Acts, Chapter 15, Verse 33
After
they had spent some time there, they were sent off with greetings of peace from the brothers to those who had
commissioned them.
We
are all sent off with the message as are the angels that the only way to be
without fear and to have true peace is by living in the truth and the truth is
we were created to know, love and serve God and our neighbor. America is
special in that the founders realized this when they wrote our constitution
which was established to ensure that laws are enacted and enforced that support
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Much of our misery in this country
is caused by laws that reverse the order ensuring that wealth trumps liberty
and liberty trumps life. No, it must be life first.
The prayer of the Church venerates
and honors the Heart of Jesus . . . which, out of love for
men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins."
To those who show him love and who make reparation for sins, however, our Lord made a great pledge: "I promise you in the unfathomable mercy of my heart that my omnipotent love will procure the grace of final penitence for all those who receive communion on nine successive first Fridays of the month; they will not die in my disfavor, or without having received the sacraments, since my divine heart will be their sure refuge in the last moments of their life."
To gain this grace, we must:
·
Receive
Holy Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays.
·
Have
the intention of honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of reaching final
perseverance.
·
Offer
each Holy Communion as an act of atonement for offenses against the Blessed Sacrament.
Considerations
The fullness of God is revealed and given to us in Christ, in the love of Christ, in Christ's heart. For it is the heart of him in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." Were one to lose sight of this great plan of God-the overflow of love in the world through the Incarnation, the Redemption and Pentecost-he could not understand the refinement with which our Lord deals with us. So, when we talk about the heart of Jesus, we stress the certainty of God's love and the truth of his commitment to us. When we recommend devotion to the Sacred Heart, we are recommending that we should give our whole selves to Jesus, to the whole Jesus-our souls, our feelings and thoughts, our words and actions, our joys. That is what true devotion to the heart of Jesus means. It is knowing God and ourselves. It is looking at Jesus and turning to him, letting him encourage and teach and guide us. The only difficulty that could beset this devotion would be our own failure to understand the reality of an incarnate God. But note that God does not say: "In exchange for your own heart, I will give you a will of pure spirit." No, he gives us a heart, a human heart, like Christ's. I don't have one heart for loving God and another for loving people. I love Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit and our Lady with the same heart with which I love my parents and my friends. I shall never tire of repeating this. We must be very human, for otherwise we cannot be divine. . ..
If we don't learn from Jesus, we will never love. If, like some people, we were to think that to keep a clean heart, a heart worthy of God, means "not mixing it up, not contaminating it" with human affection, we would become insensitive to other people's pain and sorrow. We would be capable of only an "official charity," something dry and soulless. But ours would not be the true charity of Jesus Christ, which involves affection and human warmth. In saying this, I am not supporting the mistaken theories-pitiful excuses-that misdirect hearts away from God and lead them into occasions of sin and perdition. . ..
But I have still a further consideration to put before you. We have to fight vigorously to do good, precisely because it is difficult for us to resolve seriously to be just, and there is a long way to go before human relations are inspired by love and not hatred or indifference. We should also be aware that, even if we achieve a reasonable distribution of wealth and a harmonious organization of society, there will still be the suffering of illness, of misunderstanding, of loneliness, of the death of loved ones, of the experience of our own limitations.
Faced with the weight of all this, a Christian can find only one genuine answer, a definitive answer: Christ on the cross, a God who suffers and dies, a God who gives us his heart opened by a lance for the love of us all. Our Lord abominates injustice and condemns those who commit it. But he respects the freedom of each individual. He permits injustice to happen because, as a result of original sin, it is part and parcel of the human condition. Yet his heart is full of love for men. Our suffering, our sadness, our anguish, our hunger and thirst for justice . . . he took all these tortures on himself by means of the cross. . ..
Suffering is part of God's plans. This is the truth, however difficult it may be for us to understand it. It was difficult for Jesus Christ the man to undergo his passion: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." In this tension of pleading and acceptance of the Father's will, Jesus goes calmly to his death, pardoning those who crucify him.
This supernatural acceptance of suffering was, precisely, the greatest of all conquests. By dying on the cross, Jesus overcame death. God brings life from death. The attitude of a child of God is not one of resignation to a possibly tragic fate; it is the sense of achievement of someone who has a foretaste of victory. In the name of this victorious love of Christ, we Christians should go out into the world to be sowers of peace and joy through everything we say and do. We have to fight-a fight of peace-against evil, against injustice, against sin. Thus do we serve notice that the present condition of mankind is not definitive. Only the love of God, shown in the heart of Christ, will attain our glorious spiritual triumph.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church. It was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
however, who made this devotion widespread. In 1675, within the octave of the
feast of Corpus Christi, our Lord appeared to her and said: "Behold this
heart which, not withstanding the burning love for men with which it is
consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from most Christians than
sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude, even in the sacrament of my
love [the Eucharist]. But what pierces my heart most deeply is that I am
subjected to these insults by persons especially consecrated to my
service."
The great promise of the Sacred
Heart is most consoling: the grace of final perseverance and the joy of having
Jesus' heart as our sure refuge and Infinite Ocean of mercy in our last hour.
Almighty
and everlasting God, look upon the heart of your well-beloved Son and upon the
praise and satisfaction which he offers to you in the name of all sinners; and
grant them pardon when they seek your mercy. We ask this in the name of Jesus
Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever.
1. Love is revealed to us in the Incarnation, the
redemptive journey which Jesus Christ made on our earth, culminating in the
supreme sacrifice of the cross. And on the cross it showed itself through a new
sign: "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once
there came out blood and water." This water and blood of Jesus speak to us
of a self-sacrifice brought to the last extreme: "It is
finished"-everything is achieved, for the sake of
love. . . .
2. Let us realize all the richness hidden in the
words "the Sacred Heart of Jesus." When we speak of a person's heart,
we refer not just to his sentiments, but to the whole person in his loving
dealings with others. In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture
uses the expression "heart" in its full human meaning, as the summary
and source, expression and ultimate basis, of one's thoughts, words and
actions. One is worth what one's heart is worth. . . .
3. Jesus on the cross, with his heart overflowing with
love for us, is such an eloquent commentary on the value of people and things
that words only get in the way. Men, their happiness and their lives, are so important that the very Son of God gave
himself to redeem and cleanse and raise them up. "Who will not love this
heart so wounded?" a contemplative asks in this connection. "Who will
not return love for love? Who will not embrace a heart so pure? We, who are
made of flesh, will repay love with love. We will embrace our wounded One,
whose hands and feet ungodly men have nailed; we will cling to his side and to
his heart. Let us pray that we be worthy of linking our heart with his love and
of wounding it with a lance, for it is still hard and impenitent. . .."
Fitness Friday
Recognizing that God the Father created man on Friday the 6th day
I propose in this blog to have an entry that shares on how to recreate and
renew yourself in strength; mind, soul and heart.
Be smart when
sunbathing
·
Everyone
knows that a nice tan gives a healthy glow, so as soon as summer comes we rush
to enjoy sunbathing. However, the researches show that excessive and
irresposible sunbathing can cause skin problems including skin cancer. Despite
all potential threats to enjoy the sun, sunbathing can be healthy if you take
all measures to protect your skin from harmful sun rays. Here are some tips for
you when and how to enjoy the sun in order to get a healthy tan without any
trouble.
·
Everytime
when you face the sun use a sunscreen with SPF protection. Apply a sunscreen
all over your body and face at least 30 minutes before sunbathing so that your
skin could absorb the cream. When you are in the sun reapply sunscreen every 30
minutes. Also, don’t forget a sunscreen to your lips as the yare very sensitive
to the sun.
·
First
time you shouldn’t stay in the sun for more than 15 minutes. Let your skin to
get used to the sun. Then you can gradually increase the time you spend in the
sun for 5-10 minutes every time.
·
Stay
in the sun before the noon or just after 3 p.m. Time from 12 a.m. to 3 p.m. is
the most dangerous because the sun causes the most damage at this time.
·
Don’t
forget to drink lots of water to avoid dehydration. Make sure to wear
sunglasses as the sun can violate your retina.
·
Moisturize
your skin after sunbathing. The best moisturizers contain aloe vera which has
soothing properties and helps to restore moisture balance of skin cells.
7. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’
or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who
strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you
need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
-Matt 6:31-33
-Matt 6:31-33
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a father.
And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will only
stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so you
will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in the
end you will be a more worthy soul."
55. Like the good sons of Noah, throw the mantle of charity over the
defects you see in your father, the Priest.
Cranberry bog harvest begins
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