From My Prayer Journal (Again)

You are insulted so often, Jesus. People are so horrible to You. You've only ever been all loving and Self-giving, sweet Lord. Why do they say they hate You? You are so good to us, sweet Jesus. You died because of love for us. You are ever-present in the Eucharist out of love for us. God the Father created us out of His love and by that same wondrous gift we are in existence still. How can I complain about "injustices" in my life when such a terrible one is committed against You? O ever humble Jesus, Your mercy is astounding. I love You. Not as You deserve but I shall keep trying with Your help to love You more and more. Most merciful Lord, there are no words to describe Your goodness.

“Mental prayer is nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent heart-to-heart conversation with Him by whom we know ourselves to be loved.”

-Saint Teresa of Avila

"O Jesus, here present in the Holy Eucharist, Thy Heart is all aglow with love for me! 

Thou dost call me, Thou dost urge me to come to Thee, yea, more: Thou dost descend from Thy throne, Thou dost leave Thy tabernacle to enter my poor heart.

Thou dost crave to dwell in my heart. Ah, that I could prepare Thee a fitting abode! Send forth the fire of Thy love and in Thy mercy make my cold,tepid heart burn for Thee. Amen."

-St. Ildephons

I was sitting in a room at school,reading this prayer book at it was just perfect :] It was really dreary and rainy outside and it made this prayer even more incredible to me

"Dearest Lord! Make us remember, when the world is cold and dreary and we know not where to turn for comfort, that there is always one spot bright and cheerful - the Sanctuary. When we are in desolation of spirit; when all who are dear to us have passed away, like summer flowers, and none are left to love and care for us, whisper to our troubled souls that there is one friend who dies not - one whose love never changes - Jesus on the altar.

When sorrows thicken and crush us with their burden, when we look in vain for comfort, let Thy dear words come forth with full force from the tabernacle: "Come to Me all ye who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh ye." Thy friendship, dearest Lord, henceforth shall be the dearest treasure we possess. It shall compensate for the treachery and ingratitude of creatures.

It shall be our consolation when the wild flowers are growing over the best-loved ones, and when all who hold a dear place in our hearts are withered and gone. With Thy friendship the world shall never be dreary, and life never without a charm. Would that we could realize the pure happiness of possessing Thy sympathy. Would that we could feel - when we are crushed and humbled - when the hope we have lived for has withered - when sorrows and trials that we dare not reveal to any, make our souls sick well nigh unto death - when we look in vain for someone to understand us, one who will enter into our miseries, make us remember that there is One on the altar who knows every fiber of our hearts, every sorrow, every pain special to our peculiar natures, and who deeply sympathizes with us, and to suffer seems nothing to the bitterness of suffering alone."

-Fr. Augustine

Seven Great Blessings

 "The Rosary recited with meditation on the mysteries brings about the following marvelous results:

1. It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ;

2. It purifies our souls, washing away sin;

3. It gives us victory over all our enemies;

4. It makes it easy for us to practice virtue;

5. It sets us on fire with love of  Our Blessed Lord;

6. It enriches us with graces and merits;

7. It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men, and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God."

- The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis De Montford

I just loved this so much and it's helped me to remember these things while I'm praying a rosary. I just wanted to share :)

From "An Open Letter To 'Diognetus'"

These are excerpts from my history reading for tonight and it was a nice surprise! (The author is anonymous.)

"The Almighty Himself, the Creator of the universe, the God whom no eye can discern, has sent down His very own Truth from heaven, His own holy and incomprehensible Word, to plant it among men and ground it in their hearts. To this end He has not, as one might imagine, sent to mankind some servant of His, some angel or prince; it is none of the great ones of earth, nor even one of the vice-gerents of heaven. It is no other than the universal Artificer and Constructor Himself, by whose agency God made the heavens and set the seas their bounds; whose mystic word the elements of creation submissively obey; by whom the sun is assigned the limits of his course by day, and at whose command by night the obedient moon unveils her beams, and each compliant star follows circling in her train. Ordainer, Disposer, and Ruler of all things is he; of heaven and all that heaven holds, of earth and all that is in earth, of sea and every creature therein; of fires, ether, and bottomless pit; of things above, and things below, and things in the midst. Such was the Messenger God sent to men.

And was his coming, as a man might suppose, in power, in terror, and in dread? Not so;  it was in gentleness and humility. As a king sending his royal son, so sent He him; as God He sent him; as Man to men He sent him; and that because He was fain to save us by persuasion, and not by compulsion - for there is no compulsion found with God. His mission was no pursuit or hounding of us, it was an invitation to us; it was in love, not in judgement that He sent him (though one day He will indeed send him to judge us, and then who shall abide the day of him coming?)"

"How surpassing is the love and tenderness of God! In that hour, instead of hating us and rejecting us and remembering our wickedness against us, He showed how long-suffering He is. He bore with us, and in pity took our sins upon Himself and gave His own Son as a ransom for us - the Holy for the wicked, the Sinless for the sinners, the Just for the unjust, the Incorrupt for the corrupt, the Immortal for the mortal. For was there, indeed, anything except His righteousness that could have availed to cover our sins? In whom could we, in our lawlessness and ungodliness, have been made holy, but in the Son of God alone? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable working! O benefits unhoped for! - that the wickedness of multitudes should thus be hidden in the One holy, and the holiness of One sanctify the countless wicked!"

Ramblerambleramble =)

Today I brought my (prayer) journal to work. During my break I just sat,prayed and wrote. It was really nice :) I was thinking about how amazing it is that God wants a personal relationship with us. I mean He is everything. He is the Lord of all. He is more than I could ever imagine. He is glorious, majestic, beautiful,powerful and absolutely remarkable and He wants a personal,intimate relationship with me. I think that's just amazing. 

I was also just thinking how little and silly my daily worries are in comparison to the promise of eternal life. I mean, it really struck me to think that I (sitting on a milk crate in a basement surrounded by supplies) am promised incomprehensible eternal bliss.. I don't know. It's something I hear all the time but at that moment while praying I just found it all so mind blowing! And I felt bad for all those people who don't know Him.

This one lady knew came into the store and when she recognize me she said "Jesus Christ! It's you!" and I was just thinking, you know, He loves this woman so much. He wants her to know Him and let Him make His love more apparent in her life...and she just yells out His name without a second thought.

I've been thinking alot lately about the value of each day. It's mostly because I was talking to one of my friends and she said how she wants to live each moment of everyday well and try to help others because she has such a clear understanding of how much our lives our God's and they are a gift. She says she doesn't know if she'll be around the next day or even the next 5 mins so she wants to try her best to bring Joy in other people's lives. I just found that so inspiring! And I was thinking about it.. It's so true! God doesn't owe us anything. The gift of a new day is not owed to us. God gives it as a gift and every single day has meaning and purpose or else He wouldn't have granted it. I mean, He doesn't just do things for the heck of it. I don't know - this is something I need to do way more of in my life. I'm the type of person who often thinks "Oh,in a year/month/week things will be better and I'll be happy. Then I can really start living." But, I cannot just waste the precious time God has given me. I am so grateful He put this friend in my life to show me this.

After Mass musings

When I go to Mass and I'm praying after receiving the Eucharist I always think of so many great things I want to remember but I'm never able to after Mass. So I decided to bring my prayer journal to daily Masses and take time to write what I feel. This is what I wrote after Mass today. It's more in the form of a prayer but I thought it would be best to leave it this way.

"Holy Spirit, please set my heart on Fire with committed, faithful love of God. Help me to always be mindful of what I do and how I reflect Him. 
My God, all that I do should be in accordance with Your will. You are more that a Lord. You are my Lord. My Comforter. Friend. Shelter. Protector. =)  You are my Joy. You give me life and are always there to hold my hand and lead me through the rough times. You won't let me fall. You fought for me till death. I love You."

Amazing YouTube Channel...

http://www.youtube.com/user/RebornPureAdmin

For You I Wait

I am always there for you,

But you choose not to see.

You live your life, trying to gain,

But what you need is Me.

All these earthly pleasures here

Can never hope to match

What I have for you, My dear,

The treasures that will last.

Much to you I want to give,

But you won't turn to Me.

I gave My Son just for you,

But this you won't believe.

Regardless of your feelings,

Never are you too late.

Forever I am faithful.

My child, for you I wait.

Kutless - Amazed

I just LOVE this song.

Love III - George Herbert

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning

If I lack'd any thing.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";

Love said, "You shall be he."

"I, the unkind, ungrateful? ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee."

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame

Go where it doth deserve."

"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"

"My dear, then I will serve."

"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."

So I did sit and eat.

"The Lord is compassionate towards His works." or something to that effect. That was the responsorial at today's Mass. I loved it. Too often I think of God as simply a judge. When I don't pray well or enough all I think of is His disappointment or anger with me. I feel grateful that He hasn't given up on me but I also feel it wouldn't matter if I just gave up on myself. This is why I loved this psalm - it reminded me that He wants us to succeed. He wants us to do well and be close to Him. We are His works. He made us with plan,purpose and love. He loves us. He has a plan for each one of us and often we'll have no idea what it could be, but by staying close to God we're sure to find it. When we fail He doesn't want us to punish ourselves and give up. He wants us to succeed! He won't get fed up with us. He truly cares and wants the best life possible for us. And that is a life close to Him.

So I went to 5pm Mass with my mom today and was going to my job training right after. I was really nervous because although I didn't mess up last time I was just scared of making mistakes. During most of the Mass I was praying it would go well and just was preoccupied with that. 

The lyrics to the communion hymn were "I receive the living God and my heart is full of Joy." It just made me stop&think. I have received GOD...And I'm worried about something as small as job training? hmm. 

This happened once at a noon Mass during the school day,too. When I receive the Eucharist it always makes all my worries seem so insignificant. Just trying to imagine all His glory and power...and just the greatness of what I have right then makes everything else seem not important :]

A great verse refound..

"At Horab they fashioned a calf, worshiped a metal statue. They exchanged their God for the image of  a grass-eating bull." 

- Psalms 106:19-20

I love that verse. It really puts things in perspective for me. It makes it seem so ridiculous that anybody would choose a metal cow over God. But that's what our sin is, right? We choose sin over God. We may not realize it at the time but when we step back and look at it, it's shocking. To see the temporary, silly things we choose over our God and all the wonderful things that He is. It's as ridiculous as worshiping a statue of a cow.

We have been given so much. Nothing is better or more satisfying than God. And He loves us! Our sin doesn't love us or make us better people. That power is God's.