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“If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

via USCCB | NAB – April 15, 2011.

Obedience, no matter the cost is what the Christian life is about…this is what Jesus taught us on the Cross. Fortunately He does not leave us alone to perform these ‘works’, He stays with us and provides us with His grace every step of the way.

“I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God.”

USCCB | NAB – April 14, 2011.

This is what makes heaven to me so appealing…its permanence.

“Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
break forth into song, you mountains.
For the LORD comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.”

The Lord was showing me today the importance of rejoicing in Him and praising Him for all that He has done! My Heavenly Father spoils me terribly, and all He wants in return is my love, appreciation and praise.

“Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.”

Sometimes I have a hard time living in the present moment and part of the reason is because I’m so attached to the past. God wants to do a new thing…in me and in all of us. We need to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and act in obedience. Sometimes that may mean letting go of a trusted old system that just doesn’t seem to be working this time around OR maybe it is giving something yet another try even if we have failed miserably at it in the past. By letting go of the past we let go of expectation…positive or negative…and just accept whatever comes up as an opportunity to allow God to move us forward and give us a fresh new start.

“Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

I doubt very much that anyone not already on a serious journey with the Lord would be reading my blog, so I’m going to cut straight to the chase. We are on this path because we desire to be ‘great’…we want to be saints and want heaven to be our home. Quite a lofty ambition if it were not for what Jesus did on the Cross for us.

In the above passage Jesus tells us how to make progress on this road. Instead of looking to others to ‘feed’ us and to fulfill our needs. Try getting to know them and meet their needs instead. Help THEM to attain heaven…you might just find that in return your needs will be met also.

Check out the following!

http://www.monotheistic.org/inspirational_long_spoons_in_heaven_and_hell.html

“If you are willing, and obey,
you shall eat the good things of the land;
But if you refuse and resist,
the sword shall consume you:
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!”

This reminds me of a cute little story from this morning. When I got home from Mass around 7:15 AM(and after having my cup of coffee…lol)…I started cleaning up the living room before the kids came down. It had gotten completly out of hand lately, with toys and school supplies everywhere. I got Sarah to help when she came down and we were both very excited when we saw the results of our efforts. Then I got a call from my sister in Toronto that she’d be coming for a visit in a couple of weeks. Sarah then tells me that she thinks that my guardian angel knew that auntie was planning on coming and had whispered in my ear to start getting things cleaned up…lol. I told her that that was a possibility, but I’m thinking that I had finally listened to the still, small voice of God and got to doing what I had to do…and God in turn rewarded me! Either way…we ended up praising God and being so grateful for His mercy!

‘Finding Black and White in a World of Grays: Making Choices’ by Peter Kreeft

“I wonder sometimes whether God  might not deliberately let the times get so bad just so that a good man can live in them. Good people, good ethics, and good moral chracters are produced by bad times, as diamonds are produced by centuries and tons of pressure, and steel is produced by high heat. I think God in His wisdom deliberately allows bad times, troubles, trials, and temptations precisely to hammer out saints on the anvil of suffering in the furnace of wickedness. He both provides good men for bad times and bad times for good men. The bad times are ‘a vale of soul making’ and the good souls that are made in that dark valley heal the world and bring light into the valley. The world is a giant saint making machine, and saints are the ones who in turn change the world.”

I received this similar message this morning prior to Mass…that by allowing  temptations, God was merely pointing out my “weak spots”…that it was up to me to decide what to do with it.  I obviously could give in and go right into sin (not an option for a Christ follower), but I also could decide to turn my back to it and run, OR I could  ‘listen’ to what it had to tell me and  grow from it by revealing its lies (as Jesus did to Satan in the desert).  The third option requires ALOT of grace…leading a Sacramental life is non optional.

At Sunday’s sermon, Fr. Ron suggested we consider the acronym HALT…that we aren’t to allow ourselves to get too Hungry, too Angry, too Lonely, or too Tired!  I’m thinking though that during Lent…with God’s grace…we head into the Desert with Jesus and embrace our hunger, loneliness and tiredness…and allow it to talk to us and reveal our temptations!

R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
via USCCB | NAB – March 10, 2011.

Soon enough will come a day that He will send me off with marching orders…but for now, I’m to set myself apart and DELIGHT in the Lord…meditating on His ways night and day.

My hope is in the Lord !  The world pleads with me and buzzes in my ear that it loves me and wants me back…that it promises to satisfy me in all ways that matter. It lies!

I instead embrace emptiness so that I can be filled by the One who trully loves me!

I am blessed!

I was reminded of the oracle
pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel:

“All your festivals shall be turned into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation.”

via USCCB | NAB – March 7, 2011.

Whether we are feasting or fasting it should all be for the glory of God. We need to be careful of getting so engrossed in the festitivies of life that the time of upheavel approaches and we aren’t prepared for it.

Then when it arrives, we need to be careful to not allow it to steal our joy in the Lord.

By having our hearts steady on the Lord, we won’t be thrown around here and there.

Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf,
he went over to see if he could find anything on it.
When he reached it he found nothing but leaves;
it was not the time for figs.
And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!”
And his disciples heard it.

via USCCB | NAB – March 4, 2011.

What “fruit” am I producing in my life? Certain parts of my life may look good with lots of ‘greenery’ but if that particular area is not producing actual Godly fruit then it’s worth nothing and it might as well dry up.  In the case above it wasn’t even “time for figs”. So we may even be producing ‘fruit’ in a worldy manner(doing the right things (according to man) for the wrong reason)…but the Lord expects more from us. To be at His service when He needs us, not when we are good and ready…to do what He asks of us, not what the world expects. Obviously not something that can ever be accomplished on our own strength. We need Him! We need His grace and we need His guidance.