The year began with many people I know and love, who are experiencing tough times. Some are truly undergoing real doozies, while others are experiencing garden variety problems (at times self-inflicted) that while unpleasant and do inconvenience life, are not what I call cataclysmic.
The irony of it all is that the people who are going through genuinely challenging times have gritted their teeth and are soldiering on cheerfully. Their problems do not define them nor do they let adversity diminish their joie de vivre. It is those who are undergoing the blips who are completely engulfed by their difficulties and totally bent out of shape. They are stressed out, hair-trigger snippy and kinda zap all the fun out of life.
I have to admit I have less patience with the latter and it takes a whole lot more energy from me to be present and sympathetic. At the same time I do realize that their emotional distress is real and I do try to lend a listening ear even if inside I am marvelling at how the depth of distress does not, at all, match the severity of the issue.
They make me reflect on myself. Am I like that? Whining and complaining that life is terrible, so stressed out that people around me find it difficult to be around me? Am I an energy vampire? I agree, it is hard not to take life personally, that is, to think that I am the only person in the world experiencing my problems, poor me, why is it only me, so I truly thank God that my level of faith helps me get a handle on things.
When life threatens to overwhelm me I pray. Somehow the ability to admit I am not in control and to ask for divine help calms me and enables me to look at things differently. My circumstances may not change, although there are times miracles do manifest and what I thought impossible happens, but what's more important is that internally I am given the grace of wisdom and fortitude to chill, reflect and then know what I can do in order to move forward, be it a change in thinking or behaviour.
Prayer, connecting with God, liberates me and I am able to divorce myself from the situation so that I can still experience joy and gratitude in any given day no matter how "bad" it was. I am also given perspective. While my situation may not be ideal, it is nowhere near the plight of those who have to worry about their next meal, or who are maimed and severely handicapped for life (I recently met someone who was slashed by her stalker and reduced to permanent breathing and walking difficulties as well as constant physical pain).
I can draw on faith, a deep-seated conviction of a love, God's love for me and the world, that conquers all. Christ's self-sacrificial love has already won me the redemption of eternal life so that no matter what happens in my life I know I am protected, cherished and never alone (nothing and no one can separate me from the love of Christ). I am also empowered by my baptism to overcome obstacles and calamities that come my way, turning them into opportunities to re-invent myself and find new life.
Today is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord and as Archbishop Francesco Follo reminds us: the feast of the Baptism of Jesus will be for us not only a moment when we get to listen to his Gospel with joy, but also an invitation to be witnesses of Christ with a life lived in joy, because in the Son we are loved and forgiven children.
We are encouraged to remember we are consecrated by virtue of baptism meaning: We are all called to offer ourselves to the Father with Jesus and like Jesus, making a generous gift of our lives, in the family, at work, in the service of the Church, in works of mercy.
I can only hope that through the ups and downs of my life, in living out my Christian identity given to me through baptism, the Holy Spirit will be alive within me so much that the Father say, "You are my daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22).
The irony of it all is that the people who are going through genuinely challenging times have gritted their teeth and are soldiering on cheerfully. Their problems do not define them nor do they let adversity diminish their joie de vivre. It is those who are undergoing the blips who are completely engulfed by their difficulties and totally bent out of shape. They are stressed out, hair-trigger snippy and kinda zap all the fun out of life.
I have to admit I have less patience with the latter and it takes a whole lot more energy from me to be present and sympathetic. At the same time I do realize that their emotional distress is real and I do try to lend a listening ear even if inside I am marvelling at how the depth of distress does not, at all, match the severity of the issue.
They make me reflect on myself. Am I like that? Whining and complaining that life is terrible, so stressed out that people around me find it difficult to be around me? Am I an energy vampire? I agree, it is hard not to take life personally, that is, to think that I am the only person in the world experiencing my problems, poor me, why is it only me, so I truly thank God that my level of faith helps me get a handle on things.
When life threatens to overwhelm me I pray. Somehow the ability to admit I am not in control and to ask for divine help calms me and enables me to look at things differently. My circumstances may not change, although there are times miracles do manifest and what I thought impossible happens, but what's more important is that internally I am given the grace of wisdom and fortitude to chill, reflect and then know what I can do in order to move forward, be it a change in thinking or behaviour.
Prayer, connecting with God, liberates me and I am able to divorce myself from the situation so that I can still experience joy and gratitude in any given day no matter how "bad" it was. I am also given perspective. While my situation may not be ideal, it is nowhere near the plight of those who have to worry about their next meal, or who are maimed and severely handicapped for life (I recently met someone who was slashed by her stalker and reduced to permanent breathing and walking difficulties as well as constant physical pain).
I can draw on faith, a deep-seated conviction of a love, God's love for me and the world, that conquers all. Christ's self-sacrificial love has already won me the redemption of eternal life so that no matter what happens in my life I know I am protected, cherished and never alone (nothing and no one can separate me from the love of Christ). I am also empowered by my baptism to overcome obstacles and calamities that come my way, turning them into opportunities to re-invent myself and find new life.
Today is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord and as Archbishop Francesco Follo reminds us: the feast of the Baptism of Jesus will be for us not only a moment when we get to listen to his Gospel with joy, but also an invitation to be witnesses of Christ with a life lived in joy, because in the Son we are loved and forgiven children.
We are encouraged to remember we are consecrated by virtue of baptism meaning: We are all called to offer ourselves to the Father with Jesus and like Jesus, making a generous gift of our lives, in the family, at work, in the service of the Church, in works of mercy.
I can only hope that through the ups and downs of my life, in living out my Christian identity given to me through baptism, the Holy Spirit will be alive within me so much that the Father say, "You are my daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22).
No comments:
Post a Comment