A precious treasure

I haven’t written for a few days, already. Honestly, I had no inspiration or anything interesting to share with you.

A couple of times a month, in the Church I normally attend my Sunday Mass, I serve as a lector. Today, the reading I had to do was from St. Paul. Probably he is the one whom I identify most from the writers of the Bible. I love his temper and character. He is such a powerful man, full of energy and love for Christ, but at the same time he learns from his weaknesses and is humble enough to amend his mistakes.

Today’s reading was really moving to me. I felt as if I had written those words I was speaking aloud in front of my fellow parishioners. I copy the text for you below:

“I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kin according to the flesh. They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen.”
Rom. 9, 1-9

I just put in bold the phrase that really shocked me from the text. Why? You may ask if I am constantly depressed. Probably I was… before. A few years ago, I found light on my path and I decided to change for my own sake. And I discover the world of love which transformed me deeply and it is still changing day-by-day.

Yesterday on my way outside, I had my Ipod on and was listening to some relaxing music while walking. I felt as if I was flying and not walking. I was totally transported into a different reality for a few moments. I saw the faces of all the people around me, full of sadness, anger, depression, emptiness… probably only a few of them reflected a great inner peace and joy. The majority were totally absorbed by their duties… running from place to place, shouting, busy on the phone, fighting against each other in the middle the crazy traffic of my town… and there I was, floating and watching with a new vision. I simply shut up my mind and my mouth… there were no more thoughts or ideas…

When I finally woke up from that kind of trance, if you want to call it like that, I felt sorrow and pity for them. I am not better than them, but I found in my life what they all lack of. I got a precious treasure and I don’t want to change it anymore, because that brings me life and hope. I don’t feel like going back to what I was, a seeker of the unknown right in the darkness.

Probably this post might sound strange or difficult to stomach for some of you. Even myself I find it kind of pointless. But probably He wants me to write this to make you think and apply it to your personal situation.

Life is so full vanities and vain things… We can make it different! We can change the nature and the dimension of things. Love is the matter of this new reality, the substance which transforms things and brings us into a new world. Freely is given to you, but it is up to you whether to choose it or not.

Therefore, I encourage you all to keep tracking it, wherever it may be. Look for it earnestly and once you find it, don’t let it go. If you are hungry for it, you are already on the right path...

Striving for Love,

AG

Is love painful?

Have you ever thought why when we love, there’s some sorrow? It may sound paradoxical, right? Well, apparently, it is not! Love and sorrow come together as a double deal at the same price.

I thought about this subject because of what a friend told me this morning: “how come to love we must always suffer?”

I was reflecting on this matter and there are 2 points under consideration:

• Firstly, we may suffer when the love we purse is real and pure. On the way many difficulties will arise, but that’s a good sign! If this love is valuable, for sure the “enemy” as well as some evil-doers will try to step on our way to avoid us to reach our goal. Perseverance, as I stated in another post, it’s a matter of moving on day by day and getting better a bit more each day. It may be tough, but as many say: “no pain, no gain”. But there is something else to emphasize: despite the difficulties, the pain or suffering is always accompanied by inner peace and self-satisfaction because we are accomplishing God’s will.


• Secondly, we may suffer when the desired love is selfish. What do I mean by this? Well, as simple as this: when we want something to satisfy our pride or our emptiness, then is when love turns out to be evil. I’m not saying that love can be evil at times. Love is always good, because the fountain of love is God, who is virtue himself. But love in human hands can be wrong when it serves to our own pleasure and not with a desire of self-giving or with a generous spirit. That’s the reason why sometimes, love seems to be so painful. However, the suffering in this case is full of anguish, bitterness and even hopeless.

Loving is a task to be performed and perfected as time goes by. No one knows how to love, but we all have the potential to do so. We are sons of the most pure Love; therefore, our nature is already positively affected by it. Let’s strive for love, and let love to transform us.

Striving for love,

AG

Heaven

So many times we, believers, question about the existence of Heaven. But parting from a basis where we all believe it, we may ask ourselves at times how it looks like.

There are some descriptions given by supposed witnesses, who had died and came back to Earth for some strange reasons… others say they had received special revelations of it. Whatever the description or source of them, I do believe that the reality of Heaven must be different for each person, according to the quality of life and the merits received for it.

In the Divine Comedy, from Dante Alighieri, there’s a description of Heaven as if it were a series of concentric circles in different levels, based on the heroism of their lives on Earth. I don’t believe it’s like that. I think it’s more like different worlds. Probably for those who suffered more on Earth, life must be more joyful on Heaven.

If we consider this, we should feel a higher responsibility to live more in accordance to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that every single act counts.

Fidelity is a daily task. How many times before bed we recounted our day and didn’t see any goodness in our acts; only wrong doings and crooked intentions? Well, even if so, we must procure to do better the following day, trusting God deeply and knowing that in His infinite love and mercy, He forgives and gives a new opportunity to start again in every new day.

The reflection now would be: how am I living? Am I doing the best to build up the reality of Heaven that God wants for me? I believe that the responsibility is not God’s, but our. We will obtain what we deserve for the merits of this life. The important thing is to rectify now: one day at a time and every time a bit more. This is the only way to reach the reward promised by our Good Lord to each one of us.

Striving for love,

AG

A universal language…

This past weekend I had the chance to visit a small town in Zhejiang Province, here in China. It is called: TienTai. The town itself is practically insignificant, but it is surrounded by wonderful natural places, which are actually some of the National Parks of China in this province. I was with a colleague from work, a Chinese guy.

My Chinese is worst than ever (spoken), but I can understand a lot, nowadays (which makes me feel very proud!). During out trip, we met some of my friend friends from TaiZhou, a place near to TienTai. There were an old couple, their son and their little grand-daughter.

First, we went to the mansion of a rich old Chinese guy, from Qing dynasty (apparently he was very close to the Emperor). Afterwards, we visited a Temple, where I wanted to stay because of the peaceful atmosphere; then a forest with a beautiful waterfall, where it rained heavily for an hour or so; and finally, we ended up at the most wonderful place I have seen in China up to now: a national park with a huge cliff.

The place speaks by itself. It was astonishing just sitting there in the middle of a small peak and surrounded by a great canyon while admiring the sunset. I was speechless! When I went up again to the place where the old couple was standing (because we had to go downhill to reach that peak in the middle of the gorge), I told them with my poor Chinese and lots of signs that I loved the place. What I could understand from them was that in another province (Anhui), there’s an even better park than the one we visited (I cannot wait to go there!).

During the trip, we hardly talk to each other, unless we had my friend as translator. However, we got along pretty well. I wonder what it was: the facial expressions, the signs, the general attitude… but they liked me and I liked them, too. At the end of the trip my friend told me they were very pleased to meet me and that I would be most welcome to go there again.

I decided to title this post “A universal language”, because the more I relate to other cultures, the more I realize we all have the same “operative system” written in our souls.

Sometimes, we can speak with words, but they could say almost nothing… or we can speak with the mouth of our heart, and it could say thousand beautiful things that will be able to touch every single soul we encounter on our way. It all depends on us to make it pleasant or sorrowful to others. I definitely go for the former one!

Striving for Love,

AG