(something for lent)
Just before i left Iloilo last January 4, 2006, fr. caloy gave me three books to take to africa. to read. to learn. to know more about God.. which is true. after reading one, it touched my heart and made me thank and appreciate what God is doing in my life... i am more grateful of where He is putting and using me..
i just want to share some quotes from the book "Can You Drink the Cup?" by Henri J.M. Nouwen. It talks about following Christ. about us having our own uniqueness and calling. about us having our own missions in life. about us drinking the cup of which is where Jesus is drinking.
The greatest joy as well as the greatest pain of living come not only from what we live but even more from how we think and feel about what we are living. Poverty and wealth, success and failure, beauty and ugliness aren't just the facts of life. They are realities that are lived very differently by different people, depending on the way they are placed in the larger scheme of things.
Our own cup is our own life. We have to hold and lift it to be able to drink it. by holding and lifting, it is our choice if we decide to live in it with joy or sorrow, with pains, and with the choices that we make.
This is my life, the life that is given to me, and it is this life that i have to live, as well as I can. My life is unique. Nobody else will ever live it. I have my own history, my own family, my own body, my own character, my own friends, my own way of thinking, speaking and acting - yes, i have my own life to live. No one else has the same challenge. I am alone, because i am unique. Many people can help me to live my life, but after all is said and done. I have to make my own choices about how to live.
Jesus' life has been well lived. He had chosen to follow the Father's will. Even if it is hard and painful. even if it contains a lot of sacrifices and sorrows.
Jesus' cup is the cup of sorrow, not just his own sorrow but the sorrow of the whole human race. It is a cup full of physical, mental, and spiritual anguish. It is the cup of starvation, torture, loneliness, rejection, abandonment, and immense anguish. It is the cup full of bitterness.
Knowing that this is the cup of Jesus, are we still ready to say yes and drink in His cup? And asking the question that why did Jesus kept on saying yes to the Father's will?
..except to say that beyond all the abandonment experienced in body and mind, Jesus still had a spiritual bond with the one He called Abba. He possessed a TRUST beyond betrayal, a SURRENDER beyond despair, and a LOVE beyond all fears. ..... This was a deep spiritual YES to Abba, the lover of His wounded heart.
And the cup of sorrow is also the cup of joy.
Only when we discover this (cup of joy) in our own life can we consider drinking it.
The joys of living were stronger than the sorrows of death.
There the body of Jesus is portrayed not as racked by flagellation and crucifixion but as a beautiful, luminous body with sacred wounds.
Lifting our cup entails us to lift up our lives and lift up others lives also. Encouraging others and helping others live.
Lifting our lives to others happens every time we speak or act in ways that make our lives for others.... A life well held is indeed a life for others. We stop wondering whether our life is better or worse than others and start seeing clearly that when we live our life for others we not only claim our individuality but also proclaim our unique place int the mosaic of the human family.
And the cup that we hold and lift, we should drink.
Drinking our cup is a hopeful, courageous, and self-confident way of living. It is standing in the world with head erect, solidly rooted in the knowledge of who we are, facing the reality that surrounds us and responding to it from our hearts.
Indeed, there is a mission emerging out of a life that is never pure sorrow or pure joy, a mission that makes us move far beyond our human limitations and reach out to total freedom, complete redemption, ultimate salvation.
Drinking the cup to the bottom means living a complete life.
Living a complete life is drinking our cup until it is empty, trusting that God will fill it with everlasting life.
Let us live our lives the way God wants us to live. Be unique. Be you.. discover the joys that God is giving you.. Following His will may bring us sorrows and pains... or sufferings... but following Him will bring us to joys that we never expected.. love that is beyond all our fears..
Share this lenten seaon with your family and friends. relive the dying for salvation of our Lord. Go to confession. God bless to you all.
