You cannot love what you do not know .
St. John of the Cross paraphrase of Luke 11:9
Seek in Reading and you will find in Meditation;
Knock in Prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation.
We do not make ourselves fit for God, rather we must accept God’s love for us after that every else is possible. (Too Deep for Words)
Paul Tillich on faith - “To accept the fact that I am accepted in my total unacceptability.”
Prayer is a gift of grace to be received from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we do not force ourselves to pray, rather we open up ourselves to pray. God is everything; and thus without God, we are nothing. In opening ourselves to God, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us, to change us. The more we accept God’s love, the more we will be able to love Him and those around us. As a flower turns toward the sun and unfolds its petals in the sunlight, so our souls are drawn by the love of God (grace); and in that love we are changed and filled with that love. The flower is naturally drawn and responds to the sun. Our beings are drawn and desire to respond to love - both divine and human; but we, with our free wills, decide not to allow ourselves to respond. We would need to let go of grudges, biases, hurts and other things, that we tell ourselves we need to hold on to, to justify our feelings or actions. Sometimes we fear God changing us, knowing how radical the changes would be, letting go of all of the thoughts and feelings we are comfortable with. Sometimes we are afraid that if we let God in just a little bit the power of His love will cause us to want more and an irreversible process will begin. That is our decision, our conversion, - His will to be our will. Abba, Abba, Father, you are the potter, we are the clay, the work of you hands.
"What matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless." St. John Paul II
+++++++++++++++++++++God's timing is not our timing, but He is never late.+++++++++++++++
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes
Layers - in the knowledge of God and the path to holiness
Learning about God is like unwrapping a head of lettuce, pealing back one leaf at a time. Always there is another leaf below. We will eventually reach the center of the head of lettuce; but we will never unwrap everthing there is to know about God.
The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48
The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48
What I Believe
Why I am and always will be a Catholic. "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Tthe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The words and actions of man cannot sanctify. Only the priest, empowered by his ordination, can invoke the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into Jesus so we can receive Him - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our bodies and souls. This is the core of the Catholic Church; without this there is no purpose or meaning to the Catholic Church. There are other ways to holiness, to grow in grace; there is no better way than union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Visitation Catholic Church
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