God is already caring for us long before we realize it. He has had a plan in mind for us, a particular vocation, a unique role in his Kingdom, from before we were born, from before we were ever conceived. In discovering and living out that plan we find our true and lasting joy. Before we hear God’s call in our life, he is already preparing us to follow it – and hoping that when the call comes, we will respond generously, so that he can make our hearts leap continually with joy until he welcomes us into his heavenly Kingdom.
Live by believing in him, by trusting that whatever he may be asking of us is the best available option. Who are we to argue with God, to disobey him? Will he deceive us? Will he lead us astray? No one can see clearly how God’s plans would work themselves out in the end. Even so, humbly and trustingly we are to put our faith in Him, so that he can shower his blessings upon us.
God rules all things with perfect power and with a wisdom that confounds the vain ambition of men. Humility, a serene recognition of our utter dependence on God, unleashes the power of divine grace in the world. Those who depend on themselves – the rich, the self-satisfied, the proud, the powerful – thwart God’s action in and through them.
Lord, I know that you really do have something in mind for me. You created me to know you and love you as only I can. Probably my concept of my vocation is not in perfect synch with yours. But even so, I want to follow you. I want to discover and fulfill your will for me, to perceive it and understand it more deeply every day, so that I can embrace it more fully each moment…
Mark 2:17
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus came to call sinners
Jesus came to be the physician of our broken soul
Jesus came to those who know they are sick
If in humility you can say you are sick and broken and a sinner-JESUS CAME FOR YOU!!
Holiness is not absence of sin, but God’s loving presence at work in us. He delights to dwell in those hearts who are humble and open to Him even in our weakness and sin.
Yes, that statement aligns with Catholic teachings on holiness, sin, and God's grace. Here's a breakdown of why:
Holiness and God's Presence
• Sanctification as a Process: Sanctification involves sharing in God's holiness, progressively shaping human existence according to Christ through grace received in faith 1. This transformation fluctuates as individuals respond to the Spirit or succumb to sin 1.
• God's Initiative: Holiness originates from Christ, with no act conducive to salvation occurring independently of Him as its supernatural source 2.
• The Church's Role: Freed from sin and reconciled with God and the Church, the faithful undergo sanctification, beginning with baptism into Christ's death and resurrection 3. Participating in the sacraments and the Church's life gradually transforms Christians according to God's will, configuring them to Christ's image to bear the Spirit's fruits 3.
• The Church's Purification: The Church is holy because of Christ’s love and gifts, but it is also always in need of purification because the baptized are exposed to temptation and often fall into sin 8. As a result, the Church constantly pursues repentance and renewal 8.
In summary, holiness is not the absence of sin but a process of transformation through God's grace, made accessible even in our weakness and sin through humility, repentance, and participation in the sacraments. God's loving presence is indeed at work in those who are humble and open to Him.
Picture a sailing ship on the open sea. The wind blows, strong, unpredictable, beyond control. If you adjust your sail, trimming, loosening, turning with the wind, you can travel far and fast, carried by a force greater than yourself. But if you resist, if you try to bend the wind to your will, the tension becomes unbearable. The mast snaps. The ship capsizes. The crew is lost. You don’t break the wind. You break yourself and everyone around you. That’s how life works.
The wind represents God’s Providence, carried out by the Holy Spirit, who governs all that lies beyond your control, people, circumstances, and outcomes, and who works all things for your good. The sail represents you, your intelligence and freedom, your willingness to respond. You cannot control the wind, but you can raise your sail to catch it. Try to fight it, and you’ll tear the sail or snap the mast. But if you surrender to what the Holy Spirit is doing through reality, even through chaos and storm, you’ll be carried forward.
Cooperate, and you move swiftly toward what God has prepared. Resist, and the inner strain eventually collapses you. This is not weakness. It is wisdom. The strongest souls are not those who fight the wind, but those who learn to sail with it.
Jesus said, "The wind blows wherever it pleases…you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
The Spirit of God is like the wind, unseen, sovereign, and free. You cannot command Him. You cannot predict or manipulate His movement. So you are left with two choices: You can try to control reality, try to manage people, circumstances, and outcomes; demand direction; force results; bend life to your will, and break under the strain.
Or you can be born of the Spirit, accept what you cannot change, and allow yourself to be carried where you do not know, trusting that God is ordering your course with wisdom far beyond your own. The one who is born of the Spirit is not anxious or rigid. He is docile, responsive, and alive, moving in rhythm with the Spirit of God.
You can try to master the wind. Or you can let the wind master you and carry you into life.
God wants us to use our intelligence and freedom to do all the good we can. But He doesn’t expect us to manage every variable on our own. The Holy Spirit guides all that lies beyond our control, people, circumstances, outcomes, and the future. This overarching divine care is what we call Providence.
And when we face what we cannot control, we have two options: We can try to manage everything, demand outcomes, bend reality to our will. But if we do, the tension will eventually break us. Or we can accept what we can’t change and do what is ours to do, what is wise, reasonable, and good, and then surrender everything else to the Holy Spirit. And since the Holy Spirit does everything through Mary, entrusting to Her all that lies beyond our control is the surest way to be carried by the Spirit of God.
Mark 1:8
I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
I was baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:11
Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
I am a beloved daughter in Jesus.
Mark 1:12-13
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
On the earth I am in the desert. I will be tempted by the devil. Jesus and angels ministered to me to help me. I am to fight like Jesus did. Rightly interpreting the Word and using it to state the truth.
Mark 1:15
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
I am to come into the kingdom of God; repent and believe the gospel.
Mark 1:17
Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
I am to follow Jesus. That will make men want to follow him too.
Mark 1:34b
He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.
Demons know Jesus. Just because I know him does not mean I am a child or in the kingdom.
Mark 1:40-42
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
The Holy Spirit moves you to know you need healing/saving from sin/disease.
The Holy Spirit moves you to know Jesus can heal/save you.
You humble yourself and agree.
You humble yourself and seek him.
You humble yourself and ask for healing/saving.
Jesus is full of compassion.
Jesus is willing to heal/save.
Jesus speaks.
Healing/Salvation is started. It is a journey not an event.
You humble yourself and continue in your healing/salvation by following the Savior and His designs for living. Sin no more. Walk in a state of Grace.
If you go your own way, sin will hurt you again or worse.
Matthew 16:8-11
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
{Holy Spirit comes to convict of:
Sin: sin is my greatest enemy and Jesus came to save me from it.
Righteousness: right thing to do , that noble act that I choose God’s will over my will. Jesus showed me the way.
Condemnation: of what is evil and He has been judged.}
Matthew 26:24
The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!
It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.
My Jesus, may I never hear these words directed at me. Help me hear you, love you, want to obey you, and be brought home to you! My flesh is weak and I know I fall, help me to fall less and get up quicker. In your Holy Name I pray! Amen!
The story of Lydia from today’s reading—where “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul”—reminds us that God does the work of opening hearts.
But the way He does this is mysteriously personal and gentle. He knocks, never forcing, always inviting.
Yes, God offers His grace to everyone: no one is left out of His loving initiative.
Yet our experience of His opening often doesn’t match our expectations or emotional hopes.
He opens how he wants and you respond but if you are expecting something different, you may not want his opening.
God takes care of us but we want it a certain way and blame for not getting our way instead of accepting the gift he gives.
Why Jesus, did you choose me? Why do you even care about me at all? I know; it is because you are sheer goodness and don’t want to live without me. You would rather be scourged and crowned with thorns and crucified than live without me. Father, teach me to know you, to love you, and to follow you. Holy Spirit, come, help me do your perfect will for me.
Because our Soul is made to love truth, all can be saved. But the Will must be directed in the correct order.
Our thoughts must be on truth so our feelings follow truth not the broken ways of the world.
Correct way the Soul operates:
Thoughts change feelings,
Feelings change will,
Will chooses life direction.
Broken way the Soul operates:
Feelings change thoughts,
Thoughts change will
Will chooses life direction.
