Waiting for God

If God at times seems to be slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift.  He will not deny us.  We well know that the long-awaited gift is all the more precious for the delay in its being granted… Ask, seek, insist.  Through this asking and seeking you will be better prepared to receive God’s gift when it comes.  God withholds what you are not yet ready for.  He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts.  All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.  (St. Augustine, Catena Aurea) 

Where to Look

Our Mother Mary will teach us how to live entirely for God’s glory.  Don’t ever lose the supernatural point of view.  Correct your intention as the course of a ship is corrected on the high seas – by looking at the star, by looking at Mary.  Then you will always be sure of reaching harbor. --- ICWG, Fr Fernandez and The Forge, St Josemaria Escriva

A Bruised Reed He Will NOT Break...

In spite of these disappointments God returns with renewed generosity time and time again to look for results.  This is the patience of God (2 Peter 3:9) towards souls.  He does not become discourage by our lack of correspondence.  He knows how to wait.  He sees our faults and failings but He also sees our capacity for doing good.  The Lord never gives up on any soul.  He trusts through thick and thin. 

Isaiah 42:3  …a bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not quench.

In Conversation with God, twenty-ninth Saturday in Ordinary Time

Perseverance in Prayer

The Lord wants to grant us His graces, but He also wants us toesk for them.  Do not complain to Me if you are not filled with blessings.  Complain to yourselves for not having sought what you need.  From now on all of Me and your prayers will be answered. ---  St. Alphonsus Liguori

Let us resolve to pray as Moses did.  Exodus 17:8-13.  With perseverance nothing could shake...and at times with the help of his friends.

Let us examine the quality of our prayer today.  Is it persevering, trusting, insistent, tireless?  If so, this will be the source of peace, cheerfulness and serenity, do it will make you humanly and supernaturally effective.  --- St. Josemaria Escriva and Father Francis Fernandez from In Conversation with God

A great deal depends on our devotion.  There is nothing more powerfully effective than steadfast prayer...  ICWG

I'd ask you to pray for several of my closet friends and their special intentions concerning family members as well as for our priests and religious, the poor souls on purgatory, the ill, those in need of conversion, our youth, peace and unity in our families, country, world, etc.  Good bless you!

Prayer - it's SO important!

"It is not surprising that the devil does everything in his power to get us to lessen the time of our personal dialogue with the Lord or to do it poorly."  ---  St. Jean Vianney, The Cure d'Ars, Homilies on Prayer

Prayer is the foundation of faithful perseverance in the Lords' service.  "A person who does not stop going forward will eventually arrive... There is no greater cause of straying from the path of faithful perseverance than letting up in prayer."  ---  St. Teresa of Avila, Life

We must prepare for prayer carefully beforehand, realizing we are in the presence of the living and glorious Christ!  "Look at that senseless set of reasons the enemy gives you for abandoning prayer.  'I have no time' - when you are constantly wasting it.  'This is not for me.' 'My heart is dry...'  Prayer is not a question of what you say or feel, but of love.  And you love when you try hard to say something to the Lord, even though you might not actually say anything."  --- St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow

Let us make a resolution never to slacken in our devotion to prayer.  May we always dedicate the best possible time and place to it, in front of the tabernacle as often as we possibly can, trying to not give in to voluntary distractions.  We pray so that we may encounter the living Christ, who is awaiting us, who is our Best Friend.  Many of our difficulties will disappear when we pause to consider that we are in the presence of God.  Prepare by saying something like, "My Lord and My God, I firmly believe that You are here (within the tabernacle and within my soul), that You see me, You hear me, smile upon me and send Your graces upon me.  I adore You with profound reverence.  Help me make my time of prayer with You fruitful!  Mother Mary, St. Joseph, Guardian Angel, pray for me!  Holy Spirit, guide me to know and do God's will with a cheerful heart!"

May God bless you with a terrific day! No matter what happens, try offering it back to Him and thanking Him for it whether or not you enjoy it! ;)

Joy

"Joy is an abiding God-given reality; a fruit of the Holy Spirit characterized by  a profound serenity and inner peace which flows from allowing oneself to be embraced by God's love and is capable of withstanding all the trials and tribulations of life."  ~Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus
Others
Youself

Silence

In our world of almost eternal distraction we need this esteem for silence, this admirable and indispensable condition for our spirit, assaulted as it is by such a deafening clamour…   O blesses silence of Nazareth!  Teach us recollection; teach us interior life; teach us to be docile to good inspirations and trustworthy spiritual guides.  Teach us the value of study, of meditation, of interior life, of the secret prayer that is only heard by God.    ---  In Conversation with God, italicized part by Paul VI, Address in Nazareth, 5 January 1964