
Happy John 3:16 Day

While talking to my Spiritual Director, I realized in our discussion about my daily examen, it was too focused on the negative – on sin.
Pages and pages in my journal centred on the negative. As I reflect on this, I realize my focus on sin stems from my strict Protestant upbringing. Sin and hell bent fire sermons expounding again and again human shortcomings and redemption through Jesus. My spiritual journey will look also at the positive – the goodness of God, and his amazing grace for me.
I did a little search online for a deeper and more effective way to do my Daily Examen, and share it with my readers on this post.
As I am working daily with St. Ignatius Spiritual Direction, it is normal I will share the Examen:
From: https://www.jesuits.org/spirituality/the-ignatian-examen/
St. Ignatius invites us to find God in all things. That means we have to pay careful attention to how the Spirit is moving in each moment of our daily lives. We have to take a magnifying glass to the seemingly ordinary, seeking to encounter the Divine.
That’s why the Examen is such a powerful prayer. In it, we’re invited to encounter God, express gratitude for the gift and gifts of each day, and to commit to make up for any mistakes we may have made.
The Examen is a flexible prayer, too, responding to the signs of the times. Below, you’ll find several variations to meet your need in this moment.
1. Place yourself in God’s presence. Give thanks for God’s great love for you.
2. Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life.
3. Review your day — recall specific moments and your feelings at the time.
4. Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away?
5. Look toward tomorrow — think of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan. Be specific, and conclude with the “Our Father.”
God Bless your journey with him. Please pray for me as I pray for you. 💕🙏
Understanding Demonology and the spiritual war we are in will help us maneuver our world. It will also help each of us lead an authentic Catholic life. Sharing with my readers Fr. Chad Ripperger’s lecture on this topic. It’s almost 2 hours long, and very comprehensive based on his experience as an exorcist and demonology.
(From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad_Ripperger). Fr. Chad Alec Ripperger (born October 11, 1964) is an American Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and exorcist. He is well known in traditional Catholiccircles, has presented many conferences throughout the United States on theological and pastoral subjects, and is the founder of the traditional CatholicSociety of the Most Sorrowful Mother (the Doloran Fathers)[1] in the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, USA.
I hope I am not bombarding my readers with too much information (my priest once told me to take baby steps in teaching RCIA). The topic can be mind boggling, and most will be afraid to know or discuss this topic, but pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God Bless 🙏💕.
Please pray for me as I pray for each of you 🙏💕
Sharing with all my readers to in-depth discussion with Ralph Martin and Peter Herbeck on living in our challenging times and how to manoeuvre within our secular world.
Our merciful God has always given us the freedom of choice. I know for a fact that sometimes I have a hard time discerning between what I think is wrong or right. Our world makes it harder for each of us to discern as truths get cloaked in lies, and truth is fused with lies.
God Bless 💕🙏
“In this booklet, Peter Herbeck examines the theme of fire in Scripture. Christ made salvation possible by embracing a baptism of fire. The Lord also hopes to accomplish much in our lives through his holy flames. Additionally, Peter discusses how to avoid the fire of God’s judgment and be transformed by the fire of his love.”
Free by Peter Herbeck
https://www.renewalministries.net/shop/product/receiving_fire_free
This is one of the realities of living as a Catholic or Christian. “How do I live as a someone walking with Jesus, in a world that glorifies sin?”
SIN is rampant in my world. I need only look around me to see it in my everyday – from subjective truth based on one’s own lived experience to a disregard for rational discourse and the natural law. It is in my work place, in the political climate I live in, in my social milieu, in the media and the mores.
2 Corinthians 5:7
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
As I am also learning how to manoeuvre within and without my world, I share with all the following book and article on this topic.
I hope they will help us walk in the path of Jesus towards God in a world gone dark💕🙏
The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.
https://www.amazon.com/Benedict-Option-Strategy-Christians-Post-Christian/dp/0735213291
The following article also explores this topic.
God Bless 💕🙏
Very often as a writer, I use common phrases I think I understand.
Wow, what am I saying?
I have been reflecting the past few weeks on the Pascal Mysteries as a part of my journey in my spiritual direction, and as part of my Lenten journey to “love Jesus, know him, and to know/do his will.”
Reflecting on my past blog posts, I have often used this phrase and the deep impact of it didn’t hit me until this Sunday. Graced awareness hit me like a ton of bricks, as I realized; “Do I even know what I was talking about?”
To love Jesus, means getting to know and be in a relationship with him. Getting to know Jesus is reading the sacred scriptures and examining how it applies to me. A relationship with Jesus is communication – am I praying and talking to Jesus. It is also in looking at the world around me through Jesus’ eyes. “Is it life giving?”
Graced awareness is what I have been praying for, and when it hits me, I am in awe how simple it is.
It is only in knowing who Jesus is that I can come to love him more. Like any friendship, it entails communication and spending time together. It is through this process I learn to trust Jesus. I am after all human, and it’s been wired into me from the onset to seek relationships – especially with God. It is only when I trust, and that I can slowly move to closer to him and let go of my fears and submit to his will.
After examining and breaking down what it means “to love, know and do the will of God” and looking beyond the text – I can understand what it really means to me.
Praise be to Holy Spirit for his guidance 💕🙏
Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to earth to save us and show us the Father’s overwhelming love. Thank you for making it possible for us to KNOW the very nature and character of the Great I AM. You revealed that both the law and gospel are features of God and what He wants for us. The Law shows us His will and teaches us that when we follow it we will be blessed with direction and protection. The Gospel shows us His forgiving love that covers our failures with mercy and grace.
Jesus, You perfectly represent both the Law and the grace of the Gospel. Please forgive me for failing to trust You completely and by Your mercy and grace, help me to KNOW You are God, the Messiah. Help me to LOVE You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And help me to TRUST and OBEY Your will that I might live each day for Your glory and enjoy the blessings of a soul completely surrendered to You.
Amen.
God will always find a way to communicate with us, and this homily by Father Chris Alar was an eye opener for me:
God Bless 💕🙏
Telling those around me that the three days of darkness may soon be upon us begets an earful of disbelief and awkward laughter. I ask myself why do I bother. My main reason is to let others know of what may come and to prepare for it.
Hence dear readers, I post this not to bring stress and anxiety, but to help all prepare regardless if it’s in our life time or not. There has been plenty of personal prophecies on this as well as Marian apparitions, and there is also my own personal dreams/visions.
All I can say is that just as many will mock and not listen, there are those who will prepare as the bride prepares for her groom – The Parable of the 10 Virgins on Matthew 25:1.
Keep our hearts focused on Jesus and deter not from him in the face of all the calamities that befalls us, especially during the signs of our time.
There has been many signs of late, from the latest of Northern lights: Aurora seen across UK in spectacular display, to the UFO aka demon phenomenon, to the ongoing power narrative and war in the Ukraine, to the possibility of a world war that will be fought with nuclear and bio weapons (if we haven’t already seen this), earthquakes, unusual changes in weather patterns due to global warming narratives, economic fallout, as well as the legalization of abortion in many countries to the degeneration of male and femaleness to “other” – transgenderism and trans-humanism.
I can’t help but recall Noah’s time (Genesis 6-8); Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19); and other tribulations upon humanity.
It’s a time of preparation for all of us, especially as we are in the Lenten season. I know I have been called to focus on Jesus, to reflect upon his Passion, to do a daily examen, and seek forgiveness. It is only with a Jesus centred heart that I can prepare my family and those I love for the coming times.
Whether those around me listen of not, it is important we share what we know. If we are mocked, we go tell the next person:
14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.
Matthew 10:14
New International Version
There is much written and available online as to how to prepare. This information can be googled. For my family I have blessed 100% beeswax candles on hand along with blackout curtains on most of my windows. I am very confident that those of us who have a Jesus centred life will be protected by God’s angels. Please discern when reading all information online, and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Overall, pray, pray and pray!
May God’s blessings be upon each of you🙏💕
Recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet from
https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God’s mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
(Repeat three times)
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Saying the “Eternal Father” (6) on the “Our Father” bead and then 10 “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion” (7) on the following “Hail Mary” beads.
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Your mercy — to Your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth’s exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our life and at death’s hour. Let the omnipotence of Your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as Your children, await Your [Son’s] final coming — that day known to You alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven (Diary, 1570).
Although it says in the Bible we know neither the time nor day when God will reveal his hand. I feel God is revealing to many of us “signs of the times,” just as Marian apparitions have also prepared her children. Please pray on it, and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We exist in this time line for a reason. God has entrusted each of us to shine with the light of love and truth.
This is a personal vision from three years ago:
Most recent discussion: