Essy Dias

Patience

Reflection Reading by Essy

Here we are on day 11 of what was announced to be a ‘wellness boot camp’. Anyone who is still with me may be starting to lose patience a little bit, wondering when are we going to get to actually do something. Maybe start a diet, or an exercise routine. But what we are trying to do here, is different. I want us to work together through the process of being able to fully utilize all that we have been given and receive all that Our Creator still wants to give to us. But…it takes PATIENCE. We need to allow Him to work in us little by little, step, by step.

Patience is trusting not only in God’s Word, but in His timing. Knowing that for now, this present moment and the lessons that it brings, is enough. We are enough! That as all of this really sinks in, the rest will fall into place too. Patience is not sitting back and doing nothing, it’s about ‘praying and obeying’ and then leaving the results to God.

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light from the presence of God. The Lord told the man He had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. He explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might — which he did, day after day.

For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, pushing with all his might against this massive, unmoving rock. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was getting discouraged, Satan decided to pour salt in the wound by saying to him, “After all these years, and despite your best efforts, the rock hasn’t budged. Why keep torture yourself like this? You’re never going to move it.”

These thoughts disheartened the man even more. “Why am I killing myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, give minimal effort and that will be good enough.” But in his wrestling, he decided to make this a matter of prayer.

“Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do what you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I haven’t even budged the rock a half a millimeter. What am I doing wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord compassionately responded, “My friend, when long ago I called you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your might, which you have done. Never once did I mention that I expected you to move it.

Your task was to simply push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But is that really true?

Look at yourself. Your arms are strong, your back muscled, your hands calloused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and rock hard.

Through opposition and resistance, you have grown much in strength, stamina and ability. You may not have moved the rock, but remember this: Your calling was to obediently push against the rock, to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done well, my friend. So I will now move the rock for you.”

Index

Introduction	Stepping into it, series intro.	video
	Week 1 intro	*Core intro
Thanksgiving	Day 1	*Attentiveness to God’s blessings
Commitment	Day 2	*To be all in for whatever the Lord wants of us on this journey.
Love	Day 3	*To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and others as ourselves. It’s at the core of who we are, not simply what we do.
Trust	Day 4	*Childlike confidence that He leads us step by step.
Kindness	Day 5	Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Focus on the Kingdom
Tenacity	Day 6	* Setting up a specific prayer time
	Week 1 recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE MIND What is health and wellness The Mind’s purpose is to envision God and Heaven (to see the unseen).
Endurance	Day 7	Our feelings and emotions Consecrating them to the Lord for His purposes
Forgiveness	Day 8	Effect of unforgiveness ph balance
Perseverance	Day 9	Mary’s help for the journey The Rosary The white ladder consecration video 2 (the rosary)
Acceptance	Day 10
Patience	Day 11
Humility	Day 12
	Week 2 Recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART AND MIND

Young Living

Acceptance

Day 10

Today’s reflection is a bit difficult for those of us with a tendency towards perfectionism to accept. When we hear about ‘acceptance’ we may think of giving in, accepting our lot in life and staying where we are. But that’s not really what this is about. It’s about not throwing shade on our current situation, not hating every little thing so much that we can’t enjoy the good that is there. It’s coming to a point where we can say ‘I’m ok, and I’m on my way’, my life is not perfect but it’s ok. It’s offering those things that bring us stress to the Lord and relinquishing them to Him. And then we stop fighting with it, we simply need to pray and obey! Listen to the Lord in prayer and then obey the little steps that He puts before us. Be open to receiving His graces. It’s about dying to our own will, so that we can live for His.

Index

Introduction	Stepping into it, series intro.	video
	Week 1 intro	*Core intro
Thanksgiving	Day 1	*Attentiveness to God’s blessings
Commitment	Day 2	*To be all in for whatever the Lord wants of us on this journey.
Love	Day 3	*To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and others as ourselves. It’s at the core of who we are, not simply what we do.
Trust	Day 4	*Childlike confidence that He leads us step by step.
Kindness	Day 5	Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Focus on the Kingdom
Tenacity	Day 6	* Setting up a specific prayer time
	Week 1 recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE MIND What is health and wellness The Mind’s purpose is to envision God and Heaven (to see the unseen).
Endurance	Day 7	Our feelings and emotions Consecrating them to the Lord for His purposes
Forgiveness	Day 8	Effect of unforgiveness ph balance
Perseverance	Day 9	Mary’s help for the journey The Rosary The white ladder consecration video 2 (the rosary)
Acceptance	Day 10
Patience	Day 11
Humility	Day 12
	Week 2 Recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART AND MIND

Young Living

Perseverance

Day 9

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary, very meaningful as we focus on Perseverance. I often like to speak about God’s beautiful and intelligent plan for creation. Well, Mary was a big part of that plan. Not only did she give birth to the Savior, but she’s now united with Him as we hope to be one day and can assist us on our wellness journey and help us to persevere.

There’s a story that I read about some time after the Lord gave me the insights on the circular staircase, it really confirmed things for me. It’s attributed to Saint Francis’ spiritual director…Fra Leo. He had a dream of two ladders, a red one of legalism and the white one of grace. At the top of the red one stood this solemn Jesus that appeared demanding and harsh. As hard as the friars tried to climb this ladder, they would only make it up a few steps and they would back slide and have to continuously restart. Then St. Francis told them to come to the white ladder instead. At the top of the white ladder stood Mary, who is full of grace herself and a loving, encouraging Mother to each of us who are in Christ. And they were able to persevere and make it to the top. Remember, Jesus IS the way! He doesn’t stand from afar calling us…He is there with us for every step and brings in all the help we may need.

I took this photo when I visited Portugal back in 2013. This white circular staircase is located at the parish church of the shepherd Children of Fatima.

You can read about my circular staircase HERE.

This week’s Marian Consecration video is on the Rosary. Coincidence? I don’t think so! 😀

Introduction	Stepping into it, series intro.	video
	Week 1 intro	*Core intro
Thanksgiving	Day 1	*Attentiveness to God’s blessings
Commitment	Day 2	*To be all in for whatever the Lord wants of us on this journey.
Love	Day 3	*To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and others as ourselves. It’s at the core of who we are, not simply what we do.
Trust	Day 4	*Childlike confidence that He leads us step by step.
Kindness	Day 5	Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Focus on the Kingdom
Tenacity	Day 6	* Setting up a specific prayer time
	Week 1 recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE MIND What is health and wellness The Mind’s purpose is to envision God and Heaven (to see the unseen).
Endurance	Day 7	Our feelings and emotions Consecrating them to the Lord for His purposes
Forgiveness	Day 8	Effect of unforgiveness ph balance
Perseverance	Day 9	Mary’s help for the journey The Rosary The white ladder consecration video 2 (the rosary)
Acceptance	Day 10
Patience	Day 11
Humility	Day 12
	Week 2 Recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART AND MIND

Forgiveness

Our thoughts, feelings and emotions have consequences in the physical realm of our bodies.

Day 8

Again, going back to what we were created for, to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him. What if He is calling us to ‘serve’ someone for whom we are holding a grudge? Maybe the Lord has given us a special message that they need, or vice versa. If anything is holding us back from being totally open to do God’s will, that needs to be resolved immediately. We are closing ourselves off from receiving the graces that were meant for us as well. We are all so interconnected, it’s like the feet being angry at the stomach…and making the whole body suffer by refusing to walk to the fridge. 😀

The other aspect of unforgiveness is how toxic those types of feelings can be in the long run. Our thoughts, feelings and emotions have consequences in the physical realm of our bodies. For instance when we start thinking of a delicious food that we love, our mouth may start to salivate in preparation of consuming it. Or if we start thinking of a project that we are dreading, then maybe our heart will start pounding. This is because at the cellular level we are Chemical beings and all Chemistry as we may have learned in high school falls into Alkaline(base) or acids.

Our wonderfully created body is the same, there’s a balance that must be maintained for health. For instance our blood needs to maintain a balance averaging around 7.4 or so. That is just slightly alkaline and it will do whatever it takes to keep it within a particular window or we would die. So the blood will draw necessary minerals from every other part of the body in order to keep us alive, it’s an extraordinary feat. However the rest of the body may not fare so well. That’s what happens when we are in constant emotional turmoil, our bodies need to work extra hard to keep us balanced.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Forgiveness, release, detox, alkaline, healing, wholeness

Young Living Essential Oils

“The lesson is simple:Give forgiveness and you will unleash a flood of grace on yourself and those around you. When you clench your fists and grit your teeth in anger toward someone, you have no room in your heart for God to place His hand in yours. Replace your clenched fist with an open hand and watch as God fills your soul to overflowing.”

Endurance

Day 7

This week we’ll be looking at loving God with our whole heart. But just like the mind itself which was created with a Divine purpose (for us to envision and desire heaven and remain focused on our goal), our emotions too were created by God with a similar Divine purpose, being the agent that draws us to Him. However satan’s big plan is to warp creation and as a consequence, there are so many of us suffering. That makes it all the more crucial to submit and consecrate this area to God, we can also ask our Blessed Mother to be a mother to us now. She’s endured all the heavy emotions of humanity, she understands our suffering.

Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic church has to say about emotions!

It is often said that the “heart” is the seat of the emotions, it turns out that this is not in our physical heart at all, but in the part of the brain called the Limbic System.

This explains why some smells can trigger some pretty intense emotions and memories. It turns out that certain scents can actually help in the healing process as well. Essential oils’ tiny particles can make their way up the olfactory bulb, to stimulate this part of the brain and different plants have different healing properties. I just love how Our Creator knew our needs and created all accordingly. So there are different oils that fit different needs. I will list a few below. I’m not a doctor and this is not an Rx. simply something that helps me. Pray and Obey!!!

Young Living

Week 1: Loving God with Our Whole Mind

Health as officially defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

I want to suggest that total wellness goes even further, let us take a look at what we were created for.

"Why did God make you?" The Baltimore Catechism says the answer is:
"God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him
in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next."

The following passage tells us what that entails.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your SOUL and with all your STRENGTH and with all your MIND, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27

(Psalm 139:14) also tells us that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. Our loving Creator has given us exactly what we need to accomplish His purposes…Mind, Body and SOUL. Then looking at it this way, ‘un-wellness’ or ‘dis’ease…becomes anything that blocks the way of this.

The first week we started with the Mind.

Philippians 4:6-9

⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent
or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received
or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be
with you.

(Please click on the underlined words to take you to a previous post on the subject.)

First we began with Thanksgiving which helped us to take inventory of all that we have been blessed with and put us in a position to now be attentive to and in turn to receive all the blessings that the Lord wants to give us. Then we made a Commitment to following the Lord and whatever path He may lead us on during this journey. We confessed our Trust in Him and His ways, and we looked at the role of love and kindness in the healing process and in defining our mission. Then finally the week ended with Tenacity and our need to keep going back to the ‘core’ for nourishment.

The Young living products that I find helpful for mind health.

Please check my YOUNG LIVING PAGE for more information.

Some of the books we looked at this week were.

Next week we will be focusing on Loving God with our whole ‘HEART”…which is the seat of our emotions. And we will also be looking at Mary’s role in helping us ascend the spiral stair case. Please keep checkin back. If you are doing this program with me, please leave a comment for me, either here or on my social media sites so that I can add you to my prayer list. I think the Lord is getting ready to release an abundance of graces!!! Many blessings to you all.

Tenacity

Day 6

In setting up our ‘Boot Camp to Kingdom Living’, it is imperative that we set aside some specific time for the Lord. We will be living in Him and Him in us, but to start we need to be deliberate. Even Jesus had to go away on occasion to commune with His Father.

My favorite time is first thing in the morning when the house is still perfectly quiet and the sun hasn’t quite come up yet. I like to read the day’s readings and reflect on them. This is where I get my ‘marching orders’ for the day. I think at this point, He speaks to me more than I speak to Him. It’s throughout the day that the more formal praying time comes in for me. But it’s this little quiet time with Him in the early morning that excites me the most. He knows exactly what my needs are and the best way to lead me. I just need to set time aside to listen.

It’s important to be tenacious about it or so many other things will come in to distract us and steal this important time from us. So to start, ask the Lord what the best time for you is, and then stick with it. It doesn’t have to be lengthy to begin with, it’s best to start simple and then increase as you feel lead to.

Prayer as communion (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
2565 In the New Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Kingdom is "the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity . . . with the whole human spirit."¹² Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ.¹³ Prayer is Christian insofar as it is communion with Christ and extends throughout the Church, which is his Body. Its dimensions are those of Christ's love.¹⁴

Here’s a refresher on what we are accomplishing here…

Kindness

Day 5

No matter what happens in the world around us, our mission never changes…and that is to bring forth the Kingdom of God. It’s so easy to get trapped in the news of the day, I’m very guilty of doing that myself. But today God is calling us to go beyond. To see each person we encounter as someone in need of the Kingdom and whom the kingdom needs. Whatever talents or passions we’ve been given, it is with that in mind. As Amy Coney Barret says, even “Your legal career is but a means to an end, and that end is building the Kingdom of God.”

Kindness then becomes the means in which this happens. Unlike the type of kindness that the world presents to us, like love…a watered down fake version. Godly kindness makes use of prudence to get the job done. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit where true love for the person before us can come forth, always wanting their ultimate good. So let’s start with ourselves and those closest to us.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

So for today, let us watch thoughts and emotions, and how they may be sneaking out in unexpected ways. It is said that out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Let’s make sure that our hearts, minds and souls are SO filled with Him, that that is the only thing pouring out of us.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Guardian Angels, so please dear Lord ask your angels to keep an arm over my shoulder and a hand over my mouth. 😉

Trust

day 4

Jesus I trust in You! I know that You lead me step by step, I don’t need a fully developed plan, I just need complete trust in You and to love You with my whole heart…like a child!

Today is the Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. Her whole message was about child like trust in God.

Today's Responsorial Psalm
I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

I believe and fully trust, that God is with me right now, that His Word is real and that He guides me step by step and feeds me with His Sacraments. I don’t have to wait for the end of this life in order to be brought into His Kingdom. The process begins here and now.

We can be filled with confidence…not self confidence as the world teaches us, but confidence in Him…that in Him and with Him, we can accomplish all that He has entrusted to us. There is no room for playing small in the Kingdom, we have all been given a huge assignment. And we all have through His grace, what it takes to fulfill our assignment.

I got this book yesterday, How to Pray Like Mary. It says LOVE the Word. L: Listen, O: Observe, V: Verbalize, E: Entrust

As a Third Order Carmelite, I learned to practice Lectio Divina, it’s what this book is about. Praying and Obeying.

Use it to greet each morning with a positive attitude.

Love

Day 3

Mary’s Mantle by Christine Watkins

Love is one of those words that our society has nearly completely butchered, it can now mean almost anything…but especially ‘tolerance’. However we are called to love as God does. Which goes way beyond just wanting the other to experience temporary pleasure. He wants the very best for each one of us … holiness…a life of grace. He wants us and every single person that we come in contact with to be in union with Himself.

God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God and God abides in Him
(1 John 4:16)

Our mission then becomes to simply love God with our whole heart, mind and soul. God IS love, so as in Acts 17: 28 “for in Him (LOVE) we live and move and have our being”. So love isn’t something we feel, or even do…it’s something that we as Christians ARE. This is our Core…it’s only from there that our ‘steps’ can develop. Our life then becomes love ascending to love. And each step we take, each cross we embrace along the way, it becomes a labor of love.

You can read more on LOVE at the link below.

Deus Caritas Est