of a complete abandonment of Himself to us. At the end, He also leaves us His Spirit, His very breath, His everything!

"Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

(Matthew 28:20)

Through all these, He wants to give us a foretaste of heaven, to give us hope and to sustain us on this tough earthly journey. The Church, and all the Angels and Saints, are our aides and companions, offering us all the necessary support we need for a safe trip home. They provide a lifeline to us in the form of a community!

Jesus has really done everything He can for us! His love and sacrifice is a complete one. We must then ask ourselves, what more can we ask of Him?

It is now our turn to respond, whether we accept His offer to be with us, to lead us by hand back to the Father's House, or not. Without forcing His will on us, He has given us the free will to respond. Everything hinges on our decision to choose Him, or otherwise.

We can be sure that our heavenly Father has exhausted every means reaching out to us, and will continue to do so. He is not a passive God as many of us might think He is.

Of His own accord, Abba Father chooses to break open His Heart to offer us His only begotten Son, whose Heart was in turn pierced by the lance of our sins. Whether we respond or not, our Heavenly Father is waiting for us on the other side, arms outstretched. Instead of condemning us, He desires to baptize us with His Spirit, which means an outpouring of all His love and graces without reserve.

Our exile is over the moment we respond positively to His invitation to go home. With our "fiat", our hidden, naked, and shameful self will be destroyed and our forgone identity restored.

To be where we should be, that is, home, or to continue to be homeless is a decision for us to make.

REFLECTION

Can you truly appreciate what our Heavenly Father and Jesus have done for us?

If what God has already done cannot move you to saying YES to His invitation to go home, what else does it take to bring you home?

Are you waiting for something to happen in your life for you to take your next move? Do you find yourself too passive or weak to respond to God's call?

TODAY'S PRAYER

Dear Abba Father, today, I have found myself to be like many characters in the Bible, because they could not face their sinfulness and brokenness. They kept running away from Your love and Your calling. How weak am I in facing myself and You? But You have told me the other side of the story, Your story, of how hard You have tried to reach out to me, but only to find Your effort in vain when it comes to my decision. While I have tried hard to confess to You how worthless I am, You press on to show me more of Your love! Your persistence to chase after me makes me speechless. Your love has melted my heart and my soul! Abba Father, take me as I am as this is what You desire of me. I surrender to You, Lord. I am all Yours!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Sincerely invite you to share the reflections that inspires you by this day's retreat.

10 Comments

Bernadette Cheng on March 18, 2021 at 6:26 pm

I truly appreciate what our Heavenly Father and Jesus have done for me as on February 26, 2021 at around 8:45 a.m. I was hit by a car while walking across the street on my way to Mass to Chinese Martyrs Catholic Church, I thought I was dead. But very happy that I was alive and not dead nor crippled nor row over by the car. God is protecting me all the time.