A Heart Full of Desire to Love God

By Neil A. Arce

There is nothing extraordinary or special in this book. All that it contains is a simple reflection of a simple country priest who prays Scripture, whose life is enriched by the people he serves and his own personal experience becomes an instrument of God presence in his life. Nothing extraordinary or special or provoking in this book except the only desire to share ones thirst and consuming desire to give ones all to the God who love him immensely and tenderly. That is all things God may be glorified.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493181681

Neil A. Arce

El Padre Neil A. Arce es un sacerdote católico romano de la diócesis de Beaumont, TX. Completó su licenciatura en filosofía en la Universidad de Dallas y su maestría en teología y divinidad en la Universidad de Santo Tomas en Houston, TX. Obtuvo su licenciatura en teología sagrada en la Universidad de Santa María en Maryland. El Padre Neil también es doctorado en ministerio candidato de la escuela de teología de los Oblatos, San Antonio, TX. Actualmente, con el permiso de su obispo, está viviendo en la Nazareth Hermitage en Ava, en una comunidad eremítica (los ermitaños) mientras discierne su vocación a la vida de ermitaño.

Book preview

1. Possession of God

Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? This question must be the question and preoccupation of every Christian. What is eternal life? Jesus, Himself, gives us the answer, And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

Eternal life means knowing God in an intimate and personal way. Eternal life means living our whole life in union with God and loving Him with all of our heart, being, strength, and mind. In short, for a Christian soul, God is everything -- God is our loving preoccupation, loving obsession, and loving intoxication.

Christian faith leads us to a personal encounter with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This personal encounter calls us to respond with a personal commitment and holy resolution to live every minute of our lives in loving union with Him. God seeks a covenant relationship with us.

We do not approach God alone, but come to know and experience God through the Church. We journey in community towards God. John the Evangelist writes, If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20) When we love our neighbor, we make God’s presence known.

May our Father’s gift of the Eucharist -- the bread and wine transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – may His everlasting gift help us to grow in our faith, as well as strengthen the love, respect, and unity of our faith community. May the love we share for our neighbor serve as an offering of thanksgiving to the Father.

2. Living for God

Let us reflect on Sunday’s readings on Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24, and on John 6:24-3. What does it mean to be a Christian? What are the criteria of living the Christian Life? How can I live a life filled with God’s Spirit? How can I live a life of commitment to God? Paul’s letters to the Ephesians gives us the idea of how Christian life must be lived!

Christian life is a series of deaths to oneself – death to one’s false self, in order that Jesus Christ may grow in us. In dying to self, we may bear the fruit of living in and with Jesus Christ. St. Paul counsels us, …you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires…

Dying to self is painful because it calls us to give up sin. Sin is pleasurable. Who wants to sacrifice pleasure? But sin is disordered and causes suffering. Sin causes disturbing effects such as pain, guilt, sadness, and even death. Long after we have forgotten the pleasure of our sin, the disturbing effects remain. The long-term pain of sin eclipses its short-lived pleasure.

Dying to self is to let go of control, ownership, and manipulation of our life. It is an acknowledgement that our life is a gift from God, created by God, and owned by God. It is a realization that we must live our lives in union with Jesus Christ – not living life for oneself, but living life in, with, and through Jesus Christ. It is living in virtue and humble service to oneself and to others. It is the uniting of our free will with God’s will.

Jesus Christ knows avoiding sin is difficult. We are wounded by original sin. But Jesus generously offers grace-filled sacraments to help us obtain union with God. These sacraments are the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we enter into Christ’s experience of dying and rising. We acknowledge our sins. Through such acceptance of our sins, we are willing to give up control and manipulation of our own lives -- we are willing to die to our own illusions and face the reality that without Jesus Christ, life has no meaning. Far from the light, there is only the presence of darkness; far from the light, there is only the chill of lifelessness!

In the Sacrament of of Reconciliation, we experience the putting away of the old self of our former way of life corrupted through deceitful desires… In the Sacrament of Holy Confession, we cleanse our souls, and thus allow the life of God to grow within us. We allow the life of