antidotes for the 7 deadly sins

Holiness Will Make You Unbelievably Happy | Desiring God 

How Do I Fight Pride When Competing in School, Business, and Sports? | Desiring God

Without Love, We Are Nothing | Desiring God

trust God in life and in death

"However dark death seems, it is fleeting and transient, a mere breath before the eternal life to come." 
If God Doesn’t Heal You | Desiring God 

Kathryn Butler is a trauma and critical care surgeon who recently left clinical practice in Boston to homeschool her children. Her book on end-of-life medical care through a Christian lens is anticipated in 2019 (Crossway). She writes at Oceans Rise. 

trust God in suffering

"What would I tell my thirty-year-old self?

Trust God. He is going to use everything in your life to draw you closer to him. Don’t waste your suffering, for it will be the making of your faith. And one day, as your faith becomes sight, you will be grateful for it all." 

Weakness and Failure Will Build Your Faith | Desiring God

Vaneetha Rendall Risner is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to Desiring God. She blogs at danceintherain.com, although she doesn’t like rain and has no sense of rhythm. Vaneetha is married to Joel and has two daughters, Katie and Kristi. She and Joel live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Vaneetha is the author of the book The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering. 

thank God

"...As I walked out of the dim-lit, air-conditioned coffee shop into the bracing warmth of a summer afternoon, the words became real: God’s pleasure rang out in birds chirping, leaves whispering, dust motes soaring, cattails swaying. Earth and sky resounded in a chorus of praise to the God of glory, and for the first time in a long time, I heard the music.

Joy swelled my lungs and broke out in spontaneous laughter. My inward gaze exploded outward to find a universe of marvels. My discontentment fled the scene like a thief at daybreak. I discovered, in other words, a lost weapon in the fight for happiness and contentment: wonder.

... we can get outside. Memorize one of the psalms about creation (psalms 8, 19, 104), and then carry on the song yourself. Perhaps join Clyde Kilby in the first of his ten resolutions for mental health: 'At least once a day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

...we can give thanks. 'Give thanks always and for everything,' Paul tells us (Ephesians 5:20). 'Everything' includes the forgiveness of sins as well as flannel bed sheets, the hope of heaven as well as second helpings. As you pray, give at least some time to thanking God for his created gifts and how they speak to you of him. Thank him that he provides you so richly with everything to enjoy." - https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/grumbling-in-paradise 

faith + trust = contentment today

faith + trust = peace+joy+love+happiness                            with God forever in heaven 

journey

with

Jesus
as my foundation, I build

faith

trust

contentment

that I will reach

peace

joy
love

happiness

with

God

forever in

heaven

Lamb of God

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

image by MAGISTER SACRORUM IULIANUS 

File:AGNUS DEI.jpg - Wikimedia Commons 

Before You Believed, You Belonged

Before You Believed, You Belonged | Desiring God 

a colossal waste of time

How Have Catholics Changed Since Luther? | Desiring God 

what a colossal waste of time! theologians (in the generic sense) debate differences in Christian churches while their members search for God--to know God, to love God and to serve God in a world that largely doesn't know God. 

get with the program! 
- Tim Tebow Shares Incredible Story of John 3:16 - YouTube 
- Put God First - Denzel Washington Motivational & Inspiring - Commencement Speech - YouTube 
- Accept Jesus & Be His Witness - Carson Wentz Inspirational & Motivational Video - YouTube

https://www.desiringgod.org/
image by Micah Chiang
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photo_of_John_Piper,_Oct_2010_(cropped).jpg 

God laughs

The laughter of God is simultaneously horrible and wonderful — horrible for those who oppose him, and wonderful for those in his house, for his children, for his people, for those who hear in his laughter the greatest joys in all the world and echo back his contagious laughter in their own. 

For now, his enemies may chuckle with the laughter of unbelief, as they did at Jesus (Matthew 9:24; Mark 5:40; Luke 8:53), but we, like the excellent wife of Proverbs 31:25, “laugh at the time to come,” and in doing so communicate our confidence in God to handle our greatest possible troubles. 

Like Abraham and Sarah, we are on a spiritual journey from the laughter of unbelief (Genesis 17:17; 18:12–15) to the laughter of faith (Genesis 21:1–7), knowing we will not experience the fullness of God’s own laughter in us in this age of sin and pain (Luke 6:25). For now, we don’t only laugh. Often our laughter turns to mourning (James 4:9). “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief” (Proverbs 14:13). But unhindered, unending laughter will be our experience to come. Jesus says, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” (Luke 6:21). For now, there is “a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). One day, we will laugh forever, and like never before. 

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-laughs-out-loud-to-quiet-our-fears

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"

"Jesus Was Forsaken

We know Psalm 22:1. Its first sentence is among the most famous in the Bible. For Jesus screamed them out while in unfathomable agony on the cross: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (Matthew 27:46).

Stop and think over this sentence. Delve into it as deep as you can. You will never get to the bottom of it.

There was a moment, at the crux of history, when God was God-forsaken. To we who are not God, and who are only able to experience a few dimensions of reality, this is mysterious. But it was not a mystery; it was horrifyingly real. God the Son, the eternal delight of the Father, the radiance of the Father’s glory, the exact imprint of the Father’s nature, and the Father’s earthly visible image (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15) became in that incomprehensively dark moment unholy sin — our unholy sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). And while that moment lasted, the holy Father and the Holy Spirit could not abide the holy Son made unholy. God became the object of God’s wrath. A terrible, once-for-all-time fissure rent open between the Father and Son.

For Jesus, it was a truly hellish moment, which is why, in the words of R.C. Sproul, Jesus’s Psalm 22:1 scream “was the scream of the damned. For us.” Out of a love for us we have hardly begun to fathom, he took upon himself our damnable curse, becoming the propitiation for our sins (Galatians 3:13; 1 John 4:10). And he did it for us so that our curse would be eternally removed and we might become the objects of God’s eternal mercy, clothed forever with the holiness and righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).


Psalm 22 does far more than give us words to pray during our seasons of spiritual desolation. It gives us words to grasp the desolation God the Son experienced to purchase our peace and restoration." - https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/he-will-restore-your-soul

Ask God to Rebuild What Is Broken

"Instead of plucking us up, like we deserved, he (God) placed his own Son on the cross (John 3:16). Instead of breaking down our pitiful defenses and excuses, he sent his own Son to have his body broken in our place (1 Corinthians 11:23–26). Instead of destroying us, he crushed his own Son under his unbearable wrath (Isaiah 53:10). Instead of overthrowing our rebellion and tossing us into hell, he tossed his own Son to the wolves of evil where he was crucified (Acts 2:23)." - https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/ask-god-to-rebuild-what-is-broken

Another New Year Knocks: Where to Take Your Anxiety About Tomorrow | Desiring God

"If we let our anxieties and thirsts lead us to God himself, he will graciously provide what we truly need at the beginning of another new year. As David testifies in the rest of the psalm, God will give us strength, but not our own; hope, but at great cost; clarity, but not control; and glory, but not for ourselves."
Another New Year Knocks: Where to Take Your Anxiety About Tomorrow | Desiring God 

creed

I believe in one God,
in three persons,
(1) Father,
almighty,
Creator of all that exists.
(2) Son,
Jesus Christ,
Who was born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried, 
according to His Father's will.
He rose from death on the third day.
He ascended into heaven.
He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
(3) Holy Spirit,
Who was sent by Jesus and His Father, 
and Who is always with us.

I believe in Jesus' church.
I believe that Jesus redeemed those, 
who lived both before and after Him,
who have faith in Him,
and who are sorry for their sins.
I believe in the resurrection of our bodies.
I believe that,
in the fullness of time,
that Jesus will come again, 
in glory,
to judge all of us,
both living and dead. 

amen.

what protestants don't understand about what catholics believe about Mary

Mary, Did You Know? | Desiring God 

catholics don't believe that Mary is God. 
catholics believe that there is one God.
God has 3 persons: Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit.
Mary is not God.

catholics believe that, other than Jesus, Who became man, died and rose from the dead, Mary is the most obedient-to-God human being who ever lived.

Dec. 24, 1944--Christmas as a POW in a nazi RR boxcar, Fr. Paul Cavanaugh, SJ

Fr. Paul Cavanaugh, SJ was a chaplain and POW in WWII. beginning on pg. 24 is his account of how he spent Christmas Eve 1944 as a POW in a RR boxcar with 59 other POWs. 

https://jesuitonlinelibrary.bc.edu/?a=d&d=wlet19610201-01.2.3&e=-------en-20--21--txt-txIN------- 

desiring God

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Desiring God

How Jesus Helped His Disciples Increase Their Faith | Desiring God

Everyone Wants to Be Happy - YouTube

The Strength You Need for Today | Desiring God

The Heart of John Owen’s Hedonism | Desiring God

The Most Repeated Command in the Bible | Desiring God

• slow down 
• savor God 
• experience His love 
• be joyful  
• enjoy all that God created, including His human creations   
• praise God 

The Main Ingredient in Personal Growth | Desiring God

1 Peter 2:1–3 (ESV)

2 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

A Generation Passionate for God’s Holiness | Desiring God 

"If we let our anxieties and thirsts lead us to God himself, he will graciously provide what we truly need at the beginning of another new year. As David testifies in the rest of the psalm, God will give us strength, but not our own; hope, but at great cost; clarity, but not control; and glory, but not for ourselves."
Another New Year Knocks: Where to Take Your Anxiety About Tomorrow | Desiring God 

suffering

Mother Angelica wrote about suffering: Excerpts from HEALING POWER OF SUFFERING 

I agree with Mother Angelica that we all suffer evil: death, sickness, pain, mental anguish, addictions, injustice, oppression, deprivations, natural disasters, etc. Life itself is suffering. 

Fr. James Gould, a friend of Mother Angelica's, pastor at St. John the Evangelist in Warrenton VA, and an excellent homilist, says that there's merit in "just showing up". With all of the pervasive evil in the world, I hope that Fr. Gould is right--that "just showing up" says that we believe in God and that we're sorry for our sins; and that, despite our sins, that we believe that God loves us. Jesus became man, suffered, died and arose from death. Jesus "paid" for our sins and He wants us to be with Him forever in heaven. 

faith is believing in the supernatural

I've heard many priests in my lifetime say "faith is easy". Mother Angelica and I disagree. Why is it so hard to believe? 

"You see, our problem is one of perception. You and I operate with finite minds in a material world. This is fine for grocery shopping and putting bandages on children's knees and playing bridge on Saturday night. But the finite mind is somewhat of a drawback in perceiving an Infinite Being in the world of the supernatural." 

In the natural world seeing is believing--the good (kindness, generosity, beauty, love, etc.) and the bad (mass murders, oppression, greed, etc.). 

There is no natural world "seeing and understanding" ("what you see is what you get") in the supernatural world. There are only what Mother Angelica calls our three little spiritual companions--faith, hope and love--to help us to try to "understand" that God is God, and God's love and will for us.

image by Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon

Faith Hope Love... | "Lord, Your love surpasses all. Flood m… | Flickr

           faith 

                      hope 

                                  love

a drop of mercy

"A Drop of Mercy

The idea of hurting God is awesome. It’s hard not to get a little nervous thinking that your petty actions have an effect on the Creator of the universe. Most of the time, we protect ourselves from this truth by living a life of spiritual apathy. We go about our daily business without a care in the world, more concerned about our memos and our electric bills and our summer wardrobe than about our holiness. Thank God that you and I aren’t God, because if it were up to us, we’d probably wash our hands of these selfish creatures called human beings. But our God is all loving. And He’s just a thought away, ready to understand us, accept our repentance, and forgive us, no matter what we’ve done.

I was in California a few years ago preparing to give a talk when I decided to take a walk to the ocean. I love the ocean. I am really amazed at what God did when He created it, and when I see His power in the seemingly endless expanse of water and the rushing of the waves, I always like to play a game. On this day I was, as usual, wearing my brown Franciscan habit, and as I passed by the bathers on the beach, I could see that they didn’t know what to make of me. When I got to a good stopping point, I did what I usually do: I stood about twenty or thirty feet from the waterline and called the waves to me. I figured they belong to my Heavenly Father, so I could call them if I wanted to. The sunbathers looked at me as if I were crazy, but I didn’t mind.

“Come on, you can do it!” I called. And I was so surprised when one wave heard me. Suddenly I realized that I was about to be doused by one of the most gigantic waves I had ever seen in my life.

I was so stunned; I couldn’t move. Everybody on the beach was screaming, “Run, run!” but I could not move. My leg brace was firmly entrenched in the sand.

Suddenly, the wave crashed at my feet. My shoes were wet, my brace was wet, even the hem of my habit was wet.

When I looked up, I noticed that a tiny droplet had hit the top of my hand. It was so beautiful. It glistened like a diamond in the sun.

The droplet affected me so deeply with its beauty that I felt unworthy of it, and to my own surprise, as I stood there, I threw it back into the ocean.

My odd little peace was broken when I felt the Lord say to me, “Angelica?”

I said, “Yes, Lord?”

“Did you see that drop?”

I said, “Yes, Lord.”

“That drop is like all of your sins, your weaknesses, your frailties, and your imperfections. And the ocean is like my mercy. If you looked for that drop, could you find it?”

I said, “No, Lord.”

“If you looked and looked, could you find it?”

I said, “No, Lord.”

And then He said to me, ever so quietly, “So why do you keep looking?”

That episode at the ocean taught me a profound lesson. I think all of us fall victim to rehashing our sins and failings, reliving our guilt long after we’ve asked forgiveness. We fail to realize that once God has forgiven us, those sins are gone forever. Our sins disappear in the ocean of God’s mercy. We need not worry about them any longer — they are permanently enveloped in God’s everlasting mercy.

It is hard to work through our guilt, to be repentant, to seek the sacrament of Reconciliation, and then to accept God’s forgiveness fully. Believe me, I know in my heart what you’re going through, and I know what it takes to stick with it. But you must remember that God’s mercy is just as broad and encompassing as His love for you is deep and personal. He’s looking at you — yes, you — right now, and His arms are open wide. If you can give your guilt to God just as you give Him your sins, you will be healed."

Mother Angelica: How Can I Free Myself from Guilt?

only God, not man, can speak for God

"The reformer Martin Luther stated that 'in chapters 9, 10 and 11, St. Paul teaches us about the eternal providence of God. It is the original source which determines who would believe and who wouldn't, who can be set free from sin and who cannot'".^[3]* 
Romans 9 - Wikipedia
*Preface to the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, by Martin Luther, 1483-1546, Translated by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB

Martin Luther said in his Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans that it all begins with vocabulary. I believe that Luther is correct. the "faith" that I was taught in catholic grade school, high school and college was "religion". it focused more on human "interpretations" and "rules" than on "spirit" or "spirituality". it focused on being faithful to religion and its human (and corrupt like ourselves) leaders (priests, bishops, popes, theologians--"chatterers", as Martin Luther puts it), rather than focusing on what God tells us through His Word and His Grace, and in our soul and in our conscience (faith).

Faith is important; religion is not.

Why did Moses have to wear a veil?

God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, took on the punishment for my sins.

does this sound too good to be true?
of course it does.
however, with faith we believe.