I couldn’t start the first article on my blog without talking about the essence of the blog. I’m referring to living the Fiat.
If you didn’t go to the About Page of this blog, it’s not about cars, Fiat is the Latin word for “Let it be done”.
I’m expanding a little bit more by talking about how we live the Fiat on a daily basis.
There are various ways on how we can live the Fiat daily but I think it relies on mainly four points.
Having a prayer life
The first one is prayer. Prayer is not a ritual that you have to say certain stuff. That would be parrot talking if we say our prayers just because we learned the prayers and got used to saying them. Prayer is just simply making yourself present in to the Lord. You can say a particular prayer that you like or you feel that resonates to you at the moment; or say what do you feel like you’re having a conversation with a friend (technically prayer is communication so don’t be afraid and Jesus is the best friend that you can find); or you can just be still (if you don’t have anything to say) and just let your heart speak to Him and he will answer through the stillness. By offering the day to God with all the highs and the lows you are actually allowing God to work so that others would be able to see Christ in you. Jesus also taught us in the Our Father prayer to allow God’s will be done, in “Thy will be done (Fiat), on earth as it is in heaven.”. That means that every time we say the Our Father we need to remind ourselves that God’s will be done.
Reading and understanding the Bible
The second one is by reading God’s word. Reading the Bible helps you firstly relate with biblical characters as they all had their ups and downs, and secondly understand that despite their defects God chose them anyway for specific tasks as He saw potential in them. You can also pray with the Bible. Anything that you feel right from praise to thanksgiving to even cry for help can be found in the Bible. You might ask “From where do I start?” There loads of options from where you can read the Bible: There is the Bible app where there would be a Bible verse of the day. You can search for the mass readings of the day or if you want to read and understand the whole Bible in a year ‘The Bible in a Year podcast is great for you. A chapter or 2 and a Psalm are read everyday for a whole year and also there is an explanation for the passages read for the day to understand the context of that time.
Be inspired by saints
The third one is to be inspired by the saints. We can learn a lot from the saints. Saints are not superheroes, they were people like us who lived their own normal lives and had their own challenges but despite all that, they allowed God to work in them and served Him according to their own abilities. A big plus is that you ask for their intercession i.e. they can pray to God on your behalf since they are in Heaven. There are many saints that we can imitate. I’m going to mention two of them. The first one is Mary, the Mother of Jesus, she said ‘Fiat!’ despite the consequences that she had to go through because she trusted. The second one is St. Joseph the spouse of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus, he was encouraged to not be afraid to say ‘Fiat!’ and accept Mary as his wife. These are some examples of saints but learning from them is important if we want to be saints and be united with the Father in Heaven.
Be in a community and serve
The fourth and final one I propose is to be in fellowship with others. No one is made to live on his own. By joining a community of believers in a group (especially by being in communion with others in mass), helps you to learn from others and others can learn from you as well. That’s right! If you think that you don’t have anything valuable to give you’re wrong because one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. If your story is not that crazy, other people can learn from it too. Also in a group you can pray for each other’s intentions so you don’t feel alone in your walk in life. Using your abilities to serve others (such as volunteering in elderly home) is also a way to be in fellowship and yes, you can learn from such experiences as they help you grow in faith and be more sensitive to such realities that you encounter.
As you can see these four points help you live life to the fullest by allow God to work in you. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Galatians “… and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
In order to allow God work in us, we must be lesser so that He would be greater and be glorified.
I pray that we lay down our lives to the One who know us so well, so that His will be done. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen!
