How awesome God is it that your reign and glory trump everything here in this crazy chaotic world. Your kingdom has the final authority. Your reign is supreme and eternal. It is only with you that our souls live forever.
Continue reading “Week Eight: Joy. Awesomeness”How often do I look at the changing world around me, allowing it to create dis-ease in my mind or stir up fear in my heart? The amount of uncertainty we face is at an all time high it seems, but is it really? Behind the thin veneer of what the world has taught me to think was secure, the covering has been removed and exposed. Our world is not secure or our stable ground, but we must remember that it is not meant to provide all that we need. The world is good as it was created out of God’s goodness, but it is not the prize of my eternal home.
Continue reading “Week Eight: Joy. All I Need.”Have you ever thought about if you are living dead or alive? Living is experiencing joy in our day despite our circumstances. It is knowing who we are and whose we are. We who live alive bless the Lord now and forever.
Continue reading “Week Eight: Joy. Dead or Alive.”You might find the goodness of hope by Reading with the Divine Presence from the Center for Action and Contemplation, where you can also find the source references.
Lectio divina is a contemplative way of reading and relating to Scripture and other sacred writings. The medieval monk Guigo II (d. 1188) names the four steps of this foundational contemplative practice:
One day when I was busy working with my hands I began to think about our spiritual work, and all at once four stages in spiritual exercise came into my mind: reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. These make a ladder for monks by which they are lifted up from earth to heaven. It has few rungs, yet its length is immense and wonderful, for its lower end rests upon the earth, but its top pierces the clouds and touches heavenly secrets.
Continue reading “Hope: Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary”Do you practice the virtue of hope? Pope Francis calls hope the virtue that is hidden and humble. Hidden because so often we don’t see reasons for our hope in the world. Humble – because our hope is made real in the humility of Jesus who comes to walk with us, to share our life, our joys, and our struggles. As I practice the virtue of hope, I see that the face of Jesus is the only hope and stability I have in this fallen world. We are all called to hope.
Continue reading “Week Seven: Hope. Filled Up.”Hope is not merely a wish that something good might happen – it is the firm confidence and desire that the promises of God will be fulfilled.
Continue reading “Week Seven: Hope. Firm Confidence.”
Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022, is just two weeks away. Have you started contemplating how you will enter this penitential season and spend 40 days uniting your heart with Jesus’? Through the good works of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, God prunes our hearts as we are united to Christ and his suffering. These practices give us the strength to resist sin and follow the counter cultural path of love. If we open our heart and hear God’s word, we learn how Jesus, exposed in his humanity, rejects sin when confronted with temptations and seeks solace in God the Father. This serves as an example for us in our own personal deserts.
There are many great resources out there to help guide your Lenten journey. Here are a few to explore to begin preparing your heart to determine what is best for you in journey through Lent:
Blessed is She invites us to travel along the road of our interior poverty this Lent and to embrace our utter dependence on God with All She Had Lent 2022 Devotional. In this fresh devotional, we will find ourselves gently guided through six poverties: of promise, of desire, of security, poverty of hope, poverty of control, poverty of intimacy and poverty of everything.
My spiritual buddy gave me this Magnificat Lenten Journey Companion which I will enjoy along with the Word on Fire reflections. Along with Day by Day Finding God’s Goodness meditations.
Walking with Purpose helps to prepare your heart for the triumph of resurrection through several short, powerful bible studies:
Dynamic Catholic continues their Best Lent Ever series and you can sign up for free. This year, for the first time ever, Dynamic Catholic is offering two options for Best Lent Ever. Every day, you will receive two short, practical, and inspiring videos in your inbox, each representing a pathway leading toward a better version of you and a closer relationship with God. Why did they double up? Well, the world has changed. We have changed. And to offer a truly transformative experience, they developed two pathways designed specifically to meet us where we are, no matter where we are in your spiritual journey.
Good Catholic invites us to deepen our relationship with Christ this lent. Being a Christian means imitating Christ. But how can we imitate Him if we don’t personally know Him? Discover Jesus’ works, loves, joys, and sorrows in The Life of Christ so that you can follow Him more closely. Change Your Life By Studying His. You can learn more here.
We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.
Hebrews 10:23-24
Pope Francis says, the word of God consoles and encourages us. At the same time, it summons us to conversion, challenges us, frees us from the bondage of our selfishness. For His word has the power to change our lives and to lead us out of darkness into the light.
Let’s use this Lent to walk further into the light finding God’s goodness!
Cynthia
Continue reading “Week Seven: Hope. Smitten with Goodness.”Many people feel that they cannot go on and pray “Lord give me the strength to continue.” Prayer opens the heaven: it gives life oxygen; it gives a breath of fresh air even in the midst of breathlessness and lets us see things from a broader perspective… Do I cultivate intimacy with God, dialogue with him, listen to his word? Among the many things we do each day, let us not neglect prayer; let us dedicate time to it, let us use short invitations to be repeated often, let us read the gospel every day. The prayer that opens the heaven.
Pope Francis Angelus January 9, 2022
How do I live with hope when the world seems so lost? Our lives seem so painful and senseless at times, and it all seems so pointless. When I ask this question, I’m taking action as I’m seeking and looking for an answer. Hope is almost always connected to action.
Continue reading “Week Seven: Hope. A Powerful Force.”We live in a culture that produces hopelessness. We can see the evidence of this in the anxiety and depression rates we have in the US. Faced with chaotic realities, where the loudest voice defines truth, where the expectation is that we can do it all and have it all, we are rarely satisfied. Seldom do we allow ourselves to rest in the presence of God.
Continue reading “Week Seven: Hope. Beautiful Hope.”
Smitten With Goodness 