A book of prayers to the Holy Face of Jesus

My good friend, Alan, recently said something which stuck with me.  He said that he has always felt that, “if (he) can, (he) should.”  How often do we sit by the sidelines and act as an audience to watch and either comment or criticize about the way things are going, without making any effort, even a small one to change it?  How often do we sit in silent numbness to the tragedy we see and experience around us, without even doing something as simple, yet effective as a sincere prayer to change and turn back these horrific events!  (Considering this post, Alan harkened back to Pink Floyd’s classic, “On The Turning Away.”  Check it out:  YouTube Music Sample and Lyrics Sample.)We are all capable of making a difference, and a collective and most profound effort is made through individual and communal prayer, especially during the mass!  We have become a society of instant gratification, so don’t expect prayers to be answered the moment they are requested.  But when we make the God connection through personal and communal prayer, incredible things happen!  We just forgot how important and powerful this common gift is! It is evident by the low turnout at most masses! BTW, prayer isn’t the only way to make a difference!  You can always get off your derrière and get involved in a worthy cause, something that you are passionate about!  You will feel better, and see the immediate impact you have in action! I commonly hear people comment, “I am only one person, what can I do?” “How can I change that outcome?”  My response – “Never try.  Never Know!”​

I heard today that Faith = Belief without proof.  We need to Move from faith to belief.  We Live at a time when uncertainty rules the day and one party seems to get played against another!  So Who do you believe in this world of blue smoke and mirrors?  We fold like a cheap suit under pressure instead of standing our ground.  Don’t be trapped by someone else’s bad storyline.  No matter how good it sounds – the great deceiver can be very convincing! Start strengthening your faith into a foundation of belief through the “living word of God” which only the Bible can bring!  Why is the good book the mostly widely read book in the world?  Why have some of the brightest minds of all time found this so important that it defined them and their footprint on history and mankind?   Don’t let someone else disconnect you from your reality!  Stay Rooted in your faith and your beliefs through the living word of God!  Don’t waste what precious little time we have on “fake news!” “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”  Romans 13:11-12.“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.  The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) is coming.  When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’  Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you—I am he.’”  John 4:23-26.

 “Now listen, you who say, “’Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”  James 4:13-15. Are we making these Grand plans?  Well life may change its mind and leave you disappointed folks!  Who is leading who?  This is the deep question you should start to ask yourself before you take on any new or grand activity.  Is it self motivated and self fulfilling?  Does it come at the expense of others?Our lives are not our own!  We should be in lock step with the Lord, otherwise you are in lockstep with the evil one, who gives you the perceived notion that you are in control!“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”   Proverbs 14:12. “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”  Proverbs 16:3. Now no one said this would be easy!  But with the right attitude and enough fortitude, along with the humility to recognize who is really in charge, and a willingness to let go, God will take us to the promised land!“Work hard and become a leader;  be lazy and become a slave.”  Proverbs 12:24. “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps!” Proverbs 16:9.​

The Greatest Gift To Ever Give or Receive —- Is A Second Chance.We all recall the story of the prodigal son, when the son comes back broken, starving, and full of remorse, begging his father for forgiveness, only to be recieved with open arms, a ring put on his finger,  fine clothes put on his back, and a great feast prepared! Well what if God reached out to us instead, placed his hands on our shoulders and shook us gently and said, “Here I am!  I love you, and forgive you!  You have been deceived, and led down the wrong path! Come back to me!”  God literally reaches out, reminds us of what we forgot or ignored, and gives us a second chance! Would you change your life?This Easter season can be like no other, if you recognize, that by Christ’s Great suffering, his death, and resurrection, we have all been given the Greatest Gift we could ever hope for – A 2nd Chance!!!Don’t squander it!  Don’t be deceived any longer!  Come back to him! Ephesians 2:1-3.   DESPITE OUR PAST AND SATAN’S HOLD – CHRIST GIVES LIFE.  To you, who were spiritually dead all the time that you drifted along on the stream of this world’s ideas of living, and obeyed its unseen ruler (who is still operating in those who do not respond to the truth of God), to you Christ has given life!  We all lived like that in the past, and followed the impulses and imaginations of our evil nature, being in fact under the wrath of God by nature, like everyone else.   Titus 3:5-11.  3-8a.  For we ourselves have known what it is to be ignorant, disobedient and deceived, the slaves of various desires and pleasant feelings, while our lives were spent in malice and jealousy—we were hateful and we hated each other.  But when the kindness of God our saviour and his love towards man appeared, he saved us—not by virtue of any moral achievements of ours, but by the cleansing power of a new birth and the moral renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he gave us so generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.  The result is that we are acquitted by his grace, and can look forward to inheriting life for evermore.  This is solid truth. 1 Corinthians 6:11.  Have you forgotten that the kingdom of God will never belong to the wicked? Don’t be under any illusion—neither the impure, the idolater or the adulterer; neither the effeminate, the pervert or the thief; neither the swindler, the drunkard, the foul-mouthed or the rapacious shall have any share in the kingdom of God.  And such men, remember, were some of you!  But you have cleansed yourselves from all that, you have been made whole in spirit, you have been justified before God in the name of the Lord Jesus and in his very Spirit. Romans 6:7.  Living a New Life in Christ.  What should we say then?  Should we keep on sinning so that God’s grace can increase?  Not at all!  As far as sin is concerned, we are dead.  So how can we keep on sinning?  All of us were baptized into Christ Jesus.  Don’t you know that we were baptized into his death?  By being baptized, we were buried with Christ into his death.  Christ has been raised from the dead by the Father’s glory.  And like Christ we also can live a new life. By being baptized, we have been joined with him in a death like his.  So we will certainly also be joined with him in a resurrection like his.  We know that what we used to be was nailed to the cross with him.  That happened so our bodies that were ruled by sin would lose their power.  So we are no longer slaves of sin.  That’s because those who have died have been set free from sin. We died with Christ.  So we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that Christ was raised from the dead and will never die again.  Death doesn’t control him anymore.  When he died, he died once and for all time.  He did this to break the power of sin.  Now that he lives, he lives in the power of God. In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead as far as sin is concerned.  Now you believe in Christ Jesus.  So consider yourselves to be alive as far as God is concerned.  So don’t let sin rule your body, which is going to die.  Don’t obey its evil desires.  Don’t give any part of yourself to serve sin.   Don’t let any part of yourself be used to do evil.  Instead, give yourselves to God.  You have been brought from death to life.  So give every part of yourself to God to do what is right.

Connect Through Prayer!Feel your way. What we can’t touch we have to learn how to feel. Why do we pray?  It’s to help us make connections beyond the physical senses. I think it comes in many forms and processes, many cultures, but always with similar results.  It heightens and expands our ability to connect in a spiritual realm and to take the inner journey to the soul! It allows us to experience physical and non-physical Gratitude better! To LOVE in a more powerful and intimate way, to demonstrate physically and emotionally things like mercy, to deepen the physical and emotional experience of giving, to allow us to remove fear and anger, and Find and experience PEACE!Prayer allows us to experience through the spiritual connection with God, the true meaning of GRACE.Prayer allows us to cleanse the soul, so that we can be light and love as God intended! Prayer allows us to develop courage and humility, and allow us to experience the true and real Will of God in our daily lives! Prayer allows us to heal ourselves and others from physical and emotional pain. Prayer is the most powerful weapon the world has ever known and it’s right at your fingertips. The Blessed Mother says prayer can change the forces of nature.  It can stop wars. She calls the rosary the chain that binds Satan. Prayer also draws us closer to God. God is relentless in wanting and in helping us grow in faith and wants to draw us closer to him! Prayer is that connector. Prayer is a Gift, And it’s the gift that keeps on giving!