No Such Thing As Soul Mates

"In the beginning of creation God made them male and female, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to this wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined." - Mark 10:6-9

I really hate it when people use the term "soul mate." To me, it means that two people match each other perfectly, never argue, and are always considerate and caring with each other. Unfortunately, this doesn't exist. Real love is about unconditional love that accepts the ugly as openly as it accepts the good. Soul mates don't exist because human beings have to put real effort into relationships, giving of ourselves completely in order to forget about self and attend to the needs of another. Many marriages fail because people become consumed with being happy and being understood by their partner, when Christ taught us that happiness comes from serving and understanding the other. Jesus is the perfect example of this type of love. He never asked if we loved Him in return, He never asked us to pay Him more attention, He never asked us to change anything or to do more for Him, instead, He gave up everything to the point of death, putting Himself last and the needs of His beloved first. Jesus showed His love with blood, sweat, and tears, not with I love you's and butterflies in His stomach. He was killed and He still loves us, He was betrayed and He still loves us. He gives and gives and gives and recieves very little back, but He still loves us and isn't going anywhere.

My parents have been married for 28 years. What I've learned from them is that a real relationship is a lot of work; it doesn't come easy at all. They didn't teach me this with words, but I've seen them as they sacrifice themselves for the other, going that extra mile after a long day, and forgiving and accepting the other through disagreements. Sometimes things don't get resolved, but they remain dedicated to the other. I believe that in order to do this, we must have Jesus in our lives to learn from Him about choosing forgiveness and mercy over what's in it for ourselves, and in this way, we can move from a selfish love to an unconditional, life-long love.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You showed us what it really means to love, to deny what we want in order to serve the one we love. Give me strength in order to see that the purest happiness is to see the one we love happy. Allow me to follow Your example always. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Path To Knowledge

"God knows that I love you dearly with the love of Christ Jesus, and in my prayers I ask that your love may lead you each day to a deeper knowledge and clearer discernment." - Philippians 1:8-9

The Holy Spirit is alive in scripture. If we ask Him to open our minds so we can understand the Word, He teaches us amazing things we never noticed before. I was just blown away by this verse in Paul's letter to the Philippians - "that your love may lead you each day to a deeper knowledge and clearer discernment"… love is the true way to knowledge and discernment! It's not how much we study or the school we went to, or even any kind of street smarts, but all perfect knowledge and enlightenment is attained by love. And it makes sense because only when we love do we see that no one knows the human heart except for God, so we have compassion for others instead of holding them accountable for what we judge as wrong or annoying. We act with patience which leads to understanding, instead of anger which leads to darkness. If we have love, we are self-less, and only seek what is truly best for people instead of a tainted result. Best of all, if we love we are walking closer to God, who is the source of all wisdom and knowledge. And God, who is pleased with a humble and loving heart, will reward us by opening our minds to the knowledge and truth to understand and appreciate all of His creation.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for teaching me that love is the path to knowledge. I pray that You fill my heart with love for You and others, and lead me down the path to true wisdom. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Precious In His Sight

"Since you are precious in my sight, and important - for I have loved you, I give men in exchange for you and people in return for your life." - Isaiah 43:4

There are some days we feel misunderstood and alone. Sometimes it just feels like no one is on our side and everything is going wrong. These are the times when only the love of our Father in Heaven can uplift us. When I read this verse in Isaiah, it's as if the entire world disappears and I am alone with God who tells me how precious I am in His sight. Just when I feel I can't manage to get anything right or that nothing is going to work out for me, He tells me how He exchanges and returns things for my well-being. It doesn't even matter who doesn't believe in me or who puts me down, I have my God with me. If we really believe in God, then we must know how much He loves us and all the lengths He goes through to protect us. These words of God should make us feel how much we're worth. They should build great confidence in us. They should melt away all fears and lead us to trust in His promises.

Today's Prayer:
My God, thank You for loving me
so much. You always tell me not to fear, help me keep all my trust in You and Your Word. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Need Your Help

"The upright will ask Him: 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food; thirsty and give you drink, or a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to see you?' The King will answer, 'Truly, I say to you: whenever you did this to one of the least, of these my brothers, you did it to me'" - Matthew 25:37-40

For a while now there's been a ministry I've wanted to start and I would like you to help me. Jesus calls us to be light and salt of the world - light which shines and let's people see our faith and salt that preserves the faith of His people. This blog, these messages are light because God speaks through this and builds our faith, but we're missing the salt. When Jesus asks me if I fed His people, gave drink to His people, clothed them, welcomed them, I can't say that I have, but I want to. That's where you come in… please join me to become salt. I would like to start a community of people that join together to identify needs and work together to provide for those needs. For example, if one of us knows someone who needs some money and doesn't have the resources, we join together to help. If one of us knows someone who is going on an interview and can't afford a formal outfit, we join together to help. Or even if we know someone who is older and just needs some company, we join together to help.

Even if you're someone who doesn't particularly like to go to church or pray often, for being a part of something like this, God will immensely bless you and give you much more than what you will be giving away.

Please pray about this and get back to me so we can build this for the sake of others. Jesus will be asking you…

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, by Your grace You have given me so much. I am Your hands and Your feet, use me to do Your work for Your people. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Don't Fall

"For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. So do not be afraid: you are worth much more than many sparrows." - Matthew 10:29-30

I always had faith since I was a kid. I probably didn't pray very much and one hour of church on Sunday was a big deal for me, but I considered myself a person of faith anyway. When I turned 16, I experienced a special call from God, but with time, I went back to being lukewarm, not actively working on my relationship with God, putting other things first. About a year ago, something changed and I began to really feel like I needed Him more and more. One day, as I prayed kneeling down in my room, I felt the presence of God, of the Holy Spirit surround me and my eyes watered up with tears. I found myself crying, not out of sadness, but out of love… God was letting me feel His love for me, and it was something so amazing that I was scared I would fall again and go back to my old ways of hardly praying and being lazy with my faith. The thought of cooling off from God scared me and hurt me so much that instead of kneeling, I completely bowed down to the ground and asked Jesus over and over again to please not let me fall as my tears fell on the floor. When I lifted my head up again, I grabbed my bible and prayed to God to show me a passage that would tell me what to do, how to keep on following Him… and when I opened the bible to a random page, I got my answer… my finger landed on these two verses… for a few cents, two sparrows can be bought, but not one of them falls without my Father's consent… He's got every hair of my head counted…I shouldn't be afraid of falling because I am worth so much to Him.

And you are worth so much to Him as well. Don't let Spiritual laziness or life distractions keep you from knowing this incredible love of God and how much you mean to Him.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, I want to get to know You better but my life gets in the way. Sometimes I am too busy or I am just too weak. Help me to overcome these distractions and start giving You the room You deserve. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Mercy

"For God had given us the Law through Moses, but Truth and Loving-kindness came through Jesus Christ." - John 1:17

All of my life, I have followed the correct path. I hardly ever gave my parents any trouble. I was the teacher's pet and have always been called the goody goody by those who know me. Because of this, I painfully confess, I have often judged others because they weren't like me. I wouldn't admit it then, but now I realize I thought myself better. All this time I have been really good at following the law, doing what's right and staying away from bad. But my heart had been in being proud of myself for being right, while true goodness from the heart was lacking.

God has given us His law, but each of us knows the difference between right and wrong. What about mercy? Mercy is an undeserved gift from God. That is what Jesus brought to us with His life, death, and resurrection. True love and kindness have been given to us by Jesus. That means that because He loves us, not because we have been good, and even when we've been bad, Jesus forgives us without merit. He washes away sin. He washes away guilt. He washes away any pain we carry in the heart. It really doesn't matter what we've done in the past. God doesn't look at us like I would have in the past. If you weren't "good' like me, I would have thought less of you. But not God. The further you feel from Him, the more He wants to hold you, embrace you, keep you safe in His arms. He doesn't seek our righteousness but our mercy… that we love others in this way. That we see that we all come from the same Father. This way, no one can ever feel better than anyone else since all we have is because God has been loving and merciful, and has blessed us.

Please, don't make the same mistake I've made if you feel this speaks to you as well. Ask Jesus to bless you with His mercy. We are all flawed and have all sinned, yet the Lord loves us despite of all these things. Abandon yourself in His mercy and share it with others.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, as imperfect as I am, with all my bad thoughts, deeds, and attitude, you still choose to love me and walk with me. I could never deserve you, but please change my heart. Humble me and make me pliable. Work through me and show me Your perfection. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Taking a Life

"You have heard that it was said to our people in the past: Do not commit murder; anyone who does kill will have to face trial. But now I tell you: whoever gets angry with his brother will have to face trial. Whoever insults his brother deserves to be brought before the council, whoever humiliates his brother deserves to be thrown into the fire of hell." - Matthew 5:21-22

After reading this verse I'm sure a good number of us are thinking we're going to be thrown in hell! Yes, we know murdering someone is wrong, but here, Jesus is warning that insulting someone is the same thing as murder. The act of murder is obviously terribly violent, but when we insult someone else, there is a lack of love that takes place. As a result of this, we fail to see the life of God in that person and therefore we are rejecting God. Murder has irrevocable consequences and similarly, think of times you have been seriously angry at someone, or them at you, has the relationship been fully mended or are there remnants of hurt and pain? All of this goes against the love and abundance of life God wants to give us, which is why to Jesus, insults and ill-managed anger are the same as taking someone's life. And many times, to the people we hurt, it feels like their lives have been taken away.

Watch yourselves and how you act. The bar has been set high, but not too high so that we can't reach it.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, forgive me for lacking in love for my brother. Forgive me for all offenses I've committed consciously and unconsciously. I have so much to learn but pray that You show me. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Be Set on Fire!

"May He enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God. May You know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for His saints; may you understand with what extraordinary power He acts in favor of us who believe. " - Ephesians 1:18-19

I've been asked a few times why I started to write about God and when I read Paul's letter to the Ephesians, I feel my heart race faster because this verse is exactly why I'm doing this. I have a need to express the love of God because I don't think a lot of people know Him very well. I feel like most people don't understand what He wants from us. It's not about rules or taking away things from our lives. On the contrary, it's about giving us so much more. We are all broken and each of us has wounds that never seem to heal. To me, God is this incredible, all encompassing force that surrounds me in the air I breathe. He's so strong and yet so gentle and when I'm in His presence, it's like being a child again cuddled up in my mother's arms. And this is what I urgently need you to feel. This is how I need you to see my God, your God, your Creator and your Lord Almighty. And like Paul says, I need you to understand what an incredible, fulfilling feeling it is to know that you are loved by God. How at the moment you come into the Lord's presence, your heart beats faster and the love you feel bursting forward cannot be contained. God wants to take care of you, nurture you. When you begin to experience this, you will be so humbled when you see how He goes over and beyond anything you could have ever expected from Him. I can't tell you how many times, just this week alone, I've broken down in tears because I've seen what He's done for me, the care He's shown me. Just when I think I know what to expect, He gives me so much more.

This is what I want for you. This is how I want you to feel. I want the Lord to open your eyes to His love and I want you to accept it, with all of your heart. Be set on fire. Seek Him every day. When you feel it, don't let it dim. Keep on nurturing the Spirit of God in you so that it grows bigger and you begin to live the life of abundance Jesus promised.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, I am so humbled by Your power and Your love. Thank You for letting Yourself be known to me. Thank You for revealing Yourself. I don't ever want to take You for granted or push You back further in my life from where You are today. Instead, help me be light and salt of the Earth so that I can make You proud and with others share in this love You have given me. In Your Name we pray, amen.

The Mark of God

"Do not sadden the Holy Spirit of God which you were marked with. It will be your distinctive mark on the day of salvation." - Ephesians 4:30

I just got engaged on New Year's and as I look at my ring, it's amazing how much it symbolizes. It represents a promise of love, commitment, fidelity and a number of other things. Now imagine if with every argument my boyfriend and I had, my ring would slowly chip away. How delicate the ring would be if our love and comprehension were what it depended on. This is the Holy Spirit in our lives. By being followers of Jesus Christ, we are marked by the Holy Spirit of God. The very life and power of God is in us as His promise of love, commitment, and fidelity to each and every one of us. The bible compares God's love for us as a marriage over and over again and the Holy Spirit residing in us is the sign of the commitment. But you can't take this gift for granted because unlike the ring, it does fade and can leave you. Anger, hate, betrayals, bitterness, gossip, all these things sadden the Holy Spirit because He cannot exist in the same soul as these evils. Allowing these things into your life slowly destroys you until God can no long dwell or work within you. This might be the reason why some people who have let sin constantly seep in have trouble finding God when they need Him; His Holy Spirit is dead within them.

The Holy Spirit is a treasure for you to take care of. He is how God functions in you. Watch what you say, do, think so that everything can be in accordance with what pleases God. The Holy Spirit within you is the mark God has given you to show the world you belong to Him.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You promised to send us the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us, please help us nurture this Spirit so we are always pleasing to You. Make clear to us what we should and shouldn't do so that You can dwell in us forever. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Love

"Love is patient, kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not ill-mannered nor does it seek its own interest. Love overcomes anger and forgets offenses. It does not take delight in wrong, but rejoices in truth. Love excuses everything, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." - 1st Corinthians 13:4-6

I think that this is one of the most beautiful passages in the bible. I know a lot of couples use this for their readings on their wedding day at mass, but the theme that Paul touches upon here is much broader than just romantic love. All values, beliefs, commandments, everything is based on love and the kindness we show to others. And the most important part of this love is that it be sincere, not showing love because we feel it's appropriate at certain situations, but to really, genuinely express love to others in the form of service. Love isn't love when we wait for others to do something for us first. Love isn't love when we keep a checklist of what others have done to us. No, love forgives, love first seeks the others' comfort before we seek our own. Love never ever rejoices at the downfall of another. Love expects the best out of people and love can withstand anything, even the biggest offenses. True love that comes from God can do this.

Not possible you're thinking? Guess again. I've heard of people that have forgiven the murderer of their own child. People that have put their own lives at risk to help strangers, like the man that jumped in front of a subway train to help someone who had fallen on the tracks. And then we have Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for us while His enemies laughed at Him, eventhough He was able to save Himself. None of this happens over night, but if you don't at least take baby steps every day to try to achieve more love each day, more service to a stranger, more patience to someone who gets on your nerves, you will have no love inside of you. No love is really having no life because all that is inside you is dead. No one could ever love you in the right way because you could never show them true love. But to achieve this we have our Lord to help us, who gives us much more than we could ever ask for or imagine, if we do truly seek to love as He loves.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, show me to love as You love. Right now, I can only really love those who love me and even then I don't serve them as I should. Open my heart, strengthen it so I can have the courage to forget all offenses in Your Name. Show me how to love perfectly and serve all of Your children, from the least to the greatest. In Your Name we pray, amen.

How To Accept Others

"Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace." - Ephesians 4:2-3


I'm an idealist. I take everything for face value and have often been called näive. Honestly, I believe everyone should be able to get along, speak openly and understand one another and it's been super painful to realize that this isn't the case, especially within families. I was reading Ephesians one day and came across this verse above. I was so struck by the word "bear." Saint Paul says we have to bear with one another. Me, being an idealist, thought to myself, "why bear? They were Christians! They're supposed to love each other and everything is supposed to be great!"But obviously, it wasn't if Paul had to address this issue.

And I'm coming to realize that people will always have issues with others, no matter how much love there is. We are all different, and that's ok because it's the way God made us. Some of us are punctual, some of us are always late, but either way, God made us all in those ways. We, and I do this a lot, tend to judge and think that if something isn't my way, then the other person is wrong. I've learned I have to grow as a person and understand that I'm not right all the time and I need to stretch and accept others the way they are. That's why Paul says to bear, because there will always be issues, differences, misunderstandings, but at the end of the day, we need to work in peace to find a solution. We need to treat others with kindness and try our best to understand and accept others for who they are. We need to learn to bear with one another, even when they're not stretching for us.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, thank You for opening my eyes to my own injustices. Thank You for teaching me to understand that different isn't wrong and I'm not always right. I pray that You bring this deep understanding to others so that we may all treat one another with kindness and learn to bear with one another in peace. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Forgiveness Through Love

"This is why, I tell you, her sins, her many sins, are forgiven, because of her great love." - Luke 7:47

One of the best feelings in the world is to be guilty of something and have the person you offended forgive you. I can think of so many times when my father forgave me for things after I have apologized. In recognizing my faults and asking for forgiveness, he saw I was repented and removed the burden from my shoulders. This made me appreciate him so much more. So it is with God; those that have had big sins forgiven, have more love because they are well aware of the sins they have been purified from. They show their appreciation for the Lord through their love for Him and for others. This love alone is worthy of forgiveness of many sins as in the case of the women in this bible passage. On the contrary, there are many that don't show love to anyone, only caring about themselves because they feel themselves lacking from sin and therefore not needing forgiveness. The sins of these people who believe themselves to be above forgiveness are often times much more offensive to God than the sins of murderers and prostitutes that have decided to lead their lives in love and compassion.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, show us how to love perfectly. Love for You and for others forgives a multitude of sins, of which You know I have many. Be with me as I choose to show that love in this world. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Releasing The Grudge

"As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he knelt down and said in a loud voice: 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' And when he had said this, he died." - Acts 7:59-60

In my bible, right next to this verse, I have written down, "how can we have such love?" And while many of you might not agree with this, but I admire Stephen, Christianity's first martyr, for having had the love and faith to ask for his murderers' forgiveness as he was dying. I wish I were like him. I wish I had his faith and his love because this is someone who is truly free. I believe that when someone hurts us, we hold on to that pain and that resentment, recalling it in our minds with hurt and anger, but it eats away at us while the other person is fine. Holding a grudge against another person is a burden we set ourselves up to carry. Letting it go is much easier said than done, but at the end of the day, is the toll it takes on us worth holding on to? Stephen knew it wasn't worth it. He was about to lose his life and understood that it is better to lose it, then hold on to any hate, especially when he was dying to show an example of faith in Christ. And most of the time, the people that hurt us, don't even know they're doing it, or understand why they're doing it. In Stephen's case, many of those who cast the stones just didn't understand his faith and feared a change in their culture and society. No one teaches anyone a lesson by staying angry, showing hate, or holding a grudge. We only hurt ourselves because we allow ourselves to get angry all over again and never heal. We encage ourselves and take away our own freedom.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, show us how to be truly free. It is inevitable that we get hurt by people but holding on to those grudges causes us more harm than the initial wound. I know You want us to live in love, but open our minds and hearts to follow Your example, then teach us to be an example for others. In Your Name we pray, amen.

No Record of Wrongs

"Love overcomes anger and forgets offenses." - 1st Corinthians 13:5

I know a girl who committed a sin she is very ashamed of. Immediately, the walls went up between her and God, but God wasn't the one who raised them, she did. I look at myself and think of the times I've offended someone and needed to apologize. I find that I keep my distance and not talk to the person, hoping they'll get over it because it makes me feel bad that they're so angry with me. It takes a lot to apologize so it's easier for me to stay away. A lot of us tend to take this route with the Lord. We do something we know God wouldn't like and/ or continue to do it, and we distance ourselves from God because of the guilt we feel, or because we think we're just not compatible with Him.

In this verse, Paul tells us that even though that's how we are, God is not like this. In his gospel, the apostle John said that God is love, and this God, who is perfect love, does not hold on to grudges from the times we have offended Him. Another translation says that love does not keep a record of wrongs. That's what we do! We keep a checklist of what others have done to us and we also keep a checklist of sins we've committed, reasons we've made up to justify why we stay away from God and why we're not worthy. We all need to take a step back and realize that God is love and God understands all that we go through. All we do in life is part of a journey we need to take to discover ourselves, so no sin should keep us away from trying to get back to God. He waits for each and every one of us with open arms. Forgetting our offenses, He always waits in love for our return.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, You are so good. You forget the sins I've commited and cast them out of Your site when I seek You. No matter what I've done, You still love me and wait for my return. Lord, don't ever let me forget Your great mercy, love and compassion for me. I love You. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Who Completes You?

"O Lord, you know me: you have scrutinized me. You know when I sit and when I rise; from far away you discern my thoughts. You observe my activities and times of rest; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is formed in my mouth, you know it entirely, O Lord." - Psalm 139:1-4

I think you're like me in that we want to be loved. We want someone who completes us. We want someone who knows us so well that they finish our sentences. We all want someone who is our soulmate, the one person that loves us and knows us better than anyone else. I'm coming to realize that we come so close to finding that person, but it never is complete. And it's not complete because we are all imperfect. We make mistakes, intentionally or not, that really hurt those we love the most. We let each other down. If we're in a bad mood, we take it out on those close to us. If we know we do that, then we can only expect our partner to do it to us from time to time. Therefore, who can actually really complete us? Who can actually see us and know exactly what we're thinking? Who is always there to listen to us and be that shoulder to cry on without fail? There is only One…the Lord our God, who knit us together in our mother's womb. He formed us, thought about us each second of the day to make sure we're ok. He's the only One who can see us for who we really are. He's the only One who understands our intentions or insecurities when others judge. And He's the only One who will love you unconditionally, giving you His best time after time. You are beloved in His eyes and He will never fail you.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your love and mercy. When others fail me, You are there. When I crave love that others can't give me, You fill me. Help me Lord to show others that You are there for them too, to fill those areas of their hearts that are cold and abandoned. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Lost Your First Love

"You have persevered and have suffered for my Name without losing heart. Nevertheless, I have this complaint against you: you have lost your first love. Remember from where you have fallen and repent, and do what you used to do before." - Revelation 2:4-5

For many of us, our relationship with God has reached its peaks and its valleys. When we're at our peak, our faith is so alive and we see God's hand in all things. And at the valleys, sin drags us down, the appeals of the world draw us in and we lose sight of God and occupy our time with other things. It is to people that are at these valleys that Jesus speaks to here. He accuses us of losing our first love, that is, that strong devotion we once had to Him. Remember how purely you believed at one point, how innocent you were in the presence of God. Do you still feel like that? Have you lost your first love? If you have, then Jesus says to go back to doing what you used to do before. If you would read the bible daily, go back to it. If you would pray the rosary daily, go back to it. Spend that time and give that dedication because Jesus will meet you half way and refill you with the Holy Spirit who will set your faith on fire. And He doesn't rebuke us here either; He reminds us that He knows us. He knows of our faith and all we have done for Him, but Jesus deserves so much more from us because He has done so much more for us. If you have lost your first love today, go back to how you used to be before in order to regain the joy of Christ.

Today's Prayer:
My Jesus, I have lost my first love and wish more than anything to have my heart filled with You again. Please forgive me for allowing my heart and my faith to get cold. I welcome You into my life. I make room for You so that You can grow in me. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Couples - What It Means to Love

"And as the Church submits to Christ, so let a wife submit in everything to her husband. As for you, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her." - Ephesians 5:24-25

We all know God is our Father, but also throughout history there have been many comparisons to God's relationship with us to that of a husband and wife. The relationship between a couple is one of a sublime, deeper love, one characterized by a yearning to be with that other person. The Old Testament book Song of Songs reads as a poem between lovers but it is actually about the soul's longing to be connected to God. And now in the New Testament, we have a comparison between Christ's love for us and marriage between a man and a woman.

The main theme in this bible verse from Paul's letter to the Ephesians is to love your partner in the same way Jesus has loved us. And how has Jesus proven His love for us? Besides obviously dying on the cross and sacrificing Himself for our well-being, He lived a life of service, washing His disciples' feet instead of the other way around. He listened to the crowds and fed them. He healed them when they were sick and He spent time with them. But if you think about the main reason Jesus did all of this, you realize what our main role should be as husbands and wives/ boyfriends and girlfriends - to bring our partner to God. Every single thing Jesus did in His ministry was to give those He loved eternal life and joy in God. If you really love the person you're with, the ultimate way of proving your love and intentions for that person is to make sure they're right with God. You love this person so much that not only do you take care of their physical and emotional needs, but their spiritual needs as well. And as their soul grows closer to God, so will your relationship, as everything which has God as its foundation can weather any storm and overcome any obstacle.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, You created man and woman to be with one another and love each other as You have loved us. Help me to bring the gift of Your love to my partner and open their heart to receive You fully. Help us to grow together in You. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Prayer of Saint Francis

Everyday as I pray, I ask God to empty me of myself so that only He exists in me. There is so much in me that prevents Him from coming in and working through me; so many sins I need to repent of and so many people I need to forgive and ask forgiveness to. I don't love others as I should and need help seeing that Jesus Christ is in them, loves them, and wants them to be as close to Him as He wants me to be.

That's why I'm asking God to make me His instrument. This is the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi. Please read it and ask God to let it be your prayer as well.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Priorities, Priorities

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." - Deuteronomy 6:4-5

We wake up in the morning, brush our teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to work/ school, eat lunch, come home, eat dinner, watch tv, talk on the phone, surf the internet, go to bed. Does this sound like your typical day? What else do you fill it up with? If you have a boyfriend/ girlfriend, I'm sure you spend a lot of the day thinking about them, or talking to them. If you have a child, a lot of your time is spent tending to them, and if you go to school or are a workaholic, most of your time is spent working. You spend most of your time doing these things because they are your priorities - you have made a conscious decision to organize your time in this way according to the things you care the most about. Now, if your day has 24 hours and you filled it up with these things, how much did you give to God today?

Many of us want God to give, give, give to us, and answer our prayers immediately but a lot of times, what you get back from God is in direct proportion to what space He occupies in your life. Honestly, think about where you have God in your life right now, would you want Him to give you the same amount of importance you currently give Him? He does give you so many things because He is merciful, but this verse in Deuteronomy tells you EXACTLY how it needs to be - you need to love God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL of your strength. Anything less is not good enough at all! This means that He, and only He, must occupy the first place in your life. Not your own life, not your significant other, not your family, not your job, because He is the one that gave you all these things and He can take them away. Remember that Jesus had said to only fix your eyes upon God and all else will be taken care of for you. If you decide to make Him first in your life, then as soon as you open your eyes in the morning, your first thought should be to give Him thanks for the new day. In all you do, wherever you go, you have Him in mind, constantly shooting up mini prayers throughout the day.

Make God first in your life and He will help you with all your other priorities.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, help me to love You with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength. You made me and deserve the most and the best of me each day. In Your Name we pray, Amen.

Be The Belt Around God's Waist

""For just as a belt is to be bound around a man's waist so was the people of Israel and Judah bound to me - it is the Lord who speaks - to be my people, my glory and my honor; but they would not listen.'" - Jeremiah 13:11

I have to admit that I feel so sad right now. As you know, I've been keeping all of these emails in a blog (http://tres-lumineux.blogspot.com/) and today I decided to do some research into videos and news about God, Christianity, or even some cool websites to blog about. My search results were pretty sad. Then I went into the social bookmarking site del.icio.us and searched for words like God, Jesus and Christianity and I found that some of the top sites bookmarked were articles talking about how God doesn't exist, or sites making fun of Christianity.

So many people ask what's wrong with the world when the problem is that mostly all have abandoned God. Nobody listens. Religion is now whatever people want it to be. They justify their own desires and then believe in whatever philosophy backs up their own selfishness. Then there are those that see the poverty, violence and hurt in the world and ask "Why would God allow this!". Well, in all honesty, a person who asks this kind of question does NOT know God or they'd know that our Creator is a God of love. Just like the belt Jeremiah had around his waist, God told him He wanted us to be, so close to Him. God is a nurturer, all goodness comes from Him and He wanted to hold us right there with Him. We're the ones that stray and abandon Him, and for what? To go out to parties? To go out and get drunk? To spend a whole day in front of a video game? Or spend hours gossiping about people? Or holding on to hate in our hearts that propagate even more sin? What do you have left after you've done these things? Emptiness. This is what's wrong with the world. So much pain exists because nobody invites God in anymore and the only thing He does not do is interfere with our free will. We do this to ourselves. Think about this - when was the last time you prayed? And when you prayed, what did you pray for? Did you only pray because you needed something? Did you pray in a way to test God to see IF He's really there? Or did you pray because you recognize He is your creator and you need Him in your life? We should always ask Him for things, but more importantly, instead of just asking and asking when we're in a bind, we need to find a way to get back around His waist.

Today's Prayer:
My Lord, forgive me and forgive others for our lack of love and attention for You. I am so sorry for having strayed but please have mercy on us and help us to win back Your favor and be Your people. In Jesus' Name, Amen.