Shout for Joy to the LORD

Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song.  With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy to the King, the LORD.

Ps.98:5,6

Psalm 98 is a song glorifying the Judge of the World.  And the spontaneous response to the Judge of the World is not fear but Joy!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;  Ps.98:4

This joy comes from knowing we have a judge who is head-over-heels in love with us.  His judgement is not based on the law but based on grace, undeserved favor.  So, today I step out in spontaneous joy knowing yes I am a sinner, yes I will face judgement and yes my Judge loves me.

Lord Jesus.  Today I exalt you in joyous song.  May your mercy triumph over judgement in my life.

Little Flower, please pray for me.

Love Joy Peace and Patience

What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. 
Gal.5:22,23

Saint Paul is writing to the church in Galatia, addressing the overly Greek philosophies that were infiltrating that church.  Saint Paul's solution to the humanistic influence is to call on less of man's way of thinking and act more in the Spirit's.

This same tension between fleshly and spiritual passions still exists in the Church today... still exists in me today.  When I look at what Saint Paul lists as gifts of the Spirit I say, "Yes, that is the sort of person I want to be!"  How to I obtain this?  Saint Paul goes on...

"...crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires.  Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit." Gal.5:25

Today I actively reject those earthly passions and then let myself be directed by the Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me.  Fill me with your power, satisfy my needs.  Only You can make me whole, give me strength and make me grow.  Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Happiness!

A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’
Lk.11:27,28

Jesus has been teaching on prayer and spiritual warfare when this rapturous, spontaneous outburst comes from a woman in the crowd.  She is of course referring to the happiness of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I imagine Jesus in a similar spirit of joy replying, "Yes but there is an even greater happiness to be had. Hear God's word and keep to what it says!"

This statement of Jesus has particular meaning to me in my morning devotions, focusing on the Word of God before I go out into my day.  There is a great happiness that comes over me in this time.  I connect with the One who loves me through His word.  How can I be anything else but joyful in this time?  And it's not just in the hearing but in the keeping that joy comes.  Today joy is mine as I keep the word of God.

Lord Jesus, thank you for inspired sacred scripture that You have entrusted to the Church.  I receive it as Your love-letter to me.  Help me keep it in my day.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Invite the Opposite Spirit

 'But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it (the unclean spirit) then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.’
Lk.11:26

Jesus is teaching on spiritual warfare after having been crticised for casting out a devil.  He has just explained how he who is the stronger and best armed is the victor.  He now explains that having a spiritually clean interior is not enough.  The interior needs to be home to something, the only question is will it be good or evil?

My interior man gets regularly swept and cleaned through the sacrament of Confession, but what do I then fill it with?  If it remains clean but empty I am open to being reoccupied by the demon I expelled plus its cohorts.

The opposite spirit to what was expelled is a good thing to invite in.  If it was lust, invite in purity.  If it was greed, invite in restraint.  If it was pride, invite in humility.

Holy Spirit of God, prompt me to invite in the opposite spirit to the one I have expelled by your power. Never let me be an empty home but filled with Your holy presence, giving no room for Satan and his demons.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Teach Me How to Pray

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’
Lk.11:1

Jesus gives the Church, and me, the method on how I am to pray this morning:

• Acknowledge God's holiness.
• Plead for His Kingdom
• Ask for today's needs
• Ask for forgiveness
• Ask for protection from Satan

Father, may your name be held holy,

your kingdom come;

give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test.

Amen.

Little Flower, please pray for me.

My Guardian Angel

Feast of The Holy Guardian Angels

See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.  Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him.
Ex.23:20,21

All three readings today remind us that we have angels who have been assigned by God to watch over and guard us:

• See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way... (Ex.23:20)
• For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.... (Ps.91:11)
• See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.... (Mt.18:10)

What wonderful promises from God for me.   I walk into my day today knowing I am precious to God and that He has assigned specific angels to guard and guide me. My God would only do that because He loves me.

Angel of God, my guardian dear
to whom whom God's love commits me here
Ever this day be at my side
to light and guard, to rule and guide

Little Flower, please pray for me.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

For you created my inmost being; 
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Ps.139:13,14

David is worshiping God, the Creator of the Universe and all that is in it, including himself.  David recognises the beauty of who and what he is, not through any conceit, but in the light of who it is that created him.  This is a very wholesome way to consider ones self.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works O God are wonderful.

There is a great sense of dignity that comes when it is acknowledged that all people are created  lovingly by God.  Suddenly, abortion is seen as the arrogant abhorrence that it is.  The weak, elderly and infirm are seen as precious and deserving of special loving treatment.  Even those who are living an evil life-style are seen as a distortion of who they were really created to be and can be pitied.

Today I walk as one who is fearfully and wonderfully made and I see all others as the same.

Father in Heaven, I am Your child, a precious part of Your creation.  I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Little Flower, please pray for me.