Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many - Matthew 20:26-28.
These words perfectly describe what we are called to do. As Christians, as a apostles, as disciples of Christ we are not to count the cost for Christ did not count the cost. We are called to serve, and not always as we may expect. We are called to suffer, and we should not allow suffering to go wasted. We should give it to God. You may have heard me, or others so offer it up or lift it up - which means, when you're having a bad day you say God, I give it you. We should offer our suffering to God for the good of others, ourselves, and the Church.
My dear brothers and sisters, no matter how little your suffering may seem, if you turn it to God, and make it a prayer it will become fruitful, and easier to handle. Jesus will never give us more than we can handle. We must trust him to guide us, as we begin to serve Him, learn to serve Him, and continue to serve Him all throughout our lives!
If even one soul makes a decision to serve Jesus in a consistent way, the world begins to change. -Blessed Mother
Again you feel the weight of My cross. Unite your sufferings to Me, child, that I may benefit souls. Father is My servant. You may trust his guidance. I will leave nothing to chance and you should stop questioning My plan, method, or goals. All you need do is be at peace and do the work I ask you to do. I will never leave you. And you will never fail Me in this regard, because it is My work. Be an example of peace to your brothers and sisters...
If you are a follower, your holiness will shine from within you and that is what they will identify. Be at peace. Fear is not from Me and does not draw you closer to Me. You must strive for confidence in your God. I will be with you, even until the end of time. Your sufferings will console you greatly later, when you join Me. You will never be sorry you suffered for your Jesus. I am bringing you along and soon you will no longer feel the weight of this cross. -Jesus
Check out www.directionforourtimes.com to learn more about the quotes I posted from Jesus and the Blessed Mother
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Our Lady of Consolation, Pray for us!
Monday and Tuesday of this week I had the pleasure of going to Cedar Point and to a shrine honoring Mary, Our Lady of Consolation. It was such a beautiful trip because on Monday we were crazy and had fun riding roller coasters and hanging out, but there was just constant noise between the number of people, music, and of course ROLLER COASTERS!!!! And then Tuesday was quiet. We celebrated the mass, had lunch, had an hour of quiet reflection to just wander about the shrine & it's accompanying park, and closed with an hour of Eucharistic adoration. Such a beautiful day. For our Holy hour, our youth minister, Dan DeMatte, gave a brief reflection on our Lady. He talked about how we tend to seek comfort and consolation in this world. A few examples in my life -
When I'm feeling down in the dumps I will eat chocolate, potato chips, candy, ice cream, etc. - thinking it will comfort me.
When I'm feeling exhausted I will sit in front of the television and watch a pointless, meaningless movie - think it will console me
When my body is really sore from 3 hours of sand volleyball, after being at camp for a week and going to Cedar Point - I just want to lounge and do nothing productive what so ever - which falls into aimlessly staring at the television or sleeping for a ridiculous amount of time.
I'm positive there are many other examples in every person's life, these are just a few to help get my point across.
Something Dan told us to do was rather than seeking our comfort and consolation in food or television or the internet/computer we should seek consolation and comfort from Mary.
Mary is our mother. She loves us as her own children. She desires for us to be peaceful, calm, and rested; capable to serve the Kingdom. If we seek her out when we're feeling neglected in our group of friends instead of stewing in our anger, we will be 1. more pleasing to God 2. feel 1000x better than if we stewed in our anger or sought consolation in food/television/computer.
Therefore, I encourage you to seek out our Lady. Mary desires to pour out graces on our souls. She desires to love us as the children we are. Next time you are in need of comfort and consolation turn Mary, our queen and our Mother. You can say a Hail Mary, or simply say Our Lady of Consolation, pray for us. Call on Mary, and you will receive grace!
Mary, Our Lady of Consolation, Pray for us!
When I'm feeling down in the dumps I will eat chocolate, potato chips, candy, ice cream, etc. - thinking it will comfort me.
When I'm feeling exhausted I will sit in front of the television and watch a pointless, meaningless movie - think it will console me
When my body is really sore from 3 hours of sand volleyball, after being at camp for a week and going to Cedar Point - I just want to lounge and do nothing productive what so ever - which falls into aimlessly staring at the television or sleeping for a ridiculous amount of time.
I'm positive there are many other examples in every person's life, these are just a few to help get my point across.
Something Dan told us to do was rather than seeking our comfort and consolation in food or television or the internet/computer we should seek consolation and comfort from Mary.
Mary is our mother. She loves us as her own children. She desires for us to be peaceful, calm, and rested; capable to serve the Kingdom. If we seek her out when we're feeling neglected in our group of friends instead of stewing in our anger, we will be 1. more pleasing to God 2. feel 1000x better than if we stewed in our anger or sought consolation in food/television/computer.
Therefore, I encourage you to seek out our Lady. Mary desires to pour out graces on our souls. She desires to love us as the children we are. Next time you are in need of comfort and consolation turn Mary, our queen and our Mother. You can say a Hail Mary, or simply say Our Lady of Consolation, pray for us. Call on Mary, and you will receive grace!
Mary, Our Lady of Consolation, Pray for us!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Pray for Priests
The past week I was at Catholic Youth Summer Camp (cysc.com), and it was a beautiful experience. I was small group leader/counselor to 8 girls. They were all so beautiful, and the Holy Spirit truly worked this week, shining through them.
Anywho, something really struck me this week - the importance to pray for priests. One night, a speaker talked about how important it is to pray for priests and this struck me. I mean, I'd been told before that it's important to pray for them, but she talked about why it's necessary - and that is because the devil attacks them most especially since they are Christ to this world. They administer the sacraments, and live for God - so why wouldn't the devil attack them? Also, one of the cars had a bumper sticker that said pray for priests and it was a constant reminder to me, and every time I walked by the car I thought about it. Then, we have various priests come to camp to celebrate daily mass for us. One of them, who was with us for 3 days, was ordained about 6 weeks ago. Which means he has been a priest for 6 weeks. I spoke with him for quite a while and we talked about praying for priests. When he said to me, and the people I was with, please pray for priests, his sincerity and genuineness when asking for our prayers made my heart just reach out to him. Fr. Ty Tomson was such a blessing to all the youth this week.
Therefore, I encourage you all to pray for priests. Simply say a Hail Mary for them. You can do more of course, but start there. Then, as your prayer life grows you can pray for priests more by offering rosaries for them, and your mass.
God Bless!
Mary Help of Christians, pray for us!
Anywho, something really struck me this week - the importance to pray for priests. One night, a speaker talked about how important it is to pray for priests and this struck me. I mean, I'd been told before that it's important to pray for them, but she talked about why it's necessary - and that is because the devil attacks them most especially since they are Christ to this world. They administer the sacraments, and live for God - so why wouldn't the devil attack them? Also, one of the cars had a bumper sticker that said pray for priests and it was a constant reminder to me, and every time I walked by the car I thought about it. Then, we have various priests come to camp to celebrate daily mass for us. One of them, who was with us for 3 days, was ordained about 6 weeks ago. Which means he has been a priest for 6 weeks. I spoke with him for quite a while and we talked about praying for priests. When he said to me, and the people I was with, please pray for priests, his sincerity and genuineness when asking for our prayers made my heart just reach out to him. Fr. Ty Tomson was such a blessing to all the youth this week.
Therefore, I encourage you all to pray for priests. Simply say a Hail Mary for them. You can do more of course, but start there. Then, as your prayer life grows you can pray for priests more by offering rosaries for them, and your mass.
God Bless!
Mary Help of Christians, pray for us!
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