April 30, 2010 at 10:51 am (General)
Tags: faith, Hope, prayer, Trust
All I have to say is God makes sure you don’t forget a lesson anytime soon and that you hold onto your trust in Him. One way of doing that is to let you sweat it out until the last minute. In the end, it has always worked out for me, and I think it’s because I never lost faith in Him. All Praise and Glory to GOD!
–Peace Be With You
April 30, 2010 at 9:42 am (General)
Tags: Christian, Guidance, Life, Lifestyle, Peace
Reading 1 Acts 13:26-33
Responsorial Psalm 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11ab
Gospel John 14:1-6
Excerpts:
John 14:5-6
5
Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”
6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Reflection: Whenever I am lost or troubled or sad or upset, I think of Jesus Christ and His life and teaching. If I want to know the way to live, then Jesus Christ is the Way. Recalling past readings and reflections, I believe the Holy Spirit helped to me to better understand what it means to know Jesus is within me and to see Jesus in everyone and everything. It may have been crystal clear to other people what this meant, but I don’t think I fully understood until recently.
To remember Jesus is within me and to see Him in everything/everyone is to know we were created in His image and that He created everything in this natural world, this universe. Everything has been touched by Him. I realized that when I looked at myself or another person, I was able to see a glimpse of Jesus, some perspective or piece of Him in everyone. I think if I try hard enough, that would be the case in any person. As far as the natural world, I only need to see the beauty, the love, the balance that is Jesus. He is the Way. He puts it in front of us every second of the day. We only need to understand and look for it to see Him. Also, the better I know and embrace the gifts He blessed me with, the better I can use them for His purpose.
I have to admit blogging about the daily readings has truly brought me closer to God, in love for Him and, in understanding His Will.
–Peace Be With You
April 29, 2010 at 8:49 am (General)
Tags: Catholic, Holy Bible, Jesus Christ, reflection
Reading 1 Acts 13:13-25
Responsorial Psalms 89:2-3, 21-22, 25 and 27
Gospel John 13:16-20
Excerpts:
John 13:16-17
16
Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17
If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
Reflection: God is within us, but we are not Gods. We are only servants, who are to imitate our Lord, Jesus Christ, to the best of our given gifts. Remember, all that we are is because God allowed it. We do nothing without His permission, and though sometimes we do not understand His Will, We can trust He always has his children’s best interest at heart. Everyday, know God is within you and look for Him in everything and everyone around you. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you serve God’s Will. Look for His purpose in everything you do. That way, your mind is always focused on Him, and it will help you stay away from temptation.
–Peace Be With You
April 28, 2010 at 9:48 am (General)
Tags: Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ
Reading 1 Acts 12:24—13:5a
Responsorial Psalm Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6 and 8
Gospel John 12:44-50
Excerpts:
John 12:47
47
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
Reflection: I chose this excerpt because it shows me that Jesus came to down from Heaven to show us how to be saved. He lived His life as an example for us to follow. He not only spoke His Father’s Words, but He Lived them out. And that is what we should do. He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us live out what He has taught. Do more than know what Jesus taught, but also live those Words and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us. The Word is alive in what we do.
–Peace Be With You
April 27, 2010 at 5:18 pm (General)
Tags: prayer, prayers
I have been praying to God to keep me from a certain moment of temptation, so I would not fail Him, and to guide me to be faithful, but it seemed so inevitable that I would be faced with the temptation and fail. Today, the test came and went, and I can say He answered my prayers and did not even let me confront the temptation! God is great! He answers prayers that are according to His Will.
–Peace Be With You
April 27, 2010 at 9:13 am (General)
Tags: battling sin, Christian, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, pray, prayers, pride, self-centered
Reading 1 Acts 11:19-26
Responsorial Psalm Ps 87:1b-3, 4-5, 6-7
Gospel John 10: 22-30
Excerpts:
Acts 11:25-26
25
Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
26
and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
Psalm 87:7
7
So all sing in their festive dance: “Within you is my true home.”
John 10:27
27
My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Reflection: I chose the Acts excerpt because it mentions the first time the disciples were called Christians–a significant event in the history of our faith. The Psalm and the Gospel show me to remember that God is within all of His believers and followers. Whatever we do in our day-to-day lives, God is not only with us as we do it, but also within us. Everything we do represents our Lord. That helps me remember to always think of Him because I would not want to do something that doesn’t approve of. Although, we are not perfect. There will be times of weakness, but the Lord knows that. Don’t be discouraged. Be sorry and ask for forgiveness and then work towards being better, just as we do in other things in our lives. We work at it.
There is something else I’ve been thinking about recently. The more we recognize or admit our faults, the sooner and better we can work towards dealing with them and becoming better children of God. living more holy lives. I have been focusing on the common 7 cardinal sins or 7 deadly sins as they may be referred to in some contexts. If one could only avoid these sins, it seems one could almost guarantee living a holy life. I have noted these 7:
Envy
Greed
Gluttony
Sloth
Lust
Wrath
Pride
Of the 7, the worst and root of them all is pride. It is rooted in self-centered concerns. I thought how could I battle this sin.
My current solution: Humility. That is simple enough, right? If pride is being self-centered directly or indirectly, I thought to remove oneself from the equation. Don’t we always pray and know that all we do is not possible without the Lord making it possible? So what could we possibly be proud of, except for the pride we have in our God for giving us our lives and everything in it. Our only concern should be the things that concern God. If we focus on pleasing Him as in living a Holy life, then our concern would be only for impressing Him and no one else. We will not care what others think of us nor would we care what other are doing.
I think this also ties into a movie I recently watched. The movie was called The Joneses. It reflects our society today with the on-going chase to obtain the newest and best material things and living the best and wealthiest lifestyle–to please ourselves or others, but not to please God. Do those things concern God? Remember
Luke 16:13-14
13
No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
14
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him.
–Peace Be With You
April 26, 2010 at 9:03 am (General)
Tags: Jesus Christ, the Gate, the Good Shepherd
Reading 1 Acts 11:1-18
Responsorial Psalm Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4
Gospel John 10:1-10
Excerpts:
John 10:7-10
7
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.
8
All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9
I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.
10
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
Reflection: This seems very straightforward to me. Jesus is the gate to eternal life in heaven. Follow Him as you would enter a gate.
–Peace Be With You
Catholic Words 