'JUST TRUST IN MY SON,' SAYS MARY TO US AS WE SEEK THE BLESSINGS GOD HAS IN STORE FOR US

Thus says the LORD: “If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails” (Isaiah 58:9-14).

Go with the flow. Let life open up to you. To repeat a theme we have conveyed: don't force things. 

We should always wait on the Lord, and we should always follow His timetable.

Frustrated? In want of something that just isn't happening? Can't figure out why prayers aren't answered? There's only one solution: Let go of whatever it is you are yearning for and send it into God's Hands. Trust beyond surrender. Put your mind on other matters. Anxiety inhibits grace and can be caused by the spirit of fear. This fear can come in many ways. It can be the product of repeated action on our part, or it can be a familial trait. We inherit spiritual baggage just as we inherit anything else, and it’s a mixture of good and bad. There are spirits of gluttony, lust, sloth, infirmity, despair, greed, rebellion, impurity, and addiction. We see how divorce runs in certain families. Usually, it’s a combination of factors. Spirits magnify our weaknesses. If we are prone to nervousness, a spirit of anxiety or even paranoia may develop within us, inhibiting happiness. A disposition toward procrastination may turn into a spirit of sloth; a dabbling with the occult, or a yearning for control, can turn into the spirit of dominance (or even witchcraft). This all bears repeating.

As it says in Ephesians (6:16), faith should be held up as a shield against the fiery darts of the evil one, which are then extinguished. 

 

"Just trust in my Son Jesus," Mary once told a soldier in Viet Nam. Divine Mercy. "Jesus, I trust in You."

When John Paul II approached death, he said simply, with no fear, nor hesitation, "It is time to go to the House of the Father."

Keep your eyes on the God of miracles.

He loves you more than you love yourself and sees the potential you have to be with Him in eternity. He knows that beneath the exterior, under the skin of the earthly body -- and often deep under the burdens of life -- is a being of tremendous beauty waiting to burst out of the cocoon and move skyward with the eyes of love. 

With those eyes we elevate our vision above turmoil and beyond any problem -- to see the best of outcomes. 

When we elevate our eyes, when we look above those who harass us, when we see beyond trials on earth, we are seeing into the miraculous.

No matter how “severe,” we’re on the road of glory. It's what Christ saw on the Cross. It's the Heaven He had in mind, even as He was crucified. 

[adapted from The God of Miracles]

KINDNESS

 
Kindness is one of the most powerful tools available to you. Kindness can
Positively transform your world in a way that nothing else can. When your
Heart is filled with kindness, your thoughts and actions are driven by a
Positive, creative force. Instead of being needlessly distracted by anger,
Envy or despair, your eyes are more fully open to the many valuable
Possibilities.

Act with kindness toward others. You'll create an atmosphere of
Understanding and cooperation in which amazing things can be accomplished.

Be kind to yourself. You'll make it possible to clearly focus your
Considerable creative energy on achieving the highest and best of your
Dreams.

Choose to act with kindness, and you free yourself from the heavy burden of
Negativity. Persist in your kindness, and you rise to higher and higher
Levels of true, meaningful accomplishment.

Kindness transforms profoundly and spreads quickly. Let kindness freely flow
From you, and it will surely change your world...

The Joy of the Resurrection - 1

The Joy of the Resurrection - 1

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!

Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

But the pains that he endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky he's King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

HAPPY EASTER!

He has risen from the dead

On Easter Sunday, the Church is recollected in contemplation of the risen Christ. Thus she relives the primordial experience that lies at the basis of her existence. She feels imbued with the same wonder as Mary Magdalen and the other women who went to Christ's tomb on Easter morning and found it empty. That tomb became the womb of life. Whoever had condemned Jesus, deceived himself that he had buried his cause under an ice-cold tombstone. The disciples themselves gave into the feeling of irreparable failure. We understand their surprise, then, and even their distrust in the news of the empty tomb. But the Risen One did not delay in making himself seen and they yielded to reality. They saw and believed! Two thousand years later, we still sense the unspeakable emotion that overcame them when they heard the Master's greeting: "Peace be with you.'"....

...Christ's Resurrection is the strength, the secret of Christianity. It is not a question of mythology or of mere symbolism, but of a concrete event. It is confirmed by sure and convincing proofs. The acceptance of this truth, although the fruit of the Holy Spirit's grace, rests at the same time on a solid historical base. On the threshold of the third millennium, the new effort of evangelization can begin only from a renewed experience of this Mystery, accepted in faith and witnessed to in life....     Pope John Paul II 

Fact

  Mass is to be celebrated on Easter Day with great solemnity. It is appropriate that the penitential rite on this day take the form of a sprinkling with water blessed at the Vigil, during which the antiphon Vidi aquam, or some other song of baptismal character should be sung. The fonts at the entrance to the church should also be filled with the same water.  The tradition of celebrating baptismal Vespers on Easter Day with the singing of psalms during the procession to the font should be maintained where it is still in force, and appropriately, restored. The paschal candle has its proper place either by the ambo or by the altar and should be lit at least in all the more solemn liturgical celebrations of the season until Pentecost Sunday, whether at Mass, or at Morning and Evening Prayer. After the Easter season the candle should be kept with honor in the baptistry, so that in the celebration of Baptism the candles of the baptized may be lit from them. In the celebration of funerals, the paschal candle should be place near the coffin to indicate that the death of a Christian is his own passover. The paschal candle should not otherwise be lit nor placed in the sanctuary outside the Easter season.

Prayer

God our Father, creator of all, today is the day of Easter joy. This is the morning on which the Lord appeared at men who had begun to lose their hope and opened their eyes to what the scriptures foretold: that first he must die, and then he would rise and ascend into his Father's glorious presence. May the risen Lord breathe on our minds and open our eyes that we may know him in the breaking of bread, and follow him in his risen life. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

GOD HAS A GREAT PLAN FOR EVERYONE AND IT'S STYMIED WHEN OTHERS TELL US WHO WE ARE

We have asked this previously: Do you let other people define you? Do you let them tell you who you are -- or are supposed to be? Does your self-perception change according to who is around? If so, they may be impinging on your mission. Likely, they are also impinging on your happiness.

Your mission is your destiny. It is the "you" at your holiest. It is the you at your happiest. It is the you at your closest to God and your best -- reaching full potential away from the confines of others. God has a great plan for you. Do you realize that? And are you letting others affect it?

People label us. They put a tag on us. And too often, it sticks. We start to believe the way we're perceived. We let the judgment take hold. They perceive us based on assumptions, false first impressions, or old information. Folks keep us in a box. They limit us. They seek their own comfort in trying to form us as they want us to be, in the way that makes them most comfortable (and superior) -- instead of the way God made us.

This especially happens with those who have known you the longest. A trial! We do this to each other all the time. Those who are closest to us often can't accept who we have become -- our development, especially our spiritual development. 

They feel threatened. They may be afraid of losing your friendship. They may feel it will change the relationship. Or, they're afraid they won't be able to keep up. They may be jealous.

Yet, you can't let others project their emotions on you. We want to grow. We want to change for the better. Everyone is here on earth precisely for that purpose -- to evolve into a great and pure vessel for God. Do we allow that transformation? Or do we give into the labels? Throughout life, we are to shed old skin and progress as increasingly glorious "butterflies." Others will resist that because they aren't used to the butterfly, or are envious.

People label us as dumb or ambitious. Or lazy. As partiers. As selfish. As too strong, or too weak. As prideful (when we are just being confident). Who do you think you are, we can hear them thinking.

They often want us to remain in the slot we were in when they first met us and just as often they define you on past transgressions -- taking no note of the way you have shed bad habits through the mercy of Jesus.

That's because they don't see -- nor do they try to see -- through His eyes. They categorize you. They cast you into a role, a mold. You're in a file in their "filing" cabinet. They have stereotyped you. Don't play the part. Look at the way the Pharisees defined Jesus. Look at the way no one believed He was Who He really was until the resurrection (and still many denied Him).

Usually, when this happens, people are seeing something in you that reminds them of someone else and suddenly you are that someone else -- often a negative someone else.

Bible-thumper. Religious fanatic.

"Holier than thou."

Don't let negatives be spoken over you. When that occurs, it's like a curse. Shrug it off as soon as it tries to alight on your shoulder (or take its place on your forehead like a barcode). Sometimes, people just keep holding onto something that is not you and sometimes, we have to prune acquaintanceships because their time has passed. Perhaps unknowingly, they try to hinder your spiritual development. Don't worry about popularity contests. 

If you let others define you, you won't reach true happiness because you won't reach the destiny the Lord has assigned to you. Every single person on earth is equally important in God's mysterious, incomparable Plan. And no one on earth sees even a fraction of it. Our "geniuses" have no clue when it comes to His perspective (unless they take the Christian perspective). Renounce their labels. Remain in faith. Move upward always. Don't look back at past worldliness; you'll only stumble. Forget about what once enticed you (and kept you in that box). Forget about the way others perceive you and remain steadfast in how the Lord sees you.

We're all equal, and God has a plan of greatness for every one of us. He made us to be great. Joy comes with greatness as ordained by the Lord -- the greatness of motherhood, the greatness of being a great janitor, the greatness of a life lived for others. It is labels -- and our accepting those labels -- that prevent us from achieving bigger spiritual things. Go for the greatest "you." Go for the best you can be -- no matter what others around you think. Rest in the Lord. Remain in Him. Worry about pleasing Him only. Gravitate to the interior "you" that is most familiar to you, and maintain the real you no matter how others try to perceive you and cause you to misperceive yourself.