Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Prayer, Fasting, and Mercy by St. Peter Chrysologus


From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop
Prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God's ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give him yourself you are never without the means of giving.

To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Christian Quotes/Thoughts on Procrastination


"Do not be afraid to be saints. Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light. Be open to the Lord so that He may lighten all your ways."
- Pope John Paul II

'See, my children, if we really wish to be saved we must determine, once for all, to labor in earnest for our salvation; our soul is like a garden in which the weeds are ever ready to choke the good plants and flowers that have been sown in it. If the gardener who has charge of this garden neglects it, if he is not continually using the spade and the hoe, the flowers and plants will soon disappear. Thus, my children, do the virtues with which God has been pleased to adorn our soul disappear under our vices if we neglect to cultivate them. As a vigilant gardener labours from morning till night to destroy the weeds in his garden, and to ornament it with flowers, so let us labor every day to uproot the vices of our soul and to adorn it with virtues. See, my children, a gardener never lets the weeds take root, because he knows that then he would never be able to destroy them. Neither let us allow our vices to take root, or we shall not be able to conquer them.

One day, an anchorite being in a forest with a companion, showed him four cypresses to be pulled up one after the other; the young man, who did not very well know why he told him to do this, took hold of the first tree, which was quite small, and pulled it up with one hand without trouble; the second, which was a little bigger and had some roots, made him pull harder, but yet he pulled it up with one hand; the third, being still bigger, offered so much resistance, that he was obliged to take both hands and to use all his strength; the fourth, which was grown into a tree, had such deep roots, that he exhausted himself in vain efforts. The saint then said to him, "With a little vigilance and mortification, we succeed in repressing our passions, and we triumph over them when they are only springing up; but when they have taken deep root, nothing is more difficult; the thing is even impossible without a miracle."

Let us not reckon on a miracle of Providence, my children; let us not put off till the end of our life the care that we ought daily to take of our soul; let us labor while there is yet time. . .'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

Christian Quotes of Wisdom


Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
--Proverbs 1:7

Psalms 36:9
For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see light.

"To see the miraculous within the ordinary is the mark of highest wisdom."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"He is not wise to me who is wise in words only, but he who is wise in deeds."
- Pope St. Gregory

Ecclesiastes 7:10
Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

"When you wonder about the mystery of yourself, look to Christ, who gives you the meaning of life. When you wonder what it means to be a mature person, look to Christ, who is the fulfillness of humanity. And when you wonder about your role in the future of the world look to Christ."
- Pope John Paul II

"Wonder is the desire for knowledge."
- St. Thomas Aquinas

"Things were in God's plan which I had not planned at all. I am coming to the living faith and conviction that - from God's point of view - there is no chance and that the whole of my life, down to every detail, has been mapped out in God's divine providence and makes complete and perfect sense in God's all-seeing eyes."
- St. Edith Stein

That it is better to approach God and virtue by the affections of the heart than by the thoughts of the mind, and it is an important counsel to nourish the heart and make the mind fast; that is to say, to desire God, sigh after God, long for the holy love of God, for an intimate union with God, without amusing yourself with so many thoughts and reflections. Therefore it is more useful to occupy yourself with the affair of belonging to God without reserve; with the desire to lead an interior life, with a profound humility, fervor, the gift of prayer, the love of God, the true spirit of Jesus Christ, and with the practice of those virtues which He taught by word, and His divine example, than to make a thousand useless reflections about them. If you do not feel any of these desires the mere wish to have them, the mere raising of the heart is sufficient to keep your soul recollected and united to God. Therefore, once more, the mere raising of the heart to God, or towards certain virtues in order to please God, will do more to help you on than all your reflections and grand reasoning.
--Abandonment to Divine Providence

Ecclesiastes 7:12. RSV-CE
For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money; and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

'Do not grow conceited about your interpretations of Scripture, lest your intellect fall victim to blasphemy.'
St. Mark the Ascetic

Imitation of Christ
1.5 Reading Scripture
The Fifth Chapter
Reading the Holy Scripture
TRUTH, not eloquence, is to be sought in reading the Holy Scriptures; and every part must be read in the spirit in which it was written. For in the Scriptures we ought to seek profit rather than polished diction.
Likewise we ought to read simple and devout books as willingly as learned and profound ones. We ought not to be swayed by the authority of the writer, whether he be a great literary light or an insignificant person, but by the love of simple truth. We ought not to ask who is speaking, but mark what is said. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remains forever. God speaks to us in many ways without regard for persons.
Our curiosity often impedes our reading of the Scriptures, when we wish to understand and mull over what we ought simply to read and pass by.
If you would profit from it, therefore, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and never seek a reputation for being learned. Seek willingly and listen attentively to the words of the saints; do not be displeased with the sayings of the ancients, for they were not made without purpose.

The Christian Fight--Quotes to encourage you as you struggle against evil


"Let us return from that Table like lions breathing out fire, terrifying to the devil!"
- St. John Chrysostom

"Persevere to the end. Victory depends on this. There is a swift and effective remedy for the wounds of anyone who fights for God's cause and who places his entire trust in Him. When he least expects it, he will see his enemy at his feet."
--from The Spiritual Combat by Lorenzo Scupoli

"And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us."
--Hebrews 12:1

You will be tempted.  You will have to deal with evil.  Acknowledge your dependence on God.
"Temptation is necessary to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves."
- St. Josemaria Escriva


"Fight to the death for Truth, and the Lord God will do battle for you."
- Sirach 4:33



"The devil strains every nerve to secure the souls which belong to Christ. We should not grudge our toil in wresting them from Satan and giving them back to God."
- St. Sebastian


"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."
--C. S. Lewis

With God, you cannot lose
"Who has so fortified his soldiers with the arms of piety that their souls, being firmer than adamant, shine brilliantly in the contests with their opponents?"
--Eusebius witing about Jesus

Think about eternity.  Your reward awaits you
"None shall be crowned who has not fought well"
--2 Tim 2:5

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Apparition on Marytv.tv Thursday


Subject: Apparition on Marytv.tv Thursday

On November 15 at 5 PM Marytv.tv will stream live Marija's apparition at Notre Dame.  The Rosary will begin at 5 PM and she will have her apparition at 5:40 PM.  

Those connected through the internet will be prayed over by Our Lady during her apparition the same as those present -  
see http://www.marytv.tv/MaryTV/blessing-over-the-internet/

     

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Christian Quotes on Temptation and Evil


The traitor has turned against his friends;
he has broken his word.
His speech is softer than butter,
but war is in his heart.
His words are smoother than oil,
but they are naked swords.
--Divine Office, Psalms

"You can't dance with the devil and expect him to leave after the song is over."
--Christopher Majella Paul


"There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. In the beginning, they experience the charms of sweetness; in the middle, the contests of temptation; and in the end, the fullness of perfection."
- Pope St. Gregory the Great

"As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace."
- St. Josemaria Escriva

Guard your mind, and you will not be harassed by temptations. But if you fail to guard it, accept patiently whatever trial comes.
--St. Mark the Ascetic

"Temptation is necessary to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves."
- St. Josemaria Escriva


St. Jean-Marie Baptiste of Vianney on Temptation, fasting, and prayer: 3.6: … let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able …

3.6: … let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able …
CHAPTER 5: On Temptations

WE ARE all inclined to sin, my children; we are idle, greedy, sensual, given to the pleasures of the flesh. We want to know everything, to learn everything, to see everything; we must watch over our mind, over our heart, and over our senses, for these are the gates by which the devil penetrates. See, he prowls round us incessantly; his only occupation in this world is to seek companions for himself. All our life he will lay snares for us, he will try to make us yield to temptations; we must, on our side, do all we can to defeat and resist him. We can do nothing by ourselves, my children; but we can do everything with the help of the good God; let us pray Him to deliver us from this enemy of our salvation, or to give strength to fight against him. With the Name of Jesus we shall overthrow the demons; we shall put them to flight. With this Name, if they sometimes dare to attack us, our battles will be victories, and our victories will be crowns for Heaven, all brilliant with precious stones.

See, my children, the good God refuses nothing to those who pray to Him from the bottom of their heart. St. Teresa, being one day in prayer, and desiring to see the good God, Jesus Christ showed to the eyes of her soul His Divine hands; then, another day, when she was again in prayer, He showed her His face. Lastly, some days after, He showed her the whole of His Sacred Humanity. The good God who granted the desire of St. Teresa will also grant our prayers. If we ask of Him the grace to resist temptations, He will grant it to us; for He wishes to save us all, He shed His Blood for us all, He died for us all, He is waiting for us all in Heaven. We are two or three hundred here: shall we all be saved, shall we all go to Heaven? Alas! my children, we know nothing about it; but I tremble when I see so many souls lost in these days.

See, they fall into Hell as the leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter. We shall fall like the rest, my children, if we do not avoid temptations, if, when we cannot avoid them, we do not fight generously, with the help of the good God--if we do not invoke His Name during the strife, like St. Antony in the desert.

This saint having retired into an old sepulchre, the devil came to attack him; he tried at first to terrify him with a horrible noise; he even beat him so cruelly that he left him half dead and covered with wounds. "Well," said St. Antony, "here I am, ready to fight again; no, thou shalt not be able to separate me from Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God. " The spirits of darkness redoubled their efforts, and uttered frightful cries. St. Antony remained unmoved, because he put all his confidence in God. After the example of this saint, my children, let us be always ready for the combat; let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able to separate us from Jesus Christ, either in this world or the next.




Christian Quotes on Discipline, Laziness, & Works (both labor and love)

The more recollected a man is, and the more simple of heart he becomes, the easier he understands sublime things, for he receives the light of knowledge from above. The pure, simple, and steadfast spirit is not distracted by many labors, for he does them all for the honor of God. And since he enjoys interior peace he seeks no selfish end in anything. What, indeed, gives more trouble and affliction than uncontrolled desires of the heart?
--from Imitation of Christ, 1.3

Idleness is the enemy of the soul, and therefore the brethren ought to be employed in manual labor at certain times, at others, in devout readings.
--Saint Benedict


"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus."
- Mother Teresa

"We are unprofitable servants, we have done what we were obliged to do."
- Luke 17:10


"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?."
--John Wooden


No matter what your work is, do it for Jesus
"Each one of them is Jesus in disguise."
- Mother Teresa

Let God work through you
"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
- Mother Teresa

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.
--Saint Teresa

Do you think it is only a little thing to possess a house from which lovely things can be seen?
--Saint Teresa

Christian Quotes on Contemplation


"Souls who aspire to a sublime union with God by contemplation usually suffer interior purgations in one way or another."
St. Paul of the Cross

"Seek by reading and you will find by meditating. Knock by praying, and it will be opened to you in contemplation."
- St. John of the Cross

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Christian Quotes on Suffering with Patience / Longanimity



In addition to these quotes below, also see these links on the subject:
Suffering roots out wrongful pride
Christian Quotes on Faith & Reason & Suffering
Inspiring message from Pope Benedict XVI
Inspiring message from Saint Faustina Kowalska on Suffering with Patience leads to strength

The sufferings of this life cannot be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us in the life to come, alleluia.
--Romans 8:18

 
"Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you cannot bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond the pain." - St. Bartholomew


"For one pain endured with joy, we shall love the good God more forever."
- St. Therese of Lisieux

“There is no ideal situation. You can’t get rid of your cross.”
--Mother Angelica

'The mercy of God is hidden in sufferings not of our choice; and if we accept such sufferings patiently, they bring us to repentance and deliver us from everlasting punishment.'
--St. Mark the Ascetic

True works of God always meet opposition and are marked by suffering. (Diary of St. Faustina # 270)

"There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us."
- Pope John Paul II

Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
--Ecclesiastes 7:10

"Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven."
- St. Rosa de Lima

"Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it."
--Kathleen Casey Theisen

"Adaptability: A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it."
--unknown

"The comedy of man survives the tragedy of man."
- G.K. Chesterton

Ask God for love of crosses in your life

    "How beautiful it is to offer ourselves every morning in sacrifice to the good God, and to accept everything in expiation of our sins! We must ask for the love of crosses; then they become sweet.
     I tried it for four or five years. I was well calumniated, well contradicted, well knocked about. Oh, I had crosses indeed! I had almost more than I could carry! Then I took to asking for love of crosses, and I was happy. I said to myself, truly there is no happiness but in this! We must never think from whence crosses come: they come from God. It is always God who gives us this way of proving our love to Him."--Saint Jean Vianney


''If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him' (II Tim. 2.12). And yet many even today recoil from these words and go away, saying by their action if not with their lips, 'This is a hard saying; who can hear it?' (John 6.60). 'A generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God' (Ps. 78.8), but chooseth rather to trust in uncertain riches, it is disturbed at the very name of the Cross, and counts the memory of the Passion intolerable. How can such sustain the burden of that fearful sentence, 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels'? 'On whomsoever that stone shall fall it will grind him to powder' (Luke 20.18); but 'the generation of the faithful shall be blessed' (Ps. 112.2), since, like the apostle, they labor that whether present or absent they may be accepted of the Lord (II Cor. 5.9). At the last day they too shall hear the Judge pronounce their award, 'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' (Matt. 25.34).

In that day those who set not their hearts aright will feel, too late, how easy is Christ's yoke, to which they would not bend their necks and how light His burden, in comparison with the pains they must then endure.'
--St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith but they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ."
- C.S. Lewis

'When the afflictions of this life overcome us, let us encourage ourselves to bear them patiently by the hope of heaven.'
--St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

“One cannot desire freedom from the Cross when one is especially chosen for the cross.”
--Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), who suffered the Nazi holocaust

“Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.”
--Saint Rose of Lima

“Let us fear more to be deprived of sufferings than a miser fears to lose his treasures.”
--Saint Paul of the Cross

“Only those who have gone through the tunnel can know how dark the darkness can be.”
--Saint Therese of Liseux

'The first time that I had these recollections with a vision, it seemed to me that I saw, on a sudden, Our Lord with a heavy cross on His shoulders, when He invited me to take a part in that precious treasure. This invitation was given by communication rather than by words. At that instant I felt a strong desire of sufferings, and it seemed that the Lord planted the cross in my heart, giving me to understand the value of suffering. This understanding I received in the following manner. It appeared as if all sorts of torments were represented to me, and, at the same moment, I saw them transformed into jewels and precious stones, all of which were made in the figure of the cross. During this time, I was given to know that God wished pure suffering in me; and then the vision disappeared. When I came to myself, I felt a violent pain in my head, which has never since left me, and so eager was my desire of suffering, that I would willingly have faced every torment that can be conceived. From that moment I have ever had in my mouth these words, "The cross and sufferings are jewels and joys.."'

St. Veronica Guiliani


“There could not be a surer sign of God’s love for you than this pain which He has sent to you. Adore the divine will.”
--Saint Paul of the Cross

“They are happy who, putting all their trust in the cross, have plunged into the water of life.”
--A second century Christian, from Liturgy of the Hours (The Divine Office)

“There is no ideal situation. You can’t get rid of your crosses.”
--Mother Angelica (EWTN)

“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.”
--Oscar Wilde

“God’s way of dealing with those whom He intends to admit soonest after this life into the possession of His everlasting glory is to purify them in this world by the greatest afflictions and trials.”
--Saint Ignatius of Loyola

“By day and night My gaze is fixed upon him and I permit these adversities in order to increase his merit. I do not reward for good results but for the patience and hardship undergone for My sake.”
--Said by Jesus to St. Faustina on the sufferings of a priest for God’s work to be carried out.

“There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.”
--Saint Teresa of Avila

“...it is one’s response to suffering that brings either freedom or bondage.”
--Neal Lozano

“The saints suffered everything with joy, patience, and perseverance because they loved. As for us, we suffer with anger, vexation, and weariness because we do not love. If we loved God, we should love our crosses, we should wish for them, we should take pleasure in them...We should be happy to be able to suffer for the love of Him who lovingly suffered for us.”
--Saint Jean Marie Baptiste de Vianney, the Cure of Ars

“We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day, and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating His passion by our sufferings, and honoring His blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.”
--Saint Gregory Nazianen

And Christ, through His own salvific suffering, is very much present in every human suffering, and can act from within that suffering by the powers of His Spirit of truth, His consoling spirit." - Pope John Paul II
"Each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ."
-Pope John Paul II

"The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not."
--C.S. Lewis

"The distinctive mark of the Christian, today more than ever, must be love for the poor, the weak, the suffering."
--Pope John Paul II

"Jesus Christ has taken the lead on the way of the cross. He has suffered first. He does not drive us toward suffering but shares it with us, wanting us to have life and to have it in abundance."
--Pope John Paul II

'Who could ever understand fully that eternal weight of glory which a single moment spent in cheerfully carrying a cross obtains for us? Who could understand the glory gained in Heaven by a year, and sometimes a whole lifetime, of crosses and suffering.'
--St. Louis Marie de Montfort

"Comfort in tribulation can be secured only on the sure ground of faith holding as true the words of Scripture and the teaching of the Catholic Church."
- St. Thomas More

"He was strong as He was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom and that it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body. Finally, He did not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be banished; but, by His lesson and by His example, He traced the path of happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross."
--Pope St. Pius X

'To suffer is not enough: the evil one and the world have their martyrs. We must suffer and carry our cross in the footsteps of Christ.'
--St. Louis Marie de Montfort


St. Louis de Montfort on Friend of the Cross/Suffering

To the right, the little flock that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things. Sobbing in their grief, they can be heard repeating: "Let us suffer, let us weep, let us fast, let us pray, let us hide, let us humble ourselves, let us be poor, let us mortify ourselves, for he who has not the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Cross, is none of Christ's. Those who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its concupiscence. We must be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or else be damned!" "Be brave, " they keep saying to each other, "be brave, for if God is for us, in us and leading us, who dare be against us? The One Who is dwelling within us is stronger than the one who is in the world; no servant is above his master; one moment of light tribulation worketh an eternal weight of glory; there are fewer elect than man may think; only the brave and daring take heaven by storm; the crown is given only to those who strive lawfully according to the Gospel, not according to the fashion of the world. Let us put all our strength into the fight, and run very fast to reach the goal and win the crown." Friends of the Cross spur each other on with such divine words.


Monday, September 10, 2012

Christian Quotes on Authority

Listen to these converts to the Catholic faith speak of authority:
 "What's Your Authority" by Dr. Taylor Marshall
"What's Your Authority" by Steve Ray

Why the Catholic Church claims that Peter (Rock) was given the authority of Christ

Epistle from Ignatius to Ephesians:  "The more, therefore, you see the bishop silent, the more do you reverence him. For we ought to receive every one whom the Master of the house sends to be over His household,[11] as we would do Him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon thhe bishop even as we would look upon the Lord Himself, standing, as he does, before the Lord. For "it behoves the man who looks carefully about him, and is active in his business, to stand before kings, and not to stand before slothful men."


Excerpt from Imitation of Christ

1.9 Obedience / Subjection
The Ninth Chapter
Obedience and Subjection
IT IS a very great thing to obey, to live under a superior and not to be one's own master, for it is much safer to be subject than it is to command. Many live in obedience more from necessity than from love. Such become discontented and dejected on the slightest pretext; they will never gain peace of mind unless they subject themselves wholeheartedly for the love of God.
Go where you may, you will find no rest except in humble obedience to the rule of authority. Dreams of happiness expected from change and different places have deceived many.
Everyone, it is true, wishes to do as he pleases and is attracted to those who agree with him. But if God be among us, we must at times give up our opinions for the blessings of peace.
Furthermore, who is so wise that he can have full knowledge of everything? Do not trust too much in your own opinions, but be willing to listen to those of others. If, though your own be good, you accept another's opinion for love of God, you will gain much more merit; for I have often heard that it is safer to listen to advice and take it than to give it. It may happen, too, that while one's own opinion may be good, refusal to agree with others when reason and occasion demand it, is a sign of pride and obstinacy.



A reflection by Matt Shurtliff:
Matthew 8:5-10

5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him,
6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
7 He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
8 The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.9 For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
-----

"Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior".

Lots of people say this. For the most part, people are "all in" on the idea of Jesus as Savior - how could you not be? He is the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world, and we all absolutely need that

But what about Jesus as Lord? When someone is Lord, they are a ruler. They have absolute, unqeustionable authority. That isn't a popular idea these days, and for us in America, it's a repulsive idea. Our country is based on the premise that we don't deal with those guys.

That wasn't the case for the centurion. He was a military man. He had people bound to his orders, and he was bound to the orders of his superiors. Completely bound, without question.

As a man who served under authority, he recognized authority when he saw it. He didn't need proof. He didn't need a demonstration. He didn't need Christ to come with him. He was absolutely, 100% sure that if Christ said the servant was healed, that he would be healed. No questions asked.

I think it's worthwhile for all Christians to take a long, hard look and determine whether or not Christ is Lord in their life. Do you believe Christ is authoritative in what He says? If so, do you submit to His authority, really and truly?
--
Matt Shurtliff
St. Patrick's Parish, Gretna NE
email: shurtliff.matt@gmail.com
Daily Message Archive: http://matt-lifeinthespirit.blogspot.com/
'See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God beside Me: I will kill and I will make to live: I will strike and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of My Hand.'
--Deuteronomy 32:39