The Day Before Pentecost

Acts 1:14

"All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers."

Ask for the Holy Spirit and you will receive.  Jesus promised.

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Prepare us for the gifts of the Spirit.

John 16:7

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you."

Let Your Spirit come upon us with power to fill us with His gifts.

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Times and Seasons

Times and Seasons are divine appointments.  They are not haphazard ; they are not accidents. Winter, spring, summer and autumn are not accidents.
Rainy and dry seasons are not accidents.

All times and all seasons are in the hand of Jesus Christ.

Christ yesterday and today+
The Beginning and the End+
The Alpha and the Omega+
All times belong to Him+
And all ages+
To Him be glory and power through every age forever and ever.  Amen!!!

"Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert."( Isaiah 43:19)

All Power belongs to Jesus

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of thee earth."  (Acts 1: 8)

"And behold I am with you always, until the end of the age."

"I will bear a witness to you in the world, O Lord. I will spread the knowledge of your name among my brothers, Alleluia,"  (Psalm 17: 50; 22:23)

The Pure Joy of Answered Prayer

"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."  (John 16: 21)

No trials, No triumphs. No testimonies.
Wait for the Lord.

The Holy Spirit is the Infallible Guide

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate* to be with you always."  (John 14: 16)

The Holy Spirit is the sure promise of the Father.

Veni Sancte Spiritus:

Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
From your bright and blissful Home
Rays of healing light impart.

Come, Father of the poor,
Source of gifts that will endure
Light of ev'ry human heart.

You, of all consolers best,
Of the soul, most kindly Guest,
Quick’ning courage do bestow.

In hard labor You are rest,
In the heat You refresh best,
And solace give in our woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
Let Your radiance in us shine,
And our inmost being fill.

Nothing good by man is thought,
Nothing right by him is wrought,
When he spurns Your gracious Will.

Cleanse our souls from sinful stain,
Lave our dryness with Your rain
Heal our wounds and mend our way.

Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful who in You,
Trust with childlike piety,
Deign your sevenfold gift to send.

Give them virtue’s rich increase,
Saving grace to die in peace,
Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia.

Finding God in all things

"Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work."  (John 4: 34)

"All that happens to me therefore will be food for my nourishment, water for my cleansing, fire for my purification, and a channel of grace for all my needs.  That which I might endeavor to find in other ways seeks me incessantly and gives itself to me through all creatures."  (John Pierre de Caussade, SJ)

Bearing abundant fruit

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Remain in Jesus through His word and prayer.

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us."  (Saint Teresa of Avila)

Seek ye first the kingdom and then ask

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."  (Matthew 6: 33)

According to an apocryphal saying of our Lord, repeated by Origen, "Jesus said to his disciples, Ask great things, and the small shall be added to you; ask heavenly things, and the earthly shall be added to you."

"Father, make our faith strong and our hope sure.  May we never doubt that you shall fulfill the promises You have made." (Tuesday, 5th Sunday of Easter)

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."  (St. Augustine)

Come and dwell in us O Holy Spirit!

"The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you."  (John 14: 26)

O Promise of the Father, grant us the grace to faithfully and eagerly respond to the awesome gift of Your personal, passionate presence.  Amen!

The Truth Will Set You Free

"Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

God cannot lie.  (Numbers 23: 19)

The truth that sets us free is the word of Jesus; the teaching of Jesus that we hear or read and believe.  Day in and day out, we practice this word.  We abide, remain in the word, not abandoning the word come what may.  This is the truth that  sets  free from fear, worry and doubts.

Application of the above point:

'Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail)."  (Psalm 55: 22 Amplified Bible)

What are your burdens?  Family, finances, job, health, tools and property, food, worries about the future?

Ancient traders in the Middle East cast their burden (heavy load) upon the camel.  The camel carried the burden and the trader on the desert route to their home.  Jesus invites us in Psalm 55: 22 to do the same everyday.  Jesus becomes our Camel.   At the beginning of a new day, we cast all our burden on Him.

The truth that sets us free is not the truth we know as  fact or  piece of information.  It is the truth that we practice consistently everyday.  This is the truth that slips into the mind and settles in our subconsciousness.  This truth sets us free from worry, fear and doubts.  It is written.  It is true.

Complete Redemption

 "By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."  (Revelation 5: 9)

Note the scope of the redemptive work of Christ:  Universal.  Note too the extent of the power of Jesus to save us from every distress:  Absolute.  Because of the following, "Let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help."  (Hebrews 4: 16)

Our God is Emmanuel

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  (Matthew 28: 20)

Jesus Christ Always, Everywhere in All Things is with us.

"I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.
I have the strength for everything through Christ who empowers me"  (Philippians 4: 12 - 13)

Who is with us and in us always?
"It is Christ in you, the hope for glory."  (Colossians 1: 27)

We did not choose Jesus

John 15:16

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

The Choice, the Call and the Anointing.

Remain faithful to Jesus

"When Barnabas arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart,
for he was a good man, filled with the holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord."  (Acts 11: 23 - 24)

Encourage the brethren to remain faithful to Jesus.

Jesus Always, Everywhere in All Things!

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"The life of faith is nothing less than the continued pursuit of God through all that disguises, disfigures, destroys and, so to say, annihilates Him." (John Pierre de Caussade, SJ)
      

Jesus overcame death

"We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him."  (Romans 6: 9)

What do you fear most?  Death?  Jesus overcame death to free us of the fear of death.
No fear, No worry, No doubt.

Good Shepherd and Good Mother's Sunday

"I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,"  (John 10: 14)

My mother was a good shepherd to me.

Happy Mothers Day to all my friends who are mothers!

Your words are Spirit and life

"It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life."  (John 6: 63)

The Holy Spirit is Lord and Giver of life.

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Lord of life, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fills all thing, O Bringer of every good gift:  Come and dwell in us and make us whole.

Holy and life-giving breath of God, fill our hearts and minds with your love, assist us to be faithful disciples of Jesus, always open to hear His call.  O promise of God, grant us the grace to faithfully and eagerly respond to the awesome gift of Your personal, passionate Presence.  Amen.

Jesus died for all

"He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."  (2 Corinthians 5: 15)

Although Jesus died for every human being.  Not every human being who is alive today is benefiting from the death of Jesus.  It is by His death and resurrection that we are saved.   We that have appropriated the fruit of salvation have the responsibility of living in such a way that would make the unsaved desire what we have.

Jesus has freed us from the darkness of error and sin. Help us Jesus to cling to your truths with fidelity.