Podcasts about your cross

Read Online“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37–38 At first read, this appears to be a difficult teaching of our Lord. But when properly understood, it is clear that it helps us keep our relationships with God and with our family properly ordered in charity and truth. Following this command will never result in a lack of love for family; rather, it will help us to love solely with the heart of Christ.What does this teaching of Jesus require of us? Simply put, if a family member, or anyone else, imposes expectations on us that are contrary to the will of God, then we must choose the will of God over those other expectations. To understand this more clearly, think about how one might choose to love “father or mother” or “son or daughter” more than God. Say, for example, that a child chooses to go astray in their moral or faith life, and they want their parents to support them in their sin. But the parents remain firm in their moral convictions and, out of love, offer no support for the immoral lifestyle their child has chosen. This would become especially difficult for the parents if the child becomes angry and criticizes the parents, with the claim that the parents are being judgmental and are lacking in love. What the child is actually requesting is “Mom and dad, you must love me more than God and His laws.” And if the parents do not support their child's misguided lifestyle, the relationship may be deeply wounded. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Jesus followed this command by saying, “and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Love always involves the Cross. At times, it is a cross of personal self-sacrifice and self-giving. And at other times, it's a cross by which our love is misunderstood, and we are deemed as “unloving” by those we actually love the most. When parents truly love their child, they will care first and foremost for their child's eternal salvation and moral living, and they will not choose “friendship” with their child over truth.Of course, this same truth applies to every relationship we will have and even to our “relationship” to society as a whole. More and more, there are those who demand of us all that we support them in behaviors that are objectively disordered and contrary to the will of God. We are told that if we oppose these choices that some make, then we are judgmental and hateful. But this is exactly what Jesus is speaking about. If we choose to “love” others more than God and His holy will, meaning, if our first priority is to make people “feel” supported in the immoral and confused decisions they make, then we are not actually loving them at all. At least not with the love of God. Instead, we are prioritizing their sin over the truth they so deeply need to know so as to be set free and to enter into an authentic relationship of love with the God of Truth. Reflect, today, upon true love. Love is only true love when it is grounded and centered in God and every moral law He has set forth. Reflect upon your own relationships, especially with family and those closest to you. Do you love them with the pure love of God? Does your love remain firmly rooted in the will of God? Or do you, at times, choose to compromise the truths of faith and morality so as to appease the misguided expectations of others. Kindness, gentleness and compassion must always be present. But moral truth must also be just as present and must be the foundation of every virtue we exercise in our relationships with everyone. Do not be afraid to love others exclusively with the mind and heart of God. Doing so is the only way to have true love for everyone in your life so as to help save their souls. Lord of All, You call all people to love You with all of their mind, heart, soul and strength. You call us all to adhere to every truth that You have spoken. Give me the courage and love I need to not only love You above all but to also love others with Your love alone. Help me to embrace Your Cross when this is difficult so that I will be a better instrument of the love You have for all. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Read Online“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21:18–19On this, the third time that Jesus appeared to His disciples, Jesus enters into a threefold discourse with Peter. Each time that Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him, Peter responds that he does. And Jesus responds back each time, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep.” The passage quoted above concludes Jesus' discourse with Peter using very powerful language. Jesus tells Peter that when he grows old, “someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” This was Jesus' way of saying to Peter that he would ultimately express his love of Jesus by dying for Him. As we know, tradition states that Peter was ultimately crucified. And at Peter's request, he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy of dying in the exact same way Jesus died.As we consider this conversation between Jesus and Peter, it is clear that Jesus' understanding of love is very different from the way many others understand it today. Jesus was not only telling Peter that he would die for Jesus, but Jesus was clearly offering His approval of this act of love Peter would one day offer. Most often when we love someone, we would do all we can to keep them from any such fate. In fact, when a loved one suffers, we often will do all we can to look for a way to relieve them of that suffering. So which approach is most loving?Clearly, Jesus sees suffering differently than most of us. For Jesus, suffering is not opposed to love when the suffering is freely embraced for a higher purpose. Suffering in and of itself is of no value. But when suffering is embraced sacrificially out of love for another, it is able to take on tremendous power. And when Jesus offered His clear support to Peter who would one day die out of love for Jesus, Jesus was focusing upon the eternal merit that would be won by Peter's cross. The fact that Jesus did not shy away from Peter's future sacrificial suffering is one of the clearest signs of Jesus' more perfect love for Peter. Reflect, today, upon your attitude toward the sufferings that your loved ones endure. Do you find that your primary goal is to rid them of their sufferings? Or do you understand that even their sufferings have the potential to become a source of their own holiness and the source of grace for others? Strive to see suffering as Jesus sees it. Look at the sacrificial love that is made possible when your loved ones unite their sufferings to the Cross of Christ and try to commit yourself to the mission of helping them embrace that sacred gift of love. My most compassionate Jesus, in Your great love for us all, You desire that we unite our sufferings to Your Cross so that all suffering shares in Your redemptive love. Give me the grace I need to not only embrace my own sufferings in life out of love for You but to also help those whom I love to live sacrificially by embracing the crosses they carry out of love. Jesus, I trust in You.Image: Luca Giordano, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Our young, thank God, are weary of woke and drugs and all the modern day, post-truth generation addictions and alternatives. Many turn to religion, so surveys say. Many of them, as many as 4 out of 5, may in their exploration of religion, explore and encounter the only real answer to life:OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.That man, the Nazarene, the Galilean, the carpenter, the son of the Living God, is ONE OF A KIND, a savior, redeemer, far more powerful than the strongest drug on earth. The young, the so-called Gen Z and Millennials will discover that if they really search with all their hearts.Christianity, real Christianity is not easy, not at all. It requires total commitment. There is nothing halfway or partial about becoming a real Christian. Real Christianity only occurs when one is truly BORN AGAIN.That means the recognition of SIN, something eschewed, mocked by present day society and thinking, but the requirement for biblical salvation, the recognition and confession of sin in a life and consequently, the status of the sinner in need of redemption. That is a testimony, a way of life, an explanation of real Christianity which the young in their spiritual searching must hear, and must hear clearly, directly, and without compromise or qualification. These are His words, not mine or yours:ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.That is what Gen Z needs to hear. If, says Jesus Christ, you wish to follow me, then I require that you:LAY YOUR ALL ON THE ALTAR.Not some, not something of you, nothing partial, but:ALLeverything you have and are. That is one hard message, difficult to understand in one sense, but more so, difficult to accept as a precondition of conversion and redemption. The younger generation will find out that becoming a real Chrisitan, A REAL CHRISTIAN, is not easy, not at all. They will hear more words from the master:TAKE UP MY CROSS, YOUR CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME.Be ready for the onslaughts of humankind. Be ready for a brand new, aggressive, angry, and attacking confrontation, and a brand new, aggressive:RIDICULEREJECTIONREFUSALA shunning in every way. And more. You should be ready to SELL ALL YOU HAVE if your faith journey so requires. That surely does not sound very appealing, but the willingness is a fundamental part of the conversion process.In fact, one should be ready to forsake all, to leave as Jesus said, father and mother, brother and sister, and follow me, never looking back. If that becomes necessary, if that is part of your calling, then comes the ultimate Christian challenge:YOU ARE EITHER WITH ME (THE CHRIST) OR AGAINST ME.There is no in between, no gray area, all or nothing. You can not serve two masters. If, says the Lord, you want me in your life, then it is:ALL OR NOTHING.All of this is the price, the very high price of discipleship, of partnership with Jesus Christ. These are not suggestions or options. These are commands, uncompromising commands. These are marching orders from the captain of our faith. These are hard requirements, non-negotiable, and require a whole heart and head understanding and commitment.If one is not willing to accept these spiritual terms and conditions, don't get involved. Keep looking. But know that you will never find anything better or even equal to this exciting, redeeming relationship with the Son of the Living God. Nothing comes close to such an encounter, nothing.Come to Him, young generation, but don't add anything to the spiritual contract. And don't subtract anything from the spiritual demands. This contract is a matter of all or nothing, your all or nothing. The Christ of glory wants no part of you, but only all of you. That is the message that Gen Z and millennials must hear. Those are Jesus' words and His uncompromising but lifesaving message. To accept is to enter into a relationship which will in fact produce peace, and joy, and life abundant like any could ever imagine. That new life is full of power, energy, confidence, and assurance, it is characterized by faith, and hope, and most importantly by:LOVE.It is exactly what the young seek and I do hope and pray as I am sure you do, that they will find it, and find:HIM.For no where in this world is there anyone or anything like HIM. Nothing and no one. That is what the world hungers for. That message is missing in so many places and in so many pulpits today, which is the main reason why RELIGION without HIM at the center can never satisfy, never.HE and only HE can change a life. I pray the young who seek will find:HIM.

Read Online“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He said in reply, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” Luke 19:38–40At the foot of the Mount of Olives was the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus agonized in prayer and was arrested. But several days before that happened, our Lord crossed over that hill next to the Mount of Olives with His Apostles and then approached the slope heading toward the Garden. As He descended, He encountered “the whole multitude of his disciples” who “began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen.” They then cried out: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” They met Him within eyeshot of the gate of the city of Jerusalem. This must have left the Twelve in amazement.Among those who were amazed were the Pharisees. But they were not amazed with joy. Their amazement was caused by envy and led to condemnation. Jesus' response was very clear: “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” That begs the question: If these disciples had not offered our Lord this glorious welcome, would the stones truly have cried out? Most certainly they would have! They did so just several days later after Jesus had been abandoned by the crowds.Recall that when Jesus was crucified, almost every one of these disciples abandoned Him. They fled in fear. Even most of the Twelve ran and hid. Only our Blessed Mother, Saint John and a few others remained. Therefore, when Jesus died on the Cross, abandoned by the crowds, this prophecy of His came true. “And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (Matthew 27:51–52).We must never keep silent in praise and worship of God. There is an important lesson to learn from these two moments from that first Holy Week. At the beginning, as Jesus entered Jerusalem with much excitement, there were many who offered Him praise. It's easy to give praise and glory to God when it is popular and when many others are doing so. Contrast this with the end of Holy Week when Jesus was persecuted and killed. Suddenly, praise and open acclamations were not that popular. Fear had the effect of silencing the crowds and ending their worship of our Lord. For that reason, the stones did cry out and the earth quaked. As we enter this Holy Week, consider whether you are more like the “whole multitude” of Jesus' disciples who praised Him when it was easy and popular, or whether you are more like our Blessed Mother and Saint John who remained faithful to Him when it was anything but popular to do so. Do you persevere in your praise and adoration of God during difficult times? Or do you allow fear of what others may say, fear of rejection and other forms of humiliation to deter you from your sacred calling? Reflect, today, upon these two contrasting moments of that first Holy Week. Join, today, with the crowds as they acclaim Jesus as King. As you do, turn your eyes to the King Whom you worship. Choose to follow Him to His betrayal, His suffering and His death. Commit yourself to fidelity, especially when it is hard to do so. Do not waver in your commitment. Look at the love in the heart of Jesus' own mother and pray to her that you will have the courage she had to remain faithful to our Lord, lest the stones be forced to cry out in your place. Most glorious King, You were fittingly worshiped and adored as You entered Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. I commit myself to that adoration and praise, and I pray that I will honor and love You, not only when it is easy but also when it is unpopular. May I never allow fear to deter me from my love of You and follow You all the way to the glorious throne of Your Cross. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image via Adobe StockSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

https://storage.googleapis.com/enduring-word-media/devotional/Devotional03212025.mp3 The post Your Cross to Bear – Mark 8:34 – March 21, 2025 appeared first on Enduring Word. https://enduringword.com/your-cross-to-bear-mark-834-march-21-2025/feed/ 0 https://storage.googleapis.com/enduring-word-media/devotional/Devotional03212

What started as a joke ("send us a $10,000 donation and we'll do an episode on Bathory's disasterpiece flop, 'Octagon'!") Well, we wondered what that kind of episode would be like, so we decided to just chat about it and see what happened. No big plan, no huge overarching analyses...just a little walk through the ugly, clattering eighth album by a man and band we absolutely worship. We count 'Octagon' as one of the worst two albums ever released by a legendary band...the other one, 'St. Anger' by Metallica, is even worse than this. Note I:The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast Note II:All past Radical Research episodes can be found here, where you can also find Jeff's Peter Steele and Fates Warning books…and more to come soon! Radicalresearch.org Music cited in order of appearance:“Crosstitution” (Requiem, 1994)“Immaculate Pinetree Road #930” (Octagon, 1995)“Schizianity” (Octagon, 1995) “Crawl to Your Cross” (1988 recording)“Sociopath” (Octagon, 1995) “Grey” (Octagon, 1995) “Century” (Octagon, 1995) “War Supply” (Octagon, 1995)“Deuce” (Octagon, 1995) “33 Something” (Octagon, 1995) “Born to Die” (Octagon, 1995) Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

Read OnlineWhen it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.  Mark 1:32–34Today we read that Jesus once again “drove out many demons...” The passage then adds, “...not permitting them to speak because they knew him.” Why would Jesus not permit these demons to speak? Many of the early Church fathers explain that even though the demons had an understanding that Jesus was the promised Messiah, they did not understand fully what that meant and how He would accomplish His ultimate victory. Therefore, Jesus did not want them to speak only half-truths about Him, as the evil one often does, thus misleading the people. So Jesus always forbade these demons from speaking about Him publicly.It's important to understand that all of the demonic spirits failed to understand the full truth that it would be Jesus' death that ultimately destroys death itself and sets all people free. For that reason, we see that these diabolical forces continually conspired against Jesus and tried to attack Him throughout His life. They stirred up Herod when Jesus was a baby, which forced Him into exile in Egypt. Satan himself tempted Jesus just prior to the beginning of His public ministry so as to try to dissuade Jesus from His mission. There were many diabolical forces who continually attacked Jesus throughout His public ministry, especially through the ongoing hostility of the religious leaders at the time. And it can be presumed that these demons may have initially thought they won the battle when they accomplished their goal of having Jesus crucified. The truth, however, is that Jesus' wisdom continually confounded these demons and ultimately transformed their evil act of having Him crucified into an ultimate victory over sin and death itself by rising from the dead. Satan and his demons are real, but compared to the truth and wisdom of God, these diabolical forces reveal their complete foolishness and weakness. Just like Jesus, we need to rebuke these tempters in our lives and command that they be silent. Too often we allow their half truths to mislead us and confuse us.Reflect, today, upon the importance of confidently rebuking the evil one and the many lies he tempts us to believe. Rebuke him with the truth and authority of Christ and pay no attention to what he says. My precious and all-powerful Lord, I turn to You and You alone as the source of all Truth and the fullness of Truth. May I listen to Your voice alone and reject the many deceptions of the evil one and his demons. In Your precious name, Jesus, I rebuke satan and all evil spirits, their lies and their temptations. I send these spirits to the foot of Your Cross, dear Lord, and open my mind and heart only to You. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above: The Blind and Mute Man Possessed by Devils By James Tissot, via Wikimedia Commons

Read Online“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37–38At first read, this appears to be a difficult teaching of our Lord. But when properly understood, it is clear that it helps us keep our relationships with God and with our family properly ordered in charity and truth. Following this command will never result in a lack of love for family; rather, it will help us to love solely with the heart of Christ.What does this teaching of Jesus require of us? Simply put, if a family member, or anyone else, imposes expectations on us that are contrary to the will of God, then we must choose the will of God over those other expectations. To understand this more clearly, think about how one might choose to love “father or mother” or “son or daughter” more than God. Say, for example, that a child chooses to go astray in their moral or faith life, and they want their parents to support them in their sin. But the parents remain firm in their moral convictions and, out of love, offer no support for the immoral lifestyle their child has chosen. This would become especially difficult for the parents if the child becomes angry and criticizes the parents, with the claim that the parents are being judgmental and are lacking in love. What the child is actually requesting is “Mom and dad, you must love me more than God and His laws.” And if the parents do not support their child's misguided lifestyle, the relationship may be deeply wounded. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Jesus followed this command by saying, “and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Love always involves the Cross. At times, it is a cross of personal self-sacrifice and self-giving. And at other times, it's a cross by which our love is misunderstood, and we are deemed as “unloving” by those we actually love the most. When parents truly love their child, they will care first and foremost for their child's eternal salvation and moral living, and they will not choose “friendship” with their child over truth. Of course, this same truth applies to every relationship we will have and even to our “relationship” to society as a whole. More and more, there are those who demand of us all that we support them in behaviors that are objectively disordered and contrary to the will of God. We are told that if we oppose these choices that some make, then we are judgmental and hateful. But this is exactly what Jesus is speaking about. If we choose to “love” others more than God and His holy will, meaning, if our first priority is to make people “feel” supported in the immoral and confused decisions they make, then we are not actually loving them at all. At least not with the love of God. Instead, we are prioritizing their sin over the truth they so deeply need to know so as to be set free and to enter into an authentic relationship of love with the God of Truth. Reflect, today, upon true love. Love is only true love when it is grounded and centered in God and every moral law He has set forth. Reflect upon your own relationships, especially with family and those closest to you. Do you love them with the pure love of God? Does your love remain firmly rooted in the will of God? Or do you, at times, choose to compromise the truths of faith and morality so as to appease the misguided expectations of others. Kindness, gentleness and compassion must always be present. But moral truth must also be just as present and must be the foundation of every virtue we exercise in our relationships with everyone. Do not be afraid to love others exclusively with the mind and heart of God. Doing so is the only way to have true love for everyone in your life so as to help save their souls. Lord of All, You call all people to love You with all of their mind, heart, soul and strength. You call us all to adhere to every truth that You have spoken. Give me the courage and love I need to not only love You above all but to also love others with Your love alone. Help me to embrace Your Cross when this is difficult so that I will be a better instrument of the love You have for all. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above:  The Exhortation to the Apostles By James Tissot, via Wikimedia Commons

Read OnlineJesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet!  Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Mark 4:38–39Do you desire to hear God speak to you? The most common way this happens is through prayerful meditation on the Gospels. Over the centuries, the saints have prayerfully pondered the Gospels and have offered various insights on the stories and our Lord's actions. Their insights are not primarily an intellectual exercise. Rather, they are first an exercise of prayer and meditation, revealing that the Scriptures have various layers of depth and meaning. One Church Father, Saint Bede, explains from his prayerful pondering of today's Gospel passage that the boat in which Jesus crossed the sea represents the Cross by which safe passage is obtained to arrive at the shores of Heaven. The other boats that followed represent those who have faith in the Cross of Christ and follow. Though they suffer the waves of temptation and hardship, they press on, relying upon the saving power of the Cross. Jesus being asleep represents His sleep of death, and His wakening represents His resurrection. The pleas of the disciples represent our need to turn to Jesus during the storms and temptations of life. The rebuke of the waves and the ensuing calm reveal the grace won by His death and resurrection, which is able to silence the demons and disordered passions. The fear that the disciples encountered points to our own fear that results from a lack of faith and trust in God.God is able to speak these and many other truths to us through His actions and words contained in the Scriptures. There is no limit to the depth and meaning we can receive through His holy Word. Therefore, though it is useful to reflect upon the saints' various interpretations of the Gospels, it is also very important to reflect upon these passages ourselves, so as to allow our Lord to speak to us the message we need to hear.Reflect, today, upon this Gospel scene. Try to find time to slowly read today's Gospel from beginning to end. Read a sentence and then close your eyes and try to imagine it. See Jesus entering the boat. Ponder the boat being an image of the Cross. See the sea as the many evils within this world. Consider the fear the disciples encountered during the storm. See yourself in that boat, waking our Lord. Listen to Him silence the waves and restore peace. Hear Him say to you about your own struggles in life: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” As you prayerfully meditate upon this and other Gospel passages, know that God will speak to you and reveal to you the meaning that He wishes to communicate to you today.My sleeping Lord, as I endure the many storms of life, may I always have faith in the saving power of Your Cross and Resurrection. May I always call upon You to calm the storms and hear You speak to me the many truths I need to hear. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured images above: Ludolf Backhuysen - Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee [1695], via flickr

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21:18–19On this, the third time that Jesus appeared to His disciples, Jesus enters into a threefold discourse with Peter. Each time that Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him, Peter responds that he does. And Jesus responds back each time, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep.” The passage quoted above concludes Jesus' discourse with Peter using very powerful language. Jesus tells Peter that when he grows old, “someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” This was Jesus' way of saying to Peter that he would ultimately express his love of Jesus by dying for Him. As we know, tradition states that Peter was ultimately crucified. And at Peter's request, he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy of dying in the exact same way Jesus died.As we consider this conversation between Jesus and Peter, it is clear that Jesus' understanding of love is very different from the way many others understand it today. Jesus was not only telling Peter that he would die for Jesus, but Jesus was clearly offering His approval of this act of love Peter would one day offer. Most often when we love someone, we would do all we can to keep them from any such fate. In fact, when a loved one suffers, we often will do all we can to look for a way to relieve them of that suffering. So which approach is most loving?Clearly, Jesus sees suffering differently than most of us. For Jesus, suffering is not opposed to love when the suffering is freely embraced for a higher purpose. Suffering in and of itself is of no value. But when suffering is embraced sacrificially out of love for another, it is able to take on tremendous power. And when Jesus offered His clear support to Peter who would one day die out of love for Jesus, Jesus was focusing upon the eternal merit that would be won by Peter's cross. The fact that Jesus did not shy away from Peter's future sacrificial suffering is one of the clearest signs of Jesus' more perfect love for Peter.Reflect, today, upon your attitude toward the sufferings that your loved ones endure. Do you find that your primary goal is to rid them of their sufferings? Or do you understand that even their sufferings have the potential to become a source of their own holiness and the source of grace for others? Strive to see suffering as Jesus sees it. Look at the sacrificial love that is made possible when your loved ones unite their sufferings to the Cross of Christ and try to commit yourself to the mission of helping them embrace that sacred gift of love. My most compassionate Jesus, in Your great love for us all, You desire that we unite our sufferings to Your Cross so that all suffering shares in Your redemptive love. Give me the grace I need to not only embrace my own sufferings in life out of love for You but to also help those whom I love to live sacrificially by embracing the crosses they carry out of love. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured images above: Crucifixion of Saint Peter By Luca Giordano, via Wikimedia Commons

     Cathryn Gardner, Music Director for Our Lady of the Rosary in east Boise, joins Morning Light today to provide our Sacred Music segment. In honor of Holy Week, she shares music for the Triduum - there are so many parts to the liturgy that are only celebrated this weekend: We Glory in Your Cross - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm5KdlhSbEg O Sacred Head Surrounded - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9LCoNTTL-s Most Holy Night (Dan Schutte) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m89Y98txsjE  Victimae Paschali Laudes - https://youtu.be/Vfcp19WpXxU?si=QABVNfi5ST0sjGiD Gloria (Rutter) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtIDXvqjyjo   

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Mark 9:2–3Just six days prior to this glorious event of the Transfiguration, Jesus spoke for the first time to His disciples about His pending crucifixion and death. He taught them that “the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days” (Mark 8:31). Recall that Peter had a difficult time accepting this teaching. Jesus went on to rebuke Peter for his refusal to accept this prophetic teaching and further explained that “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). These disciples then had six days to ponder this prophecy of our Lord before witnessing the Transfiguration.In your life, is there something that God is trying to say to you that you have difficulty accepting? If so, it will most likely be related to God's call to you to take up your cross and follow Him. The Cross of Christ comes in many forms throughout life. It might be experienced when we allow the passion of anger to die so that pure mercy can be offered to one who has hurt us. Or it might be that God is calling you to step out in faith to embrace some endeavor that requires courage and trust. Or it might be that God is calling you to accept some hardship in life that is difficult to accept, such as the loss of a loved one, an illness, the loss of a job or any other difficulty that you struggle to accept with love and trust. Bitterness, resentment, anger, fear and the like are often the most difficult crosses we are called to embrace and let die.If this resonates with you, then this story of the Transfiguration is for you. After giving these disciples six days to ponder the difficult news of His coming Cross, Jesus gives them hope and inspiration through this sacred encounter. Though it lasted for only a short time, this manifestation of Jesus' glory was all that these disciples needed to begin to accept Jesus' prediction of His passion. On one hand, they feared what Jesus said was going to happen. But on the other hand, they saw His glory and majesty. By combining these two experiences, these disciples were given a new hope and strength to trust that whatever was to happen in the future, God was in control.We also need the consoling revelation of our Lord's glory to help us navigate the difficulties we will endure. For some, life is good, very good, and they walk with joy and ease with our Lord. But for others, life has taken a difficult turn and confusion has set in. If life is good for you right now, then rejoice that you are currently sharing a taste of the glory of the Transfiguration. Give thanks to God and tell Him with Saint Peter, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here!” Give thanks to him for the joy and consolation you currently experience. But if life is difficult for you right now, ponder those six days during which the disciples struggled with the prediction of the Lord's passion. Think about their confusion, doubts and fear. As you do, turn your eyes up the mountain. Know that the glory of God awaits you and that He wants to free you from all fear and anxiety. The mountain is climbed by a firm faith that is grounded in prayer. Make that journey with our Lord through prayer.Reflect, today, upon this holy mountain to which you are called. Know that as you climb it with perseverance and determination, hope and joy will be given to you. Pray for the ability to trust in the God Who not only died a cruel death but also is radiant in glory for all eternity. Trust Him, turn to Him and commit to the journey ahead. My Transfigured Lord, You revealed Your glory to these disciples as a way of helping them accept Your Cross. Help me to also embrace Your Cross in my life and to see clearly the glory that results from its embrace. I trust in You, dear Lord; help me to trust You more. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured images above: The Transfiguration of the Lord, via Flickr

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Mark 1:32–34Today we read that Jesus once again “drove out many demons...” The passage then adds, “...not permitting them to speak because they knew him.” Why would Jesus not permit these demons to speak? Many of the early Church fathers explain that even though the demons had an understanding that Jesus was the promised Messiah, they did not understand fully what that meant and how He would accomplish His ultimate victory. Therefore, Jesus did not want them to speak only half-truths about Him, as the evil one often does, thus misleading the people. So Jesus always forbade these demons from speaking about Him publicly.It's important to understand that all of the demonic spirits failed to understand the full truth that it would be Jesus' death that ultimately destroys death itself and sets all people free. For that reason, we see that these diabolical forces continually conspired against Jesus and tried to attack Him throughout His life. They stirred up Herod when Jesus was a baby, which forced Him into exile in Egypt. Satan himself tempted Jesus just prior to the beginning of His public ministry so as to try to dissuade Jesus from His mission. There were many diabolical forces who continually attacked Jesus throughout His public ministry, especially through the ongoing hostility of the religious leaders at the time. And it can be presumed that these demons may have initially thought they won the battle when they accomplished their goal of having Jesus crucified. The truth, however, is that Jesus' wisdom continually confounded these demons and ultimately transformed their evil act of having Him crucified into an ultimate victory over sin and death itself by rising from the dead. Satan and his demons are real, but compared to the truth and wisdom of God, these diabolical forces reveal their complete foolishness and weakness. Just like Jesus, we need to rebuke these tempters in our lives and command that they be silent. Too often we allow their half truths to mislead us and confuse us.Reflect, today, upon the importance of confidently rebuking the evil one and the many lies he tempts us to believe. Rebuke him with the truth and authority of Christ and pay no attention to what he says.My precious and all-powerful Lord, I turn to You and You alone as the source of all Truth and the fullness of Truth. May I listen to Your voice alone and reject the many deceptions of the evil one and his demons. In Your precious name, Jesus, I rebuke satan and all evil spirits, their lies and their temptations. I send these spirits to the foot of Your Cross, dear Lord, and open my mind and heart only to You. Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Part 3 of our 3 part series on the Abrahamic religions. The Eleventh Hour presents the religion that is and always has been at war with the dark forces that dominate our world. Christendom, the inheritance of Western Man, is the primary target of the (((globalists))) because it stands in opposition to their master. Listen to Phalanxman and Ricky Bobby deliver a full-spectrum special covering the story of our religion all the way to the present existential danger to our way of life as the West. CORRECTION: Phalanxman mistakenly attributed the Nestorian heresy to the Copts rather than the Monophysite heresy. We, at the Eleventh Hour, always seek to give an honest presentation of the facts and sometimes mistakes are made. Here are the translated lyrics for the break music used in this special: Intro Music: Selah by Kanye followed by The Terrifying Judgement sung by the Children's Choir of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Terrifying Judgement: Here comes the Lord with His armies! Let our foes be ashamed! Let them be ashamed, let them repent! Look how the Heavenly Armies are glowing! How glowing are they! How loud are they! Tall mountains are falling before them! Tall mountains and earthly emperors! Look the Lord is coming to enthrone Himself! Seraphims are charging! Cherubims are following! All of Earth is burning, everything is smoking! All is smoking! We can't breathe! The Joy and Horror cannot be described! No one to describe the miracle of miracles, when sinful Earth is tightened by the Heavens! Heaven tightens us by its nearness! Then Earth is at the End! Armies after armies are coming from Heaven! Angels sound! The just acclaim! The just acclaim, "Here comes the Lord! Let soil and water disappear!" Soil and water are disappearing! Look! It is happening, what the Scriptures foretold! What the Scriptures foretold, everything is happening! New Sky and Earth are being born! Here comes the Lord! Humans are resurrecting! Here He comes to judge the world! To judge the world and save the flock! The Universe is rumbling and roaring! Rumbling and roaring are Earth and Heaven! Our gold and silver are useless now! Gold and silver are at an end! And let You shine, The God's Son! Break 1: Save, o Lord, Your People! Save, o Lord, Your People: Save, o Lord, Your People! And bless Your Inheritance! Grant victory to our Emperor over the barbarians! And preserve Your dwelling-place! By the power of Your Cross! Break 2: Blessed Are You, O Lord, Teach Me Your Statutes (English) Break 3: Christ Is Risen! (English) Break 4: Agni Parthene Agni Parthene: O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! O fleece bedewed with every grace, O Virgin Queen and Mother, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! More radiant than the rays of sun, and higher than the heavens, ... Break 5: Trysagion Hymn (First English Then Greek) Outro: The Last Stand by Sabaton --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the11thhour/message

Part 3 of our 3 part series on the Abrahamic religions. The Eleventh Hour presents the religion that is and always has been at war with the dark forces that dominate our world. Christendom, the inheritance of Western Man, is the primary target of the (((globalists))) because it stands in opposition to their master. Listen to Phalanxman and Ricky Bobby deliver a full-spectrum special covering the story of our religion all the way to the present existential danger to our way of life as the West. CORRECTION: Phalanxman mistakenly attributed the Nestorian heresy to the Copts rather than the Monophysite heresy. We, at the Eleventh Hour, always seek to give an honest presentation of the facts and sometimes mistakes are made. Here are the translated lyrics for the break music used in this special: Intro Music: Selah by Kanye followed by The Terrifying Judgement sung by the Children's Choir of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Terrifying Judgement: Here comes the Lord with His armies! Let our foes be ashamed! Let them be ashamed, let them repent! Look how the Heavenly Armies are glowing! How glowing are they! How loud are they! Tall mountains are falling before them! Tall mountains and earthly emperors! Look the Lord is coming to enthrone Himself! Seraphims are charging! Cherubims are following! All of Earth is burning, everything is smoking! All is smoking! We can't breathe! The Joy and Horror cannot be described! No one to describe the miracle of miracles, when sinful Earth is tightened by the Heavens! Heaven tightens us by its nearness! Then Earth is at the End! Armies after armies are coming from Heaven! Angels sound! The just acclaim! The just acclaim, "Here comes the Lord! Let soil and water disappear!" Soil and water are disappearing! Look! It is happening, what the Scriptures foretold! What the Scriptures foretold, everything is happening! New Sky and Earth are being born! Here comes the Lord! Humans are resurrecting! Here He comes to judge the world! To judge the world and save the flock! The Universe is rumbling and roaring! Rumbling and roaring are Earth and Heaven! Our gold and silver are useless now! Gold and silver are at an end! And let You shine, The God's Son! Break 1: Save, o Lord, Your People! Save, o Lord, Your People: Save, o Lord, Your People! And bless Your Inheritance! Grant victory to our Emperor over the barbarians! And preserve Your dwelling-place! By the power of Your Cross! Break 2: Blessed Are You, O Lord, Teach Me Your Statutes (English) Break 3: Christ Is Risen! (English) Break 4: Agni Parthene Agni Parthene: O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! O fleece bedewed with every grace, O Virgin Queen and Mother, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! More radiant than the rays of sun, and higher than the heavens, ... Break 5: Trysagion Hymn (First English Then Greek) Outro: The Last Stand by Sabaton --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the11thhour/message

Imagine what it would be like if you could somehow be mystically transported to the night of Holy Thursday. And imagine if you could somehow see and experience everything that Jesus went through. Imagine the Agony in the Garden, the ridicule and harsh treatment, the mockery, the night alone in prison, the trial, the scourging, the carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion. This would be too much to bear. To face Jesus and all His interior and exterior sufferings would be overwhelming. But, if you could do it, and face every experience that He had, it would change your life. The sufferings of Christ should not be ignored. They should not be turned away from and they should not be shunned. His Passion must be faced, understood, loved and lived by each one of us. When we do this we will be changed forever (See Diary #1054).Try to spend time today letting yourself be drawn in, deeply, to the mysterious and profound sufferings of Jesus. Let the Lord reveal to you a taste of what He endured. Facing His sufferings is not only facing a great evil; rather, it's facing love in its purest form. To face the Cross and all that it encompassed is to face the greatest act of love ever known, revealed through the greatest scandal ever experienced. God is astonishing to us, in a holy way, when we discover His love in His suffering. Ponder it today, let it sit in your heart, seek to understand the mystery and allow God to transform you through it.Lord, please give me the grace to turn toward You on the throne of Your Cross and to gaze upon You now and for all eternity. Help me to discover Love in its most pure form as I fix my eyes on You and all that You endured. My Suffering Lord Jesus, I love You and I trust in You. Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37–38At first read, this appears to be a difficult teaching of our Lord. But when properly understood, it is clear that it helps us keep our relationships with God and with our family properly ordered in charity and truth. Following this command will never result in a lack of love for family; rather, it will help us to love solely with the heart of Christ.What does this teaching of Jesus require of us? Simply put, if a family member, or anyone else, imposes expectations on us that are contrary to the will of God, then we must choose the will of God over those other expectations. To understand this more clearly, think about how one might choose to love “father or mother” or “son or daughter” more than God. Say, for example, that a child chooses to go astray in their moral or faith life, and they want their parents to support them in their sin. But the parents remain firm in their moral convictions and, out of love, offer no support for the immoral lifestyle their child has chosen. This would become especially difficult for the parents if the child becomes angry and criticizes the parents, with the claim that the parents are being judgmental and are lacking in love. What the child is actually requesting is “Mom and dad, you must love me more than God and His laws.” And if the parents do not support their child's misguided lifestyle, the relationship may be deeply wounded. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Jesus followed this command by saying, “and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Love always involves the Cross. At times, it is a cross of personal self-sacrifice and self-giving. And at other times, it's a cross by which our love is misunderstood, and we are deemed as “unloving” by those we actually love the most. When parents truly love their child, they will care first and foremost for their child's eternal salvation and moral living, and they will not choose “friendship” with their child over truth.Of course, this same truth applies to every relationship we will have and even to our “relationship” to society as a whole. More and more, there are those who demand of us all that we support them in behaviors that are objectively disordered and contrary to the will of God. We are told that if we oppose these choices that some make, then we are judgmental and hateful. But this is exactly what Jesus is speaking about. If we choose to “love” others more than God and His holy will, meaning, if our first priority is to make people “feel” supported in the immoral and confused decisions they make, then we are not actually loving them at all. At least not with the love of God. Instead, we are prioritizing their sin over the truth they so deeply need to know so as to be set free and to enter into an authentic relationship of love with the God of Truth. Reflect, today, upon true love. Love is only true love when it is grounded and centered in God and every moral law He has set forth. Reflect upon your own relationships, especially with family and those closest to you. Do you love them with the pure love of God? Does your love remain firmly rooted in the will of God? Or do you, at times, choose to compromise the truths of faith and morality so as to appease the misguided expectations of others. Kindness, gentleness and compassion must always be present. But moral truth must also be just as present and must be the foundation of every virtue we exercise in our relationships with everyone. Do not be afraid to love others exclusively with the mind and heart of God. Doing so is the only way to have true love for everyone in your life so as to help save their souls. Lord of All, You call all people to love You with all of their mind, heart, soul and strength. You call us all to adhere to every truth that You have spoken. Give me the courage and love I need to not only love You above all but to also love others with Your love alone. Help me to embrace Your Cross when this is difficult so that I will be a better instrument of the love You have for all. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

It's easy to “love” God when all is well. But when all is well, our love is not tested. The testing that comes from human suffering clarifies our love of God. This can be very fruitful for our spiritual lives. It's easy to believe that difficulties in life are nothing other than sad and unfortunate burdens and should be avoided at all costs. Though we would be foolish to create difficulties intentionally, we will each have our share of them in this life. Therefore, every difficulty and suffering in life must be embraced as an opportunity for you to increase your trust in God and, in so doing, to increase your love of Him. How blessed is the soul who suffers greatly in this life while choosing to love God throughout, making that suffering the source of its increase in holiness (See Diary #1014).What do you complain about each day? What is it that burdens you? Too often we run from these burdens or get angry. Try to look at your struggles in a new light. Try to see them as opportunities to deepen your trust and your love. Every suffering and every burden in life has the potential of being infused with the spiritual power of the Cross. By embracing them in love, we embrace the Cross. And by embracing the Cross, we love God all the more. Do not think that hardships deal you a poor quality of life. Recognize them for what they are as a result of grace. They are opportunities for holiness and for an increase in the reception of the Mercy of God.Lord, when I get down, angry or despairing in life, on account of the difficulties I endure, help me to use that struggle as an opportunity for greater trust. Lord, I desire to run to the Cross and to receive the love that poured forth from Your Cross so that I may become more like You in all things. Increase my love, dear Lord, especially through every suffering in life that I surrender to You. Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

We cover two important questions that require a correct answer: Who am I? Who is Jesus? Since the fall of Adam and Eve, all who are naturally born with sin and often can be described as the “addiction” to sin. The only way to overcome this addiction is through the cleansing, healing, and forgiving blood of Christ through Baptism. This Jesus, God and man, has come to bring that healing by His cross and empty tomb and will come again for that final healing in perfection with Him. "Ev'ry wound that pains or grieves me, By Your wounds, Lord, is made whole; When I'm faint, Your Cross revives me, Granting new life to my soul. Yes, Your comfort renders sweet. Ev'ry bitter cup I meet; For Your all atoning passion Has procured my soul's salvation." Jesus, Grant That Balm and Healing. LSB 421, st. 4. Rev. Dr. Steven Mueller, Professor of Theology at Concordia University in Irvine, CA joins Rev. Brady Finnern to study the Second and Third Articles of Augsburg Confession. Find your copy of the Book of Concord - Concordia Reader's Edition at cph.org or read online at bookofconcord.org. Study the Lutheran Confession of Faith found in the Book of Concord with lively discussions led by host Rev. Brady Finnern, President of the LCMS Minnesota North District, and guest LCMS pastors. Join us as these Christ-confessing Concordians read through and discuss our Lutheran doctrine in the Book of Concord in order to gain a deeper understanding of our Lutheran faith and practical application for our vocations.

Human suffering is one of the greatest mysteries of life. The Diary of Saint Faustina, as well as the whole spiritual tradition of our faith, reveals much about this profound mystery of suffering. First, from a purely secular point of view, suffering is far from desirable. In fact, it is typically avoided at all costs and seen as the greatest of tragedies. However, from a Christian perspective, suffering itself has been transformed by Christ and made the greatest instrument of grace ever known. It was through His intense suffering on the Cross that the salvation of the world came about. And by freely embracing all suffering, He made it the means and source of all grace. By so doing, Jesus also invites us to see our sufferings as an opportunity for grace. By embracing it, uniting it to His Cross, and offering it to the Father, our suffering is also able to take on infinite value and become a channel of the Mercy of God. Suffering, freely embraced by a Christian, must become a sign of one's closeness to Christ and a path to holiness (See Diary #774).Suffering can be very difficult and yet unavoidable most often in life. Rather than run from it, reflect, today, upon the fact that God is able to use your suffering for good. This is a mysterious calling and requires the greatest of faith and trust. But when entered into, you will discover that the power of God overshadows and transforms even that which is most painful in life.Lord, help me to entrust to You all suffering. Help me to have hope in You and to fix my gaze upon Your Cross during the most troubled times of life. Use me Lord, and use my suffering as a source of my holiness and for the upbuilding of Your Church in holiness. Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21:18–19On this, the third time that Jesus appeared to His disciples, Jesus enters into a threefold discourse with Peter. Each time that Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him, Peter responds that he does. And Jesus responds back each time, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep.” The passage quoted above concludes Jesus' discourse with Peter using very powerful language. Jesus tells Peter that when he grows old, “someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” This was Jesus' way of saying to Peter that he would ultimately express his love of Jesus by dying for Him. As we know, tradition states that Peter was ultimately crucified. And at Peter's request, he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy of dying in the exact same way Jesus died.As we consider this conversation between Jesus and Peter, it is clear that Jesus' understanding of love is very different from the way many others understand it today. Jesus was not only telling Peter that he would die for Jesus, but Jesus was clearly offering His approval of this act of love Peter would one day offer. Most often when we love someone, we would do all we can to keep them from any such fate. In fact, when a loved one suffers, we often will do all we can to look for a way to relieve them of that suffering. So which approach is most loving?Clearly, Jesus sees suffering differently than most of us. For Jesus, suffering is not opposed to love when the suffering is freely embraced for a higher purpose. Suffering in and of itself is of no value. But when suffering is embraced sacrificially out of love for another, it is able to take on tremendous power. And when Jesus offered His clear support to Peter who would one day die out of love for Jesus, Jesus was focusing upon the eternal merit that would be won by Peter's cross. The fact that Jesus did not shy away from Peter's future sacrificial suffering is one of the clearest signs of Jesus' more perfect love for Peter. Reflect, today, upon your attitude toward the sufferings that your loved ones endure. Do you find that your primary goal is to rid them of their sufferings? Or do you understand that even their sufferings have the potential to become a source of their own holiness and the source of grace for others? Strive to see suffering as Jesus sees it. Look at the sacrificial love that is made possible when your loved ones unite their sufferings to the Cross of Christ and try to commit yourself to the mission of helping them embrace that sacred gift of love. My most compassionate Jesus, in Your great love for us all, You desire that we unite our sufferings to Your Cross so that all suffering shares in Your redemptive love. Give me the grace I need to not only embrace my own sufferings in life out of love for You but to also help those whom I love to live sacrificially by embracing the crosses they carry out of love. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Your Cross by BBC Potch

After Jesus' death, one of the soldiers came to Him and was ordered to make certain He was dead. So that soldier pierced His precious body with a lance and immediately blood and water gushed forth from His wounded Heart. This has been prayerfully reflected upon throughout the ages and has been seen as a sign of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the fact that the Blood of the Holy Eucharist and the Water of Baptism spring forth directly from the ultimate sacrificial gift of Jesus' perfect sacrifice of the Cross (See Diary #187).Renew, today, your gratitude for these Sacraments of God's abundant Mercy. Ponder the fact that they were made possible only because Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life out of love for us. Let His sacrifice, this day, fill your own heart with gratitude and awe as you think about the price He willingly and freely paid so as to redeem us.Lord, Your love is seen clearly in the Sacrifice of Your Cross. You held nothing back from us as You poured out Your Mercy to the last drop on the Cross. Help me to see and understand this great mystery of sacrificial love. Fill me with gratitude for all that You have done and help me to imitate this total self-giving toward others. Oh blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a font of Mercy for us, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Do you understand the Passion of our Lord? Do you perceive His sufferings in your soul? This may, at first, seem undesirable. But perceiving the sufferings and Passion of our Lord is a great grace. As we perceive His suffering we must then encounter it and embrace it as our own. We must live His sufferings. In doing so, we begin to discover that His suffering is nothing other than divine love and Mercy. And we find that the love in His soul which endured all sufferings enables us to endure all things in love. Love endures everything and conquers everything. Let this holy and purified love consume you so that you can endure, in love, whatever you encounter in life (See Diary #46).Gaze upon the crucifix this day. Gaze upon the perfect Sacrifice of Love. Gaze upon our God who willingly endured all things out of love for you. Ponder this great mystery of love in suffering and love in sacrifice. Understand it, accept it, love it and live it.Lord, Your Cross is the perfect example of sacrificial love. It's the purest and highest form of love ever known. Help me to understand this love and to accept it into my heart. And as I accept Your perfect Sacrifice of Love, help me to live that love in all that I do and in all that I am. Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

As you grow closer to God you will, at times, feel many things. Some will encounter feelings of rejection by God. God never rejects us but the interior feelings of rejection can be real. This leads some to despair. If you find yourself, now or in the future, struggling with despair, do not be afraid and do not give in. Let God come to you in that experience and be present to you as you suffer through it (See Diary #23).Continue to look deep within your heart this day. What do you see? If it is painful to look inside, then know that this pain is a pathway toward God. It may not make sense and it may be hard, but God the Father chose the path of the Cross for the Son. By embracing His Cross both exteriorly and interiorly, Jesus united all human nature to His Godhead. Let your suffering become a means of your holiness this day and a source of your unity with God.Lord, as I continue to look deep within at my heart, help me to see myself as You see me. Help me to sort out any pain and suffering I carry. And help me to freely unite that interior pain to Your Cross just as You did. In this act, help me to discover The Divine Mercy You won for the world. Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.  Mark 1:32–34Today we read that Jesus once again “drove out many demons...” The passage then adds, “...not permitting them to speak because they knew him.” Why would Jesus not permit these demons to speak? Many of the early Church fathers explain that even though the demons had an understanding that Jesus was the promised Messiah, they did not understand fully what that meant and how He would accomplish His ultimate victory. Therefore, Jesus did not want them to speak only half-truths about Him, as the evil one often does, thus misleading the people. So Jesus always forbade these demons from speaking about Him publicly.It's important to understand that all of the demonic spirits failed to understand the full truth that it would be Jesus' death that ultimately destroys death itself and sets all people free. For that reason, we see that these diabolical forces continually conspired against Jesus and tried to attack Him throughout His life. They stirred up Herod when Jesus was a baby, which forced Him into exile in Egypt. Satan himself tempted Jesus just prior to the beginning of His public ministry so as to try to dissuade Jesus from His mission. There were many diabolical forces who continually attacked Jesus throughout His public ministry, especially through the ongoing hostility of the religious leaders at the time. And it can be presumed that these demons may have initially thought they won the battle when they accomplished their goal of having Jesus crucified. The truth, however, is that Jesus' wisdom continually confounded these demons and ultimately transformed their evil act of having Him crucified into an ultimate victory over sin and death itself by rising from the dead. Satan and his demons are real, but compared to the truth and wisdom of God, these diabolical forces reveal their complete foolishness and weakness. Just like Jesus, we need to rebuke these tempters in our lives and command that they be silent. Too often we allow their half truths to mislead us and confuse us.Reflect, today, upon the importance of confidently rebuking the evil one and the many lies he tempts us to believe. Rebuke him with the truth and authority of Christ and pay no attention to what he says.My precious and all-powerful Lord, I turn to You and You alone as the source of all Truth and the fullness of Truth. May I listen to Your voice alone and reject the many deceptions of the evil one and his demons. In Your precious name, Jesus, I rebuke satan and all evil spirits, their lies and their temptations. I send these spirits to the foot of Your Cross, dear Lord, and open my mind and heart only to You. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

The Incarnation was the greatest act of Mercy ever known. The only subsequent act that surpassed it was the act of Jesus dying on the Cross destroying sin and death by His blood. The redemption of the world, through the blood of the Cross, is an act of love and Mercy that we will never fully comprehend. We could never be grateful enough for this act since we will never fully fathom the depth of this love.Spend time throughout this day pondering the crucifix.  Hold it in your hand, look at it, imagine it and meditate on it.  And then try and close your eyes from time to time pondering the full reality of the Crucifixion.  This was not an easy sacrifice.  It was especially difficult to receive such brutality and to say, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”  This is Divine Mercy.Lord, help me to gaze deeply upon Your Cross and to discover, within that Cross, an ocean of pure Mercy. Wash me in this sacrificial love and help me to obtain eternal redemption. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.  Luke 9:44-45So why was the meaning of this “hidden from them?”  Interesting.  Here Jesus tells them to “pay attention to what I am telling you.”  And then begins to explain He will suffer and die.  But they did not get it.  They did not understand what He meant and “they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.”The truth is that Jesus was not offended by their lack of understanding.  He realized that they would not immediately understand.  But this did not stop Him from telling them anyway.  Why?  Because He knew that they would come to understand in time.  But, at first, the Apostles just listened in a bit of confusion.When did the Apostles come to understand?  They understood once the Holy Spirit descended upon them leading them into all Truth.  It took the workings of the Holy Spirit to understand such deep mysteries.The same is true with us.  When we face the mystery of Jesus' sufferings, and when we face the reality of suffering in our own lives or the lives of those we love, we can often be confused at first.  It takes a gift from the Holy Spirit to open our minds to understand.  Suffering is most often inevitable.  We all endure it.  And if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, suffering will lead us to confusion and despair.  But if we allow the Holy Spirit to open our minds, we will begin to understand how God can work in us through our sufferings just as He brought salvation to the world through the sufferings of Christ.Reflect, today, upon how well you understand both Jesus' sufferings and your own.  Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the meaning and even the value of suffering?  Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit asking for this grace and let God lead you into this profound mystery of our faith.Lord, I know You suffered and died for my salvation.  I know that my own suffering can take on new meaning in Your Cross.  Help me to more fully see and understand this great mystery and to find even greater value in Your Cross as well as mine.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Your Cross is not a Loss!

DOWNLOAD KEYNOTE SLIDES 2 Corinthians 4:16 (Amplified Bible), Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day.  KEY POINT One of the reasons for TODAY is this: Today is when life begins again! “Renewed day by day…” Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah  4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. KEY POINT There two forces await us everyday    1. Troubled Streams (Perishing)    2. Streams That Make Glad (Renewing) Where/how you focus as your day begins determines which stream you will enter into.  WHAT COMES EVERY DAY? 1. Mercy:  God's gift before and after faith. Prevention or lessening of consequences following our errors.  Lamentations 3:22-24, Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 2. Benefits:  Provision, protection, grace to function, etc.  Psalm 68:19, Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah Matthew 6:11, Give us this day our daily bread. 3. Your Cross:  Opportunity to place others higher than yourself. Carry responsibility deny yourself, follow Christ, and serve God's purposes. Luke 9:23, Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Proverbs 8:34, Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors TODAY: Reflection & Application In what ways I am being renewed TODAY? Why does my life begin again TODAY? (Not starting over) What hinders my awareness of TODAY? Who will I encourage/exhort TODAY? What streams from God's river make me glad TODAY? What does MERCY mean to me TODAY? What do GOD'S BENEFITS mean to me TODAY? What does MY CROSS mean to me TODAY?    

God calls us to carry our cross and follow Him. Our cross represents our issues. However, there will come a time when we must face our cross. Through the love of God, He will give you the strength to conquer your cross. This will be a testimony of the goodness of God.

Ryan and James discuss on this episode the Synod on Synodality listening sessions, specifically here at St. Roberts in Ada. According to the USCCB website, the Synod on Synodality: The Synod on Synodality is a two-year process of listening and dialogue beginning with a solemn opening in Rome on October 9 and 10, 2021 with each individual diocese and church celebrating the following week on October 17. The synodal process will conclude in 2023. Pope Francis invites the entire Church to reflect on a theme that is decisive for its life and mission: “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.” This journey, which follows in the wake of the Church's “renewal” proposed by the Second Vatican Council, is both a gift and a task: by journeying together and reflecting together on the journey that has been made, the Church will be able to learn through Her experience which processes can help Her to live communion, to achieve participation, to open Herself to mission.In short, the Church is inviting lay people to give their input on how the Church can improve in various aspects. In this episode, Ryan and James specifically talk about the topics relating to listening and dialogue in the Church and society and engaging more families. Remember men, our priests, bishops, and the Pope have to answer to Christ, not us. James' Challenge: Pray specifically for the Holy Spirit to come and guide you every day this week.Like what you heard? Maybe you just enjoy reading James's show notes? Please prayerfully consider supporting the podcast on our Patreon page. to help grow the show to reach as many men as possible! Thank you for your prayers and support.  Partners: Sword & Spade Magazine → We often talk about Fraternus, an incredible organization that strives to connect men with their children and get them outside! Subscribe to their magazine by using this link and help support them and our show!Grab an amazing cup of coffee at CatholicCoffee.com! Use code Manly at check-out to get 15% off your order! As always, please pray for us! We are men who are striving every day to be holy, to become saints and we cannot do that without the help of the Holy Ghost!  Get social with us:Follow us on the ‘gram.'Join our private FB group exclusively for our listeners.Tweet us here. Subscribe to our YouTube page to see our manly and holy faces Contact us directly:themanlycatholic@gmail.comResources mentioned in the episode:Grand Rapids Diocese and St. Roberts of Ada parish synod listening session answersUSCCB Synod on SynodalitySt. Aloysius GonzagaInto the Breach video seriesSt. Francis de Sales "Your Cross" prayerHoly Spirit prayerSupport the show

Imagine what it would be like if you could somehow be mystically transported to the night of Holy Thursday.  And imagine if you could somehow see and experience everything that Jesus went through.  Imagine the Agony in the Garden, the ridicule and harsh treatment, the mockery, the night alone in prison, the trial, the scourging, the carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion.  This would be too much to bear.  To face Jesus and all His interior and exterior sufferings would be overwhelming.  But, if you could do it, and face every experience that He had, it would change your life.  The sufferings of Christ should not be ignored.  They should not be turned away from and they should not be shunned.  His Passion must be faced, understood, loved and lived by each one of us.  When we do this we will be changed forever (See Diary #1054).Try to spend time today letting yourself be drawn in, deeply, to the mysterious and profound sufferings of Jesus.  Let the Lord reveal to you a taste of what He endured.  Facing His sufferings is not only facing a great evil; rather, it's facing love in its purest form.  To face the Cross and all that it encompassed is to face the greatest act of love ever known, revealed through the greatest scandal ever experienced.  God is astonishing to us, in a holy way, when we discover His love in His suffering.  Ponder it today, let it sit in your heart, seek to understand the mystery and allow God to transform you through it.Lord, please give me the grace to turn toward You on the throne of Your Cross and to gaze upon You now and for all eternity.  Help me to discover Love in its most pure form as I fix my eyes on You and all that You endured.  My Suffering Lord Jesus, I love You and I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Pick up YOUR Cross and follow Jesus!

It's easy to “love” God when all is well.  But when all is well, our love is not tested.  The testing that comes from human suffering clarifies our love of God.  This can be very fruitful for our spiritual lives.  It's easy to believe that difficulties in life are nothing other than sad and unfortunate burdens and should be avoided at all costs.  Though we would be foolish to create difficulties intentionally, we will each have our share of them in this life.  Therefore, every difficulty and suffering in life must be embraced as an opportunity for you to increase your trust in God and, in so doing, to increase your love of Him.   How blessed is the soul who suffers greatly in this life while choosing to love God throughout, making that suffering the source of its increase in holiness (See Diary #1014).What do you complain about each day?  What is it that burdens you?  Too often we run from these burdens or get angry.  Try to look at your struggles in a new light.  Try to see them as opportunities to deepen your trust and your love.  Every suffering and every burden in life has the potential of being infused with the spiritual power of the Cross.  By embracing them in love, we embrace the Cross.  And by embracing the Cross, we love God all the more.  Do not think that hardships deal you a poor quality of life.  Recognize them for what they are as a result of grace.  They are opportunities for holiness and for an increase in the reception of the Mercy of God.Lord, when I get down, angry or despairing in life, on account of the difficulties I endure, help me to use that struggle as an opportunity for greater trust.  Lord, I desire to run to the Cross and to receive the love that poured forth from Your Cross so that I may become more like You in all things.  Increase my love, dear Lord, especially through every suffering in life that I surrender to You.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Human suffering is one of the greatest mysteries of life.  The Diary of Saint Faustina, as well as the whole spiritual tradition of our faith, reveals much about this profound mystery of suffering.  First, from a purely secular point of view, suffering is far from desirable.  In fact, it is typically avoided at all costs and seen as the greatest of tragedies.  However, from a Christian perspective, suffering itself has been transformed by Christ and made the greatest instrument of grace ever known.  It was through His intense suffering on the Cross that the salvation of the world came about.  And by freely embracing all suffering, He made it the means and source of all grace.  By so doing, Jesus also invites us to see our sufferings as an opportunity for grace.  By embracing it, uniting it to His Cross, and offering it to the Father, our suffering is also able to take on infinite value and become a channel of the Mercy of God.  Suffering, freely embraced by a Christian, must become a sign of one's closeness to Christ and a path to holiness (See Diary #774).Suffering can be very difficult and yet unavoidable most often in life.  Rather than run from it, reflect, today, upon the fact that God is able to use your suffering for good.  This is a mysterious calling and requires the greatest of faith and trust.  But when entered into, you will discover that the power of God overshadows and transforms even that which is most painful in life.Lord, help me to entrust to You all suffering.  Help me to have hope in You and to fix my gaze upon Your Cross during the most troubled times of life.  Use me Lord, and use my suffering as a source of my holiness and for the upbuilding of Your Church in holiness.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”  John 16:21–22Anguish in life is common.  In small ways, we will experience anguish each and every day.  And, from time to time, we will experience the very heavy pains of a particular anguish in our lives.  Does an experience of anguish mean you are not in God's grace?  Does it mean that God has left you?  Or does it mean that you are doing something wrong?  Certainly not.  In fact, all we have to do is look at the life of Jesus to see this is not the case.  He was in constant anguish throughout His earthly life as He continually entered more deeply into the mission of His Father.  Just prior to His public ministry He was in anguish for forty days in the desert.  Throughout His public ministry, He experienced the anguish and exhaustion of His earthly life.  He experienced the criticism of others, misunderstanding, ridicule, rejection, harsh treatment, and so much more.  In the end, we know His fate on the Cross.Our Blessed Mother had the “sword of sorrow” pierce her heart.  She was misunderstood and ridiculed from the beginning as a result of her mysterious pregnancy out of wedlock.  She carried a perfect love of her Son and anguished over His future as He grew.  She watched many love Him and others harass Him.  She watched His mockery of a trial and His Crucifixion.  But think of their lives now.  They now reign from Heaven as the glorious Queen of All Saints and the King of the Universe.  They live in glory now for eternity.  Their anguish has turned to perfect joy.Reflect, today, upon your own trials in life.  The Scripture passage above reveals the promise that God makes to those who endure them with faith.  If you feel as though you have been dealt an unfair hand or have been treated unfairly, you are in good company.  The key is to walk through this life with grace and dignity.  Do not let the trials of this life or its pains get you down.  Know that as you remain faithful walking down the path God has set for you, the end result is that you will rejoice!  This is simply a fact.  Hold on to that hope and keep your eyes on the finish line.  It's worth it in the end.My compassionate Lord, I surrender my anguish and burdens to You.  I unite them to Your Cross and trust that You will be there in all things walking with me through my life.  May I keep my eyes on the goal and rejoice in Your steadfast love.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Reflection 59: “Oh, Blood and Water…”After Jesus' death, one of the soldiers came to Him and was ordered to make certain He was dead. So that soldier pierced His precious body with a lance and immediately blood and water gushed forth from His wounded Heart. This has been prayerfully reflected upon throughout the ages and has been seen as a sign of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the fact that the Blood of the Holy Eucharist and the Water of Baptism spring forth directly from the ultimate sacrificial gift of Jesus' perfect sacrifice of the Cross (See Diary #187).Renew, today, your gratitude for these Sacraments of God's abundant Mercy. Ponder the fact that they were made possible only because Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life out of love for us. Let His sacrifice, this day, fill your own heart with gratitude and awe as you think about the price He willingly and freely paid so as to redeem us.Lord, Your love is seen clearly in the Sacrifice of Your Cross. You held nothing back from us as You poured out Your Mercy to the last drop on the Cross. Help me to see and understand this great mystery of sacrificial love. Fill me with gratitude for all that You have done and help me to imitate this total self-giving toward others. Oh blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a font of Mercy for us, I trust in YoSource of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”  Mark 8:34The first most fundamental question posed to us through this Scripture is this: Do you wish to come after Jesus?  Unless this question is answered first, the rest of what Jesus says will have no effect upon us.  So let's look at that question.Intellectually speaking, everyone reading this has most likely answered that question in the affirmative numerous times.  Each time you go to Mass, spend time praying, or read the Scriptures you are, in one way or another, saying, “Yes, I want to come after You, Lord.”  Most likely, we have all even said specific prayers by which we make the conscious choice to follow Christ.  But we should see much more than the need to simply make an intellectual choice in this passage.The phrase, “Whoever wishes” seems to reveal even more than a decision, it also reveals a desire.  It reveals that a desire to follow Christ is not usually the first step in the process, it's the last.  The first step is to come to an understanding of the truth and to profess it.  Secondly, we must will what we have chosen.  Thirdly, once grace begins to work on us to transform us, we begin to “wish” or “desire” all that Jesus wants of us and all that He calls us to embrace. So what will we find ourselves “wishing” if we are following Christ with our whole being?  We will find that we desire what Jesus reveals next; namely, we will desire to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.  Do you desire that?It's easy to desire to love and be loved, at least on a more superficial level.  Hopefully, we all enjoy kind and caring words, both giving them and receiving them.  But the true love of Christ, following His example of love, requires a desire for selfless and sacrificial love.  This is the perfection of love!  We are called, ultimately, to love without even considering the cost or the demands that Christian love places upon us.  Or, to take it even further, we are called to love even that which is painful and difficult when it is the will of God.  His will most certainly includes acts of sacrifice.  True love, ultimately, desires even this.Reflect, today, upon this most fundamental question.  Do you wish to come after Jesus and, therefore, are you ready and willing to embrace and even desire all that this entails?  You make the choice; God will place the desire in your heart.  Say “Yes” to Him and His Cross.  In the end, you will be eternally grateful you did.My sacrificial Lord, I want to desire Your Cross.  I want to come to a level of love through which I desire to give myself completely to You, without counting the cost, and even desiring those acts which require great sacrifice.  You embraced Your Cross without reserve out of love for us.  Help me to imitate Your perfect example.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Reflection 35: Perceiving the Passion of the LordDo you understand the Passion of our Lord? Do you perceive His sufferings in your soul? This may, at first, seem undesirable. But perceiving the sufferings and Passion of our Lord is a great grace. As we perceive His suffering we must then encounter it and embrace it as our own. We must live His sufferings. In doing so, we begin to discover that His suffering is nothing other than divine love and Mercy. And we find that the love in His soul which endured all sufferings enables us to endure all things in love. Love endures everything and conquers everything. Let this holy and purified love consume you so that you can endure, in love, whatever you encounter in life (See Diary #46).Gaze upon the crucifix this day. Gaze upon the perfect Sacrifice of Love. Gaze upon our God who willingly endured all things out of love for you. Ponder this great mystery of love in suffering and love in sacrifice. Understand it, accept it, love it and live it.Lord, Your Cross is the perfect example of sacrificial love. It's the purest and highest form of love ever known. Help me to understand this love and to accept it into my heart. And as I accept Your perfect Sacrifice of Love, help me to live that love in all that I do and in all that I am. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Reflection 26: Uniting Your Interior Cross With ChristAs you grow closer to God you will, at times, feel many things. Some will encounter feelings of rejection by God. God never rejects us but the interior feelings of rejection can be real. This leads some to despair. If you find yourself, now or in the future, struggling with despair, do not be afraid and do not give in. Let God come to you in that experience and be present to you as you suffer through it (See Diary #23).Continue to look deep within your heart this day. What do you see? If it is painful to look inside, then know that this pain is a pathway toward God. It may not make sense and it may be hard, but God the Father chose the path of the Cross for the Son. By embracing His Cross both exteriorly and interiorly, Jesus united all human nature to His Godhead. Let your suffering become a means of your holiness this day and a source of your unity with God.Lord, as I continue to look deep within at my heart, help me to see myself as You see me. Help me to sort out any pain and suffering I carry. And help me to freely unite that interior pain to Your Cross just as You did. In this act, help me to discover The Divine Mercy You won for the world. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Reflection 5: Redemption of the WorldThe Incarnation was the greatest act of Mercy ever known. The only subsequent act that surpassed it was the act of Jesus dying on the Cross destroying sin and death by His blood. The redemption of the world, through the blood of the Cross, is an act of love and Mercy that we will never fully comprehend. We could never be grateful enough for this act since we will never fully fathom the depth of this love.Spend time throughout this day pondering the crucifix. Hold it in your hand, look at it, imagine it and meditate on it. And then try and close your eyes from time to time pondering the full reality of the Crucifixion. This was not an easy sacrifice. It was especially difficult to receive such brutality and to say, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” This is Divine Mercy.Lord, help me to gaze deeply upon Your Cross and to discover, within that Cross, an ocean of pure Mercy. Wash me in this sacrificial love and help me to obtain eternal redemption. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain. We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. (From the Introit for the 20th Sunday after Trinity)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Let us pray: Lord God, Heavenly Father, You alone are worthy of our praise. You have made Your goodness known to Your Church, Your salvation is proclaimed among us, and we are to be seen as Your great and mighty city. Upon Your mountain the joy of all the earth is to be found. This mountain is known as Calvary and upon it can be found the Cross of Your Son. Upon this Cross You have established Your Church. And because of this Cross You have given to us a fortress that cannot be shaken.All the kings of the earth can rise against You. They can assemble their troops and ready their forces, but nothing can defeat Your Cross, and so nothing can defeat Your Church. Not even the gates of hell will prevail against Her. Your promise is that all Your enemies have been defeated in Christ. They may shout and shake their fists, but they will not be victorious. Soon they will all flee in terror, shriek at the coming of the Holy One who has defeated them. Within the confines of your Church may we dwell in safety, knowing that our enemies have no power over us.May Your steadfast love for Your people abound in Christ. Let us rejoice in Your salvation that You have won for us, that You give to us daily in the Gifts given here within the walls of Your Church. And may this Word of salvation reach out to the ends of the earth. May the Word of the Cross be spoken into the ears of our enemies. May those who are at enmity with You be brought to repentance and know that Jesus is for them.May this be the Church's prayer and may this be our cry of joy: That salvation is ours, but not ours alone. It is for all. You seek not the death of the sinner, but that all would come to the knowledge of the Truth. Let us live our lives within the safety of Your Church. May we know that She will not fall, that She will last forever and ever, that our children and our children's children will receive the same Christ as we receive!Guide us in the ways of your Son, O Lord, that our confidence may never be shaken. Amen. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O, then, draw away your hearts From all pleasures base and hollow; Strive to share what He impartsWhile you hear His footsteps follow. As you now still wait to rise, Fix your hearts beyond the skies!("Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense"  LSB 741, st.8)Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Duane Bamsch

“But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Mark 10:6–9Those three words, “From the beginning,” are key words for our day and age.  It is important for people of faith to recognize not only the supernatural gifts God has given us but also the natural gifts.  The supernatural gifts are all those gifts given us by the Cross of Christ.  His life, death and Resurrection poured forth upon us grace from Heaven and made holiness, salvation and Heaven possible.  But there is a whole other order of “gift” that God gave us that we often take for granted.  That's the gift of nature.Creation itself, the order of the Universe, our humanity and the natural design of God are all gifts.  Science can do much to discover the secrets and mysteries of the natural world, but ultimately a full understanding of even the natural world is mysterious, deep and awe-inspiring.One aspect of the natural world God gave us is our sexuality.  “God made them male and female…”  This natural design is part of the glorious wisdom of the Creator and must be understood, loved and respected fully.  Being “male and female” is something that is quite obvious and naturally understood.  Within each person are certain attributes, desires, tendencies, etc., that go hand in hand with being either male or female.  In many ways, the uniqueness and complementarity of the sexes have been challenged and even disregarded at times, especially in our day and age.  But deep down we all understand that being male or female is part of who we are.  It makes up our very identity as a person and brings with it many blessings.  Femininity and masculinity, at times, also can become distorted and confused.  But in essence, these attributes of our personhood cannot be discarded or denied.  In fact, embracing who we are in our nature is nothing more than being honest and enables us to continue down the road of true natural integrity.Reflect, today, upon the many ways that being “male and female” are natural blessings from God.  Reflect, also, upon the ways that these natural gifts are challenged and undermined in our world today.  Embrace who you are, embrace who God made you to be, and let that natural gift from God flourish in your life.Lord, I thank You for Your countless gifts.  Thank You for the gift of grace won by Your Cross, and thank You also for the gift of nature and for the way You made me.  Help me to embrace my full identity in accord with Your design and, in that embrace, help me to continue to discover my very dignity.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Your Cross, Not Theirs”September 12, 2021Sixteenth Sunday after PentecostScripture: Mark 8:27-38 (NRSV) A video recording of today's service is available on Facebook.An online bulletin with readings and responses is available to download. Zion Lutheran Church of Lake Crystal, MN (ELCA) www.zionluthlakecrystal.org

Jesus began to teach the Apostles that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Mark 8:31–33This was most likely not the reply that Peter was expecting from Jesus.  Peter was struggling with fear as Jesus explained that He would be entering into much suffering and death at the hands of the religious leaders of the time.  Peter loved Jesus and was fearful and anxious about the thought of his Master suffering and being killed.  So Peter, motivated by fear and confusion, tried to “talk some sense” into Jesus.The result?  Peter was rebuked in the presence of the other Apostles by Jesus.  Jesus went so far as to say, “Get behind me, Satan.”  That must have hurt.To understand this properly, we must start with the obvious conclusion that Jesus' words were words of great love.  Jesus is not capable of anything other than love.  Therefore, we must seek to understand how these strong words from Jesus were loving and holy.The key to understanding this is the second thing Jesus said.  “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Jesus had just revealed to the Apostles the deepest mystery of His life's mission.  Namely, He just revealed that His mission was to accept unjust persecution and death at the hands of the religious leaders.  But in revealing this, it is also clear that He intended to bring good out of this suffering.  He would not have allowed this suffering if it were not for some greater good.  The hard part is that, in order to understand this great mystery of suffering, one needs a deep faith.  The Apostles were being challenged to see this situation from the divine perspective.  Peter was having a hard time doing so, and that is why Jesus had to challenge him so directly.Jesus' rebuke was a rebuke of love, helping Peter break free of his fear and limited vision so as to enter into this profound mystery of Jesus' loving sacrifice.  Reflect, today, upon your own struggle with the Cross of Christ.  His sufferings continue to be made present in our world through the love and sacrifices of His sons and daughters.  When Christians suffer on account of their faith, we must see this from the eyes of God, not the eyes of men.  We must see the divine blessings that accompany such sufferings and we must accept them in accord with the great mystery of God's plan.Lord, I too lack the necessary faith to see the blessings that accompany Your Cross, as well as the many crosses I am given in life.  Help me to be purified in my faith so that I can see Your hand at work in all things, even suffering, injustice and persecution.  May I see life from Your perspective alone.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

His raspy blues voice defined Guardian's distinct sound for over a decade. In our season premier, Jamie Rowe sat down with us to talk about his faith, career and what he's up to these days. In this episode, we learn the stories behind some of Guardian's most popular songs and how John Elefante and Steve Taylor helped to make them such a huge success in the Chritian metal world.Music in this Episode:"Eye of the Storm" - Tempest (Star Song)"Fire and Love" - Guardian (Word)"I Found Love"- Guardian (Pakaderm/Pakaderm)"Take of Your Cross" - Guardian (Pakaderm)"One Thing Left To Do" - Guardian (Myrrh)"Jesus is the Way" - Jamie Rowe (Jamie Rowe Creative)"The Rain" - Guardian (Word/Pakaderm)This podcast is licensed through BMI. Music Used by permission.To support this podcast, please visit our Patreon page!

Imagine what it would be like if you could somehow be mystically transported to the night of Holy Thursday. And imagine if you could somehow see and experience everything that Jesus went through. Imagine the Agony in the Garden, the ridicule and harsh treatment, the mockery, the night alone in prison, the trial, the scourging, the carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion. This would be too much to bear. To face Jesus and all His interior and exterior sufferings would be overwhelming. But, if you could do it, and face every experience that He had, it would change your life. The sufferings of Christ should not be ignored. They should not be turned away from and they should not be shunned. His Passion must be faced, understood, loved and lived by each one of us. When we do this we will be changed forever (See Diary #1054).Try to spend time today letting yourself be drawn in, deeply, to the mysterious and profound sufferings of Jesus. Let the Lord reveal to you a taste of what He endured. Facing His sufferings is not only facing a great evil; rather, it's facing love in its purest form. To face the Cross and all that it encompassed is to face the greatest act of love ever known, revealed through the greatest scandal ever experienced. God is astonishing to us, in a holy way, when we discover His love in His suffering. Ponder it today, let it sit in your heart, seek to understand the mystery and allow God to transform you through it.Lord, please give me the grace to turn toward You on the throne of Your Cross and to gaze upon You now and for all eternity. Help me to discover Love in its most pure form as I fix my eyes on You and all that You endured. My Suffering Lord Jesus, I love You and I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37–38At first read, this appears to be a difficult teaching of our Lord. But when properly understood, it is clear that it helps us keep our relationships with God and with our family properly ordered in charity and truth. Following this command will never result in a lack of love for family; rather, it will help us to love solely with the heart of Christ.What does this teaching of Jesus require of us? Simply put, if a family member, or anyone else, imposes expectations on us that are contrary to the will of God, then we must choose the will of God over those other expectations. To understand this more clearly, think about how one might choose to love “father or mother” or “son or daughter” more than God. Say, for example, that a child chooses to go astray in their moral or faith life, and they want their parents to support them in their sin. But the parents remain firm in their moral convictions and, out of love, offer no support for the immoral lifestyle their child has chosen. This would become especially difficult for the parents if the child becomes angry and criticizes the parents, with the claim that the parents are being judgmental and are lacking in love. What the child is actually requesting is “Mom and dad, you must love me more than God and His laws.” And if the parents do not support their child's misguided lifestyle, the relationship may be deeply wounded. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Jesus followed this command by saying, “and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Love always involves the Cross. At times, it is a cross of personal self-sacrifice and self-giving. And at other times, it's a cross by which our love is misunderstood, and we are deemed as “unloving” by those we actually love the most. When parents truly love their child, they will care first and foremost for their child's eternal salvation and moral living, and they will not choose “friendship” with their child over truth.Of course this same truth applies to every relationship we will have and even to our “relationship” to society as a whole. More and more, there are those who demand of us all that we support them in behaviors that are objectively disordered and contrary to the will of God. We are told that if we oppose these choices that some make, then we are judgmental and hateful. But this is exactly what Jesus is speaking about. If we choose to “love” others more than God and His holy will, meaning, if our first priority is to make people “feel” supported in the immoral and confused decisions they make, then we are not actually loving them at all. At least not with the love of God. Instead, we are prioritizing their sin over the truth they so deeply need to know so as to be set free and to enter into an authentic relationship of love with the God of Truth.Reflect, today, upon true love. Love is only true love when it is grounded and centered in God and every moral law He has set forth. Reflect upon your own relationships, especially with family and those closest to you. Do you love them with the pure love of God? Does your love remain firmly rooted in the will of God? Or do you, at times, choose to compromise the truths of faith and morality so as to appease the misguided expectations of others. Kindness, gentleness and compassion must always be present. But moral truth must also be just as present and must be the foundation of every virtue we exercise in our relationships with everyone. Do not be afraid to love others exclusively with the mind and heart of God. Doing so is the only way to have true love for everyone in your life so as to help save their souls.Lord of All, You call all people to love You with all of their mind, heart, soul and strength. You call us all to adhere to every truth that You have spoken. Give me the courage and love I need to not only love You above all but to also love others with Your love alone. Help me to embrace Your Cross when this is difficult so that I will be a better instrument of the love You have for all. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

It's easy to “love” God when all is well. But when all is well, our love is not tested. The testing that comes from human suffering clarifies our love of God. This can be very fruitful for our spiritual lives. It's easy to believe that difficulties in life are nothing other than sad and unfortunate burdens and should be avoided at all costs. Though we would be foolish to create difficulties intentionally, we will each have our share of them in this life. Therefore, every difficulty and suffering in life must be embraced as an opportunity for you to increase your trust in God and, in so doing, to increase your love of Him. How blessed is the soul who suffers greatly in this life while choosing to love God throughout, making that suffering the source of its increase in holiness (See Diary #1014).What do you complain about each day? What is it that burdens you? Too often we run from these burdens or get angry. Try to look at your struggles in a new light. Try to see them as opportunities to deepen your trust and your love. Every suffering and every burden in life has the potential of being infused with the spiritual power of the Cross. By embracing them in love, we embrace the Cross. And by embracing the Cross, we love God all the more. Do not think that hardships deal you a poor quality of life. Recognize them for what they are as a result of grace. They are opportunities for holiness and for an increase in the reception of the Mercy of God.Lord, when I get down, angry or despairing in life, on account of the difficulties I endure, help me to use that struggle as an opportunity for greater trust. Lord, I desire to run to the Cross and to receive the love that poured forth from Your Cross so that I may become more like You in all things. Increase my love, dear Lord, especially through every suffering in life that I surrender to You. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Brother Paul Mills brings an Independence Day message about "Your Cross"

Brother Paul Mills brings an Independence Day message about "Your Cross"

Human suffering is one of the greatest mysteries of life. The Diary of Saint Faustina, as well as the whole spiritual tradition of our faith, reveals much about this profound mystery of suffering. First, from a purely secular point of view, suffering is far from desirable. In fact, it is typically avoided at all costs and seen as the greatest of tragedies. However, from a Christian perspective, suffering itself has been transformed by Christ and made the greatest instrument of grace ever known. It was through His intense suffering on the Cross that the salvation of the world came about. And by freely embracing all suffering, He made it the means and source of all grace. By so doing, Jesus also invites us to see our sufferings as an opportunity for grace. By embracing it, uniting it to His Cross, and offering it to the Father, our suffering is also able to take on infinite value and become a channel of the Mercy of God. Suffering, freely embraced by a Christian, must become a sign of one's closeness to Christ and a path to holiness (See Diary #774).Suffering can be very difficult and yet unavoidable most often in life. Rather than run from it, reflect, today, upon the fact that God is able to use your suffering for good. This is a mysterious calling and requires the greatest of faith and trust. But when entered into, you will discover that the power of God overshadows and transforms even that which is most painful in life.Lord, help me to entrust to You all suffering. Help me to have hope in You and to fix my gaze upon Your Cross during the most troubled times of life. Use me Lord, and use my suffering as a source of my holiness and for the upbuilding of Your Church in holiness. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21:18–19On this, the third time that Jesus appeared to His disciples, Jesus enters into a threefold discourse with Peter. Each time that Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him, Peter responds that he does. And Jesus responds back each time, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep.” The passage quoted above concludes Jesus’ discourse with Peter using very powerful language. Jesus tells Peter that when he grows old, “someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” This was Jesus' way of saying to Peter that he would ultimately express his love of Jesus by dying for Him. As we know, tradition states that Peter was ultimately crucified. And at Peter’s request, he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy of dying in the exact same way Jesus died.As we consider this conversation between Jesus and Peter, it is clear that Jesus' understanding of love is very different from the way many others understand it today. Jesus was not only telling Peter that he would die for Jesus, but Jesus was clearly offering His approval of this act of love Peter would one day offer. Most often when we love someone, we would do all we can to keep them from any such fate. In fact, when a loved one suffers, we often will do all we can to look for a way to relieve them of that suffering. So which approach is most loving?Clearly, Jesus sees suffering differently than most of us. For Jesus, suffering is not opposed to love when the suffering is freely embraced for a higher purpose. Suffering in and of itself is of no value. But when suffering is embraced sacrificially out of love for another, it is able to take on tremendous power. And when Jesus offered His clear support to Peter who would one day die out of love for Jesus, Jesus was focusing upon the eternal merit that would be won by Peter’s cross. The fact that Jesus did not shy away from Peter’s future sacrificial suffering is one of the clearest signs of Jesus’ more perfect love for Peter.Reflect, today, upon your attitude toward the sufferings that your loved ones endure. Do you find that your primary goal is to rid them of their sufferings? Or do you understand that even their sufferings have the potential to become a source of their own holiness and the source of grace for others? Strive to see suffering as Jesus sees it. Look at the sacrificial love that is made possible when your loved ones unite their sufferings to the Cross of Christ and try to commit yourself to the mission of helping them embrace that sacred gift of love.My most compassionate Jesus, in Your great love for us all, You desire that we unite our sufferings to Your Cross so that all suffering shares in Your redemptive love. Give me the grace I need to not only embrace my own sufferings in life out of love for You but to also help those whom I love to live sacrificially by embracing the crosses they carry out of love. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

The post Your Cross to Bear – Mark 8:34 – April 21 2021 appeared first on Enduring Word.

Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:    “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!    Hosanna in the highest!” Mark 11:9–10As Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of the first Holy Week, He was welcomed with much enthusiasm, and He accepted the love and devotion of those who welcomed Him. He was their King. He was the Messiah, and the welcome they gave to Him was but a pale gift of the true adoration He deserved. And though Jesus entered Jerusalem with this glorious welcome, less than a week later He would leave Jerusalem with a heavy cross on His shoulders, carrying it outside the city walls to die.When we contrast the entry of Jesus on Palm Sunday with His arrest, abuse, mock trial, carrying of the cross and death, these two extremes do appear to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum. There is rejoicing and praise as He enters, and sorrow and shock as He leaves. But are these two events all that different from a divine perspective? From the perspective of the Father in Heaven, the end of the week is nothing other than the ultimate culmination of the full glory of His Son.Today we read the long and beautiful account of the Passion of Jesus as told in Mark’s Gospel. But on Friday we will read the account of John’s Gospel. Mark’s Gospel tells the story in clear detail, but John’s Gospel will most notably add the spiritual insight that Jesus’ crucifixion and death is nothing other than His hour of glory. We will see His Cross as His new throne of grace, and the earthly glory Jesus receives today as He enters Jerusalem will be fully realized from a divine perspective as He mounts His Throne of the Cross to take up His eternal Kingship.As we enter into the holiest week of the year, it is essential that each of us see the journey of Christ this week as our own calling in life. We must journey toward the glory of the Cross with our Lord. From a worldly perspective, the Cross does not make sense. But from the perspective of the Father in Heaven, the Cross is not only the source of the greatest glory of His Son, but it is also the path by which we share in that glory. We must die with Him, sacrifice all for Him, choose to follow Him, and hold nothing back in our resolve to lay down our lives out of love.Reflect, today, upon the events you will commemorate this week. Commit yourself to share in them, not just as an intellectual remembrance but as a living participation. How is God calling You to step forward in a sacrificial way out of love? How is God calling you to courageously embrace your calling to give your life away? Strive to see this week from the perspective of the Father in Heaven and pray that you will also see the ways in which the Father is calling you to imitate His Son. Let us go and die with Him, for it is in the Cross of Christ that we will discover His eternal glory.My glorious King, You are worthy of all praise and adoration. Hosanna to You, hosanna in the highest! Draw me into Your glorious passion, dear Lord, and help me to see the glory of Your Cross. As I see its glory, give me the grace I need to share more fully in Your life of transforming sacrificial love. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

After Jesus’ death, one of the soldiers came to Him and was ordered to make certain He was dead. So that soldier pierced His precious body with a lance and immediately blood and water gushed forth from His wounded Heart. This has been prayerfully reflected upon throughout the ages and has been seen as a sign of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the fact that the Blood of the Holy Eucharist and the Water of Baptism spring forth directly from the ultimate sacrificial gift of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of the Cross (See Diary #187).Renew, today, your gratitude for these Sacraments of God’s abundant Mercy. Ponder the fact that they were made possible only because Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life out of love for us. Let His sacrifice, this day, fill your own heart with gratitude and awe as you think about the price He willingly and freely paid so as to redeem us.Lord, Your love is seen clearly in the Sacrifice of Your Cross. You held nothing back from us as You poured out Your Mercy to the last drop on the Cross. Help me to see and understand this great mystery of sacrificial love. Fill me with gratitude for all that You have done and help me to imitate this total self-giving toward others. Oh blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a font of Mercy for us, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Judah and Tamar, Feeding 4,000 / The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod / Healing a Blind Man / Peter's Confession of the Messiah / His Death and Resurrection Predicted / Take up Your Cross, First Series of Speeches Eliphaz Speaks, The Life Giving Spirit / The Holy Spirits Ministries / From Groans to Glory / The Believers Triumph

Do you understand the Passion of our Lord? Do you perceive His sufferings in your soul? This may, at first, seem undesirable. But perceiving the sufferings and Passion of our Lord is a great grace. As we perceive His suffering we must then encounter it and embrace it as our own. We must live His sufferings. In doing so, we begin to discover that His suffering is nothing other than divine love and Mercy. And we find that the love in His soul which endured all sufferings enables us to endure all things in love. Love endures everything and conquers everything. Let this holy and purified love consume you so that you can endure, in love, whatever you encounter in life (See Diary #46).Gaze upon the crucifix this day. Gaze upon the perfect Sacrifice of Love. Gaze upon our God who willingly endured all things out of love for you. Ponder this great mystery of love in suffering and love in sacrifice. Understand it, accept it, love it and live it.Lord, Your Cross is the perfect example of sacrificial love. It’s the purest and highest form of love ever known. Help me to understand this love and to accept it into my heart. And as I accept Your perfect Sacrifice of Love, help me to live that love in all that I do and in all that I am. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

PRAYER FOCUS: ARE YOU PREPARED FOR GOD’S PASSOVER OF AMERICA? Listen to the Prayer Audio: Heavenly Father, Let Your Holy Fire burn within our hearts to move us and inspire us to move forward in this Battle to save America! We will not stop in our defense of Your Kingdom and we know that as we win in the spirit we will see Your Might Hand manifest in all that is to happen in these days! Father, we are here to remain faithful in standing firm in the the prophetic word You have spoken through these righteous men and women who listen with their heart to all that You reveal. As Your prophet Amos has spoken You always reveal to Your prophets what You plan to do. Father we are here listening to Your Heart so speak to us today and manifest Your Presence so that the demons shake and those who are in darkness will be in confusion and chaos for when we say the Name of Jesus they tremble and cower from the scene. Lord we proclaim it all the louder Jesus is Lord and His Blood washes America clean from the lies and deceit of those who are in rebellion against You! Father, in this hour we speak Your Word the gates of hell will not prevail and no weapon formed against will prosper! Father with the authority of Jesus we proclaim that all of these lies and those who have cheated and been a part of taking over will be brought to Justice and all that they are attempting to do now will come to naught. Lord, You know that President Trump is still the one America voted for and no one can keep that truth from being exposed and those who live the lie and say it is true will soon choke on their words and will see their shame exposed as the Hammer of Justice falls. Our nation is a nation that chose to re-elect President Trump and those who have taken over are not uniting us or covering us with protection, but are in the process of destroying everything that has been started to make us free and to again be a nation that is under Your rule. Lord let the truth be revealed and raise up the men and women who will overturn that which is a lie be courageous and bold in all that they are called to do in this hour. We know Lord, it is not over and Your Will be done in us and through us as we follow Your Word and pray for the manifestation of Your Glory in this day. This the day You have made so we are glad and rejoice in it for we know that Your Will be done here on earth as it is in heaven! Father, we hunger for a movement of Your Spirit in our land that will manifest Your Glory and we will see millions running to Your Cross looking for the Truth and wanting to be a part of Your Kingdom now and for all eternity! Lord, America has voted for life and has chosen to follow Your anointed it is time now to make it manifest and that those who lied and cheated be brought to their knees before the tribunals You have told us will happen. We know that it is time for corrupt to be arrested and face the criminal acts they have committed. Release Your Holy Fire now! Manifest Your Glory as You Passover America from captivity into true freedom. For whom the Son sets free is free indeed! And we pray with the Psalmist: You Lord are our Rock, our fortress and deliverer, my God, my Rock in whom we trust for You are our Shield, the Lord in whom we are saved from all our enemies! You have heard our cry to deliver us from our enemies! Let it be now Lord for we place our trust in You! Amen and it is so! Search Strike Force of Prayer Search for: Categories Action (7) Election (48) Elections (4) Event (2) How to Pray (14) links (15) Mark Taylor (71) National Alert (4) Opportunities with the Divine (5) Prayer Request (54) Prayers (390) Prophetic Alert (3) Testimony (27) Uncategorized (2) Website Updates (4) Archives February 2021 (1) January 2021 (13) December 2020 (8) November 2020 (7)

As you grow closer to God you will, at times, feel many things. Some will encounter feelings of rejection by God. God never rejects us but the interior feelings of rejection can be real. This leads some to despair. If you find yourself, now or in the future, struggling with despair, do not be afraid and do not give in. Let God come to you in that experience and be present to you as you suffer through it (See Diary #23).Continue to look deep within your heart this day. What do you see? If it is painful to look inside, then know that this pain is a pathway toward God. It may not make sense and it may be hard, but God the Father chose the path of the Cross for the Son. By embracing His Cross both exteriorly and interiorly, Jesus united all human nature to His Godhead. Let your suffering become a means of your holiness this day and a source of your unity with God.Lord, as I continue to look deep within at my heart, help me to see myself as You see me. Help me to sort out any pain and suffering I carry. And help me to freely unite that interior pain to Your Cross just as You did. In this act, help me to discover The Divine Mercy You won for the world. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Mark 1:32–34Today we read that Jesus once again “drove out many demons...” The passage then adds, “...not permitting them to speak because they knew him.” Why would Jesus not permit these demons to speak? Many of the early Church fathers explain that even though the demons had an understanding that Jesus was the promised Messiah, they did not understand fully what that meant and how He would accomplish His ultimate victory. Therefore, Jesus did not want them to speak only half-truths about Him, as the evil one often does, thus misleading the people. So Jesus always forbade these demons from speaking about Him publicly.It’s important to understand that all of the demonic spirits failed to understand the full truth that it would be Jesus’ death that ultimately destroys death itself and sets all people free. For that reason, we see that these diabolical forces continually conspired against Jesus and tried to attack Him throughout His life. They stirred up Herod when Jesus was a baby, which forced Him into exile in Egypt. Satan himself tempted Jesus just prior to the beginning of His public ministry so as to try to dissuade Jesus from His mission. There were many diabolical forces who continually attacked Jesus throughout His public ministry, especially through the ongoing hostility of the religious leaders at the time. And it can be presumed that these demons may have initially thought they won the battle when they accomplished their goal of having Jesus crucified. The truth, however, is that Jesus’ wisdom continually confounded these demons and ultimately transformed their evil act of having Him crucified into an ultimate victory over sin and death itself by rising from the dead. Satan and his demons are real, but compared to the truth and wisdom of God, these diabolical forces reveal their complete foolishness and weakness. Just like Jesus, we need to rebuke these tempters in our lives and command that they be silent. Too often we allow their half truths to mislead us and confuse us.Reflect, today, upon the importance of confidently rebuking the evil one and the many lies he tempts us to believe. Rebuke him with the truth and authority of Christ and pay no attention to what he says.My precious and all-powerful Lord, I turn to You and You alone as the source of all Truth and the fullness of Truth. May I listen to Your voice alone and reject the many deceptions of the evil one and his demons. In Your precious name, Jesus, I rebuke satan and all evil spirits, their lies and their temptations. I send these spirits to the foot of Your Cross, dear Lord, and open my mind and heart only to You. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

The Incarnation was the greatest act of Mercy ever known. The only subsequent act that surpassed it was the act of Jesus dying on the Cross destroying sin and death by His blood. The redemption of the world, through the blood of the Cross, is an act of love and Mercy that we will never fully comprehend. We could never be grateful enough for this act since we will never fully fathom the depth of this love.Spend time throughout this day pondering the crucifix. Hold it in your hand, look at it, imagine it and meditate on it. And then try and close your eyes from time to time pondering the full reality of the Crucifixion. This was not an easy sacrifice. It was especially difficult to receive such brutality and to say, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” This is Divine Mercy.Lord, help me to gaze deeply upon Your Cross and to discover, within that Cross, an ocean of pure Mercy. Wash me in this sacrificial love and help me to obtain eternal redemption. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.  Luke 9:44-45So why was the meaning of this “hidden from them?”  Interesting.  Here Jesus tells them to “pay attention to what I am telling you.”  And then begins to explain He will suffer and die.  But they did not get it.  They did not understand what He meant and “they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.”The truth is that Jesus was not offended by their lack of understanding.  He realized that they would not immediately understand.  But this did not stop Him from telling them anyway.  Why?  Because He knew that they would come to understand in time.  But, at first, the Apostles just listened in a bit of confusion.When did the Apostles come to understand?  They understood once the Holy Spirit descended upon them leading them into all Truth.  It took the workings of the Holy Spirit to understand such deep mysteries.The same is true with us.  When we face the mystery of Jesus’ sufferings, and when we face the reality of suffering in our own lives or the lives of those we love, we can often be confused at first.  It takes a gift from the Holy Spirit to open our minds to understand.  Suffering is most often inevitable.  We all endure it.  And if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, suffering will lead us to confusion and despair.  But if we allow the Holy Spirit to open our minds, we will begin to understand how God can work in us through our sufferings just as He brought salvation to the world through the sufferings of Christ.Reflect, today, upon how well you understand both Jesus’ sufferings and your own.  Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the meaning and even the value of suffering?  Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit asking for this grace and let God lead you into this profound mystery of our faith.Lord, I know You suffered and died for my salvation.  I know that my own suffering can take on new meaning in Your Cross.  Help me to more fully see and understand this great mystery and to find even greater value in Your Cross as well as mine.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Imagine what it would be like if you could somehow be mystically transported to the night of Holy Thursday.  And imagine if you could somehow see and experience everything that Jesus went through.  Imagine the Agony in the Garden, the ridicule and harsh treatment, the mockery, the night alone in prison, the trial, the scourging, the carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion.  This would be too much to bear.  To face Jesus and all His interior and exterior sufferings would be overwhelming.  But, if you could do it, and face every experience that He had, it would change your life.  The sufferings of Christ should not be ignored.  They should not be turned away from and they should not be shunned.  His Passion must be faced, understood, loved and lived by each one of us.  When we do this we will be changed forever (See Diary #1054).Try to spend time today letting yourself be drawn in, deeply, to the mysterious and profound sufferings of Jesus.  Let the Lord reveal to you a taste of what He endured.  Facing His sufferings is not only facing a great evil; rather, it’s facing love in its purest form.  To face the Cross and all that it encompassed is to face the greatest act of love ever known, revealed through the greatest scandal ever experienced.  God is astonishing to us, in a holy way, when we discover His love in His suffering.  Ponder it today, let it sit in your heart, seek to understand the mystery and allow God to transform you through it.Lord, please give me the grace to turn toward You on the throne of Your Cross and to gaze upon You now and for all eternity.  Help me to discover Love in its most pure form as I fix my eyes on You and all that You endured.  My Suffering Lord Jesus, I love You and I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

It’s easy to “love” God when all is well.  But when all is well, our love is not tested.  The testing that comes from human suffering clarifies our love of God.  This can be very fruitful for our spiritual lives.  It’s easy to believe that difficulties in life are nothing other than sad and unfortunate burdens and should be avoided at all costs.  Though we would be foolish to create difficulties intentionally, we will each have our share of them in this life.  Therefore, every difficulty and suffering in life must be embraced as an opportunity for you to increase your trust in God and, in so doing, to increase your love of Him.   How blessed is the soul who suffers greatly in this life while choosing to love God throughout, making that suffering the source of its increase in holiness (See Diary #1014).What do you complain about each day?  What is it that burdens you?  Too often we run from these burdens or get angry.  Try to look at your struggles in a new light.  Try to see them as opportunities to deepen your trust and your love.  Every suffering and every burden in life has the potential of being infused with the spiritual power of the Cross.  By embracing them in love, we embrace the Cross.  And by embracing the Cross, we love God all the more.  Do not think that hardships deal you a poor quality of life.  Recognize them for what they are as a result of grace.  They are opportunities for holiness and for an increase in the reception of the Mercy of God.Lord, when I get down, angry or despairing in life, on account of the difficulties I endure, help me to use that struggle as an opportunity for greater trust.  Lord, I desire to run to the Cross and to receive the love that poured forth from Your Cross so that I may become more like You in all things.  Increase my love, dear Lord, especially through every suffering in life that I surrender to You.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Human suffering is one of the greatest mysteries of life.  The Diary of Saint Faustina, as well as the whole spiritual tradition of our faith, reveals much about this profound mystery of suffering.  First, from a purely secular point of view, suffering is far from desirable.  In fact, it is typically avoided at all costs and seen as the greatest of tragedies.  However, from a Christian perspective, suffering itself has been transformed by Christ and made the greatest instrument of grace ever known.  It was through His intense suffering on the Cross that the salvation of the world came about.  And by freely embracing all suffering, He made it the means and source of all grace.  By so doing, Jesus also invites us to see our sufferings as an opportunity for grace.  By embracing it, uniting it to His Cross, and offering it to the Father, our suffering is also able to take on infinite value and become a channel of the Mercy of God.  Suffering, freely embraced by a Christian, must become a sign of one’s closeness to Christ and a path to holiness (See Diary #774).Suffering can be very difficult and yet unavoidable most often in life.  Rather than run from it, reflect, today, upon the fact that God is able to use your suffering for good.  This is a mysterious calling and requires the greatest of faith and trust.  But when entered into, you will discover that the power of God overshadows and transforms even that which is most painful in life.Lord, help me to entrust to You all suffering.  Help me to have hope in You and to fix my gaze upon Your Cross during the most troubled times of life.  Use me Lord, and use my suffering as a source of my holiness and for the upbuilding of Your Church in holiness.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: www.divinemercy.lifeCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”  John 16:21–22Anguish in life is common.  In small ways, we will experience anguish each and every day.  And, from time to time, we will experience the very heavy pains of a particular anguish in our lives.  Does an experience of anguish mean you are not in God’s grace?  Does it mean that God has left you?  Or does it mean that you are doing something wrong?  Certainly not.  In fact, all we have to do is look at the life of Jesus to see this is not the case.  He was in constant anguish throughout His earthly life as He continually entered more deeply into the mission of His Father.  Just prior to His public ministry He was in anguish for forty days in the desert.  Throughout His public ministry, He experienced the anguish and exhaustion of His earthly life.  He experienced the criticism of others, misunderstanding, ridicule, rejection, harsh treatment, and so much more.  In the end, we know His fate on the Cross.Our Blessed Mother had the “sword of sorrow” pierce her heart.  She was misunderstood and ridiculed from the beginning as a result of her mysterious pregnancy out of wedlock.  She carried a perfect love of her Son and anguished over His future as He grew.  She watched many love Him and others harass Him.  She watched His mockery of a trial and His Crucifixion.  But think of their lives now.  They now reign from Heaven as the glorious Queen of All Saints and the King of the Universe.  They live in glory now for eternity.  Their anguish has turned to perfect joy.Reflect, today, upon your own trials in life.  The Scripture passage above reveals the promise that God makes to those who endure them with faith.  If you feel as though you have been dealt an unfair hand or have been treated unfairly, you are in good company.  The key is to walk through this life with grace and dignity.  Do not let the trials of this life or its pains get you down.  Know that as you remain faithful walking down the path God has set for you, the end result is that you will rejoice!  This is simply a fact.  Hold on to that hope and keep your eyes on the finish line.  It’s worth it in the end.Lord, I surrender my anguish and burdens to You.  I unite them to Your Cross and trust that You will be there in all things walking with me through my life.  May I keep my eyes on the goal and rejoice in Your steadfast love.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“God is Bigger – Take up Your Cross” from StonePoint Church by Pastor Todd Cox. Released: 2020. The post God is Bigger – Take up Your Cross appeared first on StonePoint Church.

After Jesus’ death, one of the soldiers came to Him and was ordered to make certain He was dead.  So that soldier pierced His precious body with a lance and immediately blood and water gushed forth from His wounded Heart.  This has been prayerfully reflected upon throughout the ages and has been seen as a sign of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the fact that the Blood of the Holy Eucharist and the Water of Baptism spring forth directly from the ultimate sacrificial gift of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of the Cross (See Diary #187).Renew, today, your gratitude for these Sacraments of God’s abundant Mercy.  Ponder the fact that they were made possible only because Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life out of love for us.  Let His sacrifice, this day, fill your own heart with gratitude and awe as you think about the price He willingly and freely paid so as to redeem us.Lord, Your love is seen clearly in the Sacrifice of Your Cross.  You held nothing back from us as You poured out Your Mercy to the last drop on the Cross.  Help me to see and understand this great mystery of sacrificial love.  Fill me with gratitude for all that You have done and help me to imitate this total self-giving toward others.  Oh blood and water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a font of Mercy for us, I trust in You.

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”  Mark 8:34The first most fundamental question posed to us through this Scripture is this: Do you wish to come after Jesus?  Unless this question is answered first, the rest of what Jesus says will have no effect upon us.  So let’s look at that question.Intellectually speaking, everyone reading this has most likely answered that question in the affirmative numerous times.  Each time you go to Mass, spend time praying, or read the Scriptures you are, in one way or another, saying, “Yes, I want to come after You, Lord.”  Most likely, we have all even said specific prayers by which we make the conscious choice to follow Christ.  But we should see much more than the need to simply make an intellectual choice in this passage.The phrase, “Whoever wishes” seems to reveal even more than a decision, it also reveals a desire.  It reveals that a desire to follow Christ is not usually the first step in the process, it’s the last.  The first step is to come to an understanding of the truth and to profess it.  Secondly, we must will what we have chosen.  Thirdly, once grace begins to work on us to transform us, we begin to “wish” or “desire” all that Jesus wants of us and all that He calls us to embrace. So what will we find ourselves “wishing” if we are following Christ with our whole being?  We will find that we desire what Jesus reveals next; namely, we will desire to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.  Do you desire that?It’s easy to desire to love and be loved, at least on a more superficial level.  Hopefully, we all enjoy kind and caring words, both giving them and receiving them.  But the true love of Christ, following His example of love, requires a desire for selfless and sacrificial love.  This is the perfection of love!  We are called, ultimately, to love without even considering the cost or the demands that Christian love places upon us.  Or, to take it even further, we are called to love even that which is painful and difficult when it is the will of God.  His will most certainly includes acts of sacrifice.  True love, ultimately, desires even this.Reflect, today, upon this most fundamental question.  Do you wish to come after Jesus and, therefore, are you ready and willing to embrace and even desire all that this entails.  You make the choice; God will place the desire in your heart.  Say “Yes” to Him and His Cross.  In the end, you will be eternally grateful you did.Lord, I want to desire Your Cross.  I want to come to a level of love through which I desire to give myself completely to You, without counting the cost, and even desiring those acts which require great sacrifice.  You embraced Your Cross without reserve out of love for us.  Help me to imitate Your perfect example.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2019 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Do you understand the Passion of our Lord?  Do you perceive His sufferings in your soul?  This may, at first, seem undesirable.  But perceiving the sufferings and Passion of our Lord is a great grace.  As we perceive His suffering we must then encounter it and embrace it as our own.  We must live His sufferings.  In doing so, we begin to discover that His suffering is nothing other than divine love and Mercy.  And we find that the love in His soul which endured all sufferings enables us to endure all things in love.  Love endures everything and conquers everything.  Let this holy and purified love consume you so that you can endure, in love, whatever you encounter in life (See Diary #46).Gaze upon the crucifix this day.  Gaze upon the perfect Sacrifice of Love.  Gaze upon our God who willingly endured all things out of love for you.  Ponder this great mystery of love in suffering and love in sacrifice.  Understand it, accept it, love it and live it.Lord, Your Cross is the perfect example of sacrificial love.  It’s the purest and highest form of love ever known.  Help me to understand this love and to accept it into my heart.  And as I accept Your perfect Sacrifice of Love, help me to live that love in all that I do and in all that I am.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Incarnation Crosses- what are they, why are they important, and how can we access the power from them? Tag @amyallchurch and share YOUR Cross with us!! Amy is Left Angle Cross of Obscuration...aka here to change your life ;)

As you grow closer to God you will, at times, feel many things.  Some will encounter feelings of rejection by God.  God never rejects us but the interior feelings of rejection can be real.  This leads some to despair.  If you find yourself, now or in the future, struggling with despair, do not be afraid and do not give in.  Let God come to you in that experience and be present to you as you suffer through it (See Diary #23).Continue to look deep within your heart this day.  What do you see?  If it is painful to look inside, then know that this pain is a pathway toward God.  It may not make sense and it may be hard, but God the Father chose the path of the Cross for the Son.  By embracing His Cross both exteriorly and interiorly, Jesus united all human nature to His Godhead.  Let your suffering become a means of your holiness this day and a source of your unity with God.Lord, as I continue to look deep within at my heart, help me to see myself as You see me.  Help me to sort out any pain and suffering I carry.  And help me to freely unite that interior pain to Your Cross just as You did.  In this act, help me to discover The Divine Mercy You won for the world.  Jesus, I trust in You.

The Incarnation was the greatest act of Mercy ever known. The only subsequent act that surpassed it was the act of Jesus dying on the Cross destroying sin and death by His blood. The redemption of the world, through the blood of the Cross, is an act of love and Mercy that we will never fully comprehend. We could never be grateful enough for this act since we will never fully fathom the depth of this love.Spend time throughout this day pondering the crucifix.  Hold it in your hand, look at it, imagine it and meditate on it.  And then try and close your eyes from time to time pondering the full reality of the Crucifixion.  This was not an easy sacrifice.  It was especially difficult to receive such brutality and to say, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”  This is Divine Mercy.Lord, help me to gaze deeply upon Your Cross and to discover, within that Cross, an ocean of pure Mercy. Wash me in this sacrificial love and help me to obtain eternal redemption. Jesus, I trust in You.

Your Cross to Bare --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/clevin-brailsford/support

PulpTheology Book WOW Words of the Bible In the Bible, there are some amazing words which almost compel the reader to go “WOW!” In this little book, we explore together 50 such words of WOW. Why? We do this so that as we seek to know the God worship, we can put this knowledge into practise of our lives and be obedient to Him. So that as Christians, we can live lives which are worthy of Him, and where all factors of WOW go to Him alone. The words we will look at together are: Adoption, Angels, Baptism, Born Again, Christ, Covenant, Disciple, Doctrine, Faith, Fellowship, Forgiveness, Giving, Goal, God Of Judgment, God Of Love, Grace, Growing, Heaven, Holiness, Idolatry, Jesus’ Cross, Joy, Judgment, Justification, Living, Lord’s Supper, Love, Meekness, Natures, Partake, Peace, Perseverance, Propitiation, Remember, Repentance, Resurrection, Salvation, Satan, Serving, Shepherd, Sin, Sovereignty Of God, Spiritual Armour, Spiritual Gifts, Stewardship, Temptation, Trinity, Truth, Worship, Your Cross. Come inside and let’s go WOW together for God! Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file ~ You can purchase this book at Amazon on this link: Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Taking up Your Cross and Following Him by CTMI

“But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Mark 10:6-9Those three words…”From the beginning” are keywords for our day and age.  It is important for people of faith to recognize not only the supernatural gifts God has given us, but also the natural gifts.  The supernatural gifts are all those gifts given us by the Cross of Christ.  His life, death and Resurrection poured forth upon us grace from Heaven and made holiness, salvation and Heaven possible.  But there is a whole other order of “gift” that God gave us that we often take for granted.  That’s the gift of nature.Creation itself, the order of the Universe, our humanity and the natural design of God are all gifts.  Science can do much to discover the secrets and mysteries of the natural world, but ultimately a full understanding of even the natural world is mysterious, deep and awe-inspiring.One aspect of the natural world God gave us is our sexuality.  “God made them male and female…”  This natural design is part of the glorious wisdom of the Creator and must be understood, loved and respected fully.  Being “male and female” is something that is quite obvious and naturally understood.  Within each person are certain attributes, desires, tendencies, etc., that go hand in hand with being either male or female. In many ways, the uniqueness and complementarity of the sexes have been challenged and even disregarded at times, especially in our day and age.  But deep down we all understand that being male or female is part of who we are.  It makes up our very identity as a person and brings with it many blessings.  Femininity and masculinity, at times, also can become distorted and confused.  But in essence, these attributes of our personhood cannot be discarded or denied.  In fact, embracing who we are in our nature is nothing more than being honest and enables us to continue down the road of true natural integrity.Reflect, today, upon the many ways that being “male and female” are natural blessings from God.  Reflect, also, upon the ways that these natural gifts are challenged and undermined in our world today.  Embrace who you are, embrace who God made you to be, and let that natural gift from God flourish in your life.Lord, I thank You for Your countless gifts.  Thank You for the gift of grace won by Your Cross, and thank You also for the gift of nature and for the way You made me.  Help me to embrace my full identity in accord with Your design and, in that embrace, help me to continue to discover my very dignity.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Rejoice in Your Cross

[Jesus] began to teach [the Apostles] that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Mark 8:31-33This was most likely not the reply that Peter was expecting from Jesus.  Peter was struggling with fear as Jesus explained that He would be entering into much suffering and death at the hands of the religious leaders of the time.  Peter loved Jesus and was fearful and anxious about the thought of his Master suffering and being killed.  So Peter, motivated by fear and confusion, tried to “talk some sense” into Jesus.The result?  Peter was rebuked in the presence of the other Apostles by Jesus.  Jesus went so far as to say, “Get behind me, Satan.”  That must have hurt.To understand this properly, we must start with the obvious conclusion that Jesus’ words were words of great love.  Jesus is not capable of anything other than love.  Therefore, we must seek to understand how these strong words from Jesus were loving and holy.The key to understanding this is the second thing Jesus said.  “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Jesus had just revealed to the Apostles the deepest mystery of His life mission.  Namely, He just revealed that His mission was to accept unjust persecution and death at the hands of the religious leaders.  But in revealing this, it is also clear that He intended to bring good out of this suffering.  He would not have allowed this suffering if it were not for some greater good.  The hard part is that, in order to understand this great mystery of suffering, one needs a deep faith.  The Apostles were being challenged to see this situation from the divine perspective.  Peter was having a hard time doing so and that is why Jesus had to challenge him so directly.Jesus’ rebuke was a rebuke of love helping Peter break free of his fear and limited vision so as to enter into this profound mystery of Jesus’ loving sacrifice. Reflect, today, upon your own struggle with the Cross of Christ.  His sufferings continue to be made present in our world through the love and sacrifices of His sons and daughters.  When Christians suffer on account of their faith, we must see this from the eyes of God, not the eyes of men.  We must see the divine blessings that accompany such sufferings and we must accept them in accord with the great mystery of God’s plan.Lord, I too lack the necessary faith to see the blessings that accompany Your Cross, as well as the many crosses I am given in life.  Help me to be purified in my faith so that I can see Your hand at work in all things, even suffering, injustice and persecution.  May I see life from Your perspective alone.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Your Cross is Death To Self!!!

This week in our series The Gospel of Mark: From Throne to Cross and Back, we'll look at Jesus' CROSS. That could be a little misleading though. Our focus this week is actually a bit more on figuring out what it means that to be Christ's disciple, you must pick up YOUR CROSS to follow him? We're going to discover that the cross is actually the foundation for the Christian's identity as we look at Mark 8:34-38.

This week in our series The Gospel of Mark: From Throne to Cross and Back, we'll look at Jesus' CROSS. That could be a little misleading though. Our focus this week is actually a bit more on figuring out what it means that to be Christ's disciple, you must pick up YOUR CROSS to follow him? We're going to discover that the cross is actually the foundation for the Christian's identity as we look at Mark 8:34-38.

Take up Your Cross. Mike Law. Matthew 16:21-28, Philippians 2:1-11, Hebrews 12:1-13.19/11 PM

Imagine what it would be like if you could somehow be mystically transported to the night of Holy Thursday. And imagine if you could somehow see and experience everything that Jesus went through. Imagine the Agony in the Garden, the ridicule and harsh treatment, the mockery, the night alone in prison, the trial, the scourging, the carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion. This would be too much to bear. To face Jesus and all His interior and exterior sufferings would be overwhelming. But, if you could do it, and face every experience that He had, it would change your life. The sufferings of Christ should not be ignored. They should not be turned away from and they should not be shunned. His Passion must be faced, understood, loved and lived by each one of us. When we do this we will be changed forever (See Diary #1054).Try to spend time today letting yourself be drawn in, deeply, to the mysterious and profound sufferings of Jesus. Let the Lord reveal to you a taste of what He endured. Facing His sufferings is not only facing a great evil; rather, it’s facing love in its purest form. To face the Cross and all that it encompassed is to face the greatest act of love ever known, revealed through the greatest scandal ever experienced. God is astonishing to us, in a holy way, when we discover His love in His suffering. Ponder it today, let it sit in your heart, seek to understand the mystery and allow God to transform you through it.Lord, please give me the grace to turn toward You on the throne of Your Cross and to gaze upon You now and for all eternity. Help me to discover Love in its most pure form as I fix my eyes on You and all that You endured. My Suffering Lord Jesus, I love You and I trust in You.

It’s easy to “love” God when all is well. But when all is well, our love is not tested. The testing that comes from human suffering clarifies our love of God. This can be very fruitful for our spiritual lives. It’s easy to believe that difficulties in life are nothing other than sad and unfortunate burdens and should be avoided at all costs. Though we would be foolish to create difficulties intentionally, we will each have our share of them in this life. Therefore, every difficulty and suffering in life must be embraced as an opportunity for you to increase your trust in God and, in so doing, to increase your love of Him. How blessed is the soul who suffers greatly in this life while choosing to love God throughout, making that suffering the source of its increase in holiness (See Diary #1014).What do you complain about each day? What is it that burdens you? Too often we run from these burdens or get angry. Try to look at your struggles in a new light. Try to see them as opportunities to deepen your trust and your love. Every suffering and every burden in life has the potential of being infused with the spiritual power of the Cross. By embracing them in love, we embrace the Cross. And by embracing the Cross, we love God all the more. Do not think that hardships deal you a poor quality of life. Recognize them for what they are as a result of grace. They are opportunities for holiness and for an increase in the reception of the Mercy of God.Lord, when I get down, angry or despairing in life, on account of the difficulties I endure, help me to use that struggle as an opportunity for greater trust. Lord, I desire to run to the Cross and to receive the love that poured forth from Your Cross so that I may become more like You in all things. Increase my love, dear Lord, especially through every suffering in life that I surrender to You. Jesus, I trust in You.

Human suffering is one of the greatest mysteries of life. The Diary of Saint Faustina, as well as the whole spiritual tradition of our faith, reveals much about this profound mystery of suffering. First, from a purely secular point of view, suffering is far from desirable. In fact, it is typically avoided at all costs and seen as the greatest of tragedies. However, from a Christian perspective, suffering itself has been transformed by Christ and made the greatest instrument of grace ever known. It was through His intense suffering on the Cross that the salvation of the world came about. And by freely embracing all suffering, He made it the means and source of all grace. By so doing, Jesus also invites us to see our sufferings as an opportunity for grace. By embracing it, uniting it to His Cross, and offering it to the Father, our suffering is also able to take on infinite value and become a channel of the Mercy of God. Suffering, freely embraced by a Christian, must become a sign of one’s closeness to Christ and a path to holiness (See Diary #774).Suffering can be very difficult and yet unavoidable most often in life. Rather than run from it, reflect, today, upon the fact that God is able to use your suffering for good. This is a mysterious calling and requires the greatest of faith and trust. But when entered into, you will discover that the power of God overshadows and transforms even that which is most painful in life.Lord, help me to entrust to You all suffering. Help me to have hope in You and to fix my gaze upon Your Cross during the most troubled times of life. Use me Lord, and use my suffering as a source of my holiness and for the upbuilding of Your Church in holiness. Jesus, I trust in You.

In this special 100th episode, host Elizabeth Thomas and her sidekick Carl Kozlowski try to find answers on how best to wait for Resurrection Day. The answer is to Take up Your Cross and Walk with Jesus, but how? Give Thanks and Praise, Love as Jesus loves--die to self/selfish wants and desires and demands. It Ain't Easy, only by the grace of God can this be done. Scripture examined this week: Romans 8:18-38Songs featured this week: "Praying for Time" by George Michael, "De Colores" and "Thrive" by Ca

The midweek Lenten Services are based on the theme "The Fellowship of the Cross." The focus of this week's meditation is "Your Cross, My Cross" which is based on Matthew 16:24-26. The other scriptures were: Matthew 11:28-30.

The call that Jesus puts on our lives as Christians is to "Take up Your Cross and Follow Me". This morning, Pastor Mathew Jones teaches on this important truth and call from the Lord Himself.

On last week’s show I shared my own Mama Story, something that I have held close to my heart until now. Sharing it activated the most powerful and beautiful medicine, which continues to unfold as I deepen into the lessons.I heard from so many of you since then - sharing your matches and your ongoing desire to unravel the wounding with your own mother relationship. So on Wednesday I opened the phone lines to support your freedom.If you haven't had a chance to listen in yet, this week's show offers powerful healing for all of us.Here are a few highlights from the show: 3:49 Untaming your Story 11:36 All things lead back to Mother 16:08 Anella's Medicine: I don't know what I want The Great Mother's Dilemma "I'd rather be Needed than Needy" How to shift from DO-ing to BE-ing 46:03 Jennifer's Medicine: I've lost myself The toxic effects of carrying everyone else's stuff Lineage Clearing: "This is Your Cross to Bear" The only way to help Pachimama heal "Do you love them enough to do it for your Self?"Thank you to our sisters who brought their medicine this week for letting us witness, clear, and heal along with you.As you listen to the replay and clear your matches along with them, we all Become... more.

On last week’s show I shared my own Mama Story, something that I have held close to my heart until now. Sharing it activated the most powerful and beautiful medicine, which continues to unfold as I deepen into the lessons.I heard from so many of you since then - sharing your matches and your ongoing desire to unravel the wounding with your own mother relationship. So on Wednesday I opened the phone lines to support your freedom.If you haven't had a chance to listen in yet, this week's show offers powerful healing for all of us.Here are a few highlights from the show: 3:49 Untaming your Story 11:36 All things lead back to Mother 16:08 Anella's Medicine: I don't know what I want The Great Mother's Dilemma "I'd rather be Needed than Needy" How to shift from DO-ing to BE-ing 46:03 Jennifer's Medicine: I've lost myself The toxic effects of carrying everyone else's stuff Lineage Clearing: "This is Your Cross to Bear" The only way to help Pachimama heal "Do you love them enough to do it for your Self?"Thank you to our sisters who brought their medicine this week for letting us witness, clear, and heal along with you.As you listen to the replay and clear your matches along with them, we all Become... more.

On last week’s show I shared my own Mama Story, something that I have held close to my heart until now. Sharing it activated the most powerful and beautiful medicine, which continues to unfold as I deepen into the lessons.I heard from so many of you since then - sharing your matches and your ongoing desire to unravel the wounding with your own mother relationship. So on Wednesday I opened the phone lines to support your freedom.If you haven't had a chance to listen in yet, this week's show offers powerful healing for all of us.Here are a few highlights from the show: 3:49 Untaming your Story 11:36 All things lead back to Mother 16:08 Anella's Medicine: I don't know what I want The Great Mother's Dilemma "I'd rather be Needed than Needy" How to shift from DO-ing to BE-ing 46:03 Jennifer's Medicine: I've lost myself The toxic effects of carrying everyone else's stuff Lineage Clearing: "This is Your Cross to Bear" The only way to help Pachimama heal "Do you love them enough to do it for your Self?"Thank you to our sisters who brought their medicine this week for letting us witness, clear, and heal along with you.As you listen to the replay and clear your matches along with them, we all Become... more.

On last week’s show I shared my own Mama Story, something that I have held close to my heart until now. Sharing it activated the most powerful and beautiful medicine, which continues to unfold as I deepen into the lessons. I heard from so many of you since then - sharing your matches and your ongoing desire to unravel the wounding with your own mother relationship. So on Wednesday I opened the phone lines to support your freedom. If you haven't had a chance to listen in yet, this week's show offers powerful healing for all of us. Here are a few highlights from the show: 3:49 Untaming your Story 11:36 All things lead back to Mother 16:08 Anella's Medicine: I don't know what I want The Great Mother's Dilemma "I'd rather be Needed than Needy" How to shift from DO-ing to BE-ing 46:03 Jennifer's Medicine: I've lost myself The toxic effects of carrying everyone else's stuff Lineage Clearing: "This is Your Cross to Bear" The only way to help Pachimama heal "Do you love them enough to do it for your Self?" Thank you to our sisters who brought their medicine this week for letting us witness, clear, and heal along with you. As you listen to the replay and clear your matches along with them, we all Become... more.

Show Agenda Featured Presentation: Five Ways to Thrive in Your Cross-cultural Marriage Cross-cultural Marriage Series I wrote for Focus on the Family Lesson Principle: Cross-cultural marriage must be defined by GRACE Featured Presentation You can find the full blog post on this topic at haroldarnold.com/crossculturegrace All couples struggle to integrate their personality differences, competing interests, varying emotional […]

People who Carried Their Crosses: Job, Abraham, Moses, Peter, Paul What is Your Cross?