“When will I come to the end of my pilgrimage and enter the presence of God?”
That is the Question we should start each day asking ourselves, it will help us focus on what is most important in this life – preparation for eternal life.
Today offer each action and each thought in praise of our Lord, God.
May God Be Praised.
From the Liturgy of the Hours, “Lord, you have raised us from the earth; may you let the seeds of justice, which we have sown in tears, grow and increase in your sight. May we reap in joy the harvest we hope for patiently.”
May our tears, sorrows, and the crosses we bear turn to joy by offering them to the Lord.
May God Be Praised.
"It is better to be a child of God than king of the whole world!" — St. Aloysius Gonzaga
To be a child of God is the best gift we will ever receive.
May God Be Praised.
Pope Francis offers us this sage advice, "Just as we know how to distinguish one language from another, we can also distinguish the voice of God from the voice of the evil one. The voice of God never forces us: God proposes himself, He does not impose himself. Instead, the evil voice seduces, assails, forces: it arouses dazzling illusions, emotions that are tempting but transient. At first it flatters, it makes us believe that we are all-powerful, but then it leaves us empty inside and accuses us: ‘You are worth nothing’. The voice of God, instead, corrects us, with great patience, but always encourages us, consoles us: it always nourishes hope."
Listen to God the One who offers us the Way of Life, the Way to Joy, the Way to Completeness.
May God Be Praised.
"The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover … of the work of salvation accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, a work made present by the liturgical action.
It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice.
And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice." [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1409-1410]
Spend sometime today meditating on the Extraordinary Gift of the Eucharist, if possible, offer thank you prayers before the Blessed Sacrament.
May God Be Praised.
“As an eagle incites its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood, so he spread his wings to receive them and bore them up on his pinions.” [Canticle – Deuteronomy]
May God Be Praised.
Transparency – when we are our best allowing the Lord to be seen though our lives.
Translucency – when we allow our sins and faults to obscure of life in Christ
Opaque – when we block Jesus from our lives by serious sin (s)
Ideally, we should be Transparent and allow Jesus to guide and direct our lives; let His Light shine brightly.
May God Be Praised.
"We have been Baptized to be salt for the earth and the light of the World. Give us Your Grace so that the Salt of Your Will and the Light of Your Love will permeate our lives and heal our world”.
May God Be Praised.
Simply by Living Jesus today and when tomorrow gets here Live Jesus [again]. Then, all will be well with your soul. Listen to this hymn, “It is well with my soul.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhaTIu_k4w0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1agFDlzWnY [piano only]
May God Be Praised.
Father in Heaven, as the light of dawn shows forth Your Grandeur, we pray that Your radiance be our guiding light. May Your Light shine in our hearts, but also, in our thoughts and actions. Give us Your grace to strengthen our minds and our souls to do Your Will.
We offer our prayer to Your Son, and our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
May God Be Praised.
“Your Word, O Lord, is the lantern to light our way, alleluia.” [Psalm 119:105]
Take a few minutes to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6LC8cu03Ig
May God Be Praised.
“The spirit of humility is sweeter than honey, and those who nourish themselves with this honey produce sweet fruit." — St. Anthony of Padua
“The spirit of humility is lighter than air and for those who breath it will enable the Holy Spirit to enrich the world. The actions of the Holy Spirit are humility, poverty, patience, obedience and faithfulness.” [Deacon George Kelly]
May God Be Praised!
Salt can bring out the flavor of a dish, the salt of prayer can do the same in our spiritual life, too much in either case isn’t good. The same is true of sugar, so seek balance in your diet both spiritually and physically.
Reflect on this story.
Once there was a small monastery led by a very wise abbot. A young man, who had recently entered the monastery, was having a hard time adjusting to the monastic life. He was constantly complaining and criticizing. The older monks of the community had grown tired of his constant whining and went to the abbot with their concerns about the young novice.
One morning the abbot sent the novice to fetch some salt. When the novice returned, the abbot instructed the unhappy monk to put the salt in a glass of water and drink it. The novice did as he was instructed. "How does it taste?" the abbot asked. "Bitter!" spit the novice. The abbot smiled. "Get some more salt and follow me."
The abbot and the novice, clutching another handful of salt, walked to a small lake near the monastery. "Throw the salt into the lake." Again, the novice did as the abbot asked. "Now," Father Abbot said, "take a drink from the lake." As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the abbot asked, "How does it taste?"
"Sweet and clean," the young man, said wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "Do you taste the salt?" "No," the novice said.
The abbot sat next to the serious young man - who so reminded the abbot of himself many years before - and explained, "Brother, the pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. But the bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, when you hurt, when you feel broken, the only thing you can do is enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake." [Anon.]
In our spiritual live we should strive to become a Lake, being
careful with salt and with sugar, but following the Lord's Will in all we do.
May God Be Praised.
*Photo taken by my college classmate [from De Sales University, then Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales] Henry "Doc" Gertzen in 2024.
[St. Francis de Sales, p. 20, Finding God's Will for You]
Cultivate a heart and a will that loves the Commandments and the Beatitudes, your love of and for God will deepen and you will follow His Will.
May God Be Praised.
“As an eagle incites its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood, so he spread his wings to receive them and bore them up on his pinions. The Lord alone was their leader, no strange god was with him.” [Deuteronomy 32]
The Lord leads us with His mercy and faithfulness so that His justice and peace may guide our actions.
May God Be Praised.
Today we celebrated The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, it offers us a precious opportunity to spend some time reflecting on that mystery or the gift of the Blessed Mother our intercessor today, tomorrow and forever.
The Holy Day reminds us of to be grateful for our own mother and the Blessed Mother, both are important in our life. The Assumption celebrates God bringing Mary to heaven through His power and not her own. “Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians. Catechism of the Catholic Church # 966
Bishop Barron, “The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Apostles’ Creed, we speak of our hope for ‘the resurrection of the body.’ Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven, has experienced precisely this resurrection and hence becomes a sign of hope for the rest of the human race …. The ‘heavens’ are a rich and consistent biblical symbol for the transcendent, for a manner of existence that lies beyond our familiar dimensions of space and time.”
God raised her to be with Him and gave us another conduit to God’s love.
May God Be Praised.
“The German shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye wowed fans with her athletic skills and her strong faith in Jesus. Now that the Summer Olympics have drawn to a close in Paris there's a chance to look…” (at an Olympic Moment Worth Remembering & Reflecting Upon) the “… story is that of Yemisi Ogunleye, a German shot putter who won gold for her country on Friday after throwing an impressive 20 meters (nearly 22 yards).
While her Olympic victory is already awe-inspiring, she also has a lesser-known talent. The 25-year-old is also a wonderful gospel singer. And in a press conference she shared how after she'd won the gold, she returned to her seat in the stadium and sang to herself I Almost Let Go.
The athlete/songstress then proceeded to give a little rendition during the press conference below, showing off her impressive musical abilities. [From Cerith Gardiner’s article in Aleteia]
I Almost Let Go [Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Kurt Carr I Almost Let Go lyrics © Lilly Mack Music, Kcartunes]
I almost let go
I felt like I couldn't take life anymore
My problems had me bound
Depression weighed me down
But God held me close
So I wouldn't let go
God's mercy kept me
So I wouldn't let go
I almost gave up
I was right at the edge of a breakthrough
But I couldn't see it
The devil really had me
But Jesus came and grab me
And He held me close, so I wouldn't let go
God's mercy kept me so I wouldn't let go
So I'm here today
because God kept me
I'm alive today only because of His grace
Oh, He kept me, God kept me, He kept me
So I wouldn't let go
I almost let go
I felt like I couldn't take life anymore
My problems had me bound
Depression weighed me down
But God held me close
So I wouldn't let go
God's mercy kept me
So I wouldn't let go
So I'm here today
because God kept me
I'm alive today only because of His grace
Oh, He kept me, God kept me
He kept me, God kept me
He kept me, God kept me, He kept me
God kept me, He kept me
So I wouldn't let go
He kept me, God kept me, He kept me
God kept me, He kept me
So I wouldn't let go
May God Be Praised because God keeps each one of us going until we are called home, where God has prepared a place for us.
Are you forming yourself to your container or God’s?
May God Be Praised.
"The gaze of God never stops at our past, full of errors, but looks with infinite confidence at what we can become. And if at times we feel we are people who are 'small of stature', not up to the challenges of life and far less of the Gospel, mired in problems and sins, Jesus always looks at us with love. As with Zacchaeus, he comes towards us, he calls us by name and, if we welcome him, he comes to our home." Pope Francis 6/28/2024
Today take some time and reflect on Faith “…trust without reservation.” [D.E. Trueblood]
May God Be Praised.