Monday, May 17, 2010

Jesus - Heart of Faith

Beads of Joy 05-17-10

Jesus -Heart of Faith
©2010 James Dacey, Jr. SFO

Heart of Jesus 1/5
Hello Everyone,

Some of you might be wondering about this title. Well this weeks theme is "The Heart of Jesus" and the sub-title is: "The Heart of Jesus who dwells inside each of us." Ah, now this all makes sense. We all know Jesus had faith, He was faith, He is our faith. For our faith is in Him, and all that He has done for us is cherished in our hearts. Now how can we reflect on how alive our faith has become while we live a life that is in reflection to His? If you look through scripture for reflection on this to learn about the faith that is in the heart of Jesus; you will find that Jesus had a way of drawing the faith of others in Him to Himself. We must learn by example that our faith and trust is in Him; it is our faith and trust that keep us strong during difficult times, and charitable during good times. But good or bad, challenging or rewarding, our faith must stay strong and continue to sail straight.

Here are some scriptural reflections that really emphasis how our faith is brought out in Jesus' presence. "When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him,"I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith." Matthew 8:10 and, "Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour." Matthew 15:28. We all know there is something extremely special about Jesus that brings us to our knees and our pride is teared away; and we openly acknowledge our faith and trust in Him alone. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and our sincere deep love for Him, many of us find it so easy and so natural to have such great faith in such a powerful, awesome, loving God. Our faith needs to be our cornerstone, our rock so that we always remain on firm ground as the challenges in life hit us. For without faith, the true meaning of life ceases to have point or purpose. We live not for us, but rather for Him who works through us. In our surrender to Him, He builds us up and encourages us to forge forward in our lives, no matter what the challenge is.

Obviously the faith Jesus has is perfect, and we well know that our Blessed Mother's faith had to be perfect in order for her to so willingly follow God's will. How can we live such a life of faith? I know it's not easy, and life does throw you curves and hard balls straight at your heart and head when you're not looking. And sometimes when we get hit, it hurts beyond anything we think could happen to us in our lives. So what do we do about that? Do we wallow in the misery of it all? Do we blame Jesus or God or anyone else? Do we not even care so much that our reaction is zilch? There is only one way to maintain such a fervent prayer life and faith based life, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2. I always prefer to reflect on scripture, to me it is the a huge part of my rock solid faith, the very word of God.

Jesus Christ needs to be thee most significant part of who you are. We need to live a life where we really truly with all our hearts trust Him with our hearts and lives. Can you have that kind of faith inside of you? Can you close your eyes and move forward trusting that God will direct you safely, or at least understand that sometimes there is purpose beyond our own understanding when we are faced with trials, disappointments and fear. God only knows why we have to deal with such heart-wrenching pain. Some people, many faithful people have had some significantly hard trials to endure in their lives. Our Blessed Mother, and the apostles, and so many others who followed Jesus when He was lead to the cross, endured pain, pain we can't possibly imagine. Yes our faith helps us to understand and we even feel hurt and sad; but can you imagine being right there in the midst of such violent anger towards a man, who is God that we love so much? It's really hard to fully comprehend. Let us keep the faith as life moves onward, bringing us closer to Him.


Your brother in Christ Jesus & His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr SFO