Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out Your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Homily - Part VI

God wants to satisfy your needs even more than you want them satisfied.  The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of all Christian Faith.  The Eucharist is what it signifies.  Thus it is the highest sacrament.  The other sacraments effect the grace they signify.

Pray for wisdom just as much as faith.  Doubt about the faith can be a part of your daily cross.  Do you make your whole life a living sacrifice?  You do so in receiving the Eucharist and Holy Penance.  You should give God something instead of asking for something from Him.  Daily prayers can be offered in sacrificial love.  The Sacred Liturgy is for the worship of the Divine Majesty.  Jesus gave Hmself for love of you and in obedience to God the Father.  Ask for sacrificial wisdom.  Offer all to God in a day - good and bad.  Work out your salvation with self-knowledge and love.

Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out Your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Live a Trinitarian Spirituality - Part V

All things are to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.  If you involve God in this life, you can do more by accident then most do on purpose.  My soul is looking for God and has found Him in the Trinity.  If God is with you, it is greater than what you admire in the sky.  The immensity and beauty of the sky cannot match the sacredness of the Holy Spirit's life within your soul.  There is always something to seek further in your life.  It is the Lord's Will for you to attain Eternal Salvation.  God usually wants a convert to be well grounded in knowledge and not acting on pure emotional drive.  God does not want slaves, but sons and daughters.  You can never know all, but you should have a desire to learn more and more.  To know Jesus is the way of knowing the Trinity.  Jesus goes to the Father through Himself and in the Holy Spirit.  You come from God and return to God.  Every good thing somes to you from God, through the mediation of Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit in us.  Your spirituality must have a balance between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Pope Bl. John Paul II dedicated the years 1997-99 to Son Spirit and Father, respectively. Jesus is the mediator between God and man as well as between man and God. You offer prayers to God, through Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Nothing gives God more pleasure than the conversion of men. Enjoy the pure and dazzling Trinity! 

1 Thessalonians - "May the God of Peace make you perfect in holiness." St. Catherine of Siena - "The Trinity is a mystery deeper than the Sea." Pope Bl. John Paul II - "Worship of the Eucharist is to the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit." 

Christians are everyshere and are indistinguishable as they follow the customs of their community.  Christians are in flesh, but they follow the laws of the supernatural.  The Christian to the world is as the soul to the body.  The soul restricts the body's pleasure sas the Christian restricts the pleasures of the world.  Live a Trinitarian Spirituality so that you will have the strength to accept whatever comes your way.

Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out Your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Practice and Live the Sacraments - Part IV

An encounter with Christ is necessary to work out our salvation.  Sacraments are the portal to grace and salvation and the Holy Eucharist is the way by which we encounter Christ.  However, we should be ready to encounter Christ anywhere at any moment. There is no such thing as a "white lie".  There are "scarlet sins", which are the hardest to erase from our souls.  Although our sins are forgiven, we still need to heal what has been damaged by practicing and living the sacraments.  Keep your eyes on Christ.  A sacrament is a meeting with the Lord, Jesus.  Sacraments are infinite in grace, but their graces are received according to the disposition of the recipient.  The sacraments were all instituted by Christ and they are powers that come from His Sacred Body.  Sacraments are the masterworks of God.  A sacrament is a sign of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church.  The love of the Trinity for us is perfect and ultimate.  Practice and live the sacraments.

The Sacred Liturgy is above all things the worship of the Divine Majesty.  Confirmation strengthens our ability to honor Him in the company of others.  The Holy Spirit perfects our spirit and conforms vice into love.  We have a responsibility to proclaim the Lord's part in our lives to others in order to bring them to Christ and give them the Good News.  It is impossible for a Christian not to spread the Good News to others.  The Holy Spirit transforms you sot hat your life in Christ flourishes.  We share in the Divinity of Christ as He humbled Himself to share in our humanity through the Eucharist.    The Christian life is one of actions, not of speeches or daydreams.  Preach the Gospel by your actions.  Our Faith demands public witness.  We must know the Faith in order to live and spread it.  Fallen away Catholic will only come home to the Church through the knowledge of its teachings.  Practicing and living the sacraments provides us with a clear conscience.  Praise God for the seven sacraments.  God became Man so that man could become life God.  When you possess peace everyday, you will be truly rich.  Have a clear conscience.  Work out your salvation. 

Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out Your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Understand the Reality of Vice and Virtue - Part III

Vice wants to pull you away from your attempt towards salvation.  God told Saul to stop his patterns of sin.  Man tends to lean towards sin.  Only through God's Grace can you stop sinning.  You need Jesus and the sacraments.  God is not your co-pilot, but your pilot.  the removal of a sinful habit requires work and grace over time. Confusion gives you the opportunity to make a new start with the knowledge that God will give you the grace and strength necessary for you to work out your salvation. 

Padre Pio said, "As long as there is a drop of blood in our bodies, there will be a struggle between good and evil."  Aristotle said, "I count him greater who overcomes his desires than he who overcomes his earthly enemies.  Why? Because it is heardest to overcome the inner struggle of the soul."  St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Sin is against human nature."  St. Peter said, "Root our your vices and sow virtues." 

Virtues guide your thoughts, words, and deeds.  There is a virtue for every vice: pride - humility, greed - generosity, lust - chastity, anger - meekness, envy - brotherly love, sloth - diligence, gluttony - temporance.  The virtues allow you to give your full to an act.  The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.  It is God's Willl for you to grow in virtue.  You should want to grow more virtuous.  You must be virtuous in times of trouble.  Detatchment frees you from any excessive attatchment to something or someone that might draw you away from God.  You must love persons, places, and things according to God's plan.  Passions, emotions, and feelings are not always to be satisfied but are also not always to be denied.  Some causes of sin are not intrensic evils, but the sin is dependent on the person's intentions.  Ask yourself what vices are you strong in and what virtues you need to grow in. 

St. Thomas Aquinas Said, "Good flourishes in the temporate man. Salvation begins with self-knowledge." St. Faustina said, "Oh what comfort that comes from knowledge of self!"  St. John the Baptist called the Pharisees, who lacked self-knowledge, a "brood of vipers."  St. Gerard said, "Be courageous...rely on God and not self."  st. Theresa of Avile said, "All things pass away, but God remains the same."

Delay not your convertion to God.  You must find your inner faults.  You must reform yourself before helping others to reform themselves.  You will know God by understanding your inner self.  Ask the Lord to help you find yourself.  You need Christ in order to know yourself.  The man who knows his faults is at peace in all tribulation due to his self-knowledge.  The most holy are not those who are without faults, but those who try the hardest to end their faults. God's commandments are not burdensome.  Follow what is good and you will be like God.  Temptation to sin never exceeds your ability to deny it with God's grace. Sacraments and prayers strengthen your ability to avoid temptation.  No one can have self-knowledge without trial.  The purpose of the penitential rite in the Mass is to wipe away all venial sin so you can receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist in grace.  Spend your earthly life on the Will of God and not for worldly desires.  Remain in simplicity and peace.  All you need is God.

Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Be Other-Centered - Part II

God sends the people out two by two because charity is two-fold: love of God and love of neighbor.  You love your neighbor who you can see so to prepare yourself for loving God who you cannot see.  The Lord's mercy is great, constant, and everlasting.  You must pass on the mercy God gives you to your neighbor.  Be merciful and God will have mercy on you.   If you love one another, you remain in God and God remains in you.  God is love, so if you love, God is with you.  Perfect love is without fear.  Whoever loves God must love his neighbor.  Love is to be sought after in the ordinary circumstances of daily life.  You must see God in everyone. Give truth to your neighbor and hope they act on it.  Listen intently to your neighbor's needs, speak seldon, and never be unjustly angry at them.

Galatians 5:13-14 "Out of love, place yourselves at the otherr's service...love one another as yourself." Pope Bl. John Paul II said, "The giving of oneself brings with it an enrichment of neself," and, "The value of a human being is seen in Jesus' becoming man in the womb of a woman." Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, "God took on human nature so that we can take part in Jesus' Divine Nature." St. Faustina said that she wanted her tongue to be healed from all faults. "I want my tongue to praise God without cease... How sad it is when we cause loss of grace to ourselves."

Serving God and serving your neighbor who needs your attention are equally pleasing to God.  Charity is greater than any rule and all rules chould lead to charity.  It is most rewarding to give love and charity to those who cannot give in return.  To say thank you is to take a moment to acknowledge another's goodness.  Make sacrifices for sinners and you will be rewarded for your efforts to save a soul.  Offer the simplest task as a sacrifice for others.  Make a deliberate act of the will to offer an act to God.  Give your all to an annoying task and save souls.  Love is the fulfillment of the law. 

St. Basil said, "Anger is a type of temporary madness." St. Faustina said, "Whenever I see the fortunes of others, I rejoice in it as if it was my own. " The Angel of Portugal said, "Make of everything a sacrifice."  Saint Edith Stein served God ceaselessly in the horrific environment of the Nazi prison camp, offering all for the love of God and the salvtion of souls.  St. Faustina said, "Little daily sacrifices are like flowers I strew over the feet of Jesus..." 

Wisdom Wednesday

Work Out Your Salvation A condensed version of a Fathers of Mercy retreat

Be Faithful to Daily Duty - Part I

Aspire to please God whether at home or away.  You should have filial fear for God - not the servile fear a slave has for his master - but the fear a child has of offending their father because they love and respect him.  Satan loves to hinder your daily duties.  He wants to destroy those duties that lead you to God and replace them with sinful pleasures.  Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God at the end of the day.  The Lord measures your work by the manner in which you carry it out.  Everything you do should be in the Name of Jesus and for His glory.  You must sanctify your daily life.

Josemarie Escriva said, "God wants to make you a saint right here where you are at."    St. Therese said, "My Little Way can be achieved by all."  St. Theresa of Avila taught that Holiness is doing God's Will.  St. Faustina said, "When we look at everything with the eyes of faith, no two hours are alike."  St. Augustine taught that no one can be ready for the next life without preparing for it in this life.  St. Paul says to "pray wihout ceasing."

Think well, speak well, do well.  Human freedon remains in Christ and can rise to a supernatural level.  Use this freedom to bring forth heavenly fruits according to your vocation in life.  True devotion embelishes your daily life.  Avoid making prayer your work, but instead perform your daily duties as prayers and sacrifices to God.  It is better to pray a few prayers devoutly than many prayers without love.  You should pray with a desire for God's Presence within you in every action and every moment.  Focussing on the past and focussing on the future both lead to anxiety.  Live in the moment, always. 

St. Theresa of Avila said, "God can be found amidst pots and pans." St. Therese said, "Pick up a pin for the love of God and save a soul." St. Elizabeth Ann Seton remarked several times on the beauty of the words, "Thy Will be Done."  Padre Pio said, "Try to love the Lord with your whole heart and whole will.  He will reward you much more than you deserve...  If only all people followed their vocation faithfully, this land would be a paradise."

Lift up your spirits and love God!  He has saved us!