Day 37 – Lift Jesus Higher
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If we do not know how much God is willing to suffer for us, we do not know how to appreciate God's love. This lack of appreciation weakens the awareness of our identity which results in a distortion of perspectives and values in our lives.
The life of Jesus was filled with trials, temptations, sufferings and persecutions, which were out of proportion in his short three years of public ministry. For whom did He embrace all those pains and sufferings. If not for us, His sacrifices would have been in vain!
If Jesus, being God Himself, took on all those hardships and struggles in life, should we be exempted?
Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
The father said to the elder son, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours."
The blessings lie not only in the final rewards, but also in being with the Father. The blessings are also given along the journey, through labours and sufferings, which are part of the conditions of discipleship mentioned above.
With the eyes of faith, the curses and ugliness we experience in life have transformed into blessings. Our sufferings and our brokenness beg for God's compassionate mercy and His tender love to heal our wounds and soothe our pains! From this we know there is no limit and boundary in His abundant graces! His mercy is like a vast ocean. No human conditions can escape this powerful stream of love only if we allow it to flow into our lives. The blood and water that flow from His opened side cleanse and purify us, overwhelming us with His Divine Love and Mercy!
Let us all LIFT JESUS HIGHER so that His merciful love will flow like a broken dam flooding the whole mankind to draw all people to Jesus.
God knows that we cannot repay His love for us. He settles with the offering of our labours and pains, sacrifices and vulnerabilities, and most importantly, our will and our sins to our Lord! As we enter into the climax of the Holy Week, let us also put on the armour of Christ to accompany and stand by Jesus through His Passion, and dive into the Heart of the Suffering Jesus!
REFLECTION
Do you know that our rejection of our own sufferings is to deny the values and meaning of Christ's suffering and death for us?
Would you choose to endure earthly sufferings so as to enjoy eternal joy and reward, or to indulge in earthly pleasures only to endure eternal punishment?
TODAY'S PRAYER
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.
Artist: Laura Story
"There is a blessedness that comes through waiting on the Lord. There’s an intimacy that comes in our walk with the Lord through walking through that valley. There’s a reliance on His word that we only know when everything else fades away…" – Laura Story, Singer & Songwriter
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敬愛的天主，我聆聽今日靈修講道後，明白了~不在乎自己付出幾多，應只在乎自己得主恩幾多。為此我要深化醒悟，遠離罪惡，誠心悔改。????♂️
親近耶穌就保證我們必須受苦，這是「化了妝的祝福」，祂的慈悲是一片無盡的海洋。沒有任何人的處境及狀況能躲避這源源不絕的愛的洪流，只要我們容許它流進我們的生命中。天主知道祂對我們的愛，是我們無法償還的。祢只需我們把辛勞和痛苦、犧牲和脆弱，以及最重要的是把意願和罪過奉獻給我們的主耶穌。主耶穌基督：多謝祢為我指示出走天堂之路必須受苦。祢無盡的慈悲！沒有祢救贖的愛，我一無所有！
主耶穌，我願意選擇痛苦和磨爛已獲取永恆的生命。求祢使我明白痛苦和磨難背後的真正意義，即化了妝的祝福。祢使我們增強對祢的信德和依賴。祢對我們的愛是源源不絕的，只要我們願意接受。祢知道我們無法償還祢的愛。祢只需要我們奉獻辛勞，痛苦，犧牲，意願，工作就已足夠了。我願意把這一切化作祈禱奉獻給祢的聖心，在聖週內與祢一同背起十字架，分擔祢的苦難和聖死，與祢一起逾越，同死同生。沒有祢的愛，我們一無所有。感謝祢使我們明白人生的終向和意義。祢永生永王，亞孟。
An uneventful and comfortable living, which I have been after most of my life, makes me arrogant, thinking that things are under my control and I forget about God, His sufferings and His love. Hardships bring humility – when I realise that I can achieve nothing without God. Oh Lord, please help me to endure all sufferings and brokenness , and appreciate that they are simply ‘blessings in disguise’ !
苦難是「化了妝的祝福」。耶穌經過了苦難才能拯救我們全人類。我們要能夠接受苦難才是耶穌的門徒，得勝苦難之後才能跟隨耶穌一起回到天父那裡去，在那裡才有永恆的幸福。
所以我們逃避苦難就是拒絕祝福！
我主耶穌，我要同祢一起擁抱生命中的每一個考驗和痛苦，在其中體驗祢的無限仁慈，無論世途多麼的兇險只要能與祢相偕，就是最大的幸福！
波折接連來
困六神無主
主裏平安竟不求
憂苦彌深腑
謝農夫心田
植滿靈修語
默念慈悲善牧恩
安我迎風雨
I avoiding suffering and pains at all cost. But since I was hit by a car on February 26, 2021 in the morning on my way to Mass, I accepted the suffering and glad that I was alive in union with the sufferings of Christ in the season of Lent.