Hell

Those souls who are in hell are there because they chose to be miserable by themselves rather than happy with God.

Do not fall into the same trap. Do not love yourself more than Love.

Be honest with God

1 Kings 19:9-15

Elijah, having done much work for the Lord, finds his life endangered and hides in a cave. The Lord comes to him and says to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah tells the Lord of his faithfulness, and is honest with the Lord that he is afraid for his life. God commands him "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord."

There is a tornado, an earthquake, and a great fire, but the Lord comes after these in a "still small voice. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave." Elijah, paralyzed in his fear, had not even left the back of the cave, but if anything had retreated farther! At the sound of His God, he musters his courage to go to the entrance of the cave. Not exactly the top of the mountain! But it is a step he takes for the Lord. He asks him gently again, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah repeats what he has already told the Lord, who, because of his honesty, gives him his marching orders: "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus..."

How kind and merciful is our God! Truly, so long as we give him our everything- even our fear!- He will come to us and lift us up. Upon finding Elijah still in the cave, God does not look at him with disgust nor admonish him, but rather asks him why he has not gone to the top of the mountain as he was asked. Of course our Lord knows that it is out of fear, but he is giving Elijah the chance to give himself once more to the Lord. Elijah responds to God's questioning with another statement of faith, acknowledgment of his own weakness, and a genuine plea for help. God responds with love by giving him directions from where he is.

Model Elijah. Although he had failed to follow through on the Lord's command, he did not try to cover up his failure, nor did he give up hope in the goodness of his God. He remained open and faithful to his Father in heaven, giving him his weaknesses and failures and fears, asking Him for His strength and guidance. God will always give us what we need, if only we are humble and honest with Him!

Check with God

No matter the good thought or inclination that arises within you, no matter the excitement or zeal you feel, give it to God before you act. If it is not desirable to Him, then obey His wish and let it pass. The devil may be drawing you from His plan by offering lesser goods.

What is important is what is pleasing to God, not what you think is pleasing to God.

Examination of Conscience

When you do your examination of conscience, ask yourself: What is separating me from God? And suddenly your smallest sins come into focus.

Peace of Soul

Little soul, there is one place where you can find peace: the junction of His greatness and your smallness. Here, you can surrender to Him who made you, and know that all will be well. You can do nothing, but He can do all.

Fear

If you are to fear anything in this life, let it be this: disappointing such a good God.

Never cease!

God, never cease your work in souls! No matter the darkness and difficulties they pass through--how boring when we are resting! How dulled the senses and mundane even the extraordinary seems when we are not honed to battle condition. But in the midst of battle, even the most ordinary of things becomes poignant.

Betrayal

Woman: you guard yourself well when surrounded by men of ill-repute. You sense their eyes straying and devouring you, their flesh hungering for yours. You cover yourself and act modestly.

Traitor! Around men who strive to see you rightly, you relax your standards for yourself! You no longer filter your dress nor actions, because you do not feel the predator prowling. Do you wish to so endanger their souls? To cause them to fall? To force them to fight with demons rather than appreciate the beauty of your soul that they have received the grace to see?

Put out into the Deep

You fear the future because it brings the unknown and the uncertain to your doorstep. Be not afraid! Jesus is asking you, with the apostles, to put out into the deep. Cast your nets wide for Him! He will bring the fish to your nets, He will calm the storms that rock your boat. Trust in Him. He knows where the fish are--if He asks you to go deep, go deep!

Bear fruit: away with all else

God cares only that we bear fruit.

So you are weak and small and scraggly. Who cares? What good is a tree is that is tall and strong and beautiful if what you need is a blackberry? God has created you that you might bear the fruit He needs in this world. Stop trying to be something you are not, and put your efforts into bearing His fruits. So you are not an evergreen; when the spring comes you will once more turn green, that you may bear the fruit you were created for.

Blessing of Time

When you are bemoaning the sins in your past and find yourself despairing, turn to the Lord with thanksgiving:

"Thank you Jesus for the gift of time. How wise of you create me in time that I may at every moment have the chance to begin again. You have given me the gift of a past, that I may always commune with you in the present and look to a future full of hope and grace."

Time never stops; it carries us ever forward on our journey to eternal life. Jesus is constantly transforming us. He has given us a past in order to give us a present and future. Do not dwell in the past! He is no longer there, and neither are you. Time carries us closer and closer to our Lord, even when we are trying to run in the other direction!

Direct souls

The important thing for the Apostolate is that God gains souls of prayer. It is about teaching them to pray and to have a relationship with our Lord. He will do all else. You bring them to Him and He will do the rest.

Gospel

Do not read the Gospel for answers. Read it to encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who is still alive and still seeking us!

When you are in love with a person, no detail of his life is too mundane or minute to interest you. You seek to know his every breath, his every hair. What makes him angry? When has he cried? When is he tired?

We must be interested in all of Christ's life, even to the littlest, most mundane detail. We must read the Gospels in order to come to know our Lord. Only when we know what pleases Him or angers Him and the desires of His heart can we see our lives clearly and live such that He can delight in us.

Encounter Christ through confession

In confession, you are not simply reciting your sins to the priest. You are apologizing to Jesus Himself for the ways you have hurt Him, and asking His forgiveness. You are healing the broken or wounded relationship of your closest friend. How important it is to do this often! If you have been in a quarrel with a friend, or have done something to hurt them, you must go to them immediately to ask forgiveness that your friendship may be healed. Otherwise the distance and hurt will grow and grow until you are no longer near enough to be heard.

God loves you even with your sins. His love for you when you leave the confessional is no greater than when you entered. You have gone not to gain His love, but to repair your friendship, that you may once again rest your head upon His breast and be heard and hear without speaking.

The devil will do everything he can to convince you to not go to confession. He will tell you that God will not forgive you, he will tell you that the priest will be horrified and judge you, he will tell you that it is not important to do it so formally... Do not listen to his voice! Go to your Lord, lay your head on His chest and tell Him everything in your heart. He will always forgive you. He is only waiting for you to come to Him!

As grass

We are like the grass of the field. Without the sun, it is dark and meaningless, and there is nothing beautiful in it. It withers and dies. It is good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire.

But with the sun, it glitters gold, reflecting its light. It grows and flourishes and waves tall in the breeze.

Let us pray for the Son to shine His light upon us, that we may be turned to gold.

Slake His thirst

Prayer is not only a time when we come to God to drink of His living waters.

Remember the woman at the well? Jesus asked her for a drink of water. He thirsts for us- let us approach prayer as a time to give our souls to our Lord who thirsts for them!

Opposite of love

The opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference.

How many times have you treated the Eucharist with indifference? He has given us His presence because He knew that we would need Him. He knew that as physical beings we would need His physical presence.

He is waiting for you. He comes again and again and again, not just to say "hi," but to unite Himself to you totally, completely, without reserve. He comes to transform you, that His beloved may become more like Himself and share in His glory and love.

The five C's

The five C's of confession describe true friendship. Confession is when we go to Jesus to apologize for how we have hurt him, and reconcile our friendship with Him.

True friends choose to love each other. Friendship does not just happen to you, just as romantic love does not just happen to you. Though it often begins with an attraction that neither chooses, to become anything it must be a choice that is made. It is a relationship that requires hard work and attention, and that will grow ever deeper as the Lord entwines your lives.

True friends both affirm and challenge each other. When an issue arises, we must remember the five C's of confession:

1. Clear- Do not be vague! Whatever your topic of discussion or comment, be honest and clear in what you are saying. Lay out your heart.

2. Concise- Do not use qualifiers or sugar coat anything. Be direct and open, and do not apologize for who you are or what is in your heart (you must always apologize if you hurt them or if you do something wrong! see point 5).

3. Concrete- Be in the moment and in reality. If they are sick, don't just wish them better, but make them tea or drop by for a visit. If you are discussing an issue, be specific to the instance or experience, not generalized or categorical.

4. Complete- Don't hide anything, and don't leave anything out!

5. Contrite- Be truly sorry for any harm done, and run to repair the friendship as soon as possible. Acknowledge and apologize for what you have done wrong to hurt your friend.

To be found beautiful

At the core of a woman's being is a mysterious treasure which cries out to be known and loved and found beautiful. This desire is written on her heart by our God as an image of His own heart. It is when she is pursued that she will blossom and pour forth blessings of her love upon her lover, just as God does to those who pursue Him. When she is not loved, she will close and no longer be able to love herself. She must be receiving in order to give. How important for a woman to know God's love! For how often human love falls short!

Men: Pornography, self-satisfaction, adultery; all these things tell the woman that she is not beautiful enough, that she has nothing to reveal you do not already have, that she does not have a gift to give. With this, her womanly heart is destroyed.

Any action which seeks to unveil her before you are her husband does the same thing to her soul. At first she may believe that you are delighting in her as you should--if she loves you, she aches for you to delight in her!-- but in truth you have taken her mystery and treasure from her, and she will soon wilt and grow cold. Do whatever you must to protect her. The most important thing is to show her that she has a mystery and a treasure that she should protect, and teaching her how to own her mystery!

If you have made a mistake, all is not lost. The woman, like God, is only waiting for you to return to her. She craves to be found beautiful in your eyes; so long as you can put it in your past and delight in her unique, infinite treasure before God as her husband, she will open to you again and the warmth will return. If only you would take her coldness as a time to redouble your pursuit, you would find her once again flowering and blooming before you, pouring blessings into your life. Be in awe at God's creation in your wife, and all will be well.

Love of God is the law

"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." --Matthew 5:17-19

Beware of loving the law over the Lawmaker. Do you seek to follow the law because you love your God? Or do you follow the law because you love the law, because you think it gives you the ability to attain righteousness on your own power? How right that He should bring us crashing down! You make so many rules for yourself, you leave no room for God to work in your soul.

If you love God, you will keep all His commandments. Follow Jesus from the sheepfold to the mountains, and let your intense love for Him keep you at His heels.

The Nails of the Cross and Crown of Victory

Satan thought he was victorious, as his minions mocked the Son of God with a crown of thorns and royal robe. What he did not know, was that they had crowned the true Victor, the Lord of Lords. As they crowned Him with thorns and spat on Him, they gave Satan's 'authority' to Christ the true King.

Satan thought he was victorious, as his minions nailed the Son of God to the cross. What he did not know, was that as they nailed His hands and feet to the tree, they were in fact driving the nails through the chains by which they held humanity captive. As they nailed the Son of God to the cross, they set mankind free.

Essence of the Theology of the Body

Our bodies make visible the invisible. Our bodies reveal, or express, our souls made in the image of God, and they are inseparable. Our bodies were created as a revelation of the Truth of God as an eternal exchange of Love in the Trinity and our call to union with God (among other things! God's wisdom infinite).

From the Catechism: "By sending His only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed His inner most secret: God Himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He has destined us to share in that exchange."

Christ is our Bridegroom. He has given us His entirety; our role as Bride is to receive and conceive and bear forth the fruits of His Love, and to pour ourselves out in Love to Him. Our bodies reveal invaluable truths of this relationship and how to live holy, divine union with God.