Normandt' Catholic Meditations

[Normandt]

137. God has his place

Paul also invites us to a relationship with God:
"We have not received the spirit of the world [wordly] but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given to us by God." 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 12

The Spirit we receive is God's. Paul is convinced and convincing. He's living so deep the presence of God that he recognizes and receives his action in his life.

To leave to God a place in our life supposes that we have left something out, that we're achieving some cleaning of the past of certain harmful or even destructive habits. Thus, the future will not clutter our minds.



As soon as we leave the Holy Spirit a unique place in our hearts, our habits are transformed, our attitudes become charitable, we develop healthy and holy ways of thinking, seeing, understanding the reality of the world and the heart of the person.

As soon as we ask the Trinity to help us and to enter our lives, we progress for the better, immediately. We feel a light breeze guiding us to the One God. If we do not feel it, we are not paying enough attention.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

138. Reserves of love

This passage is clear:
"The natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 14

The person who only relies on his strengths and abilities is like a discount battery rapidly losing energy. He is not aware of what God is doing.

A person has reserves of love. But if he's not connected to the Love of God, if he's not connected to the source, he comes to believe that love comes from him. He may also believe that love comes from his family or from others, without reference to God. He is divided (disconnected) from God.

This is perhaps the most serious danger of thinking that God's Love comes only from others. We place the merit on the person and we do not think to thank the source of Love. We may become proud.

We can say of a person that he is good, but kindness comes from God. We can say that a person is beautiful, but beauty comes from God. We can say that he is strong, but strength he receives from God. Everything that makes life good, beautiful and strong is God's. Although we try to love as best we can, true Love comes exclusively from God.



It would be very risky to give another meaning to the word "love" and not recognize that true Love is from God. That's what we do in general. We try to extinguish the meaning of God's Love, try to distort it. We will not succeed. Love always finds its source in God.

Jesus's teaching surpasses us:
"All who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers." Luke, chapter 2, verse 47

Jesus's authority has no resemblance to the frowning eyebrows and the forefinger pointing to others. The authority of Jesus is discovered by his Love and his desire that we live from it.

By his Word, he leads us to the best, the real, the right, and helps us to become complete in truth. Let's get closer to him. We will live a real evolution, a normal transformation.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

139. Shout out to God

Sometimes, to come back to God, we think we have to cry out, because suffering holds us and doesn't let us go. But we don't have to scream.

Shouting is a sign that we have gone too far. We have moved away from God. God is here, let's trust! God chases us with his Love! And his arrows are joy, peace, hope, mercy, life, love, etc.



We cry because we don't want to live in the negation that keeps us away from God. We shout because we forgot that God is always with us. Within the walls we have created for ourselves, we believe that God is no longer there.

We locked ourselves in and closed the windows. After our cry, the storm will calm down, the dust will fall and we will have no reason to cry if we turn our heart to God.

It's a good reflex to turn to him. Shouting is not a fault, but it's not the end result.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

140. God is with us

This sentence reminds us that God is here:
"He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you." Isaiah, chapter 30, verse 19b
God answers us as soon as we cry. This is the sign that he is close. When we have enough, when we stop wanting to do everything alone, when pride accepts the transition to simplicity, peace and joy, when we are saturated with being exploited with injustices, it's no longer necessary to cry out to the Lord.

We then cry for joy since we have turned away from our closures or the injustices we suffered. We turn to God. We shout for joy, because we understand the difference between the harm others are doing to us (or ourselves) and the pure, just, true, and righteous Love of God. We open ourselves again to grace, to the Love of God. Our heart becomes interested to being in his presence.



We read in the Gospel:
"Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness." Matthew, chapter 9, verse 35

May we trust, Jesus has not ceased to travel endlessly to our heart. May we trust, open our hearts to salvation, to peace promised by Jesus. Jesus, I trust in you!

Jesus is already there, simply, without noise. We can talk to him before we scream. He invites us again to open our hearts wide, for God to live in it and to work with us.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

141. Our road is lit

The light illuminates our way when we are driving. It would be very risky to venture on a road at night without headlights on. We may not get very far. And the danger of damage and injury is great.

This is what happens in our lives when we do not give God the leisure to enlighten it. We are at great risk. Instead of opening ourselves to life, we may close our hearts. Then fear becomes imminent.

When our road is lit, it becomes more visible. The only temporary errors that remain are the fact of moving away from the light again or not being cautious enough.



Let's enter happily into the light that God gives us. Let's get back to it quickly. Let's thank God for his light, enter into communion with him and our hearts will open ever more. We are also invited to go deeper into our hearts, to thank Jesus for the treasures we find there.

Let's take some time to discover these treasures and offer our thanksgiving to Jesus. The treasure that has greater value is our heart, since Jesus lives in it.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

142. The light leads to dawn

The fire of earth [Jesus in our heart] shines in heaven. It enlightens all those who take refuge in God, welcome him and accept to live with his light. To the young people gathered in Rome in 2000, Pope John Paul II said of Jesus:

"He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives." World Youth Day, Prayer Vigil at Tor Vergata, August 19, 2000, number 5. Vatican Site:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2000/jul-sep/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20000819_gmg-veglia.html



Let's put on the garment of light that leads us to the dawn of the new day. Let's have the courage, the will, the desire to transform the world through Love, with God.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

143. Our requests?

Jesus Loves us, he doesn't force anyone and he sets us free. Jesus accepts what we want and he will not give more than we ask. Freely, if our request is not precise, we risk finding ourselves with very little.

Sometimes we ask, but we don't believe in it. Sometimes we want to follow Christ, but there are too many things or people who hold us back, or we aren't vigilant enough.

Sometimes the Lord will take his time, because we are not in a hurry to change lanes. Sometimes asking something from the Lord will lead us where we would not want to go. It helps us to grow in faith because we have to learn to adjust to God as true disciples. Let's check carefully whether our requests really lead us to the house of the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.



God can do anything and everything is offered to us. But it is still necessary that we accept what comes from him. When the priest says, at the beginning of Mass: "The Lord be with you," the Lord is already with us, but he always leaves us free to answer, to want God present with us.

This interpellation does not mean: "The Lord may be with us." We know that the Lord is always with us, but do we still want him with us, again and now? That's the question. At each mass, we are free to answer.

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

144. "I will go"

This sentence can make us think of all those who dare to recognize that God is their only possible path to holiness:
"'Come! let us go to implore the favour of the Lord'; and, 'I too will go to seek the Lord.'" Zechariah, chapter 8, verse 21



Me, whatever the case, I will seek the face of the Lord, I will look for it and I will find him. I have decided that my will, I will place it in a safe place, in God's Heart. Let's find him, together!

Book: ... for Love
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]