Success After Hitting Rock Bottom

A Personal Reflection

Success is the Journey Itself

Many of us would want success to be a major element in our
life. And it will be so if we do not give up and we continually
pray to God to grant success to the work of our hands. Why
should we not give up? If we give up then we don't continue
the journey anymore. We get off the boat of success and stop
believing that God can indeed grant us the success that will be
of benefit not only to ourselves but also to many people. So,
as in any journey that we make in life, what we need is strength,
determination, perseverance, and the wise use of our resources
so that we do not lack anything that may be hinder us from
continuing on. We need to focus also. If we have too many
things going on in what we are doing in life, it is likely that
our journey to success will be filled with two many forked roads
and our mind and hearts will always be preoccupied in discerning
which road to take. If God is a major element in our journey to
success then let it be so. Let no other idols be a part of our
journey to success. Let strengthening our relationship with the
Lord be the main focus of the journey. This is an important
choice because along the journey of success we will surely have
lows, failures, the blues, or disappointments, very discouraging
results and even great losses. It is when we experience big
and great losses that our journey to success experiences a rock
bottom situation.

What To Do When You Hit Rock Bottom?

Do you know the story of Job? I bet you know. All Christians
know Job's story. Now there is the story of a man who really hit
rock bottom. But what did he do? Did he give up on his journey
to success and life? Did he give up on believing that the Lord
still loves him and will restore him on his journey to success?
He did not. He did not give up - on himself, and on his faith in
the Lord. He even repented and asked the Lord forgiveness for
his complaints and bickerings about his situation. Though the
Lord made the superiority of His divinity felt, the Lord
nevertheless was also gracious, gentle, and merciful. He
restored Job to a situation that was even more than his former
life. What a story! And this story happens everyday in many
people's journey of success. I need not tell you of their
stories. You know them. And did it ever occur to you that you
are one of them? I am not joking. You are! Your journey of
success had its rock bottoms. But did not your faith in God see
you through and you had even more now than what you had before?
And it is not only that. You are even more as a person now than
what you were before. It is just a matter of never giving up
on the journey of success. As I said, never give up and
continually pray to the Lord God. Even Winston Churchill
believed in the wisdom of never giving up. He was famous for
that one-liner speech in a graduating class when he said,
"Never, never, never, never give up! And true indeed, his
journey of success continued until he reached the stature that
we now know of him.

Our Journey of Success is Supported by the Church

In our journey of success, we do not journey alone. We journey
with a community. And the community we journey with is the Church.
The Church supplies us with the spiritual resources necessary
in order that we do not give up and we continue despite the many
downturns and the many upsets that we experience in our journey
of success. What keeps us on is the Life that we receive through
the sacramental celebrations - especially that of the Eucharist.
Through the Eucharist, we receive the Spirit of Christ Jesus
who we know suffered and died a shameful death. But it did not
end there. All that shame and defeat had made a turnaround.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ rose again from the
dead, thereby signifying the victory of life over death. And
then, people will say, what about that tsunami that at this present
time killed about 113,000 people in Asia? How can a turnaround
be made there? Even with such disastrous news as this, if we
quit believing in a God who saves, then we will all perish. The
journey of success can be a vision of a strong relationship with
God that the Lord will surely grant to all who wish to believe
in Him. This vision of the journey of success is nothing else
than following the Lord's teaching and believing Him with all
your mind, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all
your strength. And what else is in that vision of success? To
love others as you love yourself.

Hope Restores, Love Builds, and Faith Moves Mountains

The theological virtues of faith, hope, and love can be our guide
in our journey of success. After we hit rock bottom in our
journey of success, some of us feel like despairing, or even a
depression could hit us that can lead us to destroy the very gift
of life the Lord has given us. But we only need to pray for the
gift of hope in these times of our journey of success. For hitting
rock bottom should not be the final result of anything we do since
we are on a journey and we can move on. Through the gift of hope
we know that we can see light in the darkness and we can get up
and rise up from the pit of sorrow, loss and disappointment and
continue on in our journey of success. As we are able to do this,
then we continue in our love of God and others and we find
ourselves building our lives again in this journey of success. As
long as the foundation of a strong relationship with God has not
been destroyed, then the hope that restores us will lead us to a
life of building relationships in God with others. Is the journey
just like this and nothing more? Hold on, we did not yet see the
mountaintop. We can imagine the vision St. John of the Cross had
in his writing of the Ascent to Mount Carmel and the vision also
that St. Teresa of Avila had in her writing of The Interior Castle.
These two saints reached their apex - their spiritual mountaintops.
The journey to success still has a very inspiring stage to
experience and this stage involves the gift of faith. Hope
restores, love builds, but faith can move mountains! And that is
what many of us also want to see in our journey to success - the
capacity to move our mountains or to reach our personal
mountaintops! And we can indeed, if we only believe that the
Lord will always be with us in our journey of success. And He
will also be with us when we move our mountains and reach our
mountaintops!

Don't Give Up and Pray to (the Lord God) the Holy Spirit

I keep repeating this to you because this is what a spiritual
director advised me after I made a day of recollection in the
Catholic university I graduated from. This statement of his
really struck me and has remained in my mind and in my heart.
ever since. And it echoes throughout my whole being. This is
the same message I also say to you. Let it echo also in your
mind and in your heart. Our journey to success will indeed be
a successful journey if we don't give up and pray always to the
Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that transformed a frightened
Peter and the apostles who together with Mary became a community
of brave, courageous men and women, a Pentecost community who
had their hopes restored, had their love for God rekindled, and
were now able to move mountains of people's faith by the
power of the Holy Spirit in them. The Spirit inspired them with
a victory speech that preached a Christ risen from the dead.
And the result of their preaching through the leadership of Peter
as said in Scripture was, "about 3,000 came to believe, were
baptized, and were added to the community of believers.

First published at www.pcentral-online.net

December 2004

A Reflection on Pentecost (2008)

Acts 2:1-11 - Pentecost

"...[they] began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit
gave them the gift of speech"

Acts 2:1-11 [from the Jerusalem Bible]

"When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room,
when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from
heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they
were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like
tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of
each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began
to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of
speech. Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every
nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each
one bewildered to hear these men speaking in his own language.
They were amazed and astonished. 'Surely' they said 'all these
men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us
hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and
Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus
and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round
Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome - Jews and proselytes alike
- Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language
about the marvels of God.' Everyone was amazed and unable to
explain it; they asked one another what it all meant. Some,
however, laughed it off. 'They have been drinking too much wine'
they said.

Reflection:

In the book of the Acts of Apostles, we read about the Pentecost
event. Before the passage that this describes this coming of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the book of Acts says that, "All these
[the apostles] joined in continuous prayer, together with several
women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
(Acts 1:14) Also in Acts 1:15, the Scripture says, "One day Peter
stood up to speak to the brothers [Jerusalem Bible footnote says
that this term 'brothers' means Christians, the laity as distinct
from apostles and elders] - there were about a hundred and twenty
persons in the congregation..."


From the Bible text we read that before the Pentecost event, the
apostles, Mary, and those close to Jesus, came together to pray.
We learn that there were 120 persons in that congregation. We can
infer from the text that there were 120 persons in all who were
brought together after the Ascension of Jesus, by Mary, the apostles,
and several women close to these people, and they prayed together
before the coming of the Holy Spirit. It must have been a big
community waiting for the Holy Spirit. If we also read the Jerusalem
Bible translation, its notes tell us that the term 'brothers' meant
Christians as laity - distinct from apostles and elders. This
community of people must have been the 'seed' of the Church that was
to germinate into Church with the descent of the Holy Spirit in a
great rush of wind and through tongues of fire that parted upon
those who were present.


The other 'brothers' - besides Mary, the apostles, and the women
who were with Mary - were probably men who came from different
regions around Galilee. In the Catholic tradition, from the Easter
event to the Pentecost event, there is a liturgical period of 50
days. Most probably, the other brothers who were with the apostolic
group, spoke a second language from whom the apostles and the other
disciples learned to speak also while being with them. So, when
the Holy Spirit came down upon the community of the apostles and on
the congregation which gathered around them, the Spirit granted them
the gift of courage to speak in tongues - which can be realistically
interpreted as a heightening of the their skill in learning the
languages of other men and women who were already gathered around
them (those making up the whole group of 120 people). This could
historically explain and be one basis for the apostles to have been
able to speak in different languages. Although this is but a
theoretical way of explaining from the text, and from what we know
of tradition, what really must be emphasized is the presence of the
Holy Spirit - who came in "what sounded like a powerful wind from
heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were
sitting..." and "something appeared to them that seemed like tongues
of fire...[which] came to rest on the head of each of them."


Though we may also say in theory that the apostles could have known
a second language other than their own Galilean tongue, because of
the population being mixed in race and tongue, the stress of the
Scripture text on the person of the Holy Spirit as being the One who
really enabled them to speak in different languages must be brought
more to primary attention. It is really the Spirit who empowers the
apostles to go out to the people so that they can communicate in
other peoples' own native tongues. This is the mystery of the
Pentecost event that will truly inspire us to trust in the Holy
Spirit for the courage to use His gifts responsibly by proclaiming
the Gospel, and to speak in a manner and language that would be
understood by people of different cultures and customs and
traditions.


Another point to consider is that there is also mention towards the
end of the passage on the Pentecost event about some people, who
laughed it off even though many others were amazed by the gift of
speech of the apostles. These people who laughed it off and said
that the apostles 'have been drinking too much new wine', did not
see the hand of God empowering the apostles with that gift of
communication. Their remark only belies the fact of their unbelief
in the power of the Holy Spirit - who is the Person that should be
the main protagonist in this Pentecost event.

The Pentecost mystery in Catholic tradition

The Pentecost event is a Christian mystery that is very popular in
Catholic tradition. It is a feast that Catholics celebrate once a
year. The feast is a movable feast, meaning that it changes
according to the liturgical calendar of the present year. It is
not a fixed feast like Christmas or the feast of the Immaculate
Conception. This year, the Pentecost feast will be celebrated on
May 11, 2008.


The mystery of the Pentecost event can also prayed upon, meditated,
and contemplated by those who undertake the devotion to Mary through
the praying of the rosary. It is the third glorious mystery of the
rosary and recited every Wednesday and Sunday.