Reflections of a beloved son

What does it mean to love someone or something?  Our modern world today tells us "do what you love, do what makes you happy, and do what feels good." So then love makes us happy and feels good.  Yes and no.  When you are in the presence of someone you love, there is a peace and joy in our hearts that do not get troubled.  Even when there are challenges and hardships, where there is true love, peace and joy and hope remains.  Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.   "Where charity and love are, there is God." True and genuine love is the love that comes from God.  The love with which God created us and for which God created us.  Loving is wanting and willing the good of the other.  Sometimes this love feels warm and fuzzy, but sometimes this love comes in the form of discipline. When a parent disciplines his child, he does not because he enjoys it but because he wants what is best for his son.  Likewise, when the son disrespects his father ...

Come out and show yourselves!   This is what the Lord said to the People through the Prophet Isaiah ( Is. 49:8-15 ) in today's first reading.  Do we hide who we really are because we are ashamed of who we believe that we are?  Do we believe the lies about ourselves that the world drills into our minds?  God says to us: " Come out and show yourselves! " We must not believe in the lies what others and the world say about who we are.  Who we are is not based on any material thing.  We are not what we do.  We are not what we have.  We are not what others say that we are.  The essence of who we are is rooted in the Father.  We are children of God.  We are His beloved ones.  Our true identity lies in something that is eternal , and nothing that is temporal and limited .  If we root our identity in things that are not permanent and transient, we are guaranteed to get hurt and eventually find ourselves confused and sad.  ...