One person I am always amazed with in history is Lorenzo Medici, the great Italian ruler of the Renaissance. He went down in history as Lorenzo il Magnifico, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Would not that be a nice nickname to have down through history? The Magnificent! He was called this because he was generous in everything he did. He never just simply went for the minimum; he always gave the very best. He did not just dip his toe in the sea of life, but dived right in. And so, he was known as the Magnificent.

Now an Italian ruler of the Renaissance is perhaps not so important to us in our own life but, I think, that spirit of absolute generosity, abundance and magnificence is something that we need to reflect upon in our life in Christ. In fact, that is basically a reflection of the Lord God himself because God does not measure out His mercy to us in little tiny amounts. God always acts with superabundant generosity, with magnificence, in the way in which He gives to us the grace in our lives, and the blessings with which we are surrounded. Continue reading →

For most people, the most difficult aspect of Jesus’s teaching is that which relates to the requirement that we must forgive those who have hurt or offended us. This seems to be related to the fact that most of us think that by forgiving someone, we are extending to them a favour or a grace that they do not deserve, given the pain and hurt that they have caused us.

This is certainly how I used to think.

It was only after I discovered how much freedom comes from forgiving another person that I discovered the deeper spiritual reasons for Jesus challenging us to forgive others in the same way that we desire to be forgiven by Him. Continue reading →

In my opinion, the best flavour of ice cream in the entire world is chocolate peanut butter. I love this flavour of ice cream so much that I cannot keep any in the house. When, and if, I do keep it in the house, I am unable to control myself and I usually eat the whole pint in one sitting.

The preference that I have for chocolate peanut butter ice cream is a personal opinion. The fact that I like it, is a truth that is relative only to myself. Others may have different opinions and it does not really affect my opinion or their ability to have a different opinion. My opinion on this matter does not really present a problem for others.

On the other hand, there would be a real problem if for some reason, I believed that my opinion needed to become a truth for all people. If for some reason, I believed that everyone else had to share my preference for chocolate peanut butter ice cream, my insistence on this issue would begin to infringe on the right of others to have an opinion. Worse, still, would be the case if I were to form an alliance with all the other people who loved chocolate peanut butter ice cream and we worked together to lobby for laws that required that only chocolate peanut butter ice cream could be manufactured. We could demand that no other flavours be manufactured and that all people must eat our flavour of ice cream. Taking our efforts to the extreme, we could demand that everyone eat chocolate peanut butter ice cream and perhaps put at risk the lives of those people who have a severe allergy to peanuts. Continue reading →