If you give a friend a cookie…

If you have given your friend sound advice, do not be surprised to find yourself challenged in that very area! Assuming that your heart was clear of pride (for that alone will bring your fall!), then remember that you are the cause of the devil’s loss in the battle for your friend’s soul.  Therefore he will attack your own soul to seek revenge. Be not afraid; turn to your Lord and He will rescue you as He did your friend. 

Meet my friend, Jesus

Befriend Jesus.  If you truly love Him as your friend, you will want all of your other friends, who you love, to meet Him!  This encounter has nothing to do with converting them or convincing them, but simply the meeting of your two beloved friends.

100% Faithful

You must live in the present with the joy, hope and confidence of a soul whose past was 100% faithful and without blemish.  God has removed your sins from you as far as the east is from the west.  You are no longer associated with your sins in His mind.  You must no longer associate yourself with them, but rather walk tall, confident that you are free.

Fear of being falsely accused

If you fear being falsely accused, know that this is a twisted form of pride. Pray not for courage, but for humility.

Only pride could fear persecution for Christ's sake! And any time that we are persecuted because of Truth, we are persecuted because we are followers of Christ. Truly, what are you that you think yourself above your God? He too suffered persecution, He too was wrongly accused for the sake of Truth.

Correcting a Man

Woman, if you are going to correct a man, you must remember that he resides in his head. He will need you to be direct and forthcoming. Then, do not expect to talk about it. A man will want to use his own logic and reasoning to come to the necessary reordering. He is created to be the leader and to fight for what he believes in-- therefore his initial reaction will be one of surprise, which easily stokes his pride. Answer any questions he may ask, and if he refuses it as a possibility, insist that you are not seeing ghosts... but let him go to think through the issue at hand by himself. If he is a good man he will come back to you after he has wrestled through it with God and let you know the result.

The most important thing is that he knows that you respect him and love him unconditionally. In order for him to desire to wrestle with God, he must know that you believe he has what it takes to see it through and become a man of God.

Correcting a Woman

Men, in order to successfully and kindly correct a woman, you must be fatherly to her. Because she resides in her heart, the woman will have to open her heart and lay out all the contents if she is to take your correction into consideration. In order to do this well, she will need to be under the emotional protection of someone who deeply, unconditionally loves her; otherwise her heart will be trampled while it is laid out, vulnerable as it is to any attack! Thus, you must be as a father to her, unconditionally loving and gently protective of her delicate heart that it not be wounded.

Choose your timing wisely. For her to lay out the contents of her heart, reorder them and replace them inside will take a lot of time and need guidance if she is not to become overwhelmed and overcome. If you are going to correct her, be prepared and able to spend the time to help her carry out the reordering and to be her protection as she does so. If you remember these two things, you will be able to help her to grow into a more beautiful, whole woman.

The older brother

Do not be the older brother, who resents his father's love for his brother, the prodigal son. "Lo these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!" --Luke 15:29-30

When your brother who was dead comes back to life, who was lost is found, rejoice with the Father! He has promised "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." --Luke 15:31 Be content, and make merry that now your brother, too, may be with his Father.

Contemplate the face of Christ

Search the face of your Lord as you would the face of your lover... Seek His emotions, His thoughts, His state of being that you may take them on as your own and allow tenderness and love to overtake you. What delight the beloved finds in the face of her lover! It is food for her soul; it is here that the rumblings in her heart find the appetizer.

Commune in your heart

When the thoughts in your head are chasing each other down at breakneck speeds, and you are filled with pain, anxiety, or doubt-- look to your heart. You will have to search for it. When you find it, it will be tightly curled up in the dark depths of your soul, trembling, shielding itself from the onslaught of your brain, begging for mercy.

Jesus has written His law upon our hearts. He has asked for a circumcision of our hearts. We must commune with Him in our hearts.

It is in our heart that we find the secret room to which He has asked us to go into to pray. He is always there, waiting for us in the tabernacle of our hearts. If only we would come! How much longer must He wait for you?

Faithful Friend

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence. A faithful friend is an elixir of life; and those who fear the Lord will find him. Whoever fears the Lord directs his friendship aright, for as he is, so is his neighbor also. --Sirach 6:14-17

Pray that you may be blessed with such friends, and that you in turn may be a treasure for others.

Satan hates mercy

"I have now learned that Satan hates mercy more than anything else. It is his greatest torment." -St. Faustina

No wonder humanity has such a hard time forgiving others! It is where Satan attacks the hardest. His hatred for mercy comes from the fact that our God is Mercy. Do not give in to Satan's attacks. Open your heart to the Lord when it is wounded that He may heal it and place forgiveness within it. Only then can you truly love your brothers and sisters in Christ, and bring His kingdom to earth!

"But He passed through the midst of them and went away." --Luke 4:30

We see many times in the Bible where even though the crowds were intent on murdering Jesus, He simply passed through their midst unharmed and went away, continuing His mission for the Lord. This is because His hour had not yet come.

When His hour did come, and in the plan of salvation He had to give up His life on the cross for all mankind, how He suffered! But until it was within God's plan, He was unharmed.

Let us have faith in the Lord that He will only let us suffer and be persecuted when it is within His plan of salvation.

God is our teacher

God teaches us in our hearts. Perhaps you feel that a book or person has "taught" you as well; but the truth of the matter is that if a book or person has "taught" you it is only to point out something that God taught you in your heart, or to point out something God has tried to tell you but your heart was closed to it. In hearing or reading you find words articulating the truth that God is teaching you, and through these mediums He reaches your heart to give it His Wisdom.

The Little Mermaid and humanity

At the end of The Little Mermaid, we see Ariel fall into the hands of Ursula the Sea Witch, becoming another goblin plant for her Garden of Unfortunate Souls. When her father, the Sea King, tries to destroy the contract in which she had signed herself away, he discovers that he cannot because she had freely given her consent. There is one way in which she can be freed: Ursula will accept the Sea King in Ariel's place. When we give into temptation, it is always of our free will. In order to free us from these chains with which we have bound ourselves to the devil, God sent His only Son as a substitute for us. He accepted our chains in order that we may be freed from them. The devil did not suspect the power of His humanity just as Ursula did not suspect the power of Erik's-- and it is this humanity which strikes the fatal blow with which ALL of humanity is set free.

Ariel discovers at the end that her father, out of love for her, fulfills her heart's desire as even she could not have imagined... Ariel, like all of us, gave into the temptation to believe that her father was not goodness and love. She discovered through his gift of self to her that in fact he was loving and wise. All she had to do was love him and demonstrate a holy desire in her heart.

Modesty

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." --Mark 9:42

We must all take heed of our actions and how they affect others, and this is extremely important when it comes to chastity. Women and men must dress modestly, and act appropriately. Take into consideration the soul of the one you love, and you will find that truly attending to modesty at every moment you are in the eyes of others is the only way to love them.

Seek to serve Him constantly

We must serve the Lord constantly, continually, and never cease! How is this possible, when our minds are so distracted, when we must attend to the day to day business of living? Through our bodies!! As body persons, everything we do with our bodies we do with our souls. Thus your every action can be a prayer if it is done with love and your heart directed towards God.

Emotional Chastity

Heart, when you are truly in love, you will throb painfully and deeply as you await to be given to your spouse. But you must offer up this pain and await the time when you may be subsumed into his, given totally and completely to become one with his.

Do not, in your impatience or sense of urgency, cut yourself to try to pour out the love and relieve the throbbing. You will still throb, and the pain will only deepen as your torn and bleeding flesh is ripped apart with each beat.

Allow the throbs to stretch you, that you may love your spouse more and more fully in marriage. For you will have to be very large and accustomed to pain to love your spouse as you desire! Trust that God's plan was made with your design in mind, and follow His commandments to the letter.

Defend children from evil

"Jesus looked at me graciously and said that He was gravely offended by children: You are to defend them from evil." --St Faustina

A child cannot be too protected from evil. When they are pure, it is easy for them to detect impurity. If they have been accustomed to impurity, then how shall they detect it except in its wildest forms? And even then, if they have not experienced the goodness of purity, why should they choose it over impurity?

People who are trained to detect counterfeit money are not specialists in counterfeit money, but in real money. They handle and smell and observe millions of real dollar bills, and it is then easy for them to detect what is fake. It would be too difficult for them to learn all of the different techniques for creating counterfeit money, and they would not be able to stay abreast the technologies and products of the crooks. But when they know what is real so intimately, they can reject everything that is not, even if they have never seen that type of counterfeit before.

This is how we must teach children to discern good and evil: total immersion in what is good, pure, true and beautiful. Only then can they be prepared to face the world and the infinite perversions of the devil.

Disposition of Soul

Let us pray that not only our actions and thoughts be pleasing to God, but our very disposition of soul be to His liking.

We wish to be oriented to God, for not only will this keep our thoughts and actions holy, but it will also allow us to pick ourselves right up after a fall and keep climbing the path to heaven. Having the proper disposition gives us the desire to run back to Him always as His child who needs a scrape kissed and bandaged.

Cheaper to replace?

In today's world, it is often cheaper to replace a broken cell phone or toaster than to fix the old one. Not only is it cheaper, but you get the newer, better model!

This attitude has trickled down into our human relationships. People would rather go find a new friend or spouse than put in the work to repair what is wrong in their current relationships. We must stop this trend; it may seem to "cost" less because it is easier, but in the long run we have denied ourselves true friendship; we have cut true meaning and depth from our relationships.

If we run every time something goes wrong, then we cannot love. Love is a choice, friendship is a choice, marriage is a choice. You must be in it for better or worse, or it means nothing. How can these relationships be a path to sanctification if every time you are challenged you turn in on yourself? This is the very moment when you are being called out of yourself, that you may find yourself in God.

When it seems all is lost...

When it seems all is lost, or nothing has been accomplished, we must remember that there are spiritual realities which we cannot see. Something spiritual, no matter how small, has happened, and it is a part of God's plan.

Despair

Never despair, O soul, for "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." --Matthew 6:8

Whatever your battle, whatever your state, whatever your confusion or darkness, it does not matter if you feel you can no longer pray because you have no words or understanding! You do not need to know what to ask for, simply turn your heart to God, and let him take care of the rest.

To sin

To sin is to place the creation before its Creator in your heart.

Fallen Marriage

Little soul, never forget that you are fallen. You are a fallen woman, marrying a fallen man, in a fallen world. Do not marry a fantasy, but the real man who has professed his love to you. Ensure that he has professed his love for the real woman, not a fantasy of perfection.

Strive for holiness, but know that it is a battle. Be prepared for the wounds that you will inflict on one another when the enemy invades. Do not neglect to have the field hospital set up and ready! Learn the arts of healing from our Lord, that you may tend to each other and bring each other to the Great Physician, or you will find yourselves bleeding to death with no place to go.

Spouses' spiritualities

Husbands and wives should put much prayer into understanding how their relationships with God are complementary and how they can help each other grow. God has not paired you at random, but with a specific purpose in mind: your sanctification, that you may be united with Him.

Each spouse will have their own personal relationship with God. Rather than allow jealousy or indifference to fester, use your spiritual gifts to help one another grow closer to God. If he is gifted with a deep inner silence, and she with a deep inner joy, then let these gifts be shared with one another rather than ignoring or coveting them. Each will have their own charism, but we can always learn from each other to ensure that our charism stays well balanced and healthy.

Importance of Experience

Your experiences are important to your spiritual life. Do not cast them from you as you race into the future. Use them to better learn how to distinguish the voice of God from the voice of the world. Use them to find your Creator. Then, once you have done so, give them to Him, that He may cast them to the depths of the sea-- and then NO FISHING!!

Caution: Under Construction

We should all be wearing signs: "Caution: Under Construction." We are all being molded and built up by the hand of God, and like any construction site, we are a mess in the process! Each stage completed brings a semblance of orderliness, but with each new stage begun, a new mess surrounds us. Beware of falling debris and protruding wires!

Knowledge of God

"This deeper knowledge of God begins here on earth, depending on the grace given, but to a great extent it also depends on our faithfulness to that grace." -St Faustina

God is constantly granting us graces-- but it is our response to that grace which determines its effect. We must be faithful to the graces which God has bestowed upon us, lest like the servant who buried his talent, we be cast out from His generosity.