What is the will of God?

By Robert Batch

Sint Jerome Meditating byJan Cornelisz Vermeyen

 
We continually hear this question all day and everyday: "What is the will of God?"  See the Lord does not want us to become a "secondary version of our self."  Nor does He want us to become a secondary version of our parents. The answer is one that we must look for deep down inside ourselves. The answer relies on a fundamental principle: That we become the best version of ourselves.

We must find purpose in our lives, marriage, relationships, friendships and all of these should contribute and factor into becoming the best version of ourselves. This answers the question: "How do I become Holy?"  Become the best version of yourself!


Continue reading at Robert's blog Love is Calling.

What is my mission?

 By Beryle Baterina

An Allegory of Man (Wikipedia)

God sends all of us to mission.  A mission to share my faith especially to those who do not know Christ. Although the thought of that really scares me.  I am afraid of what may happen.  But I must remember that God is always with me.  He gives me knowledge and confidence that I may fulfill His plan.  My prayer would be to have a strong heart to do the will of God.  I have felt what I needed to do.  And I also wanted it.  I am just afraid,  I have to be strong in my prayers to overcome the fear to move forward and to go where God wants me to be.

"Send me Lord and I will go to the place you have prepared
send me Lord and I will speak with the power of your word
send me Lord and I will seek your awesome love and majesty
Lord send me, Lord send me, I will go..." - taken from the song, Send Me

I am a sinful person, but Jesus died on the cross to save me, to save us.  Now, I have to fulfill my mission - to grow in my faith and share it with others.  I am not so sure if there is already a growth in my faith but I am already accepting that I did became better (even just a teeny, tiny bit) these past few months.   The truth is, I cannot really tell if there was change in me.  I can never be perfect and I am always a work in progress.  I have faith that I am making progress.


Beryl originally posted this at her blog Beryl Baterina.

Mirror, mirror

By Nancy Ward

Julie Lebrun  by Vigee-Lebrun (Wikimedia Commons).

“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh,” (Rom 13:14).

The witch in “Snow White” spent a lot of time in front of her mirror, asking, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” She built her self-image on her attractiveness. Today’s culture takes up this chant, unrelenting in its insistence that beauty and sexual attractiveness are all that matters.  How easily these surface values can become our way of life.

God created our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, sacramentals of procreation and means of holiness. They are fearfully and wonderfully made yet often desecrated by sin or used to tempt others. God meant for us to enjoy our bodies and our sexuality in a holy way. He reveals himself to us through the beauty of our own bodies.

As a temple of the Holy Spirit, there are places I can’t go, movies I can’t see, fashions I can’t wear because they dishonor the human body, and therefore Christ’s body. Good stewardship of my body involves keeping it healthy and strong, and dressing attractively, yet modestly. I am to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh,”< (Rom 13:14).

God created our bodies to translate his invisible spirit into readable terms. We dress in harmony with our inner tabernacle and thus attract others to the Lord, not to ourselves. We decorate our body temple with the same reverence we apply in our churches to inspire worship, not of the temple, but of the God within the temple.

We can love God with our whole being by honoring his will for our body. We can choose to use our body temple to become one body, one spirit with Jesus and not to satisfy a temporary demand of our body, whether it be adultery or gluttony. Yes, with his grace, we can choose to give our body what it needs and not obey our fleeting compulsions. We can choose to glorify God with our body.

God sees your true image reflection of his life unfolding in your body, mind, and spirit. When you look in the mirror he wants you to see him in yourself. Then you can mirror his character to the world from within your body. He wants you to brightly shine his reflection until the day you see him face to face. He meant for your body to belong entirely to him so that you will become more like him in every way possible.

How do you mirror God’s character with your body?

Do you see a glimpse of God when you look in the mirror?

Copyright 2014 Nancy Ward. Nancy blogs at  JOY Alive in our hearts.

The Benedictine Oblate and Christian Perfection

By Barbara A. Schoeneberger

Clear Creek Abby Solemn Profession of Vows, 9/7/13

Poverty, chastity, and obedience are called the three evangelical counsels, the counsels Jesus recommends in the Gospel for those who desire to do more than the minimum to get to heaven, and to aim at Christian perfection (Mt. 19:16-22). By Christian perfection we mean that extremely elusive condition of perfect charity, love of God and love of neighbor, that we will enjoy for all eternity and which we seek, by the grace of God, to reach in this life, sinners that we are. In fact, if we don’t work at it consistently and generously in this life, God will have a lot of polishing to do on us before He admits us to heaven when we die.

The vast majority of religious communities of priests, brothers, and nuns take these three as vows when they make their commitment to belong to their community forever. Through practicing these vows they witness to the world a higher reality. They declare through all of what the counsels imply that there is indeed something more enduring than this world. As laity, we can practice these counsels according to our state in life, too. The more we desire to reach Christian perfection out of love of Jesus, the more we can look to these three counsels to guide us in our daily choices.

Continue reading at Barb's blog Suffering with Joy.

20 easy ways to become a saint

By Mallory Hoffman

Archangel Raphael with Bishop Dimonte
by Murillo (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

 
Look straight ahead at God.  Make Him first in your life.

Pray.  Pray every minute, every hour, and every day.

Obey the commandments.

Receive the sacraments frequently.

Use the gift of the Sacrament of a Reconciliation regularly.

Love God.  Strive to do His Holy Will which is Love.

Attend Mass, especially on Sundays.

Praise God.  Rejoice in a His Holy a Will.

Reject sin.  When you sin, seek reconciliation in the confessional. 

Repent.  Strive to overcome your weaknesses.  Confess.

Be kind to others, but most importantly, be kind to yourself.

Read the rest at Mallory's blog  His UnEnding Love.

Love your priests--all of them

By Michael Seagriff

 

 

Ordination of a Priest, 15th century engraving
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

 

Blessed John Paul II gave the Church many beautiful gifts; among them were the Year of the Rosary (2002-2003) and the Year of the Eucharist (2004-2005).  In doing so, he encouraged priests, religious and laity to use these gifts and harness the spiritual power and strength that flows from them. Both he and his successor have urged their priests to make the Eucharist the source, center and summit of their priestly lives and to fully embrace and live their unique vocation as "another Christ." 

During the Year for the Priest (2009-2010) Pope Benedict XVI held St. John Marie Vianney up as the model for all priests because the Cure of Ars accepted the cross, was full of zeal for the salvation of souls, was an ardent Adorer of the Blessed Sacrament, was greatly devoted to our Blessed Mother, a lover of sinners who spent hours daily reconciling them with their merciful God, a model of purity, humble in all things, lover of penance and mortification, and a good and holy priest.

Not a single priest should be hesitant to imitate this great priest and saint! There have always been John Vianneys in our midst. Thankfully, more priests are responding positively and wholeheartedly to the Holy Father’s challenge. We are beginning to experience the fruits of their faithful embrace of that call! While we certainly need more priests, we first need holy priests whose Christ-like example will attract other men to the priesthood they love.

 

 

Continue reading at Micheal's blog Harvesting the Fruits of Contemplation.

How do the righteous live?

 By Michael Incorvia

The Prophet Habakkuk (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

The Old and New Testaments teach that the righteous person lives by faith, freely committing their entire self to God, seeking only to know and do God’s will.

God’s reply to the plea of the Old Testament Prophet Habakkuk is, “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4b).   And, in the New Testament the author of Hebrews teaches that God states, “my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38).

It is through a total surrendering of self to God, desiring only to know and do His will that a righteous life is lived.   Righteousness is not achieved in a singular act of surrendering to the Lord.  Rather, righteous is achieved through series of daily actions of surrendering self to God, to know and do God’s will.  The righteous entrust their state in life, each event in the life, their entire being to the Lord.  Eternal salvation is achieved through a life lived in faith.


Michael blogs at To Love and Truth.