June Random Thoughts and Prayers
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6/11/24 - RANDOM THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS, by Deacon Sam
We are more than what we may have done. We humans fail at times but Jesus urges us to have hope, refrain from being discouraged, and start again. Discouragement comes from pride – the belief that we may not need much help from God. We do need to renounce the sins that may own us and claim the graces offered to us by Jesus Christ. In each Mass, Jesus tells us "Peace be with you." He urges us to take courage and walk in the light of God. We all have a universal vocation to love and must guard against indifference to the needs of others. Our God is a God who loves us, is present to us, and wants to bring us to His Kingdom in heaven.
No one has any idea of how much time we have to live. Now is the only time we have. We can try to live our life as if we are running out of time. God gives us permission to be a perpetual beginner – to fail and learn from our mistakes and failures. Choose the Lord and follow in his way. We start by starting.
Jesus desires us to have intimacy with Him. He came from heaven to be with us - His friendship can make a big difference in our lives. Jesus wants us to remain faithful to our relationships; He wants us to eliminate our loneliness and selfishness, live with each other in peace, and lead others to God by the example of how we live our lives. In God alone we find true life, purpose and everlasting joy. May we all radiate God's light and love to the world like the sun shining off glass.
We want to do something great with our lives but at some point we decline – this happens to all of us as we age. As we decline, a new vision for our life is needed – not to work hard but to love well. Our intimate relationship with God allows us to move along in our world with a joyful boldness to bring God's love and life to others. The Saints knew this because they allowed the light of Christ to shine through their lives. The great St. Joseph is a wonderful example of this by the way he loved, trusted and did what God wanted him to do.
Two things in life really matter: the memory of loving and the memory of being loved.
God grants each of us countless gifts throughout our lives. We express gratitude, thanks and praise to God by using them – rather than wasting them by not using them. God gives us the gift of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist – we should not be indifferent to this gift but rather use it to change our lives, to transform our hearts so we can serve Jesus well with our life. We love Jesus as He loves by using our gifts of caring, compassion, empathy and forgiveness. In our unworthiness we bring our prayers and heart to God as we strive to live fiercely in service to Him.
"I place my trust in God, my Creator, in all things; I love him with all my heart."
St. Joan of Arc
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, there to be content. " Helen Keller