Do We Really Know How To Love?

"I pray that you will understand the words of Jesus, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ Ask yourself, ‘How has he loved me? Do I really love others in the same way?’ Unless this love is among us, we can kill ourselves with work and it will only be work, not love. Work without love is slavery."— Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta,

Good Morning, It's Time 4 Breakfast: Through Jesus To Holiness.

"We must all grow in a clear conviction of our duty to be holy as Jesus is holy. Holiness is one of the most beautiful gifts a human heart can offer to God. We should serve Jesus in his poor by doing for them the things we would like to do for him. This is where sanctity is hidden for us: In knowing Jesus, in loving Jesus, and in serving Jesus in the people around us. If we do this, we will become professionals in holiness."— Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Follow Jesus And Live!

"God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved." - John 3:17 - By immersing ourselves in Jesus we come to the heart of God, we see the presence of God in action, curing the sick, loving the sinner. We also see in Jesus, then, what we must be if we are to come to the wholeness of life.

Check Yourself.

Jesus said, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?" - Luke 6:41. - In every conflict I am in, I have something to do both with starting it and resolving it. Until I am willing to examine my part in the problem, I have no right to criticize the other.

Nightcap: Be Still, God Speaks!

God speaks silently, God speaks in your heart; if your heart is noisy, chattering, you will not hear. - Caryll Houselander

Breakfast: Let Us Pray.

I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers to God make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those effects down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives. - Peter Kreeft

Nightcap: Love and Kindness.

Heavenly Father, we might be shocked if your Son came back today and attracted people who live differently from the way we live. Give me the grace to be accepting of all whom you have created in love. Help me to love the way Jesus loves so I can treat people with love and kindness. I ask this in Jesus's name. Amen.-from Stories of Jesus

Breakfast: Do Unto Others...

"In the same way you judge others, you will be judged." - Matthew 7:2 - When I wonder how God will deal with me in judgment, all I need to do is to consider how I deal with others, as this scripture says. It is a sobering though: Do I withhold my love to punish them? Is that what I want for myself?

The Feast of Corpus Christi

Breakfast: The Bread of Heaven.
"Lord Jesus, you nourish and sustain us with your very own presence and life-giving word. You are the bread of life - the heavenly food that sustains us now and that produces everlasting life within us. May I always hunger for you and be satisfied in you alone."

Nightcap: All Things Are Possible.

Praise is creating space in your life for God to do what you are hoping and dreaming He will do. Always remember: With God, nothing is impossible. — from Praise God and Thank Him

Breakfast: Discovering Real Joy.

"No one can serve two masters." - Matthew 6:24 - The divided heart is a restless heart. If we worship the opposites of life - things and God - We have no real center, no real security.  We find ourselves far from God and grasping at sand. To be truly happy, we must seek God above all else.

Emancipate Yourself!

" For where you treasure is, there also your heart will be." - Matthew 6:21. - Only when we finally overcome all the lesser idols of our lives - money, things, power, position - will we ever really be able to truly love God. What is it that is still keeping me from that freedom of heart, mind and soul?

Breakfast: As We Forgive Those...

"If you forgive others their wrongs, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours." - Matthew 6:14. - Stop a minute. Search your heart. Who is it in your life that you have yet to forgive? On being able to forgive that person for that situation, rests your own eternal peace. Start now.

Nightcap: Thy Will Be Done.

"Lord Jesus, begin a new work of love within me. Instill in me a greater love and respect for your commandments. Give me a burning desire to live a life of holiness and righteousness. Purify my thoughts, desires, and intentions that I may only desire what is pleasing to you and in accord with your will."

Breakfast: What Is Your Motive?

"Be careful not to make a show of your righteousness before people. If you do so, you do not gain anything from your Father in heaven." - Matthew 6:1. - Life is more about why we do a thing than what it is we do. Even religion can become more about pride than it is about piety. When we do a thing in order to have others see us doing it, it's self-love, not the love of God, that drives us.

Nightcap: The Sustaining Force

Forgiveness is a practice worth pursuing with all one's strength, as it may be the single most sustaining force in any relationship, as well as being indispensable to one's own emotional well-being. — from Fighting Mad

Breakfast: No Discrimination In Love.

" If you love only those who love you, what is special about that." - Matthew 5:46. - Our God is the God of all. This God, then, loves all of us. How, then, can I possibly do otherwise myself and claim to be a child of that same God? Clearly, the unassailable sign of holiness is love for those who do not love us.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity

Breakfast: The Mystery Of The Most Holy Trinity.
We come to know God slowly in life. We do not understand everything at once. But little by little, the Spirit leads us to the truths God wants us to know. First, of course, we have to be open to the Spirit. We must trust God at work in us - even when it seems to be outside the rules.

Gospel Reflections: We Are All Precious.

"There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine upright who do not need to repent. - Luke:15:7 - When I really come to know myself I also come to realize that I have no right to give up on anyone - anymore than God ever gives up on me. It is the patience of God that saves us all. God waits for all of us to grow into goodness.

Breakfast: Where Is God?

"Do not think that I have come to remove the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to remove but to fulfill them." - Matthew 5:17. - God is revealed to us through every one we meet, through every moment of insight, through every blade of grass. Nothing is without a spiritual purpose in life. It is only a matter of learning to ask ourselves what it teaches us about God’s will for us.

Nightcap: He Is Steadfast And True.

 "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; All things pass: God never changes. Patience achieves all it strives for. Whoever has God lacks nothing, God alone suffices." - St Teresa of Avila.

Breakfast: My Awakening.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:3 - When I realise that the spiritual life is a process of growth and a product of time, I stop looking for tricks and gimmicks to get me to God and begin to accept life as God's call to me.

Nightcap: The Meaning of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit is first and foremost a Creator Spirit, hence Pentecost is also a feast of creation. For us Christian, the world is the fruit of an act of love by God who has made all things and in which he rejoices because it is "good", it is "very good", as the creation narration in Genesis tells us. Consequently God is not totally Other, unameable and obscure. God reveals himself, he has a face. God is reason, God is will, God is love, God is beauty. Faith in the Creator Spirit and faith in the Spirit whom the Risen Christ gave to the Apostles and gives to each one of us are therefore inseparably united. - from Pope Benedict XVI - New Sunday Missal.

Happy Birthday Church - It's Pentecost.

Bearing It For The Kingdom. "Peace be with you," Jesus said. After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side."- John 20:19-20. - Whatever life demands of us, we see in the glorified wounds of Jesus, we will survive and be better for it, because the One who was wounded for us is a sign of the God who stretches us, too, for the sake of the kingdom.

Nightcap: A Living Body

The Church is not a charitable, cultural or political association, but a living Body, that walks and acts in history. And this Body has a head, Jesus, who guides, nourishes and supports it. –Pope Francis

Breakfast: The Greatest Love.

"May the power of your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven. Grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love, as you died for love of our love." (Prayer of Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226)

Nightcap: Pray For Christian Unity

"Heavenly Father, have mercy on all your people and heal the divisions in the body of Christ. May all Christian people throughout the world attain the unity for which Jesus prayed on the eve of his sacrifice. Renew in us the power of the Spirit that we may be a sign of that unity and a means of its growth. Increase in us a fervent love for all our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ." Amen!

Breakfast: Love One Another.

"May they all be one as you Father are in Me and I am in you." - John 17:21. - The most certain sign of a holy life is that in our love for the God who made us all - we come to love one another as a reflection of that God in whose image and likeness we are all made.

Breakfast: Come Into My Heart Lord Jesus!

"I do not ask you to remove them from the world but to keep them safe from the evil one." - John 17:15. - "Tell me, Holy One," the disciple said, "Should I sell my business and go into a monastery?" And the Holy One answered, "No keep your business but go into your heart." Point: God must be the center of our lives wherever we are. That is far more difficult than going into a monastery.

Breakfast: Will You Finish Your Portion?

Jesus said, "I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do." - John 17:4. - Each of us, too, has really only one goal on earth: to show God's glory on earth rather than to be consumed with our own and to finish the work God gave us to do.

The Eyes of A Saint.

No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity.- Bishop Fulton Sheen

Nightcap: Behind the Scenes.

Our Lady worked behind the scenes in the name of her Son. She wants us, too, to work for Him when no one is watching. During the times in our lives when we may feel beaten down and worn out, she is with us, quenching our thirst, cooling us down, and keeping the flame alive, all for God. — from Visiting Mary

The Feast of the Ascension

Jesus wants us to know that it is not perfection that we must be about. What is really important are our efforts to do better, always better, that claims God's love and forgiveness.

Nightcap: Fix It With Love.

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”
― Mother Teresa, A Simple Path: Mother Teresa

Breakfast: Growing Up!

"When the day comes, you will ask in My Name and it will not be me who asks the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you." - John 16:26. - To come to know and follow Jesus - to develop a relationship with Jesus - is to grow into a relationship with the God of Jesus. It is to come to full spiritual stature ourselves; to grow into a spiritual adulthood that is of God.

Men of Jamaica, how will your life lead us back to God?
Pillar Monks, Simon Stylites

Breakfast: Now You Know!

"You did not choose me; it was I who chose you and sent you to bear fruit, fruit that will last." - John 15:16 - To be alive is to be responsible for the co-creation of the world. We are not here simply to get up and breathe every morning. We are here to finish what God began. We are here to bear fruit that endures.

Nightcap: Can You Be Trusted?

“I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.” ― Blessed Mother Teresa

Breakfast; Be Patient, Trust God!

" A little while and you will see me no more; and then a little while and you will see me." - John 16:16. - God's time is not our time. We want everything explained and resolved and repaired now. But there are things to be learned by waiting. Patience and insight and growth all come slowly.

Are You Up To It?

"I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now." -John 16:12. - Jesus turns upside down all our old ideas about life and sin.That's why following Jesus is really so difficult. It demands that we begin to see and think and live differently than the world around us. To live like Jesus lived.

Breakfast : Seeing With The Eyes Of Jesus.

"And when the Spirit comes, he will vindicate the truth in face of the world with regard to sin, to the way of righteousness and to the Judgment." - John 16:8. - What we call 'sin' is often just the rules. What we call 'right' is so often simply what we prefer. What we call "God's judgment" is too often what we do not approve. But it is coming to see sin and rightness and judgment as Jesus sees them that is really the essence of the spiritual life.

Breakfast : I Can't Live Without You.

"Jesus said to his disciples, if you love me you will keep my commandments." - John 14:15. - To be steeped in the words and the heart of Jesus is to be steeped in the will of God. After that, I am not confused anymore about what to do and how to live. Then life simply becomes an enterprise of equally holy parts.

Nightcap: Profession of Faith

We begin our profession of faith with God. He is the origin, or beginning of everything created, and the end or purpose for which everything in the world exists. — from The Faith

Breakfast: God Is On Our Side.

"But you are not of the world since I have chosen you from the world; because of this the world hates you." - John 15:19. - As my motives and actions become more like Jesus, I will begin to think less like the world around me. I will begin to know more about the poor and demeaned. But that also means that the world will think less of me, too. Then what will I do?

Breakfast: Friends of Jesus; Are You?

"There is no greater love than this, to give one's life for a friend." - John 15:13. - We all give our lives to something- to getting ahead, to getting things, to getting noticed. We devote ourselves to ideas, to distraction, and most of all, to ourselves. But the real spiritual question is how much of ourselves, like Jesus, have we spent for the good of others?

Nightcap : The Seed of Truth

The seed of God's revealed truth has been sown in our hearts at Baptism. But that was only the beginning. We must do everything in our power to grasp the meaning of what we believe. Otherwise, the devil will come along and steal the faith from our hearts. — from The Faith

Breakfast: Yes We Can

"As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; remain in My Love." - John 15:9. - Staying rooted in Jesus in a world that prefers money and things instead is not easy. It takes daily attention - a lifetime of awareness - but it is the only thing that brings us to real fullness of life.

Nightcap :What the World Needs

The whole world needs to hear two things with strength and power: “God loves you” and “I love you.” You must say it often to your friends. This world isn't starving from a lack of money. It's starving from a want of love. —Mother Angelica — from Love Never Fails

Breakfast: Nourishment

"I am the Vine and you are the branches." - John 15:5. - Like any branch of any tree, we are meant to live off our roots. But for that to happen we must ask ourselves at all times, with what are we really nourishing our daily lives: the spirit of the world or the spirit of Jesus?

Breakfast: The Peace of Christ.

"Peace be with you; I give you My peace. Not as th Breakfast: The Peace of Christ. e world gives peace do I give it to you." - John 14:27. - The peace Jesus gives is the tranquility that comes with trust. Knowing that we live in the womb of God, that God walks with us through life, makes life both blessing and beautiful - whatever life holds for us.

Nightcap: Perfect Love.

"Lord Jesus, in love You created me and you drew me to Yourself. May I never lose sight of You nor forget Your steadfast love and faithfulness. And may I daily dwell upon Your Word and give You praise in the sanctuary of my heart, You who are my All."

Breakfast: You are Precious!

When not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes, He is the one who always accepts you. Only believe—you are precious to Him. Bring all your suffering to His feet—only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are. He will do the rest. —Mother Teresa of Calcutta — from Love Never Fails

Nightcap: Show Me Lord.

Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person.- Saint Therese of Lisieux

Nightcap: Come In, Lord

Divine Master, we love your stories. We hear them year after year and do not tire of them. We are often too anxious to be thrilled by religion, to get an emotional kick. We know we should become the good ground in which your love and forgiveness can take root. Here's the key to our hearts: Open the door and come in. — from Holding Jesus

Nightcap: Believe in Miracles

Let others call my faith a lie, or try to stir up doubt in me: Look at me now! None can deny I once was blind and now I see! —Fred Pratt Green — from Holding Jesus

Breakfast: Remember, It's Not About You!

"Truly I say to you, the servant is not greater than his master nor is the messenger greater than the one who sent him." - John 13:16. - When we make ourselves the moral norm, the pious standard of the Christian life, when we make ourselves judges of the universe rather than the messengers of the Gospel, we put ourselves in the place of God.

Nightcap: There Is Only One

"We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone."— St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Breakfast: Stay In The Light.

"I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." - John 12:46. - When life seems impossible, when the way forward is unclear and the present is dark, it is the light of Jesus within us that shows us the way.

Nightcap: Loving Family

Jesus, in your family life, you grew in wisdom, age and grace before God and people. Help us to follow the same path on our journey toward a loving union with you. With your guidance we can live in a family united in respect and love. — from Holding Jesus

Breakfast: Being Consistent.

"The works I do in My Father's name proclaim who I am, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep." - John 10:26. - The great spiritual temptation is to profess to believe one thing and go on living exactly as if we don't. The spiritual life is only authentic when what we say we believe and the way we live are one and the same.

Nightcap: Leading the Way

Lord, give us the humility to know that you, not we, are responsible for converting people. Use us as conduits who are ever mindful of your sovereignty and help us bring many souls to you. — from 150 North American Martyrs You Should Know

Breakfast: We Are Not Here For Ourselves Alone.

"I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness." - John 10:10 - We have a responsibility to continue the work of Jesus, to care for others as God cares for us, to keep alive the fire of faith in ourselves.

Nightcap: Burning Love
Lord Jesus Christ, place a burning love for you in our hearts. Let that express itself in a Holy Spirit-inflamed passion that yields service to people's spiritual and bodily needs. — from 150 North American Martyrs You Should Know

Happy Mothers Day!

Breakfast : The Good Shepherd - Follow Him Alone.

"The Sheep follow Him for they know His voice." - John 10:4. - To be real followers of Jesus we must come to know Jesus, to become immersed in His word, to study the way He dealt with people, to make Him the model of our own life.

Nightcap: Trust Him, He Has The Word.

"Lord Jesus, you have the words of everlasting life. Help me to cast aside all doubt and fear so that I may freely embrace your word with complete trust and joy. I surrender all to you. Be the Lord of my life and the Ruler of my heart. May there be nothing which hinders me from trusting in your love and following your will."

Breakfast : Where Is Your Faith?

"This language is very hard! Who can accept it?" Jesus was aware that His disciples were murmuring about this and He said to them, "does this offend you? - John 6:60-61. - Faith is the foundation of the spiritual life. It gives us both hope and direction. But faith must not be confused with certainty. When life is confusing, certainty fails us. Only faith gives us reason to go on.