How can we know God's will?

 Hebrews 10:1-10

Ps 40:2, 4ab, 7-11
Mark 3:31-35
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012621.cfm

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus states that anyone who does the will of God is a mother or sister or brother to him. The responsorial Psalm has us declaring, "Here am I Lord (not someone else -- me!); I come to do your will." But how can we be sure we know what is the will of God for us? Here are seven ways that God communicates it:

1. AUDIBLE VOICE OF GOD: Some people have heard God speaking to them audibly. However, this form of communication is rare and should never be expected, waited for, or trusted by itself.

2. DIRECT VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: For most of us, the direct voice of God sounds like our own thoughts. It's possible to carry on real conversations with God using our imaginations, but it's difficult to know how much is only our imaginations and how much is God. Thus, we must always ask the Holy Spirit to bless and purify our imaginations.

3. INNER PEACE: Whether we're struggling to discern correct decisions or we're making them instantaneously, we should always remember to pause and ask the Holy Spirit: "What's going on? Who or what is pushing me into this?" The driving force may seem logical, the people recommending it may sound rational, but if there is no inner peace, don't trust it.

4. RIGHT PRIORITIES: Feeling peace is not the same as feeling good. It's natural to feel good about a wrong decision when our human desires are saying, "I want to do this!" And even good ideas are not always God's idea. Which choice best serves the kingdom of God? Which one strengthens our relationship with God? Which one is considerate of our own needs while at the same time respectfully cares about the needs of others?

5. SCRIPTURE: Everything we hear from the Lord will be completely in agreement with the Bible, but this means we have to build up a good understanding of what's in the Bible. We can purify our discernment and our interpretation of inner voices by studying scriptures, but if we take verses out of context, we'll use them to prove anything. It's important to learn the Bible and its message as a whole.

6. CIRCUMSTANCES: When patterns occur or "coincidences" keep happening, we need to stop and ask, "Lord, what are you trying to tell me?" God prepares the way for us to do what he asks of us, and everything generally falls into place. When we keep hitting walls (i.e., circumstances that feel like closed doors) God might be telling us to move in a different direction. However, obstacles are often really opportunities to trust God more and take a leap of faith. We cannot trust our interpretation of circumstances alone.

7. SIGNS: Scripture says that if we are living according to the will of God, signs and wonders will follow. Notice: they follow. We aren't wonder-seekers, we're God-seekers. The devil can put up misleading signs to send us off in wrong directions. True signs are the good fruits that are produced by following the leadings of Jesus.

https://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/

Christmas Day

 

Readings for Mass During the Day:
Isaiah 52:7-10
Ps 98:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-18

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Joy to the world! This is our song. This is what we should always be proclaiming as a people of faith.

Don't focus on what destroys your joy, for nothing can destroy the coming of the Lord. The absence of joy is merely a blank area in your view of what God is doing.

Look at the love that Jesus has for you! Jesus was born not only to save you from the darkness of sin; he was born because he loves you -- he loves YOU! Even if you had never sinned, he would have come into the world so that he could love YOU on your level, human-to-human.

Sometimes, great things come in surprising packages that do not seem to be great at all. The Eucharist -- in the form of a little wafer of bread -- does not look like it contains the full presence of Jesus with all of his humanity and his divinity. The baby Jesus -- a tiny, helpless child -- does not look like the conqueror of evil. But he is! And so is Jesus in the Eucharist; he is here for you.

And you! You might not seem to be a great person, but you contain Jesus. You contain greatness beyond imagining! This greatness does not dwell only in you; it comes out from you in every good thing that you do. This is a life of faith!

To be a follower of Jesus means we learn to imitate him. In doing good, evil is defeated. In this goodness, the greatness of Jesus extends outward from us. In this goodness, there is cause for great joy.

https://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/

What's your lifeless desert?

 

We all need God's help to stay on the highway that's called the holy way.

As we nurture our spiritual lives to grow closer to Christ this Advent and Season of Christmas, we can use today's first reading to see what still needs healing or repentance:

1. How is your life like a desert, dry and lifeless except for a few prickly cactuses?

2. Are you thirsty for more of God? In what area of your life do you feel parched?

3. Are you feeble in your attempts to become more like Jesus?

4. Are your knees weak as you travel the difficult road of holy living?

5. Are you controlled and paralyzed by fear? Any fear -- even the smallest one -- paralyzes us from moving ahead into the life that God wants for us.

6. How are you blind? Are you unable to see the good that's coming from a bad situation or the hand of God working in your life or in the life of someone who's causing you to worry? Are you blind to the presence of Jesus in others because he's hidden under the garbage of their sins? Are you blind to how very, very much God loves you and wants to help you?

7. What has God been telling you that you can't hear? Maybe it's his guidance? Or his love song that he sings to you? Or his dreams for you?

8. What part of your journey toward heaven is too difficult for you? What lame excuses are you using for permission to sit down on the curb?

9. How has fear kept your tongue silent when you should be speaking up? Or what have you been saying that's so unlike Jesus that you sound horrible instead of singing of God's glory?

10. In what areas of your life are the jackals who tempt you still lurking, keeping you in sin?

11. In what ways do you act foolishly? What the world considers wise the Lord knows to be foolish. What worldly wisdom are you trusting?

12. How are you like a lion? Is there anyone you've been devouring with unkind words or impatience or contempt or bullying?

Well, the Good News is, as Isaiah points out: The Lord has ransomed us! We can escape from these faith-destroying maladies.

Today's Gospel passage shows us that Jesus was overflowing with God's power so that he could minister to people. He wants to minister to you, too. We all need this help to stay on the highway that's called the holy way. It's Jesus who strengthens the hands that are feeble and the knees that are weak.

We are like the paralytic who allowed his friends to lower him to Jesus for a healing. He had faith in his friends' love for him. If we allow our own Christian friends to help us, our faith in their love increases our faith in the loving power of Christ.

That's when Jesus says to us, "My friend, you are forgiven." With that Word, we are healed. With that Word, all the good things that Isaiah prophesied are becoming true for us.

Today's Prayer:

Praised be to You, Lord, because Your love wants to work wonders through our faith in You. Thank You for Your merciful power that restores us in body, soul and spirit. Amen.

https://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/

Trust and follow me

 

Daily Wisdom

(PHOTO: LAURENCE FREEMAN, FRANCE) Jesus’s teaching on this question of finding oneself doesn’t put it just in terms of finding oneself but in following him. This puts a different spin on it. To follow him means what? Say you are driving in two cars somewhere and the first car knows where he is going, you don’t. So they’ll say ‘Just follow me.’ What does that mean? It means there’s trust, trust that they know where they are going. It also means you have to be very careful that you don’t lose the other person, you have to make sure that another car doesn’t come in between you and the car you are following. It’s a small example of what it might mean to follow: to pay attention, to be faithful, to stay connected, to keep going in the spirit of trust or faith. And it means to take the attention off ourselves: ‘Whoever wants to follow me must deny himself’. It sounds very negative, but we can see it in a better light if we see it in the light of meditation – taking the attention off ourselves. That is what it means to leave self behind. (Finding Oneself 1 by Laurence Freeman OSB ) https://mailchi.mp/wccm/daily-wisdom-388661?e=e0e956b448

Meditation

 

11/10/2020

Photo by Jorge Luis Ojeda Flota on Unsplash Letter 29: Integration of two ways of being Laurence Freeman in his book Jesus, the Teacher Within states: “The Kingdom is freedom from all inner and outer domination: ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God’. It is the power of God flowing freely in every human dimension both social and personal. It is the fulfilment of the individual both as a unique individual and as a part of the whole that is indivisible from all other individuals. It is the end of the tragedies of alienation and isolation, the two most powerful causes of suffering and of human inhumanity.” We may well feel on reading this, that this is a state only saints can experience, not one accessible for you and me. And yet, as we will see, when we were very young, we did still live in that state. God has given us all we need for our existence on this earth, not only to survive but also to connect back to the Divine we came from. Our brain is a beautiful instrument for doing this, for tuning into different levels of consciousness, the various realities that surround us. Dr Shanida Nataraja in her book ‘The Blissful Brain’explains that there are two halves to our brain and she describes their functions as follows: “The left brain has a centre – the ego - that interprets the sense impressions, emotional and intellectual stimuli, coming from the outside world, and uses language, logic and analytical abilities to make sense of it. Its main objective is to protect us from anything that may interfere with our ability to survive in this world as a single individual. It will totally ignore anything that does not fit into this survival matrix. The right brain too has a centre – the self - that sees the global picture, as it is the overarching consciousness that includes the ego. It sees the individual in the context of the totally interconnected whole, including all of humanity and creation - all of it embraced by the Divine. It too has senses, the interior senses of intuition and creative imagination. Because of its all-encompassing view, which includes the emotions, the right brain adds to the picture the ego paints empathy, compassion, care for the survival of others and creation - it is the source of our spiritual being and our connection to the Divine.” That we have the innate capacity to link back to our Source is proved by neuro-science brain wave research. It has shown that children under two years of age still live mainly in their right brain, as shown by the dominant presence of alpha waves; hence the empathy, the love, the compassion and the vivid creative imagination that characterizes a child. Therefore a very young child is still undivided, in touch with the whole, still connected to God, still lives in the Kingdom. In ordinary adult consciousness beta waves of left brain activity dominate; we all experience this as the constant whirl of thoughts that occupy our minds. The switch over from the right brain’s to the left brain’s view of the world gradually happens between the ages of two and five; from then on society and education emphasize the left brain way of being and the right brain view is not encouraged. This connection, however, is never severed but just disconnected to various degrees. Yet we have the potential to switch it back on, as it is a natural divinely given part of our human nature. In fact it is something Jesus encourages us to do: “Unless you turn round and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”(Matthew 18,3) Shanida also highlights the role meditation plays in this re-connection with our wider consciousness: meditation through its one-pointed attention on the mantra switches us from a left brain way of being to a right brain way of being. For some of us the switch has become rather rusty over time, but for children the access remains easy; hence they take to meditation as ducks to water. Of course we need to be able to look after our own survival as well as that of others. We need both sides of our brain; they may be different but they are definitely complementary. Their co-operation is essential to our well-being, our sense of harmony and balance. It adds the meaning to life, which is often sadly lacking when we live entirely from our left brain. Here too meditation helps: it encourages an increase in connectivity between both halves of the brain. In doing so it facilitates the ease of switching from one mode of being into the other. Just by repeating our word lovingly and faithfully we end “the tragedies of alienation and isolation” and allow our entry into the Kingdom. Kim Nataraja * From The Weekly Teachings archive, Year 3 Letter 29

https://mailchi.mp/wccm/wccm-weekly-teachings-388389?e=e0e956b448

When Your Plans and God’s Plans Don’t Match

 “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways.”

Isaiah 55:8 (NCV)

Life is full of interruptions. Sometimes we have big plans—for a career, family, or ministry—but God takes our lives in a different direction.

When our plans and God’s plans don’t match up, we often try to kick down the door. Then things get worse.

Just ask Jonah. He learned the hard way how to respond when God’s plans and his plans didn’t match. God told Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh that they needed to repent from their evil ways. But Jonah ran from God and ended up in the belly of a big fish, so God had to rescue him.

Jonah then did what God had said to do, but when the people of Nineveh repented and God didn’t punish them, the prophet was extremely disappointed.

So God gave Jonah an object lesson. God caused a plant to grow large enough to give Jonah shade. Then he sent a worm to attack the plant and kill it. The next day, as the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, he expressed his frustration to God.

And that’s when God reminded Jonah of four truths to remember when God’s plans differ from ours.

God can see things you can’t. He can see the past and the present and the future all at the same time. He created time, so he is not subject to time.

God is good to you even when you’re cranky. You may have been going the opposite direction from God, and he still covers you with shade. God cares about your comfort because that’s the kind of God he is. He loves you even when you’re unlovable.

God is in control of every detail of your life. Your plans don’t fail randomly. God has a purpose in everything in your life. Jonah shows us that God uses both the big (a large fish) and the small (a worm) to direct our lives, but he is in control of it all. 

God wants you to focus on what will last. Most of what worries you won’t be around tomorrow. God wanted Jonah to care about the salvation of the people of Nineveh, not a plant that would die the next day. Above all else, focus on getting God’s Word into your heart and bringing people into his family.

Just because your plans aren’t turning out the way you want doesn’t mean God isn’t intimately involved in every step. Ask God to help you see his hand in your broken plans, and trust him in his goodness as he shows you the way forward.

https://pastorrick.com/when-your-plans-and-gods-plans-dont-match/?vgo_ee=%2BJ%2BTBckOM5q5cj26yfWRLjpxdzkQNl9LgdxZ9pnzLRY%3D

Spiritual vs. Material Wealth

“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”  Mark 12:43-44 All she put into the basket was two small coins worth only a few cents.  Yet Jesus declares that she put in more than all the rest.  Are you buying that?  It’s hard to accept that it’s true.  Our tendency is to think of the monetary value of the large sums of money being deposited before this poor widow’s.  Those deposits are far more desirable than the two small coins she put in.  Right?  Or not? If we take Jesus at His word then we should be far more grateful for the widow’s two coins than the large sums of money deposited before her.  That’s not to say that the large sums of money were not good and generous gifts.  They most likely were.  God took those gifts also and used them.  But here Jesus is highlighting a contrast between spiritual wealth and material wealth.  And He’s saying that spiritual wealth, and spiritual generosity, is of far greater importance than material wealth, and material generosity.  The poor widow was materially poor but spiritually rich.  Those with the large sums of money were materially rich, but spiritually poorer than the widow.  In the materialistic society we live in, it’s hard to believe this.  It’s very hard to make the conscious choice to embrace spiritual wealth as a far greater blessing.  Why is this hard?  Because in order to embrace spiritual wealth one must give up everything.  We must all become this poor widow and contribute all we have, our “whole livelihood.”  Now, some may immediately react to this statement as extreme.  It’s not extreme.  There is nothing wrong with being blessed with material wealth, but there is something wrong with being attached to it.  What is essential is an interior disposition which imitates the generosity and spiritual poverty of this poor widow.  She wanted to give and she wanted to make a difference.  So she gave all she had. Each person must discern how this looks practically in their lives.  This doesn’t mean that everyone must literally sell all they have and go become a monk.  But it does mean that everyone must have an interior disposition of complete generosity and detachment.  From there, the Lord will show you how to use the material things within your possession for your greatest good, as well as the good of others. Reflect, today, upon the contrast of these two forms of wealth and choose that which lasts for eternity.  Give all you have and all you are to our Lord and allow Him to direct the generosity of your heart in accord with His perfect will. Lord, please give me the generous and selfless heart of this poor widow.  Help me to look for ways that I am called to give completely of myself to You, holding nothing back, seeking above all the spiritual riches of Your Kingdom.  Jesus, I trust in You. https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/2020/06/05/spiritual-vs-material-wealth-2/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=catholic-daily-reflections-my-catholic-life_2596