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
When we realize the power we have to build up another with our words and deeds, life can become far more exciting as we put this ability into practice. We are given the power to build the kingdom of love, let us always remember.
The glory and power are yours, Lord forever! I can help build your Kingdom through my praise. Building up others, reminding them who we are in you and the things we can do through you. Hope and healing reigns when we remember your promises. We need to hear your word through scripture and through the voice of others to discern your holy will.
Where there is no love, put love and you will find love. St John of the Cross.
We need to remember we are part of God’s story. As human beings, we cannot walk through life on our own. We need rescue, healing, and forgiveness. In short, we need God. We need the good news, the news of the King who has come, making lasting change possible.
This alone is our personal hope and the basis of our personal ministry to others.
Lord, please help me to see that my personal story is part of a much larger story that you are crafting and shaping into a beautiful grand narrative—the ultimate narrative. Thank you for inviting me in and including me in your grand story. Would you help me to keep your story front and center as I go about my life, and would you use me in any way you wish to bring glory to your name? In the name of my great Savior, Jesus. Amen
Do you live with a sense of Kingdom urgency, with confidence you have a soul to save and live life for the eternity that awaits us? With the tug of the world, we desperately need to keep an eternal perspective like Jesus.
This perspective was lightning focused on the mission that matters: bringing God’s love to the world, and being a conduit of grace. We live in a noisy world and as a result, we can no longer hear the voice of God in our lives. Through prayer we accept the gifts we have been given by God. Gifts like Faith. Hope. Love.
Prayer is talking to God and an elevation of our soul, offering homage and asking for God to grow us in holiness for His glory. The sanctification of the soul is the work of God. Our work is the intention and desire to transform our hearts through prayer and penance. Developing our awareness to eliminate anything that separates us from the love of God. When we begin to pray, we cease to sin. When we cease to pray, we begin to sin. Let’s keep an eternal perspective today!
God, give me an eternal perspective. Help my understanding of eternal life become bigger so that the cares of this world become smaller. Amen
We are assured of God‘s fidelity who will fetch us and bring us to life. This fetching is so that we will love the Lord, our God with all our heart, and without our soul. This is what gives us life. The word is near to our hearts, so we can do this. But God has set before us each day life and good, death and evil so it is our choice. Do you need a reminder to lean on the Holy Spirit within you?
What are the things that take your heart away from the Lord? What do you need to do to get rid of them? Take these questions to the Lord and pray today and ask him to help you fight these important battles.
I have sat before you, life and death, blessing, and curse; therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and clinging to him;for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
Lord God, we give you thanks today and praise. We thank you for your word. You give us your truth and you give us a sign of your heart that you do for us life and good death and destruction. You want us to choose life. This is your will for us that we choose life. And yet we are so fickle. We are so quick to turn away from you, and we are so quick to forget that you love us with the love of a father. We turned to other things and other people and we ultimately end up betraying you. The one who has loved us like no one has ever loved us. So help us God please help us not only be faithful and always turn to you, knowing that we can trust in your goodness and your love, and your mercy. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
Smitten With Goodness 