Farmer of Hearts - How Not to Miss God’s Voice

According to the Gospel of John, the first question Jesus asked when He began His ministry was "What are you looking for?" (John 1:38). After Jesus died and resurrected, He said to Mary of Magdala, who was looking for Him in the tomb, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" (John 20:15) These two questions of Jesus echo in history and in our lives. Indeed, life is a "journey of searching" - searching for something, searching for someone. Many people may not be able to find what they are looking for all their lives, because they searched in the wrong places; some people kept going in circles, and some people stopped searching for various reasons. As Jesus matured, He also continued to seek and discover His own identity and direction, and in the process, He was guided and affirmed by the Father and the Holy Spirit. The person whom Jesus was searching for was the Father, and what He was looking for was to "do the will of the Father." This is the anchor in the life of Jesus. All of Jesus' other desires were based on it. Jesus’ complete trust in the Heavenly Father enabled Him to give Himself unreservedly, never questioning His Father, let alone doubting the Heavenly Father’s arrangement. He loved His Heavenly Father to the end, and followed the Father to the end. This became the cornerstone of the life of Jesus.

On the last day of this Lenten retreat, we hope this year's theme of "I Thirst" will give everyone an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of life and find a way to "quench our thirst" in the Lord. You may wonder, what is the ultimate goal we hope to achieve? You might want to ask yourself: what kind of person do I want to be?

The journey of searching in life will not end, but there will be some clear signs that let us know we are moving in the right direction. This is the first line that Jesus said to His disciples and us after His resurrection: "Peace be with you!" (John 20:19) This peace is the greatest sign.

With Jesus and His peace as our companions on our journey of searching, our directions in our lives will become clearer, even if life is bumpy and challenging, we will still experience the state that St. Augustine longed for: "Lord, our heart will be restless until it rests in You." The thirst for feeling settled, at peace and at rest in the Lord becomes our goal and pillar, constantly giving us strength and perseverance, making us like the Samaritan woman who finally encountered Christ at the well and gained an unprecedented release and freedom. This healing from Jesus allows us to accept and embrace the imperfections in our lives — weaknesses, powerlessness, trauma, brokenness, guilt, unforgiveness, anxiety...— those bonds that haunt us in the past, present, and future.

Jesus wants to unbind us personally, so that we can leap out of the valley of life like the Samaritan woman, and be able to face ourselves, face God and all the people around us, and be supernaturally empowered and willing to be a witness of our encounter with Christ and His goodness, and not be afraid to reveal our past to others and become a new creation. Our past and all our present weaknesses have become the most powerful tools to witness for God. Those who see our witness will be like the Samaritans in the Bible, who became open to establishing a relationship with Jesus because of the woman's testimony. Isn't that a goal we aspire to?

At that time, what we need to hold on to in our lives is no longer wealth, fame, achievement, or even our own talents and abilities, but like what St. Paul the Apostle said in chapter 12 in his Second Letter to the Corinthians. When facing his own weakness, God said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, Paul was willing to boast of his weakness, not his power, so that the power of Christ may be manifested in him (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

To be able to boast of our weaknesses for God and in Him is the greatest freedom in our lives as followers of Christ. Just like the example set by Jesus for us, His life was never to accumulate things that were beneficial to Him, but to constantly let go of them, and at the very end, on the cross, He gave up everything He possessed in His body, mind and spirit. He had nothing, but the power of the Father in heaven to rely on. United with His Heavenly Father, Jesus had everything and could accomplish everything!

Our Lord Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father and our perfect example. Jesus wants us to follow Him without holding back and not to waste the new life He redeemed for us by His most holy blood on unimportant things that we cannot bring into eternal life.

The first of the two missions that Jesus gave us is to love the brothers and sisters around us as He loves us, and to give without expecting anything in return, just like He did, in order to repay His love for us. Jesus earnestly hopes that each of us will be like the child in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and be willing to give what we have, even if it were only five loaves and two fishes. Jesus wants to perform miracles through our small daily offerings, through which He remains with us always. Ultimately He wants us to build communities of love, like the early church, in our families, parishes, and societies so that more people will be attracted to come to know Him and receive salvation.

The second mission is to commission us, like the Samaritan woman, to constantly draw living water from our Lord Jesus, so as to gain strength to testify for God in our lives, no longer relying on our own ability, but relying on the power of the Father. Jesus hopes that we will imitate His spirit of "continuously letting go" as we carry out our two missions, in order to experience for ourselves the ease of fulfilling the mission in the Lord when we count on His power, as well as to regain the freedom that was lost due to our various attachments in the past!

Our Lord Jesus wants us to know that in the end when we leave this world, the only things we can take with us are those things we have given away unconditionally in our lives. It is better to learn to let go and give rather than to busily spend our life satisfying our own desires.

We wish you not only to be an ambassador for Christ, but also the perfect reflection of Christ, His real and visible image!

Today’s Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for allowing me to re-examine all the desires in my life during this 40-day retreat, identifying which ones are the most important that are both in line with the Father's will as well as lead me closer to Him, and those that do not. May Your Holy Spirit enlighten me and grant me wisdom so that my desires may be in line with those of You and the Father. Please give me a humble and docile heart willing to let go of everything that hinders me from loving You and following You unreservedly, and help me to accept all the plans and missions you have given me. Through my humble offering and reliance on the power of my Heavenly Father, I aspire to be an instrument of Your love and salvation, in order to quench your thirst and that of the world! Lord Jesus, please make me a perfect image of You in the world!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

_________________________

Fundraising Appeal

Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, I Thirst. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and al...

Today, we, together with the universal church, remember with a heavy heart how our Lord Jesus Christ willingly walked a path of betrayal and extreme humiliation, and was nailed to the cross for us. It was the will of the Father, and the Son willingly obeyed, all because of love!

Because of love, the Son took on the form of a slave (cf. Philippians 2:7) and dwelt among us, and never enjoyed the honour and dignity that a king deserves. Jesus was born in a lowly way and lived a humble life. He never accumulated any wealth, nor sought to win the love and admiration of His subjects, but lived a simple and subdued life among His people. He wanted to show us that a humble and simple life, combined with the intentionality of "emptying oneself", enabled Him to submit to the Father more easily and follow the Father’s will more readily.

Looking at ourselves, on the other hand, we are constantly accumulating, whether it be wealth, honour, achievements, accomplishments, power, and so on. In order to look respectable in front of others, we unconsciously wear layers of masks, making us not only prideful but also heavily burdened.

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, He laid down the baggage of being loved by people, let go of His plans, and even His freedom, and focused on receiving instructions from the Father and fulfilling His will. We keep accumulating, while Jesus keeps letting go! Jesus also let go of His expectations of His own followers, even those closest to Him, like His disciples and apostles. He only sought to keep giving without expecting anything in return.

Jesus, once a highly respected teacher and Messiah, suddenly became a “criminal” who was scorned by people. He went from being the charismatic master and divine healer who attracted many followers from far and wide, to someone who was abandoned by everyone and treated like dirt, and all of these happened in just a few days! What could be more tragic than what this King of kings went through? And what He bore were not His own debts but the heavy debt of sin that you and I owe! Who among us can claim to be without sin and deny this fact?

But this is how ridiculous the world is: Jesus, the sacrificial lamb who bore the sins of the world, approached His own cross step by step. He was betrayed and abandoned by those who loved Him, ridiculed and insulted by those who wanted to put Him to death in the most despicable and contemptible way. Even those who had once admired and loved Him mocked and spat on Him. As the executioners swung barbarously the most cruel instruments, Jesus was beaten and bruised all over, unrecognizable as the revered king and teacher He had once been. After being stripped of His dignity in His mind and spirit, Jesus was violently and insultingly stripped of His garments, left naked and exposed to the ridicule of those who had once worshipped Him. Finally, after being toyed with by the soldiers, He was nailed to the cross, unable to move, hovering between life and death, being seen helpless, struggling between excruciating pain and gasping for breath... until His final breath. As bystanders, betrayers, and executioners, we still cling tightly to our dignity, our face, our identity, and everything we feel entitled to. This is the cruel reality we are faced with on this day when we commemorate the Passion of Jesus!

Now, let us listen to the first words that Jesus spoke to our Heavenly Father on the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34) It was in this way that Jesus absolved all those who had cruelly crushed Him! But...is it true...is it true that we really have no idea what we are doing? Are we satisfied with how Jesus absolved us? Lord Jesus, what really was on Your mind?

Finally, Jesus, who was hanging on the cross, was stripped of everything that rightfully belonged to Him, both material and non-material. Hanging between heaven and earth with nothing on Him, He reconnected heaven and earth and finally reconciled people with God. But what about Him..., when He had totally emptied Himself, Jesus cried out loud, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) This was the most astounding and heart-wrenching cry of our Lord Jesus, His most complete and radical offering of Himself! Everything in the world belonged to Him, yet He had completely offered it without reservation. And at last, Jesus experienced the pain that no one had ever experienced since the beginning of time, and no one will ever experience till the end: being abandoned by men and by God!

"I thirst."  (John 19:28)

This statement represents the cry of humanity to God and the intense thirst of God for humanity, which finally came together in our Lord Jesus! Just when Jesus was stripped of everything, and seemed to be unable to do anything, He accomplished the greatest task, breaking the separation between God and men, reconciling and reuniting them once again!

Finally, the Lord Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:28).

Reflection

Seeing that Jesus loves us to the end, to the point of giving up everything He has, without reserve, would you be willing to follow suit until the end?

Can you accept being stripped of the dignity you think you are entitled to in front of others?

Under what circumstances would you willingly offer up everything you have, just like Jesus did?

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, I don't really understand what made You give up everything for us by completely surrendering Yourself to God. I may understand it in my head, but I can’t comprehend it in my heart, and I cannot imagine how I can learn from Your example and follow it to the end, love until the end! Please cry out to my soul, awaken me, so that I am no longer bound by the things that have been holding me back, and am willing to completely let go of everything I think I am entitled to. Lord, please teach me to be like You, to not be afraid to expose my weaknesses, my brokenness, and even my sins in front of people, so that You can work miracles and do great things in me, through which Your infinite glory will be manifested!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

_________________________

Fundraising Appeal

Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, I Thirst. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and all our ministries are sustained by the generous donations of our supporters. We hope you will support us with prayers and donations. Please make an online donation using the button at the top of the website Lent.FLL.cc. Thank you very much for your support. God bless!

The following is the “Farmer of Hearts: I Thirst” team, including FLL staff and volunteers.
Please kindly pray for them. May God protect them and sustain their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Project Manager: Michael Lam
Writer: Paul Yeung
Editors: Bonny Chan, Rosa Tse
English Translators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip, Zenia Lau
Cantonese Narrator: Margaret Woo
English Narrators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip
Mandarin Narrators: Anthony X. and team
Audio Editors: Arnold Chan, Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Margaret Woo
YouTube Editors: Fonte Ip, Damaso Wong
Graphics: Francis Lai, Rosa Tse
Website: Angela Wong, Patricia Young
Podcast: Angela Wong
Social Media: Clara Chang, Yollie Leung, Carmen Tsang, Rosa Tse, Damaso Wong
...

We need to acknowledge that we are easily deceived, especially by ourselves. For example, we are easily deceived by our own "outward behaviour." As we were growing up, for different reasons and motivations, we learned to do some "window dressing" to gain people's recognition and praise, while making ourselves feel better and feeling like we have fulfilled our duties. As Christians, we may also be deceived by our outward displays of piety, feeling like we have done well, completed our obligations, and feel self-satisfied and justified, but forgetting that Jesus cares about the state of our hearts, not just our superficial actions and appearances. Just as Jesus despised the hypocritical Pharisees, who were self-righteous and gradually became conceited, deceived by their own superficial behaviour, and judged others by their own perceived righteous behaviour. Each of us has a piece of Pharisee in us, which we cannot deny and warrants our reflection!

In addition, we sometimes overestimate our own abilities and loyalty to God. For example, St. Peter did not think he would deny Jesus. Even Judas did not think it was a big deal when he betrayed Jesus, until he later realized that he had committed a heinous crime out of his greed, causing the death of his master, but it was already too late, and there is no way back!

All of the above examples warn us that if we neglect our "blindness" and "hardness of heart", we would be tricked by the various "blind spots" in our lives without even realizing it. It can potentially cause us deep trouble and great regret.

If we truly want to be Christians who can live up to our name, not wanting to be far away from God and His ways, and truly seek to desire what God desires, we must get rid of the attitude of "self-righteousness", not just believing in our own ideas, and not just caring about our own interests.

Before facing His own suffering and death, Jesus did not only care about His own safety and interests. Instead, He did His best to focus on the needs of others and the community. As the Creator, Saviour, and Teacher, He even personally washed the feet of His disciples, setting an example of humble service to others. Jesus showed us the true example of a Christian, just as described by St. Paul the Apostle in his letter to the Philippians 2:6-8: "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross."

If we want to become true Christians, we only have one way, which is to imitate Jesus, following His teachings and His way of life; not just partially, but to be 100% like Him.

We often feel that we are entitled to receive many things in life, that God, our parents, family, and people around us should provide for us, as if they owed it to us. But Jesus wants to break this mindset! We came into the world naked, and everything we have now, including material and non-material things, and all our relationships, are given to us freely by our Heavenly Father, and not something we are entitled to. If we can adopt and live out this mentality, it becomes easier for us to let go of the desires in our lives that are not important or appropriate. We can then be transformed from a self-centred and egoistic mentality that always serves one’s own needs, to one that considers the needs of others and the community which is modeled after the spirit of Christ's love and humility through serving others. In this way, we can achieve the goal that St. Paul the Apostle urged the local Christians to strive for in Philippians 2:3-4: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others."

Only when we learn to live out Jesus’ spirit of "do unto others as we would have them do unto us" can we truly realize that we are not living for ourselves, that we should not be just taking care of our own needs or inflating our own desires. When we are truly able to let go of our own “selves”, we will have the space to appreciate the spirit that Jesus Christ taught us to "wash each other's feet" and to live out the new commandment that Jesus gave us after the Last Supper: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. " (John 13:34)

Lord Jesus, please guide me as I reflect on this new commandment and new attitude that You have enlightened me today, and teach me to put them into practice from this day forward.

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, I have learned from You that I should not be focusing only on my own needs and caring only about my own interests, not to dedicate all my energy in planning for myself, satisfying my own desires, and ignoring the needs of others and the community. Please do not let me be deceived by my own blind spots and desires. Teach me to follow Your teachings impartially and imitate Your actions, so that I can desire what our Heavenly Father desires, and choose the path that our Heavenly Father has chosen for me, even if it is a way of suffering.

_________________________

Fundraising Appeal

Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, I Thirst. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and all our ministries are sustained by the generous donations of our supporters. We hope you will support us with prayers and donations. Please make an online donation using the button at the top of the website Lent.FLL.cc. Thank you very much for your support. God bless!

The following is the “Farmer of Hearts: I Thirst” team, including FLL staff and volunteers.
Please kindly pray for them. May God protect them and sustain their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Project Manager: Michael Lam
Writer: Paul Yeung
Editors: Bonny Chan, Rosa Tse
English Translators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip, Zenia Lau
Cantonese Narrator: Margaret Woo
English Narrators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip
Mandarin Narrators: Anthony X. and team
Audio Editors: Arnold Chan, Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Margaret Woo
YouTube Editors: Fonte Ip, Damaso Wong
Graphics: Francis Lai, Rosa Tse
Website: Angela Wong, Patricia Young
Podcast: Angela Wong
Social Media: Clara Chang, Yollie Leung, Carmen Tsang, Rosa Tse, Damaso Wong

Some of you may feel a little uneasy when following this retreat, and may think that you are not as bad as described in the contents of the retreat. "I am not that stubborn, not that proud, not that shameless, not treating God that poorly..." Please do not be mistaken. The purpose of this retreat is not to belittle or look down on anyone, nor is it to teach or make anyone feel uncomfortable. However, the theme of "I thirst" involves content that is not to be received just intellectually or through simple reflection. It also requires us to go deeper, to make time and space for ourselves, to face the most difficult and core issues in our lives, to meet the Lord in our hearts, and to genuinely and wholeheartedly experience God's presence and companionship. The purpose of this retreat is to reveal our “blind spots” one by one, so that we can slowly see the truth and be more “awake”.

“A hardened heart” is our greatest enemy in quenching our thirst. It is the result of long-term "dryness," a state of being constantly closed off by our own "blind spots," which is the devil's most adept tactic!

Satan was originally an angel who, like other angels, knew God very well. However, because of his pride and jealousy, he hardened his heart against God, became a fallen angel, the prince of darkness, the father of lies, and could also be called the father of "hardened hearts". Therefore, Satan is eager to lead more people into a state of "hardened heart", making them more easily manipulated and influenced by the devil, turning them into the devil’s slaves, and leading them away from our Heavenly Father who loves us most dearly.

What is alarming is that most people are not aware that they have a "hardened heart" and believe they have no problem. The devil is happy to go along with this and encourage you to keep your heart hardened.

Our "hardened heart" causes us to gradually drift away from God without even realizing it. On the contrary, to resolve our spiritual dryness, we need to try to draw closer to God. We can imagine this relationship as the true distance between ourselves and God. The closer the distance, the better the relationship; the farther away, the more distant the relationship. Generally speaking, you cannot say that you have a good relationship with God if you feel that you are far apart from each other. This relationship is also reflected in the gap between what we desire and what God desires. The greater the difference, the farther we feel God is away from us and the more distant the relationship becomes. Therefore, the key to "quenching our thirst" lies in our efforts to narrow the gap between what we desire and what our Heavenly Father desires; the more our desires are in line with God's desires, the better the relationship becomes.

Our Heavenly Father, who is ever-loyal, only desires us and nothing else, with a single-minded focus and attention. That is the key. However, our desires are varied and scattered. When we couldn’t even focus on only one thing but chasing after several things at the same time, how could we remain faithful by having only one main desire in life? In this unequal relationship, our “thirsty” condition won’t even be satisfied, let alone attaining happiness in life. As a result, our Heavenly Father will keep waiting for us bitterly, and our spiritual dryness will not be relieved. This is because what we seek is not what our heart and soul truly need. We may deceive ourselves for a moment, but we cannot deceive ourselves perpetually. We will come to realize and experience the state described by St. Augustine: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord." Indeed, we were created by God and for God. It is a fact that we cannot deny. Only when God and our desires meet, that is, when our desires are in line with His, can both God’s and our thirst be satisfied at the same time, as one cannot be without the other. This is the crucial and only way to quench our thirst in life.

To reduce our blind spots and opportunities that lead to a "hardened heart", one of the most effective methods is to simplify our lives. A simple life helps us to reduce the clutter and lesser things in life, which not only minimizes our distractions but also our non-essential desires. Because satisfying these desires requires a great deal of time and effort, it not only wastes our energy but also distracts us from directing our energy in handling the most important things in life. It increases our blind spots in these important areas, indirectly crowding our mind and vision, making it hard for us to receive God's messages and guidance, which may prevent us from making the right decisions in life. This is something we cannot neglect.

Reflection

Do you think you have any blind spots? Do you have a hardened heart?

We tend to think that God has complete control over everything, including our relationship with Him. After the reflections of the past two days, do you have any new insights?

In your relationship with God, do you feel that you are faithful to Him? Is it God who let you down, or is it you who let Him down?

Today’s Prayer

Merciful Father, thank You for further opening my eyes and my heart, allowing me to see more clearly and be more sensitive, so that I can see my blind spots and hardness of heart, and also feel Your heartache. Please do not let my awakening process stop due to my pride, thinking that I have no problems, and even blaming You for not actively approaching me and granting me an intimate relationship with You. Let me be more fair to You, understand You more, and love You more. Abba Father, I love You!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

_________________________

Fundraising Appeal

Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, I Thirst. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and all our ministries are sustained by the generous donations of our supporters. We hope you will support us with prayers and donations. Please make an online donation using the button at the top of the website Lent.FLL.cc. Thank you very much for your support. God bless!

The following is the “Farmer of Hearts: I Thirst” team, including FLL staff and volunteers.
Please kindly pray for them. May God protect them and sustain their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Project Manager: Michael Lam
Writer: Paul Yeung
Editors: Bonny Chan, Rosa Tse
English Translators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip, Zenia Lau
Cantonese Narrator: Margaret Woo
English Narrators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip
Mandarin Narrators: Anthony X. and team
Audio Editors: Arnold Chan, Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Margaret Woo
YouTube Editors: Fonte Ip, Damaso Wong
Graphics: Francis Lai, Rosa Tse
Website: Angela Wong, Patricia Young
Podcast: Angela Wong
Social Media: Clara Chang, Yollie Leung, Carmen Tsang, Rosa Tse, Damaso Wong

"Feeling thirsty" is a state of being "unsatisfied", a state of "waiting", and a "signal" to us to take action to quench our thirst. No matter how difficult the action may be, it is something within our control, something we can take initiative and act on to relieve our “thirst”. For example, if our desire is to increase our savings , we can work hard to earn money or cut expenses so that we can have more savings. These are results that we can obtain through our efforts and proactive action.

On the contrary, God's desires are not many, in fact, He has only one primary desire, which is that we freely choose to love Him. God is thirsting for our thirst for Him! Because He loves us, He has given us the freedom to choose, making God the passive party. He keeps waiting and waiting, until we respond! Imagine you are waiting and longing for someone who is not waiting and longing for you, or you have fallen in love with someone who doesn't love you. How painful and torturous that is!

We have all experienced the anticipation of a long-awaited holiday, a dream vacation, or the reunion of family and friends. That kind of waiting is joyful, rather than painful, and it even enhances the excitement of the anticipation, allowing us to have a foretaste of the sweetness of that happy day. But our Heavenly Father does not have this privilege! His waiting is bitter, like an indefinite sentence, and it will very likely be in vain! That pain is even more unbearable than death! If God were willing to give up on us, He would not have to endure this heart-wrenching agony forever! But He hasn't! He would never give up on us, and He has chosen to wait...

God has given us everything He can out of His love for us, to the point where He gets Himself into real trouble. The deeper His love and the higher His expectations for us, our indifference and even cruelty towards Him are more like swords that pierced His Heart.

This is not just a human lover who is madly in love with us. This is God the Almighty who loves us to the point of subjecting Himself to us, His own creation and beloved mankind, to be betrayed and cruelly whipped and beaten, shamelessly mocked and insulted, and… at the end, allowing us, using the most brutal and humiliating way, to strip of His clothes, piece by piece,... stripped totally of His dignity… This majestic Creator, King, Master, and Saviour, whom we should bow down to, was stripped naked before us, allowing Himself to be nailed to the Cross and died for us, and died on the cross. This is our choice, the price God paid for His love for us. Oh my soul, what kind of reasoning is this!

Unfortunately, our hearts are so hardened that we do not have the slightest compassion for our Saviour. We simply watch our Heavenly Father, who loves us to such an extreme extent, wait for us in agony, and we continue our own ways, giving Him cold shoulders heartlessly. We even have the audacity to complain about God not treating us well. When will this hardness of heart end? My soul, what has God done wrong to you? Where is your conscience?

Today’s Prayer

Abba Father, standing before You, facing my hardened heart, I am truly speechless... Why have I allowed myself to come to this point? I really don't know. Perhaps it's my selfishness, my lack of compassion, or maybe I truly don't know You, don't understand Your love for me, and don't realize that You are willing to do anything for me…

Heavenly Father, please grant me a bit more courage to face my own ugliness, to face Your silent gaze, and to respond to Your thirst for me... please, make me a repentant prodigal child and put me on my journey back to You!

_________________________

Fundraising Appeal

Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, I Thirst. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and all our ministries are sustained by the generous donations of our supporters. We hope you will support us with prayers and donations. Please make an online donation using the button at the top of the website Lent.FLL.cc. Thank you very much for your support. God bless!

The following is the “Farmer of Hearts: I Thirst” team, including FLL staff and volunteers.
Please kindly pray for them. May God protect them and sustain their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Project Manager: Michael Lam
Writer: Paul Yeung
Editors: Bonny Chan, Rosa Tse
English Translators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip, Zenia Lau
Cantonese Narrator: Margaret Woo
English Narrators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip
Mandarin Narrators: Anthony X. and team
Audio Editors: Arnold Chan, Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Margaret Woo
YouTube Editors: Fonte Ip, Damaso Wong
Graphics: Francis Lai, Rosa Tse
Website: Angela Wong, Patricia Young
Podcast: Angela Wong
Social Media: Clara Chang, Yollie Leung, Carmen Tsang, Rosa Tse, Damaso Wong

We have officially entered the Holy Week and also the final phase of our Lenten retreat. Whether you have been accompanying us for the past 34 days of the retreat or have just begun the journey, we invite you to cherish this last stage of preparation for Easter, and through our Lord Jesus Christ, to feel deeply the Father's intense desire for us, and at the same time, deepen our thirst for God.

Perhaps, like many of our brothers and sisters, you are worried and anxious about many things in life, feeling that life is complicated, distressing, and helpless, as if there is no way out. Life seems to be tangled knots of unsolvable problems, causing you great pain. We need to know that not all of life's problems have answers, and some problems seem unsolvable. This is the reality that we must accept.

We are not God, and we don’t have enough wisdom to  fathom God's master plan and the various reasons behind things that have happened. Just as we don't need to understand how medication works, we just need to believe the doctor and follow his instructions to take the medication. Then, we will be healed. Similarly, we don't need to know God’s reasons and His designs behind everything, but only need to follow His will with complete trust, and cooperate with His guidance for us, then things will unfold according to God's best designs.

If we approach God with a skeptical attitude and question His faithfulness and love for us, demanding His explanation for our every misfortune, we will tend to be obstinate and unwilling to follow His guidance, but blindly follow our own will and the ways of the world. In the end, we will suffer the consequences.

As we stand before the all-knowing and all-powerful God, we must acknowledge that we cannot fully understand or comprehend everything. We are short-sighted and ignorant. Just like how children relate to their parents, when we are unable to comprehend things and the reasons behind them, we can only believe in and obey our parents, trusting that they have our best interest in mind, rather than being obstinate and demanding answers for every matter. As St. Paul said to the Corinthians, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:11-12). We need to humbly acknowledge that this reflects our condition in life. As long as we place our trust in God wholeheartedly, we will surely have a more abundant life. This is how life works, and more so, this is the promise of the Father’s Love to all of us as His children.

Therefore, when we are faced with various problems in life, instead of being obsessed with demanding answers for everything that happened, it is wiser for us to spend our time on seeking God's will in the present moment, tackling our problems proactively while carrying out God’s will.

We must believe that no matter how difficult and painful the situation is, if it is God's will or something He permits to happen, there must be a divine reason which is beyond our understanding. It serves to sanctify us, preparing us to enter God’s Kingdom.

Isn't it true? The most important goal of our earthly journey is to prepare ourselves well to enter eternal life and return to our Father's house. Therefore, we must not allow ourselves to desire earthly things more than heavenly things, lest we put the cart before the horse and miss out on what is most important.

We are not like cars that retire once they have reached their limit. When God created human beings, it was His design as well as His desire that we share His eternal blessings in heaven. Therefore, our lives are created for eternity, not just for the brief earthly journey. As such, our focus should not be on the passing world, but on preparing to receive eternal blessings. We only need to endure the temporary hardships of this world in exchange for eternal happiness. Isn't this incredible news? Most importantly, Jesus Christ has already paid the ultimate price for us, redeeming us from the heavy debt of sin. What reason do we have to complain that the Father allows us to face the temporary suffering that is rightfully ours?

Without reserve, the Father has already given us everything, and the Son willingly gave His all for us while we were still sinners, bearing the cross given to Him by the Father and becoming the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As we enter Holy Week, let us learn from Jesus who humbly followed the Father's will without questioning, and let us imitate the unconditional and unreserved love of Jesus to fulfill the Father's promise of His love for all people!

Reflection

Would you be willing to learn from Jesus, to set aside your own desires and humbly accept the cross that God has prepared for you?

Do you resolve to renounce any doubts you have in God even when there are no answers to your problems, that you still have absolute trust in Him, accepting His plans and His will for you?

Do you believe that the most important purpose of our earthly journey is to prepare ourselves for eternal life? And in what ways are you willing to change your lifestyle accordingly?

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, I can’t believe that You were willing to enter Jerusalem for me, to step into the snare of death that had already been set for You, and to slowly move towards the cross, in order to save me from eternal death. But I have never really taken your love to heart! Please do not let me refuse to bear the crosses that come my way and complain to You about them for any reason. In this Holy Week, I desire to feel the intensity of Your love and to dwell in the lavish love that the Father has for me. Lord, I resolve to love You without reserve from this day onwards!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Fundraising Appeal

Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, I Thirst. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and all our ministries are sustained by the generous donations of our supporters. We hope you will support us with prayers and donations. Please make an online donation using the button at the top of the website Lent.FLL.cc. Thank you very much for your support. God bless!

The following is the “Farmer of Hearts: I Thirst” team, including FLL staff and volunteers.
Please kindly pray for them. May God protect them and sustain their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Project Manager: Michael Lam
Writer: Paul Yeung
Editors: Bonny Chan, Rosa Tse
English Translators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip, Zenia Lau
Cantonese Narrator: Margaret Woo
English Narrators: Bonny Chan, Sammy Ip
Mandarin Narrators: Anthony X. and team
Audio Editors: Arnold Chan, Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Margaret Woo
YouTube Editors: Fonte Ip, Damaso Wong
Graphics: Francis Lai, Rosa Tse
Website: Angela Wong, Patricia Young
Podcast: Angela Wong
Social Media: Clara Chang, Yollie Leung, Carmen Tsang, Rosa Tse, Damaso Wong

As we are about to enter the Holy Week - the holiest time of the year, let us prepare ourselves so that we will be in the best spiritual state and have the most awakened heart to accompany our Lord Jesus to enter Jerusalem, into the darkest and most painful moment of His life.

Jesus bore the heftiest price for us with only one purpose, that is to use His suffering, death, and resurrection in exchange for our eternal life, so that we can share in the eternal joy with our Heavenly Father forever in the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Heavenly Father, because of His longing to be with us forever, is willing to pay the price of sacrificing His only Son. God wants us to be freed from the bondage of sin and death, to regain true freedom, which is the greatest gift besides life itself and His love for us!

However, the gift of "freedom" that God has given us actually costs Him a heavy price. Because we are all bound by our own desires and the desires of the world, which influence every choice we make in our lives, we are left with very little freedom. Unfortunately, we are governed by these bondages in our intention to choose God. Ironically, the Almighty God, who has created and owns everything in the universe, cannot obtain what He most desires from the people He loves the most, that is, our will to choose Him and our love for Him. It is because of His radical love for us that He unreservedly grants us the freedom to choose, even the freedom not to choose Him or to treat Him recklessly!

By giving us absolute freedom, God is like asking for trouble! His radical love for us inevitably makes Him weak and vulnerable in our relationship with Him! This is absolutely absurd! If we were steadfast in our will and were truly faithful to Him, it would make sense for Him to grant us absolute freedom. However, for us humans who betrayed Him from the beginning, giving us the gift of the freedom to choose is tantamount to allowing Himself to be subjected to us, and being enslaved by the free will that He bestowed upon us! Seeing us choose other things but Him causes God extreme pain!

We may all have experienced the feeling of being forgotten or abandoned by the person we love the most, such as our spouse, child, or close friend. How much more so it is for God, who loves each of His children so unreservedly and radically! We can imagine how unbearable it is for Him when most of His children desert and abandon Him. The devil tries to steal our hearts from God ruthlessly and uses this most despicable means to attack God. It is precisely because we constantly choose to distance ourselves from God that the devil can continuously win this battle. What is even more tragic is that we often remain unaware of it, allowing the devil to sneakily manipulate us and hurt our Heavenly Father who loves us the most! Oh, my soul, how could you be so heartless!

Today’s Prayer

Abba Father, I am speechless when facing You and Your endless love for me! I would rather be punished by You, to be fiercely rebuked, or even to have my freedom of choice taken away. But You didn't. You simply remain silent, allowing Yourself to be constantly hurt by my heartless choices! Why? Why? Am I really worth You doing this for me? Why?

The Collection of The “5L2F moment” Acts of Love

Fountain of Love and Life intends to collect the acts of love from the Farmers of Hearts all over the world and offer them as spiritual bouquets to our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us on the Cross.

We encourage you to respond to our invitation and share with us the fruits of your “5L2F Moments” acts of love. We will offer all the fruits of the charitable acts collected in this Lent to our Heavenly Father in the solemn mass of Easter, in return for the grace of our Lord Jesus who sacrificed His life to redeem us! Please visit lent.fll.cc/action and share with us your “5L2F Moments” acts of love.

On every Sunday during this Lent, we will post on our social media selected sharing from those who consented to have them published, so that these testimonies of how God touches us will continue to inspire and encourage others and multiply the impact of these “Five-Loaves-And-Two-Fishes Moments”. Thanks again for your sharing! God bless!

Our life is a continuous process of seeking, and depending on the goals we pursue, we will have different desires. As we age and go through different stages in life, our goals also change, and these goals we pursue shape the trajectory of our lives. It can be said that our life goals affect the ultimate direction and destiny of our lives and shape us into the person we become, with profound impact throughout our lives.

Imagine, if the life goals that we pursue were constantly shifting, then the course of our lives would always be changing, easily influenced by external factors, and in the worst case, we would feel lost and uncertain about the future. But if we choose not to set clear goals and pursue them, we could easily become complacent and stagnant.

When we set our life goals, we need to start with a long-term goal, which should determine the ultimate direction of our lives. This goal should have a foundation that is not easily shaken by time or external factors. This unshakable foundation is like an anchor for a ship, which can stabilize the ship in a storm.

Since everything in the world is only temporary, our focus should be on things that are eternal and unchanging. As Christians, we know that only our faithful God is eternal and unchanging, and He is our true foundation! Jesus Christ and the Church He established are the cornerstone of our lives.

St. Augustine, after experiencing being bound and deeply affected by various desires in his life, realized that there is only one ultimate goal that can bring true peace to his life, and he made a famous statement, "Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in You." St. Augustine transformed from living an unrestrained life with endless desires to finally finding a refuge, abandoning other desires and pursuits, and finding peace only in God. His conversion brings us an important revelation and great news.

On the other hand, if a person's life is not anchored in God as an unshakable foundation, their heart will not have lasting peace and tranquility. They are prone to feeling restless or losing peace and hope due to minor issues, and are easily influenced by mood swings.

Therefore, before we are able to proclaim the Good News to those around us, we must first recognize God's unchanging role in our hearts and firmly acknowledge this relationship. If we have not recognized Jesus Christ as the centre of our lives, our spirits will inevitably remain dry and thirsty, and we will continue to draw water from different wells until the day we finally encounter Jesus.

In fact, according to some research, many believers have never truly encountered the Lord and have not had a true conversion, but only believe superficially and intellectually. This is really a pity! Let us examine our hearts to see if we have lasting peace in order to evaluate our relationship with God and whether we have complete trust in Him.

When we recognize Jesus as the unchanging goal of our lives, we also need to acknowledge our own ignorance and blind spots, and recognize that we cannot see the whole picture. Therefore, we should not pridefully judge whether God is faithful or whether He is a Saviour we can trust with our limited knowledge and experience. If we start to doubt God, He will no longer be the unshakable anchor in our lives, and we will be controlled by our wavering desires.

Reflection

Is your faith in God unwavering? Have you ever questioned if He is a faithful God?

Do you have long-term and clear goals in your life? Are they worldly goals or spiritual or godly goals?

Do you believe that when you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all the things you need will be added to you as a result?

Today’s Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing me today that the restlessness in my life and the unquenchable desires I have are all because I have not made You the top priority in my life. I have not firmly believed that You are the best for me, and I have questioned whether You will give me the best of everything. I have not established a firm belief in You, and that is why I am swaying. Lord, please rescue me from my unbelief and strengthen my faith. Please give me a heart that longs for You so that I will not let Your desires for me go unfulfilled! I pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The most important inspiration from yesterday's reflection is that even if we encounter great challenges and obstacles in our lives, they will not lead us to a dead end because God will not allow that to happen! Just as St. Paul the Apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." Isn't this marvellous news? However, we cannot just believe with our mind; we must believe from our heart that our God is a faithful God. Without Jesus Christ, even if everything goes well in our lives, it would still be a one-way road leading to our demise. But with Jesus Christ, who is the "way, truth, and life"  as our Savior, even if our lives seem hopeless and without a way out, we can still find new life. The reason Jesus was born was to break the curse of this dead end destiny and to redeem us from the valley of death and sin.

In John 3:16-17, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

Would this Savior, who was willing to die on the cross and open the door to eternal life for us at any cost, not be willing to help us overcome the challenges of life, but instead watch us walk down the path of no return and waste the precious blood that He shed for us? My soul, do not be deceived by our enemy and wrongly accuse our gracious Lord! This is not fair to Him!

However, we must understand that God, who has given us absolute freedom, will not force us to choose the way He provides. The choice is still in our hands! If the Samaritan woman at the well did not believe that she had met the Messiah, was unwilling to accept Jesus into her broken life, did not fully believe and accept Christ's love for her, and chose not to follow the way that Christ had set before her, Jesus would not force her to let go of her various desires that had been binding her. As a result, Jesus would not be able to turn her life around, and she would continue to laboriously draw water daily from the well that could not quench her thirst, and remain trapped in the dead end that she had created for herself.

But we must know that to break this curse, we need great courage and complete trust in God. We must be willing to step out of our comfort zone, this false safety net, and reach out to Jesus, allow Him to lead us out of the valley of death, enabling us to restore a new life.

In today's prayer, let us allow Jesus to transform our hearts and courageously choose the path He has set before us, and follow the example of the Samaritan woman to share the good news of our transformed life with those around us.

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, please forgive me for my lack of trust in You, only believing in You superficially and intellectually but lacking genuine trust from my heart. Please forgive me for only believing in myself, doubting You and insisting on my own beliefs, not choosing the path You have set before me. My pride has become Your enemy, causing me to be stuck and failing to reciprocate Your endless love for me! Beloved Jesus, please forgive me for hurting You and grant me the courage to be transformed by You!

The key point of yesterday’s retreat was that if we don't want to be weighed down by the endless desires in our lives, we need to prioritize our desires. The key is to put our "thirst for God" as the top priority, then our other desires will be put in the right order easily.

Amazingly, this solution is also the key to living a life of freedom and abundance. There are many examples in the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels that illustrate this truth. For example, Jesus liberated the Samaritan woman at the well from the bondage of many desires (cf John 4:1-42); He reminded Martha not to be worried and distracted by many lesser things in life (cf Luke 10:38-42); He reminded His disciples not to serve two masters, not to serve God and wealth at the same time, not to worry about what to eat, drink, or wear, because our Heavenly Father knows that we need all these things (cf Matthew 6:24-34). There are countless examples that illustrate this is a core teaching and exhortation of Jesus to us as Christians. Therefore, He used different methods and parables to repeatedly emphasize the importance of this core Christian value.

Jesus wants us to clearly understand that following Christ is not a complicated matter; it does not require professional training, and it is not a teaching that only a few people can grasp. Our loving Father is not trying to make things difficult for us, nor does He want only a handful of people to become Christians, receive salvation, and embark on the journey to holiness. The purpose of this teaching is not only for us to be saved, but also for us to find truth in this world, to live a joyful life, to become people of the Beatitudes, and to enjoy life more abundantly! This is also the reason why Jesus emphasizes that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (cf John 14:6).

We must understand that although Jesus teaches us to take up our cross daily (cf Luke 9:23), it does not mean that God wants us to suffer all kinds of pain and persecution in this world in order to receive the reward of eternal life and happiness. Our Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy a life of joy and freedom in this world, so He hopes that the Kingdom of Heaven can be present on earth, that we can find the Kingdom of Heaven, and enjoy the blessings and happiness that the Kingdom of Heaven brings to us! Therefore, Jesus made a lot of effort in explaining the truth of the Kingdom of Heaven to the disciples through seven parables.

One of the shortest and most powerful parables that Jesus uses to describe the Kingdom of Heaven is the parable of the treasure. In Matthew 13:44, Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

If we apply the parable of the Kingdom of Heaven to the theme of our retreat, the "treasure" is "God's thirst for us". When we discover this treasure and learn of this truth, we should be like the Samaritan woman who, without hesitation, left behind her water jar and joyfully "sold" all her other desires to "buy" the promised land full of "God's thirst for us", refusing to continue to live under the bondages of numerous desires in order to become truly free.

Therefore, we need to emphasize here that life is not an endless and helpless struggle, a hopeless dead-end, or a curse filled with tribulations and persecutions. Life has choices and a way out. The choice is in our hands, and Jesus tirelessly points out the direction of life and the way out for us in His teachings. Because Jesus, the Good Shepherd, desires not only to free us from the bondage of sin and death, and bring us the grace of redemption, but also to give us life, and have it more abundantly (cf John 10:10)!

Reflection

Do you find it difficult to let go of the desires in your life that keep you away from your Heavenly Father?

Have you ever felt like life has no choices or way out? Has today's reflection brought you some inspiration?

Now, in your prayer, meditate on the teachings of Jesus and ask for guidance on how to make choices among various desires.

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for helping me understand through today's reflection that You and the Heavenly Father have not only paid a heavy price for my salvation, but have also patiently taught me over the years, endured my rebellion and constant abandonment, in order for me to enjoy the goodness of the Kingdom of Heaven and to have a joyful and abundant life. Thank You for helping me understand today that my life is not without options or ways out, and that You have quietly prepared the best for me! Please help me learn to cherish You, Your teachings, and all the graces You have bestowed upon me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.