Turn the other cheek

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"It's when we engage with someone who is attacking or bothering us or even talk about it that the sting, the nettle, the venom, remains.

Talking about evil can give it power and when it does a curse germinates.

When we focus on an itch, or play around with a cut, it gets worse and there can be an infection. We all know that a small infection (in an innocuous place like your finger) can become systemic, affecting the entire body and in some cases even leading to death.

So too does infection take root in the dimension of spirits.

The more we focus on it, the more the evil presents itself.

That puts us under a cloud. It blocks grace. When people are mad, they are often wishing negative things upon us and those negative desires will land if we give them the opportunity to. When we ignore insult, it closes the door to infiltration.

One of the greatest tests of life thus is to do this, to turn the other cheek. If we love whoever insults us and return good for evil, harboring no ill will, the curse will not "alight," to use the expression from Proverbs."

F.E.A.R

Good News Ministry

"Failure to trust God results in fear and troubled hearts, because fear always lies to us. Remember it this way: F.E.A.R. = False Evidence Appearing Real. To regain the peace that Jesus has given you, first identify the lies that your fears have been saying. Then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what the truth is. Listen carefully. If you need help discerning his voice, talk to a spiritual director or a prayerful Christian friend. Once it becomes audible, trust in that truth. And act upon it."

Imagine!

Last night was our first prayer meeting since we finished the Life in the Spirit Seminar. Our Eucharistic Lord was present before us. I have no words! We surrounded the altar and praised Him in unison...a foretaste of Heaven for sure. When Fr. Ron picked up the Monstrance and presented Him to us for healing...the tears just flowed! Thank You Jesus for what you are doing in my life. I'm in total awe.

Spiritual Warfare prayers

Catholic St. Michael's Spiritual Warfare Catalog

Healing Rain

The Scars of Child Abuse

Joyce Meyer Ministries — Daily TV Broadcast - 20070416

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).