We Must Carry Our Cross!

Peace is Found in Following the Lord!

Jesus helps us today with our Gospel portion, St. Mark 8:27-35. Here we see Our Lord dealing with who He is, what will happen to Him, and what His followers must do. Let us concentrate on this last part of the text. We read,

And He called to Him the multitude with His disciples and said to them, “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8: 34-35.

There are two Crosses, selves, that exist in our lives. The first Cross is the one made by the world, and the other cross comes out of being a disciple of Jesus. If we hold onto the cross of the world, we are doomed because the worldly Cross follows the evil one. It leads to enjoyment of the things of the world in a self-centered way. Whereas discipleship of Jesus’ leads to participating in Divine Love. In doing so we find life in abundance.

Choose the Jesus’ Cross, though it is often one of suffering, it is the one way to peace.

Choosing this cross will change the way the world is if we carry our Jesus’ Cross faithfully. As the old children’s hymn states,

“The one way to peace is the Power of the Cross.”

Choose peace!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Wait On The Lord!

Happy Father’s Day!

God, Our Lord Jesus, speaks to us in words that we can understand and apply to our lives. We read in the Gospel of St. Mark,

And Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, and he knows not how…” Mark 4: 26-27

This parable of Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom of God becomes present though our faithfulness. We plant, we nurture and growth happens. The process is for all aspects of our lives. The Kingdom of God grows in ourselves, in our families, at our workplaces, in the Church and in the world by planting and nurturing, and growth comes at its appropriate time.

In the Lord’s Prayer we see what we pray to happen in us, “Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.” This prayer is fulfilled in our faithfulness in daily practice of seeding and nurturing. We wait on God to bring the growth, but we are the tools God uses to make the Kingdom present.

Today, in the U. S., we celebrate our fathers and those who take the place of fathers in our lives. The process of seeding and nurturing is done by parents in the children they raise. The Kingdom of God arises in us because of their faithfulness!

Happy Father’s Day! Abundant blessings!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace

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The Dream Still Has Time!

Let the message of Easter fill our lives!

It is hard to come to the end of Eastertide, but we follow a historical event. After fifty days from the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus to the Right Hand of Father God, and after the Novena of Prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus, and the Apostles, the Holy Spirit descends on them, and the Church is born. God the Holy Spirit, sent to give the followers of Jesus the gifts to save the world, works through these individuals and their spiritual descendants, to make God’s love present in the here and now!

We have to move on in our regular time to live out the Easter message!

We read in St. John’s Gospel,

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

John 20:21

The world seems to be always in a mess, but we live God’s Dream that Heaven will be on Earth!

We have been taught, we have received the Spirit, and now we bring the Love of God wherever we go and to whomever we meet.

The Divine Dreams still have time, live it!

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Be Faithful Like Jesus!

Jesus models for us how to deal in any situation, be faithful to God!

We read in the Gospel of St. John,

“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:26

We must look at this Gospel selection from the context that we are in liturgically. We are in the Season of Lent, the last days of that season and in the time called Passiontide. We are preparing our hearts for Holy Week.

In this time, we know that Jesus would experience some horrendous abuse of those in authority in His culture. Jesus would experience denials and betrayals of those near and dear to Himself. Jesus would ultimately be murdered on the Cross. Yet He remained faithful through it all. Jesus would be honored by Father God and He would rise again!

Jesus is the Model for us all!

Our entering into the Passion of Jesus is not just for the days leading up to the Glorious Resurrection Sunday. Rather, Jesus sets a pattern for all of us follow in how we to live as His followers.

We will rise again regardless of whatever we have to experience! There is no stopping a child of God!

Have a most blessed and fruitful Passiontide!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Happy Feast of Elijah the Prophet!

One person who is faithful can change the World!

The Prophet Elijah kept the faith in YHWH alive and risk his own life to do it. His actions brought God’s People back to YHWH.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Elijah the Prophet and may we realize that our faithfulness to the Divine One can and will change our world!

We read in in Second Kings: As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen os Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. 2 Kings 2:11-12

Have an awesome Feast Day!