Yoked to Jesus

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“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” †  Mathew 11: 28-30  What is the labour and burden that Jesus is asking me to deal with? Perhaps I have to let go of the compulsive burden (or is it a sort of entitlement?) that my spouse and children should choose a spiritual path that I know to be right. Jesus accompanied Judas Iscariot to the very end but never deprived him of his freedom to choose his own destiny. Jesus on the other hand, uninterrupted by Judas's choice to reject him, continues to accomplish his mission. He does become a victim of Judas's betrayal but he seldom takes on the victim's identity. In divine wisdom, Jesus chooses to die in our place (and that of Judas) in a redeeming act of love. Rather than being compelled to fix those whom God has entrusted to my headship by m

To be God conscious!

Most pleasing experience of the human soul is to be at the fountain of the sweet presence of God the father, drinking non stop from the perennial source that offers joy, peace, a great sense of purpose and a life of gratitude.

As children, we live in the father's house and His presence is never absent in the house. It is certainly our right and privilege to be in the Father's presence always. Imagine having to be confined by a schedule that stipulates this privilege to be with Dad.

Being in God's presence is a matter of being aware of God who is always present. We can call it God consciousness. We leave this most fulfilling presence of God when we turn inward and become self conscious much like the prodigal son.

To be at the fountain and not leave the presence of God requires training and discipline of the self. The fallenness of our nature pulls us away world ward. Thus we need to inculcate habits to counter this natural pull. When we repeat actions over and over it becomes a habit. Following are some of the ways we can inculcate this habit of being with God:

Repeated short prayers

One of the best ways is by repeating short prayers like the Jesus prayer [ Jesus, the son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner] which the desert fathers trained themselves to say incessantly. If we start doing this, in matter of days, we do this without any effort and even in the middle of sleep, we will find ourselves praying unceasingly as St. Paul exhorted us to do in 1Thes 5:17.

Being conscious of our actions

We can remain in the presence of God by consciously resorting to do only what pleases God and avoid all actions that does not please Him. We thus become aware of our actions and begin to discern well the motives of our actions. We learn to modify or avoid actions directed towards selfish ends.

Being always in the presence of God throws ourselves open to the action of God that makes us holy and Christ like. Every pain and suffering God gives is to purify and purge our imperfections. It is the God consciousness that helps us to reconcile with pain and suffering. Pride also makes us turn inward and become self conscious.

Being conscious of the Trinity within

Another way to remain in the presence of God is to be aware that just as in the Trinity there are 3 persons yet one God, we also, by virtue of having created in the image and likeness of the Trinitarian God, have the presence of divine persons right within us. So each of our actions needs to consulted with all the three persons and cannot be selfish. We will ask this fundamental question to ourself prior to every action, does this benefit my divine nature. The three areas that represent the divine within us are the Will, Body and Soul (life). Every action is initiated by the will. The inclinations of the body cannot supersede the will. The soul is affected by these actions. When our will is enlocked in the presence of God, we are transformed holistically.

John 15.4 says "remain in me". 

Let us discipline ourselves to be in his presence always.


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