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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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.

Love Triumphs!

The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus means that Love will have the final victory!

First let us wish our Eastern Orthodox Sisters and Brothers a Happy Resurrection Sunday!

We read in St. John’s Gospel,

“This I command you, to love one another.”

John 15:17 RSV-CE

The Commandment of Love is central to Jesus and His true followers. This makes perfect sense because He is the personification of Divine Love. Jesus entered our world so that we can enter into God who is Love. The problem is living this Love is difficult because those who follow this Love will often experience the pushback, to a greater or lesser degree, what Jesus experienced as He promoted Divine Love in human relations.

Love anyway!

Do not give up Heaven because people choose to live in hell!

True followers of Jesus will experience their crosses. Be strong, embrace your cross, and live the peace that passes all understanding!

Pax, The Hermit of Peace.

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Do Not Bury Love!

Are We Using Our Talents Well?

We have a new life in Jesus, are we making a difference?

As we come closer to the end of the Liturgical Year, we move our thoughts to the end of time. Many people think about getting for the End Times, but Jesus reminds us to Live Ready! This is important in the Parables of Jesus, and it is also important for our Wholistic Health!

Live Ready!

The Master gives talents:

“For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.”
Matthew 25:14-15

For us let us call the talent love.

In the Gospel selection we see the Master return and evaluate his servants. He is happy with two and upset with one. The key is what they did with what they were given.

The ones who used the talents they received and multiplied them were rewarded. The one who buried the talent that was lent to him, lost everything!

If the talent we have is the capacity to love, we must not bury it!

Or as Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change!”.

As we enter Thanksgiving Week here in the U. S., there will be challenges. As we enter the end of the Liturgical Year 2023 and are reminded to be ready for the End Times, one key take away is do not bury the talents that the Master has lent to us! The Master expects us to be fruitful!

Do not bury Love! Use it well and unselfishly!

Pax,
The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/e4fbd23a

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

Go To Jesus!

Learn From Him!

“For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:30

Life gets crazy!

Normal people like us have many challenges that we have to deal with on a regular basis. And these things can become overwhelming! Yet Jesus wants us to use His Way to meet these situations.

What is the Jesus technique?

Jesus uses the Divine Power of Love!

When we allow love to be the reason that we do the things that we do, our situations change. Love means to take care of ourselves. It means to eat healthy, to get enough rest, and to stay away from things that that could harm us.

When we allow love to be the way we deal with people we encounter, even those who want to hurt us, we do the best that we can to live in peace and not to try to hurt the person back. This releases us from a terribly heavy burden and put the burden that Jesus wants us to have, love. We learn to do what we are able to do, loving ourselves in the process, and then letting go, and moving onward!

Jesus on the Cross is the Divine Example of the Power of Love at work. Jesus did what He was sent to do, He loved us to the end, but in actuality, it was the Beginning for us! Hate tried to kill Love, but on the Third Day, Love Rose Never To Die Again!

This Love is our power and how we are to maintain peace in our struggles!
Learn from Jesus and live in love!

Pax.

https://gofund.me/1b9dd565

Live Love!

Live Jesus’ Commandments!

“Whoever has My commandments and observes them is the one who loves Me. And whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love them and reveal Myself to them.”
John 14:21

Love is an action word!

Love is such a huge concept and can be miss leading if it is not concrete in the way we treat each other. God concretely made the universe and this was an act of love. However, we may choose to not love and destroy the creation, including ourselves.

God entered into the world that God created to model for us what love means. Jesus is that model of love that God wants. However, this love challenged how the culture of sin and death controlled human relations, and those in power nailed Love, Jesus, to the Cross.

But Love Wins!

Love could not be kept in the tomb! God will not stay dead!

Love Wins!

If we want to be on the winning side, then we must keep the Commandments! The Commandments are God’s Love in concrete form! When we keep the Commandments, we are in God! And here is where True Peace Reigns!

Today we celebrate in the USA, Mother’s Day. This is one of the most important days of the year. Why? Simply because Mothers teach us how to love, and in doing so, brings us into the great Love Affair with God. Mothers keeps us growing and loving, and protects us from being overwhelmed by the hate in the world! Mothers create the home that we carry with us!

Have an amazing Mother’s Day!

Pax.

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Be Your Best Self!

Follow Jesus!

“And I have seen and bore witness that is the Son of God!”

John the Baptist was truly a prophet! He knew himself and would be faithful, even unto death! He lived his true self! When he said that Jesus is the Son of God, he meant it with his life!

We begin again the new year, we will have challenges to deal with, how will we respond to these challenges? Will we respond like John the Baptist and possibly lose our heads , literally or figuratively, because we choose to be our best selves? Will we love those who hurt us?

Tomorrow, we in the United Stated, have a holiday honoring the memory and legacy of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is a modern day example of someone who lived his best self and was murdered because of it.

How should we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr?

Follow Jesus! That means love everyone, including those who hurt you! Be love!

Pax.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2

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.

https://gofund.me/a1d90db2