Is there anything you are struggling with? Can you use some freedom in your life? Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Christmas Eve to inaugurate the 2025 Jubilee of Hope. We celebrate a jubilee holy year in the biblical tradition setting aside a year acceptable to the Lord which is marked by cancellation of debt, release from labor and forgiveness of enemies.
Continue reading “Freedom of Love”
Jesus came to proclaim the good news. That death has been conquered, and to show us the way to life. How much time do you spend thinking about how your life is like that of Jesus? Do you need to redirect your attention and surrender to God’s plan?
Continue reading “The Great Light of Love”
I recently read an article that reminded me of a profound truth: God is the one who causes the growth of grace in our souls. Yet, we freely participate in this divine process. Last year, Smitten With Goodness focused on the seasons of prayer: Blessings and Adoration, Petition, Intercession, and Thanksgiving. Prayer creates the sacred space for a relationship with God. One of the most vital ways we engage in our spiritual growth and the growth of grace is through petitionary prayer.
Petitionary prayer holds a unique and often overlooked place in the spiritual life. Essentially, you and I can ask God to cause His grace to flourish within us. It is a simple yet profound petition: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, and please increase Your grace in my soul.” Few people think to ask for such a thing, and some might even consider it selfish. However, it is not selfish; it is an act of humility. To ask for the growth of grace is to acknowledge God’s power at work in our spiritual life and our need for Him in everything, including the growth of grace. It pleases God to grant this request.
“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?… If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:9, 11)
The Lord is not referring simply to temporal blessings but even more to spiritual blessings. What greater spiritual blessing is there than an increase of sanctifying grace and union with God? Let’s ask for what we need: the grace to see how much God loves us and for God to open our hearts to receive this love.
Why not make space in your life today and rest in the reality that you are loved by the eternal God?
There’s a reason we are to aim for the stars. Perhaps not in the way our culture expresses this aspiration. But like the wise man (magi or kings), who traveled a great distance, following a star, to find baby Jesus after he was born, what distance will you travel this year to know your belovedness?
We plan time for daily prayer, reading scripture, slowing down enough to catch our breath to notice God but the daily stress and chaos of life always suck us into the vortex. When you find yourself in this mess, do you go it alone like our culture ingrains in us or like the wisemen do you stop and look to the stars and seek Him?
We have a choice and this is the spiritual battle. We can be distracted by things of this world, even the good things.
What star do look for? Am I focused on God’s will for my life, or am I distracted by lesser “stars” of media, status, and material goods? In what ways can I better acknowledge Jesus as my King, our God, and our Savior in the coming year?
If we follow our North Star of Christ, we can rest in the chaos knowing we are loved. When we seek Him, we find Him. We find God, truth and the beauty of our faith.
Today is the feast of Epiphany which brings to completion what the feast of Christmas began. The redemption has become real, in us and upon us. The Lord has come to visit us, has made us clean, has joined us to himself most deeply. We know we are loved.
Continue reading “The Gift of Being Loved”
As we reflect at the start of the new year, what is reflected through your life? Are you surrounded by friendship? Are you surrounded by love and God’s goodness?
Do you want more friendship and love? If so, are you planting those seeds through service or are you always looking at life through a lens of “what’s in it for me?” Or do we look with urgency how we can glorify God with our life. We are known by the fruit of our life.
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”— St. Basil the Great
With the new year, have you taken time to reflect about how you are doing mentally and spiritually? Is your mind resting in the space of thanksgiving and gratitude of what is placed before you. Or are you anxious about what is missing from your life? Is your spirit focused on growing in holiness and imitating Christ or do you spend more time focused on building your material world?
What if today were your last and you find yourself standing before our Lord giving an account of how well you loved him and others. How would you measure up compared to Christs love for you? Let’s seek an open heart of love with reckless abandon!
An Act of Love:
Lord God, I love you above all things
and I love my neighbor for your sake
because you are the highest, infinite and perfect
good, worthy of all my love.
In this love I intend to live and die.
Amen.
With the start of another new year, we can use the calendar to help us with new resolve. So many times are attitudes affect our vision of how we see the world. We can believe the right things and do the right things, but we must have love at the foundation of everything.
Mary can be our role model for a new loving perspective. She achieved so much by her silent presence along with her son at many of the moments of his life, his birth, his first miracle at Cana and his death on the cross. She is for a model of silent contemplation as she ponders with great faith and devotion the mystery that unfolded before her in the life of her Son.
What perspective do you bring into this new year? Will you work tirelessly to seek God in everything? Will you strive for your faith to be visible through your actions? Do you plan to tell your family and friends you love them? How often will you tell God you love him? Will you give God thanks for your many blessings? Will you be bold in your faith? How do you plan to grow interiorly? Will you trust God’s plan and know you are exactly where you need to be? Will you endure the suffering you experience well? Will God come first in your life?
Ponder these things in your heart for a new loving perspective for 2025! Let’s be smitten with Gods goodness.
What is it about new beginnings and a fresh start that makes us feel hopeful? Its like the feeling of blue skies and endless light. The turn of the clock to the new year provides this perspective.
Have you made an examination of your past year. What is God asking of you in this new year to give him glory? By growing in love, we give the greater glory. In this new year let’s stretch, grow in humility and learn to love as God does. Let’s commit in 2025 to open our eyes to return Gods relentless love.
As we enter the season of Advent, a time of anticipation and reflection, we turn to Jesus for guidance and light. In the midst of darkness, we seek the illumination of His word, asking for humility and wisdom to follow His path. We feel His presence in our lives and the world, grateful for the Savior who is to come. With hearts full of hope, gratitude and trust, we look forward to the joy that awaits, confident that He will lead us through the unknown paths of each day.
Continue reading “Guidance and Light”
Smitten With Goodness 