Sincere Prayer

Continual and Loving Communication

In the message "By Our Love" we saw how Jesus desires for us to mature in our love for our Heavenly Father and for others. But as we continue our walk, we soon discover many decision points where we must choose between two paths...with only one being the path of God. At these critical moments, we must be able to recognize His leading; and if we have not spent time worshiping at His feet and communicating in prayer, we cannot expect to understand or even hear His guidance in our time of greatest need. Communication is essential for maturing in any relationship. A marriage which lacks communication will slowly begin to drift apart. It's not uncommon for married couples to live together for the majority of their lives and yet feel like strangers because they have failed to spend the time required to really know and understand one another. Our relationship with God is much the same. When we receive the gift of Salvation through faith in Jesus, we begin a life long relationship of love - a relationship which must be nurtured through fellowship and prayer. Psalm 5:1-3 "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation." David states that the morning is his dedicated time for prayer, his time to be alone with God, to share his heart and expectantly await God's direction. But God has not specified a preferred time. In fact, Paul encourages us to maintain a constant state of communion with God when he says to "pray continuously" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We ought to strive for communication which is regular and frequent; any time is the right time for prayer; any time is the right time to commune with the one you love! Prayer must originate from a sincere heart, anything less becomes a ritual of meaningless words. We should be motivated by a desire to strengthen our relationship, to praise Him for His blessings and earnestly ask for His guidance, and to deepen the commitment of our love. We ought to value our time with God above anything else this world has to offer; "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Psalm 27:4). Let's make sure our love doesn't fade. Let's set aside time each day to be alone with God, quiet time where we can hear His voice and begin to understand His character. Then, let's continue to commune and fellowship with Him throughout our times of busyness. Let's learn to dwell in His house all the rest of our days by maintaining continual and loving communication.

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Parable of the mustard seeds

Matthew 13:31-35
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/073117.cfm

What mustard seeds are you sowing?

What are your mustard seeds? We all have them. If you've been baptized, you have a pouch full of mustard seeds. They are the gifts and talents and resources that the Father has provided to you. Therefore, you are that person whom Jesus describes in today's Gospel reading.

It doesn't matter if your seeds seem too small to make a big difference. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that starts out very tiny, yet after it sprouts, grows and grows and eventually becomes a large, bushy tree. To see proof of this, go to the grocery store, buy a jar of mustard seeds from the spice aisle, and plant one seed in a paper cup at home. Water it, put it into the sunshine, and soon a plant will be springing to life and zooming in rapid growth. (Note: The mustard seed spoken of in this scripture is the Eastern Black Mustard seed, which is extremely tiny. The yellow seeds you buy in your grocery store can demonstrate the spiritual principle of amazing growth, but they won't become the bush that grows in Israel.)

Today you'll have an opportunity to plant a mustard seed in God's kingdom somewhere. The seed might be as small as a word of encouragement that you give to a co-worker or a neighbor who's feeling upset. Little words of hope, when planted with prayer and God's power, take root even if the people you give them to forget what you said. The mustard seed you gave them will sprout into renewed strength that helps them work through their problems.

And unless the soil of their soul is hard and rocky, these young sprouts will develop branches that will spread hope in new directions, affecting more areas of their lives. The branches will develop leaves that provide them with shade from the heat of their difficulties, giving them endurance, so that they can strive forward to a solution that they hadn't noticed before you entered their garden to provide seeds of encouragement, when they were still feeling angry and discouraged.

The mustard saplings will continue to grow as they become stronger in confidence, because confidence grows out of experiences that provide evidence that there's reason to hope. The next time a similar problem happens, the mustard tree will shade them from despair.

This tree will further develop into one that's big enough to provide leafy branches that others can "nest" in. This is what Jesus meant by the birds that come to dwell in the tree's branches. The people in whom you sowed your itty bitty seeds will someday pass hope onto others by sharing the strength that they gained while growing through their hardships.

We won't know the extent of the impact we make until we die and enter into the fullness of the kingdom of God. Purgatory will be a time of deep, inner heart-ache as we learn what happened when we withheld our seeds because we thought they were worthless. Heaven will be the discovery that even our tiniest gestures of holiness have made a beautiful difference.

God rejoices over every little thing we do for his kingdom.

Today's Prayer:

My Lord, You have placed inside my heart the seed of Your Kingdom and the desire to follow You. Thank You Lord, for this gift, fruit of Your Love. Make it grow inside me and may it be poured out onto those who are looking for You with all their hearts. Amen.

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Three layers of evangelization

Matthew 13:24-43

(1) Nurture your own faith-growth: In the kingdom of God, we are like good wheat growing amidst weeds. This takes effort; the weeds will take over if we're not working daily at growing in holiness. What have you been doing to prevent the weeds around you from taking over and strangling your holiness? How is your faith life benefiting from living in the midst of non-believers and evil? Your Father-Creator is empowering you to grow.

(2) Invite others to conversion: In the kingdom of God, we are like the tiniest of seeds that grow into a bush so large that others benefit from our growth. Who is benefiting from your faith? How is your spiritual growth inviting them into a closer relationship with Jesus? The Holy Spirit is empowering you to evangelize others if you're willing to minister to them using what you've learned from your experiences.

(3) Transform society: In the kingdom of God, we are like yeast that helps the whole batch swell up and mature into the bread of life that nourishes others. What are you involved in, as a Christian, that improves the world? Is your faith making a difference in your workplace, your community, and your parish? During Mass, as you receive the nourishment of the Eucharist, you are empowered to become Eucharist for the world. Mass ends with Christ commissioning you, through the presider, to be the yeast of goodness that affects those around you.

Questions for Personal Reflection:Maybe you never saw yourself as an "evangelist", but you are! This is your calling as a baptized Christian. Which of the above three areas of evangelization are you most actively doing? Which needs more of your attention?

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:Give an example from your own life (or from the life of someone you know or have heard about) that illustrates one of the three goals above. What about the other goals? Make sure that, in your discussion as a faith sharing group, examples are given for all three goals of evangelizat

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Run With Perseverance

Our life can be a long and sometimes difficult race. We often grow weary and are in great need of rest. But this race is not like any we have ever run. We do not compete against the other runners, nor do we all even run the same course. We run the race marked out by our Heavenly Father; and yet, we ALL must strive toward the same finish line.

Hebrews 12:1-2
"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

Perseverance means "to persist in spite of opposition or discouragement." But the original Greek includes the idea of patience and a determined endurance. We are therefore being told to patiently run the race, and to keep on running with determination and endurance, in spite of opposition or discouragement. What a wonderful picture!

Hindrances to our race can be represented by weeds which try to wrap around our legs and slow us down. This "sin that so easily entangles" can often be difficult to even recognize. We may be running a clear path without a hint of weeds; everything has been going well and we feel immune to the temptations of this world. But without our eyes fixed on Jesus - without our heart fully trusting Him for every step - our path can become covered before we even realize there is a problem.

We must maintain an acute awareness of the condition of our path. Weeds are not acceptable and must be cleared away (the word of God and prayer is an excellent weed killer!). There are no circumstances where weeds add beneficial "flavor" or excitement - they ALWAYS hinder!!

Please remember that our race is a long marathon, not a quick sprint. In order to persevere, we must prepare for many hills and valleys (and weeds) along the way. We must develop a burning desire to one day boldly say; "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). Jesus endured the cross (finished the race) because of "the joy set before Him" (Hebrews 12:2). And if we will keep our eyes on Jesus as our eternal joy, we "will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:3).

No matter what this day may bring, we must persist with our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus until we hear Him say: "Well done, good and faithful servant....Come and share your Master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:23). Some days we may only be able to take small baby steps, but still we must continue and run with the sole purpose of bringing Him glory and honor in ALL we do. Our race can be filled with joy and peace, but we must commit to a life of absolute trust and run with perseverance!

At Rotondo Italy

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