Reflections of a beloved son

God wants to hear from you! Prayer is not just the lines and sentences you may have memorized as a child; prayer is your personal relationship with God. Tell Him whatever is on your mind, what you need, and how you feel. Prayer is when you speak from the very depths of your heart and when Jesus speaks to you from the depths of His pierced, sacred heart. Jesus promises to hear you and He even says "I will do it." Trust in Him and know and believe that Jesus means what He says. After you tell the Lord all that is on your mind and in your heart, be still and listen to Him. Prayer is a conversation. Don't forget to listen.

BREAKING NEWS: GOD LISTENS!   He wants to hear from you, all about you.  When God said He would destroy Sodom, Abraham pleads with Him, asking if He would really destroy those who were good and righteous along with the wicked.  Then God and Abraham began to discuss the situation and bargaining took place.  God said that He would spare the city if He were to find 50 innocent people in Sodom.  Then Abraham asked "What if there were only 45?"  God said, "I will not destroy it if there are 45 innocent people."  Abraham proceeded to ask the same question with decreasing numbers - 40? 30? 20? 10?  God said that if He could find 10 innocent people, He would not destroy the city.  God listened to Abraham.  He didn't need to, but He chose to .  Why?  God listened to the pleading of Abraham because God loved him .  God doesn't have to listen to any of us.  He's all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present.  He created the un...

" Does our law condemn a man before it first hearts him and finds out what he is doing? "  This is what Nicodemus asked his fellow Pharisee brothers.  They ridiculed him.    Do I judge someone's character before getting to know them?   It is so easy to do so. The scenario in today's Gospel (Jn. 7:40-53) is that there are people who are beginning to believe that Jesus is "the Prophet" and "the Christ," because they have "heard these words of Jesus."  But in order to see what "these words" were we must rewind a bit in John's gospel.  These are the words that Jesus said: "Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: 'Rivers of flowing water will flow from within him'" (Jn. 7:37b-38).  Jesus was promising the sending of the Holy Spirit.  Because the people listen to what Jesus was saying and spent time trying to get to know Him, they came to believe. In order to g...

A stubborn heart is very hard to persuade and very difficult to reason with .  In today's Gospel ( Lk. 16:19-31 ), when the rich man asked if the dead Lazarus could go to his family and warn them about their way of life and to prevent them from ending up in the place he did, Abraham told the rich man that that was not necessary for his family has Moses and the prophets.  However, the rich man was adamant that if a dead man came back to life and warned them, his family would believe and may be converted.  Abraham replied: "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead."    If they didn't listen then, they won't listen now.  Sometimes we think and feel that if something extraordinary or supernatural were to happen we would immediately change our ways and get out of our old habits.  Someone did come back from the dead.  Jesus Christ died, descended to hell and rose from the de...