The Fear of What Love Demands

You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. – Luke 10:27 Have you ever prayed the Litany of Trust? It is a lovely but challenging prayer that can help open us up to God’s deliverance and love. It focuses on asking God to free us from things that hold us back from trusting Him.…

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Your Name is Written in Heaven

…rejoice because your names are written in heaven. – Luke 10:20 I have several friends named Jennifer. I think I have at least five really great Jennifer friends! (Shout out to all my Jennifers!) Each one of them is a bright and shining light in her own way. You might say she each reflects a particular shade of her favorite color. Each one beautiful and unique and completely different from every other Jennifer who ever…

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Do You Love Me?

Peter was distressed that he [Jesus] had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” – John 21:17 “Do you love me?” It’s the question of every human heart. I believe it’s the deepest question we have in all our relationships. We subconsciously and silently ask it of our parents, friends,…

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What is Eucharistic Adoration?

If you’ve never tried Eucharistic Adoration, this week is the perfect time to try it out! Why is that, you ask? This weekend, we celebrate the Solemnity of the most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, also known as Corpus Christi. This is the Church’s great celebration of God’s most precious gift to us: The Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Q: What is Eucharistic Adoration? Eucharistic Adoration is a time we set aside for…

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God’s Innermost Secret

…the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. – Romans 5:5 God has a deep, mysterious secret. This makes my head spin, but He has shared it with us! Are you ready for it? HE IS LOVE. God doesn’t simply act in love. It’s not something He feels or does. It’s WHO He is. As St. John taught, “God is love” (1…

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Want to Grow In Love?

I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. – John 13:34-35 Jesus is very clear with us in our Gospel passage this Sunday: we are to love one another. How we love one another is a kind of litmus test for our identities as Christian…

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Safe in God’s Hands

No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. – John 10:28-29 When fear creeps up, help me see Your care for me.When worry besets me, remind me of Your providence.When anxiety winds up, calm my troubled mind.When thoughts of dread arise, protect me, Jesus.When uncertainty lurks, lead me on the next…

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Everything in the Universe Cries Out With Joy

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.” – Revelation 5:12 Imagine the loudest sound you can dream up: a volcano erupting, a rocket launch, standing next to the speakers at a rock concert! Now multiply that…

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Mercy and Love We Can Touch

Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” -John 20:28 What a humble, loving, and merciful God we have! He meets our every need. St. Pope John Paul II taught that what humanity needs most is God’s merciful love: “There is nothing…

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