Given July 4, 2010

                We are chained by seeking power and vain glory for ourselves —
                The more we are empty — the more we
                can be filled with God's grace —
                Don't give into power, vain glory —
                doing things for our ego —
                A full container can not take much to fill it —
                If we are full of self — we are not empty to be filled by God's grace —
 

Prayer for Union with Jesus

Come to me, Lord, and possess my soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence with You and let You work in my heart.

    I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to spoon out all that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by You. Help me to die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling within me.

    I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to put aside the world and let You operate my very being. Help me to act as You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me from Your work.

    When I worry, I have taken my focus off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me now.

-God's Blue Book, January 17, 1994

   

                The deadly sins keep us from life.
                The deadly sins wrap us up.

                We want to JUSTIFY ourselves, our actions —

                We are loved — Jesus tells us this in the Blue Books —
                Jesus wants a personal relationship with us —
                Jesus wants intimacy with us

                God tells us in the Blue Books —
                We do not understand His overwhelming love.

                To engage in the Deadly Sins
                    We are SAD ultimately — even if we have momentary pleasure —
                    We are Depressed
                    We are Not Alive as we can be —

                Freedom — to seek freedom — we must break
                    the chains — not give into vices — live virtuously.

                Opposite of love is fear
                    from Holy Spirit Novena

  

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1 John 4: 17-21

1. Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is. In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love. Let us love, then, because he first loved us. Anyone who says 'I love God' and hates his brother, is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen. Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother.

 

                Sin hurts us

                With God's grace we can be
                    a new creation —

                Without God's grace this
                    is impossible

                7 deadly sins

                Pride is foundation of all sin
                Envy is close to this.
                Anger
                Slothfulness
                Avarice

                Pride, Anger, Envy, Slothfulness,
                    Avarice, Gluttony and Lust

                All these keep us chained, turned in on ourselves.
                These are spiritual blocks.

                We are to grow in relationship with
                    God and others.

                The more we give into these 'deadly sins'
                    the more we distance ourselves
                    from God —

                We were created for God —
                We were created for intimacy with God —

                When we give into pride, anger, envy,
                    slothfulness, avarice, gluttony,
                    or lust — we distance ourselves
                    from God —

 

 

                We were created to be intimate with God —
                    one in Him —

                When we are driven from this intimacy
                    with God because of our sins
                    we are miserable, very sad!!

                The more we engage in sin — the more
                    our vision is distorted — the less
                    we see how far we have gone from
                    Him, as we go further and further
                    in our blindness and sin and our
                    behavior becomes more and more off
                    from what God wants —

                Satan works in this pride — leaving
                    us further and further from God —

                The ego becomes more and more our
                    primary concern —

                The greater our ego, focused on pleasing
                    ourselves — the more full we
                    are and we are not empty to
                    receive a big outpouring of God's
                    grace —

                We become more and more miserable
                    as we distance ourselves further
                    and further from God and
                    we are more and more blinded to
                    our sinfulness — living in greater
                    and greater darkness —
 

greater pride                    greater envy                    greater slothfulness

greater anger greater gluttony greater lust

                    being contrary, disharmonious,
                    not meek like Jesus, but
                    combatal — FIGHTING for the sake of disharmony

                Oh God help us to be holy —

                One that is holy is drawn to the
                    Eucharist — love of God and others —

 

Bishop Sheen says that look     at a finger pointing up — (to heaven)     one doing the will of God

One not doing the will of God —                     their own will opposed to God —                     their finger is horizontal — (to the earth)                     IN CONTRAST                 He says this forms a cross                 Those living not by God's will, but                     opposed to God's will makes                     a cross for themselves —

—> pointed to        the earth

                Pride <——————> humility
                                            Mary - Magnificat

Luke 1: 46-55

And Mary said:

My soul proclaims
    the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit rejoices
    in God my Saviour;
because he has looked upon
    the humiliation of his servant.
Yes, from now onwards
    all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty
    has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his faithful love extends age after age
    to those who fear him.
He has used the power of his arm,
he has routed the arrogant of heart.
He has pulled down princes
    from their thrones
        and raised high the lowly.
He has filled the starving with good things,
    sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help
    of Israel his servant,
        mindful of his faithful love
—according to the promise
    he made to our ancestors—
of his mercy to Abraham
    and to his descendants for ever.

 

                Pride is the deadliest of the deadly
                    sins —
                    seeking dominance for dominance sake —

                    assuming one is above God —
                    putting oneself above God —

                Satan says — "I will not serve"

                We say "I won't serve God"

                Satan even wanted God to bow
                    to him —

 

   

Luke 4: 1-13

   Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says:

    Human beings live not on bread alone.’

   Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

     You must do homage to the Lord your God,
        him alone you must serve.’

   Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are Son of God,’ he said to him, ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:

       He has given his angels orders about you,
            to guard you,

and again:

 They will carry you in their arms
   in case you trip over a stone.’

But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment.

   

                God tells us what is good
                God tells us what is bad —

                Satan deceives —
                    Satan works in our minds to get
                        us to think what is good is evil
                        and what is evil is good —

                    What we should do — we don't do!

                    What we shouldn't do — we do!!

                I will do what I want —

                WILLFUL

                I set the agenda —

                Making ourselves the judge of good
                    and evil, by what we want
                    to do — THIS IS WRONG

                Only God tells us what is good and evil —

                We are to obey God's will —

                Not lie to ourselves

                From Fr. Barth

Available

 

October 12, 2009 (excerpt)

    Two things from the Gospel today. The first is a matter of a generation that is evil, and Jesus is very clear why the generation is evil — because they seek a sign. In other words, they want God to reveal God's self as they want God to reveal God's self. They want God to, if you will, bend God's will to their will. They want God to be the God like they want God to be, instead of God being God. And the generation, which is called evil, to be indeed subservant to God's will.

    And I think we can recognize that in our own era. And not just beyond these walls, because even for ourselves who are gathered here, we must recognize that we also at times, are unfaithful, that we want God to give us a sign, that we want God to be the kind of God that we want God to be, and sometimes we don't submit ourselves to God's own will. Isn't that true? And so we gather here to seek God's mercy and God's forgiveness, and to be more in sync with God's will, so that we might be what we are called to be as Christians in the world — salts, lights and leaven. But Jesus responds to — the evil age wanting to see a sign, wanting to see God's action as they want it, with a response.

 

 

                St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises
                    said, the devil said

                    "I will not serve"

 

                John Paul II said —

From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - 2000 Issue 3, p. 44

"God is faithful to His eternal plan even when man, under the impulse of the evil one (see Wisdom 2:24) and carried away by his own pride, abuses the freedom given to him in order to love and generously seek what is good, and (instead) refuses to obey his Lord and Father. God is faithful even when man, instead of responding with love to God’s love, opposes Him and treats Him like a rival, deluding himself and relying on his own power, with the resulting break of relationship with the One who created him. In spite of this transgression on man’s part, God remains faithful in love."
 

                Saying to God like the devil
                    "I will not serve"

                This is being enslaved to satan —
                    Not freedom —

                God gives us a free will to obey Him.

                Freedom is found in doing God's will —
                Freedom is not found in opposing God's will —

                The opposite of pride is humility —

                Song: Holy Is His Name

                Mary is the perfect handmaid of the Lord — 

  

 

                Mary said

                    "Do whatever He asks for"

 

 

 

 

                Handmaid
                Servant
                Turn life over
                Living according to God's Plan
                Living according to Plan of Father
                    who created us

                Life is in Him
                God created us to serve Him
                God created us out of love to serve Him

 

Definition of Love

Love is the gift of self to promote the true good of those loved. He states the reception of love is the receiving of the gift of the other, so my good will be promoted. 

   

                God created us in His image and likeness

                Every one created in their uniqueness
                    to serve God with their talents,
                    given by God for His Plan

                Going out to carry out the mission
                    God gave you —

                Not being selfish —

                Not focusing on self —
                    self-conscience

                Humility is truth

                God is love
                God wants me to serve Him —
                God gives me a sharing in His life —

                Rooted in God

                Sing: Dwelling Place

                Jesus asked Fr. Carter to spread the
                    Consecration to the 2 Pure and
                    Holy Hearts of love —

                Mary and Jesus were sinless —
                Jesus is God
                Mary conceived without sin —

                In baptism we receive a sharing
                    in His life —

                The Father, Son and Holy Spirit live in the graced
                    baptized soul —

 

From Tell My People    

Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people that I desire all to consecrate themselves to My Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Tell them not to just recite words in making the act of consecration, but to realize what they are saying. Consecration to Our Hearts means a total gift of self. It means handing over everything to Me and to My Mother. Consecration means a willingness to surrender completely to Me. In Baptism one is consecrated to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But how many fail to live out their consecration! I extend to all the invitation to renew this baptismal consecration through consecration to My Heart and to My Mother's Heart.

"My beloved companion, I have taught you what this consecration means. I have given you great peace, joy, and happiness because you have made this consecration. I have taught you that you are to renew this act of consecration each day, I constantly remind you that you are to pray each day for the grace to more and more live the consecration. I have taught you that your consecration to Me and My Mother means that you constantly surrender yourself to Us and to Our care. I have taught you that the more you surrender yourself to Me, the more I live in you and through you and for you. I have taught you that My great love for you longs to draw you more deeply into My Heart. I have shown you that I wish your Mother Mary to place you there within My Heart, and that the more you dwell within her heart, the more deeply she places you within My Heart. Dwelling within Our Hearts, the Holy Spirit fashions you more and more in My likeness. The Father thus looks upon you with greater favor and takes you more closely to Himself. Tell My people all these wondrous truths. I am Lord and Master, and I desire all to listen to My words!"

Reflection: In the above message, Jesus describes what is involved in living our consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. What beautiful truths He puts before us! We know that the living out of our consecration is not always easy. Sometimes it is very difficult. At all times, and especially in most difficult times, we should remind ourselves how much Jesus and Mary love us, and that living out our consecration is our "thank you," our return of love.

end of excerpt

   

         From Fr. Carter's Spirituality Handbook

Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We have already spoken of how we are incorporated into Christ at Baptism. Now we shall speak of the life which comes to us in Baptism in terms of consecration:

"To consecrate means to make sacred, to make holy. Only God can make a being holy. So to speak of our consecration is to speak of God's activity in making us holy, His activity of giving us a share in His own holiness. At Baptism we receive a share in God's life, a share in His holiness. Christ is the Mediator of this grace life. We are baptized into Christ, into His death and resurrection. In Baptism we become holy by sharing in the holiness of Christ. We become consecrated, sealed with the divine holiness. We belong to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

"On our part, we must respond to God's consecration of us. We must live out the consecration of Baptism. We must realize what God has done for us in Christ and live according to this awareness. We need to live the life of holiness and grow in it. In other words, we must develop the life of grace, the Christ-life.

"What God has done for us in Christ involves Mary. God has given us a Christ-life, our life of grace, and Mary is the Mother of this Christ-life. Consequently, living out our life of consecration to God—living out the Christ-life—includes allowing Mary to increasingly be the Mother of our Christ-life.

"Consecration to Mary, therefore, is an aspect of our consecration to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is entrusting ourselves entirely to her maternal love so that she can bring us ever closer to Jesus, so that we can increasingly live out our consecration to God in Christ.

"At Fatima, Our Lady asked that we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. Mary shows us her heart as a symbol of her love for God and us. She asks us to make a return of love to her, to consecrate ourselves to her, to give ourselves to her completely. She wants us to entrust ourselves to her completely so that she may help us love God and neighbor.

"As stated above, consecration to Mary is an aspect of our consecration to God in Christ and she has asked for consecration to her Heart so that she may assist us. Christ, in turn, invites us to live out this consecration to Him through consecration to His Sacred Heart. We see the divine symmetry: consecration to the Immaculate Heart helps us to live out consecration to Christ Who reveals His Heart as symbol of His life of love in all its aspects, including His tremendous love for each of us individually. His Heart also asks for our love in return, a return which ideally is summed up in consecration to Jesus' Heart. Through this consecration we give ourselves completely to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart. In this consecration to Jesus, we promise to strive to live according to His Father's will in all things." (2)  

             2. Edward Carter, S.J., Mother at Our Side, Faith Publishing, Milford, Ohio, 1993, pp. 15-17.

   

Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.

Other Christian Virtues

    If humility is truth, and therefore allows for the proper recognition of my gifts, it also necessitates my admitting to the evil within me. This is also part of the truth. This truth also must be acted upon; for Christian humility not only allows me to admit that there is evil in me, but it also tells me that as a creature of God I should conform myself to His will and strive to eradicate and control the evil as far as this is possible. In summary, humility allows the Christian to evaluate properly both the good and evil in himself.

  

                God calls —

                We have a choice to Respond as He wants —

                To not do what God wants is a choice
                    not to serve as He calls —

                We are called in baptism to go out —
                    to be witnesses for God —
                    to spread the Good News —
                    to live the Gospel —
                    to obey the Commandments
                    to follow Christ who did the
                        Father's will to His death on the cross —

                Sing: I Am the Bread of Life

 

   

John 6: 48-58

I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate manna in the desert
and they are dead;
but this is the bread
   which comes down from heaven,
so that a person may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread
   which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread
   will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give
is my flesh, for the life of the world.'

    Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' Jesus replied to them:

In all truth I tell you,
if you do not eat
   the flesh of the Son of man
and drink his blood,
you have no life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh
   and drink my blood
has eternal life,
and I shall raise that person up
   on the last day.
For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink.
Whoever eats my flesh
   and drinks my blood
lives in me
and I live in that person.
As the living Father sent me
and I draw life from the Father,
so whoever eats me
   will also draw life from me.
This is the bread
   which has come down from heaven;
it is not like the bread our ancestors ate:
they are dead,
but anyone who eats this bread
   will live for ever.

     

 

 

                EMPTY Vessel ready to be filled

                Selfless

                EMPTY —

                Not Selfish —

                OR

                Full of Self
                Full of Ego
                Full of Pride

                Not much room to be filled with
                    God's grace
   
 

    

 

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