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Post by Normandt on Jan 3, 2021 23:47:53 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 4, 2021 13:14:56 GMT
196. Comforting When we are comforted, we can think of comforting others. It’s a beautiful exchange that begins with God. He transforms us to be open to others and allows them to live the comfort of his Presence, thanks to the encounter we have with them. Paul pushes even further: “If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation.” 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 6  So even in distress, if we are in the Lord, we can be people inviting our contemporaries to salvation, supported by the comfort of God. We can say: “I will bless the Lord at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth. My soul will glory in the Lord that the poor may hear and be glad.” Psalm 34, verses 2 to 3 Blessing the Lord at all times and even misery will be transformed for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. Book : Here, where we are Normand Thomas |
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Post by Normandt on Jan 4, 2021 20:49:59 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 5, 2021 12:09:58 GMT
197. Who are our friends? “If you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?” Matthew, chapter 5, verse 47 It’s not uncommon to regularly sit in a group and share continuously with the same people. Although it’s less pleasant and without putting them aside, it’s recommended, on occasion, not to sit with the same people all the time. This will create new relationships. Let’s try to eat with different people and by telling our friends that we are not leaving them, that we’ll be back. We’ll discover new interesting exchanges and we’ll learn to know new people. This allows discovering the wonders that Jesus realizes in their heart. Even if they are not naturally talking about their faith or the presence of Jesus in them, let’s listen to them all the same. Let’s listen to their silence. They have something to tell us. They allow us to pray for them.  Not only the priest, but everyone, we are invited to visit the people of our parish. The light of Jesus is there in their hearts. We discover charity, peace, joy? We can reveal to them how Jesus is present in their lives. That said, it’s also important to have sincere friends that we sometimes eat and share with. But, above all, we raise the danger of always going to the same homes. We risk leaving other people behind. This is of great importance for the sowing mission to continue. Let’s share the little we earned from Jesus and our faith will grow with others. Let’s share our welcome with others and the sense of welcome will develop, listening and it will increase, patience and we will become wise. Let’s share with others what God puts in us and we’ll discover that God is also in others. Sometimes, it may take a while, but let’s not be afraid to sow what God offers us. Much delicately, because the place in which we sow is the heart. Book : Here, where we are Normand Thomas |
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Post by Normandt on Jan 5, 2021 21:33:35 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 6, 2021 12:16:43 GMT
198. Paul challenges us Paul took Timothy under his wing and he wants to increase his knowledge. He wants his spiritual son to have a good background for living and transmitting faith. Paul, although held captive, finds in this situation a motive for improving the faith of others. Paul says to him: “Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 2 Let’s not stop proclaiming the Word, it’s the basis of the salvation for all. Let’s intervene with good words and with justice while respecting the people around us. This will require patience that will allow us to develop a greater and more accurate concern, to nurture and educate by relying on common sense and wisdom of Scripture.  Paul adds: “Be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 5 It’s grace for Paul to have a spiritual son to whom he can pass on his experience. Paul’s recommendations are accurate and timely. The ministry is also very joyful when faith is realized and developed in people’s hearts. Too want to do too much, faith loses its meaning, it loses its lustre. It’s important to be ourselves, live the present and let the Lord act in and through our lives. Even if we have received a lot, let’s remain simple, let’s be people with heart, soul, people with a clear mind, less about appearance and engaged in the good, plunged in Jesus Christ’s Good News for the world. All we are is to be faithful witnesses and serve God’s cause. Let’s refocus our heart on God’s. May our life become filled with Trinitarian Love, to reach all the children of God. May there be so much love around us that even the most rebellious be touched and freely transformed. Book : Here, where we are Normand Thomas |
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Post by Normandt on Jan 6, 2021 12:17:33 GMT
Next message
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Post by Normandt on Jan 6, 2021 22:22:55 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 7, 2021 12:05:39 GMT
199. Let’s unite The Lord our God is rallying. During the Old Testament period, God never stopped wanting to bring the people back into his covenant. He still has the same desire. Even when we suffer and we live difficult passages of life, God is present with us and he supports us with Love. When we receive it daily in our lives, the much needed faith increases and helps us in the midst of the trials we experience.  Then there’s the community. God keeps inviting the living communities of faith to enter into his Intelligence and Wisdom, so that we may also feed people outside the Church. The common good is that all people have the chance to walk toward their salvation in God. All people, without exception, must know that God Loves them. Jesus needed to surround himself with people like the Apostles. It’s necessary to surround ourselves with people who have faith. We read that crowds follow Jesus, want to hear him and receive his teaching. Jesus also taught Joseph and Mary how to become a holy family. The family is the basic cell for the community. Let’s meditate in our hearts on the delicacy and wisdom of God to each person. Book : Here, where we are Normand Thomas |
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Post by Normandt on Jan 7, 2021 22:22:59 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 8, 2021 13:01:02 GMT
200. God needs evangelizers Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gathers the sheep of Israel and the whole world. Every lost sheep, he wants to bring back to the Father. He doesn’t want any of them to be lost. He continues to send prophets today. He wants to get his message of freedom and salvation to us. Today, where we are, we’re called to share the Good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We are the people Jesus needs for our time. His Spirit will guide us to share his message so that the world hears it. Jesus is there for everyone, but not everyone gives himself the means to meet with Jesus. When we cannot evangelize people near us, let’s look elsewhere for other sheep. May we work full time, continuously.  We often hear that in families and with their own children that it’s not always easy to keep up with faith. This isn’t the time to become stationary and discouraged. It opens the door for other people. If we join other people, they may join the children of the families someday. Meanwhile, our faith supports our children. Let’s keep going. In any case, we know that Jesus is in their heart. Let’s not lose hope. Let’s place our trust in Jesus. In this way we will have vocations everywhere, committed people who will announce the good news. Paul does not force anyone, he leaves elsewhere: ‘From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ So he left there and went to a house belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next to a synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized. Acts, chapter 18, verses 6 to 8 Jesus is with us. We want to keep his Love with us forever. May our sorrow of seeing a world seek and not find a shepherd turn into joy of being able to join them, personally, and to evangelize them. May the world know that God is alive and that salvation has passed for every person of every generation. It’s this joy that we are called to transmit to others. Book : Here, where we are Normand Thomas |
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Post by Normandt on Jan 8, 2021 21:24:09 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 9, 2021 13:18:27 GMT
201. Help humanity Since the beginning of humanity, the rich want not to be poor and the poor would like to be rich or at least have what’s necessary to survive. Still, investing a little in the poorest and they would be active in society. How many poor neighborhoods around big cities, with few resources and efforts, could be helped and recover? It’s a strange mystery that of the human being in front of poverty. We still notice them today. They are begging on the street. Their budget is tight. They are easy to recognize and yet how many people are passing by them. The rulers don’t seem to be able to find answers to help out. Television shows are devoted to people from the most disadvantaged countries.  But it doesn’t stop there. Although it’s important and disappointing, there are other kinds of poverty. There are people who cannot go into a group or in a small place. There are those who cannot write, those who are intimidated, those who are marginalized, those who don’t eat (anorexic), those who cannot stop eating, sickness, sadness. There are the disappointments of life, the bad weather, the horrors of war, and so on. Poverty then follows several slippery and often steep slopes. There’s a multitude of people who help in all dimensions of poverty. Let’s encourage these people and help them to continue to invest time and resources in this mission of humanity. Brother Andre of Mont-Royal knew how to find, by God’s grace, the wound of a person and ask Saint Joseph to intercede to Jesus for healing. Saint Bernadette Soubirous, by the faith of God in her, has made Lourdes a stronghold to many cures from which bodies and hearts can be healed. And in Medjugorje, people can find peace through Mary’s intercession. Let’s observe and seek in our heart the precise point that is wrong with a person and offer it to Jesus. Sometimes that’s what bothers us most about this person. We may have similar poverties. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas |
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Post by Normandt on Jan 9, 2021 20:51:28 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 10, 2021 12:30:12 GMT
202. Without hurting As soon as we feel angry with a person’s gesture or word, it’s the signal that informs us to offer it and him to Jesus. Something hurts us in what he says or does? it’s also a signal to pray for him and to put his difficulty back to Jesus. It’s a mission to simply find faults and sins in others, without becoming instigators and without hurting them further. It’s a mission to detect what is wrong with others and it is evangelization to hand it over to Jesus, so that he cleanses the wound and transforms their lives. We are invited to observe what the poverty of the person is. What’s stopping him from moving forward? What prevents him from being free and confident? Where is his difficulty? How many people close to us could we help? We are on a mission where we are, with Jesus and above all with his Spirit. Let’s also offer what is wrong with us to Jesus.  Caring for our poverty takes on a double meaning. The first sense is that there is poverty among people who need help. We must help the poor recover from everything they lack of, mostly from a relationship with Jesus and be aware of what’s essential to their survival. The second meaning to give to poverty is that it’s practical and necessary if it leads us to be free from the bonds of this world and leads us to Jesus. Being poor, for example, or free of drugs, is poverty that leads us to freedom. Fasting teaches us to become poor of superfluous or bad habits. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas |
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