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3  There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; 4  they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. 5 And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.

6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. 7 And behold, I am coming soon.”

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.  (Revelation 22:3–7, RSV2CE)

WORSHIP GOD.

Revelation 22:9b RSV2CE

Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”  (Revelation 22:11, RSV2CE)

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. 13  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14  Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. (Revelation 22:12–14, RSV2CE)

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.  (Revelation 22:15, RSV2CE)

16 “I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.”

17  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.  (Revelation 22:16–17, RSV2CE)

18 I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.  (Revelation 22:18–19, RSV2CE)

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

21  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.  (Revelation 22:20–21, RSV2CE)

REFLECTION

Jesus does not lie. He is coming soon. I can have the grace of Jesus. I can be a saint. I want to wash my robe! I want the right to the tree of life! I want to be righteous and holy! I want to Worship God! I am thirsty for the water of life! I want to enter the city! Come, Lord Jesus!

PRAY

Change my heart from being full of evil, filth, sorcery, idolatry, murder, and falsehood!

Save me Jesus!

Amen

Jesus experienced contradictions and failure: for example, when he had finished his discourse in the synagogue and the angry Nazarenes “led him to the brow of a hill . . . that they might throw him down headlong” (Lk 4:29); when, on two occasions, the Jews were scandalized by his words, and “took up stones to stone him” (Jn 10:31); when the Pharisees plotted against him to condemn him to death; when Judas betrayed him; when his friends abandoned him and he was made the laughing-stock of the soldiery; was scourged, crowned with thorns, dressed as a mock king, slapped, and spit upon; when Barabbas was preferred to him; when he was dragged to Calvary with two thieves and crucified between them. 

It can well be said that, humanly speaking, Jesus’ apostolate ended in open failure: in death as a criminal. All this ought to be deeply imprinted upon the mind of an apostle, so that he may not be scandalized if something similar occurs in his own life: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you”

Through persecutions, humiliations, and failures, an apostle learns not to trust in his own powers, but to be convinced of his own insufficiency and of the insufficiency of all human resources, and therefore to put all his hope in God alone. 

He learns to work solely for the love of God, without seeking the comfort of success, to free himself from the opinions of men, and to act independently of their approval or disapproval, attending only to God’s judgment.

By sharing this attitude, the apostles, instead of allowing themselves to be overcome by suffering, give proof of “a firm hope . . . in order that they can console those who are in any distress, with the encouragement by which God encourages them”

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chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.  (1 Peter 1:2, RSV2CE)

RESOLUTION 

I am chosen by God the Father

I am destined by God the Father

I am Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

I am to obey Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit

I am sprinkled with the Blood of Christ

I have Grace multiplied to me

I have Peace multiplied to me

I am chosen to live united to God now and into eternity. I am washed in the blood of Christ so my sins are forgiven. I am destined to live my life in the power of the sanctifying Spirit, in obedience to Christ so I can love like Him. Loving God, loving myself correctly and loving my neighbor as myself. Grace is multiplied to me so I can stay united and surrendered to the Spirit. I have peace with God the Father because I am now in Christ and the Spirit will guide me home. 

PRAY

Thank you my Father for your gifts. Thank you Jesus for washing me and telling me how to live. Thank you Holy Spirit for sanctifying me, empowering me, and guiding me. Holy Trinity, hold me tight. Keep me close. Come after me when I start to stray. Save me from my own self that gets confused and darkened by desires and lies. I believe you, I trust you, I want to love like you, I want to be united to you for eternity. Save me! I am yours. Amen. 

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Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”  (John 4:10, RSV2CE)

13 Jesus said to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14  but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15  The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”  (John 4:13–15, RSV2CE)

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. 24  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23–24, RSV2CE)

But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”  (John 4:32, RSV2CE)

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.  (John 4:34, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

God has a gift He wants to give me. He wants me to ask for this living water. This living water is a spring that will satisfy me unto eternal life. It makes me never thirsty again for earthly things. 

Jesus, I want this living water that will satisfy me from drawing from the world and brings me to eternal life. 

God wants worshippers that worship in Spirit and Truth. He does not want lip service, or dead works without love. He wants the whole person living out His truth with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I can say I’m a believer and not obey His teachings. I can act like a believer doing great works without love for God and people. It has to be both. I have to love God and people in truth with words and actions from the Spirit that change hearts. Motivation of the heart is what God is after. 

Jesus’s food is to do the will of God and accomplish what He is sent for. 

PRAY

Change my heart oh God! Give me Your motivation! Make me new and help me surrender to Your Spirit. Help me tell and do Your truth!

The water of God is the Spirit, the food of God is to do His will and accomplish the purpose He made me for. Help me God be who you made me to be and fulfill my purpose. 

I am here to be led by the Spirit, to love God and people in truth so that others can see God, His ways, and be saved. I must truly love others and tell the truth, even if it makes them angry. Only truth leads to salvation, lies lead to hell. I do not want to be a part of leading people to hell because I am a coward and don’t want to anger people. 

I must turn from the world, I must choose to listen and obey the Spirit, I must love from my heart. If I stop listening to the Spirit and obeying my mind gets dark and I start to go backwards or the wrong way. Help me keep listening and obeying!

The Spirit will not run dry! He will lead me all the way home into eternal life if I continue to follow. Help me Jesus!

My food is to do God’s will my drink is to listen and obey the Spirit in love and truth! I have all I need to fulfill the purpose I was made for, I must go do it!

Amen. 

From the dialogue On Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor

How good and how delightful is your spirit, Lord, in all men!

The eternal Father, indescribably kind and tender, turned his eye to this soul and spoke to her thus:

‘O dearest daughter, I have determined to show my mercy and loving kindness to the world, and I choose to provide for mankind all that is good. But man, ignorant, turns into a death-giving thing what I gave in order to give him life. Not only ignorant, but cruel: cruel to himself. But still I go on providing. For this reason I want you to know: whatever I give to man, I do it out of my great providence.

‘So it was that when, by my providence, I created man, I looked into myself and fell in love with the beauty of the creature I had made – for it had pleased me, in my providence, to create man in my own image and likeness.

‘Moreover, I gave man memory, to be able to remember the good things I had done for him and to be able to share in my own power, the power of the eternal Father.

‘Moreover, I gave man intellect, so that, seeing the wisdom of my Son, he could recognise and understand my own will; for I am the giver of all graces and I give them with a burning fatherly love.

‘Moreover, I gave man the desire to love, sharing in the tenderness of the Holy Spirit, so that he might love the things that his intellect had understood and seen.

‘But my kind providence did all this solely that man might be able to understand me and enjoy me, rejoicing in my vision for all eternity. And as I have told you elsewhere, the disobedience of your first parent Adam closed heaven to you – and from that disobedience came all evil through the whole world.

‘To relieve man of the death that his own disobedience had brought, I tenderly and providently gave you my only-begotten Son to heal you and bring satisfaction for your needs. I gave him the task of being supremely obedient, to free the human race of the poison that your first parent’s disobedience had spread throughout the world. Falling in love, as it were, with his task, and truly obedient, he hurried to a shameful death on the most holy Cross. By his most holy death he gave you life: not human life this time, but with the strength of his divinity.’

What is The Christian Faith?

God wants all men:

God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

God Justifies ungodly:

And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. 

You have to say yes and receive Him and keep receiving Him:

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. 

Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

He died for my sins and rose again.

I cannot save myself.

Salvation is a gift of God’s grace.

I must have Faith in Christ.

I must be born again.

I must repent from my ways, reject sin and turn to God’s ways. 

I Hope in the resurrection of perfection to come. 

A genuine Christian life produces obedience and holiness by Grace and Faith imitating Christ saying yes to His promptings. 

The Bible and Church Doctrine are the rule of life. 

Glory to God for His Love and Salvation 

God acts first. God gives the grace. You respond through the grace and faith He gives. God continues working in you as you say yes.

God chose you to be born and has a purpose for you. He desires you to be reborn and live through Him to fulfill that purpose. God gives grace and faith for you to decide for him and his ways or not. God sanctifies & transforms. God enables obedience. You say Yes or No. (Always a choice of love-He does not coerce or manipulate)

Salvation is by grace.

It is received through faith in Christ’s completed work.

I am God’s workmanship.

I am created in Christ for good works.

God prepared those works for me to walk in.

It is not earned by works but the fruit of abiding on the vine is good works.

1. justification (God declares the sinner righteous) 

1. sanctification (God progressively making me holy). He wants to heal us of the attitudes, disordered desires, problems, and wounds that are causing us to keep committing sins...The purpose of grace is to heal and sanctify, to heal us and make us holy so that we can become like God.

Cling to what has already been completed for me! (Justification)

The Father put me in Jesus. (Baptism)

I am in Christ. (FAITH in the completed  sanctified work)

I am Holy by the blood. (Forgiveness of sin)

I am being sanctified by the Spirit. (Still learning to not sin-sanctification)

I am on my way progressively not yet perfected.  (Hate sin but sometimes happens- Repent and Get up!)

HOPE in Him! (He will get me home)

LOVE Him for His provision of Salvation which is complete. 

Faith is A Choice:

A free submission of my intellect and will to God,

Entrusting my whole self entirely to Him,

And assenting to all he has revealed,

Because God is truth itself.

I am so small and God knows all and how I am best to fulfill myself (He made me for a purpose). I cannot understand things as they really are here it’s too dark and deceiving. I submit myself and my will to His perfect will and His care, knowing He is a loving God and wants the best for me. I believe in what He has done for me and I cling to Him in obedience because He will not guide me wrong out of love for Him. I may not understand anything on this side of heaven. I must entrust my broken road to Him because He is Love and Truth and has gone to horrifying lengths to prove His love for me!

Five Solas: Grace, Faith, Christ, Scripture, Glory to God Alone

• Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone?)
  The Bible is the supreme, infallible, and final authority for Christian faith and practice, standing above popes, church councils, and human tradition.  (Though the church declares what scripture is and the church declares Trinity which is mandatory and not specified in scripture so doctrines on par with scripture)
• Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
  Justification—being declared righteous before God—is received through faith alone in Jesus Christ, apart from human works, rituals, or personal merit. (I entrust myself to Him and His finished work)
• Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
  Salvation is an unearned gift of God’s grace, entirely initiated and accomplished by God rather than something sinners can earn or cooperate with through their own will. (I can say yes or no)
• Solus Christus (Christ Alone)
  Jesus Christ is the sole mediator, prophet, priest, and king between God and humanity, and salvation is found exclusively through His finished work on the cross. 
• Soli Deo Gloria (To the Glory of God Alone)
  All of creation, redemption, and Christian life exist ultimately for the glory of God rather than human achievement.

Theological virtues: Faith, Hope, Love

Supernatural gifts infused directly into the soul by God at Baptism. They relate directly to God and enable Christians to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity.

• Faith: The virtue by which one believes in God, trusts His word, and accepts all that God has revealed for belief. It is not blind or irrational, but a trusting surrender to God’s truth. 
• Hope: The virtue by which one desires and expects from God eternal life and the graces needed to attain it, trusting firmly in Christ's promises rather than relying solely on human strength.
• Love: The greatest of the theological virtues. It is the virtue by which one loves God above all things for His own sake, and loves one's neighbor (including enemies) as oneself for the love of God

Everyone has a built-in conscience that tells of God’s law. (We all know and have justifiable anger when the innocent is harmed.) 

Some have a malformed conscience by continually suppressing wrongdoing thinking it’s okay, which leads to darkness and self-destruction. 

God is constantly giving grace to turn to him. 

By following correctly formed conscience (His ways are seen in the world) the light can bring us to God so we can make a choice to obey or not. He will give the power if we just choose. 

We choose yes, He empowers.

We choose no, He allows it. 

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.