Perfect in Heaven
Advent continues, Gaudete Sunday is here, yet preparing our heart to receive our Lord on Christmas day in challenging. Mass readings from these first weeks of Advent focused on Jesus’ second coming and the final judgement. But ultimately, whether we end up in Heaven or Hell is our choice…
The one thing God cannot do
Everything acts in accord to its nature and so does God. He is love, His nature is love, so He can only be loving. He cannot not love you…
The beauty of powerlessness
From our beautiful and ancient Church heritage comes many prayers to aid us in the surrendering to Jesus of our loveless thoughts and self-protecting ways. Yet it remains a seemingly monstrous task to actually do it: to surrender to Him. And perhaps it is because at the center and foundation of surrendering is the primary truth of our own powerlessness.
I made Jesus suffer for me
A decade back, I prayed myself through the Ignatian retreat that the Jesuit father took Mother Teresa through in 1959 (found in appendix B of Come Be my Light). Sometimes the wording he gave in his instructions stood out for me. One such time was his instruction to her that stated, “To spend a day in reparation for the sufferings I have made Jesus bear for me.”
I grew up hearing Jesus suffered for me on the cross. But I’ve never heard I made Jesus suffer for me. Wow, a paradigm shift.