Pardoned Healed Redeemed and Crowned

He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
Ps.103:3,4

Psalm 103 is a beautiful self portrait of God.  Whenever I get a bit fuzzy about who God is, this is where I go to be reminded, to have my vision of Him refocused.

Today I am reminded God is one who pardons, heals, redeems and crowns.  What a beautiful Advent promise for me to savour.

Thank you Jesus that You forgive me my sins, that You heal me of my brokenness, that You have paid the price for me to gain eternal life and that You crown me with the title of "Son of the King".

Little Flower, please pray for me.

Hard and Soft

Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church 

Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.” 

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness. 

Mt.9:37-10:1

Jesus is moved with compassion when looking on the crowds following Him.  He calls them "sheep without a shepherd".  Immediately He provides shepherds by commissioning the twelve disciples and sending them off on their first missionary trip.

Saint Ambrose is a giant among saints, being pivotal in the conversion of Saint Augustine.  As bishop he is discribed as being assiduous in his duties while being compassionate with his people. The perfect shepherd whose character could describe our current Pope. 

Hard on doctrine while being soft on people.  I find it hard to excersise both these virtues. I tend to be one or the other.  The tension between the two keeps them both in balance, like gravity stopping the person on a swing from floating out into space.  Hard and soft... These can be my points of focus today.

Lord Jesus, You are the perfect example of the perfect shepherd.  Help me shepherd the flock You have given me.

Saint Ambrose please pray for me.

The Rock

Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock.
Mt.7:24

Jesus warns against not acting out God's word.  He tells the story of the wise and foolish builders.  Both build houses but their foundations are radically different, as different as rock and sand.

We're always building something.  Hopes, dreams and plans abound.  At the moment we are building a wedding day for our daughter.  Jesus has a lot to say about weddings.  He's a big fan for them, as evidenced by the wedding feast at Cana.  The rock on which to build this day is the sacrament that is created in the Nuptial Mass.  Everything else will flow from that.

Lord Jesus, help me always keep You in the picture.  You are my rock.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Can Do

Jesus said to them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ ‘Seven’ they said ‘and a few small fish.’ Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and he gave thanks and broke them and handed them to the disciples who gave them to the crowds.
Matthew 15:34-36

Jesus is in the hills next to the Sea of Galilee teaching and healing a vast crowd for three days.  His compassion moves Him to want to feed the people.  The disciples observe what they have (seven loaves and a few fish) and see problems.  Jesus sees what they have and provides a solution.

I am often like the disciples here.  I focus on what there isn't instead of, like Jesus, seeing what there is. I have a reputation in my family for "raining on their parades".  Using what you've got is a great maxim. It gets things started and allows miracles to happen.  In modern jargon it's called a "can do" attitude.  It's an attitude I can cultivate today.

Lord Jesus, with You anything is possible.  Help me be positive in my outlook, seeing what can be done rather than what can't.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Hope makes you Cheerful

If you have hope, this will make you cheerful. Do not give up if trials come; and keep on praying. 
Rms.12:12

Saint Paul paints a detailed picture of what Christian life looks like for the Roman church. The church is made up of different people with different gifts but all interconnected with each other.  The resulting community is a model of love in action.

Cheerfulness is something that can't be forced.  When it is forced it becomes something else, something dead.  Saint Paul gives the key to authentic cheerfulness... Hope.  Hope overrides the dust of daily battle.  It's there in the good times and the bad.  It follows, according to Saint Paul, that cheerfulness can also be there for me at all times.

Today I remind myself of where my hope lies, in the resurrected Jesus Christ.  Then let cheerfulness spontaneously ignite in me.  The world sorely needs a dose of cheer from me today.

Lord Jesus, You are the source of my hope today.  I place my trust in You.  Let my cheerfulness be an encouragement to those I meet today.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Peace of Mind

For those who live according to the flesh
are concerned with the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the spirit
with the things of the spirit. 
The concern of the flesh is death,
but the concern of the spirit is life and peace.

Rms.8:5,6

Saint Paul clarifies the battleground between flesh and spirit within all of us.  It is the battle for the death or life of my soul.

It could be said that this battle for the soul only makes sense when viewed with an eternal perspective. After all, fleshly life looks pretty good at times.  But at the times I have succumbed to my fleshly desires I have noticed any satisfaction is at best only fleeting.  Toys get lost or broken.  The batteries eventually go flat.  The extra glass of wine leaves a headache.

When I successfully deny my flesh and embrace my spiritual life, such as getting out of a warm bed for prayer time this morning, I experience that life and peace about which Saint Paul writes.  

DC Talk say it well in their song "Mind's Eye";

You'll never find peace of mind in your pool of self

You'll never find peace of mind in a sea of wealth

You'll never find peace of mind in your rock and roll

You'll never find peace of mind if you sell your soul 

You gotta like it, you gotta love it

I know you need some freedom from the strife

You gotta like it, you gotta love it

I know you need some Jesus in your life

Today I seek peace of mind in Jesus in my life.

Thank you Jesus for the life and peace you give me.  I place my trust in You.

Little Flower, please pray for me.

Temptation

1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,  Nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers. Rather, the law of the LORD is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night.

Ps.1:1,2

The psalmist describes how we fall into sin;  we walk along side, we stand, we sit.  The causal dalliance ends up with deliberate wallowing.

Just recently I was giving advice to a young man who was struggling with a relationship with a girl that he knew was going nowhere.  I advised him not to tempt his temptation, as the temptation always wins.  This comes from my own experience.

The psalm gives the antidote to drifting into sin. God's Law.  Joy comes from meditating on it.  I'm experiencing that joy right now as I meditate on today's psalm.  God always presents a way out from sin's temptation.  I just have to grab it.

Thank you Father in heaven, that you lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.

Little Flower, please pray for me.