Knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus

Father shared his story of when he first started work. He found out about a fellow commuter on his bus rides through random situations. It was only through an incident where the bus broke down that led him to converse with this person and start to know him.

Father relates his story to that of our relationship with Jesus. We may know a lot about Him, but do we truly know Him... It is very easy to know about someone but to really know that person requires much more. As I ponder on my relationship with Jesus, I wonder if I have too much head knowledge about Jesus and not much heart knowledge of Him.

Many a time I have relied on this head knowledge to see me through the countless painful events in my life but fail to realise that Jesus is with me, holding me during these moments. It can come from a simple hug from a friend. That friend is Christ giving me His comfort and assurance.

As we struggle through life with our own set of challenges, may we experience that special friendship with Christ that only He can give. Let us nurture out hearts to recognise Him more and more each day, and get to know Him more.

Strengthen our faith

Father brought up the topic of faith at mass last weekend. We sometimes wonder how people can have such strong faith, whilst ours are so weak? I find myself questioning as well.

Faith is strengthen when we exercise our faith. As Father mentioned, our faith is like a muscle, we need to exercise it in order to strengthen it. We need to make time to exercise our faith. This can be simply taking the time to read the bible and pray.

I like this analogy and as I seek to strengthen my faith, I pray that God will sustain me in my quest, for starters, to allocate time to pray each day. May we all be blessed with God's grace as we set out to strengthen our faith.

Man of little faith

"Man of little faith," these were the words of Jesus to Peter in the Gospel passage last weekend. Jesus followed with the words,"Why did you doubt?"

Peter initially trusted Jesus and walked towards him across the water but once he felt the force of the wind, he was frighten and started to sink. This is so true in the many different periods of my life. I try to live my life according to Christ but when faced with trials and tribulations, I get afraid and lose sight of Christ. Doubts start flooding my head and before I know it, I am sinking into the troubled waters of my fear. I know how difficult it is to focus on Christ during the storms in our lives but Jesus is there and He will never abandon us, always ready to put His hand out to hold us. We will always be men of little faith every now and then but we need to be ready to let Christ increase in our lives and let Him squash all our doubts.

Help us focus on you always Lord, and may you forever be the biggest part of our lives.

No creature can separate us from the love of God

Father shared at mass last weekend about the story of a lady who lost her children in a drowning. This lady was very steadfast in her faith. Instead of blaming God and giving up on life, she continued to have rock solid faith. In her words,"Nothing can separate me from the love of God."

This is incredible, coming from someone who had lost her children. She echoes what St Paul said to the Romans,"No creature can separate us from the love of God." Her story resonates within me, especially at this time where lives have been lost from the MH17 disaster. One particular story reported in the news tells about the parents of 3 children, who lost their children and the children's grandfather. In their grieve, they were able to be strong and proclaim that "Love conquers Hate." Just remarkable!

It is hard to imagine being in their shoes but we need to emulate their strength and faith, that in their adversity they are still able to proclaim love, instead of vengeance. Indeed, my problems and issues are tiny compared to theirs and I pray that God will be with them to comfort and bless them. As I continue to struggle with my life, I draw strength from their faith and look forward to living out the great love of God, which nothing can separate me from. I pray the same for you.