Jesus Invites Us To Live Life Abundantly

Prison Ministry October, 2016

In the gospel Jesus spoke these words “…I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10 What does Jesus mean when he speaks of having an abundant life? Some are convinced this means that Jesus wants us to have all the best things life has to offer. He does! But some believe the best things in life are a fancy car, a mansion, millions of dollars, whatever we want. Some call this prosperity but this is not the “prosperity” or the “abundant life” that Jesus is talking about. Even the poorest people in the world know what Jesus means since many of them live life abundantly in their poverty.

Consider this from the prophet Jeremiah “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 What plans does the Lord have for us? The abundant life Jesus wants us to have is a life of holiness, goodness, blessing, love, sharing, friendship, peace, joy, grace and the promise of eternal life.

We’ve heard the story from Matthews’s gospel of the rich man who asks Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?” Matthew 19:16 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” Matthew 19:21-22

Prosperity as the world thinks of it is not a sign of an abundant life! Many of the famous rich people we hear about are involved in drugs, sex scandals, crime and some even commit suicide. Think about this, the prophets, the apostles, many of Christ’s disciples and many of the saints lived with suffering and pain, but when we read stories of their lives we read about joyful lives with much praise to God. The apostles were all martyred for their faith as were many of the saints. Yet they lived abundant lives of peace and joy. Happiness can’t be found in money or in having a lot of things. Happiness is found in living the life God wants us to live so that we may live with him forever.

I know I spoke to you about this before but I believe that the suffering I have in my life is God’s way of keeping me close to him.

Living a Moral Life Equals Living a Good Life

What do we mean by morality? Morality is knowing the difference between good behavior and bad behavior, the right or wrong thing to do. God gave us free will so we could make these life choices. We can choose the bad which separates us from God or we can choose good, keeping the Commandments and loving and helping one another and staying close to God. The Moral Vision of the Church is to show us the way to true happiness. We can only be truly happy by following God’s will, by obeying the Commandments God has given us.

Does this sound right that we can only be happy by doing what God wills? Think about a time when you went against God’s will. Go through all 10 Commandments one at a time. Think about the times you kept the Commandments and the times you didn’t. What worked out better for you? Your lives may have been less complicated and peaceful when you kept the Commandments. You might remember having a lot of hassle and heartache when you broke the Commandments. God doesn’t give us rules to restrict our lives. God gives us rules to make life easier for us.

Best Part of Doing God’s Will

The best thing about keeping the Commandments and doing God’s will is that when we listen to our conscience and do the right thing then we get closer to God. The closer we get to God the more our hearts burn with love for him. The more we love God the more we want to keep God in our lives. We can do this by giving ourselves reminders. Reminders to help us remember all Jesus did for us and ways to not forget his love. Carrying our Rosary with us everywhere we go is a good reminder and of course so is praying the Rosary. What reminders do you have to help you remember God’s love?

The Catholic Church Teaching on Conscience?

“Every human being has a conscience, an inner guide to determining right from wrong. So we hear the Church telling us that it is our duty to follow the dictates of conscience --- that, in fact, God will judge us according to how we follow the leads of conscience. Does this mean, then, that it’s alright for people to do anything just so long as their consciences tell them it’s right? No, it does not mean this. We sometimes find people in whom conscience is ill-formed simply because they have never been taught right from wrong in a proper manner. Conscience, like all our other human faculties, must be disciplined and trained through time… Most people can trust their conscience that’s why God gave it to us.” (taken from stjameshopewell.org)

Sometimes it’s not our conscience speaking to us but our own will. If we have to justify our actions it’s not our conscience. Such as you want to steal something from a large department store so you tell yourself that the store rips people off all the time and so it doesn’t matter if you steal from the store. Or if you want to be with someone you’re not married too you might say your wife hasn’t been meeting your needs and you deserve to be happy. This is not your conscience because deep down inside you know it’s wrong but you try to convince yourself it isn’t. “When we have a good conscience and follow our conscience, we experience greater freedom and happiness. A good conscience can help us to discover God’s will in our lives and it is by doing God’s will that we most grow in peace and joy.” (taken from stjameshopewell.org)

The Virtuous Life

Christ asks us to live a life of virtue. This it hard for us due to our sinful nature but not impossible. After all a virtue is a good habit. We develop other good habits such as brushing our teeth. And some of us who are retired have developed the habit of getting up early to go to Mass every morning. Do you know of anyone who is in the habit of shining their shoes? Virtues are good habits in which we shine our souls.

A virtue is a habit of doing good while a vice is a habit of doing that which is not good for us. There are four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. It takes a lot of reminders and practice to develop these virtues and make them a habit in our lives. When we develop good habits of living virtuous lives, we are actively following the example of Christ and in doing so we follow Christ to the Kingdom of Heaven. Isn’t this what we all want?

The Theological Virtures (the following is taken from the CCC 1812 to 1829)

There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God." Vatican Dei Verbum For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will."The righteous shall live by faith." Romans 1:17

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of hope he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” Hebrews 10:3 The virtue of hope... keeps man from discouragement…by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

“Hope, O my soul, hope. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.”St Teresa of Avila

Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.Jesus makes charity the new commandment. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."John 15 The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself. (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

In closing I’m giving you one more thing to think about. It might be easy to love a family member or your best friend, but Jesus asks us to love every person on earth, even those far away who you will probably never meet. Jesus wants to fill your life with an abundance of love and goodness! God bless you!