Through prayer, we share our hopes, fears and our most difficult questions with God. He knows all that is held deep within our heart and wants us to seek Him in prayer. What does God desire from our prayers? Jeremiah 29:12 says “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” God is “a searcher of the desires of the heart.” The Lord doesn’t seek sparkly words and grand gestures. Within a humble and prayerful heart, God finds joy. In a season of rejoicing, our prayers express love and gratitude for God’s goodness. We whisper, “Lord, thank you for this beautiful day and for all the happiness I found inside of it!” In the eye of a storm, our prayers painstakingly…
Mary – Blessed Mary We know Her by many names. She is the Queen of Peace, the Mystical Rose, the Mother of God. Blessed Mary’s many names have been sacredly bestowed following one of her miraculous apparitions or a miracle she granted. Her names have also been revealed through a timely message given to us, as she did at Fatima. In Latin America the Blessed Mother is also known as “La Conquista” or the Mother of the Conquered. Michelangelo’s Pieta depicts her as “Mater Dolorosa” or Madre Dolorosa. Here we see Her suffering as She holds the body of Jesus after his Crucifixion. I call her Blessed Mary, Holy Mother – and use the words given us in the Magnificat: “For hold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” The Litany of Loreto This beautiful prayer venerates the Blessed Mother by her many holy names. It…
With summer officially starting, now is a great time to put your “to-get-done” checklist together. You might be thinking about the list of family activities that get prioritized on your calendar each year. Although that list is really important, it is not the one I am referring to here. After all, almost everything on the family calendar typically gets done as planned. The whole family rallies behind making sure nothing gets missed. The annual block party, visits to the town pool and beach outings all get the attention they deserve. The list I am referring to is the one containing the things you are thinking about doing just for yourself. Despite your best efforts, these activities often get shelved to make room for everything else. Time passes and before you know it, the opportunity is gone. So if you haven’t started writing your own…
What Are Values? Values are our most defining beliefs and emotional memories held in the heart and inspired by the soul. They are the core principles that drive our greatest passions. Values are created and cultivated early in life. All our experiences encountered as children, home surroundings and people that influenced our thinking shaped these deep-seated emotions. Values are the heart-wired understandings we take with us everywhere. They are considered by many as our most defining “feeling” qualities. Just as athletic skills become more natural with repetition, our values are reinforced whenever an event triggers a sensitive memory cataloged away in our heart. Scientists define emotion as “energy in motion.” Our emotions form patterns and imprint(s) on the brain that influence human behavior. Over time and with continuous repetition of thought, our values ultimately drive our decisions and choices we make in life. They sway the relationships…
It sure does feel like our questions for God are growing beyond measure. I’ve lost count. News headlines leave us wondering if we really are living in such times. And yet we know the answer – we are. It’s all true. New York Governor’s recent law passage is very real. Gripped by it, we watched in disbelief that it came with applause. Decisions like these make us look to God for answers. It can’t be explained. Recently a terrible fire in my neighborhood took the life of a child and grandmother. A small candle sparked this senseless tragedy. Looking into our own lives, perhaps uncertainty is taking space there too. There has to be good news somewhere. Right? Sure there is. But often times it’s really hard to find. That part of us seeking to bring a thankful heart into…
