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02/22/2025

Good morning

Good Morning 😊

03/11/2024

MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2024
"The man believed what Jesus said to him..." - Jn 4:50

When you trust people, you take them at their word. You don't question them further or wonder if what they are saying is true. Jesus gave St. Faustina the prayer "Jesus, I trust in You" to be written on the bottom of the Divine Mercy Image because He wants us to trust Him to take Him at His Word.
The royal official in the Gospel today wasn't even a Jew, yet He trusted Jesus from what he had heard about Him. He had faith. Jesus didn't work a mighty sign or miracle. He simply said, "You may go; your son will live." The man believed Jesus' words and left. His trust brought about the miracle.
What do you ultimately trust in Jesus for? Finances, good health, a vacation, a good job? All these things are temporal. What we can trust in Jesus for His mercy and grace, to sanctify us and prepare us for eternal life - and only those temporal things that will help us attain eternal life. In the first reading, we hear of the new heavens and a new earth that God has promised to bring about at the end of time. A place with no more weeping or death, only rejoicing and happiness. Let us trust in Jesus - who is Divine Mercy itself - to lead us through every trial in our life and bring us Home.

03/10/2024

Loving Father, help me to rejoice always in the knowledge that I am first, last, and always Your precious, beloved child.
. . . Jesus said, ". . . you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
~~JOHN 8:31-32 (NIV)
Indeed, we all make many mistakes.
JAMES 3:2 (NLT)
I thought about what happened and decided that Jesus wanted to teach me a lesson. Mistakes happen even with the best-laid plans and cheat sheets. They keep me humble and dependent on Him.
FAITH STEP: What mistakes have you made? Are you still stewing over it? ask Jesus to help you let it go and reveal what you can learn from it.

03/03/2024

SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2024 - THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
"For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God. . ." - Ex 20:5

You are part of the Church, the "Bride of Christ." As mentioned in a previous meditation, your Bridegroom, Jesus, is jealous for you. He does not want Satan or sin to have any hold on you. In the Gospel today, Jesus makes a whip out of cords to drive the money changers out of the Temple. It's not the commerce He is upset at. It's their lies, price gouging, and unfairness. God loves us so much that He not only drove out those cruel moneychangers with a whip, but He also became the one to take the blows of the whip for us.
Saint Paul writes in the second reading today from his First Letter to the Corinthians that we proclaim Christ Crucified, "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Cor 1:23). We proclaim that our God is so mighty and so good that He not only takes our sins away, but He also became sin and took on all of its punishment so that we might not have to endure its effects namely, eternal death and separation form Him. Having a God who is crucified looks foolish to those who do not believe. But to those who do believe, it is the greatest sign of love and our salvation.

03/03/2024

Thank You for never giving up on any of us, dear Lord.
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
~~PSALM 62:1 (NIV)
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
JOHN 15:11 (NIV)
I apparently hadn't gotten the lesson the first time. Now, though, I more fully understand what Jesus might have meant when He said His "joy" could be ours. Could it be this reuniting a wandering, lost child with the Father? It explains how Jesus could talk about joy so close to His upcoming crucifixion. Inexpressible joy overflows in the simple task of reuniting people with the Father, as Jesus spent His whole life and death doing. After all, we're all prone to wander.
FAITH STEP: Watch for ways Jesus might invite you to rise from your chair to do some small thing to help reconnect a wanderer with His Father.

02/29/2024

Good morning, Holy Trinity, family, friends, and all who read our post.
Thank You, Holy Trinity, for yesterday's blessings, and a new Thursday full of good health, physical training, patience, understanding, Your Word, peace, and LOVE. AMEN
JEREMIAH 34:12-22 (KJV)
GOD REMINDS ISRAEL OF ITS COVENANT
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,
At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.
And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:...
The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;
I will even give them into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you.
Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

02/22/2024

THURSDAY, FEB. 22, 2024
FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER, APOSTLE

"... be examples to the flock." - 1 Pet 5:3

Today we celebrate a feast day, the Chair of St. Peter. We take a break from our Lenten reading to focus particularly on the gift of the papacy and the Vicar of Christ on earth.
The first reading today is from the very first apostolic letter ever written the first letter of St. Peter. His words echo throughout the ages to every shepherd who tends God's sheep: Be examples to the flock. His words can be applied to all of us, though: Be models of virtue to your brothers and sisters in Christ. How can others be inspired to live for Christ if we do not "walk the walk" ourselves first?
Pope Francis famously said to pastors in his homily for the Chrism Mass in 2013, "Be shepherds, with the 'odor of the sheep,' make it real, as shepherds, among your flock." He also said to the lay faithful, "Be close to your priests with affection and with your prayers, that they may always be shepherds according to God's heart."
First and foremost, pray for your shepherds. They need your prayers now more than ever. Reach out to them and see what they might need, as they are constantly tending to the needs of others. Secondly, be a shepherd also. Your family, your coworkers, your friends, the world, needs you to be a shepherd, leading them to Christ.

02/22/2024

. . . let us also lay aside every weight. . . looking to Jesus, the founder and perfected of our faith . . .
~~HEBREWS 12:1-2 (ESV)
After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
JOHN 2:22 (NIV)
Jesus told His disciples a lot of things they forgot, didn't fully understand, ignored, or didn't think to explore further while He was alive. After Jesus was resurrected, the disciples suddenly remembered everything He had said. These were young men, for the most part. It wasn't their memories that caught them off guard. It was their humanness that prevented them from flat-out believing the amazing and inconceivable things Jesus had taught and told them.
As I turn another year older, I realize that I sometimes have problems remembering. But I do recall that I've been provided with a powerful gift to help me remember what Jesus said-- the Bible. Now that's something to celebrate!
FAITH STEP: Using the month and date of your birthday, search the Scripture. Write a verse on a note card that you feel Jesus wants you to remember and celebrate Him!

02/16/2024

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
~~ISAIAH 46:4 (NIV)
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
PSALM 98:4-6 (NIV)
Jesus deserves all the loud singing I can give Him. He works on my behalf every day with His grace, His love, and His forgiveness (Hebrews 7:25). Singing about Him and His goodness is one way I can honor Him.
FAITH STEP: Crank up your favorite worship song and sped time praising Jesus. Praise Him for working things out on your behalf every day of your life.

02/15/2024

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
~~COLOSSIANS 3:13 (NIV)
Do not give the devil a way to defeat you.
EPHESIANS 4:27 (NCV)
Although the devil tried to discourage me, Jesus always wins in the end.
FAITH STEP: Look for ways the devil might be tempting or trying to discourage you. Ask Jesus to help you defeat the enemy.

02/14/2024

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 14, 2024 - ASH WEDNESDAY

"Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. . .
- JOEL 2:12

Another year, another Ash Wednesday. As Catholics, we can sometimes lose our sense of urgency to repent and turn again to the LORD. Has your Ash Wednesday become merely a yearly ritual of going to Church and "getting your ashes?"
Today's readings proclaim a clear sense of urgency: "Even now, say the LORD, return to me with your whole heart..." )Joel 2:12). "Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast..." (Joel 2:15). "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2).
We are pilgrims. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels. Ask the Holy Spirit to breathe His fire into your heart this Lent; ask for the gift of the fear of the Lord, that you not become tepid (see Rev 3:15-17). Ask St. Faustina to walk with you this Lent, as you reflect upon the Passion of the LORD. May she intercede for you so that you might turn to the LORD anew this Lent with your whole heart.