We Rise!

The Resurrection Faith!

“Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him.”
Luke 20:38

Resurrection Faith brings meaning to our lives. It is required if want to have Jesus as our Lord! The Lord’s Disciple must follow Him even when things do not make sense according to the world.

Jesus chose love!

The Resurrection Life Choice requires Love! This goes against the way the world works.

Jesus said:”But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them…”
Matthew 5:43-44

This radical approach to life led to the Passion and the Death of Jesus! But for those who follow the Lord, this is not the end of the story!

Choosing to love people, all people, means to following Jesus, and will lead us to the result of Jesus’ life, Resurrection!

Choose the way of peace, choose Resurrection Life, rise now from whatever may be holding us down!

Choose to Rise!

Pax.

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Let Mercy Reign!

Mercy Over All!

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
Luke 19:9-10

Jesus is present to everyone who seeks Him, and this is what we find in our friend Zacchaeus! We can assume many people would avoid him. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and because of this, he was a wealthy person, and unliked because he collected money for Roman Empire, the occupation forces over Judea.

Zaccheaus had everything the world could offer him, but that was not enough for him! And that is not enough for us either!

Zacchaeus also had another obstacle other than be hated for his occupation, he was short in stature. But thanks be to God, God provided a tool that was present before Zacchaeus knew he needed it, a tree to climb, and used it to get the attention of Jesus! Jesus saw him, loved him, and gave us an example of how to be saved!

Jesus is always present to us, we must let go of whatever other people think of us, and our own limitations that may get in the way with our relationship with the Lord!

Jesus will say to us, what He said to Zacchaeus, “Salvation has come to this house!”.

Pax.

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Humility Matters!

Let Humility Reign!

“…(F)or everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 18:14

Jesus tells us clearly what He wants from us. Jesus tells us to be more like Himself!

We can accomplish many things in the days of our lives, and these things can create in ourselves a false pride. A false pride is that we did these accomplishments by ourselves and for ourselves. This is a lie!

Everything we accomplished comes out of what God had given us!

All the World is a gift!

All we are belongs to the Creator!

Let us meditate on Divine Humility. God enters the world born in a cave/ stable, so that we could be saved and find true peace.

True peace is not found in things in this world, but rather found in total surrender to the Creator!

Let everything we have and everything we do come out of our total surrender to the Creator. May we be reflections of the Divine Humility!

Pax.

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Prayer Is The Answer!

Prayer Changes Things!

And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1

In all situations pray!

Prayer can be a life and death situation! We see that an entire nation was save by prayer. We have the example in the Torah, Exodus:

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed… Exodus 17:11.

Moses holding his hand up in prayer meant victory, that is, survival for his people in battle! As Moses became tired, he needed prayer support! Aaron and Hur were needed to hold up, support, Moses in prayer by holding up his hands. That day the Hebrews won victory over Amalek.

The Victory over Amalek can say much about our lives!

There are many battles that we have to deal with in life. There even can be several battles in a given day that we need victory over. Our first, and most powerful tool is prayer!

Prayer Changes Things!

The first thing that must change is ourselves. Prayer changes us! It will keep us from giving up! It will change how we perceive things and give us strength for whatever battle we have to fight. Often that fight is with ourselves!

How do we love people who have been mean to us? Pray!

How do we keep our love ones together? Pray!

How do we get up in the morning and move forward when we feel life’s pressures? Pray!

Pray first and then act! Prayer helps us get our minds and hearts straight, and in doing so, our actions will more effectively lead us to victory!

Bringing ourselves to God in prayer is powerful indeed!

Pax.

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Come to Jesus!

Receive Total Healing!

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. He was a Samaritan.
Luke 17: 15-16

There were 10 people who were healed, but only one returned to give thanks. Where are we in this story? We have been through so much during these last three years, are we like the Samaritan who comes to the Lord and thank Him that we are still on ”This Side of Eternity.”

When we follow the example of the “Thankful Samaritan”, our world changes!

A spirit of thanksgiving changes our reality! To acknowledge that ever moment we have is a Divine Gift, we allow ourselves to be in relationship with the Healer, Jesus, and have true peace!

The Thankful Samaritan experienced total healing, which is being in relationship with the Healer! May we follow his example!

Thank you Lord! All I want to do is thank you Lord!

Pax.

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Faith Power!

May We Move The Things That Block Us!

The Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Luke 17: 5-6

Faith Power!

At times I forget how powerful faith is. It is a fact that is often taken for granted, but without it, we are not able to move. This is especially true when life is difficult. Having faith allows us to move forward when all seems lost. We may think it is impossible to continue our dreams, but with faith, oftentimes things that seem impossible become a reality!

We have gone through some times that may have seemed impossible. We have been through COVID-19. At this writing, many of our friends and family members are recovering from hurricanes, and they must move forward in faith. Faith reminds us life will get better!

New Beginnings!

When a “tree” becomes an obstacle in our life’s path, it has to be removed. Faith gives us the power to move it with the help of our faith in God!

What is blocking us today?

Pax.

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Reach Out in Love!

Break What Separates Us!

“Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed.”
Luke 16:26

Jesus reminds us that we have a choice to make. We have the Rich Man, who though was not an evil person, he just did not pay attention to Lazarus, the Poor Man. Lazarus was in need of kindness, but the Rich Man did not reach out to him, and we see in the Parable, this was a terrible thing not to do. It has eternal results!

Jesus challenges us! Do we ignore the Lazarus individuals in our lives, or do we break the separation that divides us?

If we want to follow Jesus, we do not have a choice, we must break the chasm!

Today is a new day! See those in need and bridge the gap that separates ourselves for each other!

Follow Jesus!

Pax.

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May Our Hearts Belong To God!

A Divided Heart Has No Peace!

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Luke 16: 13

Simply said, surrendering our will to the Divine Will brings peace to our lives. But this is not as easy as it sounds. There are things in our world that challenges us and distract us from peace.

Perhaps the only way to maintain our will in the Divine Will is to be vigilant in love.

Give as much of our hearts to God as we can!

We are God’s work in process. It may be discouraging as we examine our hearts, and see how we fail to live up to our principles. However, efforts matter! Forgiveness is real! And today is another day to give ourselves to God by serving God in the world; serving God by loving all meet!

Never give up on serving the Lord; the Lord will never give up on us!

BeEncouraged

Pax.

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Jesus, The Good Shepherd

We Will Follow Him!

“And when he had found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes, he calls his friend and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’”
Luke 15:6-7

Today we remember 11 September 2001, the Patriots Day! And for many of us, who this day touch very deeply, it is good to celebrate Good Shepherd Day! It is consoling that we have a Lord who is so much in love with us that He seeks us out!

9/11 is the result of hate, and we all have to deal with hateful people who do terrible things in our lives, but we need not be hateful! We accept the reality of what we have gone through, we accept the losses of people, places, and things. And we wait in hope for the peace that the Good Shepherd, Jesus, brings to our lives. When we are lost is sadness and despair, Jesus reached out to us in His word and in people who love, and He brings us back to peace!

Let us pray for one another!

Pax.

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Allow the Resurrection!

Carry Your Cross!

“Whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be My disciple.”
Luke 14:27

Jesus wants us to have the good life! This means staying present in the given moment, and let Jesus lead the way.

We have so many crosses that come to us in our normal daily lives. Someone losses a job, someone has a terrible illness, someone has lost a love one. There are many crosses that we have to deal with, yet Jesus has made the way for us to follow and that is the only way for us to be a disciple of Jesus.

There are other ways of dealing with crosses, our difficulties in life, yet none leads to the peace that Jesus brings us.

The cross can be very heavy, remember that Jesus carried His Cross in the way to Calvary, was nailed to that Cross and died on it. Jesus was faithful to the end!

The End is a New Beginning!

The Glorious Resurrection would not be possible without the Cross!

This is our story too, if we follow Jesus, and bring whatever we are going through as our cross, and follow the Lord!

Pax.

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