Refinery

"But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord." (Malachi 3: 2-3)

"All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees. The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction." (Psalm 25: 10, 14)

God's providential designs for us are full of kindness and mercy.

Rejoice heartily

"Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. See, your King shall come to you." (Zechariah 9: 9-10)

Rejoice, rejoice heartily. Christ is our King. He comes to us in His word; He comes to us in the Eucharist. He is so humble.

Asking for more evidence

"Do not be unbelieving anymore but believe." (John 20: 21)

Jesus said the above to His disciple, Thomas who had the witness of His resurrection from his fellow disciples and still would not bring himself to believe. In this reproach, we can also see a reproach for asking for too much evidence.

Where do I need to believe more today? My life would be more joyful and peaceful if I believe that Jesus is in full control of my life and destiny. What stands in my way to believing this? When I consider how God's will is manifested in my life, that is, the time, place and manner, I find that paying attention to sense evidence robs me of solid faith. Like Thomas, the apostle, I ask for more evidence. When I do this, may I always hear Jesus say to me: "Do not be unbelieving anymore but believe." (John 20: 21)

Components of the Divine Will

"So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others." (Luke 1: 25)

Elizabeth recognizes one of the critical elements of God's modus operandi. God acts only in due season. When the fullness of time for that event has come, He acts swiftly. In discerning the will of God, I find these three elements very important:

• Time
  
• Place
  
• Manner
  

Manner refers to the way that God has chosen to act in a particular time and place. Often the manner is ordinary. The manner may be ordinary, but the providential design are operative nevertheless. God's ways are not our ways.

Building Up

"And you too, in him, are being built up into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2: 22)

God is building me up one block at a time.

How is God building me up?

The 7 Way Plan in concludes the following:

• Prayer
  
• Eucharist
  
• Word of God
  
• Reconciliation
  
• Ministry
  
• Spiritual reading
  
• Spiritual direction
  

Come to me

"Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)

What a great promise! But how do I know that I can trust Jesus? Trust unlike belief is not based on rational propositions. For example, in the Creed, we have a set of propositions presented to us by the Church. We give our assent to them because we know that the Church is trustworthy. How do we know that the Church is trustworthy? We know through a supernatural enablement that we share with other Christians that is call "Sensus Fidei." Sensus Fidei translates literally as sense of faith is the supernatural instinct that is placed in the soul by the Holy Spirit when we are baptized. This instinct can grow with exercise and practice.

Trust on the other hand calls for experience of trustworthiness in the person to be trusted. To answer the question – Can I trust Jesus when He promises to give me peace when I come to Him with my burdens? I do not know of a single incident when I trusted Jesus for anything and He disappointed. As far as I am concerned, Jesus is a very trustworthy person. The Church corroborates my personal experience and spiritual instinct in affirming with Sacred Scripture that Jesus is trustworthy. My heart rejoices when I hear Jesus say: "Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)

I know for certain that I can trust Jesus.

ABC of Mercy

"Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice." (Matthew 9: 13)

What does mercy mean? Unmerited favor. But I enjoy unmerited favor all the time from Jesus.

There is a pole in the grounds of St. Thomas More Church with a large human shaped heart transfixed with a spear. This reminds me of the open heart of Jesus on the cross from where blood and water flows. Jesus challenges us in the scripture above to go and learn the meaning of mercy. The ABC of Mercy is a good starting point for this lesson:

• A – Ask for mercy
  
• B – Be merciful
  
• C – Completely trust Jesus for mercy.
  

Plug into the Power

"A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for having given such authority to human beings." (Matthew 9: 8)

In Christ Jesus, God has given us awesome authority. He has truly subjected all things to us. In Christ Jesus, we are empowered to be fully active and alive. Because we do not see the evidence of this truth in our daily experience is not a reason to doubt it. The power is there. We need to connect into it. Plug in the power cord. The power is the Holy Spirit living within us.

The barriers to using this power are: sin, fear and ignorance. As we work to eliminate these from our lives, we begin to see the power.

Lord Jesus, empower us to plug into the Holy Spirit so that we can live fully for you every day.

God will provide

"My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering." (Genesis 22: 8)

God provides all the resources we need to please Him.

"Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, let it become for us the bread of life."

Is this problem a test?

"It happened sometime later that God put Abraham to the test." (Genesis 22: 1)

"God said, 'Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall point out to you." (Genesis 22: 2)

What would you do if you know for certainty that your present financial, health, job problem is a test from God? If I know with absolute certainty that my critical problem is a test from God, I will predict victory. I will ask God again and again to give me the patience, courage and perseverance to overcome. When we commit ourselves to do God's will come what may and suffer the events in our lives which we cannot change, we can then be certain that God has a finger in whatever unpleasant event we may encounter.

Diamonds in the backyard

"Then God opened Haga's eye and she saw a well, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink." (Genesis 21 : 19)

Haga was in distress over her son's terrible thirst. She cried. Her son cried. The cry was a prayer. And God heard the cry. Then the miracle happened. Suddenly Haga was aware of a source of cold water nearby. She gave the boy some drink.

Lord, are there diamonds in my back yard that I am failing to see? Open my eyes to see your precious provisions close to me.

Who is Jesus?

"But you,' he said, 'who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16: 15)

Lord Jesus, you are my Lord and my God.

You are the Son of God.

You are my Good Shepherd.

You are my King and my Boss.

You are the Prince of Peace.

You are my High Priest.

You are my best Friend.

You are the Bread of life.

You are the Light of the world.

You are the Truth, the Way and the Life.

You are the King of the Universe.

Jesus is faithful forever

"But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed for all the gentiles to hear; and so I was saved from the lion's mouth." (2Timothy 4: 17)

I love the above scripture very much. It confirms the fact that Jesus never abandons His servants. He is faithful forever. This is a great truth to remember during trials and persecutions.

The Lord will save me from all travails.

The Angel of the Lord

"The Lord really did send his angel to save me from Herod and from all the Jewish people were expecting." (Acts 12: 11)

The Lord will save me from all distress. When in deep crisis, I will call on my Guardian Angel for rescue.

Fox holes and Bird nests

"Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20)

The cost of discipleship is not uniform for everybody. Some people are called to follow Jesus more closely. No matter the degree of the calling, following Jesus is not a picnic. The Father wants us to imitate His Son, Jesus and model our lives after Jesus'.

Father, give us a heart and mind to know your Son Jesus well, to love Him intimately so that we can follow Him everywhere.

For the sake of ten

"For the sake of those ten," he replied, 'I will not destroy it." (Genesis 18: 32)

God is full of compassion. The above text encourages us to intercede for people. No cause is lost. Prayer is an ever present help in time of need.

Fruits of Redemption

"Lord God, through your sacraments you give us the power of your grace. May this Eucharist help us to serve you faithfully….."(Mass Prayer)

The fruits of redemption are mediated through the sacraments.

Lord give us the power of your grace through the sacraments.

A cup of cold water

"And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple – amen I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward." (Matthew 10: 42)

The day this scripture became alive for me was the day I was given a cup of cold water when I needed it most. It was a blistering hot day in Houston. I had brought a guest to a hot lobby and was sweating. Without asking, the concierge handed me a cup of cold water. I have never forgotten the gesture. When I call on clients or prospects in the course of my worik, I have enjoyed similar gesture from a person in some offices. Whenever it happens, I remember Matthew 10: 42.

The little one is any disciple of Jesus in need of refreshment. O faithful God, bless all those who have given me a cup of cold water. Help me to be aware of your little ones who need a cup of cold water.

Consequence of our Baptism

"Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Romans 6: 3)

Consequence of our Baptism: "You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus."

Am I dead to sin? I believe so even though I do not feel so. Have I rejected Satan with all his promises and gifts? Absolutely!

Proclaim God’s faithfulness

"The promises of the Lord I will sing forever, through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness." (Psalm 89: 2)

I want to be an apostle of God's faithfulness. I will proclaim God's faithfulness at every opportunity I have.