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It’s terrible to realise that you’ve again spent a few days without prayer, without going to the nature or without a deeper meeting with a friend.  It’s sad to find out that again you’ve been neglecting that real meaning of life – love. How can I live a happy life when I don’t invest into my relationship with God, with my friends, and with myself?

What a day is it, when I don’t even look at the sky? How can I love when I don’t put time into realising how much I am being loved?

So let’s enjoy it. Fully. Suddenly you appeared in this world, nobody knows from where and nobody knows exactly, why. But you are here. Now.

And you can choose what to do with it. You can enjoy every breath, you can explore the wonders of nature, you can have fun with friends, you can create things etc. You can laugh, you can play, you can eat, you can sleep, you can study, you can work, you can exercise… And yes, you can suffer. You can cry. You can worry. That also belongs to the feelings of real human beings.

You got a certain period of time. Yet no moment can be repeated, every while happens just once. Things can go right, or they can go wrong. Still, you got the chance to experience them. You got that great gift of life which means you can feel, you can live through things fully, whether they’re good or bad.

It’s not important whether you’re having a good or not-so-good time, what matters is that you’re “having time”. You’re alive. Now.

So don’t worry about the fact that you lost the job, or that you cannot make ends meet. You are alive. You live. You Are. And that’s much bigger, just think about it.

Well, you might take this as a bit strange idea, but we were thinking that if love is the meaning of life, then we all will be “rewarded” after our death according to how much we loved. And we were thinking that those people who loved fully, with that perfect love we are looking for, that these so called “saints” will get to a state when they experience the complete Love after death, and that this is what could be called Heaven. Simply become one with Love, become Love, which is God.

Then those who maybe forgot about the meaning of love in life, maybe who were too busy with their career, or hobbies, or their own pleasures, so that they didn’t get to love enough, maybe they will need to spend some time, or simply to learn more about this love before they are ready to enter it forever.

And then there are those who maybe were too much in fear to love, so that they started to hate. Maybe some people decided deliberately to go against Love. They said “no” to the great offer of life – they didn’t see how much they had been loved. They then cannot enter that state of the ultimate Love.

Yes, this is our theory, one of the many. Is it compatible with the teaching of the Church? Maybe. Is it true? Will tell you after death. But if you can, try to learn as much about love now, and not only will you get the possibility of entering Heaven after you die, but almost certainly you will experience that perfect love while you are still alive. That is the key to a successful and fulfiled life. Enjoy!

We were thinking about the true meaning of life. We thought of being happy as the way – wake up in the morning, open the window, breathe in the fresh air, and despite of everything you expect that day, you smile and are happy.

Then we came to think that this happines can sometimes get empty. Boring. It simply doesn’t tell you what to do with your free time.

We were thinking of those “happy” people who go to work, then they come home, have supper, switch on the telly, and have a beer or two before going to bed. And some more fun at weekends, with Friday bars, Saturday shopping and Sunday computer games and meetings with friends and family.

And then we were thinking that maybe the real fulfilment would be in serving other people. Like mother Therese did. That would give you the meaningful use of all your time – helping the sick, looking after the elderly, etc.

But? What if you do all this but it simply doesn’t bring that fulfilment? What if that feeling of being useful simply doesn’t come, and all you get is exhaustion? And, even worse, what if you do all these good things without love, just for your own reputation, because you’re bored, or because you simply just want to show off and prove that you’re so good?

This lead us to alter our opinion and we began to believe that the meaning of life lies in pure Love.

Here I must admit that I don’t have a clue what it means, to love really. Love is not just an emotion, or just that smile inside, you feel when you look at your kids. Love is something greater, something that makes you go and sacrifice yourself when needed – in favour of your loved ones.

Love makes you pick up the phone when you have time and talk to your loved – family, friends, colleagues. With love, you will spend your time thinking of them, and you will be happy to spend time with them, to help them and to share everything with them. You might even go a step further, and look at people you don’ t know so well yet – maybe the needy, maybe just the colleagues you haven’t been talking to for a while, or that ugly man who you meet at the bus stop every morning.

Pure love, that is perfect, is for everyone – doesn’t matter whether your boss just told you off, or your neighbour “borrowed” your brand new grasscutter without asking. Love looks at everybody with understanding and, love.

Don’t know where to start? Start now. We all need to learn how to love really.

“The prayers of the liturgy are very pleasing to God, because they are the words of the bible, they are the prayers of the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ. Use a missal, a book of the psalms or prayer book to help you to pray.”

Yesterday we had a discussion with my husband about going to church and praying. And he brought me back to the very basic idea - love is all what matters.

You know, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – and the top two ones – recognition could actually mean the need to be loved, and self-actualisation could mean the need to love somebody.

Therefore, maybe it doesn’t matter a lot, how much you pray, but even more importantly, how much you love.

“The Second Vatican Council teaches us to go back to the sources. Rediscover the lives of the apostles, those people who lived with Our Divine Savior, who listened to Him, who had personal contact with Him and who were witnesses to Him.”

What was it about Jesus that He attracted so many people? What is it about us that we forget about this initial excitement so quickly and fall back to our grey lives?

Why should I spend hours on “religious activities” – and are they of any importance? Where am I different from the guy standing opposite me, smoking a ciggy and listening to Metallica? Better? Worse? What does it mean? Why is it not enough for me just to live and enjoy all the pleasures of life?

Why am I afraid of enjoying them really? Why would I consider those people who are not willing to “waste their time in church” every week – as if they were something less than myself?

Why do I consider myself not so successful when I don’t work/pray enough? Why do I think life should be a sacrifice? Why all this?

When I look at Jesus, He is for me a guy who just did what He liked. He really enjoyed His nights spent with the Father, He really loved to eat with His friends and sinners who needed His help and inspiration…

And, He also probably knew why He was doing all those things.

So what should I do and why? I want to enjoy what I do – and I would like to do things that will give meaning to my life.

Just a brief quote from “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle:

Carl Jung tells in one of his books of a conversation he had with a Native American chief who pionted out to him that in his perception most white people have tense faces, staring eyes, and a cruel demeanor.

He said: “They are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something. They are always uneasy and restless. We don’t know what they want. We think they are mad.”

Let’s calm down and see what we have now. And no, you actually can’t control future, nor past – you can just accept the present moment, and see your God who is smiling at you. Now.

And the quote by St. Augustine of Hippo just sprung to my mind:

“Our Heart is Restless until it rests in You.”

Lord, You are now, in this moment, and Now is eternal – and You are eternal. And You Are – and that’s all that is – as we all are in You and You in us. Now.

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Yesterday I was reading a magazine called ‘Pure Life’ and on top of the usual stuff about not having sex before getting married, I found there quite useful advice if you really want to be ‘pure’ – here I would take it not only as ‘sexually clean’ but also ‘pure from sin’; simply, to be pure in mind and body.

They said there are three things:

• Fun
• Friendship
• Fast

This combination struck me; I haven’t seen these three things put together before – and I like it – as it is important to have lots of fun with friends, and fast then adds the self-controlling aspect to it so that we don’t just enjoy life, but we descend deeper, where we need to sacrifice something and realise the meaning of life and suffering.

So let’s start getting more of fun, friends and fast – and see where we get.

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This is my long-term issue.

Why to give up my space? Why to share with others? Why to help them? Why to pray? Why to fast? Why? What for?

Kingdom of Heaven? Love? Holiness? What are these? They don’t mean much to me – I at least don’t understand them properly!!!

So what should I do now? Why should I strive for perfectness? Why should I ask God for forgiveness? What is my ultimate motivation?

And then a friend of mine came and told me: try the bother without God!

And everything became clearer now. In search for the meaning of life, for my purpose, for my motivation, I somehow forgot about God. To be with Him, to feel His presence, to live in Him. And what does this mean? You have to feel and experience yourself. Each of us feels it differently. But you must travel the path, sit there, pray, give, share, fast… And experience yourself what being with God means to you.

And God is at your disposal all the time, it’s just up to you to open up your inner self.

I will be happy to hear how you are getting on.

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A friend told me this and it struck me as an excellent motivator – even God will not!

The decision to follow Him, to do something that brings me closer to Him – I must do this myself! Nobody will convince me, I must see the value in Being with God and do everything I can to achieve it! Fortunately, He will help me, support me and give me everything – it will be His fight won at the end – but there is my input as well…

Jesus, as you are touching me now, please, show me your Kingdom, let me understand who You are for me and what I will get staying with you. I want to go further, let me keep going, please…

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