Month: December 2020

Inspiring Goodness

Inspiring Goodness: An End and a Beginning

Smitten With Goodness
Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

Dear Jesus, I have done so little for you in the past year. I do not know what you have in store for me for this year, yet I accept it with its joys, sacrifices, sorrow, pain, and even death—joyfully—for it is your choice. You will help me to do my part and cooperate with your grace, refrain from my habitual sins, overcome my faults and defects. O Jesus, you know that without you I am nothing. Be with me! Allow me to spend this coming year in your love and service, without counting the cost.

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Guide to Goodness

Awakening My Soul To Goodness

Smitten With Goodness
The beautiful nativity gifted to us for Christmas by my sister and brother in law!

Do you need more time like I do to bask in the spirit and joy of Christmas? To invite Christ to be your center and North star?  After the year we have had, I really want this gift of goodness to continue, especially to influence the new year.  Goodness is about tapping into Christ born in us.  It is created by God’s grace and my response to it.  When I respond with tears of gratitude for His love and mercy, that is goodness.  He is always inviting us forward and I can accept that invitation or not.  When I focus on the things that feed my soul, I can see the pathway to holiness a little clearer each year and be Smitten with Goodness.

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Be Smitten, Inspiring Goodness

My Peace I Give To Others

Smitten With Goodness

I believe what we hold in our heart is a microcosm of what we bring into the world.  During this fourth Sunday of Advent, we prayerfully light the Angel’s Candle or the Candle of Love in the Catholic tradition.  This symbolizes the Christmas message of the angels “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.” You can find the full message here. 

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His

I’m Choosing Joy!

Smitten With Goodness
Photo from http://www.strengthenmyheart.com

Happy Third Sunday of Advent. Today is Gaudete Sunday which means rejoice! Besides lighting the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath, we celebrate that our hopeful anticipation for the coming of Christ at Christmas is almost over. This beautiful liturgical color signifies joy. 

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Inspiration

Inspiring Goodness: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Smitten With Goodness

instagram.com/@Father Ian Vanheusen

I was inspired by goodness this morning and my heart was opened in awe while reading about the historical event of the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This was a cultural game changer, opening individual hearts to love and humanity. 

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His

How Much Simple Love is in Your Heart?

Smitten With Goodness
Image by Joy! Digital

A few years ago, I realized that I had a divided heart.  I was being drawn closer to spiritual love and less satisfied with the worldly things that took up much of my time and attention.  During this time of discerning and yearning, I contemplated what love means and its transforming power and goodness.  Love is a superpower each of us holds within us. It is the true essence of who we are and how we are called to treat each other yet we have strayed away from love.   It is an action we are called to perform.  Love, for even our enemies, is the key to the solution of the problems of our world.  This radical philosophy, so much of what Martin Luther King, Jr.’s advocated for in his platform of nonviolence and love of our enemies, resonates for me as I contemplate love.

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