The Littlest Giant Part 2

“The littlest giant” realized that all our faith and that all our strength stems from Him who showers us with gifts and blessings, not from our own effort. And so he prayed in the name of Jesus,  so that God would give him different graces or gifts.  And through the power of the Holy Spirit he received more faith, and he learned how to pray better and more often.  He got to know God better, he began to understand His word, he felt His presence. “The littlest giant” learned that Jesus always answers our prayers, but that we do have to do our part.  He read, studied His word, and reflected on it. “The littlest giant” realized that he needed to have a, strong and constant, close relationship with Jesus.  And this could only be possible through remaining in His word and through prayer. 

“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8(31, 32).

“Heaven and earth will pass away but my words 
will not pass away”  Mat 24(35)

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and 
it will be done for you” Jn 15(7)

He knew that if he didn’t pray and remain in His word then he would be  just  an occasional visitor to the Sunday mass and not a faithful friend of Jesus.  He did not want Jesus to be only someone he knew about, someone he read about. No! He wanted an intimate friend. Yes, more than anything in this whole world, he wanted to be a good friend to Jesus. A close friend seeks his friend constantly and makes an effort to love his dear friend more and more each day. A close friend seeks his friend constantly and makes an effort to love his dear friend more and more each day.  And in essence makes an effort to get to know his friend better.  There is never a limit for a true friend.

“You are my friends if you do what I command you” John 15(14)

 “Remain in me as I remain in you” John 15(4)

After all Jesus invites us not only to be His friends, but to imitate Him, follow Him, and love Him:  he who knows Him loves him and as He says “He who loves me follows my commandments."

“This I command you: love one another.” John 15(17)

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them 
is the one who loves me.” John 14 (21)

“The way that we may be sure that we know Him is to keep his commandments” 
Whoever says ‘I know Him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, 
and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, 
the love of God is truly perfected in him….” 1 John2 (3,4,5)

 “The littlest giant” was determined to love Jesus more and more, committed to follow Him closer and better.  He understood that even though he was far from being perfect, this did not matter to Jesus,  Jesus knows us well: our defects, our sins, our fears, our deepest secrets.  But regardless of what is in our hearts,  He loves us and wants us to be by His side.  He loves us and calls each one of us  to follow Him.  And He always forgives us if we have a: Change of mind …. Change of heart….and Change of actions.  Yes,  if we repent truly and sincerely from the bottom of our heart.  

“Remain in my love.  John 15(9)

“The littlest giant” understood that what he needed was to have a great love for Jesus and a fervent and honest desire to improve. Yes, and he needed to follow Him with his maximum effort, following  Him the best that he could - according to his capacity.  After all we all have different capacities to follow our Lord and different gifts to share with others. Jesus was patient with him,  “the littlest giant” learned to patient with himself.  Jesus always forgave him; he had to learne to forgive himself, and most important he learned to persevere and never give up. He decided to fix to fix  his eyes on Jesus, and let his goal be : 

·      Getting to know Him better and more, allowing His love to dwell inside him

·      Following His commandments out of love and trust,  not fear or plain obligation

·      Repenting every time that, without being able to avoid it,   he was unable to faithfully follow       His commandments. 

·      Remembering always that when he falls down Jesus is there to pick him up.

                        “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

                                                                      Mathew 19(17)

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  But it dis not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.” 

Mathew 24(35)

 “The littlest giant” realized that it is hard to love the way Jesus call us to love, but this is no reason why to stop trying.  He decided to try more, try harder, pray more, love more, improve more, and always give more.  Give more in order to have more of Jesus in his life. He decided to seek Him with all his heart….all his strength ...loving Him with all his mind all his soul.  

     

  “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ but not do what I command” Luke 6(46)

“It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ 

Jesus…” Paul to Philippians 3 (12)

Well not to wear you out you with the story of “The littlest giant”, I shall come to the end of my story.  After 10 years of listening to the soft but constant voice of our Lord Jesus calling him the Lord decided to call even louder, to a bigger commitment. Jesus was inviting him to be baptized by water, to become part of his church, of His community, and to share with others in faith and joy.

 “The littlest giant” decided that he wanted to fill up his life with He who had showered him with blessings.  He who had rescued him from the darkness into the light, because he was lost but now was found, blind but now could see!  He wanted to get baptized into our beloved Catholic Church.  Because Jesus calls, Jesus invites, but it is we who decide if we answer His call.  We must want to answer “Yes!” when He calls. “The littlest giant” decided to say “Yes ….yes!  Jesus ….yes!”

Well by now I imagine many of you have guessed that “The littlest giant” is a giant 2 meter, 200 lb Turkish guy whose name is John. Well, being that this is his appearance to the naked eye. But then when you look with attention and when you get to know him, you realize that he is one of Jesus’ “Little ones”.  Yes, he is a man with a sweet smile and eyes like those of a little kid, and soft of heart.  Like a child he was able to find his beloved Jesus and like a child he loves him with all his heart.  He   has put his faith in Him, and will never look back.  Like a child he now is feeling safe and has joy and peace, because he knows that he is in the shadow of the almighty and takes refuge under His wings. 

“You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 

Say to the Lord, “My refugee and my fortress, my God in whom I trust” 

God will rescue you from the fowler’s snare, from the destroying plague,  

will shelter you with pinions, spread wings that you may take refuge; 

God faithfulness is a protecting shield..” Psalm 91(1-4)

John wanted to get baptized for Christmas 2003, in Ephesus, were Mother Mary is said to have spent most of the last years of her life and where Paul and John lived and preached.  That holy place were John prayed many times to our beloved Virgin Mary.

But Jesus had other plans for him and so our long time priest friend, Father Tarcy, encouraged him to get baptized in Vancouver, since it was the eve of our departure from Turkey. The time to move was near and so our priest suggested finding a course in our new city. John was a bit disappointed at first, but just temporarily, because he is convinced that Jesus gently directs his life and that surely He had better plans for him!

“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:  the old things have passed away; 

behold new things have come.” 2 Cor 5(17)

So well we arrived to Vancouver and John got excited again, after all soon there would be Easter and maybe he would be able to get baptized in this most meaningful and solemn time.  We talked first in a church downtown but the priest was not to sure if John would be able to be accepted in any Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) course in time for Easter baptism. After all it was a bit late, and many courses had started much earlier.  Thingsdid not look too promising but nothing is impossible with God.   He promised that if we prayed with faith, two or more people in His name (Mat 18 verse 19-20), God would grant whatever we asked for.    

        

“Everything is possible to one who has faith.” Mark9(23)

Well so we prayed and then we headed to St. Augustine’s to talk to the person in charge of the RCIA. She said she was not so sure if it would be ok or not,  she would have to talk to the Father in charge of the parish, and we had to wait until the next day. We knew that if it was God’s will He would gently speak to their hearts.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me” John 14(1)

         And so we went to see her again on the next day.   She said Father had left it up to her and that, well, after talking to us in her office the other day….she had a feeling that John was ok and could join the course! He could take the course with the RCIA group until Easter and then he would get baptized, and get confirmed all in one!  We were thrilled, Easter, what a wonderful gift from the Lord.

I am happy to share with all that “the littlest giant” that all of you know as John, got baptized on Easter Vigil Saturday April 10^th , 2004! And he never looked back, he has been the most faithful holy Catholic I know ever since.

 I give thanks to God for all He has given us, for blessing us and for overflowing our lives with His great love.  In blessing and calling John I too was blessed.  I too, found Him in a deeper way that I never imagined possible. In a way that I had never experienced before.  Today thanks to John’s encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, I am more in love with Jesus.   And I  love God in a way like I never knew was possible. In walking the way towards Jesus next to John, I found Jesus all over again. I found Him in a way and with strength I never imagined possible.  My heart and my spirit sing with joy and I give thanks God for this most beautiful gift! 

“And behold,    until the end of age.”  Mat.28(20)

Source for Bible verses:  The New American Bible (Catholic version)

To Taylor Swift or not to Taylor Swift - That is the question!

I recently returned from a trip to Paris - France.  I went to Paris with one of my daughters to celebrate her 15th birthday.  In my country when you turn 15 you call it "Quinsianera" and you either have a trip to Europe, or have a giant party or do something truly memorable.  My oldest daughter's 15th was during "Covid" and we were blessed enough to have been able to have a beautiful party, when things were loosening up a bit in our city.  My other daughter's Quinsianera is this year.  She is a huge Taylor Swift Fan.  So my daughter decided, she did not want to have a party, or anything other than to go to the Eras Tour to see her beloved Taylor Swift.  

I was a bit divided in making a final decision, because although I love many of Taylor Swift's songs and I consider myself a fan, there were a few things worrying me.  First of all, well the Eras tour is so expensive!  When the "cheap tickets" go out for sale in "Ticket Master", you have not even blinked when they are all sold out.  Then our only chance is to buy from someone who is trying to get rich out of us, in a place like Stubhub.  

Second there are at least a couple of songs that I do not like from Taylor Swift, specifically "Willow" and one from "Vigilante ***"- the choreography for them in the concert is not conducive to holiness if you know what I mean!  And in a way also some of the lyrics are not exactly the best if someone is trying to be holy, remain pure or and be modest.  

I am not going to lie, it took me a while to decide what to do. We all prayed about it and discussed it, in the end we figured we could have a good time and pray for the conversion of Taylor Swift, while at the Eras Tour.  

We purchased excessively overpriced tickets and decided to go to the Eras Tour in Nanterre France.  For a bit we had a huge scare because the Stadium's web site said that they would only accept tickets purchased in "Ticket Master" or directly from the stadium, and that any others would be denied entry. 

When I read this my heart sank.  I though we had made a huge mistake and wasted a lot of money.  

I talked to my daughter and told her what I truly believe:  that God's will is always for our good and that if it was His will we would go into the stadium, and that if He was protecting us from something - well He would make sure to keep us out of the Eras tour.  

So in the end we took our plane to Paris and we tried to enjoy the week as we waited for Friday (the day of our concert), without knowing if we would be able to enter the concert or if we would be turned away and lose the money.  The day came and we realized that at 9:00 am, there were already long lines for the concert which was starting at 6:30 pm!  We decided to get in line at 1:00 pm, because I figured that is all I could survive lol.  We stood in line in the sun, sitting on the hard cement side walk from 1:00 pm to 6:30 pm when the doors opened.  

I know it must sound crazy to be in line for so long, but the truth is that time passes fast when you are with great people!

 And Swifties are sweethearts!  

Swifites are fun and friendly and full of joy!  

We made friends, we chatted exchanged bracelets and before we knew it we were ready to go in.  While in line, some of our new found friends took a look at our tickets - which were floor tickets but the first come first serve type, at least that is what we thought.  But, when they looked at our tickets they gasped and told us that  we had what they call"Golden Tickets" - and they guaranteed us that with these tickets we would be in a special area, where we would be so close to Taylor, that we would almost be able to touch her !

Any normal person would have been ecstatic to hear this, but we still were not sure if we were going to be allowed in, so it was bitter sweet.  As we approached the gate, our hearts were pounding, we truly did not know what would happen.  They had already re-directed us to a different line, because of our "Golden Tickets", everyone was singing, the mood was raising, the anticipation was killing us..

I again reminded my daughter we might be turned around.  

She looked at me and smiled and told me not to worry, and she said with her beautiful sweet eyes shining. that it had already been worth it!  That, being part of such an amazing experience, had already made her so absolutely happy, and that she would offer it up for Tylor Swift's holiness.  I was amazed at her willingness to accept God's will in a situation that honestly she could have chosen to be having a tantrum.  She was full of faith and joy and she did not let anything ruin that precious moment!

We arrived to the gate and the time came to scan our tickets!  We looked at each other with hearts pounding, I put my ticket under the scanner and bam!  Green light, I felt my knees get weak, I scanned my daughter's ticket and bam!  Green light again, we were in.  Our eyes got full of tears ,only a Swiftie would fully understand.  We literally ran inside after being handed a golden wrist band and given another wrist band that light up.

We were amazed to see that our area allowed us to stand literally next to the security fence.  We had absolutely no one in front of us!  We looked around and it was like a dream.  Both of us stunned and shocked at God's grace and love for us.  Let me tell you, I can honestly say I am pretty sure Taylor Swift has never gotten so much prayer in her life.  Both my daughter and I enjoyed the concert, but as we enjoyed the concert we prayed and prayed.  For the protection and conversion and holiness of both Taylor Swift, her team and her beloved Swifties!

PS :  Make sure you keep your eyes open to more stories from the Eras Tour Paris Trip, and many many  lovely pictures!

Lonely and Depressed: Don’t Let Your Faith Dwindle!

The Bible tells us: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”(Hebrews 11:1) What do we hope for? We hope for God’s promises to become a reality in our lives. Faith believes these promises will be fulfilled. Faith is experiencing God’s love, even though we might not see Him with our eyes. Faith is the glasses, placed on the eyes of our heart, through which we see God. Faith is a gift.

In the Bible, God also tells us: “The victory that conquers the world is our faith.” (1 John 5:4) This is a huge statement to meditate on, because faith is something we should never take for granted.

Is our faith real, or is it a counterfeit? Does it arise out of the passing emotion of the moment, or is it everlasting? Is it there to stay, or will it be stolen by the enemy when trials, persecution or temptations come? In my opinion, a great benefit comes from second-guessing ourselves and not being too proud about the greatness of our faith. Why? We can become too excited and too overconfident, and then we will be in danger because this is when the enemy will attack us. Scripture says “Be sober and vigilant.  Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him steadfast in faith…”(1 Peter 5:8-9) Faith is a shield, and so we must always have our shield up and ready but if we are overconfident, we might not realize our shield is not as strong as it needs to be! We do not want to get too comfortable and let down our guard. Hence we must give our hearts and elevate our minds to God each morning, surrendering our will and placing our trust in Him, humbly asking Him to strengthen our faith.

How can we believe in someone we do not see? God is so good and loving to His children that He has revealed Himself to us. All we need to do is to want to get to know Him. It is difficult to believe in Someone we do not personally know, to believe in that Person’s goodness, love, mercy and power. If we say we have faith in God, but we have not taken the time to get to know Him, this could mislead us we might end up thinking it is enough to just say we have faith.

            Saying we have faith is not enough. It does not necessarily mean we have faith in our hearts. We might want to have faith, might even try to have faith, but without getting to know God, our efforts are in vain. Knowing requires learning. I know math only after I learn math. Likewise, I know my classmates only after I take time to learn about who they are and what is going on in their lives.

            In the same way, learning about God can lead us to knowing God. And knowing God will lead us to loving God, and loving God will lead us to having great faith and trust in Him. Why? Because, as we fall in love with Him, we will naturally desire to do His will. As we start to do His will, our life will be turned around, and His graces will fully flow into our heart. Faith, God’s greatest gift to us, will then become firmly established in us, and we will be able to see the difference that it makes to live our lives in the presence of God.

            As we get to know God, a great desire to love Him will be unleashed. As we come to understand the greatness of His love for us and see how He loved us first, we will desperately try to love Him back, and then we will quickly come to the realization that to love Him we need to align ourselves with His will. This takes work. We cannot just lean back and say, “I believe in God, and this is enough for me.” No way! We need to put time into our relationship with Him. Only then will we come to experience the fullness of His promises. Only then will we come to enjoy the fruits of His Spirit living in us. Only then will we come to live under the shadow of His wings.

            When we get to know God, we learn that we need to follow His ways in order to be fulfilled in this world and completely happy in the next. We cannot just try to do it our way! He is all knowing, and we are not, so we need to listen to Him and do what He tells us! Through prayer, meditation and Bible reading, we come to understand what He wants from us. If we are humble and we recognize that there is much for us to learn and much for us to change, we will allow His loving hands to mold us and make us brand new. Then we will start experiencing a brand new life.

            We must make a commitment to learn His ways, doing what He tells us, obeying His loving words of advice for us. Like the psalmist, we need to pray: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path. I make a solemn vow to keep your just edicts…Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on fulfilling your laws; they are my reward forever.” (Psalm 119:105-106,111-112) This psalm reflects a true understanding of the fact that God loves us with an everlasting perfect love. All He wants is for us is to be safe under the shadow of His protection. His desire for us is for us to experience the joy that it is to have His love living inside our hearts. His desire for us is for us to come to everlasting life.

            We must take to heart words of advice that have been said by Christians before us. Great saints give great advice. I once read that “In the deepest solitude, God speaks to our hearts.” Maybe that is why sometimes He allows us to become a bit lonely, so that we can let go of all that is preventing us from listening to Him. Only then, when we are ready to listen, can He lovingly speak to our hearts and show us the way to be followed.

Faith makes us act. If faith does not make us act, then we have fooled ourselves, and perhaps we have no faith at all. As it says in the book of James, faith without actions is dead. (James 2:17) And faith that is dead is no faith at all. True faith saves us because it leads us to go to Him and to follow Him with our hearts and with our actions. Have we come to know God yet? What are we waiting for?!

Wisdom to contemplate:

“But without faith it is impossible to please him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

“No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

“Jesus said to him, ‘“If you can!” Everything is possible to one who has faith.’ Then the boy’s father cried out, ‘I do believe, help my unbelief!’”

 (Mark 9:23-24 )

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” (John 14:1)