The Real Presence of Christ processed through the streets of Rome in the appearance of bread the other day.
This is one of the most remarkable and mysterious realities of God in the world today. Christians are so blessed to experience the true presence of the Lord.
Sometimes the best remedy to suffering or pain is to silently sit before Christ in the Eucharist in any Catholic Church.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Loving God
The greatest commandment is to love God through loving our neighbor. Love is not a feeling. An emotion cannot be "commanded".
Christians must decide to love others, even when someone gives us reason not to.
We suffer when we fail to love those who hurt us. This is a difficult reality. Christians are called to love their enemies, this is what sets us apart. When we effectively do this, the resentment and anger in our hearts dissipates and we are set free.
God will give us the grace to love. This means we must not react to our negative thoughts, but instead allow God's grace to fill us with peace. We are not necessarily called to "feel good" about our enemies, but we are called not to harbor hate toward them.
Christians must decide to love others, even when someone gives us reason not to.
We suffer when we fail to love those who hurt us. This is a difficult reality. Christians are called to love their enemies, this is what sets us apart. When we effectively do this, the resentment and anger in our hearts dissipates and we are set free.
God will give us the grace to love. This means we must not react to our negative thoughts, but instead allow God's grace to fill us with peace. We are not necessarily called to "feel good" about our enemies, but we are called not to harbor hate toward them.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Heal the Past
The Daily Readings speak about life on earth and eternity. In God's time (past, present and future) are one. God can heal and renew in the present our mistakes from the past.
God can reverse harm we have done or shortcomings that have stymied us. He can give us now the opportunities we missed -- perhaps in a different way, but with the same future effect.
He can restore lost opportunities.
He can go back in our lives and rearrange if we are truly repentant, if we have confessed, and especially if we ask in faith. This brings a taste of Heaven to earth.
Are there children you would have liked to have had a closer relationship with? He can now make it so close that it makes up for past distance. Is there a friend you ended up not being friends with? He can rejoin you, spiritually. Is there a task you should have achieved? He can grant you another opportunity that bears identical prospects (in ways you will never anticipate).
In prayer, go back and meditate on the situation and ask God to remedy it. Pray until you feel the flow of grace.
Soothe past feelings. Send love where you had not sent love. Forgive, forgive, and forgive again. In eternity, you will see it the way it should have been and even here will reap the benefits!
Ask God to go back and adjust matters. Ask Him to turn back the clock. Ask God to restore lost moments -- or even lost years.
Spiritual failings? He can greatly increase your development -- in such a way that the failure no longer serves as a negative. A career failure? He can recover whatever you think went down the drain.
When we die, there is a period of self-discovery during which the social masks we wore on earth dissolve away and the true self is revealed. Make your true self heavenly right now. Get a vision of your future and head for that.
If you did things that were unhealthy, ask God to go back and heal your body from the abuse (or neglect). God is eternal. He knows no such bounds. This is power.
All is now. And in that flow is the Power of His Hand in the Name of Jesus!
Promise Him your love, give Him your faith, forgive those who have wronged you -- and He will make up for whatever you need made up. There are no efforts you ever made (except for selfish evil ones) that was wasted.
In Heaven there is forward and backward and in prayer we can do that even now. We do so in forgiveness. In Heaven, it is said, we remember our real identities.
Let there be no self motive. Extinguish all greed. Let selfishness be unknown to you. Act out of pure goodness.
Fight the good fight, do it for Him, and the Lord will reverse the curse and course of the past and you will attract grace like a magnet!
Live solely to serve God and He will especially rectify your history. Actions done solely out of love for Him are spiritual dynamite (whereas vanity is like striving after the wind).
God can reverse harm we have done or shortcomings that have stymied us. He can give us now the opportunities we missed -- perhaps in a different way, but with the same future effect.
He can restore lost opportunities.
He can go back in our lives and rearrange if we are truly repentant, if we have confessed, and especially if we ask in faith. This brings a taste of Heaven to earth.
Are there children you would have liked to have had a closer relationship with? He can now make it so close that it makes up for past distance. Is there a friend you ended up not being friends with? He can rejoin you, spiritually. Is there a task you should have achieved? He can grant you another opportunity that bears identical prospects (in ways you will never anticipate).
In prayer, go back and meditate on the situation and ask God to remedy it. Pray until you feel the flow of grace.
Soothe past feelings. Send love where you had not sent love. Forgive, forgive, and forgive again. In eternity, you will see it the way it should have been and even here will reap the benefits!
Ask God to go back and adjust matters. Ask Him to turn back the clock. Ask God to restore lost moments -- or even lost years.
Spiritual failings? He can greatly increase your development -- in such a way that the failure no longer serves as a negative. A career failure? He can recover whatever you think went down the drain.
When we die, there is a period of self-discovery during which the social masks we wore on earth dissolve away and the true self is revealed. Make your true self heavenly right now. Get a vision of your future and head for that.
If you did things that were unhealthy, ask God to go back and heal your body from the abuse (or neglect). God is eternal. He knows no such bounds. This is power.
All is now. And in that flow is the Power of His Hand in the Name of Jesus!
Promise Him your love, give Him your faith, forgive those who have wronged you -- and He will make up for whatever you need made up. There are no efforts you ever made (except for selfish evil ones) that was wasted.
In Heaven there is forward and backward and in prayer we can do that even now. We do so in forgiveness. In Heaven, it is said, we remember our real identities.
Let there be no self motive. Extinguish all greed. Let selfishness be unknown to you. Act out of pure goodness.
Fight the good fight, do it for Him, and the Lord will reverse the curse and course of the past and you will attract grace like a magnet!
Live solely to serve God and He will especially rectify your history. Actions done solely out of love for Him are spiritual dynamite (whereas vanity is like striving after the wind).
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Be At Peace
Jesus is the essence of peace. He always kept his composure no matter the circumstance. Despite personal loss, deep spiritual suffering and severe torture, Christ always maintained a peace about him.
We are called to this peace as the scriptures indicate today. Even in the face of our own personal suffering, peace is possible. The more we become like Christ the better we can bear our cross.
To become like Him we must always pray. Through prayer, God will give us the grace to forgive, that is to drop our resentments toward others. When we do this God will freely give us the grace to endure and persevere through anything.
The most effective prayer is the one Christ taught us, because it commands us to forgive. A Christian should spend at least 15 to 20 minutes each day alone silently meditating on the Lord's Prayer for strength.
We are called to this peace as the scriptures indicate today. Even in the face of our own personal suffering, peace is possible. The more we become like Christ the better we can bear our cross.
To become like Him we must always pray. Through prayer, God will give us the grace to forgive, that is to drop our resentments toward others. When we do this God will freely give us the grace to endure and persevere through anything.
The most effective prayer is the one Christ taught us, because it commands us to forgive. A Christian should spend at least 15 to 20 minutes each day alone silently meditating on the Lord's Prayer for strength.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
God is Relationship
Christians understand God as love. God is Triune; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father through the Holy Spirit. For Christians God is mysteriously one in three Divine Persons.
The essence of God therefore is relationship. In order to enter into God's love, we too must enter into a relationship. We do this primarily through baptism. In the Gospel today Jesus commands His disciples to "baptize" all nations in the name of the Trinity. A Christian thus experiences the love of God through this Sacramental grace.
Because we are loved by God we are then truly able to love others. Like God our love should never be static. It must be shared, therefore we must not be afraid to enter into relationships.
When we close ourselves off we suffer. Out of fear we refuse loving kindness and help from others. If we want to be free from that which binds us, we must accept God's love through other people.
The essence of God therefore is relationship. In order to enter into God's love, we too must enter into a relationship. We do this primarily through baptism. In the Gospel today Jesus commands His disciples to "baptize" all nations in the name of the Trinity. A Christian thus experiences the love of God through this Sacramental grace.
Because we are loved by God we are then truly able to love others. Like God our love should never be static. It must be shared, therefore we must not be afraid to enter into relationships.
When we close ourselves off we suffer. Out of fear we refuse loving kindness and help from others. If we want to be free from that which binds us, we must accept God's love through other people.
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