Fifth Graders: Commercials & God

A fifth grade teacher in a Christian school asked her class to look at TV commercials and see if they could use them in some way to communicate ideas  about God.    Here are some of the results: scroll down   God is like BAYER ASPIRIN He works miracles. God is like a FORD He's got a better idea. God is like COKE He's the  real thing. (This is great) God is like HALLMARK CARDS He cares enough to send His very best. God is like TIDE He gets the stains out that others leave behind. God is like GENERAL ELECTRIC He  brings good things to life. God is like SEARS He has everything. God is like ALKA-SELTZER Try Him, you'll like Him God is like SCOTCH TAPE You can't see Him, but you know He's there. God is like DELTA He's ready when you are. God is like ALLSTATE You're in  good hands with Him.   God is like VO-5 Hair Spray  He holds through all kinds of weather. God is like DIAL SOAP Aren't you  glad you have Him?  Don't you wish everybody did? (that one is my favorite) God is like the U.S. POST OFFICE Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor ice will keep Him from His appointed destination. God is like Chevrolet. . .the heart beat of America   God is like Maxwell House. . . Good to the very last drop  God is like B ou n t y. . . He is the quicker picker upper. . can handle the tough jobs. . .and He won't fall apart on yBLESSINGS FROM MY HOUSE TO YOUR  HOUSE

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Blessings+
Deacon John

THIRTY FIFTH MEDITATION FOR LENT

John answered them, saying . . . "there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not . . . the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose." (John 1:26-27)

What a misfortune for the Jews that they had not known Him who was in the midst of them! But do we know Him who is in our midst? Great ones of this world, do you know Him--you who punish so rigorously the smallest faults against the respect due to yourselves, but who are so little touched by the outrages done to this Sovereign, whom you profess to know? You, common people, do you know Him who is in the midst of you--you who pay court so assiduously to those from whom you expect some favor and who are so reserved in the presence of those whom you fear, while you have so little respect in the church and hardly ever find a moment of leisure to come and pay your homage to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament? Finally, ministers of the Lord, religious, do you know Him who is constantly in your midst? And if you do know Him, whence comes it that you are so rarely in His presence? No, O Lord, we do not know Thee. I confess that hitherto I have not known Thee, but for the future my conduct towards Thee will show that I am beginning to know Thee really, since I will begin to love Thee truly.

[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]

The Fire of My Love "I Want to Know Him More" by Rita Ring, January 5, 1994

"Ecce Homo!" ("Behold the Man!")          Image via Wikipedia

I Want To Know Him More

January 5, 1994 8:30 a.m.
After Mass

R. After Communion this morning, I felt pain that I could not become closer to and know Him more. It is such an intense longing to know My Lord. It is painful.

At 6:40 a.m. I had felt very close to Him. I had reached the realm of losing myself in Him. My chest felt His love very close, all the way until I received Communion. Then I felt such sadness not to be able to experience Him deeper.

He is so beautiful and so ready to be in union with us. We must constantly be about deepening this union with Him. He creates a flutter in my heart, but also an ache not to experience Him with the intensity I crave. It is the magnetism of my Lord that powers my life and bids me to spend as much time as possible in prayer with Him.

I feel such sadness in my soul because I want so much more. This craving is an appetite in each of our souls and it increases as we know Him more and more. This is the pain of those in purgatory who know the Lord but cannot behold Him. It is indeed suffering to know Him a little, but not more. I have an ache in my heart for a more intense union with Him. I just want more of Him.

It is a bittersweet feeling of love and pain to know and love Him, but not be able to experience Him fully.

Jesus: Wanting to see and hear Me is to demand the ways of the body to communicate. I want to communicate in your heart. Your soul tends to the way of the Lord in your heart, in your spirit. Come to Me and feel Me in your soul. Feel the bittersweetness in the heart. It is I who deal with you interiorly. I need not words. I need not your eyes to keep looking, for this is to delay your communion with Me. Get lost in Me in your soul. It is a feeling you cannot describe in words. It is a feeling you only know in your soul. There are different feelings you experience in the soul, as you know in your heart.

Not all of your feelings associated with Me are the same. Sometimes intense longing, sometimes intensity to feel My presence, sometimes warmth, sometimes insights into My intense love, sometimes insights into other things: My might, My glory, My closeness, My sufferings--all feelings in the soul. I do not communicate to you in words. Oh, such things, all in your heart, are all but glimpses of your God. Be so tuned in to your heart and so aware in these periods of silence with Me. What is the ache in your heart? Love? Or is it longing? You will never completely experience Me on earth. Sometimes more ache, sometimes more love. Come and sit with Me and let Me enter into your heart. It is there that you know Me. You know and experience Me in the heart.

Such insights are given to you after Communion in front of the tabernacle. Wordy, you say, and such repetition? But who listens? You sit here, day after day, in an empty church, alone with Me, as others give lip service to My cry for their love. I sit a prisoner in the tabernacle out of love for you. I beg you to come and bring yourselves to Me. I cannot force you to come. You will never know Me if you do not spend time in silence with Me. I make Myself known in little glimpses in front of the tabernacle.

To those who are sick or elderly I come at their request, but, for you who are able, I wait, as a prisoner of love, for your time with Me. To know Me is to be with Me. Time alone in silence. I pour out to you such gifts and wisdom that no human mind can ever comprehend. Ask not what you get. Your aching heart tells you of My intense love! To know Me a little, but never enough. I communicate to you in the yearnings in your chest.

Become aware of your feelings with Me. How do you feel when you hug your lover? Is it words? No, it is a feeling in your heart. To love Me is to experience Me in your heart. So simple, you say? Yes, simple, but profound. I am the ardent love who waits for you to come. I beg for you to be with Me. Do you say no to busy yourself with such nonsense when your God waits for you? Oh, little ones, come and concentrate all your efforts on improving your union with Me. Do you say no to your God or do you come to Him Who loves you like no other? My ways I make known to you. You come and I fill you with such gifts as you do not comprehend.

R. I am filled with emotion to know this is truly the one, true God who sits here in this empty church with me. Jesus, Who walked the earth and died a brutal death for love of us, sits and waits for us here.

He gave His all for us. He opened His arms and died this brutal death for love of us and we do not have time for Him. It saddens my heart that no one is here to share His love, that He Who loved us so much that He came to earth and gave His life for us sits in an empty church.

This is not a myth. This is real. He is truly present in this tabernacle, this day. Let me, Lord, and all my brothers, know Your true presence here. Oh, God, I love You so.

I experience His True Presence. I am saddened here by so many things. He speaks in my emotions here. I am so saddened by this empty church and the empty hearts of my brothers. He loved everyone to His death. I am saddened by a desire to know Him more and more and not be able to know. But I am filled by His intense love and His goodness. Shout His love from the housetops and stand on the roofs. Declare the day of the Lord is near! Your hearts need the love He has to give! Come in flocks to His altar and worship Him in His might and thank Him for the gifts He has given to you. He is so good and worthy of such honor and praise. We are His chosen ones.

Jesus: Do not stay away, but flock here. Beat a way to the door. You tarry too much. You miss the whole reason for why you live. You have chosen such incidental things and passed up the golden treasures in the fields.

I am the Alpha. I am the Omega. I am your all. I am truly present and I wait for you. You tarry too much and you are losing precious time. Beat a path to My door and spend your days and nights with Me for I am your God, worthy of all honor and all praise, sayeth the Lord. Alleluia, Alleluia.

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[MaryVitamin] Our Lady encourages us during Lent

Mary Vitamin for March 31^st 

Faithful walk on their knees toward the Basilica of the Fatima Shrine. Image by Getty Images via Daylife

 Topic: Our Lady encourages us during Lent

 Quote:

Our Lady of Fatima

"God is pleased with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to wear the cords to bed. Keep them on during the day."

September 13, 1917

 Meditation:

For the children of Fatima,  zeal knew no bounds. So eager to offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners they willingly gave up their lunches, went thirsty during the hot day, and even wore ropes secured tightly around their waists. Jacinta, in particular, wore her rope so tight that it cut into her waist.

 Fr. DeMarchi remarks  in Fatima From the Beginning, "[t]his cord was the only thing in the world to which the children were attached and in the eyes of Jacinta and Francisco the sole object of value."

Available on line at EWTN   http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/TSFATIMA.HTM

 Our Lady knew of the penances of these young children who were all under the age of ten. Did Our Lady say, "Oh no, you've done enough. You're too young and little. You shouldn't tie the rope around your waist."

No, Our Lady did not say that.

She said: "Don't wear the rope at night."

 Resolution:

How can I say to myself regarding my very small sacrifices?

No, I've done enough or I'm too busy.

 I will listen to Our Lady. I will keep going with my Lenten penances and  take a break while I sleep.

 Marian Vow:

St. Maximilian Kolbe

"The Immaculata purifies us through penance. Let us strive to deepen the spirit of penance."

Aim Higher! (Marytown Press: 2008), 109.

 I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 Thanks be to God for graces received.

 Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate & AirMaria

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Visit Your Group 

 

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Blessings+
Deacon John

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El Greco's "Peter Weeping"

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #533

And apprehending Jesus, they led him to the high priest's house. But Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were sitting about it, Peter was in the midst of them. Whom when a certain servant maid had seen sitting at the light and had earnestly beheld him, she said: This man also was with him. But he denied him, saying: "Woman, I know him not." And after a little while, another seeing him, said: "Thou also art one of them." But Peter said: "O man, I am not." And after the space, as it were of one hour, another certain man affirmed, saying: "Of a truth, this man was also with him: for he is also a Galilean." And Peter said: "Man, I know not what thou sayest." And immediately, as he was yet speaking, the cock crew. And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: "Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny thrice." And Peter going out, wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)

THE REPENTANCE OF PETER was both real and supernatural. So great was his grief of soul for the sin which he had committed, that bitter tears of contrition flowed from his eyes. His contrition was also supernatural, and was indeed a perfect contrition, for he was sorry purely because he had offended his beloved Lord, and because he had increased His sufferings; for of all our Lord's sufferings the one that pained Him most was that Peter, His highly-favored and chosen apostle, should be ashamed of Him and deny Him in such a cowardly manner. Peter repented of his fall from perfect love for his Divine Master, whose countless benefits and graces he had repaid with such base ingratitude. Let us, too, if we fall into mortal sin, do penance at once, as Peter did, and awaken a perfect contrition in our hearts. His repentance, furthermore, was no passing one: his sorrow for his sin oppressed him all his life, and it is said that each time he heard a cock crow he was moved to a sense of contrition for his sin, and that his eyes were always red with weeping. All his life long he worked mightily for the glory of his Master and the salvation of souls, and unceasingly preached the Gospel, till at last he gave up his life for Jesus. Great was his fall, but still greater was his penance: and he has by his contrition and life-long saisfaction become the model of a true penitent.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)

THIRTY FOURTH MEDITATION FOR LENT

"And this is the judgment: Because the light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light." (John 3:19)

How deplorable was the blindness of the Jews! And what can they answer, when they will be reproached with the evils which they have brought on themselves by their blindness? You had the Light in your midst, it will be said against them, and you closed your eyes because you preferred the darkness. The Sun of Justice, so long expected, had risen among you. You refused to make use of this Daylight which was to make you happy. This same Light is still in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament, and are all Christians wiser than the Jews? Do all Christians make use of this Light? Is there not reason to fear that the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Eucharist, with His Sacred Heart ever ready to pour out on us the treasures of grace which It contains and of which It is the Source, will be the cause of our condemnation? Have we recourse to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and do we address ourselves to Him with confidence? Do we seek from Him the helps and graces necessary for us in various happenings of life? Alas! This Light is despised because people love the darkness, and this contempt will be the cause of their condemnation.

[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]

The Fire of My Love "Jesus With Us All Day" by Rita Ring, January 5, 1994

El Greco's Jesus carrying the Cross        Image via Wikipedia

Jesus With Us All Day

January 5, 1994

Jesus: Dear child, come unto Me and I will give you rest. I am the Lord of all and author of your life. You give yourself to Me and I write the book of your life. You do not worry. You do not fret. You trust totally in Me and I operate you as I need you.

Kneel before Me and pour yourself out to Me. Let Me possess your soul. You need silence before Me, and total submission. Will to let go totally of your all to Me. Focus on My intense love for you. It is constant and hyper-vigilant and I am with you, filling you up, always. When you operate, you do so with My will. Make yourself like jello, totally formless. You needn't prove anything to anyone for I am acting from your soul. Become selfless and unattached and hold tight in Me at every second.

Make your day a day with Me, your constant companion. Keep Me always in your thoughts and present by your side every second. You are never alone. I am with you at every moment. Focus on Me and My love. It is so intense and so warm! Make Spiritual Communions to Me and be alone for short times in an intimate way all day. Be in love and be with your lover all through the day. We share an intimate time, a few minutes here and there, just stopping to be in spiritual communion together. Our love develops every day as you grow in your union with Me. It deepens and powers your life. As our love deepens, your assuredness to operate is increased. You act always out of love of Me. This is how I want you to be. Your actions are directed by the love you feel inside. Your actions become powered by a mighty force. The love and life that radiates from you is My love and life.

Total communion with Me, all through the day! To see this world through the eyes of Jesus, to operate with the love of Jesus in your heart, you must become totally selfless and operate from My love. Stop and be in spiritual communion. Stop and spend time alone with Me, a power house, self-focusing, turning yourself back to Me and My love, recharging your worn battery in My heart. What an experience! I am here, little one. You need My constant power and love. I am here and you need Me to do as I will. Tap into the source all day, a quiet moment alone with your love, a few moments often to focus on Me and My love.

You are My light to this world. It takes energy and power. It takes My love to shine in the darkness. Come and be plugged in. I am always there and ready to charge you.

I love you so, little one. Stay so close to Me. You need Me constantly. I love you. Jesus.

Personal Note: My God is Jesus. When I get distracted, I have made something else My God. He comes first and last and He is what is important to Me. He alone do I serve. Alleluia. My focus is shifted to His heart. Alleluia.

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SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #532

And apprehending Jesus, they led him to the high priest's house. But Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were sitting about it, Peter was in the midst of them. Whom when a certain servant maid had seen sitting at the light and had earnestly beheld him, she said: This man also was with him. But he denied him, saying: "Woman, I know him not." And after a little while, another seeing him, said: "Thou also art one of them." But Peter said: "O man, I am not." And after the space, as it were of one hour, another certain man affirmed, saying: "Of a truth, this man was also with him: for he is also a Galilean." And Peter said: "Man, I know not what thou sayest." And immediately, as he was yet speaking, the cock crew. And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: "Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny thrice." And Peter going out, wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)

THE CONVERSION OF PETER was the work of the preventing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cock crew immediately after his first denial; and this was intended to remind him of his Lord's warning words, and of his own promise to lay down his life for Him. However, he paid no heed to this first cock-crow, and fell deeper into sin; for an outward warning is of no avail without the inward voice of grace. Even the second cock-crow would not have moved him in his distraction, had not our Lord at the same moment cast His gracious glance on the fallen apostle. With that one look which met his eye, grace penetrated the soul of the unfaithful apostle, and gave him light to see how low he had fallen, and how grievously he had sinned. His heart and will were moved, he detested his sin, and bitterly repented of it. Peter corresponded with the helping grace which was given ti him; he opened his heart to it, obeyed its promptings, and was therefore converted. To Judas also great grace was given, in the Garden of Gethsemani, but he resisted it, and therefore perished in his sins.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)

THIRTY THIRD MEDITATION FOR LENT

"The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here." (Matt. 12:42)

New Christians are found in Africa, India, China, and Japan, who travel more than thirty miles several times a year to have the consolation of adoring Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and of hearing Holy Mass. They count the fatigues of their journey as nothing when they have the happiness of assisting at Mass and of passing half an hour with Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. How many people will rise on the day of Judgment against us and condemn us! We have Jesus Christ in our own town, religious have Jesus Christ in their own houses, and they reckon this privilege as nothing. Some make so little of this privilege that they visit Jesus Christ only with indifference; many visit Him against their will and with hardly any devotion. Shall not the queen of the south rise in judgment against these people? And shall she not condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth, to hear the wisdom of Solomon. He who is here on our altars is greater than Solomon.

[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #531

But Peter sat without in the court. And there came to him a servant maid, saying: "Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean." But he denied before them all, saying: "I know not what thou sayest." And as he went out of the gate, another maid saw him; and she saith to them that were there: "This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth." And again he denied with an oath: "I know not the man." And after a little while, they came that stood by and said to Peter: "Surely thou also art one of them. For even thy speech doth discover thee." Then he began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus which he had said: "Before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice." And going forth, he wept bitterly. (Matt. 26:69-75)

PETER'S FALL SHOULD BE A WARNING TO US, to carefully avoid bad companions, and the occasions of sin; to remember our weakness and instability; and not to trust too much in ourselves, but to ask humbly for the assistance of grace. It was not without reason that our Lord taught us to pray: "Lead us not into temptation!" St. Paul says (I Cor. 10:12): "He that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!"

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)

The Fire of My Love "Unconditional Love" by Rita Ring, January 4, 1994

Image by costales via Flickr

Unconditional Love

January 4, 1994 6:00 a.m.

Jesus: I will never leave you. I am not like humans who wave about. I am your precious Jesus. Be so steadfast in My love! I am never going to leave you or forget you or not love you today or tomorrow. I love you, period! This is the beauty of My love. It is unconditional. Now you have found Me. Be sure I am here with this intense love that never dies. I wait for you like an ardent lover. I love you as the mother who loves her child, naughty or nice. She still sees them as little darlings. I want you to be good. I gave My life that you would live. Don't ever doubt My love for one minute, one second. This should warm your heart. I never pull My love away from you. It is always there. I love each one of My children with this intense love.

R. Oh, Jesus, You are so good. You are so loving and so worthy of all honor and praise. We bow to kiss the ground before You because You are worthy of all praise. Alleluia. You are so good!

And You came, Lord, and You are very attentive to my needs. You know and ponder all things in my heart and I am filled with Your love. I do not walk this valley alone. You escort me on my way and my heart is filled to the brim. Holy, holy is the one, true God and honored is His name for He came to us and died a brutal death. We are His chosen ones that He, God, loves us so much!

Jesus: Oh, ye, little child, I do love you. It is in troubles that I am closest to you and you learn the best lessons. Do not throw back to Me little trials I send you that help lead to your sainthood. Strive after holiness. Pray constantly and offer yourself to Me as your gift. I will accept your gift with much love. Your life is the greatest gift you can give to Me. I want to have a union with you. This union will take place, depending on how much you give of yourself. Give Me yourself entirely. Do not hold anything back. I am eager for your all. I will be united with you more closely the more you surrender your whole being. Hold not back for I am eager for you.

Go, My sweet one. I go with you. Smile and be My servant to the world. I love you.

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THIRTY SECOND MEDITATION FOR LENT

But Jesus turning to them, said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves and for your children." (Luke 23:28)

Has ever such love been known as that which Jesus Christ shows us on this occasion? His Sacred Body has been torn by the scourges. He has lost a great quantity of blood. He has become an object of mockery and derision to the whole people. And in this pitiable state, He is not concerned about His own sufferings. He feels only those which He foresees that we shall bring on ourselves by our want of gratitude. If there is any feeling in our hearts, what can touch them, if this will not? Jesus Christ forgotten, despised and outraged in the Blessed Sacrament feels more keenly the evils which we shall bring on ourselves by these acts of contempt, than the contempt itself. "Weep, My children," He says to us, "weep for your neglect of your Redeemer, your Father. Weep for your black ingratitude which you have pushed to extremes, weep for these acts of irreverence which you have committed so boldly in My presence; weep for so many sacrilegious Communions; for for your loss in refusing to know Me, or while knowing Me, in refusing to love Me." For what, then, shall I shed tears, O my Savior, if I can think of ingratitude without weeping?

[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #530

But Peter sat without in the court. And there came to him a servant maid, saying: "Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean." But he denied before them all, saying: "I know not what thou sayest." And as he went out of the gate, another maid saw him; and she saith to them that were there: "This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth." And again he denied with an oath: "I know not the man." And after a little while, they came that stood by and said to Peter: "Surely thou also art one of them. For even thy speech doth discover thee." Then he began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus which he had said: "Before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice." And going forth, he wept bitterly. (Matt. 26:69-75)

THE CAUSES OF PETER'S FALL WERE THESE: 1. He did not avoid the proximate occasions of sin; for at the time of his fall he was associating with the enemies of Christ. If he had left their company even after his first denial, he would not have fallen so low. "He that loveth danger shall perish in it" (Ecclus. 3:27). 2. He had paid too little attention to our Lord's warning words: "Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat . . . This night thou shalt deny Me thrice;" and he trusted too much in himself: "Though all shall be scandalized, yet not I. I will lay down my life for Thee!" When he said those words he meant them, for Peter had a very firm faith in our Lord, and an ardent love for Him, but he ought not have forgotten that he was a weak man, and that without God's grace he could not remain faithful. Our Lord had said to him but a very short time before, as they were walking up the Mount of Olives: "Without Me you can do nothing!" 3. He fell, therefore, through over self-confidence, and by neglecting our Lord's exhortation: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation!"

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)

 A friend sent me this and I thought is was cute, so I'm posting it here for you to enjoy and pass on to someone you like to share things with. God love you! Deacon John Rules from God for 2009 Rules from God for 2009 1. Wake Up !! Decide to have a good day. "Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalms 118:24 2. Dress Up !! The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7 3. Shut Up!! Say nice things and learn to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking. "He who guards his lips guards his soul." Proverbs 13:3 4. Stand Up!!... For what you believe in. Stand for something or you will fall for anything.. "Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..." Galatians 6:9-10 5. Look Up !!... To the Lord. "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 6. Reach Up !!... For something higher. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, And He will direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6 7. Lift Up !!... Your Prayers. "Do not worry about anything; Instead PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING." Philippians 4:6 Send this to the people you care about. I thought this was mighty special, just like you. Pass this on and brighten someone's day, and remember: God answers prayer.

The Fire of My Love "The Soul Craves Union With God" by Rita Ring, January 4, 1994

Image by Sidereal via Flickr

The Soul Craves Union With God

January 4, 1994 5:00 a.m.

Jesus: You, My child, must trust in Me. I am not going to quit giving you messages. I am your beautiful Jesus and I am very aware of everything that happens in your life. Do not worry. Do not think. Live your life for two purposes, love of God and love of your fellowman. You are My precious child. Such dignity, such honor I bestow on you! I am Jesus, Son of the Living God and I love you so. What dignity for all My beautiful children!

Hold tight to all I have taught you. I am with you in all your trials. I never leave your side. Pray to Me, child. I want you to pray constantly. Time is short and your prayers for others are the greatest help to this world. Do not question. Try to focus on love for your brothers. You are so lucky to have these letters. I want everyone to have these messages. Come and write for all so they may learn My ways.

You come, I am always waiting for you to be with Me. Jesus Christ waits for His creatures. What an honor that is for your feeble hearts--that the Son of Man waits on a creature. I am by your side. I am here in every trial you experience every day. Make people aware of how close I truly am to them. They are so lost in this world. They are unaware of how to save themselves.

I am the medicine for My children. I am He Whose bootstraps you are unworthy to tie and I wait to be with you every day at the altar. I wait and lament your passing, too busy for the Son of Man. You, in your pain, go to bottles, people, everywhere for the cure to your illness and nothing you try even comes close to the cure. And you, My little ones, miss the real cure in your busy little lives. Oh, but you must be on your way, you say. "I have to…and…and…" and the Son of Man waits for a mere creature!

You are sick and need the medicine only I can give you but you go to every other source but Me. Every man was created with a soul, destined for love of God. Every soul craves the union. Every soul is searching for this and is at unrest until it is settled in the arms of God.

Where do you go for the stalking soul? Do you go to man and try to satisfy the soul? What emptiness you find there! Do you go to material things to try to satisfy the soul? This is more emptiness. In your avid search, you miss that which alone will satisfy the stalking soul. The soul craves union with God. In your earthly form you will never know total satisfaction, but the soul can rest somewhat in the earthly union with God. Look no more, My little ones. Come and let Me love you. Your hearts find rest only in God.

I am He Who waits for your love. I lament your busyness and want you to come and sit with Me. Search ye no more for the heart is restless unless it is nestled in Me. Quit going to the world for the things of the Spirit. Come to Me, My little ones, and let Me love you as I desire. Be not empty and searching, but filled with the peace of God. Nothing can be as God to your heart. Your efforts to look elsewhere are in vain.

I am Jesus, Son of the Living God, and I wait for your love and your time with Me. Come, come, My children. Come to Him Who loves you. Search no more this barren desert for the things of God.

R. And He showered them with His love and He waited for their return. They went their way and knew that only He would quiet a stalking heart. Their hearts were no longer hungry and afraid, but at peace for having found the one, true God.

Alleluia!

He is our refuge and our strength. He pulls us from the troubled waters and we are saved from the hungry sea. We rest in the arms of our lover and we feel His greatness in our souls.

Come to Me, all who are weary. I give you rest for your troubled spirits. You wander in vain a barren land, while the land I give is brimming with milk and honey.

Oh, little ones, so foolish are you when your love waits. You search, you find no peace except in Me. Wander you the barren lands of the earth, but a search of such uselessness you undertake, for only in Me do your souls find rest. Your bodies will wither and fade and be thrown on a heap for the birds of prey, but your soul is made for glory. It will one day possess total union with God. It must be kept holy. It must be protected and nurtured and fed. It must be cared for by Him Who created it!

How do I make you understand? You dress up your packages. You care for every detail about your life here and I am God and I come first. All else receives its importance in reference to Me. Tend to the soul, My children. Come and pray to Me every day. Don't listen to this world. It is very sick.

I am your loving Jesus. Listen to My words and take heed of these things. I want to shape you to My love, but you are so stubborn! What more do I tell you? I died that you might live. Now I ask you to turn to Me yourselves. Quit listening to the world. It is so sorry. You must come and be fed by Me.

I am the Omega. I am all there is. You are sinking in your boats and you do not see the water coming in. Take the blinders off your eyes and look all around you. Pray for the Spirit to open your hearts and to shower His gifts. He will awaken your hearts to the things of God. You will see where you once were blind and He will lead you out of your troubled waters to a calm sea and peace in your hearts.

R. Alleluia. Praise Him Who loves you so! Praise the Spirit for He enhances our lives with His love. Where we were blind, we now see. Alleluia.

http://www.sofc.org/

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FROM MARK MALLETT:

Mercy in Chaos

IN coming days, God’s mercy is going to come in various and powerful ways—but not all of them easy. Again, I believe we are on the verge of seeing the last Six Seals of Revelation (Ch. 6) definitively opened in this era. Yes, I know—it sounds like "doom and gloom." But it "lies within the plans of divine providence" and is, in many ways, the only hope some souls have….

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES

Most all have heard the stories of survivors of near-death experiences. The common theme is that, in an instant, they saw their lives flash before their eyes. A victim of a plane crash in Utah recounted this experience:

A series of pictures, words, ideas, understanding… It was a scene from my life. It flashed before me with incredible rapidity, and I understood it completely and learned from it. Another scene came, and another, and another, and I was seeing my entire life, every second of it. And I didn’t just understand the events; I relived them. I was that person again, doing those things to my mother, or saying those things to my father or brothers or sisters, and I knew why, for the first time, I had done them or said them. Entirety does not describe the fullness of this review. It included knowledge about myself, that all the books in the world couldn’t contain. I understood every reason for everything I did in my life. —The Other Side, Michael H. Brown, p. 8

Often, people have experienced such an "illumination" moments before death, or what appeared to be imminent death.

MERCY IN CHAOS

The Great Storm that is here and coming is bringing with it chaos. The architects of the "new world order" have as part of their goal the reduction of earth’s population. John Paul II referred to this as a "conspiracy against life… unleashed" (Evangelium Vitae, n. 12).

With time the threats against life have not grown weaker. They are taking on vast proportions…. they are scientifically and systematically programmed threats. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Denver, Colorado, August 14, 1993, World Youth Day

This is the sinister result of a relativism which reigns unopposed: the "right [to life]" ceases to be such, because it is no longer firmly founded on the inviolable dignity of the person, but is made subject to the will of the stronger part. In this way democracy, contradicting its own principles, effectively moves towards a form of totalitarianism.—POPE JOHN PAUL II, Evangelium Vitae, n. 20

The new messianists, in seeking to transform mankind into a collective being disconnected from his Creator, will unknowingly bring about the destruction of the greater portion of mankind. They will unleash unprecedented horrors: famines, plagues, wars, and ultimately Divine Justice. In the beginning they will use coercion to further reduce population, and then if that fails they will use force. —Globalization and the New World Order, Michael D. O’Brien, March 17th, 2009; www.studiobrien.com

But it is this very destruction which God will use to draw souls to Himself who otherwise would not repent. When the World Trade Center towers collapsed, how many souls cried out to Heaven as they faced the last few moments of their mortality? How many repented as Hurricane Katrina brought them face to face with death? How many souls called upon the name of the Lord as the Asian Tsunami swept over their heads?

…and it shall be that everyone shall be saved who calls on the name of the Lord. (Acts 2:21)

God is far more interested in our eternal destiny than in our temporal comfort. If His permissive Will allows such tragedies to occur, who knows what graces He infuses in those last few moments? When we hear accounts from those who have had brushes with death, it would seem that there are great graces for at least some souls. Perhaps these graces were merited for them by the prayers and sacrifices of others or by an act of love earlier in their life. Only Heaven knows, but with the Lord:

…we know that all things work for good for those who love God. (Rom 8:5)

Perhaps a soul who rejected "religion" but "loved God" in so far as they truly and sincerely, through no fault of their own, followed their conscience, will be given graces of repentance as calamity strikes, for…

Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Pt 4:8)

This does not mean that a soul should wait until the last minute to depend upon such graces, nor willfully and knowingly reject the Church that Christ Himself has built as the "sacrament of salvation." Souls that do so are gambling with their eternal destiny.

RICH IN MERCY

God is generous, willing to give eternal life to the one who repents even "at the last second." Jesus told the parable of two groups of workers, some who began early in the day, and others who came in "at the last hour" to work. When it came time to pay them wages, the owner of the vineyard gave equal wages to all. The first group of workers complained:

‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?(Matt 20:12-15)

Then [the good thief] said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:42-43)

The flames of mercy are burning Me—clamoring to be spent; I want to pour them out upon these souls. —Diary of St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, n. 50

HOPE IN DARKNESS

St. Paul teaches that it is God’s will that all should be saved. Heaven, then, is doing everything possible in this late hour to arrange the opportunity for the salvation of the greatest number of souls, as much as freedom permits within the paths that mankind has chosen. Chastisements are coming in which the good and the bad will be taken. But it should bring us hope that, despite the coming darkness, light will be given in ways that we cannot comprehend. Millions of souls might eternally perish if they were to continue on as they have been until now, living out their last days to old age apart from God… but through trial and tribulation, illumination and repentance (even in a "moment"), they may in fact be saved by Mercy in Chaos.

God’s mercy sometimes touches the sinner at the last moment in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it seems as if everything were lost, but it is not so. The soul, illumined by a ray of God’s powerful final grace, turns to God in the last moment with such a power of love that, in an instant, it receives from God forgiveness of sin and punishment, while outwardly it shows no sign either of repentance or of contrition, because souls [at that stage] no longer react to external things. Oh, how beyond comprehension is God’s mercy! But horror!—there are also souls who voluntarily and consciously reject and scorn this grace! Although a person is at the point of death, the merciful God gives the soul that interior vivid moment, so that if the soul is willing, it has the possibility of returning to God. But sometimes, the obduracy in souls is so great that consciously they choose hell; they [thus] make useless all the prayers that other souls offer to God for them and even the efforts of God Himself… —Diary of St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, n. 1698

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We are preparing to launch a new webcast: Embracing Hope.TV. The purpose of the show is to prepare the Church for the events which are here and lay directly before her, giving hope and perspective according to our Catholic Faith. We’ll announce the launch of the show here.

Published in: DAILY JOURNAL, THE GREAT TRIALS | on March 27th, 2009 |