May the Spirit of Christmas Remain in Our Hearts

May the Spirit of the World Always Decrease in Us.

Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord!

Today, we conclude the official time of Christmas (I celebrate Christmas until the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple on 2 February 2026). But Christmas truly never ends. Jesus should be born in our hearts every day and many times a day! God wants to be our Immanuel always. St. John the Baptist made that clear in his life and ministry.

Today, we have the Gospel Portion St. Matthew 3:13-17, and we will delve into

“And behold, a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17

This Feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the part of Christmas called the Epiphany. The Lord is made manifest. The Magi find Him, Jesus turns water into wine at the Wedding at Cana, and Jesus is baptized at the River Jordan. Each event mentioned here shows that Jesus is the Lord. We have God with us; we will always have hope.

Hope comes from allowing Jesus to arise in us. St. John says later, after the Baptism of Jesus,

“He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.”
St. John 3:30

True humility allows Jesus to increase in our lives, and the false self, the self created by the world, diminishes.

Two beautiful examples of humble human beings allowed the Savior to be with us. Mary told God that she was the handmaid of the Lord, and Joseph allowed the messages he received from God to guide his actions.

May we add our names to this list? Pray over it and keep working on it. God will use us to make Jesus present wherever we are!

Please bring Jesus to each other and make the world Christmas Time!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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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 Love and Show Others the Way of Love!

Let Jesus be your guide!

On this Fifth Sunday in Eastertide, we have a renewed commandment of love. Jesus is clear that all who follow Him must abide by His commands. Our Gospel Portion for today is St. John 13:31-35, and we will concentrate on the following,

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

St. John 13:34-35

People will know we are Christians by our love. This concept was part of a children’s church song when I was growing up, and it will always be true because Jesus is quite clear about it in His Word!

For all time this is essential for all people. We improved the world around us by doing what Jesus said and did. Continuing with this line of thinking, Jesus is still living in the world by how we treat one another.

Yes, my sisters and brothers, there are many people who say they belong to Jesus, and that is between them and God. Our concern is whether, are showing our relationship with Jesus by how we treat others.

Do we love everyone as Jesus would?

We may remember the meaning of the letters WWJD, meaning, What Would Jesus Do? This filter of our actions will never lose its significance!

We are to make a difference in our world!

Make a difference today, tomorrow, and forever! Be Jesus, be Love and show the world who we belong to!

Enjoy the Eastertide and be encouraged!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Be A Child Of The Most High!

Love Matters!

Being a Child of the Most High is challenging. However, it is a sure way to find true peace in one’s life. Jesus models this way of life.

Our Gospel Portion today is St. Luke 6:27-38 and our section to use today follows,

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.” Luke 6: 35

How does one truly become a Child of the Most High, simply it is to do what the Son of God Did! Jesus’ words and example are the way of life that brings peace on Earth and good will to all. This way of life goes against the way people normally live and treat one another, but it is the way of peace.

Be little Jesus and transform our lives.

The life, Passion, and Death of Jesus is His modeling of the good life for us. It is the life of a true child of the Most High.

Be like Jesus and change the world one person at a time!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079

Divine Mercy Matters!

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

There is an urgent need to live Divine Mercy in our lives. Our world needs to see it in how we treat ourselves and each other. We can change the trajectory of our lives and those we encounter. We can go from chaos to peace and lead others to peace too! We read in the Gospel of St. John,

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

John 20:21

As we close the high holy days of Easter, we are challenged by the words of the Risen Lord Jesus to be His presence in the world. God entered into our midst over 2000 years ago in the womb of Mary His Mother and as the world so desperately needed Him then, so do we need Him now. Humankind must always be challenged to live supernaturally!

We must live the Mercy that we say we believe in! People need to see that there is another way to live, the Mercy Way!

How we treat ourselves and others say volumes about what we really believe!

The world still has hope, and it begins with us!

We must ask ourselves honestly, are we living the fact that Jesus rose from the dead?

Are we living Divine Mercy?

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

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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Forgiveness Matters!

Let The Lord Come In!

Many things that we do block the Lord’s entry into our lives. One key way of letting the Lord in Is forgiving those we deal with on every level of our existence.

The concept is clear. The Lord’s Prayer reveals this to us every time we pray it. For me that is many times a day. Jesus tells us to pray and to live these words,

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Matthew 6:12

But do we hear what we pray?

It is difficult for us to live these words, because they go against the way we do things in the world. However, if we want to welcome God in, we must take on Divine Culture!

Jesus came into our world through Mary, to reveal our true culture. We were made in the Image of God, hence, this is our true culture, to be Christlike!

Practice makes perfect!

We fall down, but we get up again!

Pray that we truly become what God created us to be!

We will get better intime!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.
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The Holy Cross!

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Jesus accepted our crosses and they were nailed with Him on His Cross! We still have to deal with our crosses in life, but if we surrender our wills. If we give them to Jesus! There is no cross that can destroy us! We will rise again! Alleluia!

We adore You O Christ and we praise you, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the whole world!

Have a meaningful and awesome Solemnity of the Most Holy Cross!

Pax.

The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

May We Be One!

Thank You Jesus!

And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name, which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one.
John 17:11

The Eastertide is coming to a close; one Sunday away from Pentecost. We have come to this point that the Incarnation, Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus is made clear to us who follow Him.

We are called to be one with the Creator of all things!

The work of salvation has one purpose and that is union with the One who loves us and brought us into being.

Jesus Ascended and is seated at the Right Hand of the Creator and He brings us there.

“When two or more are gathered in My Name, I am there in their midst.”
Matthew 18:20

Jesus is everywhere! His followers make Him present in the world and they will do His Will!

May we be His presence in the here and now and may we all be one!

Thank you for bringing Jesus here and may we be the change that the Creator wants in the world!

Pax.

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Be A Blessing!

Be The Change In The World!
Make A Difference!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12

The Resurrection of Jesus must change us!

Our Lord Jesus destroyed the power of death and is the Victory of Love, and for those who follow Him, that must determine how we live. Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection creates in us the New Person! The Person of Love!

As people of the Resurrection we must live the Resurrection in the way we treat one another.

There is no place for hating other people in our lives. The Cross reminds us to forgive those who hurt us and to pray for them.

However, we must love ourselves too! We must be People of Divine Love, but sometimes that means to love some people from a distance. Not all people are living the Way of Divine Love, and we cannot change them!

Jesus, in the Gospel reading of today, reminds us that He will work through us. In doing so, Jesus, who rose two thousand years ago, is present in us.

People often do not change because of the words that we say, rather they may change by the way that they experience in us Jesus!

Be the encounter with Jesus that the world needs today! Be the face of Jesus today! Be the change that we want in the world!

Pax

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