In Search of Certainty

So for some reason this did not post last week when I wrote it, so it's kind of old, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

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This past weekend (Sept 2-3) I was blessed to be able to go on the CL Family Vacation in Nacogdoches, Texas. Emad and I left at 5:30 am on Saturday (he drove down the night before) and we got back here (UD) at 2am on Monday.

As with any CL vacation or function, I was overwhelmed by the complete charity of these people that love the presence of Christ in each person, and even if I only see them once or twice a year--or even if I am meeting them for the first time--I feel such a deep connection to them. They become my best friends, because of our connection in the person of Christ, in our community, in this amazing friendship guided by destiny.

So the main thing I took away from the lessons was the concept of certainty, that is, having a certainty about your life that you find in faith; faith in a person, in Christ and in the people who show us Christ.Having this certainty means being able to say, “Yes, this is what I desire; what I want.” But in order to do that, to be able to say that, we first have to be fully aware of our desire. Our “I” has to be set in the right place, desiring happiness, justice, and freedom. Without this desire, the presence of Christ will not matter to us, even if He were to appear right in front of us.

To live, we need this certainty, but in this life, certainty is one of, if not the, hardest things to achieve. I my own life right now, I am greatly struggling with finding certainty. Adjusting to college life and academics has proved harder than I expected and initially realized. What the lessons on the vacation showed me was that to have certainty, we must recognize our desires. To recognize our desires, we must be fully aware of our “I”, our heart, and use it to judge reality. In judging reality with our heart we live that reality intensely. Once we can discern what is truly in our heart from what the world tells us is in our heart, we see Christ, and in Him we find the certainty we need, and the hope that does not disappoint.

Also, through the people we love we realize a deeper need for an infinite love, and in that infinite love, we are able to love people more deeply, with a love for their destiny, which is the same as our own.

Don’t be afraid to start at the beginning, to start with the desires of your heart. It is a risk—following rules is much easier—but only if you go deeper into whatever you are doing will you find the Mystery who gives us certainty, hope, and love.

God Bless.