Please feel free to post your prayer request for today as a comment to this post. Your needs and intentions will be included in our daily offerings throughout the day and at the 3 o’clock hour for Divine Mercy, and your requests will be personally offered to our Heavenly Father, having faith in the words our Lord spoke to Saint Faustina, “Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.” (Diary, § 1731)

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“Almighty and Most Merciful God, in the indescribable and limitless Love which fills Your Divine Nature for each and every one of us, Your children, please fill us with Your Holy Spirit to inspire, strengthen and guide us as we journey each day through life;

– as we look to You, Lord Jesus, with an unshakeable faith in Your Divine Goodness which we hold so sacred within our hearts, may we truly live, in our everyday life, the desire to possess You as the only True Treasure who satisfies the deepest longings of our heart and soul.” †

July 31 ~ Completely in My Care

Theme:  Strive for Sanctity

“May 1, [1938]. This evening, Jesus said to me, ‘My daughter, do you need anything?’ I answered, ‘O my Love, when I have You I have everything.’ And the Lord answered, ‘If souls would put themselves completely in My care, I Myself would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater graces on them.

“‘There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, shielding them with My mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart.’”(Mercy Minutes with Jesus/Diary, 1682)

My prayer response:

Lord Jesus, I desire to put myself completely in Your care. Please undertake the task of sanctifying me. Without Your grace, I can do nothing. But with Your grace, I can do anything, because then all things are possible. “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Philippians 4:13). (Mercy Minutes with Jesus)

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July 31 ~ A True Knowledge of Myself

Theme:  Knowledge of God

“…there came to me a true knowledge of myself. Jesus is giving me a lesson in deep humility and, at the same time, one of total trust in Him. My heart is reduced to dust and ashes, and even if all people were to trample me under their feet, I would still consider that a favor.” (Mercy Minutes/Diary, 1559)

“He gave me an interior light by which I learned that not a single word was mine; despite difficulties and adversities, I have always, always fulfilled His will, as He has made it known to me.” (Mercy Minutes/Diary, 1667)

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Please Comment, Like and Share, and Suggest to your Facebook friends – to spread the message of God’s Merciful Love.

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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 31

Do You and I Treasure God the Same Way God Treasures Us? Do We Long for Him As Much As He Longs for Us?

We hear words of caution given to us by our Lord in today’s Gospel, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Our Readings for today all underscore one important point, something which we all know only too well – namely, that our life here on this side of the eternal is temporary, that you and I have only so much time left.

And for all of God’s children who embrace a life of faith, we have come to know and understand that this life, which is a wonderful gift from God, is truly a “waiting room”, if you will, a room in which we prepare ourselves for what awaits us on the other side of that eternal threshold.

While we stand in this “waiting room”, prayerfully preparing ourselves for the day when God will call us, we continue to grow in our understanding of what God is asking of us here and now, and how we are to respond to His invitation.

We hear the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes telling us, “…vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” At first glance, this well-known saying sounds very pessimistic.

However, when we look at the context in which we find it, the author is giving to us a very sobering yet genuine perspective on life’s pursuits, not on life itself. What a person builds over a lifetime can be left in an instant to another who does no work at all!

In this respect, all his efforts at building up material wealth is truly in vain – when we look at it from the mind of God, when we begin to understand it from God’s perspective. And it is from this perspective that our Lord, in today’s Gospel, gives us the “parable of the rich fool.”

Jesus tells His audience about a man who builds bigger and bigger buildings to store his wealth. But those barns will be owned by someone else when he dies that very night. And those who listened to our Lord understood His point about vain hope.

Our lives today are basically no different. There are many in this world who walk blindly through life, building up wealth for themselves. However, it is important to understand that wealth in itself is not an evil, for God is the giver of all good gifts.

It is only when we begin to fall in love with the wealth – or worse yet, to worship it, to depend upon it as if it could protect us, could give us life or could bring us happiness – wherein we begin to lose sight of where our TRUE wealth should surely lie.

Even I fell victim to the lure of material riches. Decades ago, when I was much younger and CEO of my second company, I found myself taking pride in my many accomplishments. I dressed for success wearing three-piece suits, drove an expensive car – all for the purpose of appearing successful so that clients would have confidence in the services my company provided.

My success only served to feed my bank accounts, my ambitions and my pride. I was the quintessential example of “…vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!”

At that time in my life, I refused to face the truth in Paul’s words to Timothy, “…the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith…” And I failed to live up to what we read about in our Second Reading today, from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, “…seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

I did not recognize what it meant to be buried with Christ – to die to sin and to live in holiness. My life was more focused on the here and now, rather than what might await me later. And if God had called me at that time, I shudder to think where I might have ended up!

Today, as I look at my life in hindsight, I can see the hand God patiently guiding me away from a life of greed which had been my idolatry, as Paul tells us today. Financial success and fame had been my gods.

Unbeknownst to me, I had fallen in love with my idolatry, and in that was my sin! Yet, our Lord, who is the Good Shepherd, who constantly seeks out His lost sheep, slowly and patiently guided me back into the fold – as He does with each one of us – if only we would open the eyes and ears of our hearts to His gentle guidance.

He brings each of us, you and me, to a greater understanding of where our eyes need to be focused, so that, as Paul tells us today –

“When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”

God invites each of us to a share in His Life, but He leaves it up to us to be changed, to be transformed. It is up to us to put off our old lives of self-centeredness and sin, so that you and I can be clothed with Jesus’ own love, kindness, compassion and humility.

To put it simply, it is a matter of our choosing to turn to Jesus in prayer, and then working to conform our hearts to His, working to conform our minds and our way of thinking to His.

In all reality, it is a matter of facing our everyday decisions with faith and trust in God, asking Him to lead us and guide us, so that, with the help of His grace, our transformation may be one from self-interest and self-centeredness to one of self-sacrifice and selflessness, so that our transformation may be one from sinfulness to righteousness.

The choices we make in life are truly ours, for God will not take away His gift to us of free will. We can either follow the path which leads to destruction and death, or we can choose to follow the path which leads to spiritual fulfillment and life. Do we choose self or do we choose God!?

Jesus teaches us with words today which strike at the very heart of the matter, “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” For our Lord never fails to beckon to us, reaching out to us with His Love. In the parable which we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus probes our heart – where is our treasure?

Treasure has a special connection to the heart, the place of desire and longing, the place of will and focus. The thing we most set our heart on is our highest treasure. What do you and I treasure above all else?

As we grow older and wiser, we begin to understand how important our relationship with God truly is to us, for we begin to realize that the time we have left in this “waiting room” is growing shorter and shorter!

And in our life of faith, a journey which each of us makes from the “womb to the tomb”, we come to a realization that God truly treasures each of us, and longs for us to be with Him.

Do you and I treasure Him the same way? Do we long for Him as much as He longs for us? For the sake of our eternal salvation, I truly pray so, for God does not desire to lose any one of us!

And may you and I, in our continuing pilgrimage through this life, truly be “rich in what matters to God”!

May God bless you, God love you, and may God always keep you. †

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Scripture for the Day

• “Then he said to the crowd, ‘Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.’” (Luke 12:15)
• “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)
• “For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.” (Ecclesiastes 2:21)
• “For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
• “…seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)
• “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.” (Colossians 3:4-6)
• “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” (Luke 12:21)
• “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
• “Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart…Fill us at daybreak with your mercy, that all our days we may sing for joy.” (Psalm 90:12, 14)

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Prayer for the Day

“Lord God, Creator of Heaven and Earth,
You called us out of nothingness,
and created us in Your own Image.
You filled us with Your own life-giving Spirit,
inviting us to have a share in Your own Divinity,
so that we may be called Your spiritual sons and daughters.

“We thank You for the gift of life
and for the blessings You bestow upon us this day.
Help us to always stand in awe
at the Presence of Your Holy Majesty,
so that we may always sing the praises of Your glory
in all that we do throughout life.

“Truly, all things come from You,
And everything that is – was once nothing.
From the depths of Your Infinite Love,
You called us into being as Your children.

“We worship You, O Lord,
from the very depths of our existence,
for, in all that we are, we forever owe to You!
For You are truly our one and only Treasure in life and in eternity. Amen.”

Anonymous

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Web link: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073122.cfm

– a perfect place to enjoy the Sacred Readings for each day of the week

I sincerely pray that this Sunday is filled with peace, love and happiness for each and every one of you and your families.

It is with great sadness in my heart that, after more than 12 years, this Sunday will be the last time I will be able to post any articles in this Evangelization Apostolate of God’s Divine Love and Mercy due to my pending homelessness which will begin this Thursday, August 4th.

For those of you who are not aware, my wife of 22 years recently divorced me, and to prevent myself from becoming homeless, since we had to sell our home, I have been staying in a motel, since there are long waiting lists for available apartments, and after several weeks of motel costs, my expenses are far exceeding the small monthly income I receive from Social Security.

And even though I am a disabled military veteran, I am not suffering from PTSD, mental disorders, suicidal or needing full-time nursing care. So there is only so much the Veteran’s Administration can do for me at this time. I do have a Case Worker from Catholic Charities trying to help me find a place to live, but nothing is available thus far.

So I am mentally and emotionally preparing myself to begin sleeping in my car starting this Thursday. As a result, I will have no access to my computer, and I cannot publish extensive articles using my small phone.

The only thing that is holding me together is my deep faith in God’s compassionate and ever-present Love for me.

I have created a GoFundMe page which I will link below. If any of you have the means, and you find it within your heart, any donation you can make will be of great assistance, and I will remember you with deep appreciation in my prayers.

Until I can one day come back online and continue this Apostolate with the help of God’s grace, May God bless and keep each of you and your loved ones. †

Love always,
Ed

https://gofund.me/62fa8d38

Please feel free to post your prayer request for today as a comment to this post. Your needs and intentions will be included in our daily offerings throughout the day and at the 3 o’clock hour for Divine Mercy, and your requests will be personally offered to our Heavenly Father, having faith in the words our Lord spoke to Saint Faustina, “Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.” (Diary, § 1731)

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“Most Merciful and Loving Father, please strengthen our faith within us and help us to persevere in our prayers, always trusting in Your Love;

– with the help of Your grace, may we come to know the depths of the Mercy of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as our beloved Redeemer and Savior, who shall reign in our hearts forever. We humbly pray this always in His Most Holy Name. Amen.” †

July 24 ~ Experienced in Battle

Theme:  Spiritual Warfare

“Jesus, Savior, who have deigned to come into my heart, drive away these distractions which are keeping me from talking to You.

“Jesus answered me, ‘I want you to become like a knight experienced in battle, who can give orders to others amid the exploding shells. In the same way, My child, you should know how to master yourself amid the greatest difficulties, and let nothing drive you away from Me, not even your falls.’” (Mercy Minutes with Jesus/Diary, 1823)

My prayer response:

Lord Jesus, Your coming into my heart by Holy Communion strengthens me to enter into the battle of promoting Your message of The Divine Mercy. Help me to become experienced in battle, and may I always be faithful to You. (Mercy Minutes with Jesus)

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July 24 ~ Knowing What Makes a Soul Great

Theme:  Knowledge of God

“With great longing, I am waiting for the Lord’s coming. Great are my desires. I desire that all humankind come to know the Lord. I would like to prepare all nations for the coming of the Word Incarnate.” (Mercy Minutes/Diary, 793)

“Who will ever conceive and understand the depth of mercy that has gushed forth from Your Heart?” (Mercy Minutes/Diary, 832)

“Jesus, You have given me to know and understand in what a soul’s greatness consists: not in great deeds but in great love. Love has its worth, and it confers greatness on all our deeds. Although our actions are small and ordinary in themselves, because of love they become great and powerful before God.” (Mercy Minutes/Diary, 889)

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Please Comment, Like and Share, and Suggest to your Facebook friends – to spread the message of God’s Merciful Love.

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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 24

God Is Asking Us Today to Deepen Our Faith and Our Trust in Him by Turning to Prayer, Making Our Prayer Life an Intimate and an Integral Part of Our Daily Lives.

“But he still persisted: ‘Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.’”

Abraham’s persistence, which we hear about in our First Reading today, is the perseverance in prayer which our Lord speaks about in today’s Gospel. Perseverance means to pray without ceasing, believing that God will hear and answer our prayers, if what we are asking for is in accordance with His Divine will for us and for those for whom we pray, and if it brings holiness into our lives and the lives of others.

And our Lord tells us today, “I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.” And then He goes on to say, “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

I am sure that each one of us has had his or her moments with God, moments when we’ve argued with God, when we’ve tried to bargain with God, moments of anger, moments of deep disappointment with God.

And I am sure that there have been times when we walked away feeling somewhat guilty about thoughts or feelings we may have had.

But if we take the time to think about it, why shouldn’t we experience those kinds of moments and feelings? As God’s sons and daughters, each of us is called to have a personal relationship with the one Jesus called “Abba”.

And a personal relationship with our Creator, if it is real, has its good moments and bad, its peaks and its valleys, moments of deep intimacy and moments of feeling estranged and all alone.

If we experience these feelings in our relationships with each other, why should our relationship with God be any different? For our relationships are born from our own human nature.

In today’s First Reading and in today’s Gospel, we have two graphic examples of how persons exercise a personal relationship with God. Abraham, our father in faith, pleads with God for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But it is not a peaceful, quiet pleading. He is obviously trying to force God’s hand. He has the audacity to remind the Lord of His own commitment to justice and His sense of compassion.

“Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty.”

Abraham’s relationship with God was an honest one, one in which he felt safe and comfortable speaking with his Creator, with a boldness and an honesty which we ourselves might find difficult to do, and he also pleads with God shaped from the virtue of humility, which is a virtue which each of us should practice with each plea we place before the Throne of God.

Yet, Jesus seems to be telling us to exhibit all of that in our prayers, for He instructs His disciples to ask, to knock and, given the parable which accompanies this instruction, to ask again and again and again, to knock not just once but with persistence, pestering God for what each of us believes we need.

We see this example in the life of Saint Monica, whose persistence in prayer for many years resulted in the conversion of her son, Augustine, who became one of our greatest saints and a Doctor of the Church!

How many mothers throughout the world are following the example of Saint Monica today, as they pray daily for the conversion of theirs sons or daughters who have left the Church and have embraced a dissolute lifestyle, a lifestyle which seduces God’s children with all forms of secularistic and hedonistic pleasures?

It is in the example we find in Saint Monica, in the examples we find in those praying daily for their children, in the example of Abraham, and in the example which our Lord gives us in today’s Gospel, wherein we find the true meaning of relationship – a personal relationship with God, truly believing that God does listen to and will answer our prayers – prayers which come from the very depths of our hearts and our souls!

Our Scriptures and our Church teaches us that our God is a God who truly understands the human condition, a God who sympathizes with our human frailties, a God who only wants the very best for His children!

Our God is a God who poured Himself out in His Love for us, as He took upon Himself our human flesh, so that He could, one day, freely offer Himself as a living Sacrifice upon the wood of the Cross for our salvation – so that, out of His indescribable Love for each and every one of us, we could be one with Him forever!

God’s Mercy, and His desire to please us as His adopted children, is unfathomable and incomprehensible, for God’s Mercy and His Love for us is as deep as a bottomless ocean.

For as Paul tells us in our Second Reading from his Letter to the Colossians – in Baptism, we were not only “buried with Him”, we were also raised with Him through the very power of God’s Love, so that we may be brought to live with Him for all eternity!

It is, by the very nature of our Eternal Father’s unfathomable and indescribable Love and limitless Mercy which He offers to each of us, both you and me, that God wants us to barrage Him with our prayers and petitions every day. And Jesus assures us that we cannot overdo it!

Part of the solution to problems like abortion, war, illness, broken families, and the grinding poverty throughout the world is constant, persistent, unrelenting prayer – prayer from the very depths of our hearts and souls.

Our Most Loving and Eternal Father wants to give us good gifts. He wants to help us with our problems. So He asks us to be persistent! He asks us to go to Him every day, and ask and ask and ask! Never stop asking! Never give up! Never lose hope!

In the midst of the storms which we and our loved ones face in life as we journey through this vale of tears, God invites us to cast our anchor towards His very Throne, for our God is the only One who can fill our hearts with a lively and an enduring hope! He is the only One who can truly answer our prayers, giving us what we need and providing a safe harbor for a weary heart!

Saint Monica, along with so many other saints in our Church’s rich history, found solace in the Cross of Christ, believing in the promises He gave not only to His disciples, but also to you and me throughout all the generations of faithful followers.

And God tells us in today’s Scriptures to let nothing disturb us; let nothing frighten us. And, even though all things pass with time, God never changes, and that patience and perseverance wins all things, for we lack nothing as long as we possess God!

The saints came to realize this in their prayers. They came to realize that the depth of our faith is truly dependent upon the richness of our relationship with our God, for God truly understands our personal Gethsemanes that we are sometimes called to experience on this side of the eternal.

And God is asking us today to deepen our faith and our trust in Him by turning to prayer, making our prayer life an intimate and an integral part of our daily lives.

Do not be afraid to argue, to plead, to ask and knock, but ALWAYS with a reverential respect and a deep humility. Let your prayer be a lively exchange with the One who loves you more than you can ever possibly imagine! Do not lose heart; remind God of God’s own Goodness and of His promises that He has given us through His Only-Begotten Son.

Remember that God has invited you and me into a personal relationship with Himself, and He is expecting each of us to engage that relationship! At the same time, may we always recognize and believe that He knows better than we do what is truly best for us, and, as a Loving Father, He will always give us what we truly need!

“If you then…know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

May God bless you, God love you, and may God always keep you. †

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Scripture for the Day

• “But [Abraham] persisted: ‘Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.’” (Genesis 18:32a)
• “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Should not the judge of all the world do what is just?.” (Genesis 18:25)
• “I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.” (Luke 11:8)
• “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13)
• “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10)
• “You were buried with [Christ Jesus] in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” (Colossians 2:12-13)
• “Although you have not seen [the Lord Jesus] you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)
• “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” (Hebrews 4:16)
• “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

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Prayer for the Day

“Dear Lord and Most Loving Savior,
Holiness seems so far away, a mirage in the desert.
My sins keep slapping me in the face and taunting me.
I am like a clown with a bright face and a sad heart.

“Please take the stain of sin from me and help me to join You on Calvary.
Help me to look at You and see only You hanging –
Hanging in Love, suspended in Love, bleeding for Love.
With that vision, the rest of life pales and my sin is gone.
My sin is gone from sight, superseded by Your free Love.

“Thank You for Your freedom and the pain of Your Love.
Thank You for the gift of cleansing grace
Of which I fail to avail myself often enough.
Help me to cast my sin upon You, so that I may grow in holiness.

“Lord, please take my hand and walk with me each step I take:
Teaching me, guiding me, supporting me with Your Infinite and Merciful Love.
All this I faithfully ask of You in humble prayer each and every day of my life,
For You are my Loving Father, and I am forever Your devoted child. Amen.”

Anonymous