Being Humble Always Matters!

Through humility, we can be raised!

Love and humility are intertwined. We cannot separate the two. We find this in the life of Jesus, who chose to join humanity even though He remained Divine.

Today our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 14:1-14, and we will meditate on,

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

St. Luke 14:11

Jesus is the example that all of His followers must follow. He provides the means to bring Heaven to earth, and He showed this in His 33 years of life with us.

St. John the Apostle told us that God is love (1 John 4-8), and we see that lived out in Jesus’ life. Now our challenge is to live love out in our lives. When we encounter every individual, we are to be that love.

It is normal to love those who love you back; however, what is most difficult is to love those who openly hate you! This is so hard to do, but we are called to do this supernatural love.

Genuine humility is required to love like Jesus!

Remember, God allowed those who hated Him to execute Him, and He forgave them and the whole world! To receive that forgiveness, we must humble our pride and love those who aim to harm us.

When we become like Jesus, we allow Him to exalt us in the present moment!

Be humble like Jesus and be exalted by Him! Live in Heaven on Earth!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Be Ready to Receive Jesus!

Jesus wants to be with us every minute of our lives!

He will come again to the world in glory, but He comes to us in many ways now. Will we be ready to receive Him?

Today our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 12:32-48, and we will concentrate on,

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will put on his apron and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them.
Luke 12:37

Jesus will come in Glory, but He always comes into our lives. But are we available to receive Him?

Jesus comes to us in each other, and these can be marvelous experiences if we do not let things in our lives get in the way.

For example, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta experienced Jesus in many people. Some of these people were dying in the street, and no one recognized them, but Mother Teresa did because she knew Jesus. Mother Teresa knew love.

I hope we will know Jesus well enough to see Him in our loved ones who want love and want to be loved in return.

I hope we will see and receive Jesus in the people we meet at work and in our various activities.

I hope we see Jesus in the person in the street by always being kind. Remember,

KindnessAlwaysMatters!

If we become more like Jesus, we will be able to receive Jesus when He comes to us!

Have a blessed Sunday!
Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

Follow Jesus!

Happy St. Peter and St. Paul Day!

We celebrate two key founders of the Apostolic Church, St. Peter and St. Paul. They are essential in understanding the original Church of Jesus Christ. They provide an example of how we should function as the Apostolic Church today. Jesus gave Peter the message, and Peter and Paul followed it until they were martyred. Our Gospel Portion for today is St. John 21:15:19, and we will meditate on,

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” St. John 21:17

It is a simple message, yet the world complicates it. It led to the Crucifixion and death of our Lord and the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul, the many martyrs of the early Church, and is present in our world today in the recent Martyrdoms of the Christians who attended the Divine Liturgy in Syria.

Feeding the Sheep is a problem for those who refuse to follow the Love Jesus taught and still teaches through those who are faithful to Him!

Sadly, through the two thousand years of this message, there is still so much hate. But we celebrate the faithfulness of our ancestors in the faith. We know that many faced cruel deaths, but they are still alive and are interceding for us today!

Love never dies!

My friends, keep “feeding the Sheep”!

Feed the sheep with food, feed the sheep with the Word of God, and feed the sheep with actions of Divine Love!

Be Jesus today!

Happy Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

Follow Jesus!

Happy St. Peter and St. Paul Day!

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” St. John 21:17

Feeding the Sheep is a problem for those who refuse to follow the Love Jesus taught and still teaches through those who are faithful to Him!

Love never dies!

My friends, keep “feeding the Sheep”!

Feed the sheep with food, feed the sheep with the Word of God, and feed the sheep with actions of Divine Love!

Be Jesus today!

Happy Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

We Were Lost, But Now We Are Found!

Thank God for Jesus!

There are so many opportunities to get lost and there are so many people who claim to love us, but really have their own agenda at work. But God enters and leads us to “Green Pastures”. We are given a place of peace in a world of confusion.

Thank God for Jesus!

We read in the Gospel of St. Mark,

As He (Jesus) landed He saw a great throng, and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things. Mark 6:34.

The sheep have to be taught!

Without the Good Shepherd, we would be lost in the world! There are so many problems that we have to deal with on the daily basis, with His word we have the means of handling our situations and staying in love and in peace.

The people in our Gospel selection today knew they were missing something in their lives and that something was Jesus!

Perhaps we are those people today and Jesus wants to be available to us! All we have to do is to seek Him.

Today there is so much hurt all around us, in our families, at our work places and in our society, but we do not have to despair! Let the Good Shepherd speak to our hearts and let Him take control. Let Jesus show how to be more like Him in all of our relationships.

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls”. Matthew 11:29

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Jesus Rules!

When We Allow Jesus to Rule, Peace Reigns!

We are again at this special time of the year! We close our spiritual journey 2023 and next Sunday we will begin again. Each year’s Scriptures speak to us differently; the Scriptures remain but our lives changes and they speak to us where we are.

Today we look at the Final Judgment and we can look at our lives and see what side we are on. There are somethings that we cannot compromise on, if we are truly following Jesus, if Jesus is truly our King! We read from Matthew’s Gospel:

“Then the King will say to those at His right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”
Matthew 25: 34-35.

Jesus is very clear; the God of Mercy will be the God of the Final Judgement and the Judgement will be based on the mercy that we share with one another.

This challenge goes against what the world sees as important, and we are so affected by the world! We are called to rise above the world and its non-Christlike behaviors.

We can be Christlike and thank God we have this day to evaluate ourselves and become more Christlike; it will have eternal rewards!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace

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The Shema Life

Living Divine Love!

The ancient Hebraic statement of faith is central to Jesus and the Holy Family of Nazareth and must be central to those who follow Jesus!

Jesus states in the Gospel of Matthew:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind.”
Matthew 22:37

And along with this statement of faith, which is and continues to be central to those who follow Him, Jesus tells us how this statement of faith is to be accomplished. This love must be lived in daily living:

“You shall love your neighbor as you yourself.”
Matthew 22:39

The Trinity of Love!

Jesus brings together the Way of Life of His People Judaism and confirms it for the whole world in His Life, Passion and Death on the Cross and Holy Resurrection! There are three movements of Divine Love which would bring Heaven on Earth, if we, as a people, put it into practice. This Trinity is, love of God, love of self, so that we can truly love our neighbor as God wants us to!

We cannot change anyone, but we can allow God to change us, and in doing so, we can inspire others to surrender to God, who can and will change them too!

Remember, if we know we are powerless, and we know that God is the Ultimate Power in the Universe, and we surrender ourselves to God, God has the power to change us!

Blessings! Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.

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The Wedding Garment

Make Love Your Garment!

The Wedding Feast is a Love Feast!

At times our Sacred Scriptures can be difficult to understand. For example, in the Gospel of St. Matthew 22:11-12,

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless…”

What is the “Wedding Garment “?

In this Parable of the Wedding Party we we know that Jesus is talking about being in line with God’s Kingdom. The original guests were invited and they had their own things to do, they did not join the party. Then the invite went to everyone, and they came, but one was not properly dressed. Being properly dressed for the party is essential. Not have the “Wedding Garment” is like being present at the affair and not really being there.

Perhaps being properly dressed refers to being clothed in love!

Clothed in Love makes sense because it is a love fest! God became one of us to bring us together in Divine Love!

We can be at the Wedding Feast and not really be there, because we choose not to be love.

This is a wonderful reminder and challenge! Being clothed in love means we are Kingdom People! This is our ongoing goal, working towards it, we will always belong at the “Wedding Party “!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

Forgive Always!

Forgive And Find Peace!

Jesus Leads The Way!

Life gets crazy, and we often have to deal with people who hate. Sometimes people will hate us and do things that take away our peace. However, the Lord Jesus has the answer for us to regain our composure and move forward in peace. We can and will rise again if we follow the Lord!

Jesus answers Peter, His chief Disciple, with the answer that can bring us out of whatever emotional situation that we may find ourselves in:

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”
Matthew 18:21-22

We find peace in Jesus!

Jesus understands the human situation and even though the Great Rabbi Jesus was speaking to Peter two thousand years ago, it is relevant to interpersonal relationships today and will be current probably to the end of time. Let us be honest, human relationships can be messy. For Peter, seven times forgiving someone is generous, however, we must follow the Master, Jesus, seventy times seven time, that means forgiveness without limit, as our peace seeking approach.

We do not forgive because of the other person, we forgive to be free!

A wise person once said, “We will all be friends in Heaven, so forgive and be in heaven today”!

Remember, no matter what has been done to anyone of us, forgive as Jesus taught! In doing so, we win! We will have a victorious life! We will be free! We will have peace!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.

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Holy, Holy, Holy!

Happy Most Holy Trinity Sunday!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

This is the love affair our Creator initiated with us. We celebrate this when we celebrate the Holy Trinity. The Father sent the Son through the power of Holy Spirit. The Creator has wrapped us in the love affair that is eternal. We have the choice to join this love exchange and live eternally, and eternity begins now, if we surrender ourselves and join Jesus, the Son.

When we join this Trinitarian Love Affair, our lives change. Many people try to find love and often they find it in the wrong places, yet if our first love is in God’s perfect love, we can deal with the disappointments that human love can bring to us.

When we join the Divine Love, we have to rise to the challenge of that Love! We must love our sisters and brothers! These sisters and brothers might hurt us, but if we faithfully follow the Divine Love, we return love to those who hurt us! Jesus showed us what this love looked like on the Cross when He forgave those who murdered Him.

Living in the Trinity means to become like Jesus!

Loving in the Divine Way requires Supernatural Power and that power is provided by the Holy Spirit that allows Jesus to be reborn in us!

God loves us first, God invites us to join in this love affair, and when we surrender to Divine Love we become love itself. This Love changes the world in the way we live! May we be the Love-change the world so desperately needs!

“Finally, sisters and brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
2 Corinthians 13:11

Pax.

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