Daily Thought For September 29, 2016

Respect

Recently, on the subway, I got up and gave my seat to a lady who was holding on to a strap. She was rather surprised and said to me, “Why did you do that?” Seeing that she was incapable of understanding a spiritual reason, I said to her, “Madame, I tell you, ever since I was a little boy, I have had an infinite respect for a woman with a strap in her hand.”

from The Wit & Wisdom of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen p. 158

Daily Thought For September 28, 2016

A Prayer For Renewal

 

Father, I simply come to you
I come the way I am in all my poverty
I know I can come to you no matter what
I come to seek your mercy and grace anew

 

Forgive me for my mistakes and failures
The times when I have lost my way
When my priorities have not been in a proper order

 

I accept anew the free gift of your love that you offer me
The free gift of life eternal through your son Jesus Christ
I acknowledge anew Jesus as Lord and Savior of my life

 

Father, I want to start anew today
Send your Holy Spirit to fill my heart afresh
Let the fire of your spirit purify my heart
Seize my heart in the fire of your Love
Come Holy Spirit as in the Upper Room
Come in your power and empower my life
Set free in me the gifts that you have for my life.

 

Stir a fervent desire to commune with you daily
Release the gift of true and persevering prayer
Transform me into a Burning Bush
Use me as an instrument for the building of Your Kingdom

In Jesus’ Name, for this I pray.

 

Amen.

 

 From The Burning Bush by Kim Catherine-Marie Kollins with Alessandra Nucci p.104

Daily Thought For September 27, 2016

Divine Mercy Exceeds Our Imagination

    

     Jesus was always with people, even after day was done. There were many times when they would not let him rest. His life was totally given over to his brothers and sisters. He loved them with the greatest love that the world has ever seen. He was raised for our justification and ascended into Heaven to prepare a place for us. He sent us the Holy Spirit to forestall our becoming orphans. The more we have needed him, the more He has been among us. This divine mercy exceeds anything the human mind can imagine. This superabundant mercy is proper to God and is the greatest manifestation of his omnipotence. 

 

from In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez p. 398

Daily Thought For September 25, 2016

An Invitation

 

Dear brothers and sisters, dear young friends, Christ is always with us and always walks with his Church, accompanies her and guards her, as he has told us: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). Never doubt his presence! Always seek the Lord Jesus, grow in friendship with him, receive him in communion. Learn to listen to his word and also to recognize him in the poor. Live your lives with joy and enthusiasm, sure of his presence and of his unconditional, generous friendship, faithful even to death on the cross. Bear witness to all of the joy that his strong yet gentle presence evokes, starting with your contemporaries. Tell them that it is beautiful to be a friend of Jesus and that it is well worth following him. With your enthusiasm, demonstrate that, among all the different ways of life that the world today seems to offer us – apparently all on the same level – the only way in which we find the true meaning of life and hence true and lasting joy, is by following Jesus.

 

excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI’s Homily at Terreiro do Paço of Lisbon, Tuesday, 11 May 2010

Daily Thought For September 24, 2016

 Waiting In The Upper Room

 

If you wish to rise above a life of imperfection, you must, like the apostles, prepare yourself for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Remain watchful and persevere in humble and continual prayers.

When you are ready, my Spirit will come to you as he did to the apostles waiting in expectant faith in the upper room.

You will be given the courage to leave your safe house of prayer and fearlessly announce to the world what you have come to know of my truth and my love, not fearing pain and rejection, but seeing the glory of whatever comes to you.

I will give you a fire of charity strong enough to overcome your fears, your love of comfort, and all the temptations of the Devil.

Having the taste of my charity in your soul you can arise and give birth to it in your neighbors. For you cannot love me without loving your neighbor, nor can you love your neighbor and not love me.

St. Catherine of Sienna

 

Daily Thought For September 23, 2016

The Intensity of Love

 

        There are poor people everywhere, but the deepest poverty is not being loved. The poor whom we must seek may live near us or far away. They can be materially or spiritually poor. They may be hungry for bread or hungry for friendship. They may need clothing, or they may need the sense of wealth that God’s love for them represents. They may need the shelter of a house made of bricks and cement or the shelter of having a place in our hearts. 

     We do not need to carry out grand things in order to show a great love for God and for our neighbor. It is the intensity of love we put into our gestures that makes them into something beautiful for God. 

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Daily Thought For September 22, 2016

The Christian Life

 

  The Christian life is a journey, not a retirement center. 

 

Fr. George Montague  Holy Spirit Make Your Home in Me - Biblical Meditations On Receiving The Gift of the Spirit p.25