|
The good behind the deeds
By their fruits you will know them: Being fruity is actually cool.
With the opening statement for this quarter, here are more thoughts on prayer and service:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.
Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.
Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God." See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James 2:14-26 (New American Bible)
Service without prayer is futile/pointless! Therefore, without prayer behind fashion shows, camps, households, conferences, etc, they are all fruitless... only prayer drives it to the Glory of God.
Miko Sy
Catholic Youth for Christ
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Either declare the tree good and its fruit is good, or declare the tree rotten and its fruit is rotten, for a tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. A good person brings forth good out of a store of goodness, but an evil person brings forth evil out of a store of evil.
Mathew 12:33-35 (New American Bible)
Thus there are two dimensions to our life in Christ, the internal and the external, the spiritual and the social. We are to grow in personal sanctifcation, but we are also to erve others, taking responsibility for the life of our brethen. But it is important to see that the two need to go together. It cannot just be one dimension without the other, otherwise we could easily go astray. If we just looked to the "spiritual," we could become pious hypocrites. If we looked to the social dimension, we could become secular do-gooders without the solid foundation that is Christ.
Frank Padilla, "Growing in the Lord: Holiness and Justice." First published in Ugnayan and later, SFCNorcal.com and The Word, March 30, 2002.
So through Jesus, let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise, coming from lips that speak His name. Do not forget to do good to others, and share with them, because such sacrifices please God.
Hebrews 13:15-16
Verse contributed by Jhoanne Sy, YFC-Illinois full-time worker
i was doin' my meditation today, and this one's really cool. i thought it would be good for me to send this to all of you... it REALLY applies!! i mean, for ALL of the CRAZY AMOUNTS of service we do, WE REALLY need to keep prayer life in mind!!! yayyy!!! here it is:
Apostolic fruit cannot be lasting when a Christian falls prey to activism, which is the tendency to be 'doing things', to rush around, without the support of a DEEP PRAYER LIFE. In the end, the furious activity turns out to be sterile and ineffective, and is often the sign of a lack of rectitude of intention. It is purely human activity without any supernatural perspective.
from In Conversation With God
yyyyaaaayyyy!!!!! i hope you guys enjoyed!!!! take care, all of you!!! see ya'll later!!!
your sis in the STUDLY, Jesus Christ,
Jade Canoy :) :) :)
Catholic Youth for Christ
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Wow...yeah I totally felt what Jade was saying too... This is from "The Saints' Guide to Learning to Pray" by Louise Perrotta (sorry Miko, i'll give you this back soon! almost done!). I'm sorry if this is really redundant for many of you...I know a lot of you have much stronger relationships with our Lord than I do, but I hope it helps... it surely is helping me out! :P Sorry so long too, but God had a lot to teach me today! :P
St. Charles shows us the fruits of a deeper prayer life:
Our Lord started showing me his mercy in this manner when one day I was praying before a painting of the Madonna in the church of the Jesuit Fathers in Sezze... The image became so fixed in my heart and mind that I was completely inflamed with love... I was changed into another person, losing thought and intellect in the divine light. Like one dazed I rested in my enjoyment and my soul was very content. The change that came over me through this kind of prayer was very great.
By the Divine Grace in it I was interiorly taught to do everything for God, and I came to understand that without divine help, our works are really nothing and have no value, even though performed with all possible exactness.
And the Holy Spirit was so awesome to help me remember two other important passages relating to this too:
The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the BREATH OF LIFE, and so man became a LIVING being.
Genesis 2:7
Therefore, I tell you that nobody speaking by the spirit of God says, 'Jesus be accursed.' And no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:3
So... I guess to add on to the "Service without prayer is futile"... it is fruitless because prayer is a divine gift given to us by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of helping us to love our Lord more and to glorify His name, and not ours! In other words, it is by God's divine grace that our service bears fruit, so it is imperative that we continue to deepen our prayer life day after day...even more so when it is difficult.
For example, I had gone on vacation and completely did not pray at all except a few small prayers to myself here and there. And now, even though I haven't been completely back on track to praying at my set time everyday, God has not only helped me get back to the level where our relationship was before vacation, but he's helped me actually surpass that level and grow more in love with Him than I have ever been...all because of our dearest of dear Holy Spirit through his divine mercy!
Karen Padua
Catholic Youth for Christ
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
|
|
