Reflections of a beloved son

“Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.” Matthew 12:1 When Jesus and His disciples were traveling on the road, His disciples got hungry and so they plucked some grain to eat. The Pharisees got on their case and asked Jesus why His followers were doing things that went against the law. Picking the grains was not unlawful it was doing it on the Sabbath that was unlawful. But the Sabbath was made for man not the other way around. The whole point of the Sabbath was to rest in the Lord to praise Him and thank Him for all that He has done in our lives, and here the disciples were with Jesus, walking with Him – they were resting with the Lord, doing what was intended for the Sabbath. Sometimes we can get caught up in the fine details and lose sight of the bigger picture. When we nitpick the small things we forget the important things. The important thing is that we rest in the Lord on the Sabbat...

“Come to me,  all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28   The Lord ask us to go to Him. In the busyness of our modern world, are we able to find rest and stillness? We are always doing something. Running from this place to the next, always on the move. But there is something special about resting and the peace that comes from it. In the Greek, the word used when Jesus said, “I will give you rest” is “ ἀ να π αύσω ” which can be broken down into the parts “ ανα ” and “ π αυω .”   Ανα can mean in the midst, among, between, and π αυω can mean make cease or desist, but it can also mean to release from sin. So, when we rest, we are really resting in the rest of Jesus Himself, and when we go to Him, not only we will receive rest from the works and burdens of the day, but the rest and peace that comes from the forgiveness of sins.   This rest does not requires us to go to any particular place or pay any amount for a vacation. ...

“The brother is not bored. He is alone with God” (103). This line is from Nicolas Diat’s “A Time to Die - Monks on the Threshold of Eternal Life.” The Father comes to meet us in the silence. Being alone is not being bored or lonely. Solitude and loneliness are different. The former is being aware of the presence of God and allowing yourself to rest in Him, but the latter is ignoring it and trying to find peace outside of its source. As we enter this final week of Advent, let us be aware of God’s presence in our hearts, in others, and in the sacraments, and invite others to do the same. For only in Him will we find peace and rest.  God is there - in the stillness of your hearts.  God knows it is difficult to find peace and to find Him in the noise and busyness of the world, and so He comes to meet us in a “light silent sound” (1 Kg. 19:12b). When you feel empty and restless, and cannot seem to find any joy or peace that lasts, call out to God, for then you will be able to exp...