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Post by Normandt on Jan 11, 2021 1:42:26 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 11, 2021 13:59:16 GMT
203. Our weaknesses in God Let’s meditate Paul’s reflection: “Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.’” 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, verses 26 to 31 Paul seems to have understood how a person on a mission is. He doesn’t elaborate much and defines it in a few words: “foolish, weak, lowly, despised”. That’s what Paul thinks of us. It’s not very flattering. But it depends on the point of view of the person who receives it. For the world, being foolish, weak, despised, it’s the equivalent of nailing us onto a cross. In their eyes, we’re poor. But when we place our weaknesses in God, in what Paul says about us, becomes strength. For the strength doesn’t come from our pride, our know-how, our wisdom, but from God. We place our pride in God. We are foolish to believe in a Crucified Messiah. We are despised to follow Jesus, we are weak to trust only in Jesus. We mention this from the beginning to give us an idea of the different types of poverty. For some people, poverty is wealth, for others wealth is poverty. But, in reality, there is real wealth and real poverty, and all humans stand between these two realities. As we read this book, we’re invited to reflect on our different personal experiences of poverty and the different kinds of poverty we see around us. These discovered poverties we can give them to Jesus. We will be on a mission to help improve the quality of people’s lives. Book: Caring for our poverties Nomand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 11, 2021 21:24:25 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 12, 2021 12:45:25 GMT
204. Life and happiness We could still hear today the message Moses receives from the Lord: “I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.” Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 15 God proposes to all: “life and prosperity”. What comes at the beginning is life. Life is a gift of God’s Love and what’s complementary is happiness. Happiness is lived in the present. Happiness is to know we’re Loved. But above all, happiness comes from its source, which is God. Happiness comes from the Lord. Nobody else has given it. Happiness is the fruit of God’s Love. It is to be shared and received between people. It’s the ultimate choice of our faith. We have the choice between “life and prosperity, or death and doom”. Happiness is in God. God has nothing to do with evil, death and doom. He offers us Love. It is we who can either follow the road to happiness or descend the slope into evil. Unlike welcoming God’s Love, the result is the misfortune that leads to death. Death is the gradual response that leads to refusing God. It’s our responsibility to choose one or the other, life or death, good or evil, truth or lies, forgiveness or hatred, joy or despair, etc. The choice seems easy, but according to our experience, we know that sometimes we have wandered in the wrong at the expense of good. Under the ashes of misery we see, there is often the embers of Love that we no longer see. In this world that too often proposes a culture of death in all its forms, we struggle to find embers under the ashes. We are created to be the bearers of embers, to ignite the world of God’s Love. This ember, we carry in our heart, so that others discover “life and prosperity” which is suggested to us. Jesus also speaks in the same sense: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke, chapter 9, verse 23 This cross is very light when we know about the Love we bring to humanity. For people who do not know that the cross is Love, it can seem heavy. Heaviness comes with lack of love, either from others or from us. The cross of Love that Jesus offers us is much easier to bear than misfortune. And the more we share God’s Love, the more our existence becomes meaningful. Let’s give misfortune, evil, poverty to Jesus and live fully with the embers of the Love of God. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 12, 2021 20:57:31 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 13, 2021 11:45:45 GMT
205. Life or death Jesus doesn’t cut anyone from his presence. But there’s nothing simpler than cutting us off from Jesus. To which source do we sink our roots? Which sun do we stay close to, during our life? The sun that gives cancer when we are too exposed to it or the Sun (Son) of God of which there’s no limit of exposure, since he increases Love in us? God is the patient master who always gives new chances. He wants us to take advantage of his Presence and to root ourselves so that we may sink deeper and deeper into his Heart. Moses speaks to the people of Israel and offers decrees to observe in the name of the Lord. Here is a solid foundation: “I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom, if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees.” Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verses 15 to 16 Let’s keep God’s Love in us. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 13, 2021 20:34:42 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 14, 2021 13:18:31 GMT
206. Let’s be vigilant Paul gives this recommendation: “See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God.” Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 15 Of all the insurances that we can buy to give us a sense of security, the assurance of God’s grace is the one that exceeds all others. Let’s ask God for our assurance to stay with Jesus. The assurance of God’s grace costs nothing. It’s true that today, we often think that what costs more is better, but it’s almost never true. With God, what’s necessary for life and for the road is free. God offers his endless grace, but we can neglect it. How easy it is to get away from the exercise regime that we gave ourselves at the beginning of the year. It’s even easier to get away from the grace of God and lose sense of reality. Let’s be sure to be constantly under the coverage of God’s grace. Let’s check if our “coverage” of the “grace of God” is still valid. God’s service is always open, but are we updating it in our lives? Otherwise, let’s regain confidence. Let’s take time for an appointment with Jesus and take up the coverage of the Holy Spirit on us. May his assurance be renewed every day. Let’s walk in faith with the complete and free coverage of God. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 14, 2021 21:07:15 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 15, 2021 12:37:51 GMT
207. Follow the call Paul, from his prison cell, evangelizes his friends: “I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 1 to 3 The call we’ve received from the Lord is to love him and to love one another. Paul invites us to be humble because we have received a lot, we have received everything from God and we could believe that what we have, especially when the habit settles in, is our possession. Stopping to walk is like stopping eating and drinking. It’s even worse. It is necessary to renew the water and food in our body to continue living. We receive them from nature. We especially have to renew the Love we receive from God by standing near him. Sometimes we lose a lot of spiritual vitality when we move away from the Love of God and we can’t find a way to replace ourselves in the right way. So, to help others, it is necessary to find ways to keep ourselves in the path of joy, serenity and holiness, on the road with Jesus. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 15, 2021 21:46:38 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 16, 2021 12:47:34 GMT
208. He moved away “Quiet! Be still!” Mark, chapter 4, verse 39 We wouldn’t like it that much if someone said, “Quiet! Be still!” But this person would possibly serve us well. This is what we need to recognize the presence of the Trinity in our heart. Only silence can help us hear what Jesus tells us. Only silence allows us to return to Jesus and be free. Silence also allows us to find ourselves and clean out our lives. Let’s welcome silence as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Some people have the gift of talking, why not ask for the gift of being silent? We may be experiencing the poverty of lack of silence and to speak at the right time. Silence is not necessarily lack of noise. Silence is a state where we are well, where we develop a sense of serenity and listen to the Lord, to ourselves and others. We can write, sitting in a restaurant, with some pretty loud music and still be in silence, internally. We can write in a library and silence could bother us. The external noise isn’t the first cause of the lack of silence, but the inner noise, the noise in us. Let’s give the many sounds in us to Jesus. We would be surprised at the number of people working in the noise, and yet this doesn’t stop them from praying while going along. We can be in silence and be with Jesus, even if our work is noisy. As soon as we approach Jesus in silence, even if it’s a timid approach, immediately Jesus will be able to obtain us peace. The more we are silent, the more Jesus will touch us subtly and the more we’ll feel his presence. Is Jesus really present? The question gives out the answer. Yes, he is present. When we say Jesus’s name he is immediately present. We cannot live, love, breathe, sleep, hope, laugh, and so on, without Jesus in us. May we welcome him. The Holy Spirit is the very sweetness and he displays his strength in the silence of the soul. Now, the Spirit of Jesus will fill us as a breeze in our soul. Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 16, 2021 20:54:00 GMT
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Post by Normandt on Jan 17, 2021 11:29:15 GMT
209. Jesus keeps evil away Jesus sees a man come out of the tombs. It is someone who consciously or unconsciously allowed himself to be influenced and trapped in evil: “Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!’ (He had been saying to him, ‘Unclean spirit, come out of the man!’)” Mark, chapter 5, verses 6 to 8 With Jesus, the evil in this man doesn’t resist, doesn’t hide. Jesus recognizes that there’s an evil spirit in this man. Even the evil spirit obeys him, it leaves and abandons the man who is now set free. We could also say that humanity is free, like this man, if we decide to let Jesus free us. Notice when the conversion begins for this man. In spite of the evil that annihilates him, it’s when he advances to join Jesus, that he’s being released. Jesus is the key, the answer. Always moving forward to reach Jesus, always adjusting our lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, always placing ourselves under the Light of God and letting him act in our existence, saves us. Jesus wants us to tell him now that we want to follow him and be transformed by his graces. Ready? Let’s run to him! Book: Caring for our poverties Normand Thomas
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Post by Normandt on Jan 17, 2021 20:56:10 GMT
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