I have written now quite a bit about death and its consequences, but what about Life? In the Gospel of Saint John Chapter 10 verse 10, Jesus says very clearly the following. The thief (Our old enemy Satan the Devil) cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they may have life and may have it more abundantly.
That is recorded in the New Advent Bible, Douai-Rheims. I like this version as it is the closest thing to the King James version that I read and devoured until I became a Catholic. I think the King James translators copied to quite an extent this version. One may ask why read the Bible in old English? Good question. My answer would be that it is Poetic and therefore more easily memorized.
It is a very good thing to memorize the Word of God and yes, it is even good to memorize the street addresses. It would be no good knowing the above verse by heart and then not knowing where in the Bible one would find it. The John 10 10 part is therefore important too. In Psalm Chapter 119 in some Bibles 118, verses 11 to 12 is where the Bible exhorts its readers to memorize, so let me quote that passage for you.
9 By what doth a young man correct his way? By observing Thy words.
10 With my whole heart have I sought after Thee: let me not stray from Thy commandments.
11 Thy words have I hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.
So there we have it. The memorized. Word will help remind Old and Young to keep on the straight and narrow way of Life with a capital L. The Bible along with the Books of other religions is a very Spiritual Book. It is full of Supernatural Events and is well worth reading and above all copying and applying the many lessons to one's life. It is a very important part of the Abundant Spiritual Life.
Now back to the life that Jesus promises to give us if we follow Him. What do I mean through Spiritual eyes?
To obtain Godly Spiritual eyes one would first have to ask for a keen sense of knowing the difference between Good and Evil. I know in my own life that there are unfortunately many moments when I am blinded by self will to distinguishing good from evil. If you are anything like me too often you just go ahead without taking the time to reflect and question your actions. I just do it because it feels good. For example, when I see something which I believe to be wrong then I just confront it head on and far from correcting the situation I compound it and make matters far worse. It feels good at the time and then as one sees the negative effect of the action one wishes that one had been more slow and thoughtful and prayerful first before blurting it all out. Sadly I have only been learning this very late in life and now I see my kids doing it as a sharp reminder of my past faults which they have quite naturally picked up on.
So what is it this being Spiritual? Knowing the difference between Good and Evil and then taking time to appreciate what is around you. Our enemy Satan wants us always to be in a hurry. Remember it is His job to steal, Kill and destroy. Speed kills! Speed destroys! And speed steals away the lives of so many people, not only in death but in being able to enjoy and appreciate those around you.
Going slow may take longer but at least you get there. When I am in a hurry I miss so much. In the competitive world one always has to be in a hurry. There seems to be no time to reflect and think and be thankful and appreciate ones surroundings and all the people that we meet. I used to be a fanatical Yacht racer. Because I devoted so much of my early life to Yacht racing, I became naturally an expert at it. Yacht races often take part in beautiful surroundings with water and creeks and breath taking landscapes not forgetting the beautiful sky paintings that change every hour and every day.
Do you think that as I competitively raced my boat that I noticed these things? No, definitely not. All I could see was the boat ahead that I had to compete against and overtake and the one behind that I must keep at bay from catching up. That absorbed all my time and effort. As one grows old, thank God one is forced to slow down. Now, yes, I do have time to write about and appreciate this wonderful and amazing world that we live in.
Do you know that beautiful song sung by Louis Armstrong, Sachmo, called, "It's a wonderful world!" I can't hear that without weeping. It is so true. Even with all the wickedness that surrounds us and swamps us as we watch the bad news on TV and then read about it in the Newspapers, still we live in a wonderful world. You are a wonderful person and yes even me with all my faults, sins and shortcomings am wonderful too. Having chosen a very unusual kind of life as a self appointed Missionary I have the privilege to mingle with the poor and destitute. Of course like me they are all flawed but Oh what a depth of beauty can be seen even in what society would call failures and bums.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta was able to see Jesus in a maggot ridden old half corpse of a person left to die on a garbage heap. She would lovingly pick such a human wreck up in her arms and then take that dying person off to be washed and laid neatly and gently on a mattress with clean linen and then allowed to die in comfort. She saw Jesus in each one of those so called wretches and that is why she is well on the way to becoming a saint.
As I write about this it is becoming very clear to me that spirituality is all about taking time. I have had some amazing spiritual experiences of the supernatural but never when I was in a hurry. The super natural and the natural can both be very spiritual. It all depends how you look at it. A wretched half dead and stinking wreck of a person can be an object to be loved or to be shunned.
Children today are being neglected and not even being allowed to be born. Married couples are so busy trying to compete in this rat race society that they abort their children through birth control and clinical abortion. Children force one to slow down. They are so beautiful. They are such treasures if one takes the time to appreciate them. A spiritual person will rejoice over every step and progress his child makes. They are so worth while teaching even if it is so slow and painful to watch.
Children today are not being appreciated as they should be. I know this is true in my case and has to be true in most cases. How do I know? Because kids are getting into so much trouble with nothing to do in the evenings. Parents are so exhausted from their work that they come home and just want to watch TV and then go to bed. Taking time with the kids or kid as the average is only 1.3 for every married couple in Europe just does not come into the picture. "Go run away and play with your toys or with your friends."
My five older kids will soon be going to the USA to try and make their careers there. We will soon be down to just 2 children. Every moment with the five older ones is very precious as soon they will be gone. Maybe for good.
Being spiritual is not just experiencing supernatural phenomena but appreciating and being thankful for every moment of this precious life that we have been donated. What looks only Physical and Material is also very Spiritual It just depends on which way you see it.
I realize that there is so much more to be said about this subject and the purpose of this web site spiritual experiences is to promote dialogue. I would therefore be extremely interested to hear what you have to say for or against this blog. Peace! Be my guest!
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