Have you ever experienced either yourself or someone you know, planning on going on a major diet? You love sweet foods, the taste of chocolate and pizza and all of the good tasting treats. However, though they appear to be good on the outside, they fill you up for about five minutes, the amount of time it takes to eat, and then you are left feeling tired and bloated because truly, the food is not good for you. So people plan to diet, avoiding these foods in order to be healthier, even though they love them.
Experiencing faith is much like that of having a healthy diet. There are so many things in life that pull at us, distracting us from what can be a firm foundation for a good life. When having an ongoing, daily prayer life, being a morally good individual, serving others before yourself and ensuring you go to mass weekly or daily, you are spiritually filled with goodness, happiness. You open yourself up every day to letting God enter your life and guide you. This is like having a healthy diet. You feel fuller, have more energy and feel better about your body because you are doing what is best for it and not giving in to constant cravings. Cravings are like the standards of our modern world: technology, working, parties, relationships. They can be good in moderation, like sweets. However, when we have too much of them, and make them our primary focus, we become bloated, lose focus and feel unhappy, as we are not doing our best to fulfill our spiritual desire, what will make us happiest and better as people.
In today's Gospel we read:'If I Bear Witness to myself, my testimony is not true; there is another who bears witness to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen; and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent. You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men. But I know that you have not the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"' (John 5:31-47).
We are always longing for more in life, constantly searching for ways to be happier. The first step is to turn away from reassuring things of this world, things that in the end have no real meaning, and become healthier in you prayer life and your connection with God. Go on a diet that is worthwhile and will help you to feel loved as a result.
Today's prayer comes from 'CatholicOnline' a prayer to seek God continually:
O Lord my God, I believe in you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... Insofar as I can, Insofar as you have given me the power, I have sought you. I became weary and I laboured. O Lord my God, My sole hope, help me to believe And never to cease seeking you. Grant that I may always and ardently Seek out your countenance. Give me the strength to seek you, For you help me to find you And you have more and more given me the hope of finding you. Here I am before you With my firmness and my infirmity. Preserve the first and heal the second.. Here I am before you With my strength and my ignorance. Where you have opened the door to me, Welcome me at the entrance; Where you have closed the door to me, Open to my cry; Enable me to remember you, To understand you, And to love you.Amen.
