A Thanksgiving delayed is a Thanksgiving denied.

"Please accept a gift from your servant.”  (2 Kings 5: 15 NABRE)

How important is giving thanks for favors received in your hierarchy of virtues?  Is expressing gratitude a second nature or something that is forced out of you?  Expressing thanks must be very important because one of the first lessons mothers teach their infants is:  "Say thank you."

After Naaman was healed of leprosy, he came back to the Prophet Elisha to do thanks not just to say "Thank you."  First, he offered gifts.  Though a 5-star general, he called himself a servant of the humble prophet.  Last but not the least,  he vowed to worship forever the God that healed him.

One of the first lessons I learned in religion is that God does not eat steak or chicken.  He feeds on Thanksgiving.

In the Sunday Eucharistic celebration, the people of God gather to do Thanks for all Jesus did to set us free.  Do you gather with your community or are you like one of the the nine lepers who walked away and made Jesus say:
“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?  Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”  (Luke 17: 17 - 18 NABRE)

Even God is hurt by ingratitude.

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God speaks to you too through His loving Providence.

"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."  (Luke 11 : 28  RM)

God’s word is God's laws, His will and His Providence.

The word of God is found in Sacred Scriptures.  The word of God is found in Sacred Tradition.  The word of God is also found in the definitive and authoritative teaching of the Church.

All three sources are like a tripod that is interconnected, interlocked and complimentary, each supporting the other for the fullness of truth.   (Cf 1 Timothy 3:15)

"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."  (Luke 11 : 28  RM)

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Have you experienced the power of the Holy Rosary?

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."  (Cf Luke 1: 28, 42 RM)

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, a feast instituted in 1571.

At the beginning of my conversion in 1994, I read the anointed classic St Louis Marie de Monfort, THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY.  I remember clearly his claim that saying the Rosary every day will result in either you stop sinning or you stop saying the Rosary.  Both cannot coexist.  I found it incredulous and decided to try it.  I have said the Rosary every day since 1994. It is a prayer of incalculable power.

The devil succeeded in luring me into sin a number of times.  But he was unable to hold  the ground because his victory lasted less than 24 hours.  A force greater than he would counter attack and led me home through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Thank you Jesus for the gift of the Holy Rosary.

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I asked and the Holy Spirit was given to me.

"How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”  (Luke 11: 13 NLT)

I asked and received.  Before I asked, I prayed for nine days in order to build up my faith and desire for the Holy Spirit.
On the 9th day, I woke up with an intense longing for the Holy Spirit.

At noon, I knelt down in the center of my bedroom and stretched out my hands.  I cried out to God to give me the Holy Spirit.  I opened wide my mouth and breathed in.  Then I started giving thanks for the Holy Spirit.  When I got up, I went to my study, opened a Bible at random.  It fell on a page that speaks of receiving wisdom from God.  That was my confirmation.  Soon after, I experienced an immense desire to read the Scriptures always.  This marvelous event happened on 06/01/1995.

Our God is a Father who keeps His promises.

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Give us each day the food we need.

"You have received a spirit of adoption as sons through which we cry:  Abba! Father!"   (Romans 8: 15 bc RM)

Abba Father, I believe that You are a Father to me at every moment of my life, and that I am Your child.  Teach me always to see Your love as my guide in every event in my life.   Amen.

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Fear is useless. What is needed is trust.

 "But the Lord replied to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things;  but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part [that which is to her advantage], which will not be taken away from her.”  (Luke 10: 41 - 42 AMP)

Why is fear, worry and restlessness so part of the human condition?  Will you buy one pill that promises to provide definitive relief from this malady?  There will never be such a pill.  Thanks be to God.  We have the promise of Jesus.  "There is need of only one thing."  Luke 10: 42)   TRUST IN JESUS!

"Fear is useless.  What is needed is trust."  (Mark 5: 36; Luke 8: 50)

Jesus also promises that we shall be blessed if we take His word to heart and observe it.

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The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!"  (Galatians 1: 9 NIV)

A very grave warning and anathema for those who distort the Gospel of Jesus.  It appears an extreme retribution but Paul repeats the cursing in the very next verse.  (Galatians 1: 10)

Preacher beware!

In Galatians 1: 11, Paul discloses his authority for being so bold.

 "I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human  origin.   I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."  (Galatians 1: 11 - 12)

Where is the source of the Gospel you hear?

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