Tag: #OurLadyOfMountCaritas

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.

https://gofund.me/1ad6a4aa

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

 

 

Rejoice and Be Glad in Jesus!

Jesus will make a way!

The message of Jesus is so profound yet it it is so contrary to the way humans approach life. However, if we aim to fulfill the Way of Jesus, Heaven would be in our hearts and that Heaven would radiate from us through our world!

Our Gospel Portion today is the Sermon of the Plains, this is found in the Gospel of St. Luke 6: 17-26. Our selection is as follows:

“Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on the account of the Son of Man!

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

Luke 6:22-23

If we would take Jesus seriously, there is nothing that people would say and/or do to us that would destroy us! The real relationship that matters is our relationship with Jesus! We are built on the shoulders of those who took Jesus seriously! For the first 300 years of Christianity, being faithful could lead to be to being executed. Yet they were faithful unto death!

An example only 10 years ago, 21 people were beheaded, and the execution was filmed by their executioners. The executioner were members of ISIS. These Coptic Christians refused to renounce Jesus! These Christians truly lived the words of Jesus and they speak to us today that Jesus Is All! It has encouraged me to be more faithful and thousands of others.

Hopefully we will not have to experience execution physically for Jesus, but in little ways we may experience the hate of others because Jesus Is All for us!

May we never let anyone take Jesus away from us!

Jesus is our Heaven and we will experience Heaven here and now in Him!

Have an awesome Sunday!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079

Give Jesus Total Trust!

Jesus will make something beautiful out of us!

In our Gospel Portion today (St. Luke 5: 1-11) we have a very important conversation between Jesus and Simon Peter. We read,

And when He ceased speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night! But at Your word I will let down the nets.”

And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking. They beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boat, so that they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’  knees saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Luke 5: 4-8

We must think like Jesus, not like Simon Peter. Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Simon Peter had a limited understanding of himself. And that makes perfect sense. He knows how holy Jesus is, he knows how powerful Jesus is, and he knows how sinful he is. But Jesus saw through the shortcomings of Simon Peter and He knew He could do marvelous things through him.

Simon Peter did follow Jesus and Jesus could build His Church using him! Simon Peter surrendered to Jesus and this gives us an example for us to follow!

Do not let our opinions of ourselves become a barrier to God’s plan for us!

Let Jesus have His way with us and He will do marvelous things through us too!

Be blest!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079

Let Us Be Light!

May we be light to the darkness that surrounds us!

Happy Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus to the Temple!

We have another aspect of the Christmas Mystery today, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. Our Gospel Portion for today is St. Luke 2:22-40. This event follows the Jewish Law referred to as follows,

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to press Him to the Lord

(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:22-24

This celebration was done 40 days after the birth of Our Lord! What a blessing to celebrate this event of Our Lord’s life! Jesus did everything that people would do, yet the significance was magnificent! At the Presentation, God entered the Temple in bodily form. His presence blessed the Temple and two individuals received Him as Lord in His Temple. We read of one of these individuals as follows,

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon… And it was revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Holy Spirit he came into the Temple; and when the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law, he took Him in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now let your servant go in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory to Your people Israel”

Luke 2:25-32

Today it is customary to bless candles and walk into our temples, our church buildings. We have received Jesus, we carry our lights into the church, but do not leave them there!

Can we carry our lights out in the world? There is so much darkness and pain around us!

May we bring the Light of Christ everywhere we go!

Be light and break up the darkness!

Happy Feast Day!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace

https://gofund.me/033e2079

 

 

 

 

Be Free!

When Jesus set you free you are free indeed! John 8:36

Our world has a way of controlling our minds and ultimately controlling our habits. But Jesus came to show us who we really are. Jesus in our Gospel Portion today, St. Luke 4:14-2, makes His mission clear and with it, we can find the peace that we need living in this world.

We read,

And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4: 17-21

This is one of the Epiphanies of the ministry of Jesus. In the reading He did and the proclamation He made, we hear that He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. If we truly follow Jesus, we will experience inner freedom that He provides.  

Will we allow Jesus to free us?

Jesus comes to us with the gift of His presence. In His presence we know what the world may say about us does not matter. We know that we are loved and we have a purpose.

Society changes but the dignity given to us from Jesus does not change!

In Jesus, we are free, indeed our innermost being can not enslaved!

Have a blessed week!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079

 

They Have No Wine!

Bring Your Concerns to the Lord!

Today we enter the mystery of the Wedding at Cana by reading our Gospel Portion, St. John 2:1-11. Let us concentrate on the following,

When the wine failed, the Mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

His Mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” John 1:3-5

The Miracle at the Wedding of Cana was the first sign in Jesus ministry that pointed to His Divine Purpose. It was initiated at the intercession of His Mother. Mary would not take no for an answer. And Jesus did exactly what she wanted. Because of the action of Jesus, the wedding was saved! Water was changed into the best wine. The Discipline realized that Jesus had power over the elements and they started to see Jesus with a new understanding.

This is an Epiphany!

Now for us, what can we learn from this event?

Mary gives us the example, tell Jesus what you need. He can change our situation and possibly make it exceedingly better for us.

Talk to Jesus, ask Him and trust in Him.

Sunday Blessings!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.  

https://gofund.me/033e2079

 

 

Let Us Take Christmas with Us!

May the spiritual gifts of Christmas sustain us now and forever! Amen!

We come to the end of Christmastide for most of the Western world (some cultures conclude Christmas with the Presentation of the Lord, Candlemas Day, 2 February). The key is that we need Christmas! Our Advent-Christmas-Epiphany Journey ends with the Words of Father God, with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit at the Baptism of the Lord. Holding onto these events and their meanings will bring peace.

Our Gospel Portion is St. Luke 3: 15-22. And our segment is,

And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from Heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” Luke 3: 22

Jesus has completed His early life and must lead us to salvation. Jesus did not need to be baptized for Himself, He did it for us. His words and example are for us! With them our lives are being transformed!

Live the transformation! We need Christmas because evil does not stop, therefore Christmas must continue in our lives! We must know that we are loved even when we experience the opposite in our lives, from external experiences and with internal “stinking thinking”!

God knows what we need and God gave us Christmas! Use it and stay in peace!

May the Spiritual Gifts of Christmas stay with us throughout the year and throughout our lives!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079

 

 

Wise People Still Seek Jesus!

Happy Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord!

Today we enter the Season of Epiphany which ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, next Sunday. We have followed the Lord from Advent, through Christmas and now celebrating the Epiphany Season. Actually tradition has this day as the Sixth of January and today is the Twelve Day of Christmas.

It is wonderful to celebrate Jesus! It is awesome to delve into the mysteries surrounding His Birth! Our lives will be changed entering into the Life of the Lord!

Catch Jesus and be transformed!

Our Gospel Portion for today’s meditation is, St. Matthew 3:1-12. Our selection is,

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2: 10-11

Please allow the Scripture to speak to our lives!

Wise people still seek Jesus!

There is darkness in our world, but it cannot destroy us it we keep looking for the Light of The World, Jesus! The Magi were fulfilled! They gave their best to Jesus, and they left transformed!

Are we giving our very best to Jesus?

When darkness seems to be great among us, seek the Light and be fulfilled!

Epiphany Blessings!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079

Holy Family, Teach Us How to Live!Let The Holy Family Guide Us!

Happy Fifth Day of Christmas!

On this Sunday we remember the Holy Family. From this family we have World Salvation! As Jesus is the model of Divine Living in the world, His Family models for all humankind the family. And we know that the family is the the source of human society. Our Gospel Portion today is, St. Luke 2: 22-40. We read from this text,

And a there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe tribe of Asher; she was of great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the Temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.

And the Child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him. Luke 2: 36-40.

Mary and Joseph had an awesome responsibility, and they handled it well! Each step, Father God gave them the encouragement to do their job of raising their Son. But as we see, they had to do their part. In the scene above, we see Mary and Joseph at the Temple performing the rite of Presentation of Jesus. And they met a holy widow. That must have been a tremendous blessing! They would go to their home, and they would both faithfully raise Jesus and He would be taught everything he needed to know to be an adult and at thirty years of age would begin His Ministry- World Salvation.


God, in Jesus, did not need fancy things, He needed Love and hard-working parents. Can we apply this to our families? Following the Holy Family of Nazareth, we may participate in the transformation of society!

Merry Christmas!

Pax. The Hermit of Peace.

https://gofund.me/033e2079