GOD IN OUR LIFE

Emmaus Community

Short reflection on

article 55 of FIC Constitutions

Opening Song

YOU ARE NEAR. Psalm 139

 Chorus:      

Yaweh, I know you are near, standing always at my side.

You guard me from the foe

and you lead me in ways everlasting.

Lord, you have searched my heart, and you know when I sit and when I stand.

Your hand is upon me, protecting me from death,

keeping me from harm.

When can I run from your love?

If I climb to the heavens, you are there.

If I fly to the sunrise or sail beyond the sea,

still I’d find you there.

You know my heart and its ways,

you who formed me before I was born,

in the secret of darkness, before I saw the sun,

in my mother’s womb.

Marvellous to me are your works;

how profound are your thoughts, my Lord!

Even if I could count them, they number as the stars, you would still be there.

 

Opening prayer

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”- Ephesians 3:14-19

Article 55: GOD IN OUR LIFE

By our own powers we can never achieve a personal relationship with God. However, God reveals himself. We may come to know him in faith. In this way he makes himself attainable to us in our earthly existence. He invites us to share life with him.

* Believing in God, we see our common daily life in a new light: we are given the opportunity to come to a loving relationship with the God of Love.

* Believing in God, we experience his love and faithfulness in the whole of creation and in all circumstances of our common daily existence.

* Believing in God, we can discover him in loving our fellow- beings and in experiencing their love.

* Believing in God, we shall often know darkness, but even then his love is like a cloak around us.

 

KEY WORDS

- Believing in God

- God reveals himself

- He makes himself attainable to us

- Share life with Him

- Personal relationship

- Loving relationship

- Faithful love of God

- In darkness a cloak

Note the development in this article: seeing God, experiencing his love, discovering God in loving action.

REVELATION

Revelation may be defined as the communication of some truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.

The truths revealed may be such as are otherwise inaccessible to the human mind: mysteries, which even when revealed, the intellect of man is incapable of fully penetrating.

But Revelation is not restricted to these. God may see fit to employ supernatural means to affirm truths, the discovery of which is not per se beyond the powers of reason. The essence of Revelation lies in the fact that it is the direct speech of God to man. The mode of communication, however, may be mediation. Revelation does not cease to be such if God's message is delivered to us by a prophet, who alone is the recipient of the immediate communication.

Revelation as thus explained differs clearly from:

- Inspiration such as is bestowed by God on the author of a sacred book; for this, while involving a special illumination of the mind in virtue of which the recipient conceives such thoughts as God desires him to commit to writing, does not necessarily suppose a supernatural communication of these truths;

- The illustrations which God may bestow from time to time upon any of the faithful to bring home to the mind the import of some truth of religion hitherto obscurely grasped.

- The Divine assistance by which the pope when acting as the supreme teacher of the Church, is preserved from all error as to faith or morals.

SCRIPTURE

The Bible as a whole is a testimony of God’s reality and saving ‘activity’

Some examples:

* John 3:16 God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

* Hebrews the whole chapter 11, e.g. verse 8: By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Experience of Naäman: 2 Kings ch 5 and Luke 4:27: There were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” Experience of Elijah: 1 Kings ch 19: 12+13 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

* 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

 

 

FOUNDERS’ EXPERIENCE AND ATTITUDE

It goes without saying that GOD played an essential role in the life and vision of both our Founders. One of the signs of their deep trust is the fact that they dared to START our Congregation, despite all the difficulties of that time and situation.

Reread the quotes from Brother Bernard in the General Remarks item 3.1

TEACHING OF THE CHURCH

In the 1983 Catechism of the Catholic Church the canons 199 - 421 are devoted to the first article of our creed: I believe in God almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Of course also the rest of the Catechism is directly or indirectly related to this topic.

CANON LAW

663.1: The first and principal duty of all religious is to be the contemplation of things divine and constant union with God in prayer.

RELATED ARTICLES

Art. 2: In God

Art. 3: God, man with us

 

POSSIBLE CHALLENGES

Needed: Attention for the development of the image of God in the course of our personal life (e.g. from a judging God to a loving God to God as a life-giving mystery) (Next to article 66).

Attention too for the images of God in different cultures in which our Brothers are rooted. God first of all speaks through human beings and is experienced in the interaction (be it hidden, cfr. Matthew 25: 34 ff.)

Instead of the word God one might use words like Mystery, Spirit and Love.

Closing Prayer

God, you know us better than we know ourselves. You know our fears and our desires. We know you love us. We know you have a plan for us. Please, Lord, don't let our desires blind us to your will. Help us follow your will, Father. Give us peace about whatever is to come. If this falls through, I will know it is your hand. Thank you for loving us,  Amen.

Closing Song

UNITED IN ONE BODY

 

Ant.:   

United in one body with Jesus Christ the Lord,

We bring to you our off’ring of bread and wine, O God.

We are the wheat of Christ:

If we be ground in the mill of life, may we be found pure bread.

We are the grape of Christ:

If we be crushed in the wine-press of suffering, may we be found pure wine.

We are the Body of Christ:

We must expect a share in His sorrow, if we must rise with Him.