BEADS OF JOY 08-10-16
“Jesus’ Hour Is Coming”
©2016 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
My Friends,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.”
Reflection:
No doubt Jesus is speaking of His own death and rebirth when He is speaking of the grain of wheat that dies. But look at verse 25, that is hardcore faith out of the mouth of Jesus. “Selfishness” will ultimately destroy you, after all that is what loving your life is all about. When we focus so much on what we want; on what we desire, what we need, what we like, what we have accomplished, isn’t that selfishness? We are all guilty of that, myself included. We must do all we can to constantly keep ourselves in check and do all we can to get back on course and stay focused on Jesus. Prayer and confession do that.
If we deny ourselves and live our lives for Jesus we will have eternal life with Him. What can this life offer to us that would even come close? That was rhetorical by the way. The answer is: Nothing! Yes, we can go ahead and say, “Who cares I love this life of mine. I love my big beautiful expensive home, I love having a couple expensive cars in my driveway and my ability to travel worldwide whenever I feel like it; I simply love it. It’s all about me! I deserve it, I earned it!” Yes, anyone can say that. And I will say to some degree you are correct. But, to be fair. Jesus died so that you may have life. So without that life and His blessing you would have nothing. So technically it’s because of Him that you have all these blessings and these things in your life.
Now I am not against success. Absolutely NOT. But there needs to be a balance of reality in that success. Anyone who is that successful should be reaching out to those who suffer. God has blessed you for that reason. Do you not see that? How many friends and family members do you know out there who are struggling or deal with hunger issues? How many friends and family members do you know out there who have life threatening illnesses and stare death in the face daily? And I can go on and on. Or do you even care or do you even know? You / We need to think about this very seriously and say to ourselves, “What can I do to make their lives easier?” “How can I share the blessing I have been blessed with to make their burden lighter?” If we all can live a life that is humble and not selfish but giving and loving towards others; the world we live in would be so much better.
LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
