Normandt' meditations

[Normandt]

99. Leave evil

The devil exists. He is a person, because of his movement, according to the thought of Thomas Aquinas. The devil fatally refuses the Love of God. The evil-doer refuses Love.

It is the responsibility of each person not to get caught, then to lose oneself and move away from God. The temptation for the human is to confine, then to isolate oneself in evil.

The devil totally refuses the Love of God. When we turn our backs on ourselves, on others and on God, we are moving toward division, the devil, the abyss of misfortune. He’s amused and looks forward to seeing us moving toward him.

Negative habits of some lead other people into harmful attitudes. We are often in solidarity with evil because we become accustomed to it. This bad way keeps us prisoners.

If we sin, we lead others to evil. If we pray to God, we lead people to good. At the very end of our lives, the Lord will reveal to us the sum of our good deeds. Prayer is like money in the bank and the time of retirement is eternal in the Kingdom of God.

This is why prayer is so important, even if sometimes we do not see any apparent results. Let’s accept to change our heart and our attitudes. A change for the better will come. As soon as we pray, God helps us because we allow him to Love us.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

100. Love him or not

John, who was very close to Jesus and received his Love, offers an important reflection that should lead us to reconsider our understanding of the judgment of God:
“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” John, chapter 3, verse 17

According to John, God does not judge. How did he come to such a conclusion? Surely that John has understood Love as he is. He also listened to Jesus.

If Jesus did not come to condemn the world, it means that God never judged the world. God does not judge, he Loves. If we speak of the judgment of God, his judgment can only be Love. It means that God will Love us whether we love him or not.

Let’s welcome Jesus to live in joy. Let’s acknowledge that we are sinners, that we are empty, that we are destitute without his Love.

Let’s ask him for forgiveness, for when people place their failures and faults on his back. Let’s recognize that humans cause their own misfortunes, since they succumb to temptations. They let themselves be attracted by tempters. They become lukewarm, they neglect faith, then they move away from God.

Let’s thank Jesus for reminding us that he alone saves us and may we dwell in his Love and joy.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

101. God wishes our conversion

Our faith can be affected by shadows, by interrogations, but it is raised in Jesus:
“’To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices”. Mark, chapter 12, verse 33

What matters is to love. How to love? By following Christ.

But what confirms to us that we are really following Christ? By allowing Christ to become the centre of our lives and recognizing his manifestations of Love: joy, peace, mercy...

In truth, we are incapable of loving. God Loves through us.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

102. Coverage

When we are not aware of evil, it spies on us. With the multiplicity of means to feed it, evil transforms like a blanket. This cover is cunningly transformed and becomes more and more difficult to remove. This cover of evil extends to us and onto others. The Lord of the universe reminds us of what is good to do to get away from evil:
“Consider your ways! Go up into the hill country; bring timber, and build the house that I may take pleasure in it and receive my glory, says the Lord.” Haggai, chapter 1, verses 7 to 8

To get out of the trap of evil and to learn to love ourselves better, it is about serving the Lord, with the fear of doing harm. This fear is the signal to continually adjust our heart toward Jesus.

The only way to build the house of the Lord and stay there is to move away from all forms of evil that we smoulder, often in spite of ourselves and sometimes because of us. Let’s rebuild and gather together with the Lord.

Let’s ask Jesus to uncover where we let evil dominate us. Let’s offer him our discoveries, in a process of forgiveness and reconciliation. May Jesus wash us from his side with his Precious Blood and Water.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

103. Impossible to love

Oh, love! Everyone is looking for it and thinks they have found it. In life, there is always a choice between loving or not loving. I love one thing, I do not love another. For things the choice is often easier. But for people, we often consider them, more or less, depending on our preferences.

In reality, it’s impossible for us to love, since Love is from God. Without the Love of God in us, we have no love to offer.

We are created to receive Love and allow it to pass through us to love. Sometimes we do not accept everything in one person, but we are invited to open our hearts for God to pass through. All people are Loved by God, without exception.

There are also judgments about what people wear, about their ways, their way of speaking, their way of life. There are many reasons to get around people. But James tells us:
“Show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” James, chapter 2, verse 1

James proposes that we see people, all people as children of God. If all relationships begin and continue this way, God’s Love will cover the world. The Love of God already embraces all people of the earth, but we give the impression that God is not Love because of our resistance to him.

Let’s accept that the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that God is Love, and people will simply find out that they are Loved.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

104. Persecution

We know it, persecution is not new. We find it at home, in schools, at work and on the street. Bullying is physical and verbal abuse.

Persecutions, divisions, God does not provoke them, but inhuman foolishness covets it. Some work hard to keep the power on them. They manage everything in their heads and by pride they persecute people. The persecutors do not need anyone to collapse, to self-destruct, considering they do not need God. The persecutor hurts himself whenever he hurts another. A double hurting.

Persecution and loss of meaning are awaiting us. Whether we are practising believers and celebrants or non-believers, we will be persecuted.

The difference is great for those who follow Jesus. They receive graces to live better, avoid persecution and pass through divisions that shake the world.

Jesus recalls that persecution is real:
“They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defence beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” Luke, chapter 21, verses 12 to 15

We are invited to receive the Love of God, to allow us a joyful transformation, to live in peace. We can, afterward, bring this joy and peace to others, even to the persecutors.

The solution Jesus offers is to always bear witness to our faith in God. If we leave God more room in our lives, we will have the strength and courage to persevere in faith, especially during trials.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

105. The True Servant

God offers us a servant. He is Love:
“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break, a smouldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory.” Matthew, chapter 12, verses 18 to 20

Let’s be touched and moved by the unconditional Love of God. The more we distribute the Love of God, the more we receive. May we let the flowing grace of the Love of God descend on us. Let’s let it flow into the crowd and we will receive plenty of it.

Book: Let's be Loved
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

106. Like a flower

A phrase like this helps us to discover God in the Bible:
“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.” Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 1
The people will sin against himself, the world will sin so much against God that he can no longer see God in his environment, because he believes that God is the one who disturbs him.

Yet God constantly reminds us that he watches over us: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.” Whether we sin or not, he wants to join us and touch our heart. Let’s continue with Isaiah:
“The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. (So then, the people is the grass.) Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 7b to 8

To move away from God is like a plant that dries up. It fades. So, as water raises the flower, the only one that can give strength to humans is God.

To receive the Eucharist is like the plant that is nourished with vitamins and receives what it needs. He who offers eternal life is God. The Eucharist and the Word guarantees eternal life when we receive them with heart. They awake and elevate us.

God invites us. He wants to console us of what can hurt. He wants to lead and feed us at the source, in green pastures.

Jesus makes unceasing calls to distant hearts. The Lord is the Good Shepherd who wants to gather all the sheep and lead them into the community of saints, in his Kingdom.

Let’s be attracted by our Father and trusting in our Saviour, the Good Shepherd of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ. May we be led to the Altar of the Gift of God, the Altar of Love for each person, to the Word and the Eucharist.

There is joy in heaven and peace on earth, since the promised Saviour liberates and consoles the one who really seeks him, wholeheartedly.

Book: … for Love
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

107. Reconciliation

Paul tells us:
“We know that all creation is groaning in labour pains even until now.” Romans, chapter 8, verse 22

Many women can share their feelings about the pain of giving birth. They know what Paul is talking about. But this pain is much more stinging, even if it doesn’t seem perceptible, when we are away from Jesus.

Sin in us is stubborn and constantly assails us. But we are invited to return to awareness and accept healing, so that we may live happily and unite in God.

When we read God’s recommendations in the Bible, we find that they always lead to avoid problems. The Bible is full of examples. Yet it’s necessary not to twist, to bend the good to the point of thinking that it’s wrong and to not sublimate evil and think to succeed in transforming it into a good deed.

Let’s face it, a person who doesn’t know that he’s doing wrong is getting trapped. But a person who likes to live peacefully, when evil comes, does everything possible to avoid it, circumvent it or, ideally as soon as possible ask Jesus to help him pass by it.

Let’s read:
“Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil.” Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 16
We often give our faults, our sins to Jesus, and we know the good he brings us and the healing that follows. We give it to him because we trust him. God purifies then consoles us beyond our expectations.

Every time we confess, Jesus’s Precious Blood washes us, cleanses us. He makes the hurting part of our confession white as snow. It provides well-being.

To this is added a way to repair, a way to become better. After the forgiven fault, these are attitudes that help us to improve:
“Learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.” Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 17

We tend to move away from God, and that is evil, and ultimately we hurt ourselves. It requires discernment to fully understand the difference between what is really bad or good. Let’s return and God will do his work in us.
Getting people to become truthful could be disastrous, if it’s not well framed, with patience and gentleness. We must not make people flee as much as to pray for their spiritual improvement. We hope they’ll find themselves in the grace of God. God will do his work in them.

Book: … for Love
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

 

[Normandt]

108. Charity

Many people are alone, even in groups, because they feel misunderstood, judged, left out too. Let’s defend the lonely person's cause. Offering charity helps others and helps us too. There is a clear advantage. While we are doing good, we are freeing ourselves from evil.

The Bible often offers ways to improve our faith, to reach God. This sentence is timely, while Jesus speaks of some scribes and pharisees:
“Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practise.” Matthew, chapter 23, verse 3

Let’s be careful not to judge people but gather their qualities, the gifts they’ve received from God. Thus, if we cannot trust the actions or words of some people, we can however retain their good counsel and perseverance in following Jesus. So, we shouldn’t take apart what they might not be doing good, it’s more about making sure we move forward and do good. We too are not perfect.

It’s up to each person to discern and be empowered to become better christians and truly God’s children. The good we perceive in others teaches us to become better ourselves.

But let’s be careful not to mix up good and bad. Discovering the evil in others is also a great way to avoid slipping into the same evil. We learn from their failures. This teaches us and it’s an opportunity to pray for them. Learning from their failures helps us and will help them eventually.

Book: … for Love
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]