🧀The Cheese & Crackers = Quotes by C. S. Lewis, Sir Thomas More, and Blessed Margaret Ebner
🌽The Veggies = My 2💰
🍟The Potatoes = “Silence- A Series of Conferences, Silence of Hearing", by a Camaldolese Hermit (Part 2 of 4 )
🍗The Meat = "Avoiding False Hope and Pride", by Thomas À Kempis
🍰The Dessert = YouTube video: "Retarded Souls", by Fr. Ripperger. Part 1of 2
(MC=my comments- Reading this confirms to me that activities should be held in conference areas, school cafeterias, activity centers, or auditoriums, and not be held in the sacred temple of the Lord where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass occurs. Seems standing on the Altar where the Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered is unacceptable. Even standing on the pulpit where the Gospel is proclaimed it seems one should be more mindful. All of this may foster a caliver attitude and promote irreverent behavior in church. The casual mindset is carried over to Holy services, where there is talking and laughing, etc. going on without a second thought. If there are no other alternatives, well so be it, but just thinking we should be very careful and mindful. Willing to bet in a mosque, where the real Eucharistic presence of Jesus isn’t present, how we behave in church would definitely not be allowed there. Coming from from a point of view that have been distilled from reading the Saints. Thinking missions with a Mass may not be displeasing to God, but if an activity center was available, laziness should not prevent the people from moving to that area. May the goal be for God’s perfect will to always be done, in a respectful, humble manner)
🍈"Give us, Lord, a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, a love of you. Take from us all lukewarmness in meditation, dullness in prayer. Give us fervor and delight in thinking of you and your grace, your tender compassion towards me. The things we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labor for: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen". By St. Thomas More
✠ &During the night], before matins, my Lord Jesus Christ placed me into such indescribable misery and a feeling of abandonment that it seemed as if I had never experienced the grace of our Lord in my whole life. I had lost complete trust in His mercy. Whatever I had received was taken from me totally. The true Christian faith—which is in me at all times—became darkened. And what was more painful to me than any previous suffering—worse too than any martyr’s death—was doubt. I began to doubt against my will and wondered whether He and His works were acting in me or not. Indeed, it remained for me only to want to suffer willingly, patiently for His sake. And that seemed right to me because of my sense of guilt. And then I felt an inner, deeper humility and out of these depths I cried out to the Lord and desired that He show me His mercy, which He had shown me so lovingly before, and to show me truly by some authentic sign whether it was He and His work acting in me. Since His Spirit gives witness to our spirits that we are children of God, so my Lord is good and merciful and cannot ignore the desire of the poor and humble. He came like a friend after matins… and gave me His true help. This is the natural virtue of the Lord: to whomever He gives sorrow and pain, He then comforts. Whomever He afflicts, He then makes glad. And in His holy suffering He gave me the sweetest delight and the greatest pain and the most incomparably severe sorrow…. When that finally left me I was granted sweet grace and with this I recognized in truth without any doubt that it was He alone who worked His merciful deeds in me. What I had wished to know earlier in my suffering He now revealed". By Blessed Margaret Ebner
⌛️Jesus says: ”But my words will not pass away”
⌛️On the path to everlasting life they sublimely lay
⏳Just like with a dream
⏳Things are not always as they seem
⌛️End times, now really think about it
⏳Take a moment and reflect a bit
⏳Does time really end?
⌛️What happens is kind of a bending in another direction, subtly or abruptly not end, but a bend
⏳For those in Christ, it’s a bending towards eternity
⏳In a way that's dramatically, undramatically
⌛️Any so called end, in reality not so, not so
⌛️Consider that something that can be considered a "no go"
⏳ An erroneous mind set
⏳On that you can safely bet
⌛️Cause everything can be found to be constantly evolving, changing & developing
⌛️That norm is ongoing, nothing stays the same, a little or a lot ever morphing
⏳All working for or against where the soul will one day reside
⌛️To end up in the right place, it is in Jesus that we have to abide
⌛️A kingdom never ending, as nothing alive is ever static
⏳The direct actions of our Sovereign God, who can be considered to be ever so pragmatic
⌛️The end, no, let us consider such to be new beginnings
⌛️A closed door that is leading to a new horizon, be it through very large or very small openings
⏳Life experiences may be mistakenly seen as ending
⏳But in reality it’s just another phase that one is entering
⌛️In Christ there are no dead ends
⌛️Unlimited paths are the directions that new phases portends
⏳Even in hell what goes on is non stop, no end to the pain and suffering
⏳ Forever and ever that will be without end, with no pause just continuing and continuing
⏳Oh, but the joys of heaven to be had
⏳Thank God, thank God, one will have no reason for a moment to in the least be sad
⌛️Death does not end the life of the soul, life ends not, but is changed as a rebirth to further incline
⌛️But for the lost not in Christ, the possibilities are for a steep and perpetual decline
⏳Always and everywhere Christ the Living God is there to transform & lead His own from glory to glory unending
⏳The alternative is to be ushered by the evil one to a place of massive suffering
⏳Hell exists and there is to be found no end to the darkness dominating
⌛️My God, imagine an eternity of downwards spiraling
⌛️The choices we make, our every action, each minute on the hour should be for joy untold
⌛️If not, it’s an end that really begins a life in hell where one through one’s own fault loses their soul
⏳The bottom line is this: how one’s life is spent
⏳Will in every way determine what happens at the final judgment
⌛️The immortal soul, time can in no way sever
⌛️It’s eternal life in heaven, or the other place is hell, where one will get to live forever
⏳Each unfolding day
⌛️A chance to make the most of the time allotted to us as we travel along the way
⌛️The legacy of a life lived well
⏳What a blessing, untold benefits at the sound of the final bell
tmm/TruGIG ™️
"What should be our attitude as Christians and as hermits? Saint Peter in his last letter asks us to resist the devil, to be strong in faith:
🎚1 Pt 5:8-9 “Stay sober and alert, your opponent, the devil, is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith"
Here is the first point:
👉🏼1. Christians should be on their guard against the snares of the devil. In order to do so, we need a deep faith. Unfortunately, many are losing their faith, and consequently they become careless and weak. They no longer can, nor do, resist the devil. This is the beginning of the end for many.
👉🏼Secondly: We should listen to the voice of God and follow His admonitions. From the beginning of human life on earth, God has spoken to mankind in various ways. He addressed Himself in a special way to the Chosen People, to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He spoke to us most perfectly through His Eternal Son, who became man, Our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, eternity broke into time and heaven came to earth. Jesus said of Himself:
🎚Matthew 7:24 “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them, will be like a sensible man who has built his house on rock... but everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them, will be like a stupid man who has built his house on sand.”
Here, my Brothers, lies one of the main reasons why many have lost the path to salvation. They were overcome by the evil one. Instead of following Christ, they followed the voice of fallen nature, victims of the devil. The cosmic struggle between Christ and the devil, between good and evil, is a vital reality and we all must make our own choice. Either we are with Christ, or we are against Christ, with all the consequences!
👉🏼The third point: The logical consequence of what has been said above is this: every voice coming to us must be tested. This is what is called discernment of the spirits. Saint John the Apostle, in his first letter writes:
🎚1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but put the spirits to a test to see if they belong to God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world.”
We live in times of great confusion. There are a number of theologians, priests, and religious sisters who are in open opposition to the teaching of the Church. There are many abuses, many errors obstinately defended and shamelessly propagated. Also, the crimes of abortion and the sinful disease of divorce, as well as other transgressions of the Commandments of God, are carried out as though normal and harmless. In these situations we should remember what Saint Peter said to the Apostles:
🎚Acts 5:29 “Obedience to God comes before obedience to men.”
We should also remember what Our Lord said:
🎚Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep, but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruit...a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree produces bad fruit... Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.”
The next time we shall continue our reflections on the same theme, going more deeply into our life as hermits. We shall see that we should bring to silence all voices which do not come from God, to be able to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His promptings. Amen."
"Vain is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things. Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world. Do not be self-sufficient but place your trust in God. Do what lies in your power and God will aid your good will. Put no trust in your own learning nor in the cunning of any man, but rather in the grace of God Who helps the humble and humbles the proud.
If you have wealth, do not glory in it, nor in friends because they are powerful, but in God Who gives all things and Who desires above all to give Himself. Do not boast of personal stature or of physical beauty, qualities which are marred and destroyed by a little sickness. Do not take pride in your talent or ability, lest you displease God to Whom belongs all the natural gifts that you have.
Do not think yourself better than others lest, perhaps, you be accounted worse before God Who knows what is in man. Do not take pride in your good deeds, for God’s judgments differ from those of men and what pleases them often displeases Him. If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger."
Video link: https://youtu.be/-rPDOFGBgbs