Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion. JOEL 2:12-13
ISAIAH 43:16-21
My Soul's Beloved,
We were created to find our completeness and wholeness in allowing You to love us and returning that love with all our might and strength. We are truly children of God and come into our inheritance as daughters and sons when we acknowledge who God is - the Triune God - the Father, our Creator, the Son, our Redeemer and Savior, the Holy Spirit, our Helper and Paraclete. With God on our side, we will triumph and will always walk in the Light and, doing so, will always possess the fullness of Your abundant life in us.
Beloved, we thank You for the confidence we can have in You that no matter how difficult the way, despite any challenges we are called to face, as high as the waves may grow, the winds may batter us yet You are God with us, and when we rely on You we have no reason to fear anything. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so will we rest quietly in Your love.
Thank You, Beloved, that once we confess our sins and return to You with contrite hearts and humble spirits, You remember our transgressions no more. You forget them. Help us never to be afraid to approach You in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for every sinner will find there the welcome and the joy the prodigal son experienced when his dad, seeing him return home from a distance, ran all the way rejoicing as he went to meet him, greet him, embrace him, and restore once more all that he had squandered and lost.
Thank You, Beloved, for the Church and the Sacraments You instituted and which the Church administers to us. They supply us with all we need to make our pilgrim journey from this life to the next.
No need to recall the past,
no need to think about what was done before.
See, I am doing a new deed,
even now it comes to light; can you not see it?
Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness,
paths in the wilds.
no need to think about what was done before.
See, I am doing a new deed,
even now it comes to light; can you not see it?
Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness,
paths in the wilds.
The wild beasts will honour me,
jackals and ostriches,
because I am putting water in the wilderness
(rivers in the wild)
to give my chosen people drink.
The people I have formed for myself
will sing my praises.
PSALM 125(126)
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
jackals and ostriches,
because I am putting water in the wilderness
(rivers in the wild)
to give my chosen people drink.
The people I have formed for myself
will sing my praises.
PSALM 125(126)
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,
it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
on our lips there were songs.
The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels
the Lord worked for them!’
What marvels the Lord worked for us!
Indeed we were glad.
the Lord worked for them!’
What marvels the Lord worked for us!
Indeed we were glad.
Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage
as streams in dry land.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.
They go out, they go out, full of tears,
carrying seed for the sowing:
they come back, they come back, full of song,
carrying their sheaves.
they come back, they come back, full of song,
carrying their sheaves.
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
PHILIPPIANS 3:8-14
My Soul's Beloved,
Our salvation most certainly did not come cheap but came at a great price - it cost God His only Son. 'God so loved the world, the He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.' Clothed in human flesh, You became like us in all things save sin and bore took on Yourself the punishment we had to pay for our transgressions. The wages of sin is death, and You entered into this death that we rightly deserved and, in exchange, shared with us Your glorious victory over sin and death.
My Lord, St. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, reminds us that while we can do nothing to earn our salvation, nor could we ever afford it for it is priceless, we certainly are eternally Your debtors for paying it on our behalf. However, he reminds us how we are to view the gift of life we've been given and how to live it if we are to be always pleasing to God. As Catholics, we have the supreme advantage of belonging to the Church that You founded with Peter as its visible head. St. Paul recognized the primacy of Peter, and we do, too. This is why she has not fallen and will never fall prey to the beguiling wiles of the Enemy.
The Church holds the treasures of the doctrines given by You, and she is the sole arbiter of how her members are to conduct their lives with regard to faith and morals. We hold fast to her teachings. We are guided by her. We are obedient to the Laws of God. We keep the Commandments. We rely on the Holy Spirit and the abundant graces readily available to all baptized Catholics, and grace alone will bring us safe to the Kingdom of God.
We thank You, Beloved, for the Apostles, for St. Paul, and for the Church. Grant us always to be subject to her, humble, obedient, docile, childlike, and we can confidently trust her to assist us as we navigate the perils of this world until we reach safe harbor.
https://lovesongstothebeloved.blogspot.com/2009/07/sinner-john-83-11.html
'Let the one among you who has not sinned be the first to throw a stone'
'Let the one among you who has not sinned be the first to throw a stone'
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