and he might send them forth

How did Jesus want to share the Good News with the people? Did he create a Facebook page? Did he create an Youtube channel? Did he create a blog? As Christians we must remember that we have been summoned by God. We each have a special purpose, some special task which God asks us to do. We each will struggle with our task from time to time. We all need to pray to God. We are reminded to praise and give thanks to God. We also are asked to look inside ourselves, to search for and then to share all of our goodness, holiness, kindness, and love. Our daily existence does have significance. Our daily actions, how we choose to live our lives can be a silent sermon of hope, social justice, love, fairness. When we live with truth, kindness, and mercy in our souls we can preach without saying a word for God can be seen in each movement, God can be felt, faith inspired. We must choose to live our lives with that special purpose of love, unconditional and universal. We must choose to think of pleasing God with all of our decisions. We must remember that we are all asked to do something in the name of God. We must listen for the request. We must have patience. We must pray. Prayer is essential for the spiritual growth of all Christians. The more we pray and listen to God, the closer our bond will be with God, the closer our relationship will become. By Baptism we are appointed. We must decide whether we are going to take the challenge and follow the footsteps of God. With patience, humility, and prayer we can achieve all types of good works in God's name. We all are asked to try. How did Jesus want to share the Good News with the people? Did he create a Facebook page? Did he create an Youtube channel? Did he create a blog? Jesus did it simply by living his life, obeying the Ten Commandments, and treating everyone with fairness, social justice, love, and understanding. The miracles may have motivated people to seek him out but the miracles were done with love. Christianity is not just reserved for the churches and cathedrals. Christianity must be nurtured, must be allowed and encouraged to grow in the coffee shops, subway platforms, street corners, gin joints. Christianity must be everywhere that each Christian goes.
The image of Jesus on the mountain suggests that he took time to reflect on what was happening and that he took time to pray. He gave himself time to breathe, time to organize his thoughts as he decided upon the Apostles and summoned each one of them to join his ministry.
How wonderful it would have been to hear Jesus speak, to hear him speak Aramaic. How wonderful it is to hear that he renamed Simon. How amusing it is to hear that he renamed James and John Boanerges which translates as sons of thunder. Even as the Apostles are being organized to preach and given the authority to drive out demons Jesus provided a glimpse of his humanity, of the humanity he hopes that each Christian will continue to share.

has given us discernment

So this joy of mine has been made complete. John 3:29

Being Christian is a journey to warmheartedness. It is a journey to love, a journey of faith, a journey of loyalty, a journey of confidence. The destination is a close relationship with God. Being Christian is a journey of sacrifice.

Patience is a necessity which all Christians need to possess. Anxiety can cause doubt, can impair a person’s judgement.

Simplicity is a Christian’s best friend. Learn how to love unconditionally; learn how to love all mankind universally. The love that Jesus wanted us to share with each other is more broad, more powerful than romantic love and infatuation. Keep love simple, keep love humble.

Learn who is your beloved in Jesus Christ. Allow yourself to be silent, to look for goodness, kindness, holiness in yourself and in others. Remember that a Christian life is a journey. Remember to avoid complaining, remember to remain alert. As Christians we should always be ready to accept God’s request for us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, accept God‘s request that our lives be filled with charity, compassion, humility, and obedience, and accept Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God who will lead us to eternal life.

Each Christian is asked to believe and embrace love universal, love unconditional. It is important that we learn how to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is important that we learn how to praise and petition God. It is important that each Christian learns how give thanks to God. Having a close relationship with God is the primary goal of Christianity. Love, universal and unconditional, is a vehicle for faith, hope, mercy to be shared. This form of love is difficult to master. It requires a selflessness, it is completely unselfish. This love is simple, youthful, fair; the basis for this love begins with the social justice teachings of Jesus Christ.

Universal and unconditional love prepares each Christian to remain in a state of welcoming to all people encountered, especially those in need. As Christians we must be prepared to welcome God into our lives.

Pureness in thought and deed will help us find righteousness, help us move closer to God. Christian morality starts with obeying the word of God. We must honor and praise God with our entire lives. Our hearts, minds, and souls must become incorruptible to sin.

If we observe anyone sinning or if we ourselves are on the verge of sinning always remember to pray. Prayer does help. Use prayer to walk on the right road, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Learn the power and beauty of self-appraisal. Always seek to improve all your activities done for or all the activities in the name of the Lord. Examine yourself fairly, learn from your vulnerability, learn from your fear. Be fair, be just. Remember that you are human. Accept that you might fail, accept that you might sin. Learn to forgive both yourself and others.

This is a great expedition of faith and hope. Allow it to be your life’s great purpose and pilgrimage.

Always remember Jesus and the Apostles preaching and baptizing in Judea. Let your life proclaim that Jesus Christ is the true son of God and he is the true God.

A Moment Please - January 1, 2011

It is great to begin a new year wishing everybody warmheartedness. It is great to begin each year with an expanding feeling of tenderheartedness. Now, prepare for the journey thru the next twelve months. Accept that each day will not allow you to feel "fine and dandy" but resist the temptation to complain. Now is the time to accept life, to accept all that is presented with great humility. Embrace pain and adversity with love and charity. Avoid anger and rudeness. Allow yourself to welcome the mystery and beauty of each moment of your life. Avoid rushing, avoid anxiety. Time does not stop for a slice of apple pie but you can. Always remember to pray. Always remember to praise God each and every day. Always remember to give thanks to God, each and every day. Always remember to love God forever.

Do not be afraid to be moral. Allow yourself to use the lessons of the Bible to develop your moral code. Love, universal and unconditional, is the foundation of moral integrity. Avoid jealousy, selfishness. Look to those who exhibit qualities of charity, humility, obedience, mercy, goodness, holiness, kindness, and love. Learn from those. A good character leads to honor, honor leads to virtue, virtue leads to God. Always move toward God.

Live a life that is favorable to God; listen for God's request; allow yourself to make loving sacrifices for and to God.

Let each second of your life be in service of God, each second be lived with the wonder and mystery and newness of a first pilgrimage, a grand pilgrimage of love, obedience, and service.

Turn to me and be safe - December 15, 2010

In the LORD shall be the vindication and the glory of all the descendants of Israel. Isaiah 45:25

There are remarkable stories of virtue. There are remarkable stories of all types of journeys. Saying the Rosary is encouraged. Prayer presents images picturesque, inspiring. Silence can provide comfort. The great problem is sinning and thinking about sinning, and the solution is not easy when popular culture asks us to deny the existence of sin and to allow psychology and sociology to explain everything, to revise and reduce the idea of Original Sin.

The Mass attempts to give us new spiritual ideas and lessons which reinforce the simple theme of love. We are all refugees. We are all wounded.

There is compassion, mercy, hope.

We no longer know everything, having too much information, too much opinion and not enough facts. Trust is desired, but difficult to obtain.

Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves is desirable yet very difficult.

There is so much to think about.

Splendid discernment topics wait to be uncovered



And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me. Luke 7:23

The Individual

It might be good to begin with a belief in the innate goodness of the individual. Also, we must accept the idea that all individuals possess insecurities and vulnerabilities. At in minute an individual is capable of kindness and meanness. We live in a thoughtless age, a careless age. It is a time when it is acceptable, sometimes necessarily encouraged to immediately blame an external force instead of examining the internal force. It is easier to accept the secular world misconceptions about sin, than to accept God’s. The secular world creates an illusion of life brimming with unsatisfying pursuits and labels. The secular world presents every vice as a delicacy, to be tasted and enjoyed. The occupation of pleasure often conquers and imprisons common sense, humility, mercy, patience, prudence and love. All that is special and beautiful in life is glossed over, distorted. The secular world binds us to sin when do not take the time to contemplate our actions and reactions properly. Each day we must find new ways to avoid sin. The hazards of life lead us away from God, away from peaceful living, away from goodness, kindness, hope, and love. The secular world provides no distinctions between pleasure and sin. We are encouraged to enjoy all, forget everything other than the pursuit of fun. Saying no to pleasure is not always easy. Recognizing sin is more complicated when society accepts or pretends to tolerate all behavior. Many questions and private conundrums do appear. This is an age of carelessness, an age of thoughtlessness, an age of paradoxes. According to an individual’s disposition and character, ability and inclination, education and training, motivation and mobility, each individual is allowed to choose any course of action within their reach, opportunity, desire. This freedom of choice sometimes leads to mistakes, misconduct, melancholy. Despair sometimes is the handmaiden to bad choices and sin. Throughout our lives we must always remember prayer. Perhaps the greatest gift we can have is the ability to pray to God. Praying with the proper temperament and sincerity, praying with patience and sympathy, praising and thanking God, these can be a foundation which will help each one of us diagnose each sinner whether venial or mortal, tolerated or sanctioned by the secular world. Praying helps us understand the good and bad in life, in the world around us. We are surrounded by noise, surrounded by quacks. We must learn to pray, then to trust our prayers, and finally to trust ourselves. The more we pray the more we pray for things which may surprise as we open our hearts, minds, and souls to the plight of all mankind. Aspire only to be an obedient servant of God, seek goodness and kindness. Allow your prayers to guide you to a peaceful, independent, free life of humility, charity, and mercy.

Words Will Lead

We live in a time when the secular world encourages us to have dilettante spirituality, limited to only those hours when we are physically within a church. The secular world does not like religion, tolerates religion only in small dozes, blames all of the worlds problems on religion instead of the men who practice and abuse their faith. It is easier for the secular world to accept the notion of Christians, as merely mystical and spiritual dabblers on Sundays before the football games.

Our challenge as Catholics is to integrate our lives, to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Our lives should encourage others to follow us. As Catholics, each choice we make should reflect our faith, our belief in God. We must find ways to fill our lives with humility, charity, mercy.

Our baptism gives us a direct obligation to God. Our lives have a purpose which we must discover and share. Goodness, kindness, and love can lead us to God. Our faith needs to be nurtured. We must limit our exposure to the secular world, we must learn more about our faith, more about the Saints.

How easy it is for the words to be written and read! How hard it is for the words to be put into practice! Being Catholic is often difficult. Following in Jesus Christ’s footsteps is difficult. There are times when we are going to want to stop. There are times when we are going to be upset by some church doctrine. There will be times when we will be too tired, too frustrated to continue.

But let nothing get in your way. Let nothing interfere with your relationship with God. Remember to pray as much as you can. Learn about your faith, share your ideas about your faith. Share your ideas about hope, love, mercy, compassion. Enjoy your life as a Catholic, always remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Allow that one act of love be your guide as you live your life each day.

The Return

This November day I am happy to be alive. I am constantly seeking new things which will inspire me to act with goodness and kindness. I am learning the importance of humility. I am learning the importance of serving God. All things in our lives are connected. Serving God should be important to each Christian. Serving God extends beyond attending Mass. It is a way of life, a way of being. Our lives should be directed toward moving toward God. Our individual movements should inspire others to follow and move toward God. Kindness and goodness should not be treated as simple afterthoughts. Each day provides valuable lessons about compassion, mercy, and love. Our goal should be to grow in love of God each day. Each day we must allow time for prayer and reflection. Each day we make decisions about clothing, food, email, seeing friends. Each day we should remember to make a decision to offer a small bit of our lives to God, and then to slowly, increase this offering. Although each day we might repeat our actions, remember that each day is new and different. Each day is an opportunity to do good, to love our neighbor, to follow the path of Jesus Christ.

We live in a restless time of conflicting impulses. The secular world encourages each one of us to treat life as an open field or a gymnasium floor, running, jumping, careening around all types of temptation and sin; romping, playing, laughing while allowing the secular world influence our understanding of venial and mortal sin. We must acknowledge that we are sinners. Each one of us. We are sinners who hopefully are trying to avoid sin with each new decision, each new thought. Yes, there will be times when we might fail, when we will sin again. All we can do is acknowledge our failure, ask for God’s forgiveness, and try to avoid sinning. This war never ends.

We live in a restless time of secular confusion. Always remember God’s love. Always remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In November do you look back toward the summer days or are you looking for the December holidays? What governs your mind? What governs your heart? Where do you find God? How do you share God? Create a simple plan for goodness, kindness, humility, and charity each day.
Live a simple life of love and service to God.

As adults do not forget the lessons and ideals of childhood; being an adult means being open to growing in mind and spirit, being open to exploring the Mysteries of faith, being opening to sharing hope. We do not need to have every question answered. We need only to keep our lives and spirits balanced. We must place God at the center of our lives. We must strive to grow physically, mentally, spiritually each day and to encourage others to do so. Allow yourself time of reflection and prayer each day. Allow yourself to marvel at the living things, to marvel at the sky, the trees, the flowers, the animals. Allow yourself to enjoy the out of doors without rushing from point to point.

Remember that each decision provides us with an opportunity to move onward, to grow inward, to experience life outward, to hope and pray upward, to journey Godward.

Remembrance

A second chance to think of how to improve my life, to look for ways to create a regiment of goodness and holiness within my heart. Each time I attend Mass I have the joy of seeing the faithful pass in front of me. In their faces varied emotions are visible. In my heart prayers are offered for both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Prayers find my mind. Each time I attend Mass I find new reasons to pray, remember to pray for different people. There are valid reasons to guard my heart, mind, and soul from the secular world. Each day in private ways we are accompanied by charity, mercy, love. We should always be open to giving and receiving them. Our anxiety sometimes prevents the exchange. Sometimes we create a hundred excuses why we can’t be good, why we refuse to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We often search for shortcuts, not wanting to walk a hundred yards. We are in such a hurry, that we forget to say hello, good-bye, or peace. Our secular world promotes uncertain feelings, uneasiness. The secular world cajoles and harasses and overwhelms the flesh, our fleeting momentary whims, ideas about happiness and comfort which can be achieved with a small fee. Our lives as Christians provide us with a second chance to meet Jesus, a second chance to be humble and obedient before God, a second chance to love as Christ Jesus taught us.

This is the gravest of hours; consumerism offers many wonderful things, but it often does not live up to its promises and often produces frightful results. Materialism will not die.

How beautiful the altar looks each day when the candles are lighted and there are bowed heads praying. Sometimes their are floral bouquets in front of the altar. Mass offers compassion and consolation to those faithful who are there together. Mass offers hope, love, mercy and remembrance.

Each time we attend Mass we are asked to remember and to respect one beautiful sacrifice above all sacrifices.

It is great that we have priests who live to rescue drowning souls. It is easy to overlook the reserve of heroism there is in being a priest. It is easy to overlook the fact that we all are called to live priestly lives.

In regard to our lives, I suggest that we all search for goodness and holiness within our lives and then share it. Sin will always be there to tempt each one of us but with practice and patience we can overcome and avoid sin.

As for our state of mind, my suggestion will perhaps remind you of the responsibility that active Christianity presents to each faithful follower. Our continuing conversion is our duty. Realize that it is shameful to avoid goodness and holiness. Prepare your entire being for sacrifice. Train your feet to lead you on a path of compassion, obedience, love. Learn how to keep your conscience clean and pure. Pray earnestly, pray often.

Mingling of Hope and Confidence

And so before the orange juice fills the glass or the coffee finds the cup, I wonder about serving God, with goodness, with holiness, with love. There are days when I am more willing and obedient.

Each day there are many unspoken arguments within our minds and souls. Each day as we go about our lives we experience moments of love, moments of despair. Each day our minds are bombarded with terrible conflicts from all around the world. We pray for our loved ones, we pray for ourselves. We hope to see each other again. God offers us a certainty, a beautiful mingling of hope and confidence when we are obedient to his will.

Being humble, obedient before God allows us to experience a gentle, soothing hope that leads us to being good, to being holy.

Before we learn to speak we must learn to listen not with our ears but with our entire being. Our Christian lives begin with hope. Before we act we must learn to observe not with our eyes but with our entire being. Our Christian lives offer mercy and compassion.

Each day we learn how to pray, from reciting simple prayers aloud to the beautiful unspoken prayers for friends, loved ones, and strangers which flash in our minds. Always allow time for prayer and reflection. Spiritual health is important. We must have a healthy, loving relationship with God. Allow time for prayer. Remember to praise God for all the wonderful and good things he has done for you.

Be prepared for the upheavals which may appear as you strive to be humble and obedient. Being faithful to God might cause conflict within your life. As Christians we must nurture and protect the courage and confidence to adapt ourselves to an existence of obedience, charity, mercy with a foundation of social justice taught by Christ Jesus. We must expand our definition of love, we must learn how to love universal and how to be love universal. Such love although beautiful and nourishing asks us to believe in Christ Jesus, to believe in God. Such love can create upheaval which can lead us to a closer relationship with God. Do not be afraid of upheaval. Do not be afraid of change. Trust in God, trust in your existence as God’s children.

Do not allow your mind to be swayed by personal happiness, convenience, or comfort. Remember life is not meant to be easy. Life is pain. Life is suffering. Let your conscience guide you toward goodness, holiness, righteousness. Live to satisfy God. Live to nurture and to share hope, love, and mercy.

What A Call

In the early morning before seven o’clock there is a minute of silence. The elevators are allowed to rest. Water does not rush through the old pipes. Here is a moment to review yesterday’s successes, failures, to remember yesterday’s hopes, prayers, and intentions. Here is a moment to plan today’s actions. Here is a moment to think about goodness, to think about holiness. The silence presents a moment for reflection. Modern life is busy filled with angst, anxiety, arrogance, ambition, filled with noise, rustling and bustling around each of us. Modern life is filled with all types of distractions and diversions encouraging us to follow. Silence is fleeting. Each moment of our lives, there is a need for silence, a need for us to evaluate ourselves and our activities, both visible and invisible. The spiritual life is very important and needs to be nourished. Prayer is very important. Each day we should present all our thoughts, all our activities to God. Each day instead of making time for God in between going to the gym and picking up the dry cleaning, we should give our either being to God, offer to do his work, offer to serve him. Silence allows our minds to rest, to focus on what is important.

There is a heavy truck beeping outside my window. There is a choice which has to be made. My mind remains quiet, calm filled with gentle praise, filled with examples of mercy, hope, and love that I have seen in others. There is a desire to share mercy, hope, love with others. The silence allows us a moment to remember “to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy” the responsibility of our baptism. Each moment of our lives should be governed by the gentle, loving call to be holy, call to holiness.

Each day we are allowed to renew our love and dedication to Christ Jesus. Each moment we are able to renew our commitment to be humble, to be obedient, to serve the Lord.

As Christians hopefully there is time for us to remember that we have all been called to serve God. The call is not limited to the clergy, to those in consecrated life, or to the priests. God wants us all to be good, to encourage others to be good and to believe in him.

As Christians we have a choice, to obey or not to obey; to love our neighbors as we love ourselves or not to love our neighbors. Goodness and holiness are not complicated.

Silence allows each individual a moment to look within their heart, to search for signs of love, mercy, charity, compassion.

And hopefully each soul will feel God’s gentle call.

The Spirit

How interesting this conversation between the Pharisee named Nicodemus and Jesus was! How simply did Jesus describe the sacrament of baptism. How beautifully did Jesus describe the call, the desire for conversion which we hear throughout our lives, leading us toward God! It is easy for us to forget this today! We always are searching for evidence. We always are seeking new solutions to old problems. We always are listening to all types of theories and assumptions about ourselves, our lives, our future. If we stop for a minute, and instead of talking to our friends about the things which concern and trouble us, we would pick of the Bible and read it, and concentrate on what we have read, then if our hearts and souls are pure and sincere, real answers, loving answers would appear before us. The Spirit is always around us but we must each individually nourish it, allow ourselves to listen to it, remember to greet the Spirit with reverence. For all that we do, we must offer it to God, for the Spirit leads us to God; allow the Spirit to teach you how to give thanks and praise to God; allow the Spirit to teach you how to be a loving, humble servant of God; allow the Spirit to teach you how to pray. The Spirit is there to help with your continuing education of humility, charity, obedience, forgiveness, mercy, and love. As Christians we must remember and acknowledge the importance of the Spirit in our lives.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

We are all trying to get to heaven. This journey provides our lives with meaning. All are actions, all our prayers, all our good deeds are done for us to one day gain admittance to heaven. We cannot go there in the flesh with our Botox injections, Prada shoes, or credit cards. We can only go there with the hope, love, faith that governs and guides us toward goodness, toward holiness. We can only go there when our spirit is sincere, pure, reverent. We can only go to heaven when God is pleased with our service during our lifetime. Each thought, each action is important. What we keep in our hearts hidden away is important. As Christians please all love to flourish and nourish your mind, heart, and soul. Avoid all worldly temptations, all worldly desires. Remember that temptations and desires are temporal. Think of God, think of ways to love your neighbor. When we think of God with love and reverence in our hearts and souls, the Spirit expands, provides answers, displays goodness and holiness which often goes unnoticed and unappreciated.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”


Each day we must thank God for the wonderful gift of our Baptism. Each day we must we must thank God for the wonderful gift of the Spirit.

Today's Gospel MK 16:9-15 - A Couple of Thoughts About Unbelief and Belief

How do we approach God? How do we live the Faith? How do our choices reflect our belief in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? We live in time of media hype. Everything is promoted. Everything is commercial. Each day we have choices to make. Do we eat a hamburger or a salad for lunch? Do we buy Italian leather shoes or made in China shoes? There is so much advertisement trying to influence our decision with so much information, so many statistics, so many testimonials that it is often difficult believing any of it. We want to see the results with our own eyes. We want to see the data and make sure that it is correct. We are encouraged to believe so many claims based upon nothing. In many ways our lives are governed as much by a grudging unbelief in so many claims as it is by a humble, natural belief. Trust is often desired but takes it time arriving. We allow ourselves to be suspicious of new ideas, new people, new claims. If our eyes can not examine the data, it might be unacceptable.

When God makes his appearance in our lives how do we greet him? When God makes his appearance in our lives, how do we react to him? Are our Christian lives filled with examples of hope and belief or filled with examples of despair and unbelief? Existing with unbelief is easier than living with belief for some Christians. There is always something to challenge, to doubt. Belief requires a certain amount of trust, a certain amount of hope, and a certain type of faith and acceptance.

We often pray for God’s mercy, God forgiveness. It is not easy for us to show mercy to each other, to show forgiveness for wrongs and slights done by our neighbors. We often talk about loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is great to talk about loving our neighbors as ourselves but more difficult to do it. We can talk of living our lives to please God. But, actually doing it is difficult.

We are like the Apostles who after hearing of Christ’s resurrection did not believe it. We have so many ideas, so much evidence, so much information, so much proof that it is easy for unbelief in goodness, unbelief in love, universal and unconditional, unbelief in fairness, unbelief in social justice to fester into a coldness, a hardness of heart and soul.

Do we need to have seven demons driven from our bodies to accept and to follow Jesus? Do we have the confidence and hope to bear witness for God. With prayer and patience we will learn how to follow this request, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

We live in a time of such great intelligence and innovation in technology and shocking ignorance of the necessity and power of goodness, holiness, and love. We live in a time where so much of our energy is concerned with acquisition and consumption. The focus of our intellectual energies is often so narrow, excluding everything that is not essential to the present moment. We miss so many opportunities to be good, to observe goodness in others. How we live as Christians should not be influenced by the whims and caprices of pop culture or the secular world.

As Christians we must simply remember to live each day with the desire to please God. Our words and actions must always echo, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

Antidote

--Pray when you wake-up. Live your life based upon fairness, social justice and love. Make time to both read and reflect upon each book of the Bible. Let the teachings of Jesus Christ inspire you to revolt against all evil and injustice. Live your life with joyous expectation. Have hunger only for God’s love and mercy. Open your soul up to the idea of and responsibility for your own discernment to listen for and to answer God’s call. Seek the style and beauty of goodness and holiness. Allow yourself to be conscious of each impression of gentleness, softness, of hopefulness, of prayers, of reflection, caressing, encouraging—an emphasis, calm yet confident, contemplative and passionate, with serenity and loving humility. Sense the greatness of God’s love; allow all your labors to be an opportunity to praise and give thanks to God. Do not be obstinate and seek only definitions and answers; instead be mindful of your anxiety and nourish your questions; allow them to grow, to expand, to contract over time; let your questions change and mature with time, with prayer, with reflection. Seek silence. Seek forgiveness. Be compassion. Be Love. Pray, pray, pray and pray again.

--Pray the Rosary at least once a week. Find good faith inspiring books for reading and reflection. Create a life of humility, obedience, and charity. Concentrate only on improving the best qualities of your life; the love within your heart, the hope within your soul should be your guide. Be conscious of the presence of God within your life. Always show respect to God. Always show reverence for God. Keep good company. Pray, pray, pray. Remember the virtues.

Let the impression of your life be filled with the humility, obedience, charity of God’s loving humble servant.

Do not fear austerity; simplicity allows us to find and share our love for God. Let love be the emphasis of your life with him. Be conscious of every impression of charity, obedience, humility. Examine your philosophy, your ideas of self and community. Where do you position serving God?

Prayers and Patience

It is time to develop relationships with a common sympathy and interest in fairness and social justice. Mercy and forgiveness should be easily and honestly shared. We should move towards being loving and compassionate. Our hope should be extended beyond any slef-serving goals. Envy and greed, uncontrolled, can lead us away from God. Any separation can lead to all types of afflictions and fears. We must always remember decency and morality. Our lives require a foundation of love, peace, compassion, and hope. Even I cannot know all things that need our prayers; but God knows, and it does please Him to hear our prayers for each other. We must always remember and respect all the blessings that He gave. And we must make time to read and understand the Bible; we must make our lives be right since we are all his servants! Indeed we must expect both great grief and magnificent contentment! Prayer can help us to be better Christians and better human beings when we allow ourselves to believe in the majesty and beauty of God. Love often surrounds me; prayers help me feel closer to God; but I should not then deny the consolation of praying and then remembering to pray for all those in need of God’s mercy and love.

It is both reasonable and acceptable to speak now of our prayers, and circumstances which have been compelled us to pray. We must believe that God’s responses will arrive unquestionably at the appropriate moment according to God’s precepts; the responses will correspond to his plan, his idea of what we need; we must wait patiently, obediently and accept his responses with humility and grace; above all we must believe that his responses are filled with love, compassion, and mercy. We are all his children. We are all alive and well. Our hopes, our dreams have been composed by God—our Father is quietly supporting us with his own forgiveness, his own love, his own patience. He asks that we develop loving fortitude. He asks for our humility, charity, and obedience. He waits for our response. His love and concern for us is an inexpressible comfort to many who bear witness to his goodness and wisdom. God is our comfort. God offers salvation if we simply, lovingly obey him.

I cannot say that being obedient shall always be easy for us; obedience will be very difficult for us at times and we will be filled with all types of rationalizations, justifications and other shoddy reasons and fallacies allowing all types of resistance thoughts and actions. God knows and expects this; we must learn it if we are to follow in Christ’s footsteps. Always remember that God is always glad to see you, to hear your prayers. The weather is never too dreary or too humid for him to listen and we are never too far from him: and when you pray, be honest as you open your heart and soul to him; enjoy your prayers; enjoy the silence; pray often; and listen with calmness and quiet in your mind. God’s answer can take many forms and can occur at any moment. Perhaps we are ready to hear and understand it; perhaps we are not. We must have patience. It might be better if we were less concerned with earthly temporal matters which can make us selfish, distract and divert our love, goodness, and holiness. Within each of us is the capacity for being humble, loving, forgiving like God if we are able to overcome our insecurities and fears long enough to do what he asks—but we must always pray! Words cannot adequately express the regard and esteem that God presents to us each day of our lives. We receive his tenderness, his watchfulness. I can never forget God’s love for us or how unworthy I do feel because of my selfishness, my pettiness. I believe that I have felt God’s presence every hour and minute of my life—my memory is filled with reading and reciting Bible verses, hearing and saying prayers, seeing the wonders and beauty of nature. Building a good relationship with God is more precious to me than any earthly blessing; I have prayed for myself and I have prayed for others and I remind myself not to worry, not to want an immediate response; and yet, what I should feel, and how I should pray, remain as sweet variables, sweet daily lessons teaching me humility, obedience, charity; but I did just now remember that I have so much left learn about how to love as God wants us to love.

Reality

. . . My little life, it is certain that I both did pray and attend Mass yesterday and did at sometime commit some sin or offense against God which I must do penance for, it is only a question left for an examination of conscience. There are no specific offenses to share but I must review my actions, my thoughts, my statements, my hesitations and ask if they are pleasing to God. I am again approaching confession for things said and left unsaid, for the content of my life lived to this moment, the hopes, dreams, prayers, and personal crises and disasters which influence my spiritual development.

. . . Sometimes I try not to talk too much, not to say too much for concern of saying the wrong thing which might encourage someone else to say or do the wrong thing. Humility and obedience do not welcome the spotlight for too much attention can lead to selfishness and badness.

I must accept that my life as a Christian requires that I honestly be prepared for all eventualities, and that nothing can undo the love and mercy of God. I am resolved to live a life of goodness and holiness and to consider myself a humble servant, and I desire the joy of prayer and reflection, but I am ready to examine my conscience and ask for God’s forgiveness. My life is not my life; my life is his life. I must make it pleasing for him.

In the midst of all this examination of conscience I somehow feel secure and blessed; how wonderful my life as a Christian is; God’s love and grace allows us to live through magnificent hours, when the Gospels and all of the prayers on an august significance.

There is something beautiful in longing for a simple life based upon the Gospel teachings of love and obedience.

Devotion, Compromises, Questions and Prayer

Since modern life is filled with so many compromises, this morning I began thinking of the dangers of a lukewarm devotion to God. As Christians we are called to live lives filled with love and to follow in the footsteps of Christ by proclaiming the Word of God by our actions and in our conversations. Although it is easy for us to affirm our belief during Mass, how difficult it is for us to do this in our daily lives. We are all capable of living lives that filled with humility, charity, and obedience. I sometimes wonder what does it mean to “bear witness” or to “proclaim” the Word of God. Should we pepper are sentences with, “I was the reading the Bible last night,” or “Scripture says,” or “In his homily Father Hamilton said.” There is no correct answer to the question; each situation in which we find ourselves as Christians will create a unique and appropriate response. Being a faithful Christian is already a daily struggle. The choices in our lives should reflect our love for and obedience to the teachings of God. Our lives should be filled with forgiveness, mercy, and goodness which will inspire hope in ourselves and others. Each day we should make decisions with the complete certainty that our actions and thoughts will be pleasing to God. Our lives should be filled with prayers for peace, love, salvation. We must remember to always praise God and to give him thanks. We should always be willing to share our happiness as faithful, servants of God.

Prayer is necessary, and, above all, prayer does have the power to change our lives and our ideas about our Faith and how we express our Faith.

We all have inspirational stories about meeting someone filled with such beautiful, inspirational goodness and holiness that there is always a sweet feeling in the heart when I think of them. I can only pray to grow into my faith in a similar way. My spiritual growth requires examples of all of God’s humble servants, presenting ways to be holy and good, ways to be the best Christian that I can.

. . . Goodness and holiness are patient, quiet

Questions about how we believe, why we believe should stir up fervent feelings within our hearts and souls. Christ is not dead; he is alive within each one of us. Our lives must reflect his love, sacrifice, and suffering; with courage our existence could adapt and be filled with charity, humility, and obedience.

I am now trying to be more vigilant in my life to avoid anything that will endanger the goodness, holiness and love in my life, but I understand the need to frequently examine my conscience. Goodness and holiness might occur naturally in each of us, but maintaining them requires diligence.

Lessons

The monotony of modern life annoys me sometimes, pleases me sometimes. Each day there are somethings to be rediscovered, an old anecdote retold, an old prayer to be taught. With patience and understanding there are many grave thoughts of sacrifice and obedience to be shared, discussed. I must always remember that I am a Christian. I must always be humble.

The ordinary good-fellowship of the Mass and of those moments when we are following the teachings of Christ and using our lives to serve God, we can experience a moment of a finer solidarity and goodness. One of the advantages of our situation is that we can, as it were, learn both goodness and holiness by observing and imitating it in others as we spend time doing God’s work. Charity, humility, and obedience require diligence and patience for our minds and our society encourage us to be independent individuals; when we reflect upon obedience, humility, and charity their usefulness can restore calm to our minds. I try to avoid getting caught in the madcap race of the immediate and instant gratification, instant resolution. Time is not the enemy; anxiety often is. Both goodness and wisdom require patience and silence. Our society allows and encourages us to be childish and selfish. As Christians we must remember that prayer can soothe our nerves, provide answers to the problems within our lives if we make time to pray and allow ourselves time to reflect, and to wait patiently for God’s guidance and assistance. Each of us are capable of making profound, inspirational statements about goodness, holiness, love, mercy, humility, obedience, charity, being Christian. Each of us has felt a moment of discomfort when we did not act appropriately with mercy, forgiveness and love; and yet, our hearts and souls still lead us toward God, still encourage us to be devoted disciples, believing in and living a life filled with love based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.

A Glimpse of Eden

It was the intention of a modern artist, poet, photographer, essayist, with timid and sometimes turbulent reserves of youth lived within a prelapsarian world of natural forests, irregular hillsides, shallow yet swift brooks and streams leading to the deep and wide river. These were days of Bible verses and blue skies and fluffy white clouds and climbing trees and getting lost in the woods, and wishing that the sun would never go down and running around lost in some beautiful game of make-believe, running around laughing, laughing and hoping. How wonderful those moments were! Surrounding this time was a beautiful envelop of admonishments to be Christ-like, to be good. This instruction was delicate, gentle served with warm freshly baked cookies and glasses of milk. Here were examples of both Christ’s goodness and holiness to observe and to learn. This time was never lost, the power and the grace of those days continue to burn, to keep the darkness, emptiness, and loneliness of sin away. And life pulls us away and then pushes us into God. Those lessons from our youth will return to us as we try to translate current thoughts and concerns. Here lives and grows both the tenderness and gentleness of the heart and soul. Here is a fervent love for social justice and mercy! Here is a mystical sense of trust beyond the immediate and concrete. Here whispers the eternal language of love and salvation!

Each day I encounter hope and sadness, witness despair and kindness; urban living presents the human condition completely unvarnished without sentimentality or generosity. The pain and suffering of our neighbors is often displayed as if for the amusement and entertainment of others. My heart rejects this view but is sometimes overwhelmed by all that is seen and heard, but the fatigue I actually feel directs me to prayer.

A New Walk in A New Year

Today a walk along Connecticut Avenue. Rigorous weather after a the snow. A pleasant interlude in these troubled times. I am still learning about prayer, trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, but I have happily a few close friends filled with love and patience. I have wanted to go outside with the camera and photograph the landscape, to see the beauty and serenity of God’s creation. These fine trees and clouds suggest the best in natural serenity, natural law of composition. Their are moral and ethical questions to consider, the impression of life in stillness leads me toward questions about how to be more good, more holy. I hope that in time I am able to develop my fortitude and patience.

The camaraderie of Church volunteer life energizes me, but I can't explain how. There is something to be learned each time I do anything for the Cathedral. Hope, Love, and Faith are rediscovered again and again, with prayer and devotion. Right now I truly want to learn how to be a better servant of God, a better servant filled with grace and obedience.

The good-fellowship of the Mass has been replaced by a finer solidarity and a praiseworthy community of believers sharing both the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. One of the advantages of my situation is that I can, as it were, observe others in their states of goodness and holiness; how wonderful it is to see such fine inspiring behavior. All the readings and the prayers, which are important to hear and important to understand, provide both spiritual formation and inspiration. Attending Mass regularly can help us all improve both our goodness and holiness as we allow ourselves to become humble servants of the Lord. Then the great power of the Mass occurs when we allow ourselves to forget our earthly trials and tribulations and look for ways to serve God which sometimes creates a profound, feeling of brotherhood which turns all hearts towards humility, obedience, love and mercy.

Attending Mass provides me with an additional time when God is the true focal point in my mind. Each time that I walk into the Cathedral I do feel unworthy of being there; then I remember my reason for being there and I feel better. Each time I attend Mass I learn more about what God is asking me to do, how he wants me to live my life.

There must always be time for prayer. There must always be time for sacrifice. There must always be hope. There must always be love.

Daybreak

At daybreak, that November morning I imagined that I heard the sound of birds landing, maybe it was a falcon, maybe it was an eagle. There were so many feathers. In my heart mingled grief and hope as my heart tried to remain clean and pure, and my mind tried to allow only noble thoughts of goodness, compassion, and mercy.

I am not one who enjoys speaking early in the morning. I prefer thinking and writing and sometimes revising. For I have learned to accept and sometimes expect my fallibility. I am always making typographical or grammatical errors. But, each noise that my ears detect or each color my eyes recognize creates a thousand sentences which I sometime try to capture and preserve. Within my heart there is often gladness, hope, and goodness.

There is a desire to learn life with humility, charity, compassion, and mercy. Goodness encourages me to write down my thoughts, to say prayers, to attend Mass, to forgive myself and others as needed, to be merciful and gentle when dealing with others. Some days I am better at this than others, but everyday I try.

Each day through my own silence, I am able to think about and understand unconditional and universal love. I allow myself to say little short prayers frequently and automatically. Every prayer is beautiful. Every prayer inspires another prayer. Every prayer connects us to each other and to every other Christian who has said a prayer to God before us. I believe that prayers are love, that they contain and foster hope, peace, and goodness.

I sometimes wish that my vocabulary was more classical so that I could describe love in more formal lofty terms and so that I could describe prayer in more pastoral approachable terms and then connect both definitions with a simple image.

That morning I created an algebraic formula where silence, observation, compassion, reflection, meditation were the main variables which could be arranged together to equal prayer and sometimes love. But love is not always pure and love is not always love but attachment. Attachment can be the antithesis to love.

Heartily I move toward God.

My heart sometimes forces my tongue to state gainsayings against that which isn’t just, or fair. My soul and heart both observe the bitterness in the world and only want peace and calm for every human being, every living thing. This is not the time to want laurels. This is a time to work for God, to use our lives in his service. All reason should move us in a direction of charity, humility, simplicity, understanding, and love. Reason should move us to serve constantly and filled with a beautiful and undying hope.

And, as humans we must not forget but be prepared to greet grief when it arrives. We must be prepared for the perfumed scents of jealousy and lust which can conceal many dangerous and threatening thoughts which can destroy or hinder a relationship with God.

It is my hope that my only fortune in this life be God’s love and God’s mercy and that all that I do and all that I am please him and help others to find their way to him. I know that sacrifice is necessary.

At daybreak, in the eastern sky the clouds are delicate, beautiful like feathers, fine soft feathers, noble honest feathers and yet-

My mind feels the cool breeze, observes the scene; my heart stirs up a kind prayer or two; my soul overflows with hope, compassion, mercy, respect, and understanding.