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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Love Is the Way!

Be love and enter the Narrow Door!

Love is essential! We were created out of love, and when we live a life full of love, we live a life we were meant to be.

Today our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 13:22-30, and we will concentrate on,

“Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Luke 13:24

Love is what we need to live a life of peace. However, we cannot force others to be instruments of love. God has given us free will. For those who follow Jesus, there is only one way to treat people: we must treat people with love!

It is hard to love people who do mean things to us, but if we want peace, this is our only option. Living love does not mean we keep putting ourselves in harm’s way. But it does mean to let the hurt go and move forward.

Not living love takes away one’s peace if one follows Jesus. We know what He preached and what He did on the Cross for all people.

When we do what Jesus would do, peace reigns in us!

The Narrow Door is open to those who love. Be that love and do what Jesus would do!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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.

What We Treasure Matters!

Choose Jesus and make a better world!

What we hold as important directs our focus in life. Today, our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 12:13-21, and we will concentrate on

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:21

Jesus gives us a model that helps make a better world. Jesus uses love as the complete center of His actions, and as His followers, we must keep this love as the center of our behavior, too!

Kindness always matters!

Being kind does not mean that we can not be wealthy in the things of this world. But it means we must share our wealth with those in need.

We must always remember that everyone is our sister or brother and love them in concrete ways. This often means sharing what is ours with organizations that we trust that feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the incarcerated, care for the sick, and do all the other necessary acts of charity in our world today.

Living charity is living already in the Kingdom of God!

May we live the words we pray many times a day: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!

May we be Kingdom People!

Sunday Blessings!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

Keep Knocking!

The Lord will open the door at the right time!

Today, our Lord teaches us to be persistent in prayer. Let us spend some time applying this principle here and now. We will use St. Luke’s Gospel 11:1-13, and we will concentrate on

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Luke 11:10

We must be persistent in what we want in life, but it must follow the Law of Love. For what we want to be accomplished it must be part of God’s Will!

We find God’s Will in Jesus Christ! God became one of us so that we could be more like God.

Hence, what we want must be in sink with that which would make the world a better place.

It is important to evaluate our desires according to love. For example, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta desired to love those who were not treated with love. Her prayerful actions started a worldwide movement. Or, let us look at the Little Flower, St. Thérèse, who from her monastery, died at 24 years of age, transformed spirituality in her Little Way. There are many more examples and in our little way can make a big difference in someone’s life!

Be persistent in prayer! Keep knocking on the Divine Door! The Divine One will open the door when it is the Divine Time!

Be blest and be a blessing!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Be A Good Samaritan!

Live the Shema!

Love always matters, and it is love that will change the world! It would be awesome if everyone loved themselves and their neighbors, but that must begin with how we live. It is like one light in a world of darkness; it makes a difference.

Today our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 10:25-37, and our selection to meditate on is,

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion,

Luke 10:33

There once was a victim of a robbery who was left to die. Others saw him and left him to die because they had more important things to do or to be, but one stopped. This one was a Samaritan, an outsider, and this person chose to love the victim and save his life.

It only takes one to change the world, one person at a time!

Will we be that one person?

There is so much negativity around us. We are called to make a difference!

Will you make a difference in the world with me?

We can talk about terrible things, but those are just words. Cursing the darkness is useless! Instead, may we bring light to the darkness and be the change we want to see.

Have hope in a better world and be part of that hope.

Have a wonderful Lord’s Day!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace. It

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Heart Work Matters!

A better world begins with us!

Today in some parts of the globe is known as Carnival Sunday. It is the last Sunday before the Season of Lent. We are in the last days before many of us will enter into a time of introspection, Heart Work! Our Gospel portion is, St. Luke 6: 39-45, and our selection for meditation is,

“The good person out of good treasure of his/ her heart produces good, and the evil person out of his/ her evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart their mouths speak.” Luke 6: 45

I know that I have always heart work to do because judging others is so easy to do. But if we judge someone, how can we truly be loving to them?

Jesus calls us to look at ourselves first, then from self knowledge of ourselves we can determine if we live out the life and message of Jesus, we can help others to do the same.

Jesus reminds us of the need to work on ourselves when He tells us,

“Can a blind person lead a blind person? Will they not both fall into a pit?” Luke 6:39

Our hearts must see and acknowledge what is going on in them, and compare them with the Heart of Jesus. The old yet important question still needs to be asked of ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” The answer to this question requires us know Jesus and have Him as the center of the totality of our lives!

As we close this last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, may we take Jesus seriously and make our world a better place through our lives!

Blessings!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Be A Kingdom Person!

Help Jesus Change the World!

As we come close to the end of the Liturgical Year 2024 we meditate today on the Kingdom of God in our Gospel Potion, St. Mark 12:28-34. We read,

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask Him any questions. Mark 12: 33-34.

Today in our Gospel reading, we see Jesus being questioned about the Greatest Commandment, and Jesus’ response is the Shema. And then He continued with the command to love your neighbor. The Scribe agreed and furthered the explanation. The Scribe knew the way to the Kingdom of God but refused to ask any more questions about The Way personified in Jesus. Further questions of Jesus would be too dangerous! He would have to change his life and follow The Way!

May we ask Jesus about every aspect of our lives and be willing to change to follow The Way! Jesus is the way!

Pax, the Hermit of Peace.

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Jesus Is So Gentle!

Jesus’ Message is Stong!

Jesus in our Gospel Portion today, St. Mark 9: 30-37, reveals how patient He was with His Apostles and He reveals that He is patient with His disciples today and until His Glorious Return. We read from this portion,

And He took a child and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in My Name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” Mark 9: 36-37.

The Apostles were confused. They did not know how to deal with the reality that Jesus would killed by those in authority over their people. They ignored this situation and went to what was easier to deal with, who would be first in Jesus’ Kingdom.

Jesus understood that Jesus’ execution was too much for them to handle, so He used this opportunity to explain what true leadership means. True leadership means receiving all people with love. A child represents someone that may only love you in return.

We have to serve a child! We have to protect a child! We have to guild a child! If we do these things, we are receiving Jesus!

Jesus promotes Servant Leadership! May we live what He promotes and change our world!

Pax, The Hermit of Peace

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Be Crazy in Love!

Be like Jesus!

If we love each other like Jesus loves us, we may be viewed as being crazy! Hate seems to be more normal in our world today. Perhaps it has been that way always! Jesus tells us in word and deed that this hate is contrary to Divine Culture. We read in St. Mark’s Gospel,

When His relatives heard of this, they set out to seize Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” Mark 3: 21

The family of Jesus did not understand that Jesus’ purpose is to make the Divine present in the here and now. They would eventually understand because His relatives would continue His work after His Death and Resurrection.

Are we ready to live the Divine Culture of Love?

Perhaps we would be crazy to say yes because many of true believers get misunderstood and mistreated because others do not want the Culture of Love to reign. But for those who choose to say yes to the Divine, the peace and love and joy outweigh all of the suffering one might encounter in being true believers.

Choose to be out of one’s mind like Jesus!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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