Archives for March 2017

In our everyday lives, we all assemble things to use them or use things that others have already assembled. Almost all the things that serve our everyday needs are products that have been assembled, which means that various components coexist and cooperate with each other, from the multifunctional computer to our coffee maker and washing machine. Be careful though.

It is one thing the assemblage of different parts that all work towards a production project and another thing mixing different materials. In the first case the assembled members retain their self-sufficiency, in the second they are homogenized and lose their self-sufficiency.

In the life of faith in the living God there is no confusion and opacity.

There is collaboration with self-sufficiency but never confusion.

The slaves of the gentleman who entrusted them with the talents were all three slaves of the same gentleman, and all three of them got the same gifts, but during the examination, the responsibilities were not attributed mixed with social criteria, but were attributed personally and individually on the basis of the work that was produced by each one.

Crisis and reciprocation are always personal, and there is neither confusion nor dissemination of responsibilities. Instead, there are personalities who are judged separately and receive reciprocation accordingly.

Although the concept of giving in exchange is often associated with unpleasant situations, in fact we operate in such a way every day of our lives; give and take. In the primitive societies the exchanges were in kind, but in the historical period to date, we use common currencies for our exchanges and transactions. In any case, you cannot get something without giving something else in return; you cannot get a salary if you do not offer work.

And while this is the everyday life for all of us, there is no such thing in the life of faith. Because the only one who does not have needs is our Creator and we have nothing to offer him. All that remains is the exercise and application of faith, not in order to give something but to educate ourselves, and this education and experience is the foundational stone that fills our lives not only with the necessary goods but also with goods far beyond them, temporally and locally.

Because our Creator not only does not have needs, that He has to satisfy but He has predicted and prepared treasures and awaits those interested and capable to acquire them. And the treasures of the Creator never diminish, nor end nor become old, but they are always up to date and precious.

The concept of applying is related to the joint and the connection. Joint is the point of contact between two or more things and allows coexistence and cooperation. In our modern life, all the objects we use are characterized by the utilization of this technique, the assembly, the adaptation and the application in our everyday life.

If there is a theory, its application proves its correctness and operational value. Until then, there is a theory of no practical value for the everyday person. Christ has recommended the same logic to you and me; to put into practice – in a functional and productive combination – the elements of his teaching and not just listen to them.

The eagerness and cost of foolish virgins in the parable where they went to obtain the oil in the night proves that the judgment of God is not emotional but is based on numbers and results practically. The cost of the fool’s house built on the sand and did not make the building safe, was that it fell down precisely because he had not applied the common sense of things.

And to apply something, I have to know it, to have tried it and experimented with it personally so I know the result safely. Responsibility is always a personal matter and is not transferred to third parties.

To develop means to unfold something that exists in a compact form. It does not mean creating something new, but I develop the existing, grow it, remove the folds and bring it to its true dimension.

The precondition of development is existence. Growth follows. This sequence of things is crucial because if someone thinks they have something but do not actually have it, then they try to develop it, unfold it, give it the shape it ought to have but there is a tragic mistake in this reasoning: there is no such thing, there is no such issue to discuss the next stage of development. In order for a baby to grow up, a prerequisite is that it is born and its development follows.

The baby’s birth does not precede his or her development.

And we all understand that such tragic failures in our consciousness have an abstractive and destructive character because we spend in real materials to build fantastic walls in a building that does not exist and in the end there is a pile of materials and ruins that have cost us trouble and time and money without a final edifice.

In the field of faith in the living God, this naivety has zero results, high costs and debris that create a burden and a barrier and not natural supply and enrichment.

Disappointment torments all people in all times of mankind and is related to our failed efforts. Every time we try something and do not succeed, there is even a little disappointment; an element of our complex internal mechanism, which judges and marks our efforts and our success or failure.

This very internal mechanism is absolutely personal and no one can really get involved. I succeed in my effort and I am pleased. I fail in my attempt and I suffer disappointment. People in the environment may be compassionate or rejoice with us, but the disappointment of failure is an internal wound that weakens our will, brings a climate of defeat, and the confidence in our abilities and our personality is gradually lost. And while I’m failing in the physical world, the consequences torture my inner, mental world.

In the life of living faith the elements of disappointment from my failed efforts are lessons, not suffrages. They are challenges for a repetition of effort and empowering personality rather than sick despondency of despair.