Author: hisservant

Daily Reflection – 5/17/2024

Sacred Scripture

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:15-19)

Reflection

“I love cooking!”” I love that movie!” “I love that sweater! “I love going for a walk each day.”

“Love”. A powerful word. A word that we trivialize by using as an adjective for things we like.

Perhaps we also trivialize it when we say, “I love God.” Why do I say that? Because loving God requires more than a descriptor. Loving God requires us to surrender our lives to him. The words are simple: “Jesus, I surrender my life to you.” Or “Father, let thy will be done, not my will.” When we do that. When we act on those words then we have defined the word, “love.”

Acting on those words requires us to have a totally different mindset. It begins by accepting the premise that you belong to God. That God walks with you each day.

If you accept that then try marking the hours of a day on that belief. It’s easy to say but difficult to do. You know that you are His child. Then knowing that how did you react to people, to events to the society around you? Would you have pleased Jesus? Were your actions and words those of love, of comfort, of peace, of healing?

If so, you are living His love.

The more you do then the easier it becomes.

He asks us the same question throughout our lives. “ Do you love me.”  Especially whenever we are on the verge of sinning. When the subtle gnawing of our conscience reminds us that we are on the verge of doing something wrong, it is Jesus asking us, “Do you love Me?”

How hard is it really to love Jesus?  He asks of us only two things: to love God, and to love our neighbors. Every sin contradicts one or both of those commandments. Each time an action, a spoken word, or a disrespectful thought, damages a relationship with another person, it also damages our relationship with the Lord.

Do you love Him so much that you are willing to sacrifice for Him? Do you love Him so much that you are willing to obey His will and follow His agenda rather than your own? Do you love Him enough to endure pain and hardship in this life? Do you recognize how great His love for you is, and are you willing to love Him back?

Jesus loves us and is with us every second of the day. Place your hand in Jesus’ hand. Walk with Him every step of the way. He will guide you and strengthen you and be with you whenever we need help to deal with life.

Jesus’ final statement to Peter was: “Follow me.” Today Jesus speaks those same two words to us! Will you follow him? Jesus longs to walk with you each day! The question is: will we walk with him?

Prayer of The Day

“Lord Jesus, inflame my heart with your love and burn away everything within it that is unloving, unkind, ungrateful ad not in keeping with your will. May I always love what you love and reject all that is contrary to your love and will for my life.”

Daily Note

Each of us, too, has had times when we haven’t been faithful to God, but no matter what our faults, Jesus wants to restore us to be capable of a love like his, of a total self-giving love in response to Jesus’ love for us. And he indicates to Peter and to us how to show it, by feeding his lambs and sheep, and tending his flock. In other words, the way we would demonstrate our love for him would be by sacrificing ourselves, by giving of ourselves, out of love for those he loved so much to die for. Jesus didn’t say, “Love me as I have loved you,” but “Love one another as I have loved you,” because our love for him would be shown in our love for his flock.

Daily Reflection – 5/16/2024

Sacred Scripture

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.” (John 17:20-26)

Reflection

As he entered his last hours on earth, facing indescribable pain and a heinous death, Jesus Christ took time to pray to His Father. And in those moments, he took time to pray for me and for you. In the last part of the High Priestly Prayer, he prayed that the love that exists between His Father and Him would be replete within us.

Even before we were conceived or our name was ever spoken, Jesus had prepared our way with prayer — a prayer of God’s love (“and that you loved them even as you love me”), a prayer of desired union (“I wish that where I am they also may be with me”), a prayer of indwelling and abiding knowledge and love (“and the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them”).

In a special way Jesus prays that as members of his body, the church. we would be united as he and his Father are one. The unity of Jesus and his Father is a unity of mind and heart, mutual love and trust, honor and respect. Because Jesus loved us first and united us in baptism we are called to live that unity of love. We know that love is the essence of our God. It’s no surprise that he would want that love to be a vital and living part of those that followed him. After all, his followers are to be the visible sign of His love for the world.

Are we a visible sign of His love for the world? Are we united in His love with one another?

It’s hard to believe that Christians today are living in that unity – it certainly doesn’t appear that way in the social media or the public press. Instead, they highlight the significant division that is taking place in our society. Personal opinions and political commentary have become the source of much turmoil during these uncertain times.

There is an incredible divide in the United States, and it has even permeated our Church.  It is our mission to strive for union with the Father and the Son and with one another. Unity does not mean conformity. That does not mean that we are mandated to have the same thoughts, opinions, or political perspectives, but we are called to be united “through Him, with Him, and in Him” as one body to spread the Gospel in our world. As agents of the Gospel, we must focus on showing the love of Christ to those around us. Even when we are faced with division, our hearts should be open so that we can “love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves”.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to love and lay down our lives for all who believe in Him. If we are willing to die for our brothers and sisters in Christ, how much more should we strive to live in harmony, love, and unity with one another.

I hope you believe that. There are days when I think I see rays of sunshine in Christianity and then there are days when I am defeated by the animus that divides us.

Why can’t we get it? If we profess to live the words of Jesus Christ, then our lives should reflect that. We cannot allow the passions of politics or entitlement to poison all that we believe! We must live the Word in all facets of our life, words, actions and in our hearts. It’s that simple.

Prayer of The Day

“Loving Father, your Son interceded for us on the eve of his passion and death so that we could become one with you. Help us to grow deeper in our understanding of what it means to live in your love, so that we may more completely be agents of the Gospel in our daily lives. Send down your spirit to heal the brokenness in our world and help us to open our hearts to your call of unity. We ask this through your son, Jesus Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Daily Note

Bitterness, anger and resentment are choices, but so are happiness and joy.
A true follower of Jesus makes the choice for the latter and not the former.
He allows the grace and power of God to determine how he will see and regard things, his life, his relationships, the circumstances and events that come his way, and he will never allow the darker shades of life to ever overcome his trust in Jesus’
promised presence.

Daily Reflection – 5/15/2024

Sacred Scripture

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them, I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.” (John 17:11-19)

Reflection

Every one of us, at some point in their life, has periods of self-doubt. With some, it is even worse because they carry scars from an earlier period of their lives. It may have been an uncaring parent, or a spouse that violated their marriage vows or a family member who hurt us physically or emotionally.

Whatever hurt has been inflicted on us has lowered our self-esteem. It has made us feel less worthy. It may have been caused by an addiction which seeks to dull the pain.

At those times of lowered self-worth that we need to hold fast to the words of Jesus Christ. The words that not only tell us of how much we mean to Jesus Christ but words that consecrate us to Him and to His father.

On the eve of his sacrifice on the cross and in the presence of his disciples, Jesus made his high priestly prayer: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that they may be one as we are one”. Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples and for all who would believe in him. Jesus’ prayer for his people is that we be united with God the Father in his Son and through his Holy Spirit and be joined together, in unity with all who are members of Christ’s body.

Those words may not resonate in you but there is still another part of those words that should. Those words were spoken by the Son who was born from love. God, the Father, begat His Son to choose us and to save us. We, in turn, are asked to reflect that love.

It’s all about love.

His father sent him on a mission of love to free us from slavery to sin. His father sent him to forge the love of the father into our very DNA. We are born of love because each of us is a child of God. By freeing us from the evil around us, we become a vital link in that chain of love.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) wrote: “God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between people. He has not created me for nothing. Therefore, I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am. I cannot be thrown away.” 

That is EXACTLY what we are.

No matter where you are right this minute. At the best part of your life or in the darkest of moments, hold onto that. You are part of the mission of God. Do I dare repeat that?

You are part of the mission of God. You and I are forged as links in a chain of love. You and I are together on a mission – to bring His word alive and in so doing, we create additional links in a chain.

You mean everything to God. Take His love and let it be your fuel on the journey of life. Never, ever forget His love for you. Never ever forget that you are a link in His chain of love.

Prayer of The Day

“Jesus, I am humbled by your commitment to me. Come, Lord, and fill my heart. Help me to consecrate my life to you.”

Daily Note

Jesus is suggesting in the gospel reading that the essence of eternal life will consist in being in a loving relationship with God and with Jesus. Eternal life consists in a communion of love between us and God and God’s Son, a communion in which we will experience God’s love to the full and respond to that love in full. All of the New Testament strongly suggests that this experience of loving communion with God will not be a merely private experience. Rather, our communion with God in love will at the same time be a communion with others.

Daily Reflection – 5/13/2024

Sacred Scripture

The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:29-33)

Reflection

Jesus knew the hearts of his disciples better than they knew.  He knew they would desert him in his hour of trial.  Such knowledge could have easily led to bitterness and rejection.  But Jesus met the injury of betrayal and disloyalty with supreme love and trust in his disciples.  He loved his disciples to the very end even when they left him alone to die on the cross.  He knew that the cross would not bring defeat but victory over sin and death. 

The last words of Jesus here are words of confidence and hope: “But take courage; I have conquered the world.” Even as he goes to his death, Jesus knows that victory will be his. He will overcome, through his cross, all the negative powers that try to prevent his love from reaching the ends of the earth.

Jesus speaks the same word to us today.  “My love for you is unconditional and I will never abandon you”. While we cannot avoid all pain and suffering in this life, Jesus, assures us that he will be at our side to guide us safely through any difficulty or trial we may have to undergo for his sake.

That gift is immeasurable. We will never be alone. When we are at the lowest point of our life, his love, his promise, his strength sustains us.

I know and understand that It takes courage to believe when we are faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles and difficulties of life. It is at times like these that our faith is tested and tried. It is at times like these when we have to ask ourselves whether we believe that God is still working for our good.

To have courage in the face of adversity, to believe in the face of trials, and to trust and have faith when everything seems to be going wrong, is to have the confidence in the Father that Jesus had. But that is our gift from Christ.

All we need to do is to claim it. How? We need to open ourselves to God’s abundant grace and realize the impermanence of all that assails us. It is to understand that this world is mortal, but the love of Christ is not. We can and will overcome the problems, sufferings and pain of this world if we sit with Him each day, ask Him to let His presence be known to us and take His love into our lives. It works because He promises us his steadfast love and constant companionship.

Take those words and that promise and make them real in your life. Let those words fill you, feed you and sustain you.

Believe and it will be.

The Lord Jesus gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit who fills us with expectant faith, persevering hope, and unfailing love to help us stay the course which he has set for us.

While we may forget the Lord and fail him, he will never forget us nor fail to come to our aid.

Prayer of The Day

 “Lord, help me to trust in your saving power, especially when I meet adversities and trials.  Give me your peace when I am troubled and let me know the joy of your victory over sin and death.”

Daily Note

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ and the victory he has won for us (Romans 8:35-39). The Holy Spirit gives us the strength and courage we need to overcome every adversity and to persevere with faith and hope in God. Do you believe in the power of Christ’s love for you and in the victory, he has won for you through his death and resurrection?

Daily Reflection – 5/10/2024

Sacred Scripture

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”(John 16:20-23)

Reflection

As Jesus approached his crucifixion, he tried to help his disciples. He knew that they would be faced with a huge challenge when they saw him die on the cross. To prepare them, he explained that this was part of the great story that he had called them into. Their grief would be turned to joy, and the story would take on a whole new meaning.

You and I have come in later in the story. We know about Jesus’ resurrection! We understand that the victory of the cross changed humankind and left its promise for all of us.

But at times we lose sight of God’s story. We forget that our joy comes from Jesus’ salvation, not from the story that the world offers us. Losing focus, we can begin to lose our trust that God is with us. Some even despair and live their lives around false prophets. But there is only the victory of the cross that truly opens us to eternal life.

If we can try to center our life in Jesus’ victory, we will know a joy, a stability, and a peace that nothing in this world can take away.

We need to make God our daily sustenance. We need to understand what is expected of us. We need to accept that every single one of us has a purpose and to fulfill that purpose, we need to find it and make it part of who we are,

How do we do that? It comes only through a deep connection with our God, one built on and sustained by a deep reservoir of prayer and daily living His word.

True faith requires work on our part. It is not simply prayer, nor is it simply studying the word of God, nor going to church, or availing ourselves of the sacraments. It is all of those combined with living out and standing up for our faith.

At times, in today’s world, that seems as if it’s a daunting task. But his disciples lived and taught their faith even to the point of martyrs’ deaths. The Easter victory of the Lord Jesus gives us courage, strength, and confident hope in the face of suffering and death. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ our fears are laid to rest. His resurrection is total and final triumph over death, and for us peace and joy in the confident hope that we, too, will be raised to everlasting life with Christ.

We will have trials in this present age -. but, through the eyes of faith, we know the outcome – complete victory over sin, suffering, and death in Jesus Christ.

His word, our prayer, our lives combined with one eternal and immoveable reality. Jesus is always with us. Today Jesus is certain to come to us.  Never forget that you are part of an epic story. You are one of the “great cloud of witnesses” whose lives have been changed by the Lord (Hebrews 12:1). You aren’t just a passive observer; you’re an active participant. You have a role to play today in moving this story forward.

Prayer of The Day

“Lord, I surrender my anguish and burdens to You.  I unite them to Your Cross and trust that You will be there in all things walking with me through my life.  May I keep my eyes on the goal and rejoice in Your steadfast love.  Jesus, I trust in You.”

Daily Note

Jesus wants his disciples to know and believe that after the difficult days of his crucifixion and death, new life will come forth for them.  Jesus also wants us to know and believe that after our difficult days, we also will experience new life.  Once again, we will see him and experience His presence with us.   We will be able to rejoice when Jesus gifts us with new life and hope.

Daily Reflection – 5/9/2024

Sacred Scripture

“A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ [of which he speaks]? We do not know what he means.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” (John 16:16-20)

Reflection

I am sure you remember, as I do, driving in a car with a small child to a special destination. The child was filled with excitement and anticipation. In one way or another, the child asked: “How much longer before we get there?” Perhaps you were the child and you asked the question.

All the joy felt by the child was well and good. Their full attention was on the destination. For that moment in time, there was nothing else.

As adults, we tend, at times, to slip into the same mode. If it is a moment of celebratory joy, we focus with great anticipation on that moment. We focus on the “how long question.” If we have problems and distress, we pray for relief and/or strength to carry us through. We focus not only on the “how long” but we often add the “why” question.

Jesus had to prepare the disciples psychologically for the sufferings they would encounter. He was teaching them to look beyond the moment and even the event. This is what Jesus Christ is trying to tell us today. That while we are here on earth we will have to suffer, weep and mourn for the sake of the Kingdom of God especially because that which the world does is the opposite of what God wants the world to do.

Human frailty, vanity and ego often get in the way of the Lord. When that happens, we know the evil one abounds. The goal of evil is to separate us from the One who loves us so completely.

For our sake and for our salvation, we must remember that Jesus is always here and providing for us. There is no need to worry or to be afraid. There is no need to doubt. In our darkest moments is when we must let His love and light shine in our hearts.

 If we keep striving to follow Him and to serve Him in our lives, then we will certainly see Him in our lives now and at the moment we pass over. And just like the moment that a mother sees her newborn baby, there will be nothing but joy at that moment when we see our Jesus.

As we look beyond the horizon, we must always remember that the certainty of the Resurrection is the certainty of newness, of new life for us. A prisoner has joy in being set free from captivity. But that joy is complete and made full when he or she puts the walls of the prison far behind them and in righteousness and confidence, really enjoys a life of freedom.

The brilliant light that lies beyond the horizon is that after all these sufferings, paradise awaits us in heaven where we will join the communion of Angels and Saints to live happily and eternally in the presence of God.

Prayer of The Day

“Lord, I do want to gaze upon You.  I want to see Your splendor and glory.  I want to see You risen from the dead and take great joy and delight in this reality.  Help me, dear Lord, to experience the incredible joy that comes from knowing You, our Resurrected Lord.  Jesus, I trust in You.”

Daily Note

Reflect, today, upon your own reaction to the reality of the Resurrection of our Lord.  Spend some time today gazing upon the Risen Lord.  Look at His victory.  Look at His glory.  Look at Him who calls you to a deep faith.  With your eyes fixed on Him, all else that tempts you to discouragement simply fades away.

Daily Reflection – 5/8/2024

Sacred Scripture

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-15)

Reflection

The disciples stood on the beginning of a world about to be transformed by the teachings of Christ.

Yet, at that time, Jesus’ teachings, rich in wisdom and parable, often left more questions than answers. But there was a promise from Christ– a beacon of hope that said they would never walk alone; that they would be equipped to continue their mission beyond what they could then comprehend. This promise was the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We see this promise fulfilled at Pentecost, where the disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, went beyond their human limitations to bear witness to Christ in a myriad of languages and missions. But what does all that mean for us today?

To understand that we can turn to the wisdom offered by Augustine of Hippo, who poetically wrote about the restless yearning of the human heart for God. “You have made us, O God, for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Within that statement, there is an intrinsic truth about our nature and desire. In our choices, relationships, and even our dreams, we knowingly or unknowingly, seek and pray for the presence of God — for we know that every good and perfect thing flows from Him.

Thomas Aquinas wrote a complementary perspective, stating that our inherent human orientation is towards God’s goodness because of our divine creation. We are, according to Aquinas, “hardwired” to pursue goodness because it reflects the ultimate good that is God.

Here is where our humanity is tested. It’ s not the inclination towards desiring God that we find challenging, for that desire is etched into our very being. But the true trial lies in distinguishing the genuine goodness of God from all the illusions created by humankind.

THAT is where the indispensable role of the Holy Spirit in our lives comes into prominence in our lives (John 16: 12-15.). Jesus, understanding the limitations of human comprehension and the vast expanse of divine wisdom yet to be revealed, promised the Spirit of truth to his disciples. The Holy Spirit is not a mere external guide but an indwelling presence that directs us towards the profound truths of God’s kingdom, helping us discern the real from the guise, the everlasting from the ephemeral.

Jesus assured his disciples, and by extension, us, that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all the truth…and declare to you the things that are to come.” This assurance holds a promise of continuous revelation and guidance, a beacon that not only reveals God’s wisdom, power, and glory but also invites us into a deeper communion with Him. Through the Holy Spirit, we are offered a glimpse into the boundless joy and freedom found in living within God’s love and truth.

The Holy Spirit awaits us, desiring to guide our lives toward the genuine good for which we were created. In acknowledging this divine gift, we are invited to explore the depths of our desire for God, allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate our path, clarify our choices, and lead us into the fullness of truth.

May we open our hearts to the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit, trusting in the divine wisdom that leads us to the fulfillment of our deepest yearnings and into the loving embrace of God.

Prayer of The Day

“Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and guide me in your way of life, truth, and goodness. Free me from ignorance of your truth, and from deception and moral blindness caused by sinful pride and the refusal to believe and obey your word of truth. May I love you with all of my heart, mind, and strength, and seek to please you in all things.”

Daily Note

Jesus knew that his disciples could not fully understand on their own everything he had taught and revealed to them while he was physically present with them. He knew that they would need the ongoing guidance and help of the Holy Spirit after he returned to his Father in heaven. That is why he assured them that the Holy Spirit would take what he had spoken to them and guide them into a fuller understanding of God’s wisdom, power, and glory he wished to share with them so they could live in the joy and freedom of his love and truth.

Daily Reflection – 5/7/2024

Sacred Scripture

But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.( John 16:5-11)

Reflection

Have you ever thought about how our life is filled with good-byes?

It begins in our earliest years as we pass from one threshold of age to another. In each threshold, there is a good-bye to someone or something. As we grow older the good-byes multiply to people, places, milestones, things. Admittedly, it is true that most good-byes are followed by a “hello” to another person, place or event. But saying good-bye is always difficult.

The Apostles knew about saying good-bye. They had already said good-bye to their former lives to follow Jesus. So, their hearts are filled with the sadness each of us has known when we say good-bye permanently. But our good Lord knows their hearts and in this Gospel passage, he not only reassures them of not being alone but also lets them know why they are receiving this gift.

I sometimes think we don’t truly appreciate and recognize what it is that Jesus is saying here.  It was necessary that Jesus leave, because He wanted to send us something very special.  Now just think about that for a second.  Why couldn’t Jesus have simply remained with us, and sent the Holy Spirit?  Why was it necessary for Him to leave for the Holy Spirit to come?  How on earth is this a better outcome?  The answer is Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit is sent to complete God’s work in us.  While Jesus takes on human flesh and becomes one of us, the Holy Spirit enters into humanity to become one in us.  I think it is worthy of silent reflection to bask in the awe that God has united Himself to us in this way.  We have the Holy Spirit in us, and He shares with us His gifts, His power, His life!  No longer are we children of darkness and sin, but the Holy Spirit has transformed us into children of God. There is a profound realization in the belief that the Holy Spirit is within each of us. What is that realization?

Our life are not  defined by our weaknesses, our failures, our sins, our fears. Instead, our life is defined by His love and our measure of that is living up to the love He has for us.

Each of us is a temple of the Lord because God, through the Holy Spirit, resides in us.

I pray earnestly that each of you takes that into your heart and begins to live each day free of anxieties, free of thoughts regarding what you could have/should have done. Live knowing His love of you and let that be THE definition of your life!

When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to come and burn the hearts of His early disciples so that they may all remain united to Him and the Father, so that they may be one with Him in both spirit and in truth, He had in His heart the intentions of every person of all generations. He had all of us in His heart so that we may be filled by His presence, so that we may have Him always despite all that may come to separate us from Him.

Jesus’ love for us is constant and His kindness endures forever.

Prayer of The Day

“Come Holy Spirit, and let the fire of your love burn in my heart. Let me desire only what is pure, lovely, holy and good and in accord with the will of God and give me the courage to put away all that is not pleasing in your sight.”

Daily Note

Saying goodbye permanently to a loved one or a friend is always a heart wrenching experience. We may even wish that there would be no more goodbyes anymore. But the reality of life is that we shall say goodbye permanently someday whether we like it or not, we shall say goodbye on a time that God has willed for us. But let us not allow our goodbye be a forgetful experience by not doing something indelible in the lives of our fellowmen. As we live in this world let us do something good that will remain forever in the minds of those who know us. So that when our time to say goodbye comes, our beautiful deeds will forever be imprinted in the hearts of those who know us.

Daily Reflection – 5/6/2024

Sacred Scripture

But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. . . .I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. (John 15:26-16:4)

Reflection

We all have moments of doubt. We all have moments when we evaluate the morality of a thought, a word, an action. We all have moments when the beauty and goodness of God shines bright through the deeds of another.

Throughout all of those moments is a constant. A constant that we might overlook at times. That constant is throughout scripture – from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelations.

That constant is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is and was a gift of God. We have been given the Holy Spirit to help us live as disciples of Jesus Christ. The Spirit gives us courage and perseverance when we meet adversities and challenges. The Spirit gives us wisdom when we contemplate a decision. The Spirit is the breath of God that each of us has.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the scriptures are always showing us what the Spirit does? Tracing those actions is important, because what the Spirit does tells us what God does. A history of the Spirit’s actions etches a portrait of our invisible God. We can identify seven actions of God’s Spirit within the scriptures. God’s Spirit creates, sustains, saves, judges, inspires, equips, and guides.

And that is the gift.
The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to know God personally. He gives us experiential knowledge of God as our Father. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the knowledge, wisdom and plan of God for the ages and the Spirit enables us to see with the “eyes of faith” what the Father and the Son are doing. Through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit we become witnesses to the great work of God in Christ Jesus.

this promised power from on high, this One whose task is to make Jesus present to us at our every breath, making us participants in his work–whether we are conscious of it or not.

Each of us is Christ’s minister of grace in our homes, our work places, our communities, our families and among our friends. That is where each of us lives out the Spirit. In those moments when we live out the presence of the Spirit, each of us becomes an icon of Christ.

Each day when we listen and open our hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we become part of Cristian history spanning more than two millennia. While each of us may not find our way into published history, each of us perpetuates that history.

The Advocate is here, among, with, and in you and me–the chosen. The chosen. Think about that as you move through life.

Prayer of The Day

“Come, Holy Spirit, come and fill us with your power. Come and fill us with truth. Come and fill us with Christ Himself that we may bear him faithfully in our lives. This we ask in His name and for His sake. Amen.”

Daily Note

Jesus offers his disciples the best and truest of friends. Who is this promised friend? Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our counselor and advocate. Counselor is a legal term for the person who defends someone against an adversary and who guides that person during the ordeal of trial. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and Helper who guides and strengthens us and brings us safely through the challenges and adversities we must face in this life.

Daily Reflection – 5/3/2024

Sacred Scripture

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” (John 15:12-17)

Reflection

“Love one another.”

The beauty and the power of those words have reverberated throughout Christianity since they were first uttered.

On the face of it, the words are simple. But to most, the power of living those words seems almost herculean. After all, as humans, we are subject to human frailties . . . anger, self-pity, inadequacy, emotions, sadness, fatigue and more. How can we rise to the challenge of loving one another as He loved us?

We can IF we focus on a key phrase of this discourse by Jesus. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” We live in a time when we have deep fear about our personal powerlessness. Institutions and problems seem to not only dwarf us but to consume us.  But we are not powerless. God created us for a purpose. Jesus reminds us that each of us is chosen. Yes, you and I have been chosen.  We need to internalize that before we can open ourselves to the task of loving.

But even more empowering is that Jesus promises that our love will not only bear fruit, but fruit which abides. In other words, lives motivated by love have meaning. They’re fertile.  They’re powerful. They live. Think for a moment of the child you were or a child that was part of you. Isn’t that love powerful? Isn’t that love a thing of beauty? Isn’t that love a treasure? You chose, either through parentage, or adoption, or family to foster that love. Having fostered that love, there is nothing that you would not do . . . including laying down your life for that love.

Again, reflect, understand and then embrace the fact that you are chosen by God. Chosen to be part of His plan of salvation. You and I are not mere mortals or pawns on a chessboard. You and I are individuals chosen to fulfill His gospel of love.

And once we grasp it, then we need to understand that we are fueled by a power far greater than we could imagine. Jesus tells us that he is our friend and he loves us whole-heartedly and unconditionally. He wants us to love one another just as he loves us, whole-heartedly and without reserve. His love fills our hearts and transforms our minds and frees us to give ourselves in loving service to others. If we open our hearts to his love and obey his command to love our neighbor, then we will bear much fruit in our lives, fruit that will last for eternity.

Remember those words. You are chosen. You are appointed. Your witness of love will and does enable others to love, to believe and to hold on to His promise. May God grant each of us the unselfish love to hear His voice . . . and the courage to act on it by following His call.

Prayer of The Day

“Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola)

Daily Note

No matter how “unqualified” we may feel at times to make a difference, we must remember that God does not see us that way. Rather, He sees the infinite potential within each of us and chooses to use that potential for the building up of His Kingdom. Reflect, this day, on those two short phrases: “I have chosen you” and “Go and bear fruit.” Accepting your call from God will change your life and will also change the lives of those whom you are called to serve.