Hello my friends! My blessings today is that I did get some work done - I made a list and got a few things crossed off! The house is clean, and I made vegetarian chili for supper, got two birthday cards already! One from my sister, Deil. She blessed me by saying that I am a blessing to her family! Wow! Monday for my birthday we should get 70 degrees out! What a treat!! Maybe then I can start getting my summer clothes out to start wearing. It was a blessing when I looked out the patio door a little while ago and there was a cardinal in the feeder!!! Glad they are back! I was looking for him for some time now, but so cold out, he maybe would have had to wear ear muffs!! Hope you all are having a blessed Good Friday - how He suffered and died for all of us is so hard to think of - all He went thru, all the scourging, carrying His cross, hanging on the cross to die - all for us! Thank you, Jesus!! Thank you for redeeming the world! Thank you for being our Redeemer!
God gives us what we need when we need it, which isn't necessarily what we
want when we want it. His timing is perfect. Lord, I will not fall into
doubt
and worry because I trust that You will bless me at the moment of my actual
need.
Scripture for the day:
"All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not
receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a
spirit of adoption. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" ~Romans
8:14-15
Meditation for the day:
God's spirit is all around us all day long. We have no thoughts, no plans,
no impulses, no emotions that God doesn't know about. We can hide nothing
from God. We need not make our conduct conform only to that of the world.
We need not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. God sees in
secret, but God rewards openly. If we are in harmony with God, doing our
best to live the way we believe God wants us to live, we can be at peace.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may always feel God's presence. I pray that I may live in
God's presence all day long.
HOW TO MAKE A PERSONAL PRAYER
Select a best time for your personal prayer and include it in your schedule.
Let it be the best time when drowsiness, tiredness or calls from outside do
not disturb you. For most people early morning is the best time. Try to pray
every day at the fixed time that it may become a habit in you. How wonderful
it is if you can meet the Lord at the same time every day.
Personal prayer is not reciting prayers from some pious books, it is not
saying the rosary, or reading the Bible, it is not time to pray for others,
it is not to pray before a picture or a statue. It is you and your God
alone; it is closing the door of your eyes and ears and entering into the
sanctuary of your heart where you meet the Father and the Son through the
Holy Spirit.
It is good to praise and thank God for sometime to enter into personal
prayer. Where there is praise there is God! Enter His presence with praise
and thanksgiving. Have a lot of praises and thanksgiving during your prayer.
Praises will keep you away from distractions and bondages that come from the
evil one.
Once you are in His presence surrender yourself before Him with small songs
like "Father I adore you, lay my life before You (Son and Spirit)". Anyone
in the presence of the Lord will feel his unworthiness and unholiness to be
in His all Holy and Almighty presence. Hence one must spend little time
asking God pardon and mercy for the sins committed. You must experience the
compassionate and merciful Heart of Jesus from where the Living Water flows
into your heart washing you and cleansing you and giving you a new heart (Ez
36:26). After receiving His pardon and after having reconciled with God and
having forgiven all, you must again thank and praise God for His goodness to
you. Forgive everyone and be reconciled with all in your heart (Mk 11:25)
Spend sometime in asking the Lord to heal you from your past wounds of the
heart and of the present. Bring all your wounded memories to the Lord and
get yourself healed by the wounds of Christ. By His wounds you are healed (I
Pet 2:24). Present your hurt feelings, your feelings of rejections, unlove,
fear, anxiety, inferiority complex, etc. to the Lord's wounds and claim your
healing of the heart. Present the scars of your past sins, guilt, sadness,
etc. to Him and claim a deep inner peace and joy within. In this precious
moment of grace you must get yourself freed from all bad habits and the
desires of the flesh so that on that day you will not be conquered by sin.
You will hear Jesus telling in your heart, "My grace is sufficient for you"
(II Cor 12:9). During this time can ask for your own physical healings too
if you have any.
After having obtained a new life in Jesus through repentance and inner
healing surrender your entire self to the Lord, your heart, your mind, and
every part of your body, your plans, your desires, your work, your money,
your programs, your travel, your relationships, etc. (Rom 6: 12-19). You can
sing in your heart a good song of surrender like "All to Jesus I surrender"
Along with the surrender of your complete self you must ask the Holy Spirit
to fill you with power and grace. You may sing a small song to the Holy
Spirit. Open your heart to the Spirit and receive the Spirit with all
fruits, gifts and charismas (Gal 5: 22-23; Is 11: 2; I Cor 12: 4-10). This
must be the most beautiful time of your personal prayer. Here you will have
various experiences of God, like the Living Water flowing through you with
love, peace and joy. You may experience the Lord's presence in you with
spiritual, emotional manifestations too. You may, here, have visions;
perhaps you may hear the Lord speaking to you giving you guidance and
direction. If you have presented a problem to Him, you will definitely get
an answer. Through this insight, revelations, words of the Spirit within
you, you will hear the Spirit telling you "do this, don't do this, go this
way, don't go this way, etc. During this most important part of your
personal prayer you are entering into a personal friendship with Him. Here
you can speak to Him whatever you want like a brother or a friend (Jn 15:
15). Make intimacy with the Lord in your heart. During this time you may
make decisions with the Lord for that day so that all you do will be
according to His will and plan. If the Lord tells you not to do certain
things or to alter your plans be obedient to Him. Fill yourself with as much
as grace possible for you so that you may walk in His grace and love. Have
much thanksgiving and praise giving in His sweet and loving Presence. If you
spend the time well with the Lord, you will not know how your time has
passed with the Lord. When you end the prayer you may make a sign of the
Cross on important part of your body and entrust yourself to the blood of
Christ for protection and care. Thus with much grace and God's love do the
works of the day with much peace and joy. If you pray this you will see many
blessings of the Lord daily in your life and you will see that the Spirit
leads you.
How to master your mind
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P.
Used with permission, from the Passionist Priests
Television has far from killed the habit of reading-it's still America's
greatest avocation. There are more than twenty-five thousand periodicals
and ten-thousand books published every year. And the number keeps on
increasing.
Some of these publications are helpful, others are harmful, and a good
number are hopeless. Few of them help us achieve the vision of life given
us by Christ. That, in short is the purpose of spiritual reading-the
formation of a Christ-like mind and heart.
The purpose of spiritual reading is not simply to save us from being
brainwashed by a veritable flood of pagan literature. Its more positive
purpose is to supply our minds with wholesome nourishment. Self-conquest is
impossible without the mastery of our minds. This demands constant
vigilance over what we habitually pour into it.
Spiritual reading has many wonderful effects. It's almost always an
occasion of grace. When you pick up a good spiritual reading
book-especially the Sacred Scriptures-with prayerful dependence on the Holy
Spirit, you can be sure that you'll be changed for the better before you put
that book down.
Spiritual reading disposes you for prayer and reflection. Don't you find it
much easier to lift up your mind and heart to God after a period of
spiritual reading? This is not surprising for you have already preoccupied
your mind and memory with the thought of God.
It's interesting that St. Benedict, the "Father of Western Monasticism,"
suggested that his monks apply themselves to prayer often; yet he demanded
that they apply themselves to devout reading several hours a day. He knew
from experience that meditation follows easily upon the heels of such
prayerful reading.
There can be no doubt that spiritual reading is essential to spiritual
progress. Father Boylan, that modern master of the Christian life, writes:
"Without spiritual reading, not only can there be no progress in prayer,
there isn't even hope for perseverence in spiritual life."
Bishop Hedley pointed out that spiritual reading is an effective remedy
against temptation: "He who reads regularly comes to regard the slightest
sin with horror, and the slightest occasion for sin with apprehension."
It enriches one's spiritual life by being the occasion of many illuminations
of the mind and inspirations of the will that speed up spiritual progress.
It's an excellent therapy too for our greatest weakness-our proneness to be
forgetful of the truths of God. One thing is sure-your first step on the
quest for Christian Perfection must be to seek the mind of Christ. This is
impossible without the habit of good spiritual reading.
WHY DID JESUS FOLD THE NAPKIN?
Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
I never noticed this....
The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over
the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.
The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly
folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes.
Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the
Tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus
loved.
She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I
don't know where they have put him!'
Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple
outran
Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth
lying
there, but he didn't go in.
Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen
wrappings
lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and
lying to the side.
Was that important? Absolutely!
Is it really significant?
Yes!
In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to
understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded
napkin had to do with the Master and Servant; every Jewish boy knew this
tradition.
When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it
was exactly the way the master wanted it..
The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out
of
sight, until the master had finished eating. The servant would not dare
touch that table,
until the master was finished.
Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his
fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and
toss it onto the table.
The servant would then know to clear the table.
for in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'.
But if the master got up from the table,
and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate,
the servant would not dare touch the table,
Because..........
The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'
He IS Coming Back!
This is one I can honestly say I have never seen circulating in the emails.
So if it touches you, you may want to forward it.
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