ICEMANforChrist

Micah, Chapter 6, verse 9-10: 9 The LORD cries aloud to the city (It is prudent to fear your name!): Hear, O tribe and city assembly, 10 Am I to bear criminal hoarding and the accursed short ephah? Israel was the chosen people yet they did not fear the Lord. God asks through the prophet a rhetorical question. Is He to bear criminal hoarding and cheating during the sale of goods? A great example for us is Mother Teresa who showed us how mercy is the only way to find contentment through selflessness. “She chose to live amid squalor and sickness and desperation, endured hardship and endless toil, and might have been the happiest person on earth.” Mother did not flee from the Lord; nor did she fear anyone. When the Lord called her; she knew the call was authentic because it filled her with joy. The first counsel of Mother Teresa is to put your hand in His and walk all the way with Him. When you hear the call to follow: follow. To Mother Teresa it was never more complicated...

Jonah, Chapter 1, verse 16: 16 Seized with great fear of the LORD, the men offered sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. Those leaders who stop seeking new challenges; stop growing, inevitably stop leading. John Maxwell states, “When we stop sacrificing, we stop succeeding.” [1] If you want to become a great leader, you must be willing to make sacrifices. 1.       There is no success without sacrifice. Every person who has achieved any success in life has made sacrifices to do so. 2.       Leaders are often asked to give up more than others. Leaders have to give up their rights. Leaders need to learn how to put others ahead of themselves. It’s not easy, but you need to give up more than the people you lead. 3.       You must keep giving up, to stay up. John Maxwell takes the Law of Sacrifice even further when he states that ‘If leaders have to give up to go up, then they have to give up ev...

Jonah, Chapter 1, verse 9-10: 9 “I am a Hebrew,” he replied; “I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him, “How could you do such a thing!”—They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD, because he had told them. Jonah as wise as he was tried to flee the Lord, are we any wiser. We often choose the wrong path. Jonah was motivated but not by love. He wanted justice and not mercy for Nineveh. Pope Francis in a dispute recently stated that mercy is greater than justice when confronted with the sins of mankind and the churches stance. Our Lord desires to give us his mercy and we should seek it and give it as often as possible.

Jonah, Chapter 1, Verse 5 5 Then the sailors were afraid and each one cried to his god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep. According to bible-study-for-everyone.com [1] : Christians regard the prophet Jonah as a type foreshadowing Jesus. Jesus said that he did not come for the healthy but for the sick. The healthy are well and they know it. So, they have no need of a doctor. But the sick may be diseased and not know it. They require someone to diagnose their sickness and prescribe the remedy. They need a healer. People can be sick physically. And they can be sick mentally, spiritually, emotionally. For instance, the physical ailment of blindness is plain because the person cannot see. But there is also the blindness of selfishness. People can be blind in many ways. A person can be blind to themselves. They see with their eyes but they do not understand wha...

Amos, Chapter 3, Verse 8 8 The lion has roared, who would not fear ? The Lord GOD has spoken, who would not prophesy? Have you ever visited a zoo and heard the lion roar? Your heart quickens and your body is ready for action. Has your hearts become complacent. If so, let us hear the roar of the lion of Judah, our Lord Jesus Christ, and be ever ready to do the work of the Holy Spirit. The L ORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You set a table before me in front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy * will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the L ORD for endless days.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. (Jn. 14:1) Joel, Chapter 2, Verse 21-22 21 Do not fear , O land! Delight and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things 22  Do not fear , you animals in the wild, for the wilderness pastures sprout green grass. The trees bear fruit; the fig tree and the vine produce their harvest. Notice the prophet here acknowledges that God in his power has complete control over nature.  They do not fear . They are perfectly happy because nature does not have freewill and cooperates with God living their existence in accordance with their created function.   Yet we because we were created in the image and likeness of God we have a choice.  To do good or to do evil.  Daily we must decide if we are for ourselves and pursue the things of the world or are we going to follow Christ by picking up our cross daily. Amoris Lætitia [1] (Joy) The Work of your Hands “You shall eat the fruit of the lab...

Hosea, Chapter 10, Verse 5 5 The inhabitants of Samaria are afraid for the calf of Beth-aven; its people mourn for it and its idolatrous priests wail over it, —over its glory which has departed from it. This verse speaks of a people who want to be God's people while at the same time they want to worship pagan gods-they want it all.  They want freedom without truth.  No society can last long feeding on a diet of moral relativism.  Moral relativism is the view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period) and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others. According to Dr. Peter Kreeft [1] , author and professor of philosophy at Boston College there are four different kinds of freedom and one false freedom. The first freedom men often seek deliverance from is are obstacles or external wants of life such as poverty, material needs, dis...

The liberty of the New Covenant and its perfection in prayer and the Spirit.  Hosea, Chapter 10, Verse 3 For now they will say, “We have no king! Since we do not fear the LORD, the king—what could he do for us?” Christ is the strength of the weak and the humble confidence of those who trust in him. Christ says to us, “ My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me. (Jn. 10:27) Short Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer [1] Why does God wish us to pray to Him? To remind us: 1. that all good things come from Him, and that without Him we have nothing. 2. That we may confide in Him and try to make ourselves worthy of His divine grace, by thoughts pleasing to Him, and valuing more, and using better, the graces we receive. Why is our prayers often not heard? It is because we often ask for something that would be more hurtful than profitable to us. When ought we to pray? We should pray at all times, but especially at, 1, morning, no...

HIKE TODAY Daniel, Chapter 13, Verse 57 57 This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel, and in their fear they yielded to you; but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your lawlessness. The internet is a great tool and benefit to mankind; however, it is also used by evil men, as in this chapter of Daniel, to enslave. Today we see that many on the internet kill the life of men and women by enslaving them. Many of our beautiful youth are caught up in human trafficking and the production of pornography. Daniel in this chapter freed the woman Susanna from powerful men who tied to get her to yield her body to them or be killed.  Today let us emulate Daniel in freeing women from this type of slavery by never treating women as an object of desire by avoiding any and all use of pornography or venues of entertainment that use women as object to fulfill men’s lusts. This could even include our selection of music and TV shows we watch. We could also offer our pra...

1 Daniel, Chapter 13, Verse 1-3 In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim, 2 who married a very beautiful and God - fearing woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah; 3 her parents were righteous and had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses. Susanna is included in the Book of Daniel (as chapter 13) by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. It is one of the additions to Daniel, considered apocryphal by Protestants. She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details (cross-examination) of what they saw but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. The first says they were under a mastic, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cut him in two. The second says they were under an ev...

“Fellow Israelite's and you others who are God-fearing , listen."  (Acts, 13:16) Daniel, Chapter 10, Verse 19 “ Do not fear , beloved. Peace! Take courage and be strong.” When he spoke to me, I grew strong and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.” Read this verse again and imagine Christ saying this to you the next time you receive communion. Perhaps it would be a good idea to commit this verse to memory and repeat it to yourself at communion or on visits to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Yes, we are beloved and if we are beloved we must share the love Christ gives us with others; especially our families and spouses. Amoris Lætitia [1] (love) A Path of Suffering and Blood The word of God constantly testifies to that sad dimension already present at the beginning with Adam and Eve, when, through sin, the relationship of love and purity between man and woman turns into domination: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule...

Daniel, Chapter 10, Verse 11-14 11 “ Daniel, beloved,” he said to me, “Understand the words which I am speaking to you; stand up, for my mission now is to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up trembling. 12 “ Do not fear , Daniel,” he continued; “from the first day you made up your mind to acquire understanding and humble yourself before God, your prayer was heard. Because of it I started out, 13 but the prince of the kingdom of Persia stood in my way for twenty-one days, until finally Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia, 14 and came to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the last days; for there is yet a vision concerning those days.” Yet, when I read this verse I hear the Lord saying this to us all-Stay with me-do not be afraid . Today go to the Blessed Sacrament and spend some time with the Lord. There our Lord will pull us to Himself and transform us into warriors and conquer...

Daniel, Chapter 10, Verse 7 7 I alone, Daniel, saw the vision; but great fear seized those who were with me; they fled and hid themselves, although they did not see the vision. What have you to fear with God at your back? We as the heirs of God’s promises to the Hebrews must have the courage to support and defend Israel at each threshold of change that God brings about. Yes, there will be suffering and we must be up to the challenge; to carry our cross, as God wills it. The Lord is patient and kind yet He is also just. He will right the evil of man. When man goes too far God intervenes. Is another intervention coming? Is there a breach in the lines of defense against the forces of darkness? Have we become fat and gross and gorged with secularism? Have we forsaken the God who made us and scorned Him? Have we sacrificed to demons, to “no-gods,”? Good men heed the message of St. Faustina, and seek the Divine Mercy of God while there is still time and then join the battle...