Category: Spiritual

Lord, You Be Shepherd!

Lord, You Be My Shepherd!
I Will Be An Obedient Sheep!

“I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.”
John 10:10

The Good Shepherd

Jesus reveals to us the way to abundant life. But this road is often not easy. It is a road full of pitfalls and dangers, but that is the human situation. However, the key is that we are able to go through the difficulties with the help of our guide, Jesus!

The Good Life

To live a life of peace, it must come from what is internal. The situations that we encounter oftentimes are unexpected and may be challenging, but if we walk in love, we can meet the challenges. If we follow Jesus, who is Love, we will walk in love and remain in peace.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Mark 12:31

When we strive for this, we are following the Good Shepherd. However, things can get in the way. Our emotions have power and they may lead to actions that take us away from Jesus’ flock. He will seek us out!

The Good Shepherd is ever faithful, may we be the same!

Pax.

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Jesus Is With Us!

May We Recognize Him On Our Journey In Life!

While they were talking and discussing with one another, Jesus drew near and went with them.
Luke 24:15

They were not alone in their distress.

The Disciples of Jesus were returning to their old lives. They were defeated. They were on the road to Emmaus. Their hope was gone, Jesus! Their hope, the one they gave up their former lives to follow, Jesus, was nailed to the Cross, suffered death, and was buried. There was tremendous sadness! All hope for them died on that Cross!

Jesus was available to them!

Death was defeated, but these disciples did not know this. But this fact would be made available to them. They welcomed the stranger, but the stranger was the Lord. Their defeat was transformed into Victory on that road!

We are disciples today!

In our journey in life, there will be times when we feel defeated. There will be times that hope is lost. Trust, we have not been abandoned! May we be open to recognized Jesus who is there on our journey and allow Him to bring us Victory.

Pax.

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Be Mercy!

Be Sendable!

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, even so I send you.”
John 20: 21

The Eigth Day of Easter is called the Sunday of Divine Mercy by many Christians and it is a powerful concept. Mercy is key in our understanding of the life and mission of Jesus. He is Mercy and He calls His followers to be Mercy too!

However, for us to be Mercy, there must be a countercultural presence in how we are and how we treat people.

Mercy and forgiveness are interrelated. We can not be mercy if we do not forgive those who have hurt us.

Jesus said from the Cross:

“Father forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”.
Luke 23:34

Jesus is the Divine Psychologist and Sociologist! Jesus knew very well that the actions of people against Him and His message was related to what was going on in their lives. The people who put Him on the Cross, though they were murderers, did not know and understand who they were dealing with. Jesus forgave them! Jesus had Divine Mercy available to them, if they would only come to receive it.

We are called to be Jesuslike! A mature Christian works to understand that people come out of cultural makeup and make judgements out of this base. We struggle to forgive those who have been mean to us, remembering the words from the Lord’s Prayer:
“Forgive us our trespasses and we forgive those who trespass against us.”

We cannot change the world, but we can be the change!

Again, Happy Mercy Sunday!

Pax.

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Jesus Frees Us!

Live In Freedom!

“It Is Finished!”
John 19:30

Happy and Glorious Holy Saturday!

On Good Friday Jesus finish recreating Creation! He took Six Days of Holy Week and He took the Sabbath Rest. We rest in silence in all anticipation for His Glorious Resurrection on the Eighth Day, Resurrection Sunday!

Jesus took all creation with Him, the dead, the living and those who would come in the future. All creation was recreated in Him! Jesus opened the Doors of Heaven! All are welcome to come in. The key is simple:

“A new commandment I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another.”
John 13:34

May we meditate on Jesus’ Love! May we live His Love!
May we share in Love that leads to Victory and Freedom!

In the final analysis: LOVE WINS!

Pax.

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Happy Palm Sunday!

Love Still Wins!

And the crowds that went before Him and those that followed Him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Matthew 21: 9

People can be fickle!

What a glorious scene of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem! It is a scene that brings joy to the heart, and has been doing so for almost two thousand years! This day is celebrated with such pomp and circumstance throughout most of the world and the symbol of palms are brought back to the homes to remember how great a celebration of this day is.

Yet we know that this same week would end with the Lord Jesus being nailed to the Cross! How quickly people change!

However, one thing did not change, the Love that flowed out from Jesus remained constant though out, even to the end, as He said:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:34

Jesus had total trust in the Father! Jesus surrendered all to the Divine Will and Love!

Love Wins!

We know the end of the story! On the Eighth Day, that Sunday Most Glorious, Jesus Rose From The Dead! Hate loses!

Our Story and His Story!

We live in the world when people can be good to us or mean to us. But we have the model of Jesus to follow. If we live like Him, no matter what we have to go through, Love Wins! We will have the final Victory!

TotalTrustInTheDivineWillAndLove

Happy Palm Sunday!

Pax.

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Jesus Is Calling!

Hear the Voice of the Lord!

“I knew that You hear Me, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
When He said this, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
John 11:42-43

Jesus allowed His dear friend Lazarus to die. And Lazarus was dead for four days. In other words, he was truly dead! But for Jesus, death is not the end of the story!

Jesus calls and death has no power!

On this 5th Sunday in Lent, when Holy Week is only a week away, we are brought to the side of the Grave of Lazarus to remind us of the Power of the Lord Jesus! Perhaps something in us has died. Perhaps we have given up hope for something very important for us. Perhaps we are a Lazaruslike person! May be we are called to listen to the Lord’s words.

Come out!
Unbind him, and let him go free!
John 11:44

We are called to be freed from the things that make us feel dead! We are called to be free!

Pax.

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Regain Our Sight!

Encounter Jesus!

“One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:25

In Jesus We See!

The man born blind has an encounter with Jesus that charge everything!

He lost his job! He was a beggar.

It seems that he had a normal life. He entered persecution!

His relationship with his family and community was turned upside down! Jesus was a problem for the religious authorities and his relationship with Jesus made him an outsider!

Was the encounter with Jesus worth all of this trouble? Absolutely!

He said, “I was blind, but now I see!

He said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe “; and he worship Him.
John 9:38

Let the encounter between the Man Born Blind and Jesus bless us! As we near the week of the Passion, encounter Jesus a fresh! We are in troubling times, Jesus can meet us and give us new sight that we may serve Him, love Him, and love each other as He would!

Be blest!

Pax.

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Divine Worship!

Be True Worshippers,
Worship God in Spirit and Truth!

“God is Spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24

Jesus speaking to the Samaritan Woman at the Well has given us many important truths. Among these truths is true worship!

True worship must include The Spirit and must be done in Truth!

Worshiping in the Spirit comes from the Divine relationship between ourselves and God. We do not create this worship, we make ourselves available to it. There is a distinction between prayer and worship. In prayer we talk to God, in worship we are united in God! The Spirit of God and our spirit is united in a most intimate way!

To be available to God, we need to live in the Truth! Jesus came to us over two thousand years ago to give us the truth! The Message from Jesus is Love! Jesus is the Divine example of Worship! When we follow Him, we will known and experience true worship!

Follow Jesus Always!

Pax.

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Be Transfigured!

Hold On To Jesus!

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
Matthew 17:4

Peter is such a normal person! He is who he is! In the Glorious Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, Peter experienced Heaven. And he wanted to stay there. Of course that would not be possible. He would have to go through some challenging times, and fail too! Yet Peter had the Glorious Transfiguration to recall and get up continue to allow the Divine to shape and mold him into being the great Apostle that he became!

Peter as an example of true discipleship!

Peter is real! When he is scared all of his strength fails him and he denies his Savior. Yet, he comes back and returns and gets back to work for his Savior! The Transfiguration gave him the taste of Heaven that allowed him to get up again!

We can see this as how discipleship is! It is coming back, and beginning again!

We may fall down, but we must get up again! May our transfiguration experiences (those intimate, glorious experiences with the Lord Jesus) give us the grace to return to the Lord, and serve Him!

Pax.

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Celebrate Lent!

Be Victorious!

“…It is written: ‘The Lord your God, shall you worship and Him alone shall you serve.’”
Matthew 4:11

Happy Lent!

It is a wonderful time of the year! We begin, as always, with the Lentlike period of Jesus before He began His ministry. He had to enter a time of silence, prayer and fasting.

After this time , Jesus was physically weak, but spiritually Victorious! Jesus gives us a beautiful example of the results from silence, prayer and fasting!

We need Lent! We are in a time of hate! We are in a time of upheaval! But we can be Victorious over the present situation and all situations, if we take Lent seriously!

Love is all! Jesus response to the evil one can be summarized in Love of God, Love of Oneself and Love of All (that includes those who hate)!

May our Lent lead us to a beautiful Resurrection Sunday and the Victory of Love in Our Lives!

Pax.

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