Choose Jesus!

May Jesus always be the focus of our lives!

Today, our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 10:38-42. We will meditate on

“One thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:42

We have the famous story of Jesus with Martha and Mary. These wonderful women have given us two key approaches to Jesus, which are essential to a healthy relationship with our Lord. Let us look at the story again.

Jesus is at dinner with Martha and Mary. Martha is busy with acts of serving, and Mary is at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. Martha is overburdened with acts of hospitality and wants her sister, Mary, to leave Jesus and help her do the tasks at hand. Jesus uses this situation to explain what should be most important for Martha and everyone. Being with Jesus is paramount

Jesus is the focus of our lives as followers of Him. We, like Martha, must learn that being with Jesus first and feeding on His Words will direct everything else in our lives.

We must work! We must provide for others! But first, we must be fed by Jesus.

Jesus is the reason for every good thing that we do!

Always choose the better part first! Always choose Jesus!

Happy Sunday!

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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Bring Peace Wherever We Go!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Our presence in the world as followers of Jesus brings His Peace. We are the Seventy-two Disciples in the world. That is a tremendous responsibility, but our world desperately needs us to be faithful to our call!

Our Gospel Portion today is St. Luke 10:1-20, and we will meditate on,

“Whatever house you enter, first say ‘peace be to this house!’” St. Luke 10:5.

To bring peace, we must already have it. Jesus’ Peace must already reign in our lives. The original 72 Disciples had been taught by the Master Himself; hence, Jesus already reigned in them.

We are the Seventy-two today!

Jesus has taught us through His Word, His followers’ example, and their words.

We bring peace more by who we are and how we treat everyone than by our words.

Live the Peace of Jesus and radiate that peace in our homes, at our workplaces, and with everyone we encounter.

Peace must begin with us! Let the world be a better place through us!

Happy Sunday!

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.

Share Jesus and Heal the World!

Happy Corpus Christi Sunday!

Jesus came to our world and gave Himself so that God would reign in our lives. This free gift is not to be hoarded; it is to be given away to everyone. Our Gospel Portion for this Corpus Christi Sunday is St. Luke 9:11-17. We will concentrate on,

But he told them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish-unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”

Luke 9:13

God gave us a free gift of God’s Self in Jesus Christ Our Lord. But once we receive this gift, we join Our Lord in gifting others freely. The Disciples of Jesus were concerned about the audience that was hearing Jesus and was being healed by Him, yet in their estimation, they were not equipped to make a difference. They did not have the physical means to feed the multitude. They were limited, but the one they were serving, Jesus, was not. The Disciples gave what they had, and the multitude went home fed.

We are the disciples today!

We give what we can and allow Jesus to multiply according to His Will and Purpose.

Jesus keeps giving!

Himself to us. Today, we celebrate the great gift of Holy Communion. Jesus told us that it is His Body and His Blood. With the presence of Jesus in us, we bring Jesus into our homes, the marketplace, and wherever we go.

Transform the world with the power that we possess!

Happy Solemnity of Corpus Christi!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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May the Love of the Trinity Be Ours!

Peace and Love!

Happy Feast of the Most Holy Trinity! Happy Father’s Day! We have a lot to celebrate this Sunday. Our Gospel Portion is St. John 16:12-15 and let us meditate on the following,

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

John 16:13

The Holy Trinity is beyond our comprehension, yet it has been revealed to us in the actions of the Trinity. God chooses to work in our world and our lives in this Trinitarian way. Let us recap how we are here.

The Creator of All created us was made out of love. This Creator chose to walk with us two thousand years ago out of love for us. God chose to be conceived in the womb of Mary by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived with us and showed us how to live godly lives. He was rejected because some people chose not to live godly lives and because of this He died on the Cross, Rose, and Ascended back to the Creator. He brought us with Him and sent the Holy Spirit so that He would be ever present in our lives and our world if we choose to be in union with God. It is in this unity that we find peace.

Stay in the Trinity of Love!

Union in the Trinitarian Presence teaches us how to live. This unity teaches us what love is!

Today we celebrate the love of our father figures, both living and deceased. All true love comes from God and so we celebrate the people who shared that love that makes us who we are, children of love.

Happy Father’s Day! Have an awesome one!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Happy Birthday, Church!

Blessed Pentecost Sunday!

Today, Eastertide and Ascensiontide come to an end, and what a fitting end because it is also a beginning—the beginning of the Church.

Let us retrace how we got here. Jesus died on the Cross on Good Friday and He rose from the dead on Resurrection (Easter) Sunday. He was with His disciples for 40 days and on Ascension Thursday He ascended to Father God. For the First Novena of Prayer, Mary the Mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ Disciples met in the Upper Room preparing themselves for the Holy Spirit. The day of Pentecost, fifty days after Resurrection Sunday, Jerusalem was filled with Jews from many different places. It was the Great Feast of Shavuot. As Mary and the Disciples were filled with God’s Spirit and Peter gave the first sermon to the followers of Christ and the Church began! Many started their relationship with Jesus and His Apostles on that day. We are the result of this glorious event!

Happy Birthday, Church!

Let us look at our Gospel Portion for today. It is, St. John 2O:19-23. We will concentrate on,

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

St. John 20:21-23

Jesus gave the leaders of the Apostolic Church the powers needed for the Church and they passed this power to the clergy to today. Through ordination, there is an unbroken line to 2025 Anno Domini! It is all about Jesus’ love for us!

Today is our day! Rejoice in the Spirit’s Presence! When we go to Ordained Priest in this Apostolic line, we have Jesus’ power through the Holy Spirit!

We are truly blest!

Rejoice and be glad because we are in the Love of Jesus, now and for ages unending! Amén! Alleluia!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Be At One With Jesus!

Be at one with everyone!

Happy Sunday in Ascensiontide (the time between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday). This Sunday is Jesus’ prayers for us. Our Gospel Portion is St. John 17:20-26. We will concentrate on the following,

“Holy Father, I pray not only for them but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, so that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

St. John 17:20-21

We are in this in-between time from Ascension Thursday, 40 days after the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesús Christ and the great Feast of Pentecost. This allows us to prepare our hearts to receive God’s Spirit in a new and powerful way.

We need God’s Spirit because the spirit of the world, the spirit of evil seems to be overwhelming. We need the Gifts of the Spirit and we need the Attributes of the Spirit to rise above the spirit of the world. For example, we and the world need kindness, which comes from God, rather than meanness which is so common in the world.

Please use this time to remind us of how God wants us to treat ourselves and others. People are suffering and we may be suffering ourselves, we and the world need God’s Ways to be lived out in us!

May God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, come alive in us and make our world a better place!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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Pray For The Presence of The Holy Spirit!

Let us prepare for The Lord’s Ascension and the Novena of the Holy Spirit!

My friends, we are in the last section of Eastertide, and we are getting prepared to embrace this wonderful time of the year. We need Easter! Easter helps us embrace the complexities of our lives.

Our Gospel Portion for today is St. John 14:23-29. We will concentrate on,

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, * and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 14:26

Jesus realized that we have to be reminded about Him all of the time. Evil is ever present and without Jesus, we would succumb to the evil around us. Concretely, this would mean we would forget to love like Jesus. There are many situations that we deal with that will lead to a non-love response, but Jesus provides the Divine Spirit for His Message to come back to our minds.

Pause, pray, and act only in love!

My friends, if we take only one thing from Eastertide, may it be that we treat everyone the way that Jesus would.

This week on Thursday, we will remember the day that Jesus ascended to the Father. On that day we will begin the Novena to the Holy Spirit. These are days that Mary, Jesus’ Mother, and Jesus’ Disciples joined in prayer in the Upper Room waiting for the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Make this upcoming Pentecost powerful in our lives by joining Mary and the Disciples in prayer and allow the Holy Spirit to pour afresh on us in power!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

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