Author: hermitageofpeace

The Hermit of Peace following the Rule of St. Benedict.

Honesty Matters!

Let Shalom Reign!

Our Lord is very practical about human relationships. He realized that we would hurt one another, yet he does not want us to stay in this hurting space but bring it out in the open. In openness of our feelings, with people who can be reasonable, we can find healing and move on to Kingdom Building!

Jesus says:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”
Matthew 18:15

Hiding hurts is not helpful, rather, they may lead to resentments. Holding on to hurts may lead to anger and outbursts that can destroy relationships. Jesus wants us to be together, to work with one another and for Shalom to reign.

Shalom, peace, can reign where honesty exists in relationships! We may do something wrong to our sister or brother and have no idea that our actions are hurtful. We can only truly know someone’s feelings if they share them with us.

Let us always be reasonable! Let us always be kind! Let us keep the peace!

And let us Stay in Prayer!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

Embrace The Cross!

Embrace Your True Self!

Jesus shows us the essential nature of carrying one’s cross. He did that by modeling this process with His own life. He tells us directly:

“If anyone comes after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24

Jesus had to deny Himself as the world would see it, that is, to compromise with the world for self preservation, and embrace His true self by defying the world and all of it’s temporary pleasures. The cross is often difficult and painful, but it is embracing who we truly are and here we find peace.

The message of Jesus, the message of Divine Love, was a threat to those in authority in the culture that Jesus lived in. These individuals had compromised themselves to be comfortable. Jesus’ words and how He lived, contradicted their approach life. To Jesus everyone must be treated with love. This meant loving oneself and loving others as if we were loving ourselves! This message is key to Jesus’ Jewish tradition and He would not compromise it even if this meant dying for His true self!

Embracing one’s cross may lead to one’s Crucifixion!

To follow Jesus means for us to embrace the cross of following Him. Usually it means living a good Christian life, a life where Divine Love reigns, however, it also means being willing to die to be faithful to our true selves as Jesus’ disciples. No compromising Love of oneself and one another!

The saints, the holy ones, did this. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta’ Feast is approaching in a few days. Mother Teresa had an inner call that called her out of the comfort of her convent school environment to the streets of India, not to convert those who she encountered, rather, she loved herself so much that she had to become Jesus to the poor of the street!

We all have our call! Wherever we are, let us embrace our cross as true disciples of Jesus and be Jesuslike wherever our mission is!

Pax.

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You Are The Christ!

Who Is Jesus To Us?

How We Treat Each Other Says Much!

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of living God!”
Matthew 16:16

Jesus in our Scripture selection above asked who He was to His disciples and Peter responded that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. This was done through divine inspiration. However, Peter would have to live this answer, not always perfectly, and he would fail to live up to it, but Peter would be martyred because of his living out this proclamation.

Who is Jesus to us?

Trying to follow the Way of Jesus can be challenging. It requires a love that transcends the way of the world. As Peter ran away from the Cross, he would find his way back. We may fail too, we may run away from the Cross (by the way we treat each other), but hopefully we do not give up!

May we always return and embrace the Cross of Love!

Each interaction, each relationship with others, give us an opportunity to live our response to who Jesus is to us!

May we proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, by the way we treat each other!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

Pray For Victory!

Persistence In Prayer Matters!

Keep Praying!

We see in the Persistent Canaanite Woman the power of prayer at work! She becomes a role model for us. She went through a period of testing knowing that her only hope was Jesus! Without the intervention of the Lord, her child would not be healed.

This faithful Woman was not of the Israelite People, but she knew that her people’s gods could not help her and she would not let the Disciples of Jesus get rid of her. She loved her child and would not let anything get in her way! She knew with all of her heart, mind and soul, that the only answer to her situation was Jesus! She would not even allow Jesus to say no! The Canaanite Woman would humble herself and say;

“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Matthew 15:27

This is the power of humble prayer, we do not deserve Divine Intervention in our lives, but we beg for it anyway!

This is the sign of Total Trust in the Love of Jesus! His Love can change things! Jesus’ response to this humble and bold prayer is:

“O Woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”
Matthew 15:28

And the result of the Canaanite Woman’s prayer echoes into our midst today:

And her daughter was healed instantly.
Matthew 15:28

May we be persistent and humble in our prayer. We do not know how God will answer us, so pray for what we need! Pray for our loved ones, pray for for our communities, pray for those who have hurt us too!

Pray, pray and pray!
1 Thessalonians 5:17

May we be Victorious in our prayer!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

Call On The Holy Name!

Reach Out To Jesus!

The Storm Will Pass!

“Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, O man of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14: 30-31

The storms we have to deal with, our difficult situations, may cause us to drown in our anxieties, but they need not, because we have Jesus! Reaching out and holding on to Jesus, will save us!

Peter, the Disciple of Jesus, had faith. He knew that he could walk on water if Jesus gave him this grace. That worked, walking on water, as long as he keeps his eyes on Jesus. However, he brought his eyes on to the waging sea, feeling on his own, he started to sink.

When we had that sinking feeling, call on Jesus!

Peter models for us our reality! There will be storms, difficult situations in our lives, Peter called on Jesus and He held Peter up! The storm is real, but so is Jesus, and His power to save!

Two things are essential in rising out of the storms in our lives, and Peter models both. Peter had a relationship with Jesus, he was a disciple, that is the first point! The second is, when Peter was in trouble, he called on the
Holy Name of Jesus and Jesus lifted him up! Jesus will do the same for us! Some of us already have a testimony how the storm that was meant to destroy us, brought us into closer union with Jesus!

Call on Jesus and be saved!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Pax.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

Hold On To The Moment!

The Transfiguration Experience!

“Lord, it is good that we are here.”
Matthew 17:4

Peter was so overwhelmed he could only express the goodness in being present in the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Peter and the others, James and John, were privileged to experience the glorification of Jesus, the experience of seeing Moses and Elijah conversing with Him and Father God pronouncing:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”
Matthew 17:5

There was no possible way to deal with this tremendous event other than being present to it and knowing that it was good to be there.

Peter needed this experience because soon he will see his Lord abused by those in authority in society, and executed because of His message. It has such an affect on him that he would say in his Epistle:

“This is My beloved Son, with whom, I am well pleased,” we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.
2 Peter 1:17-18

The Transfiguration changed Peter’s life! Eventually he would died in being faithful to the Lord!

I hope we all have “Mountain Top” experiences!

There is evil ever present in our world, these Mountain Top experiences we can hold on to when life gets rough! Life often gets this way.

Mountain Top experiences remind us that ultimately goodness will have the Final Victory!

Please do not despair; trust in the Final Victory of the Lord!

Pax.

https://gofund.me/1b9dd565

Happy Feast of Ignatius of Loyola!

Today I would like to share with you a prayer that had kept me going when things seem impossible.

This prayer was made by Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits). A person who has had a great impact on our world.

I share this prayer that it may help your journey in this life and bring you greater joy and peace.

Pax, The Hermit of Peace.

Our Special Pearl

God Is Everything!

Putting God First!

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on the finding one Pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13: 45-46

The Special Pearl!

We all have special things in our lives. We have reasons why they are special. Maybe these things are special because they represent who were are or are most comfortable with? Maybe we just simply feel good about being in the presence of this person, place, or thing. But whatever it is, it’s presence in our lives gives us meaning.

What is that Special Pearl?

What does this Special Pearl do for us?

Our Lord Jesus explains that for those who are with Him, the Kingdom of Heaven must be that Special Pearl! If our Special Pearl is the Heavenly Kingdom, that means we are in company with the Lord!

What does this mean for us if the Kingdom of Heaven is our Special Pearl?

We have many important things in our lives, we have our families, our places of worship, our friends, our sports, and our places of work. These things can all bring us meaning, but if we want what Jesus can give us, the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7), He must be Our Special Pearl. Nothing may come before our love of Jesus!

Our love of Jesus must inform the totality of our lives!

Have a blessed day!

Pax.

https://gofund.me/1b9dd565

We Must Wait to the End!

Why the wheat and the weeds grow together?

So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the household came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

The servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.’
Matthew 13: 26-29

Jesus talks about the reality of living in the world. There will be always good and bad that we have to contend with. It is our job to remain good in the reality of living alongside with evil. This is our every day challenge of life.

It is also true that we do not know what are truly weeds. That can only be determined at our end and we are not the ones who make that decision; only God alone!

This is a wonderful reality!

The pressure of judging is removed, and the focus is on us! This is something we all can do! When we focus on ourselves and stay close to the sower and His workers, we can have a good life, and through example of who we are and what we produce, we can change the World!

Let us love ourselves and be the best wheat (person) we can be. May we, in our own self love, be love in the world and bring peace.

Pax.

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