august 2019 faithposting
Aug. 1st, 2019 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prismaticbleedBegin to know Him now, and finish never.
-Oswald Chambers
God is infinite; we can never fully know Him, for there is always more to know, more to discover, more to honor and adore… and for someone in Love, that fact is blissful.
foreverheloves: Pray, then let it go. Don’t try and manipulate or force the outcome. Just trust God to open the right doors at the right time.
kings–kid: So many times we say we have forgiving but never truly have let go. But until we learning how to forgive and let GOD,we will never be healed from our wounds.
If you’re scared of the outcome, and are afraid to trust God, please tell Him so. Talk to Him about it. Confess your doubt and fear, explain the turmoil in your heart and head, and pray for the grace to let go and let God do His work. Then loosen your grip a little. God is listening, and He will help, but we must meet Him at the door and cooperate with His grace!
Keep praying as often & long as you need to. Prayer is very powerful. And the more we turn to God, the easier it is to trust Him.
There’s a reason I am not writing the story and God is.
He knows how it all works out, where it all leads, what it all means.
I don’t.
– Ann Voskamp
It is scary to your ego to surrender everything to God, especially control. To know and admit that you don’t know everything, cannot know everything, and probably are mistaken or quite shortsighted in much of what you do know… to confess that compared to God we know nothing at all, takes immense humility and trust and faith in God. The only way to do this is to love God enough to gratefully surrender the steering wheel of life to Him… only then can we sit back and enjoy the ride in joy, no matter how stormy the weather or how bumpy the road.
“Don’t compare yourself to others who call themselves Christians. Compare yourself to Scripture.”— Paul Washeralistairradley: Too many times we look to other people how to live our lives instead of focusing on Christ.
Our eyes must be on Christ alone. Our fellow Christians are also fellow sinners, imperfect and striving to live more fully by God’s Grace. They can inspire or warn. Either way, they are not our role models. Christ is. Read His Word and put it into practice with obedient love. Let that be the measure of your conduct… not proud & fearful comparison.
Faith means that you have peace even when you don't have all the answers.
We don’t need all the answers, nor should we have them. We’re fallible, forgetful, foolish mortals– such knowledge is too great for us. But God knows all, and He knows what He’s doing, and what He’s doing is infinitely Good. All we have to do is surrender to that in childlike faith. The blessing of peace that follows is incomparable.
Some days I pray, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Other days it’s, “Lord, please slap me upside the head, for I am an idiot.”
Forever relevant.
They’re both perfectly valid and important prayers, too– humbly recognizing and admitting our sinfulness openly to God.
anchorsandjesus: “If you don’t think Jesus can fill that emptiness, you’re wrong. And He will.”— something I’m learning
But first you must admit that you are empty without Him. Jesus cannot fill a soul that insists it has no room, or that it is full enough. We must be humble and trusting enough to surrender it all– to confess that ultimately, in this world, we have nothing, and want nothing of it… only then will we truly gain everything in Christ.
Don’t be afraid of letting go of fleeting desires and empty pleasures. Christ is infinitely better; He is worth more than it all, He is more beautiful than it all, and He will fill you with endless joy.
khadlja: pray a lot!! pray for everything, even/especially if it seems silly or impossible or ridiculous and you can barely voice it. pray for the little things and the big things and everything in between. keep that connection between you and God open all day, every day. pray and then watch how tiny miracles fill your life.
nia-confesses-to-the-internet: There are times it seems hard, seems pointless. God going to do what he’s gonna do. But he says to pray, so pray for faith, pray that you’ll see the point.
Prayer is also more than asking for blessings. Prayer is gratitude and praise and awe and honor and worship. Prayer is the spontaneous song of the soul to its Creator. Prayer is an outpouring of Love, of trust, of hope, of faith and surrender. Prayer is conversation, prayer is listening… prayer is sharing, prayer is opening to receive. Prayer is our quickest line of connection to God. Prayer is necessary for Life.
So yes… pray a lot! Make every step, every breath, every word and every deed into a prayer– an act of worship to our Heavenly Father. Like a little child, learn to trust Him with everything– don’t ever be afraid to share something with Him. He loves you, and He is listening. Think of it in techno terms: keep the chat window open. Don’t hang up the phone. Live like God and you are in a state of perpetual interaction– because you are!
And lastly, don’t forget this on the bad days, and in the hard times. That is when you need prayer the most. That is when you need s friend and a loving voice the most… and you have one, the best one, in God. He is there. Turn to Him.
“If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.”
Proverbs 15:32
Listen to & obey wise instruction and amend your ways, no matter how much the discipline may sting or humiliate you. This correction is good for your soul, but your sinful flesh will reject it! Be aware of this battle, pray for the grace to submit to the helpful teaching, and you will grow in holiness.
Proverbs 15:16 (NLT) -
Better to have little, with fear for the LORD,
than to have great treasure and inner turmoil.
Great treasure is often obtained by dishonest and/or selfish, greedy means. This will only bring turmoil to our hearts and distress our conscience. Better to lovingly trust in God to provide– for He will– then torment ourselves by faithlessly grasping for more.
God will provide for all we need. If we have little, trust in Him and rejoice in His unfailing love nevertheless. To be ungrateful and greedy, entitled and complaining, seeking more than God has given in His good judgment… this only leads to sorrow and disaster.
“He fills the hungry with good things, but the rich he sends empty away ”!
You need great discrimination in order to distinguish between good and evil. So do not readily or lightly put your trust in appearances, but weigh things well, and after testing everything carefully cleave to what is good and reject what is evil (1 Thes. 5:21-2). You must test and discriminate before you give credence to anything. You must also be aware that the effects of grace are self-evident, and that even if the devil does transform himself he cannot produce these effects: he cannot induce you to be gentle, or forbearing, or humble, or joyful, or serene, or stable in your thoughts; he cannot make you hate what is worldly, or cut off sensual indulgence and the working of the passions, as grace does.
-St Gregory of Sinai
This is a game-changing realization. The devil cannot produce or induce virtue– he cannot ever cause the effects of grace! No matter how he may try to justify his lies, or falsely sell his sinfulness as righteousness, his works will ALWAYS cause a malignant end. Sin will never coexist with grace.
Be discerning in this way! Be vigilant!
delightfullyloved: even when it hurts, i will praise You. even when it hurts, i will turn to You. even when it hurts, i will hope in You. even when it hurts, i will wait. i will wait. i will wait. i will wait and believe.
And when He calls you to obey, even if it hurts more, obey. Remember Christ on the Cross. Even if the pain leads to death, literal or metaphorical, if you enter that death with Christ, you will enter resurrection with Him, too.
Never mind if you cannot feel His presence. He is there, never for one moment forgetting you.
-Elisabeth Elliot
Feelings can lie, feelings can fade, feelings can be confused and numbed and fabricated. But love isn’t a feeling. Love is a Truth, Love is a Way, Love is a PERSON… Love is God, all-powerful and all-knowing, rich in mercy and patience, unfailingly just and righteous. God, Love Himself, never lies, fades, confuses, chills, or manipulates, for those things are unloving. God is honest, constant, true, compassionate, and guiding, a dear Father to all His children.
God knows you, even when you forget who you are.
God is there, even when the world has abandoned you.
God loves you, always. God waits for you, always. His heart and His arms are open. Even if you feel scraped out and empty, He is overflowing with grace.
Go to Him!
Consider Saint Francis.
He saw sinful clergymen and corruption in the Church.
Francis tries to reform it. He doesn't start a new church.
He first reforms himself.
Francis is a saint.
Be like Francis!
If there is any sin and corruption in the Church, I assure you it began in the hearts of its members first.
We are all still sinners, although we are called to be holy as members of the Church. It does not happen automatically, nor does anyone get a ‘free pass’ for persisting in sin after becoming part of the community of faith– indeed, to do so is scandal, a terrible sin! God is merciful but He is also just, and if you abuse His His long-suffering with you, He will let you suffocate yourself in iniquity. But this is secondary. The first thing is to obey, and to strive to be holy through living in Love through Grace. This is what Saint Francis knew, and what we must also practice.
In every case, if we want to prevent corruption in the Church, we must begin by reforming our hearts through the grace of God.
We cannot change anyone else, and we have no right or ability to– that is God’s job. All we are called to do is love, pray, serve, sacrifice, warn, help, and counsel… to be examples of Christ as Christians. If we do this, all else will follow rightly.
Once you've tasted how good God is, how could we ever depart from Him? I can't depart from Him like I have in the past. I won't leave Him; I will cling to Him forever!
May God constantly remind our hearts of His sufficiency, His goodness, and His deliverance… through constantly reminding us of the emptiness, dishonesty, and tribulation of the world and its fleeting desires.
His love and long-suffering isn’t passivity; it’s opportunity.
Remember this, too, when you are tempted to impatience with others! God is mercifully patient with our sins so that we can learn humility and contrition, and repent. He loves us enough to give us this graciously undeserved opportunity. So we must love others the same way, for God loves them so graciously too! Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant. Be merciful as your Father and Lord is merciful. Love one another.
“Talk to GOD more than you talk about Him.”
We can’t talk truthfully about Him if we don’t know Him. And you only get to know someone– God included!– through spending genuine time with them, being with them and talking to them.
“We best defend the Lord’s glory by speaking first TO Him about unbelieving men rather than speaking first ABOUT Him to unbelieving men.”— Sinclair B. Ferguson
Always turn to the Lord in humble prayer first! It’s not about us or our reputation… it’s about Him– His Truth and His Glory. Then, when you speak of the Lord to those who do not believe, you will have the grace to speak in genuine love, for their soul’s sake, and for God’s sake… not for yourself. We’re the messengers, not the Message!
“Sometimes we don’t want to know God’s will because of the sneaking suspicion that it’s not what we’ve planned.”
- Sr. Bethany Madonna
This is why humility is VITAL to faith! Without it, we stay stuck in fear and fallen nature. We must surrender our hearts to His Love, no matter how hard it may oppose our worldly plans… indeed, we should be moved to courageous submission because of that very holy opposition. “Thy will be done” at all costs!
“There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is Curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is Vanity. There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love.”— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Without Love, all is in vain, even curiosity– for seeking knowledge for its own sake is still ultimately serving yourself. Unless we take that knowledge and use it for serving God and others, internally and externally, then it is essentially useless. Let all that you do be done in love!
Theirs is an endless road, a hopeless maze, who seek for goods before they seek for God.
St Bernard of Clairvaux
A simple but staggering truth. Christ is The Way– the ONLY Way. Every other path is doomed to a dead end.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and God shall provide for you all that you need. Seek the world before God, and you will inevitably end up bereft and lost.
“Many of the people who look forward to a long life put off doing good works, since they think that they will have plenty of time before they die. As for me, I prefer to be among those who consider that they have no time to lose if they wish to give God all the glory that they can before they die.” ~St. Margaret of Hungary
No human is ever guaranteed tomorrow. Every new day is a gift from God. This alone should motivate us to use our time wisely and faithfully. But Saint Margaret deepens this motive with love– she wants to give God as much glory as possible before she dies, whether she lives for five more minutes or fifty more years. Thinking this way, why would anyone postpone doing good? The only reason to delay virtuous work is selfishness. Putting off a kind word or helpful deed until tomorrow just betrays the hidden fact that you really don’t consider it important enough to do now… or that you truly don’t want to do it at all. If we do this, then our hearts are not in order! Dear Saint Margaret, pray for us fellow Christians, that we may be filled with zeal for Christ and His people, and so do as much sincere and loving good as we possibly can with every moment we are given! Whether our lives are long short, may they be lived as a testament to our faith, so that even in our passing our memory wil give glory to God
“Dear Christians, the way we love our neighbor carries a lot more weight than how much scripture we can quote.”
Anyone can quote Scripture, but it takes a true Christian to live Scripture. Faith without works is dead, and words without actions are hollow. Let us glorify God by showing His love alive and at work in us!
livin4themosthigh: God has perfect timing. God is not in a hurry. You are. That’s exactly why you are tired. That’s why you are anxious, stressed, and disappointed. Trust in God’s perfect timing. Trust that what was meant to be yours, will be yours.
And what is not meant for you, will never happen. So when you wait on God, wait without expectations. Wait with only one desire– that His will be done. God may make you wait for years, and He may ultimately give you something you never expected. Yet His timing and His giving and His withholding are all perfect.
Surrender into that. Rest in that. Trust in that. God will sustain you in faith, hope, and love no matter what.
“The highest point of philosophy is to be both wise and simple; this is the angelic life.”— St. John Chrysostom
Humanity, in its pride, tends to overcomplicate things. Complexity does not indicate wisdom. Indeed, genuine wisdom is pure and simple, understood by children, grasped by the most humble hearts. Angels exist to glorify God… in this sole cause is all wisdom found.
[breathe.]
there is no mountain God can't move.
If He wills it, it will happen. If He wills not, then it won't.
Have faith and trust in Him no matter what.
Let me alone, sheltered in my cell.
Let me be with God, who alone is good.
Why should I move out of my cell?
Back to that which I left?
Let me be.
I want to cry and mourn over the days and nights I have wasted.
- St. Symeon the New Theologian
I’m feeling this same heartache so hard today.
God is all I want. God is all I need. God have mercy on me for not realizing or living this truth sooner. God keep me close to your heart and never let me stray back to that old life, that broken world.
Let me be with the One who Is.
God has the ability to string natural events to fulfill His purpose.
Pastor Paolo Punzalan, Grace Changes Everything
He’s in charge of all things, remember. Sometimes we can forget this, which is dumbfounding– every snowflake, earthquake, hailstorm, rainstorm, thundercloud and waterspout is wrought by His Hand. Each tornado, volcano, drought and fire obeys the command of His Voice. And yet, we might still forget that these truly-named “acts of God” are indeed just that! So we worry and panic and fear, powerless and small as we are, without resting in the power and greatness of God, who has not forgotten us in the forecast. When we realize this– that everything we experience is happening in God’s sight, and by His direction or allowance, it becomes much easier to surrender in faithful trust, and to endure in hopeful courage, because even if we don’t understand, we know that He is Good, and so we can humbly acquiesce to His Will… even if our hands are shaking. We can still fold them in prayer, after all.
Reverence, indicated by Communion on the tongue, means, in turn, that Communion is not of “ordinary bread and wine, “but rather the Body and Blood of the Lord.
It is recorded that one of the greatest worries of the pope was that, with the introduction of the practice *, the Eucharist would end up being compared to ordinary bread or to simply blessed bread. …
This danger does not exists with Communion on the tongue.
*of Communion in the hand
Most Rev. Juan Rodolfo Laise, Communion in the hand, Documents and History
My parish priest once said that recieving Communion on the tongue was also a beautiful symbol of its utter distinction from normal “eating,” because there are only three other times any human will receive their food on the tongue, without touching it themselves, with perfect surrender…
1. When we are infants, and are fed by our loving mothers,
2. When we are elderly, and are fed by our loving caretakers,
3. When we are in love, and are fed by our lovers. Just think of the wedding cake!
And consider that sweet simple trust in all of these: “here, try this, it’s delicious”… “here, eat this, it’s healthy for you”… “here, have some, it’ll give you strength”… in every case, we trust the other person completely. Food is what we need for our bodies to survive in this world. If what we eat is harmful or unhealthy, it will hurt our bodies. In extreme scenarios, such as in diseases and allergies, eating the wrong thing can kill us! So normally we carefully discern this for ourselves. But, when we let someone else feed us, we are implicitly trusting them with our life. This absolute surrender is often completely unrealized, so great is our faith in their goodness towards us… so great is our love for them.
And that’s the Eucharist. Just look at that picture– look at the intimacy, the adoration, the absolute trust visible between Christ and His dear Child! And so it is at every Mass: the priest– Christ’s representative– feeds us as a mother feeds as a child, as a child feeds a mother, as a spouse feeds a spouse. We trust, love, and surrender entirely, gratefully recieving this food for our precious souls… and when we realize that Christ is feeding us with His own body in the Eucharist, then the love deepens even more– for now He feeds us as only a mother can on earth, by literally offering us His flesh and blood as our only source of sustenance, so helpless we are, and so completely dependent on Him to live!
Recieving the Eucharist by hand completely misses all of this. Then it just becomes a gift– an utterly priceless gift, true, but one which we are showing no special reverence to. Some people take and eat potato chips with more zeal and anticipation than they do the Host, and that is a very subtle form of blasphemy. When we truly realize what is occurring in Holy Communion, we cannot help but fall to our knees, and receive Him with loving trust!
The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” and “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.”The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. the movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.
I’m not sure what article may have been quoting this, but it’s in the Catechism!
This is a vital distinction! The images and sculptures are “bridges” to those portrayed; since we cannot show literal veneration to God– except in Eucharistic Exposition, blessedly– we venerate images of Jesus Christ to show our love for Him, in this physical world, in our physical bodies. We know He isn’t literally the statue or picture. But we also know that images are important, and symbols of greater truths and realities, and so entirely valid of respect. You wouldn’t rip up a photograph of your earthly beloved, and you know that they aren’t literally embodied in the photo, yet you might still carry it with you in fondness, and kiss it in sudden outpourings of love, when they are not physically nearby. Our veneration of holy images is the same.
Related, this is basically the difference between our veneration of images of Christ– God Incarnate– and images of angels & saints, notably His Blessed Mother. We still love them and honor them as our literal friends and family in Christ, but we know they aren’t God. They just love Him too, in ways courageous and humble and beautiful enough for us to look up to them in hopeful inspiration, asking them to pray for us, that we may imitate their love in their humanity all the more. In honoring their images, we show our love for them as we do to all the people close to our hearts, and we show our love for God through our recognition of their love of Him and devotion to Him.
There is this truly sweet and moving hierarchy of “cascading love” from God to His Son to His Spirit, all the way down to us, through steps upon blessed steps of His children. Honoring the saints is a very intimate way of recognizing this, and our place in it.
Imagine Jesus crucified in your arms and on your chest, and say a hundred times as you kiss His chest, “This is my hope, the living source of my happiness; this is the heart of my soul; nothing will ever separate me from His love.”
-Saint Padre Pio
Every single time I read this, I break down in tears.
Dearest Jesus, my Lord and my God, inscribe this prayer into the very atoms of my own heart. May I reflect on Your love and Your sacrifice, both unfathomable in their greatness, and may I honor and comfort You with every breath. Jesus, I have no hope but You. I have no happiness apart from You, no joy outside of You. May I love you with everything I am. You are the heart of my soul. You are the heart of my soul. You are everything I have, You are everything I could ever need, You are the only thing I will ever want. Nothing can ever separate us; I consecrate myself to you forever. Your love has been proven forever on the Cross– may I prove mine to You by joining You there, here, in my heart nailed to Yours. I love you.
"Jesus hath many lovers of His Heavenly Kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross."
-Thomas à Kempis
And yet, there is no way to heaven outside of the Cross. Jesus is the Way, and that is the Way He walked, in all humble obedience to His Father, and in all love for His Father’s people. If we hope to share in His resurrection, if we hope to follow Him to heaven, then we must follow in His footsteps… and that means walking the road of Calvary with Him, with the same humble obedience and love.
"If you find yourself with a cross, you find yourself with Jesus."
-Fr. Mike Schmitz
This alone should move us to accept all our crosses with unshakable joy.
"When you are obedient I take away your weakness and replace it with My Strength. I am very surprised that souls do not want to make that exchange with Me."
-Jesus, to Saint Faustina
I think many of us poor souls don’t have enough faith in this truth! We doubt– “but I’m too weak,” or “will He really help me do this?” Pride and fear stifle the obedient surrender to His Grace that allows His strength to flow through us.
Dear Lord, increase our faith, so that we may take great leaps of it in joyful service to you!
I have never found greater peace, deeper joy, or the true presence of Almighty God so much as in the times I have spent alone with Him in a silent church, especially before the exposed Blessed Sacrament.
God is Literally Present with us in Eucharistic Exposition. To be able to even exist in the same room as Him is a staggering honor and privilege that numberless souls before Christ’s coming could only dream of having. We have seen the face of God and lived. And why? Because He loves us so much that He WANTS to be with us, here on earth, even now, and chooses to be with us, as ineffably humble and fragile and powerful and glorious as in that tiny white Host. He gives us all the opportunity to “stay with Him one hour,” to comfort and console Him, to love Him in return, to experience His peace and joy in a world wracked by sin.
Pray. Visit the Lord and pray, with all your heart, in sorrow and pain and joy and gratitude and everything else. Pray to Him, for He waits for you, and He is listening to you, and He loves you.
“God can use you to do great things if you believe more in his love than in your own weakness.”— Mother Teresa of Calcutta (via burning-lampstand)
Focusing on our weaknesses and inability is a subtle form of pride– it says, “why try, if I might fail or look foolish or be laughed at?” Pride looks for excuses not to do God’s work, if that work can’t be done by human power, or without human glory. But God doesn’t factor those things into the equation at all! God looks at our weak spots and says, “that’s what I’m going to use in you, to bring glory to My divine power.” And it’s scary to obey that at first, with pride still shouting in self-preservation. But if we humbly surrender– “Thy will be done”– and rely on faith in His strength to achieve what we cannot, then He will achieve it. God is not in this for pride or fame or accolades. God wants to glorify Himself because He alone is worthy of glory– because He IS Love and Truth and Justice and Mercy.
God can and will use you as an instrument of love if you respond to His call in love. Surrender joyfully to His direction, and watch Him do great things in the world around you. It’s like being a literal musical instrument, a violin perhaps, unable to make any music on its own. You may be afraid to be used, as you may not think you are well-made, or because all other musicians who played you were poor in talent… but God is THE virtuoso, and He WILL bring beautiful melodies out of you; music that can move hearts and touch souls and change lives. The praise is not for the violin, but the violinist. Yet what an honor and privilege it is to be such an intimate part of His plan!
Fear not; we’re all here for God’s purposes, and He will strengthen us to achieve them if we trust in Him. His power is made perfect in our weaknesses, and against all odds. Rest in the peace of His sovereignty.
“Lord, take me from myself and give me to Yourself.”— St. Catherine of Siena (via faustinarockandroll)
The imagery of this is deeply striking; to “take” oneself from the self, which selfishly clings and hoards, and “give” oneself to God, as lovingly and selflessly as a Christmas present. It’s an admission of one’s fallen nature, one’s helplessness to change without grace, one’s daily struggle with sin… and it’s an admission of the omnipotence of God, the worthiness of God over the world in claiming us, and the gentle love of God in effectively saving us from ourselves to deliver us into compassion.
It’s a beautiful, powerful little prayer, and we should all pray it in our own lives, as often as we stumble.
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says in the end, “Thy will be done.””— C S Lewis (via gloryfromdust)
This is a terribly succinct warning. We all must remember this in every decision, every single moment.
Holiness should be the goal, not happiness.
Genuine happiness is only found in holiness, which seems ironic in the eyes of the world, but which is the most self-evident truth to he eyes of faith. And Christian happiness is more than just happiness– it is unshakable joy!
Psalm 100 expresses the heart of holy happiness briefly and well: “Earth, sing to the Lord! Be happy as you serve the Lord! Come before him with happy songs! Know that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep he takes care of. Come through the gates to his Temple giving thanks to him. Enter his courtyards with songs of praise. Honor him and bless his name. The Lord is good! There is no end to his faithful love. We can trust him forever and ever!” (Psalm 100:1-5 ERV)
This Christian happiness is also completely subversive to the ways of the world. It is anchored in Christ, and so it is untouched by external circumstances– and in fact flourishes in difficult times, whereas worldly ‘happiness’ crumbles in the face of hardship and discomfort. Saint Paul illustrates this most beautifully: “God showed me so many things that were very great and special. But he did not want me to start thinking, as a result, that I myself was too great or special. So, he let me have something sharp and painful in my body, to stop me from thinking like that. This painful thing is an angel from Satan, that he sent to hurt me. But he said to me: ‘I myself will help you and I will make you strong. I am everything that you need. When you are weak, then I will be powerful in you. Then I will show more completely how powerful I myself am.’ So, I am very happy to speak about how weak I am. When I am weak, then Christ’s power stays over me. That is why I am very happy to be weak. I am happy when people say bad things about me. Sometimes I do not have things that I need. But I am happy then too. I am happy when people cause trouble and pain for me. I am happy when I am in difficulties. I am happy about these things because of Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7, 9-10 EASY)
Holiness is achieved by striving to obey the will of God and become more and more like Christ. As we do so, our happiness and joy increases accordingly. Yes, true happiness is to be found in serving God alone, for He alone is Good, Worthy, and Everlasting. Rejoice in what a blessed privilege it is to be called His People– the very sheep of His beloved flock!
The biggest problem in America – the American Church is telling people you can have God and have the world. It is unbiblical and unscriptural.
“Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. Everything that belongs to the world — what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of — none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17 GNBDK)
Another unique translation that says it straight:
“Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.” (1 John 2:15-17 MSG)
We are not here to gather people, we are here to see lives transformed – see people changed. It’s not about accepting Christ. It’s about surrendering to Christ. It’s about giving up everything you have.
The wording here is shocking, but it is true. You can easily “accept Christ” as a Savior, as a Redeemer, but He does not become your Savior and your Redeemer until you surrender your life to Him. Acceptance does not imply obedience. Acceptance is a mental action– surrender and transformation are heart actions. Acceptance is logic, surrender is love. “Gathering followers” is what you do on Tumblr, not in a church! The church’s goal is to build up the body of Christ, to call sinners to Him to be saved, to show the path to Heaven through the Son… and we cannot be part of His body, of His life, until we give Him ours. We cannot be saved if we don’t admit and understand our depravity and humble ourselves before Him. We cannot come to heaven without dying to hell, and that means dying to sin… dying to self. Again, accepting all these things as true does not mean doing them. They are two distinct things. Acceptance comes first, but without surrender following, our faith remains hollow.
Is your faith based on your acceptance of the Truth alone? Is that acceptance bearing fruit, and transforming your life? Have you truly surrendered all aspects of your life to Jesus, or are you holding on in fear, unwilling to give Him all that you have? When you say Jesus is your Savior, are you proving that by imitating Him in your actions? Or is that just something you say, but don’t truly testify to? Examine your heart today. Deepen your faith. Give everything to Christ. He’s waiting for you!
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own."
(1 Corinthians 6:19)
We need to be reminded of this daily.
God has sent His Spirit to us, to dwell in our hearts and guide us… and His Son, through the Eucharist, gives Himself to us in the same way, tangibly. And ultimately, every atom in our bodies is shaped by God, and belongs to Him, to be returned to Him when we die.
Everything about our body is holy. The only thing desecrating it is sin. Today, and always, we pray that, through our baptism into Christ, we will be washed ever the more clean by His Precious Blood, and so keep His earthly temples holy!
“You have to be humble to treasure the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Arrogant people do not go to confession.”— Fr. Donald Calloway
I make it a point to make a thorough confession every weekend now, and it has gracefully gotten me into the habit of constant self-examination. It is, honestly, humiliating, and thank God for that. Going to regular confession made me realize just how much I was sinning– how many of my sins were repetitive, addictive, ingrained, unquestioned… now my heart is ever more rightly disposed to think through every action and thought, to be vigilant against temptation, and to be aware of my moral weak spots, because it knows that, every Saturday evening, I have to confess all of it. But it’s not a legal compulsion. Confession is humbling because it’s a sacrament of mercy and love. I go into that tiny chamber and I agonizedly admit ALL the evils I have been responsible for over the past week, aching with tearful remorse, and you know what happens next? God pardons me. Through His blessed Priest, He sends forgiveness like an ocean to wash away the stains of sin from my soul, so I can try again– better this time, wiser, humbled, more loving, more prayerful, more reliant on God instead of my sorry self. I strive to avoid sinning because I am utterly ashamed of it, yes, but why am I ashamed? Because sin hurts God and I love Him. Confession is flat-out admitting that I’ve been a terrible friend, that I’ve been a poor partner, that I’ve been a dishonourable child– to GOD, above all. And that love that I’ve failed to live up to is the absolute core of my contrition.
Confession requires humility, and humility requires love.
Go to confession. It will change your life.
“Make no mistake; God is not mocked, for a person will reap only what he sows.”
Galatians 6:7
I think about this constantly. It is an absolutely vital warning against hypocrisy, and the lethal danger of assuming God’s mercy.
Yes, God is merciful, but He is not a pushover. Ever. God demands holiness and righteousness. God hates sin and pride and lukewarmness. If we sow sin, whether through self-indulgence or unforgiveness or scandal or shirking responsibility, we WILL reap sin. God will not hand-wave it off because we’re allegedly “trying” yet know full well that we’re not trying hard enough. We can’t plant rotten, spoiled, half-eaten seeds and expect God to magically grant us a good harvest. No. We must do our part as Christians. We must HONOR GOD in our lives! Think about it– is your behavior currently testifying to the glory of God, or are you mocking Him by living like a sin-soaked citizen of this fallen world, and yet calling yourself Christian?
We will reap what we sow. In the end, only the wheat gets gathered up into the barn. Your very soul is at stake. Be diligent.
Effort is a reflection of interest.
How interested are you in your faith? Does it capture your attention more than the latest celebrity news? Does it occupy your thoughts more than your latest fandom? Does it claim your focus more than sex, food, travel, gossip, culture, and comedy? When you are bored and listless, do you pick up your phone or do you pray? Do you spend more time scrolling on Tumblr or studying Scripture? Do you put all your effort into faith, or fun?
If you were to die tomorrow, would the interests of today still interest you?
If your faith is lukewarm and stagnant, it’s a sign that your true attention is oriented elsewhere. Set your heart on heaven, not hedonism. We’re all guilty of worldliness in our own ways, and we’re all too aware that such fleeting pleasures never satisfy. It’s time to get our priorities in the proper order. Get interested in your soul, and get interested in your Savior. Everything else will follow.
“There is no prayer more agreeable to God, or more profitable to the soul, than that which is made during the thanksgiving after Communion”
- St. Alphonsus
In those moments, we are truly praying in the name of the Lord, for He is literally within us at that time. Physically as well as spiritually. Do you realize how numinously profound that is? After receiving the Eucharist, we have the honorable opportunity to pray in union with Christ. That is huge. Just contemplating it makes my knees weak.
We are so, so blessed. Our gratitude must be equally limitless.
Sometimes we expect God to make some big, existential request.
But perhaps you are useful to him just by existing and trying your best to live out the Gospel.
–An email from Ascension Presents
As someone living with a disability, who frequently feels useless and helpless in this world… this is deeply reassuring, and deeply moving.
God values my life right where it’s at. He brought me to this place and position for a purpose. Maybe all He needs me to do right now is love Him where I’m at, with all the humility and sacrifice and dedication that entails. Nothing bigger, nothing smaller. Just existing for Him. That is enough.
Thank you for sharing this.
"It took many years for me to reach the depths of the abyss in which God found me. Why would I ever think it would take less time, less effort to climb His Holy Mountain?"This is a profoundly humbling, hopeful truth. It’s a game-changer, really, on the path of holiness. We must be as patient as we are diligent.
Let us detach ourselves from the earth by a profound piety.
I’ve been praying for this every day lately. Oh, that every moment of my life would be like that– focused entirely on my Lord!
God, increase our piety through love of You, so that we may be affixed to You alone!
The Lord greatly loves the repenting sinner and mercifully presses him to His bosom: “Where were you, My child? I was waiting a long time for you.” The Lord calls all to Himself with the voice of the Gospel, and his voice is heard in all the world: “Come to me, my sheep. I created you, and I love you. My love for you brought Me to earth, and I suffered all things for the sake of your salvation, and I want you all to know my love, and to say, like the apostles on Tabor: Lord, it is good for us to be with You.”
St. Silouan
This moves me to absolute tears. What love God has for us poor sinners! When we feel lost in sin, we must remember this. We are all prodigal children.
It is so, so Good to be with our Lord… and best of all, He wants us to be with Him. Go home to Him. He is waiting with open arms.
there’s something beautiful that happens when God becomes your only option.
We are surrounded by a cacophany of sounds and signs and choices and options. So much to fill our minds to the point of overflowing. Yet what is it that is pouring into us and thus out of us? We feel that we have more options today than any day in history. And it is so. The truth, though, is that we have never needed more options. Our deception is in the desire for more. We have always needed just one. My God, how I have needed just one.
I am honestly moved to tears at this. It is absolute truth.
I have endured a great deal of loss in life. I have very little left in the world. But now, I see it was all by the loving mercy of God, for I never needed any of it– I needed Him. I need Him now; I will always need Him, and in Him, all my needs are met.
My God, You are the One I need. Just You. Only You.
…And I have You. By Your grace, by Your love, by Your Son, I have You… and oh, in that truth, You have me, too… and I neither desire nor need anything more, forever.
There is nothing more beautiful than that.
“The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”— St. Thomas Aquinas (via sic-deus-dilexit-mundum)
God is Love. God, as Christ Jesus, is truly Present in the Eucharist. In humbling Himself to become our bread, we see the depth and ardor of His Love… the Host itself is the living symbol of the ultimate Love of God, who sacrificed Himself to save sinners and then sought even further to dwell within their very bodies, making us holy and making us whole. This intimate union with Love Himself literally transforms us into that Love, through Him. Therefore we cannot help but grow in Love, as Love grows in us.
To receive our very Savior, so closely, so truly, so sincerely… how it moves the heart to tremble! Indeed, we cannot get any closer to heaven while on earth, than when we partake of the Eucharist!
You could write whole libraries full of exultations of the Eucharist and still never cease to have more to say. It is an eternal wellspring of gracious joy and gratitude and love. It is utterly wonderful. How blessed we are!!
“It is impossible for a person who prays regularly to remain in serious sin; because the two are incompatible, one or the other will have to be given up.”It’s like trying to pour two different liquids into a cup. The more we pray, the less room there is for sin… and vice versa. Eventually, we will become filled with one or the other, either vice or virtue, and that will spill out of our hearts into the world around us. The choice is ours, but either way, the cup will be filled.
-Saint Teresa of Avila
God please give me the grace to believe that You do forgive my past. That the guilt of my sin is washed away. Out of the darkness of my past you call me into Your light of today. Let my life be forgotten even as I have forgotten you. Be the life that I have forsaken, that Your love may pour out onto all that surround me.
Crucify me with you. This is the only path.
☝️Amen.
Forgive me, for I knew not what I did.
Correct me, so that I know what it is I have done.
Direct me, that I may do Your will alone.
You are the only Way, and you are the only Truth, and you must become my only Life. Crucify me with you, that I may die to everything else, and be reborn through Your merciful love.
“No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world.”— St. Ignatius of Antioch (via confessionsofsomeoneanonymous)
Christ alone is worthy, Christ alone is gain. Jesus, the Son of God, is to be treasured above everything else in existence, for He created it all, and is greater than it all, and will exist beyond it all. Literally nothing in the world is of any interest or desire to a fervent Christian, for they feel this fact in their very bones. Christ must be our world, our universe; our only home, our only love.
Meditate on this quote. Let it soak into your soul and ring from your lips. It is truth. May we all live it sincerely as such.
“If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude.”— St. Angela of Foligno
I can attest to this truth. Christ, our God become man, gives His very self to us as divine food, so we can literally make Him part of ourselves– so He can be closer to us than He was incarnate. The humility, the compassion, the love, are unfathomable and ineffable and heartbreakingly profound. But our heart grasps a glimmer, and that alone sets it utterly aflame.
May we always remember this truth, in every moment of our lives, and may we ever more adore the Lord in the most holy Eucharist!
“He who prays most receives most.”— St. Alphonsus de Liguori
Ask and you shall receive– but the asking must be born of honest faith! We must show our trust and reliance on God through frequent sincere prayer. God delights to help all who ask Him, just as any good father delights to help his children.
“I tell you, that every man who delights in his own will, and is subdued to his own thoughts, and takes up the things sown in his heart, and rejoices in them, and supposes in his heart that these are some great mystery, and justifies himself in what he does- the soul of such a man is a lair of evil spirits, counselling him to evil, and his body a store of evil mysteries in which it hides itself.”— Saint Anthony
This is EXACTLY how I thought and lived while afflicted with D.I.D. I was so obsessed with deciphering, cataloging, and exploring my “inner lore” that I had no time for God– even worse, was the fact that I thought I was spending all my time in worship, convinced that immersing myself in my thoughts and feelings was leading me to discover secret truths about God. Little did I know, I was only worshipping myself. I trusted the voices I heard, I followed their advice, I believed they were angels come to help me heal… but I forgot that when angels fall, they become demons… and that anything that idolizes “I” is a false teacher, no matter how mystical and beautiful and intelligent and gentle they appear… and no matter how loving they claim to be. Self-love is still pride, and a flower-strewn stroll to hell is still ending in damnation. And I had no idea. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
And then one day it all collapsed in on itself, and God swept me back up into His arms, and my heart suddenly, tragically, joyfully, devastatedly realized how abjectly hollow and horrid my life had truly been without Him.
Now, I see my past for what it was. I was completely deluded. I lost a lot of friends with this realization, as they claimed I was “no longer the person they loved” and that’s true. The person they loved was a self-centered fool, who didn’t even know who they were to begin with– because they didn’t know God. I was my own idol back then, and when I shockingly realized that my “friends” thought the same way about themselves– well, I had to cut everything off cold. I left it all behind and went back to Christ, utterly alone and poor and afraid and disoriented, but full of genuine hope for the first time in my life.
I’m still recovering. I still have a lot of toxic habits to unlearn. I still struggle with a lot of sinful compulsions. But God has never given up on me, not once in fifteen solid years of utter madness and “evil mysteries.” I am learning to subdue my will and humble my soul under God’s hand, and yes it is frightening and difficult at times, but the joy and love are ever present. That is something my mental illness never had. And by God’s grace, I will never go back.
I need to read this over and over, to remember the pit from whence I was mercifully dragged. Thank God, thank God, thank God!!
“Just consider the Christian who is trying, even in a small way, to save his soul. Everything around him inclines him to evil; he can hardly lift his eyes without being tempted, in spite of all his prayers and penances. And yet a hardened sinner, who for the past twenty years has been wallowing in sin, will tell you that he is not tempted! So much the worse, my friend, so much the worse! That is precisely what should make you tremble—that you do not know what temptations are….St. Augustine tells us that the greatest temptation is not to have temptations because this means that one is a person who has been rejected, abandoned by God, and left entirely in the grip of one’s own passions.”— St. John Vianney
This is SO IMPORTANT!
Temptation is a test for our soul. To be able to be tempted at all, there must be something to tempt us away from! For example, if you feel the temptation to steal, then you are aware that stealing is wrong, and this is a test for you– will you give in to the world’s coercion, to its mandate of selfish interest and desire, or will you resist, and stand strong in God’s will– to sacrifice our self-indulgence and suffer for the sake of Christ? Will you reject the desire to have more, or to rely on self sufficiency, instead of depending on God and trusting Him to provide according to His Good Will? To experience temptation means we are being given the opportunity to practice that choice… to prove the allegiance of our heart. If someone does not feel a “temptation” to steal, but instead takes what they want without remorse or even a sense of impropriety, then they are living so deeply in sinful indulgence that they have lost the very desire to do what is right, because they can no longer see it– they see their sin as being right; they see “nothing wrong” with their evil act, or even see it as justified, and thus they are blind to the very thought of another option, one of righteous self-sacrifice… and so they do not experience temptation.
If you struggle with temptation, then you are still fighting the spiritual war, and that is good– it means you are not a prisoner of the world. Christ has redeemed us from bondage, but He has not taken away our battles. The world is fighting Him to try and steal you away from Him, but Christ is already and forever the Victor… so no matter how much we may have to endure, we can do so with steadfast courage, knowing that ultimately, sin loses. Temptation is the siren song of the enemy’s strategy, promising us comfort and pleasure and excitement and power, failing to mention that we’ll die if we taste that fruit; no matter how delicious it may be, it is ash in our stomach, and can never satisfy. Resist it! If we must go hungry in this world for the sake of the Kingdom, so be it– for we have the Bread of Life, worth infinitely more than any earthly delight! When you are tempted, remember this.
The devil will never cease trying to lure you away from God, but no amount of empty riches or pleasures will ever amount to anything true or lasting. Seek God instead, reject the sinful urge, and hold fast to hope and prayer. Temptation will then only serve to strengthen your resolve to follow Christ. God grant us all the grace to set our hearts on Him alone, and to never be numb to the test!
“Withdraw your heart from the world before God takes your body from it.”— St. John of Avila (via by-grace-of-god)
We may die at any moment! We do not know God’s timing… but we do know His will for our lives until then– to worship Him, to love Him, to love our fellow man, and to live for His Kingdom.
If our heart is attached to the world, it cannot do those things, because love of the world results in selfishness, greed, lust, impatience, impurity, self-worship, idleness, desire, anger, neurosis, depression, hollowness, and all other such vices. That is because the world is fallen, and shackled to death through sin! So to focus on the world is to be enslaved to death. It is a prison with no hope of reprieve, and the existential dread of a worldly life is a terror I daresay we have all tasted at some point in our temporal lives.
Turn to God, for He is life, light, and love. When our hearts cling to Christ, they learn joy, patience, compassion, generosity, gentleness, purity, perseverance, hope, courage, wisdom, grace, and a multitude of other virtues. This is because now, our sights are set on a deeper life– on heaven, unity with God! This gives us the strength to not only happily let go of all interest in this world, but also to endure all hardships within it, because we are full of love for God and our hope is secure, so we can focus on showing and testifying to that love no matter what.
Our time is short, but if you’re still breathing, you can always return to God. If you seek life, renounce the culture of death. Live for the sake of your soul and its true home with God, and death will hold no fear for you.
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Blessed are they who hunger and thirst FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. they will be satisfied.
NOT the hungry alone! There is NO PROMISE that they will be fed physically. That is a bodily need, but spiritual need trumps even that. Our SOULS hunger WILL be satisfied.
Seeking the face of God, psalm 42-- hungering for Him. Jesus TOLD US how to see God-- God is IN HIM, and Jesus is IN THE "LEAST OF HIS PEOPLE." THIS is why saints are so zealous for the poor and rejected-- in them, THE FACE OF GOD-- who humbled Himself to be humiliated and mortified and suffer-- IS IN THEIR FACES!
