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WHEN GOD ACCENTS SOMETHING FOR YOU, TAKE IT AS A MESSAGE IN THE TIDES OF LIFE

If you want joy, look for the accents in your life. Look for the subtle ways that God communicates. Look for the ways -- so quietly, so humbly -- that He is guiding you.

Do you know what is meant by the "accents"?

God is a subtle Sovereign. He pushes nothing down our throats. So much does He respect free will that He is not usually brazen with His miracles.

Instead, His miracles come by accenting what is there before us in our lives, among our loved ones, and especially in nature.

He uses others to nudge us. He sets something before us. He limns the horizon of life with coincidence.

At a time when it means something, you spot a special flower. A rose is especially red. There is an unusual sunset. The sun rises and a beam of its light falls right on you. What you cook has a special little touch that gives it unusual flavor. Events move smoothly -- nearly seamlessly. There is a gentle rain that seems to speak to you. A bird peeps at a particular moment. In an hour of angst -- of depression -- you pray and the clouds slowly part.

God speaks through nature but does so in a way that does not broadcast nor flare (like neon) nor do anything to infringe upon our choices, which would compromise the tests of life.

In the realm of "signs," many are the photographs that are just slightly inexplicable -- not enough to declare as miracles, but a communication to those with a sensitivity to the movement of the Spirit.

The same is true of answers to prayers: many healings have that edge of the supernatural, but can not be proven as such.

The Lord prefers anonymity! He is too humble to take credit.

But He does not leave us alone. Look at the tides, how just a slight nuance of the gravity from the moon moves entire oceanic systems. The ocean shifts in a way that is barely perceptible but in the course of an hour or two alters the very shore -- contracts a beach, or expands it, revealing hidden things.

There are also the tides in our lives: one day the waves are favorable, the next they are not. One day everything goes our way. We'd like to bottle it. We'd like to repeat it at will. But we cannot. We go through favors one day and tests the next. As the  tide goes out, sometimes it is favorable; it gives more sand. Other times, it can create dangerous currents. Every time, it varies according to location and time.

Fall and rise, rise and fall. These are the vicissitudes of life.

When we accept them, we transcend them; we enjoy even the challenges; we fear not the currents. We "ride the waves."

What has God accented for you? What has He sent of late? What is the pattern of His "small" consolations in your life?

Meditate on them and you will find answers.

We enjoy each little accent that directs us, or consoles us, or simply gives us joy.

And we enjoy the flow of His rhythm to a song that we will appreciate in full melody only in the hereafter.

[resources: The God of Miracles]

Church Celebrates Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary On August 15

Today, Catholics and many other Christians will celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The significant feast day recalls the spiritual and physical departure of the mother of Jesus Christ from the earth, when both her soul and her resurrected body were taken into the presence of God.

Venerable Pope Pius XII confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary as the perennial teaching of the Church when he defined it formally as a dogma of Catholic faith in 1950, invoking papal infallibility to proclaim, “that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

His Apostolic Constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” (Most Bountiful God), which defined the dogma,

contained the Pontiff's accounts of many longstanding traditions by which the Church has celebrated the Assumption throughout its history.

The constitution also cited testimonies from the early Church fathers on the subject, and described the history of theological reflection on many Biblical passages which are seen as indicating that Mary was assumed into heaven following her death.

Although the bodily assumption of Mary is not explicitly recorded in Scripture, Catholic tradition identifies her with the “woman clothed with the sun” who is described in the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation.

The passage calls that woman's appearance “a great sign” which “appeared in heaven,” indicating that she is the mother of the Jewish Messiah and has “the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Accordingly, Catholic iconography of the Western tradition often depicts the Virgin Mary's assumption into heaven in this manner.

Eastern Christians have also traditionally held Mary's assumption into heaven as an essential component of their faith. Pius XII cited several early Byzantine liturgical texts, as well as the eighth-century Arab Christian theologian St. John of Damascus, in his own authoritative definition of her assumption.

“It was fitting,” St. John of Damascus wrote in a sermon on the assumption, “that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death,” and “that she, who had carried the creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.”

In Eastern Christian tradition, the same feast is celebrated on the same calendar date, although typically known as the Dormition (falling asleep) of Mary. Eastern Catholic celebration of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week period of fasting which is similar to Lent. Pius XII, in “Munificentissimus Deus,” mentioned this same fasting period as belonging to the traditional patrimony of Western Christians as well.

The feast of the Assumption is always a Holy Day of Obligation for both Roman and Eastern-rite Catholics, on which they are obliged to attend Mass or Divine Liturgy. In 2010, however, it falls on a Sunday.

MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE: IF WE ARE RIGHT WITH GOD, WHAT DO WE CARE OF WHAT OTHERS THINK?

There are mysteries of the Bible and there are mystery books of the Bible and one may be the Book of Sirach.

Arcane wisdom one finds here!

Often, in life, we think we have it all set forth; we think we know the rules of holiness; we think we know the parameters of love. We know it all!

Vainglory.

But there is always more to learn -- in such a complex universe.

For instance: while we are called to be hospitable -- and certainly to love, help, and serve everyone we can -- we are also called to caution.

"Bring not every man into your house," says Sirach 11:29, "for many are the snares of the crafty one."

"Lodge a stranger with you, and he will subvert your course," it adds a few verses later, "and make you a stranger in your household."

How often do we expose ourselves to what we should not be exposed, because we have not prayed for direction first?

And how often do we pray to prevent illness and disease -- instead of waiting to pray once it comes?

"Be informed before speaking," says Sirach 18:8. "Before sickness, prepare the cure."

The highest love, perhaps, is sometimes tough love. Sirach is filled with that.

The highest love is also practiced, often, through detachment.

When we cling to things or people or jobs, we distance ourselves (too often) from God (unless we are clinging to Him!).

Sirach is filled with words of wisdom that are confusing at times -- at other times, inspiring.

We write a lot about the afterlife. "Seven days of mourning for the dead," says Sirach 22:11. "For grief can bring on an extremity and heartache destroy one's health," adds 38:19.

"Be brief, but say much in those few words (32:8). Be like the wise man, taciturn." Which means "disinclined to talk." How often do we speak too much? Should we avoid those who talk too much about themselves (indicating a narcissistic personality)?

"Never repeat gossip, and you will not be reviled," states 19:7-8. "Tell nothing to friend or foe; if you have a fault, reveal it not, for he who hears it will hold it against you. Let anything you hear die within you; be assured it will not make you burst."

He who hates?

That, says Sirach, is one who "gives little and criticizes often."

Did you ever stop to think of how worthless it is to criticize someone behind their backs?

Who benefits?

"A fall to the ground," it says, "is less sudden than a slip of the tongue."

How we suffer from this! How we all talk too much (and pray too little). The more we pray, the less we speak -- even when calumniated.

"No evil can harm the man who fears the Lord," says 33:1. "Through trials, again and again, he is safe."

If we have God, there is no need to spend much time in self-defense.

He will come to our aid.

If we are right with God, what do we care what others think about us?

God will find you ( True Story )

 

Father John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

"Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith.

That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped.. I

immediately filed Tommy under 'S' for strange... Very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the 'atheist in residence' in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, 'Do you think I'll ever find God?'

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. 'No!' I said very emphatically.

'Why not,' he responded, 'I thought that was the product you were pushing.'

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out, 'Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!' He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever. Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.

'Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you are sick,' I blurted out.

'Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks...'

'Can you talk about it, Tom?' I asked.

'Sure, what would you like to know?' he replied.

'What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?

'Well, it could be worse.

'Like what?

'Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies in life..

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S' where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

'But what I really came to see you about,' Tom said, 'is something you said to me on the last day of class.' (He remembered!) He continued, 'I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!' which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.' I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time.

(My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)

'But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God.. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.. But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.

'Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.''

'So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad.. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him.. 'Dad.

'Yes, what?' he asked without lowering the newspaper.

'Dad, I would like to talk with you.'

'Well, talk.

'I mean . It's really important.'

The newspaper came down three slow inches. 'What is it?'

'Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that.' Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him. 'The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me..'

'It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years.

'I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long. Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to.

'Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you three days, three weeks.''

'Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him.'

'Tommy,' I practically gasped, 'I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and anyone who lives in

love is living with God and God is living in him.' Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it would not be half as effective as if you were to tell it.

'Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class.'

'Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call.'

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.

However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time.

'I'm not going to make it to your class,' he said.

'I know, Tom.'

'Will you tell them for me? Will you tell the whole world for me?'

I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best.'

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, Tommy, as best I could.

If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two. It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.

With thanks,

Rev. John Powell,

Professor,

Loyola University , Chicago

VANITY OF VANITIES: EGO IS LIKE A VAPOR BUT ONE THAT CAN TRANSMIT PRINCE OF THE POWER OF AIR

Did you know that when negativity has collected around a person, that evil can be transmitted? Perhaps we could say "telegraphed": spirits around one person can affect another. If something is plaguing you, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in shutting off any source it may be coming from (without letting your imagination run wild). You may have a weak point allowing entry.

The most powerful way evil accumulates around a sender is through atheism, hatred, or vanity.

Let's focus on the last -- which is a category of pride.

Few things are more potent than vanity, and few things are such a waste of time.

The word "vanity" comes from the Hebrew word for "vapor."

This is very important. It tells us that arrogance -- self-conceit -- (like vapor) does not last.

To be puffed up is to be full of nothing.

Vanity leads to jealousy, and jealousy is one of the most common and powerful ways that spirits are telegraphed. Jealousy is a curse, and a curse is marshalling darkness (usually unwittingly) to affect another.

To have vanity is to be vain and to be vain is to have ego which means pride which means a focus on one's own "stature." It is to focus on the self. It is to orient one's life to serve an appearance. Remember that painting of a skull in a vanity mirror?

It is to serve worldliness.

What is worldliness? It is tabulating stature on the basis of physical objects and societal standing.

As even the Blessed Mother reputedly said, "What does God desire of you? Do not permit Satan to open the paths of earthly happiness, the paths without my Son. My children, they are false and last a short while."

The devil once appeared to this seer as an incredibly handsome man who offered the visionary "success in life and love" if she would follow him. If she followed the Blessed Mother, said the devil, she would only suffer. In another case, a man who had a near-death experience and "glimpsed" hell said he saw a large red eye that showed him earthly temptations and an end to pain and anguish -- if, like the seer, he would follow him. "Visions of wealth appeared before my eyes, like a three-dimensional movie," said this man, Don Brubaker. "Diamonds, money, cars, gold, beautiful women, everything."

Those are loaded words: the paths of earthly happiness, instead of the Path of Heaven. What Mary is saying is that when we are doing what the devil wants, the devil can anoint us -- "bless" us with glamour, money, and worldly possessions. Did he not offer the kingdoms of the world to Jesus?

Many are those who consider rich or famous or powerful people to be blessed -- but by which force? And how have they used their riches?

To be worldly is to chase the wind because no matter what we collect in life, it vanishes like vapor at the end of life. Here we get back again to "vanity"!

It is also one of the greatest evils of our time -- this era of reality shows and fifteen minutes of fame and an obsession with looks (to the point of surgically altering how God made us).

"I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind," says Ecclesiastes 1:14

"Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than breath," adds Psalm 62:9.

Let's go back to the origin of the word.

Vanity, say etymology books, is "emptiness, foolish pride." It is "banal or excessive sentimentalism." It is "air in motion" -- often, hot air. There is even "vain sorrow."

The prince of the power of the air is Satan and he collects around those who are vain -- who have pride. They channel dark forces like conduits -- we channel dark forces, when we let pride control our thoughts.

It is from vanity that jealousy comes, and jealousy -- says Proverbs -- is even more powerful that wrath.

When a person has collected dark forces around himself and is jealous, those forces can be "telegraphed" to the target of the jealousy, and here we have a severe demonic attack ("who can stand in the face of jealousy").

Vanity and jealousy go hand in hand and argue against love; they are the opposite; no one with a big ego is a big lover; no one with much vanity has a huge heart. It is only delusion to think so -- and in this time of vanity -- in the Age of Ego -- it is crucial that we root out every manifestation of it.

Even in religion, those who feature themselves as holy develop a vanity that turns into a judgmental mindset that then devolves into criticality and a mean spirit that makes a mockery of Christ.

Vanity of vanities, says Ecclesiastes. "All is vanity" -- all that makes for evil here and causes the soul to head for darkness after.

[resources: spiritual warfare books]

MANY CONFUSE OBSESSION AND ATTACHMENT WITH LOVE BUT SHOULD KNOW THAT TRUE LOVE LEADS TO A LIGHT IN WHICH THERE IS NO SADNESS

Never confuse over-attachment with love. There's a huge difference.

To be over-attached is to cling. To over-attach is to obsess. To over-attach is to narrow one's vision so that another person or an object is in the center of our thoughts, instead of God.

To over-attach is to think the world revolves around a person or thing, or place, or career and can inhibit your journey to Christ.

To over-attach is to believe that when we lose whatever it is that we are overly attached to, the world will end.

To be over-attached is sometimes mistaken for loyalty and fidelity as well as love -- and those who are overly attached may have those good characteristics (in fact, most frequently do). But to be over-attached (person-centric, instead of Christ-centric) can be devastating.

Many are those who are obsessively close to a husband or wife and or boyfriend or girlfriend "can't live without" that person and yet may not really love quite to the extent that they project.

At least, they are not loving in a healthy way. Now, that doesn't mean every person who is overly attached to another does not actually love the person; the two emotions most often overlap. It just means they have to be careful not to make themselves into a "nation of two," exclusive of all else, or to idolize one another -- excluding Christ.

We are to love as deeply as we can, and everyone we can -- and especially those close to us -- but not in a fashion that shows imbalance.

When we do that, we live a life filled with fear of losing the object of our attachment. The Bible says that fear comes when our love is imperfect ("perfect love casts out all fear"), and so if there is fear attached to a relationship there is an imperfection. There is especially an imperfection if we are obsessed. This happens frequently during boyfriend-girlfriend breakups.

It shows lack of faith because when we are over-attached, it often indicates that we really aren't sure we will see the person again in eternity (as we will, unless one is condemned).

Every single person we have ever known will be on the other side -- and we will be reunited not only with relatives we knew but probably ancestors back to Adam.

We don't die alone. We will be escorted by spirits who know us -- whether departed or angels -- as we head for Jesus.

How many times in your life have you feared something, only to find out there really had been nothing to worry about? How many times have you been too apprehensive to do something that would have expanded your joy or experience or knowledge -- fearful for no reason? How many times have you avoided a trip because you were overly attached to a person or even to your home?

When we die, over-attachment (especially to material objects) can inhibit our journey to the Light. Love properly. Let not a bond become bondage. We see the extreme in those so attached to everything material they own that they hoard objects such that they cannot even move around their homes.

It is the judgment of men that often makes us over-attached because we are trained that this is the way to show affection.

We live in an obsessive culture.

But we do not have to partake of it.

As the great classic Imitation of Christ (quoting Jesus) said:

"My son, you will not take it to heart, though some people think or say of you evil that you would gladly not hear, for you will think even worse of yourself, and that no man is as evil as you. If you are well-ordered in your soul, you will not care much for such flying words. It is no little wisdom for a man to keep himself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to him, and to turn his heart to God and not to be troubled with man's judgment."

Are those who mourn for years over a loved one doing so out of love or because they are lacking Jesus?

Sadness? We all go through this. And we may feel sorrow for years, over the memory, for example, of a deceased loved one. That's normal.

But we must always keep in mind that we live forever and will see the person again in a radiance beyond earthly radiance in a place where living waters sprout in a sea of fountains or run in channels lined with what looks like transparent gold in a place of mysterious trees that have no dead limbs and are symmetrical with buildings that rise far beyond the skyscrapers of New York.

That is heaven, and in its light, there is no sadness.

[Michael Brown retreat, Milwaukee: spiritual warfare, afterlife]

[resources: The Other Side]