I’m always amazed how God works through others to touch my heart. My children, especially in their gifts and cards, hit some home runs that strengthen my soul.
My son and his wife gave me a prayer candle that I use during my morning holy hour. The scent is rosemary and lavender, crisp freshness and green earth, opposites combined, to evoke the bringing together of all things – unity, rest, and ultimately God’s peace. Inscribed on the ceramic vessel is “Those who plan peace have joy.” This reminds me of the value of living with intention. As the candle provided its final flame, I cleaned out the wax and use the vessel now as my toothbrush holder. I need this daily reminder to make a plan for peace, peace always precedes joy.
Lord, help me accept your promise of peace throughout my entire being. Let me see the world through your eyes overshadowing me with trust and peace, allowing my heart to leap with joy. Amen
Jesus raised the bar on religious observance and sacrificing a sheep or a goat wasn’t enough anymore. Christ wants us to give of ourselves and this can leave us uneasy. The Old Testament sacrifices were giving way to the New Testament sacrifice―the very sacrifice of self. That’s what Jesus wanted; that’s what Jesus himself gave. He gave himself up to a cross to confound our self-love and tendency to live from our ego.
Does this type of sacrifice scare you? Are you scared of what God demands? Does it scare you to die to yourself, your whims and what you want to do? What is Jesus asking of you that makes you uneasy?
As we celebrate our Father’s today, let’s celebrate the gift of their sacrifice – their sacrifice of self for the love of family, God and the community. And thank you St. Joseph, for your love and sacrifice for our Lord and being his earthly adopted father.
Lord, you know it’s costly for me to let go of my own way of thinking, to give of my time. Help me realize that this may be the more perfect offering that you seek from me.
It is fascinating to read the Old Testament, especially Leviticus describing all the different offerings to God, including burnt offerings. Through Jesus, all this changed by giving back to God “His due”, our heart.
The burnt offerings are something external to us. Even today, we let go of things (money, used clothes, old furniture) much faster than we let go of our time and our way of thinking. We give things but not ourselves.
We are called to give of the gift of ourselves. When I search my heart, can I say with conviction I give my time generously to the my Church community? If not, Why?
Lord, I come before you humbly. As one who has frequently fallen into sin, I am aware of my weakness. Your great love, though, assures me that your grace can keep me on the path to holiness. Help me resolve to offer to do a favor to someone that is costly in personal terms today.
The love of God is linked with the love of neighbor. “Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness” (1 Jn 2:9). Christianity is not strictly a personal salvation story; such a faith can fall into self-centeredness and disdain for the world. We are called to be leaven in the world, to bring light to the darkness. Jesus wants us to be his arms and legs and voice in the world.
Am I content to say prayers and make weekly Mass―but do little else? Might God be asking me to get more involved in the parish? In school? In some kind of charity work? How can I get beyond myself today?
Lord, help me live according to the New Testament. Amen
We are all devoted to someone or something. Devotion is a good thing when it draws us out of ourselves to become a better person. When it comes to aspiring to a life of virtue, the Blessed Mother Mary is our spiritual mother who helps guide us down that path.
Devotion to Mother Mary is holy, it leads our soul to avoid sin and imitate her virtues: her profound humility, lively faith, blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin bring the “good fruit” in our world, building God’s Kingdom. To who will you be devoted?
Dearest Mother Mary, Christ your Son learned to love from your loving example. Teach me to love in the same way. Instruct me in the way of your virtues. Help me to make use of every opportunity to grow in them. Never let me miss the opportunities life gives me to love and form myself in virtue. I always want to love the way you love.
The older I get the more I appreciate simplicity. Perhaps I’m tired of the clutter in my life that distracts me from what is important. I find it just takes too much energy to maintain my focus on eternal things given the noise and divisiveness in the world. But then again a weakness I have is the distraction of busyness while God is inviting me to be still.
Thank God I don’t have to do this life alone. The Spirit is here to help me on my journey, my job is to live with intention and in awareness. One powerful and practical way to do this is by saying the Jesus prayer: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” I can say this over and over and over all day long, and it is a constant return of my focus to what’s most important, the present awareness of love. Letting me rest in the simplicity of love.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen
How well do you sit still? Maybe you’re like me and busy yourself barely having a break. Or maybe you live alone and the silence is painful so you distract yourself with noise. We need silence in our life where we can be still and know God. Where we can sort out what it means to be human.
Prayer, leading to friendship with God, means walking with him, simply being in his presence, shutting everything else out of our minds. Prayer means embracing silence.
Lord, thank you for meeting me in the silence of my life so I can see you throughout my life. Amen
Our words reflect the state of our hearts. Let’s fill our hearts with love, kindness, and grace, so that our words can bring life, healing, and hope to those around us.
Just like a tree is known by its fruits, our words reveal the true state of our inner world. If we find ourselves constantly speaking negatively or harshly, it’s a sign that something needs to change, not in our vocabulary but in our heart. The good news is that we don’t have to do this work alone. When we invite the Holy Spirit to fill us, He starts reshaping our inner world. As we surrender to this transforming presence, He helps replace those negative speech patterns with words of gratitude and grace.
Lord, I invite you to tend to the garden of my heart and ask you to uproot any bitterness or negativity and plant seeds of love and joy in their place. Make me cooperate with your transforming work so my words will start to sound like yours, full of life, healing and hope. Amen.
Beautiful things happen when we entrust ourselves to our spiritual mother Mary. There is truly no way to know the heart of Jesus without seeing through his mothers eyes and her heart. Jesus gave us to her at the foot of the cross as he breathed his last breath signifying its importance. I’ve grown to know and love this model of humility and holy perfection. She has helped soften my heart, teaching me to love. But recently something has changed. After consecrating myself to Mary, I’m experiencing God’s grace to be glorified through me. Each of us has the honor of being little tabernacles of the Lord. Like Mary, we too can carry Him within ourselves and share His love, hope, and joy with all those around us.
Let love be sincere, hate what is evil, hold onto what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Romans 12:9-10
Who do you reflect? Like Mary, we can carry Him within.
Dearly beloved Mother, grant, if it is possible, that I may have no other spirit but yours to know Jesus and his divine will; that I may have no other soul but yours to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may have no other heart but yours to love God with a love as pure and passionate as yours. I do not ask you for visions, revelations, feelings of devotion, or spiritual pleasures. It is your privilege to see God clearly; it’s your privilege to enjoy heavenly bliss; it’s your privilege to triumph gloriously in heaven at the right hand of your Son and to hold absolute sway over angels, men, and demons; it is your privilege to dispose of all the gifts of God, just as you wish . . . The only grace I beg you to obtain for me is that every day and every moment of my life I may say: Amen, so be it, to all that you did while on earth; amen, so be it, to all that you are now doing in heaven; amen, so be it, to all that you are doing in my soul, so that you alone may fully glorify Jesus in me for time and eternity. Amen. St. Louis de Montfort
Smitten With Goodness 