The power of just one rosary
The Presentation, the Crucifixion, the Sorrows of Mary, and how the rosary saved a homeless woman…
Vengeance
Grudges, vengeance…these words carry a cloud of gloom. Desolate, angry, and frustrated, as we review every fault in the other person, our enemy will ratchet up our emotions and skew our right reason. God’s Word held in our memory is shouting truth to us to no avail. “Do you question me about my children, tell me how to treat the work of my hands?” (Isaiah 45:11) We think we know exactly what the other person needs to change about themselves, unable to hear our Lord say, “Shall the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ or, ‘What you are making has no handles’?” (Isaiah 45:9). Our judgementalism can be a spiritual sword of revenge.
The exchange
The Christmas season ends Sunday with the feast of our Lord’s baptism, and I am thankful our nativity scene remains on display until then. I thought about how the shepherd boy brings one of his babes, the lamb, to offer. In return, Mary offers to him her Son, the Lamb of God. Exchanging a lamb for the Lamb of God is in no way an equal exchange. It is the most lopsided exchange that could ever be made and yet this is how He and she wish it to be for us.
Where our hope lies
Think about the paradigm-shifting hope that comes from consciously living as awaiting the Heavenly wedding banquet.
A season of leaven and salt
We are to be the leaven of our families and homes, the salt of the relationship. Permitting His healing sanctification, we are God’s living covenant to every soul we meet; after all, the covenant is intended for them too. We must not be salt that has lost its taste (Luke 14:34).
A season for squabbles
Today begins the ‘holiday season’. It is supposed to be a season of Thanksgiving that leads into the Season of Giving, giving of ourselves as God has given of Himself to us in Jesus.
So why do these family gatherings so often turn into squabbles and arguments?