Encouragement

The Time Is Near At Hand

by Maria Franco
06/12/19
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In life, we all like to make our plans for the future, we become our own event planner to steer our own ship and fly our own plane as to the things we desire and want to happen in time. We forget that however hard we try to arrange things to happen as we wish, it is ultimately God who will say the ‘ Yes’ above. It is His Will that will approve our own will.

If God wishes, he will be in tune with the events that we have planned and more so when he takes over, he will make it even more beautiful than we had imagined. He will time every second and moment to grant our desired wish.

We read in the book of James 4: 13- 15, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

This is how we should pray every time we want and need things to fall into place. Let God be the Captain of our Ship and the Pilot of our Plane. Things can never go wrong with Him at the steering wheel or Cockpit.

In order to do the things of Tomorrow, we have to first do the things of Today. The most animating thing about Life is Life itself. If we woke up today morning, it means we are alive to do all the things of the world. To walk, talk, sing, interact, work and pray. Life should be lived to its over filling. Do the things we want to do, go to the places where we want to go. Fulfill  the plans and dreams. Do the impossible, the hesitant things and the Forbidden.

Today there is Life. So enjoy this life. There is no right moment to come. Every moment in the present is the right moment.  Embrace both the joy and the pain. Without joy, the happiness will not brim out and without pain, the emotions will never be beautified.

St. Padre Pio in a very solemn and heart stretching prayer penned a nostalgic verse ; “ Stay with me Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close. Life passes, Death, Eternity and Judgement approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength so that I do not stop along the way and for that I need you.
Stay with me Jesus for it is you alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Heart, Your Will, Your Spirit because I love you and ask for no other reward but to love you more and more. With a firm love, I will love you with all my heart while on earth and continue to love you perfectly during all eternity.”
Truly we can take a leaf out of this prayer!

The Apostles loved Jesus so much that they wanted the Risen Lord to be with them always, they could not bear to be separated from Him once again. They feared a future without the Lord. Peter pleaded with the Lord to stay with them. They could not bear the darkness without the Light of Christ.

The same happens in life. When we are with the people we love, we cannot bear to be away from them. When we have to part, we go through varying emotions until we meet up once again. Having met once more, we now want to be united with them forever and cannot bear to be parted again. It is the strong emotions that come alive in their presence that we want to retain forever with us.

The Apostles too felt this pulling presence of the Lord. But Jesus knowing the state of their emotions, sent the Advocate, the Holy Spirit so that they would never feel bereft of His presence. This Holy Spirit gave them such divine powers that they knew the Presence of the Risen Lord was in Spirit in their hearts. This filled them with a courageous  happiness that the Lord had not left them to proclaim the Gospel alone.

We too have the same presence of the Trinity; Father, Son and Spirit in us. It is they who give life to our mortal beings. Let us too follow the example of the Apostles in using the Spirit of God to evangelize and take Jesus to those who do not know Him yet so that the Church stands victorious in gaining souls for Christ.

This is one event planner of ours that the Lord will be in full accordance with. He will not just give us the Thums Up Sign from above but also that Pat on the back for a work truly well done for His Glory in Heaven and on Earth.

The Time is definitely near at Hand to accomplish more than all that needs to be done!

Maria Franco