The Lord is my Shepherd
That's relationship!

I shall not want
That's supply!

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
That's rest!

He leadeth me beside the still waters
That's refreshment!

He restoreth my soul
That's healing!

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
That's guidance!

For His name sake
That's purpose!

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
That's testing!

I will fear no evil
That's protection!

For Thou art with me
That's faithfulness!

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me
That's discipline!

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
That's hope!

Thou anointest my head with oil
That's consecration!

My cup runneth over
That's abundance!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
That's blessing!

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
That's security!

Forever
That's eternity!

HUNGER FOR GOD
By James B. Reuter, S.J.
(Reprinted from The Philippine Star)

Saint Augustine said it best. He put it this way: "Our hearts are restless, till they rest in Thee." And this is true!

Everyone is in search of happiness. Happiness is the possession of good. For instance:

• A mother is happy when her new- born baby is placed in her arms. She is in possession of a beautiful good: her baby.

• A young girl is happy when the boy says: "Will you marry me?" Because she is in possession of a lifelong good: the love of this boy who wants to be her husband.

• A destitute student is deliriously happy when he wins a scholarship to college. He is in possession of a great good: an education in this school, which he wants to be his own.

• A soccer player when he kicks the ball into the net, a track man when his chest breaks the tape, the American football player when he carries the ball into the end zone, the swimmer when he touches the final wall ahead of the pack – they are filled with an exultant joy because they are in possession of a good; they have achieved the goal for which they have been training, long and hard.

• A young man is happy when he lands a good job in the field for which he has been educated. He is in possession of a soul-fulfilling good: a scope for his natural talents, an outlet for all the skills which he has built through long years of study.

• The whole population of a school dances with joy when they win the basketball championship. They are in possession of a good: their team is the best!

But perfect happiness is the lasting, stable, permanent possession of the highest and most perfect good. And this is God alone.

• Sometimes a baby dies.

• The love of a husband is like a flame. Sometimes it blazes bright. Sometimes it flickers. And sometimes it goes out.

• Sometimes the company retrenches, and the good job is gone.

• The best players on the championship team graduate, and in the next season the team goes down.

• Sometimes the child, who was bright in school, turns out badly.

Only God remains forever. When we die, our whole being is drawn toward God as steel is drawn to a magnet. We realize that everything we ever loved is a broken, fragmentary reflection of what we find in God. If we love music, we discover that God is music. If we love life, we discover that God is life. We discover that God is love.

When we meet God face to face, in the beatific vision, our mind, our heart and our will are locked in Him. We can not turn away from Him anymore. We lose free will. We can no longer commit sin. We have found the destiny for which we were created, body and soul.

If we die turned away from God, if we die in mortal sin, our whole being is trying to turn to God the way the needle of a compass tries to point north. But we remain turned away from Him forever. Turned away from everything we love. This is hell. Total frustration. The pain of loss.

So perfect happiness is not possible in this world. We find it only when we go home to God. Our hearts are restless, till they rest in Him. But that hunger for God is in the heart of every man, even in this world. It shows in the things we do, spontaneously. For instance:

• Every woman wants to give herself to the one she loves. She wants to give her life to her baby. Somehow she realizes – seeing in the dark, vaguely – that in loving her husband, she is loving God. When she gives life to her baby, she knows — even without reading the Gospel – that she is giving her life to God.

• Every father wants to give to his children, when they are in need. Somehow he knows that whatever he does for the least of these, God’s little ones, he is doing for God.

• Everyone, in his heart, wants to help the poor, the handicapped, those in need. They might not see it as clearly as! Saint Vincent de Paul did, but they have a deep feeling that God is in the poor.

• We are hungry for God. Whenever we give, we are reaching out to Him. And God is reaching out to us, through everyone we meet.

Every child, from birth, wants to love and to be loved. The child loves father and mother, sisters and brothers, the family, friends, teachers, everybody. My own little niece, Suzie, when she was five years old, excited about going to school for the first time on the school bus, climbed into the bus, put both arms around the bus driver, and kissed him.

My mother explained this. She said; "Well, she never met anybody who did not want to kiss her, so kissing the bus driver was perfectly natural for her." From that time on, Suzie owned the bus. If it came to the corner where she usually waited, and she was not there, the driver would park and wait until she came.

This desire to love and to be loved grows with the years. But it never reaches fulfillment in this valley of tears, because it is our hunger for God. Our hearts are restless till they rest in Him.

Everyone has an appreciation of beauty. It varies according to taste, but every human being is fascinated by something!

• Some people sit on the sea wall of Manila Bay, watching the sunset – the most beautiful sunset in the world. In their heart they know that whoever created that sunset is God. It is God, coming to them in the beauty of the clouds and sky.

• Some go north to Baguio and to the Mountain Province, to look at the rugged mountains. They see in those mountains the power and the strength of God.

• All of those, who see a great waterfall, watch it with awe. In that white cascade they see the beauty, the power, the strength, the generosity of God, giving water to his children, pouring His grace into our souls like Niagara Falls into a thimble.

• For centuries people have marveled at the beauty and gracefulness of Mount Mayon. In the peaceful morning sunlight, it looks as gentle as Christ Our Lord on the rolling hills of Galilee, curing lepers, reaching out to His people. When Mayon erupts, it is like God thundering from on high, giving the ten commandments to Moses on the mountainside.

• Of course, the ones who see God most clearly in the beautiful creation of His world are the poets. Joyce Kilmer wrote:

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast.
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray.
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair.
Upon whose bosom snow has lain,
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree

And all people, everywhere, believe in prayer.
• Whenever someone we love is dying, all of us want a priest – to make sure that the one we love goes home to God.

• On first Fridays, all over the country – in churches, in chapels, in business offices – people crowd into the place reserved for Mass to go to Communion, because God has promised that if we do this we will die in His love.

• The Muslims pray religiously, reverently, five times a day, facing toward Mecca.

• In India, in Sri Lanka, in Thailand, in China, people sit in silence, with their heads bowed, before the statue of Buddha, praying, reaching out to God.

• Even under the bridges of Manila the destitute poor, in their tiny hovels, without light, without water, without air, have a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a statue of the Santo Niño, a crucifix. They do not go into the churches, because they have no shoes. But they pray, with all their hearts, underneath the bridge.

Our hunger for God is much stronger, much deeper, than our attraction to evil. You see this on the back of every jeepney: "God bless our trip". . . . "God is love." You see it on the gateways of so many houses: pictures of Christ Our Lord and of His mother. You see it in the squatters’ shacks: "God bless our home."

In almost every Filipino home, here and abroad, there is a picture of the Sacred Heart, or a picture of the Divine Mercy, or statue of the Holy Family. And always -- always -- there is a crucifix on the wall !

We might not do everything right. But at least we do understand that we came from God. We do understand that this life is a journey home to the God who loves us. And, whether we like it or not, our hearts are restless till they rest in Him.

Lenten reflections from Henri J. M. Nouwen.
(Excerpts reprinted from “Returning: God’s Love Call Us Home” by Henri J.M. Nouwen, published by Creative Communications, St. Louis, MO).

RETURNING

Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord. (Zechariah 1:3)

The story of the prodigal son is a story about returning – and that makes it an ideal Lenten parable. I have come to realize the need for returning over and over again. My life drifts away from God. I have to return. My heart moves away from my first love. I have to return. My mind wanders. I have to return. Returning is a life-long struggle that is renewed each Lent.

The wayward son had rather selfish motivation – he returned simply to survive. He had discovered that his way was leading him to death. He realized he had sinned, but this realization came because sin had brought him to ruin.

I am moved by the fact that the father didn’t require any motivation. His love was so total and unconditional that he received his son back whatever his motivation. This is a very encouraging thought. God does not demand a pure heart before embracing us. Even if we return only because following our desires has failed to bring happiness, God will take us back. Even if we return because our sins did not offer as much satisfaction as we had hoped, God will take us back. Even if we return because we could not make it on our own, God will receive us. God’s love does not ask any questions. God is glad to see us home and wants to give us all we desire, just for being home.

PRUNING

Every branch that bears no fruit, the Father takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear even more fruit. John 15: 1-2.

These words help me put a new perspective on suffering. They help me to think about painful rejections, moments of loneliness, feelings of inner darkness and despair, lack of support and human affection as God’s pruning.

I am aware that I might have settled too soon for the few fruits that I can recognize in my life. I might say, “Well, I am doing some good here and there and I should be grateful and content with the little good I do.” But that might be false modesty and even a form of spiritual laziness. God calls me to more. God wants to prune me. A pruned vine does not look beautiful, but during harvest time it produces much fruit. The great challenge is to continue to recognize God’s pruning hand in my life. Then I can avoid resentment and depression and become even more grateful that I am called to bear even more fruit than I thought I could. Suffering then becomes a true way of purification and allows me to rejoice in the fruits with deep gratitude and without pride.

NETWORKING

I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be offered for all. (1 Timothy 2:1)

During a recent period I discovered the power of the intercessory prayer of others. It was a time when many crucial decisions needed to be made, many classes taught, many promises kept. Yet I felt so tired, so heavy of heart and so melancholic that I wondered how I would survive! I couldn’t pray. When I found the time to pray, my prayers seemed cold and lifeless.

Finally, I decided to write to twelve friends. I asked them to pray for me each day for the next month. I explained to them my spiritual dryness and my inner fears. I soon experienced something new. Though my prayers remained painfully barren, I gradually felt surrounded by a network of prayerful support. I knew I belonged to a spiritual family who lifted me up to God, and I sensed I was part of an active community of prayer.

A task that seemed impossible proved possible, people whom I feared proved to be friends, and deep temptations which seemed insurmountable proved to be temporary distractions. During that month I kept feeling the real presence of my praying friends. For a moment, I claimed for myself what was pure gift. But when one of my praying friends wrote me about how seriously she had taken my request, I realized how God responded to the prayers and I felt humble and very grateful.

Do I pray for my relatives and friends? Do I encourage them to pray for me? When was the last time I felt the support that comes from the prayer of others?

THANKING

Give thanks in all circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

I have a tendency to ask for help only when I am in need and to live as if I can handle life by myself most of the time. Occasionally I say “thank you” to people or to God, but mostly I forget about my basic dependence and act with the illusion of self-control.

A life of faith is a life of gratitude – it means a life in which I am willing to experience my complete dependence upon God at all times, and to praise and give thanks to my Creator unceasingly for the gift of being. A truly eucharistic life means always saying thanks to God, always praising God, and always being more surprised by the abundance of God’s goodness and love.

The Lord gives and the Lord … gives some more. Blessed be the name of the Lord!