Gethsemane

The Garden of Gethsemane has long been a strong influence in my faith and I often find myself reflecting on that evening before the Lord's agony and death on the cross for all of our sakes.

For me it is remarkable that the Son of God struggled so much with His role in the redemption of the world (justifiably I would say) that he sweat actual blood in his agony and prayer. 

To me Gethsemane represents all of the things we experience that we just wish we could avoid and have taken away from us. 

It represents all the tough and painful events that we all are inevitably going to undergo in our lives - things we don't understand and cannot fathom why we are being asked to endure them.

The lesson of Gethsemane to me is that we will have to go through some agonies in our lifetime.  We are going to want and pray for them to be taken from us just as Jesus did so fervently that evening in the Garden.

But guess what, if God did not spare His own Son what he had to endure in order to save all of us, we too will be made to endure some challenges and storms that we clearly don't want and wish we could avoid.

We need to get through the night.

We need to get through the storm.

As Jesus did that fateful night, after praying we must accept the Garden and TRUST that God will bring us through whatever storm he has us experience.

And as we saw with Jesus and Gethsemane,  the Lord will NEVER make us endure these storms alone. 

He sent an angel to comfort Jesus as He struggled with the "chalice" in front of Him and gave him the Strength and Trust to carry on in the grand scheme He had planned for our salvation.

And the result is all the many gifts and blessings we have been given today!

Stay Strong and Persevere! :)

"When I am in need of peace, I join Jesus on his knees in the garden of Gethsemane.

In the midst of his own violent storm, about to be seized by Roman authorities, Jesus pauses to pray.

Sometimes it takes a lot of sweat, tears, and agony to get to the point of peace, but prayer is what leads us there, just as it led our Lord.

This glimpse of Jesus praying in the storm is reminiscent of Martin Luther's own insistence:

"I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."

For Jesus, there wasn't any strategizing to be done with the disciples that was more important than prayer, especially as storm clouds gathered.

What makes this scene an unlikely source of comfort is that Jesus does drown, in a manner of speaking.

It is neither a story of heroic rescue nor of rains that suddenly cease.

In the garden, however, Jesus' prayer is still a source of comfort to me.

There, he prays a prayer of relinquishment, offering,

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).

That THIS was the prayer of Jesus when thunder clapped and winds roared around him, gives me peace to join him in the same prayer."

From "At Peace in the Storm" by Ken Gire

Stay Strong!

Where We Learn

I apologize in advance for the length of this post but I truly hope you can soldier through it (and if not perhaps you can table it for when you have a few extra minutes) as I believe it carries a powerful message that will truly resonate strongly with a lot of us as we navigate this journey of life on earth! 

Stay Strong, Trust and Enjoy! :)

"Bouncing across raging seas, bent to our knees and clinging for safety, is where we learn to pray.

Ask Noah, adrift on the swells of the diluvian sea.

Ask Jonah, tossed about on the Mediterranean.

Ask the disciples, taking on water on the Sea of Galilee.

Ask Paul, weathering perilous storms on voyage after voyage.

The storm you're facing may be financial, when you find yourself caught up in a Category 4 hurricane that sweeps over the economy like Katrina over the Gulf Coast.

Widespread flooding. Levees breaking. Your home underwater. Your family drowning in debt.

Standing in water to your waist is where you will learn to pray.

Your storm may be vocational, when your job is outsourced overseas or made obsolete by technology.

Wet with tears, your prayers take on new urgency.

The storm you face may be relational, when a friendship turns against you.

When a teenager is caught in the vortex of raging hormones, tempestuous emotions, and pressures from peers.

When a marriage is broadsided by a rogue wave of infidelity or grounded on a shallow reef that slowly sinks it.

Stuck in the mire, you pray.

Your storm may be physical, when your loss of balance turns out to be MS, or the lump turns out to be malignant.

It can be emotional, when the undulations of mood plunge you into the depths of depression.

Gasping for air, you pray.

The storm in your life may be a spiritual one, when you have been driven and tossed by the wind for so long and you have taken on so much water that you are filled with doubt.

You are holding on, but just barely, as wave after wave washes over you.

You're gasping for air, heaving your insides out.

Your eyes are stinging from all the water, and you can hardly see anything clearly.

How much more can you take?

How much longer can you hold on?

When your grip is slipping and you are suffocating, you feel as though the very last thing you can do is pray.

During these times, I most often pipe short, clipped, desperate prayers:

"Save me, Lord!"

"Help me."

"Please, help me."

"Please."

In a storm there are no requisite word counts.

There is no formal grammar.

There are no lofty phrases.

The Jesus prayer has just seven words:

"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."

Anne Lamott, who seems to pray like me, once identified the two most popular prayers in the world, ostensibly mid-storm and post-storm, as

"Help, help, help" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

The witness of Jesus' own disciples demonstrates that elaborate construction is not necessary:

"Master, don't you care that we are perishing?"

That was the prayer the disciples prayed when the storm swept over their boat and Jesus was asleep in the stern.

"Lord, save me!"

This was the prayer Peter prayed when he stepped out of the boat, taking his eyes off of Jesus and onto the wind and the waves that slapped against him.

The one prayer was a question, the other an exclamation.

In every life there are times when Jesus does seem to be asleep in the stern, while our lives are taking on water, and we are breaking our backs, bailing our hearts out.

How can he possibly be sleeping? On a cushion, no less!

How could he not hear the waves smashing against the hull, not feel the water sloshing over the sides?

How could he not see that we are perishing?

How could he not care?

We wake him with our prayers, or so it seems.

And he is inconvenienced, or so it seems.

Even irritated.

The question turns the way it did with the widow's question to the unrighteous judge (Luke 18:1–8).

And we learn that while we are looking for rescue, he is looking for FAITH.

It is difficult to be hard on the disciples.

What should they have done?

How should they have approached him?

Or when?

They didn't come to Jesus until they'd come to the end of themselves.

Maybe that is what prompted the rebuke.

Maybe they looked at him as their last resort INSTEAD of their FIRST.

Maybe they didn't want to disturb him, and that is what he wanted them to do most.

To come to him FIRST.

To realize he would WANT them to come to him first.

Jesus, no doubt, would have gladly received just a single word:

"Lord!"

"Master!"

There have been a lot of times when I have cried myself to sleep while praying.

Not sobbing, just gentle tears spilling from my eyes.

When the storm has raged for too long, we are weary.

We are out of thoughts.

We are out of feelings.

We are out of prayers.

What then?

When we've reached the end, Jesus simply receives us.

No words.

A sigh.

A heaving of your heart toward heaven, however heavy it may be to lift, however hard it may be to heft.

When it is too hard, the Holy Spirit will do the heaving, lifting, groaning, to carry it for you.

Unclenching our fists, the movement of prayer is to trust with the trust of Jesus.

In the same way Jesus fully entrusted himself into the hands of the Father who loved him, so we too are invited to entrust our lives into the hands of the Father who loves us.

Where you find yourself today, whether drifting effortlessly on serene glassy waters or thrown by desperate violent waves, how do your prayers sound?

Like sinking Peter, do you instinctively call out to Jesus for help?

Or like Jesus' terrified disciples, have you been hesitant to rouse the Master?

Hoarse from praying, do you at last offer a humble prayer of relinquishment?

Or speechless, desperate, do you simply lift your eyes toward heaven and let the Spirit interpret the groans of your heart?

Whichever way,  always know that Jesus' ear is constantly attuned to those who find themselves in life's storms.

Sometimes he quiets the storm.

Always, he calms and delivers his child."

"Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer." - R. A. Torrey

Taken From "At Peace in the Storm"  by Ken Gire

Stay Strong!!!

Greater than ANY Obstacle

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."
(Isaiah 40:29, NIV)

He Gives Strength

Oftentimes, when we are facing a difficulty, it's easy to become weary in our mind and emotions.

Trying to figure it all out in our own strength can be exhausting.

But we weren't meant to try to figure everything out, we were meant to trust.

We were meant to call on Him and let Him be the hero of our story!

The Bible says in Isaiah that when you cry to God for help, as soon as He hears, He will answer you!

He will give you strength when you are weary and increase your power when you feel weak.

No matter what is going on in your life today, God is greater than any obstacle or difficulty you may be facing.

Do you need strength to overcome a challenge in your life?

Do you need power to stand strong in the midst of a storm?

Call on Him, and He will hear you.

Open your heart, and by faith, receive His strength and might.

Let Him empower you to live in victory and overcome all the days of your life!

A Prayer for Today
"Father, thank You for hearing and answering my prayers. Fill me with Your strength and power today. I trust that You are working things out for my good as I surrender every area of my life to You in Jesus' name.
Amen."

Stay Strong!

Two for Monday

"Knowing God Is with Us"

This is a spiritual weapon that can be used very effectively against the enemy.

We can actually say to him, "Get away from me, Satan, for my God is with me. He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is always with me, even unto the end of the age."

God's presence dwelling with us means He is ever present to give us help in our time of need.

Psalm 23 reminds us of God's dwelling with us through the midst of every circumstance we may go through in life—both good and bad.

David declared, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me" (vs. 4).

David knew God was with him so he was not afraid to pass through the valley of the shadow of death.

And in Psalm 118 we read,

"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (vs. 6 NIV).

Likewise, in Deuteronomy 31:6 we read,

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."

Beloved, do you see how important it is to know that the Lord is with you at all times?

If we really know this in our heart of hearts, then we would no longer have to deal with fear on a continual basis.

We must remember that we are not alone in this world, even if there are no other people around us.

We are not orphans; God has adopted us into His spiritual family.

He has chosen us from the foundation of the world to be united with Him, to be one with Him!

This promise alone should be sufficient to banish ALL of our fears!"

Stay Strong!

Rich in What Matters

Happy Monday All!

As we re-engage the work week in pursuit of income and earnings et al, today's reading may be of some help for all of us to keep it all in perspective! 

Stay Strong!

"In our Gospel reading today, Jesus has an encounter with a man which prompts Him to warn the gathered crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions."

Jesus then goes on to tell a story about a wealthy man who accumulates a lot of stuff, then sits back feeling very proud of himself.

But God admonishes him, saying, "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?"

And Jesus finishes with, "thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.

This, of course, begs the question: What matters to God?

I suppose we could all come up with our own interpretation of the answer to that question.

But, as Catholics and Christians, perhaps we should seek the opinion of the One whom we claim to follow.

I think the answer can be summed up in one word: Love.

Perhaps today would be a good day to reflect on how full our "bank account" is in the one thing that really matters.

Is there room for more love in your account today?

Father, teach us to be truly rich in what matters to you. Let your love that is within us be poured out to all of our brothers and sisters today.

Amen.

From "Gus Lloyd's Reflections."

Stay Strong!

  
  

Sworn Refuge - Unfailing Resource

"What happiness for us, says Tertullian... that God be happy to swear for love of us!

Could he better make us understand how sincere is the desire that he has of giving us what he promises us?

Wretched Man, will nothing be capable of giving you confidence?

I give you my Word says the Lord.

I give you my Word that I will take care of you and that I will provide for all your needs.

May it be enough for you that I am your father and that I am not unaware of your needs.

Ask me whatever you want, I leave nothing out; I am ready to grant it to you.

This is much to promise but once again it is God who commits himself.

Is this still not enough?

I swear to you, by myself who am the Way and the Eternal Truth, by myself who hate untruthfulness and who punishes perjury with eternal penalties, by myself who can neither lie nor deceive anyone, to cease to be what I am.

I swear to you that I will serve you as a shield against all your enemies, as doctor in all your illnesses, as guide in all your ways, as advisor in all your doubts, as refuge in all your dangers, as unfailing resource in the greatest plights and when you will be abandoned by all creatures."

-  St. Claude Colombiere (1682) 

Stay Strong!

He Delivers.. Always

Happy Friday!!!

"One of the keys to overcoming fear is knowing that Jesus is faithful in the midst of the winds and the waves.

He will never let us down, so we don't have to be afraid of trouble.

Great victories and peace come to us when we come to a place that we no longer panic when something goes wrong.

Jesus will always bring us victoriously through, even as He did the disciples on the boat.

His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark that nothing from the enemy can ever penetrate.

When fear tries to attack us, we are safe under His wings.

You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day.
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon (Psalm 91:5-6).

Here the Lord is speaking directly to our fears.

He is saying that He is with us both night and day.

He never slumbers nor sleeps, beloved.

He is always with us, constantly aware of everything that we are going through.

He knows when we're fearful or when we're anxious.

And He is the One who delivers us.

We don't need to keep our nightlight on, or the television on in our room at night.

We do not need to worry about anything at all.

Why?

Because God is with us, and He will NEVER let us down.

We don't have to fear."

Stay Strong!