How often does God in the Scriptures speak of the need to return. Why?Because as struggling sinners we stray from the path of life to the path of destruction. The first step in...
Sometimes, in the midst of the chaos of our present world, we may feel like the Israelites in the Old Testament. They asked where was God? They did not ask themselves what have...
Reflection on Scripture Eighteenth Sunday Gospel A Compassion of Jesus
By spiritaflame 10:55 AM Reading ReflectionsEighteenth Sunday Gospel A When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. · When have we experienced a sense of...
Back in the time of England's Queen Elizabeth the First, there was a retired admiral of the Royal Navy who in his retirement was now running a t to thriving business. The Queen...
The natural gift of fortitude, we acquire through practice, just as we develop our muscles through exercise. On the other hand the spiritual gift of fortitude is a grace from the Holy Spirit. Many...
Thought of the Day July 23, 2020 "Fear not, I am with you".
By spiritaflame 12:05 PM Thought of the Day
As we continue our reflection on the virtue of fortitude we now focus on one of the blocks to being courageous used by the Evil One. It is fear or cowardice. Again, where real fortitude is a virtue, cowardice is a vice. There is a natural fear such as fear of wild, dangerous animals. But the fear that rises as a block to courage is the fear of the unknown, fear of the cost to oneself.
How often in the scriptures does God addressed this hesitation of the heart by saying upfront: "Fear not." When God was giving someone a new task that seemed humanly impossible, the Almighty would call out the fear and remind the person that the he, the Lord, would be with him/her. This grace stirred the virtue of courage within the person, who then, facing the odds did what God commanded. Though they experience much hardship in the process, they kept their eyes on the Lord throughout.
God promises us this same grace when we need to be virtuously courageous to accomplish the will of God for us in the present moment. "Fear not, I am with you." Alone, we can not succeed, but with his strength, we shall be victorious.
How often in the scriptures does God addressed this hesitation of the heart by saying upfront: "Fear not." When God was giving someone a new task that seemed humanly impossible, the Almighty would call out the fear and remind the person that the he, the Lord, would be with him/her. This grace stirred the virtue of courage within the person, who then, facing the odds did what God commanded. Though they experience much hardship in the process, they kept their eyes on the Lord throughout.
God promises us this same grace when we need to be virtuously courageous to accomplish the will of God for us in the present moment. "Fear not, I am with you." Alone, we can not succeed, but with his strength, we shall be victorious.
Homily: Seventeenth Sunday Year A Reading 1: What is the heart of this reading? The unselfishness of Solomon. He did not ask for riches, for longer life or victory over his enemies. But...
Thought of the Day July 22, 2020 Fortitude or foolishness
By spiritaflame 10:17 AM Thought of the DayWhile fortitude is a virtue, brashness or foolishness is a vice. They are the illustration of the difference between the wheat and weed in the Gospel. Though both may look the same, they...
Reflection of Scripture Seventeenth Sunday Gospel A Kingdom of heaven
By spiritaflame 11:42 AM Reading ReflectionsSeventeenth Sunday Gospel A Jesus said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all...
This is what Pope Francis has taught on the gift of fortitude: "For most of us, the gift of fortitude is exercised in our patient pursuit of holiness in the circumstances of our...
"Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life....
Thought of the Day July 17, 2020 Silence, entrance to the wow moment
By spiritaflame 11:17 AM Thought of the DaySometimes the silence of God is a grace to go deeper. We look for the obvious answers on the surface of life. Those have come, but now God may be calling us to...
“Each of us knows how mysteriously the Lord works in his or her heart and soul. And this is the overshadowing, the power, the Holy Spirit’s style, as it were, for veiling our...
Homily: Sixteenth Sunday Year A Reading 1: What is the message of this reading? God is a God of justice and power, who does not condemn nor is unjust. He is lenient and...
Many time we experience the silence of God in prayer. This is the place where Jesus, in his humanity, encountered the Father. He would spend hours in prayer, waiting upon the word of...
Reflections on Scripture Sixteenth Sunday Gospel A The Kingdom of Heaven
By spiritaflame 10:27 AM Reading ReflectionsSixteenth Sunday Gospel A Jesus proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy...
Thought of the Day July 14, 2020 Noise deafens; silence frightens
By spiritaflame 10:18 AM Thought of the DayOften there is too much noise in our life. Unlike Elijah, we are distracted by the various noise around us, that we can not hear the voice of the Lord. “There is not...
We will continue our reflection on the silence of God. Why does God keep silent? Scripture often presents his silence to us, his remoteness, as a consequence of mankind’s infidelity. As we read...
Even Jesus used silence at times to teach a message. Jesus was initially silent when the Canaanite mother pleaded for him to deliver her daughter from the demonic spirit. He was waiting for...
Thought for the Day July 9, 2020 Silence in God in the OT
By spiritaflame 10:11 AM Thought of the DayWe have a number of times in the OT where we read about the silence of God. The silence of God as Abraham and Sarah awaited the promised son and the descendants as...
Homily: Fifteenth Sunday Year A Reading 1: God spoke his word through his revealed message, the Sacred Scriptures. Because it is God’ word it will bear fruit. It is like the two edged...
When you pray and hear only silence from heaven, know that God is working in that silence. Perhaps it's the silence of His loving rebuke—God is shaking you free from a certain stubborn...
Reflection on Scripture Fifteenth Sunday Gospel A The Word of God
By spiritaflame 10:05 AM Reading ReflectionsFifteenth Sunday Gospel Reflections A On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and...
The sacred authors tell us that silence is not empty, but rather full of the divine presence. “Silence guards the mystery, Of God.” (Cardinal Sarah) “God’s first language is silence.” (Saint John of the Cross) Sacred...
Today, we will begin a series of reflections on why God is sometimes silent in prayer. In the first book of Kings, we find the story of Elijah encountering God. The prophet Elijah was...
We end our reflection on the virtue of patience with a quote from St. Therese of Avila: Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing; God only is changeless....
Have you ever been impatient with God? Have you prayed for something very important to you and it didn’t happen or happened later than you desired? How did you react? Have you ever...
Thought of the Day July 1, 2020 Be still and know that I am God
By spiritaflame 10:17 AM Thought of the Day"Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a...
