​Trinity:

the Father makes all things 

through the Word and 

in the Holy Spirit, 

and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved.

one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. 

God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; 

he is through all things through the Word; 

and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

So Trinitarian contemplation should lead you to live as someone who is:

• from the Father (life and source),

• through the Son (the Word made known and received),

• in the Spirit (life, love, and sanctification).

​Psalm 22 Gleanings

READ

4 In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

5 To you they cried, and were saved;

in you they trusted, and were not disappointed. (Psalm 22:4–5, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

God is trustworthy. The Fathers trusted Him. When they trusted Him, He delivered them. I must know and believe God. I must trust that He will deliver me. The Fathers cried to you and they were saved. I cry to you my God, I am dying here looking for things to fill this insatiable void in my soul. Help me stop looking things and come to you. When the Fathers cried and trusted they were not disappointed. I will not be disappointed if I cry to you if I trust in you. 

PRAY

I come to you my God. I’m crying out in my soul! Deliver me from looking at things to fill me. Deliver me from looking at people to love me. Deliver me from wanting anything other than you to save me. 

REST

I will believe you. I will cry out to you. I will trust you. I will know that I will not be disappointed. I will be saved. Thank you for your merciful love. I will rest in you! Amen. 

READ

9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;

you kept me safe upon my mother’s breasts.

10 Upon you was I cast from my birth,

and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

11 Be not far from me,

for trouble is near

and •there is none to help.  (Psalm 22:9–11, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

You my God have been with me since you knit me in my mother’s womb. You have been keeping me safe since I was born. You have always been my God. Do not be far, come to me and be with me. Trouble and deception is always around me. No one is trying to help me, everyone is out for themselves. Help me my God. 

PRAY

You bore me. I am yours. You made me for you. I will trust in your care. Save me from this corrupt generation. I need your light and saving mercy. 

REST

Thank you for creating me. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for wanting me for yourself. I will rest in your care and love. 

READ

22  I will tell of your name to my brethren;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!

all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or •abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted;

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.  (Psalm 22:22–24, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

I will tell of you to the people. I will praise you in the church and even everywhere I am. Everyone should praise you! I will try and glorify you! I stand in awe of your love! Thank you for not despising, abhorring, or hiding from me even though I am sinful! You have heard me! Hear my cry for salvation, mercy, love, and deliverance. Amen 

PRAY

Father, thank you for your love. Thank you for not giving up on me even in my sin. Help me praise and glorify you so all can know your love. 

REST

You want me to rest in your love. I can do that knowing you don’t despise abhor or hide from me even in my sinful state. You want to come close and walk me through in healing. Thank you. Save me! Amen. 

READ

28 For •dominion belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

29 Yes, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

and he who cannot keep himself alive.  (Psalm 22:28–29, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

God is all powerful and has dominion over all things. The world is His and all in it. All men will bow to Him, including those who cannot keep himself alive though he thinks he’s in charge. 

PRAY

Thank you my God for humbling me now so I can know you. I want to love and praise you. I k ow it is hard for us to give up imagined control. Please show us all your mercy even in our humbling. I pray for all to bow before judgement! You are worthy!!

REST

Thank you my God for your love and showing me who you are so I can rest in you and not fear the judgement. I now now and surrender to you for love. Thank you for saving me. Amen. 

​READ

35  •On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care •if we perish?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 •He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” 41 And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”  (Mark 4:35–41, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

Jesus is in my boat. 

My body is the boat. We are together. He has made his dwelling in me and I in Him. 

The world, my broken flesh, and the devil  is the storm with its wind and waves threatening to overwhelm me and make me drown. The wind and waves buffet me and choke me. 

Jesus cares about me. I am in Him and He in me. He is not trying to destroy Himself. He is not wanting me to perish. 

In His name I am to rebuke all storms that threaten me. I am to not be in fear! I am to, In Jesus Name, have Peace and Be Still. I am to have Faith in Jesus!

All is well and going to be well even if the storms threaten, fear is a lie. Jesus is with me! He is bringing me through. Peace and Trust!

PRAY

Jesus thank you for being with me. Thank you for promising to never leave me. Thank you for being all powerful that all storms must respond to your rebuke. I admit to you my King that my fear is overwhelming. All I want is to be with you. My own self not to mention the world and the devil conspires to make me look for security in other things. I know only you are my safety. Even if I were to die, that means resurrection. Help me my King forsake the world and look to you for my everything. You will not destroy yourself. I must stay in you and you in me. Rebuke my storms. Empower me in faith and trust. I know these are only from grace. I plead for the grace to believe!

REST

In Your Name Jesus Christ my King, I accept your peace and I trust in your care. I will rest in your love and believe in your grace. You came and died to show me how much you love me. Thank you for your love! Help me love you in return with all my heart, soul, mind, & strength. Amen. 

​God knew me before he created the world

God knew my every day (thought, feeling, word, & deed) before he created me

God actually knit me in the womb

God has been calling me to be His since my birth. 

I was baptized a baby. (The Holy Spirit given and seed of His divine life planted)

I was not brought up to understand God’s voice to me so I was living a worldly life. 

God still called me to do right and I sometimes could do by actual grace what he guided me to do but did not understand it was Him. 

When I committed mortal sin I lost grace like Adam and Eve. 

He kept at me and through the years I would dabble in the Bible or church. (His wooing) He never stops calling. 

Living worldly I was following the sickness of sinful ways of the world. Pride, lust, envy, wrath, gluttony, sloth, & greed. I could not see or understand God was wanting me to be His and that these things are destroying me and others. 

Every human heart is made for God. We have this insatiable appetite for an infinity of love, goods, power, peace, etc. but we are looking in the world to find it. God is our answer. We are looking for Him. He has placed in our souls a longing for him and we are searching the world to fill this gargantuan void. 

But God kept calling. He loves me so much he wanted to teach me that he is my Father. The perfect Father that has a perfect plan for my life. Living in peace and love in him even though the world will go against what he teaches because it does not understand that it is harmful and killing them. He will give me wisdom and power to live his ways that are healing to the soul - Holy Spirit. He wants to give me a redeemer that died for me and His blood cleanses my sin away - Jesus the Christ. God knows every part of me and has never stopped calling me since before the foundation of the world (before I was even an embryo). He is calling me to be his daughter, spouse, friend, and witness. 

God wants to save me. I have to let him save me. I do not do it, He does it in me. All I can do is give my yes to him and be willing to let Him even if it hurts the flesh because the soul heals as the flesh dies. I will be changed from natural nature to divine grace filled nature. Born again (at baptism-renewed at each repentance). 

Because He loves me so much and because He has done everything to save me if I say no, I will not live with Him forever. The only way to be with Him forever is to allow Him to change me. Sin cannot be in heaven. If I love him I will have to let Him root out the sin in me so I am fit to be with him. He is a consuming fire and the fire has to purify my soul so I can be in His presence. 

Like the sun, I cannot get close to it without a protected suit, it would kill me. Not because it hates me but because of its nature and mine. My nature has to be changed from sinner to grace filled divine. 

God is love. He wants to love me. I have to let Him. He has made a way. It is the only way. I cannot invent my own way. I must surrender to His only way. The way is to let God kill my flesh, heal my soul, teach me to love Him (which is what I was made for) and my neighbor for His sake (witness so they to can find the love they were made for). 

If I deny this love, there is no other place to go other than total isolation and separation from Him. Which would be hell because all the soul is longing for insatiably is an infinity of love, goods, power, peace, which are only found in Him. It is a choice. He gives grace to all. We have been given the highest dignity and honor to determine what we choose. We can accept the grace or reject it. 

Live for the life to come. This life is passing away. God is the savior and the answer to all your longings. Stop looking to the world to satisfy. Only God satisfies. He is worth all you have to give up here in this life. He will satisfy for eternity. If you lose Him, you will be unsatisfied and frustrated for eternity. 

Choose wisely. 

​St Gregory the Great

Love is patient, kind; it is never jealous or conceited; its conduct is blameless; it is not ambitious, not selfish, not quick to take offence; it harbours no evil thoughts, does not gloat over other people’s sins, but is gladdened by an upright life. 

The man ruled by this love shows his patience by bearing wrongs with equanimity; his kindness by generously repaying good for evil. 

Jealousy is foreign to him. It is impossible to envy worldly success when he has no worldly desires. 

He is not conceited. The prizes he covets lie within; outward blessings do not elate him.

His conduct is blameless, for he cannot do wrong in devoting himself entirely to love of God and his neighbour. 

He is not ambitious. The welfare of his own soul is what he cares about. Apart from that he seeks nothing. 

He is not selfish. Unable to keep anything he has in this world, he is as indifferent to it as if it were another’s. Indeed, in his eyes nothing is his own but what will be so always. 

He is not quick to take offence. Even under provocation, thought of revenge never crosses his mind. The reward he seeks hereafter will be greater in proportion to his endurance. 

He harbours no evil thoughts. Hatred is utterly rooted out of a heart whose only love is goodness. Thoughts that defile a man can find no entry. 

He does not gloat over other people’s sins. No; an enemy’s fall affords him no delight, for loving all men, he longs for their salvation. 

On the other hand, he is gladdened by an upright life. Since he loves others as himself, he takes as much pleasure in whatever good he sees in them as if the progress were his own. 

That is why this law of God is manifold.