attitude of gratitude

I've been through quite a bit rough waters lately and it is so easy to get down on things and people. However lately the Lord has put in my heart the need to be thankful for all that He has done for me.

I was reading 'God's Word Today' and towards the bottom of the page it stated this "...deliverance comes first and should be followed by an attitude of thanksgiving, faithfulness, and obedience on the part of anyone called to serve God's people'.

The Power of Confession

What is more important in a case of infestation: Confession or exorcism?

"Confession is a Divine gift much greater than exorcism," writes Father Fortea is this book I recommend highly. "Exorcism only drives out a demon from one's body; Confession drives out evil from one's soul."


read full story here

a sour stomach

“Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”

On the way to Mass this morning, I had a lot of thoughts running through my head...one of them was...why me Lord. But not the usual 'why me' type of wandering...I wasn't really questioning why I have to suffer. I was questioning why the Lord would call me to so much when I don't seem to be able to handle it all very well. You see...I saw my 'suffering' as a sign that I wasn't 'handling it' well.

Then Fr. Ron in his homily talked about the first reading passage from Revelations where John is asked by an angel to swallow the scroll and how at first it will taste sweet in his mouth and then turns sour in his stomach. How being obedient to the Word of God can be the same.

At first there is so much excitement and eagerness to listen to God's Word in our lives and to jump right to it in obedience...however at some point it is apt to turn 'sour'...things get hard and this is where dispair can set in. Wrong thinking can set us off on the wrong road. I had gotten caught in this.

The point is not so much about how well WE handle life, it is about how much we allow GOD to handle it FOR us. Constantly giving Him everything as it comes up...sour tummies and all!

Happy Thanksgiving

"It is through thanksgiving that we are delivered from evil because thanksgiving puts us in touch with God. The Lord wants to be appreciated. He created us. It's the least we can do for Him. He wants us to love Him as He loves us (who would not?).

And so there is real potency in thanksgiving -- in using the feast, the week, as a special time of thankful reflection."


read full story here

cliques

"May I never see 'cliques' developing in your work. It would make a mockery of the apostolate: for if, in the end, the 'clique' got control of a universal undertaking, how quickly that universal undertaking would be reduced to a clique itself!"

– St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, #963

joy

"Pain does not mean we have to lose our joy! There are times and seasons, times when we have sorrow -- but if that lasts too long, if joy does not return, something is out of balance.

Or something has to be cast off: Often we go through periods of "aridity," when we can't shake what seems like bad luck, and sometimes it's because we forget to do what Jesus taught and command oppressing spirits out of us. We get trapped by our blindness. We forget to cast away darkness that strips us of joy and we forget that in the perspective of eternal life there is no "calamity" on earth that warrants hopelessness."

read full article here

keep up the struggle

"Doubts assail you, temptations, with that gloss of elegance about them.

I love to hear you say how this shows that the devil considers you his enemy, and that the grace of God will never leave you unprotected. Keep up the struggle!"
– St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge, #309

we do not have to hide

"Remember that God loves us as we are. We do not have to hide like Adam and Eve did; we do not have to keep wrapping the fig leaves around ourselves anymore. We want Jesus to touch us right now as He finds us today. Also remember that God will not violate our own free will. It is necessary to invite Him to enter into our hearts and to touch any painful memories we have stored there. If we can recall nothing, then we can still ask the Holy Spirit to direct Jesus’ healing love to any past experiences, which may now need to be touched. The Lord does not usually just erase traumas from our lives. But, when He came forth from the tomb, God transformed them so they no longer have the power to keep us in bondage. We can remember them. We can remember what happened but we can do so without the negative feelings of fear, of anger of sadness, of guilt or pain."

Excerpt from Mother Nadine’s, “Lady Wisdom Sings Her Own Praises,” Omaha, NE 2005

words

Life in Christ: Catechism #2480
"Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another's vices or grave sins. Neither the desire to be of service nor friendship justifies duplicitous speech. Adulation is a venial sin when it only seeks to be agreeable, to avoid evil, to meet a need, or to obtain legitimate advantages."

Fr. McDonough

Father McDonough: Boston Globe article

becoming more human

One Minute Meditations

Friendship
"It is true that life, which by its nature is already rather narrow and uncertain, sometimes becomes difficult. But that will help you to become more supernatural and to see the hand of God. Then you will be more human and understanding with those around you."
– St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, #762

power from the desert

"In Luke 4:17-18 we read, “Jesus returned from the desert, in the power of the Spirit.” What happens in the desert? Power comes in the desert! It comes from the desert. Scripture tells us that Jesus returned from the desert in the power of the Spirit. The power behind anointed intercession is the power of the Holy Spirit."
--Mother Nadine

A Lesson for Today

(I must preceed this post with a note on how timely this particular message was for me as I'm posting this from Children's Hospital where we are with my three year old possibly facing surgery...God is good and I'm not alone.)

"And this is a lesson for today: how to avoid hardness, how to avoid the devil's poison, how to avoid darkness, which are all the same. For whenever we transgress, we invite hardness in. We can also do this through hatred, bitterness, or jealousy.

Such emotions rise in a special manner when we are ill or otherwise hurt. A deep wound is both an opportunity and a danger. Satan stands at the door of our wounds, and tries to pour his cement through them. It is like the gall he offered to Jesus on the Cross. When St. Teresa of Avila was given a vision of hell, she saw mud that trapped those who wallowed in it.

When we become bitter, we too are trapped and when we sin we have a blotch in our spirits that may then transmit to the physical (making us sicker still or ill if we are well). Blotches add up until they blind us -- until they calcify. Slowly but surely, we build a wall between ourselves and God.

This "hardness" may come not just through illnesses or accidents but also when we are having financial or emotional distress. During an upset in a marriage, the devil is only too quick to tell us how bad things are, how they will not improve, how it is over for us. If we succumb to a negative expectation, and bitterness, we curse ourselves. When we are angry, despairing, resentful, or jealous, we also curse others. We spread the poison.

When we are hurt, when we get a new suffering, when we are in pain, it opens up a wound in our hearts, like a hole: a void within us. If Christ is not allowed to fill that void, the devil does.

He knows that wounds are an opportunity to enter our souls and he speaks to us so that we can hear him (louder than all else). The first sign of Satan's presence: confusion, anxiety, and frustration -- especially frustration with God.

When we use the wounds as an offering to the Lord, on the other hand -- as an opportunity for growth, and maintain our faith -- they become a ticket to deliverance here and Heaven after."

read full story here

Here's to the scooping process..

A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"
The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin.
God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you.
Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. "He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed.
Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."
(got this in a E-Mail from my niece today...please keep her in your prayers).

Inner Healing

"Inner healing is simply asking Jesus to walk back to the time when we were hurt and to free us from the effects of that wound in the very present moment. We might not remember these incidents. Often times we do not, but God does. We can ask Him to walk back into that time and to set us free from anything that is still darkness within us, anything that is still noisy within us, anything that is still taking up room within us, that should be reserved entirely for God. This involves bringing to light the things that have hurt us and not trying to repress them. It may involve talking them out with another person. Healing is a process. We take a lot of this to our journals so that we can get it into the light. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Hurtful memories of the past cannot be ignored if we are to really become filled, full of grace, full of love with God. It is a journey, a process. We must remember, however, that we travel this journey throughout our entire Christian life with the Lord. Inner healing is not something that happens instantly. It may happen day to day to day. Even when hurts get healed from our past, there are still daily hurts that have to be brought into God’s healing light."
--Mother Nadine

read entire article here

What was THAT about?

read full story

"“It is a teaching of the church, not an option,” said Father William of the existence of the devil, citing a document produced by the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1975 reiterating this teaching. “It is a presumed dimension of our faith because the redemptive work of Jesus does not make sense without the reality of the devil,” he said. This is why, Father William explained, throughout his ministry Jesus was always casting out demons."

This was on one Fr. Ron's teachings that really captured me...during one of his homilies he points to the Cross at the altar and says 'if the devil isn't real...then what was THAT about?' POWERFUL!

Cheerfulness

"The scene of the parable is being repeated: it is the same as with those people who were invited to the wedding feast. Some are afraid, others have their own concerns, many... make up stories or give silly excuses.

They put up resistance. That is why they feel the way they do: fed up, all in a muddle, listless, bored, bitter. And yet how easy it is to accept the divine invitation at every moment, and live a happy life, full of joy!"
– St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, #67

humility

A HERMIT had a gift from God to cast out evil spirits. One time he asked to learn what they feared most and what compelled them to flee.

“Perhaps it is fasting?” he asked one of them.

“We,” the evil spirit replied, “neither ever eat nor ever drink.”

“Sleepless vigils, then?”

“We do not sleep at all.”

“Flight from the world?”

“Supposedly an important thing. But we spend the greater part of our time wandering around the deserts.”

“I implore you to confess what it is that can subdue you,” insisted the elder.

The evil spirit, compelled by a supernatural force, was pressed to answer: “Humility—which we can never overcome.”

— The Ancient Fathers of the Desert: Section 1

Today's Gospel Reflection

Reflection:
"Repent! Let Jesus clean your soul. Then fight the good fight of faith by growing "in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pt 3:18; 2 Tm 4:7). Instead of being content with empty, let Jesus give you life to the full (Jn 10:10). Fill your mind with God's Word; fill your mouth with the Eucharist, the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35). Then fill the world with your godly teaching (Acts 5:28) and your praise of God."

The above reflection reminds me of the reason why we are being healed and set free...to be brought back into 'community' and live His life to the fullest. I'm totally amazed at how many people are completly content living under opression. Yes there are times that the Lord allows us to stay there because it is ultimately for our best (who can argue with God's will)...like St. Paul and the thorn he had to live with...the Lord said that His grace was sufficient and it is. But the majority of the time the Lords wants total healing for us. Over and over again in scripture He is driving out demons and curing people. He still wants that for us today...He yearns for it!

You are my God