September 11, 2017
 

                R. Paul wrote from prison.

                Today's Readings
 

Colossians 1: 24 - 2: 3

It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church, of which I was made a servant with the responsibility towards you that God gave to me, that of completing God’s message, the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his holy people. It was God’s purpose to reveal to them how rich is the glory of this mystery among the gentiles; it is Christ among you, your hope of glory: this is the Christ we are proclaiming, admonishing and instructing everyone in all wisdom, to make everyone perfect in Christ. And it is for this reason that I labour, striving with his energy which works in me mightily.

I want you to know, then, what a struggle I am having on your behalf and on behalf of those in Laodicea, and on behalf of so many others who have never seen me face to face. It is all to bind them together in love and to encourage their resolution until they are rich in the assurance of their complete understanding and have knowledge of the mystery of God in which all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

 

Psalm 62: 6-7, 9

Luke 6: 6-11

Now on another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was present, and his right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure somebody on the Sabbath, hoping to find something to charge him with. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and stand out in the middle!' And he came forward and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, 'I put it to you: is it permitted on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?' Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were furious and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.

                Sing Song: Only in God will my soul find rest

                R. Jesus healed on the Sabbath –

                We need time to be alone with God
                    to focus on what His will is
                    for us –

                    If we are always busy –
                    we will not hear what is
                    needed to sort out what
                    is good for us and what
                    we should get rid of.

                We must live the Christ-life –
                We must be rooted in God –
                Live in the Holy Spirit

                We can grow stronger in our faith
                and live as disciples learning what
                we need to learn to be pure –
 

Colossians 2: 6-15

    So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him, be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving. 
    Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a ‘philosophy’ of the kind that human beings hand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ.

    In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in all its fullness, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every sovereignty and ruling force. 
    In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision performed, not by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your natural self. This is circumcision according to Christ. You have been buried with him by your baptism; by which, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and uncircumcised in body: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us every one of our sins. 
    He has wiped out the record of our debt to the Law, which stood against us; he has destroyed it by nailing it to the cross; and he has stripped the sovereignties and the ruling forces, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession.

                R. We see Jesus prayed –
                Jesus spent time alone with the Father
                    in prayer –

                We must have time daily to be
                    alone with God.

                    If a person is busy they really need
                time to be alone with God. We need
                this time every day to be alone with
                God to do what He wants of us.

                    To live in Christ – we must die
                to sin. We seek to live and love
                and be more and more likened to Jesus.
                We want God dwelling IN US.
                God is our strength!
 

                R. This Movement is to grow ever more deeply
                in our intimate relationship with God. This Movement
                is to be deeply united in one mind and one
                heart in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and if I am
                one in Their Hearts and you are one in Their
                Hearts we will be deeply one together in
                Their Hearts – in one mind and one heart
                in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

                    The interior life in Christ.

                    Our hearts are more and more loving –
                in the image of Jesus. Our hearts
                are hearts of love. We operate in
                faith and hope –

                    Love in our hearts –
 

1 John 4: 7-11

                R. Our union is with God – We have
                a place of great power inside of
                us because we are one with God. God
                is our strength.

                R. Our goal is eternal happiness –
                God created us to be with Him
                eternally in heaven –

                    Our vocation is to help us
                to get to heaven eternally.

                A person can change their actions –
                    their future –

                A person has a free will to seek
                    God's will in love –

                This is how we grow in our
                    relationship with God and others.

                Doing every thing God wants – the best
                    way we can to serve God and love God.

                Co-operate – Jesus always says –
                    we must co-operate with the
                    grace we receive –

                Co-operate – we are to work in
                    co-operation with each other.

                    God calls us to be motivated in
                our vocation – not heartless –
                but to be enthusiastic for all the
                good God gives us.

                    God wants unity – God wants
                joy and co-operation and peace –

                    A person can ignore their responsibility
                in their position and ignore the
                consequences of sin – denying they
                did anything wrong. This brings
                guilt inside the person – they can
                have deep seated guilt inside –

                Jesus says: Deception, tearing apart –
                    sabotaging events, meanness –
                    acting in unloving ways, hatefulness,
                    enviousness, tricks for power are
                    from satan.

                    The devil wants a person to be unforgiving,
                resentful, vengeful, hateful, pouting –
                making drama, seeking control, and
                manipulating for power and control.

                    Such games the person uses takes
                up time the Father called someone
                to serve Him and work in love building
                the Kingdom of God –

                    You are to take responsibility for
                your duty – operate in kindness
                be co-operative and work together
                in love solving problems.

                    Anger grows in a person as
                one goes deeper and deeper into sin
                and fails to admit they are sinning and
                fails to recognize how they are offending
                the God who loves them so much.

                    How does darkness grow?

                How does My light shine in
                the holy heart of a person filled
                with love –

                R. If we are to give love we must
                replenish our well with the
                love of Jesus.

                Jesus: I am a God of Justice – God
                is light and there is no darkness
                in God –

                    Watch your self-talk – You
                were created by God in love –

                You were created in the image of God.

                (1) Forgive

Matthew 6: 14-15

                (2) Gratitude

                (3) Unity

                (4) Knowing you are loved by God.

                    There must be that source of union
                with Me to be able to be as God
                the Father wants you to be in the world.
                Interior strength – Love in
                your heart – You must know you
                are dependent on God – not think
                you're independent on yourself!

                    You have a free will to choose
                life in Me – live the Christ-life.
                Notice the poor thinking you have
                allowed in yourselves. Do your
                duty under God – be responsible,
                accountable – don't ignore the
                consequences of your actions –

                    Examine the thinking that is
                wrong and evil, pray for grace and
                co-operate with the grace I give –
                Do not give into sin and lie to
                yourself about it.

                    Be honest with yourself –

                    When you are wrong – promptly
                admit it – Be truthful. This will
                help you to have freedom.

                    I am with you – Come to Me –
                I do not leave you – it is in your
                disobedience to God - you move
                further and further from God and
                if you fail to recognize the
                evil you do – you grow in
                greater and greater misery and
                darkness –

                    Are you willing to practice good
                habits and put aside what some have
                as they have given into for fun and feelings
                an addiction to excitement–

                Gratitude!

                You need Conversion!

                Mary told you this at Fatima!

                You are on a journey –

                Disobeying Me – forcing your power
                    rebellion – leads to greater
                    and greater bedlam.

                You are loved by God.

                Be Patient –

                Practice doing good and loving –

                Be meek and humble in heart –

                Be trustworthy –

                Be there so people know you
                    live to do the will of God
                    in love –

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

                Jesus: A Successful vocation is like Mary.

In all this Mary offers an example. Selfishness was totally foreign to her. She did not belong to herself. She belonged to God. She was not closed in upon herself. She was completely open to God. When God spoke, she listened. When God pointed the way, she followed. She realized that life is not a process a person masters by carefully mapping out one's own self-conceived plans of conquest, but a mystery to be gradually experienced by being open to God's personal and loving guidance.

Selfishness, then, did not close Mary off from God's call. Neither did fear. God asked her to assume a tremendous responsibility. He asked her to be the Mother of Jesus. Mary did not engage in a process of false humility and say that such a great role was above her. She did not say that she did not have the proper qualifications for this awesome mission. Briefly, she did not waste time looking at herself, making pleas that she was not worthy, telling the angel he had better go look for someone else. No, Mary did not look at herself. Her gaze was absorbed in God. She fully realized that whatever God asked of her, His grace would accomplish. She fully realized that although she herself had to cooperate, this work was much more God's than hers.

Mary's words, then, truly sum up what is the authentic Christian response at any point of life, in any kind of situation: "I am the handmaid of the Lord," said Mary, "let what you have said be done to me".    end of excerpt

                Jesus: Pray for healing energy.

                Find your strength in Me.

                Seek joy by loving and serving
                    God and others –

                Be truthful about your defects
                    of character.

                Pray for healing –

                Trust just authority figures.

                Practice obedience –

                Practice Being co-operative