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)

The dangers of fear

Fear is normal and natural. Many times, our fears are even well founded. So it is not good to deny our fears or to try to suppress them. Our fears should be confronted and beaten. Sometimes what we need to do to defeat a fear is to share it with someone¾a loved one, an advisor, a teacher, a friend. Other times, we can do research and read about the subject and see how others feel about it. Many times, sharing with others and realizing that others go through the same fears help us deal with our own fears.

            Fear is something we all have to deal with at some point or another. It can be fear about events in our daily life, such as losing our job, getting sick, getting into an accident or losing our loved ones. Or it can be fear about more intangible things, such as fear of certain unexplained experiences. When we were younger, many of us have suffered from fear after watching scary movies about Dracula, Freddy Krueger or poltergeists. Many of us have spent nights without sleep. Many of us have had horrible nightmares or strange dreams, and some of us might even have had weird, unexplainable experiences while we were awake.

            Fear can be our worse enemy. The best way to beat our fears is to call on God’s help. He is the Almighty, and under His wings we can take refuge. All we have to do is pray and call on the power of His name, and He will deliver us from our fears before we know it.

But still, as always, we must do our part. One successful way to protect ourselves from our fears is not to obsess about them. There are many unexplained things here on this earth. We do not need to look into all of them. If we knock, the door will be opened…but we must be careful where we are knocking. Let’s be careful about what we mess with. Some things can easily get out of our control. Let’s set boundaries for ourselves, so that we do not accidentally fall victim to what we are most afraid of. We should stay away from the dark side of life, in other words we should stay away from the occult. If we choose to stay in the light, we will minimize our chances of getting hurt physically or psychologically. Let’s not mess with the esoteric. Let’s let some mysteries remain mysteries. And let’s put our focus and our trust on God. Our Father in heaven loves us and wants to keep us safe under His umbrella of protection.

            We must trust our instincts. Every time we get a bad feeling about something we cannot explain, we should try to listen to it. There are many reasons why we might get a feeling about a particular thing. Not everything can be explained logically, but this does not mean that it is not real. If we become people who rely only on facts, then we will limit ourselves to the five senses, and that will not give us a complete picture. Quantum physics has demonstrated that nothing has been proven for sure and that everything is possible. Time after time, something scientists believed to be the absolute truth has been proven wrong. Now scientists know only one thing is for sure, and that is that nothing is for sure.[1] We cannot choose to ignore the fact that life is a mystery, and therefore we must always leave room for the benefit of the doubt even for those things we don’t want to believe in.

            Fear is something to be respected but not something to be intimidated by. Fear is something to be watchful for, but not something to obsess about. Feeling afraid can sometimes be a warning signal, to advise us not to go in a certain direction or to act in a certain manner. Our fears can be our best friends because they can warn us about areas in our lives we need to be careful about. Other times, fears are the products of our imaginations, and they must be controlled.

            One thing is essential and that is to not let ourselves be conquered or frozen by our fears. We need to have faith and trust that God always takes care of us. God is more powerful than anything, and He loves us and protects us. When we are afraid, we need to think about how God is our refugee and our fortress, and repeat that to ourselves. We who are sheltered under His shadow and are protected by His loving wings must cling to Him in our darkest moments. If we call upon Him, He will protect us. There need be no doubt in our hearts.

Wisdom to contemplate:

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

“You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and 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's faithfulness is a protecting shield. You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon.

---

[1] Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Harper Collins, 2001).

Cruel Kids - Have you been bullied?

Cruel Kids?

Have you been bullied?  Many kids have.  Kids can be cruel sometimes, bruising their peers in the most profound way, shattering their self-confidence, making them feel miserable, utterly disappointed and troubled. Isn’t it ironic, that it is only after growing up a bit that we start becoming aware of our looks? I don’t think many parents realize the importance of teaching their children to be kind. And I don’t think many parents realize how much a child can suffer in school. In some people’s opinion, children don’t have problems, only adults. But this is not true. Everything is proportional to the person experiencing it. For little children, a problem that can seem trivial to an adult can deeply hurt their feelings and leave them heartbroken.  

Not everybody is nice in the world, but that that does not mean everybody is mean. Not everybody is nice in the world, but that is no reason to join them. There will always be mean people, jealous people, angry people, bitter people and envious people in our lives. But there will always be good, kind, friendly, compassionate, caring people, too. So, we must open our eyes and search for the people who are worth our while, instead of getting disappointed thinking that people are all bad. By giving a chance to others, we are really giving a chance to ourselves.

It is important to make sure we do not become infected by bitterness or become mean ourselves. We must make an effort to always be excellent, no matter how hard things get. When someone says something to us, we have to know it is not a fact, but just a disputable opinion that person has about us. We should not let it bother us. An opinion is just a guess, a supposition, a generalization somebody makes about us. It is harmless unless we allow it to become important, since it will not be true unless we make it true.

• Why give people or words an importance that they do not deserve?
• Why do we insist on being offended by what other people say?
• Who cares what someone else calls me if I know who I am for real? 
• Why should it be such a tragedy to be called a name? Who cares? 
• Why do we insist on giving so much importance to other people’s opinions of us? 

  

We cannot change certain people, but we can ignore them. We cannot change certain people, but we can always change ourselves. Let’s therefore focus on ourselves that we may be stronger and turn into better people, so that we can keep a good equilibrium in this world bringing to it goodness and love. Let’s make a point out of becoming more confident. To be sure of ourselves is one of the most valuable lessons we will ever learn, and it is never too late. Let’s make it our goal to find reasons to be happy instead of reasons to be offended. Let’s make it our life’s task to learn to be less mean. After all, after a while the mean people may get tired of being mean, and after a while being nice and kind becomes contagious.

We all have encountered at some point in time someone trying to hurt us. Let’s be more confident inside from now on, remembering that anything anybody says about us is just their opinion. 

Wisdom to contemplate:

“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

Continue your kindness toward your friends, your just defense of the honest heart. Do not let the foot of the proud overtake me, nor the hand of the wicked disturb me.” (Psalm 36:11-12)