Daily Thought For February 21, 2020

Lighten Up

LEARN TO LAUGH at yourself more freely. Don't take yourself or your circumstances so seriously. Relax and know that I am God with you. When you desire My will above all else, life becomes much less threatening. Stop trying to monitor My responsibilities-things that are beyond your control. Find freedom by accepting the boundaries of your domain.

Laughter lightens your load and lifts your heart into heavenly places. Your laughter rises to heaven and blends with angelic melodies of praise. Just as parents delight in the laughter of their children, so I delight in hearing My children laugh. I rejoice when you trust Me enough to enjoy your life lightheartedly.

Do not miss the Joy of My Presence by carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Rather, take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. My yoke is comfortable and pleasant; My burden is light and easily borne.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. -PROVERBS 17:22

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. -PROVERBS 31:25

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel" -which means, "God with us." -MATTHEW 1:23

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest ... for your souls.

For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good-not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne. -MATTHEW 11:29-30 AMP 

from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young p.176

Daily Thought For January 31, 2020

Everything For God's Glory

Health is God's great gift, and we must spend it entirely for Him. Our eyes should see only for God, our feet walk only for Him, our hands labor for Him alone; in short, our entire body should serve God while we still have the time. Then, when He shall take our health and we shall near our last day, our conscience will not reproach us for having misused it.

St. John Bosco

Daily Thought For January 30, 2020

Not By Heroic Deeds

I strive for the greatest perfection possible in order to be useful to the Church .... I have come to understand how great an influence I have on other souls, not by any heroic deeds, as these are striking 
in themselves, but by small actions like a movement of the hand, a look, and many other things too numerous to mention, which have an effect on and reflect in the souls of others, ... (Diary, 1475) 

Reflection 

Every hive needs worker bees. Not glamorous or heroic, just insects that, day after day, get the job done. That venture out, gather pollen, and return with it. "Saving" souls can sound both glamorous and heroic. "Touching" souls ... is what most of us are called to do. Day after day. A look of kindness. A word of support. A silent prayer. 

Prayer 

I want to get better at thinking small, Lord. At thinking local. At seeing those who walk among me so hungry for the look, the word, or the prayer that will transform their day. I want to do that, Lord. 


Jesus, I trust in You. 

from Day by Day with Saint Faustina 365 Reflections by Susan Tassone p.63

Daily Thought For January 29, 2020

Deeper Life In The Holy Spirit

Let us never hesitate to ask for the help of the divine Physician, any more than we should hesitate to go to earthly physicians. "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my praise" (Jer 17: 14). 

Dr. Bob Sawyer, M.D., is a retired ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore. He had been used by God to heal on a natural level for decades, but he did not realize the supernatural power that was also available to him in Christ. A few years ago, he began praying for more grace to overflow in his life. He recounts: 

I'd been asking the Lord to make his presence in me palpable to the people around me, that even when I step on an elevator they would somehow sense God. Not that they would be drawn to me, but that they would simply become more aware of God. One morning the chief nurse in surgery came and said, "There's a nurse friend of mine who has a brain tumor. Would you mind praying with her?" I asked if this other nurse knew me. "No, but she wants you to pray with her." I said of course IQ be willing. An hour later the woman came up to my office. She explained that the other day she had stepped on the elevator and looked at me, and something on my face had convinced her I was the one to pray with her.  

She was scheduled the next morning to have the definitive test to determine if her brain tumor was cancerous. This was a woman who hadn't gone to church in years, but she was desperate. She had two little kids and didn't want to die. I said, "Okay, I'll be happy to pray with you:' But I had zero faith that anything would happen. First I led her in a prayer to rededicate herself to the Lord, then a prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then I prayed with her for healing. She thanked me and left.  

The next day she went for the tests, and there was no sign of any tumor whatsoever.  

A year later I was standing in front of an elevator as she stepped off. I asked, "How are things going?" She said, "It's amazing. Everything has changed. I now witness to my patients about what Jesus has done in my life and how he can change their lives:' She and her kids were going to church on a regular basis. 

Dr. Bob now often leads healing services in inner city parishes, with the full support of his archdiocese, and sees remarkable healings on a regular basis. 

from Healing - Bringing the Gift of God's Mercy to the World by Mary Healy pp. 133-134.

Daily Thought For January 24, 2020

Encouraging Words

     “It is enough for you to be with Me.  This is all I ask of you.  I do not ask for elevated thoughts, or for emotional outpourings, or for nicely constructed phrases.  I ask only that you stay with Me.  I need your company even now, just as I needed the company of Peter, James, and John in Gethsemane.  They slept on, it is true, but I knew they were there, and their mere presence was a consolation to My agonizing Heart.
You are afraid of distractions, of daydreams, and of foolish thoughts; these do not offend Me because they are no more than flies buzzing in the background.
I am absorbed by your presence before Me.  Does it shock you that I should say such a thing?  But I am absorbed by you: My eyes rest upon you; My Heart is all yours; I am listening intently to you; and all My attention is focused on you when you come seeking Me.  Believe that I am totally absorbed by you, and soon you will be totally absorbed by Me.  I speak here using human terms, using the language of friendship, of affection, of love.  I am present here in all the sensitivity and tenderness of My humanity.  I am here offering you My friendship, ready to spend as much time with you as you are ready to spend with Me.  
I want you close to Me: as close as John was to Me when, at My last supper, he rested his head upon My breast.  Prayer such as this cannot be calculated or measured in terms of minutes and hours.  It is what it is—and this, for as long as you abide in My presence.
Even when the time of your adoration is ended, I remain with you.  I am in you, all attentive to you, all loving, ready at every moment to enter into conversation with you, to strengthen you in temptation, to comfort you in your sorrows, to be a light for you in your darkness.  It requires but a little bit of faith to realise that one is never alone, to become aware of My presence, of My readiness to communicate Myself to you wordlessly by an infusion of My grace.

Use what I am telling you now to comfort others who struggle in their prayer, who think that prayer is difficult, and arduous, and wholly exceptional in the lives of ordinary people.  For the man who seeks My Face and desires to rest upon My Heart, I make prayer something very simple: wordless, peace-giving, cleansing, and divinely fruitful.” 

from In Sinu Jesu, p. 247-248.

Daily Thought For January 22, 2020

Finding More Joy

At the end of this Eucharistic celebration, I invite you to join me in praying the Angelus. This prayer takes its name from the Angel’s message to Mary: “Rejoice . . . the Lord is with you”. Soon, in the Christmas liturgy, you will hear those other words of joy which announced the birth of Jesus: “Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by all the people”.

I have said before on another occasion: “In a true sense, joy is the keynote of the Christian message". As I said then, my wish is that the Christian message may bring joy to all who open their hearts to it: “joy to children, joy to parents, joy to families and to friends, joy to workers and scholars, joy to the sick and to the elderly, joy to all humanity”. I now add: “joy - deep and lasting joy - to the people of Australia”.

2. Faith is our source of joy We believe in a God who created us so that we might enjoy human happiness - in some measure on earth, in its fullness in heaven. We are meant to have our human joys: the joy of living, the joy of love and friendship, the joy of work well done. We who are Christians have a further cause for joy: like Jesus, we know that we are loved by God our Father. This love transforms our lives and fills us with joy. It makes us see that Jesus did not come to lay burdens upon us. He came to teach us what it means to be fully happy and fully human. Therefore, we discover joy when we discover truth - the truth about God our Father, the truth about Jesus our Saviour, the truth about the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts.

3. We do not pretend that life is all beauty. We are aware of darkness and sin, of poverty and pain. But we know Jesus has conquered sin and passed through his own pain to the glory of the Resurrection. And we live in the light of his Paschal Mystery - the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!”. We are not looking for a shallow joy but rather a joy that comes from faith, that grows through unselfish love, that respects the “fundamental duty of love of neighbour, without which it would be unbecoming to speak of Joy”. We realize that joy is demanding; it demands unselfishness; it demands a readiness to say with Mary: “Be it done unto me according to thy word”.

4. Mary, our Mother: I turn to you and with the Church I invoke you as Mother of Joy (Mater plena sanctae laetitiae). I, John Paul II, entrust to you the Church in Australia, and ask you to pour out upon all her members that holy human joy which was God’s gift to you.

Help all your children to see that the good things in their lives come to them from God the Father through your Son Jesus Christ. Help them to experience in the Holy Spirit the joy which filled your own Immaculate Heart. And in the midst of the sufferings and trials of life may they find the fullness of joy that belongs to the victory of your Crucified Son, and comes forth from his Sacred Heart.


Angelus message of Pope John Paul II - Sunday, 30 November 1986 - Adelaide, Australia

Daily Thought For January 20, 2020

Experiencing Divine Peace

THE PEACE THAT I GIVE YOU transcends your intellect. When most of your mental energy goes into efforts to figure things out, you are unable to receive this glorious gift. I look into your mind and see thoughts spinning round and round: going nowhere, accomplishing nothing. All the while, My Peace hovers over you, searching for a place to land. 

Be still in My Presence, inviting Me to control your thoughts. Let My Light soak into your mind and heart, until you are aglow with My very Being. This is the most effective way to receive My Peace. 

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. -2 THESSALONIANS 3:16 

"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you." -JOB 22:21 

from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young p.158