God's Desire for His Healing Power to Flow into and out of Us

In today's first reading, Isaiah 35: 1-10,  Isaiah says to us: "Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save [us]. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing....A highway will be there, called the holy way; no one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.  It is for those with a journey to make and on it the redeemed will walk. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; they will  meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee."

I read that with intense gratitude for God's graciousness to us, His immense love.  God held nothing back to secure salvation for those who believe!  God showed His love to us in Jesus' life, death and resurrection!  In today's Gospel, Luke 5: 17-26,  the love of God for His people is shown in Jesus' healing all those  who personally sought Him out or of those brought to Him by others, including the paralyzed man dropped in front of Him through the roof of the house in which Jesus was sitting. The people who brought this paralyzed man to Jesus would let nothing stop them from getting this man the help for which he longed. They were as persistent to receive God's gift of healing as God is persistent to give us this gift, be it physical, psychological, or spiritual healing.

I believe! What about you?

"My Heart is Overwhelmed; My Pity Stirred," Says God

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

In today’s first reading, Hosea 11: 1, 3-4, 8c-9, the Lord God says to us:

  “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his [her] cheeks; yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer. My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you.”

The Lord says to you and me:

“When you were a child, I loved you, out of that place that enslaves  you I call you, my son [my daughter]. …[I]t is I who teach  you to walk in Truth, in Love, in Justice, in Humility. It is I who take you in my arms.  It is I who draw you with human cords, with bands of love to my most Sacred Heart. I foster you like one who raises an infant to his/her cheeks. Though I stoop to feed you, you do not recognize me as your healer. My pity is stirred when I see you desert Me, reject my Ways, My Truth, my Love, when I see you reject my will and choose your own. Though My heart is overwhelmed, I will not give vent to my blazing anger. I will not destroy you or anyone  bent on violence, those committed to wars, those engaging  in injustices,those perpetuating corrupt practices, those committed to living deceptive lives, for I am God and not a human being, the Holy One present among you, dwelling within you. I will not let the flames of corruption, violence, injustice, deceit, lust, prejudice or any other form of sin to consume you. I am God; there is no other. I am your Savior; there is no other.”

Lord, hide me in your Sacred Heart lest I go astray and fall into the pit that Satan has set for me.

Needed: God's Healing of a Legislative Arm

Today is a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.  As in the first reading of today’s liturgy,  1 Samuel 17: 32-33, 37, 40-51, where David confronts Goliath, a Philistine who’s been a warrior since his youth and David a mere  youthful shepherd’s boy with a sling, so, too, we are faced with this monster legislative action that proclaims that parents have a right to kill their unborn child for any reason.  David approached the Philistine, saying  “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar (a sword with a curved blade), but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.”  Promoters of abortion come against us with piercing words and curved rhetoric but, I believe, we can win this fight because, like David, we have God on our sides, the Creator of these children.

In today’s Gospel, Mark 3: 1-6, Jesus, during a worship service on a Sabbath,  asked the man with the withered arm to come up to the front of the synagogue. He then asked the Pharisees: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” He then ordered the man to stretch out his hand. He was healed. That day, as on many others, Jesus challenged the Pharisees’ arrogance, shortsightedness and rigid application of their laws. Right now in the United States of America,   a rigid law  exists that  permits parents to destroy their child in the womb.  Jesus asks us to stretch forth this withered legislative arm. He will heal it, lives will be saved, not destroyed, and infanticide (infant homicide) will cease.  Let us today, also, stretch forth our arms in prayer, never giving up until this evil act of legalization is reversed. It is our duty as Christians to persist in the same way as we persisted in praying for the conversion of Russia and witnessed that miracle many years ago. Through the power of intercessory prayer, we will also  witness the miracle of the reversal of laws that legalize the murder of the unborn.  Let us never give up the fight!