Tag: Your Best Life

And His fire spreads…

My sweet friends, I am not looking for readers, I don’t advertise this blog.  I am just sharing tiny bits of my journey with the hope and prayer that a little light is given to those who find these words (His words I hope) and they are pointed towards Our Sweet and Precious Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ…
~ h ~  o  ~  m ~  e  ~.

I usually have 1 or 2 readers a day at the most (one of which is usually my sweet Dad), but yesterday after writing about the torches we carry and praying for the sweet and precious Holy Spirit to..  “keep their flames strong and continue to spread the fire of Your love by reigniting many torches that have grown cold.” 23 people found this site.

Don’t forget – the Holy Spirit is active and working in our lives! Let us pray to give Him the freedom to do His work through you, me, all of us –
Thy Will be Done!

Glory Be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit  – AMEN

Bearing His Torch

He has placed His light inside ALL of us and gifted us with the task of bearing His torch – We are His Torch Bearers. Unlike the olympians of today who carry the olympic flame over great distances through a short period time leading up to the games, we must carry His flames over a much greater distance and through the great expanse of time, passing His flame from generation to generation.

We shouldn’t overcomplicate our task, He asks us to bear this torch, the light of His love, as we walk through our life.  During our walk He wants us to shine the light of His flame into the dark places, share His flame with those who have lost it, and carry His flame high for all to see. It really is all about LOVE!

Precious Holy Spirit, I praise You and thank You for the faithful households in this world who still carry a torch that burns brightly with the original flames of Pentecost.  Without Your light in them many of us would be lost.  I pray for You to keep their flames strong and continue to spread the fire of Your love by reigniting many torches that have grown cold.

Acts 2:3-4
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Matthew 5:14-16
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Ezekiel 1:12-14
Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

When I close my eyes…

Here in this place a veil is drawn, there is so much we don’t see when our eyes are open, but what about when they are closed?

Oh my Lord, I pray that when I close my eyes the darkness surrounding me is the protective darkness of the hem of our Blessed Mother’s mantle.

For here, hidden in the hem of her mantle, Mary’s feet will crush the head of any serpent that ensnares me, Mary’s words and teachings will soak into my ears, my heart, my soul, and knowing that Mary remains lovingly and faithfully near her Son always, I too will be near her sweet and precious Son, our Savior – Jesus Christ!

Close your eyes and let us crawl to the feet of our Blessed Mother and hide in the protective darkness of her mantle!

Luke 1:45
Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!

Something beautiful is being lost…

Something beautiful is being lost.  It has been gradually slipping away for a long time, without anyone noticing.  Now as the effects of this great loss are beginning to come into the light, the belly of the beast is being exposed. We are frantically grasping for answers, looking for solutions and applying bandages without really understanding what is being lost.

Look around you, look at the world we have created and are still creating – it seems to be a world of my will, your will, their will being done.

Let us return to the ancient paths and His word…

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus says the Lord:  Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

AMEN

Sometimes we have to crawl under…

I have been thinking a lot about the walls we all build around ourselves and our hearts.  We build walls for all kinds of reasons, for protection, to hide, to exclude others, but I think most of these reasons boil down to fear – we build walls because we are afraid.

It is interesting when you come up against someones wall, it usually appears to be quite strong, tall and unable to be breached, but I think most of these walls are not set on firm foundations. They are built quickly out of fear and as times passes openings appear at the bottom.  These openings are small and initially hidden, but are easily spotted by those near the ground. They are the perfect size for a sly serpent to crawl under and continue feeding the fears, or for a humble heart to crawl under and dispel the fears with the light of truth that shines forth from humble heart.

This is not new information, but oh how important it is – we should revisit it often and remember to humble ourselves.

Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

Welcome them…

Welcome the awkward moments, the disapproving stares, the under the breath judgements and tongue clicks in humble silence for both our sweet Lord Jesus and our sweet Mother Mary. They endured these and much more throughout their lives.  We have only read some of the persecutions of our Lord, Jesus, and the others I don’t think we can even imagine them, they were so terrible.  We have read even less about what Mary endured, but imagine for a moment what Mary humbly endured at the discovery of her pregnancy out of wedlock.  We know how gently St. Joseph dealt with the news and we know of his change of heart after being visited by an angel of the Lord in his dream, but we don’t often think of how her neighbors treated her in this situation, but we can image because we see this situation often in our world today.

Welcome them, these difficult moments in life, and run to Mary, clinging to her leg, hiding in her skirt, kneeling at her feet and welcoming her loving comfort and encouragement and remember that Mary raised Jesus, comforting, guiding and encouraging Him in these moments and she will do the same for us.

Pray in these moments as Our Lady of Fatima recommends when you make a sacrifice or humbly and silently accept a persecution:
O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Peter 4:14
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests on you.

Self Reflection

As we walk along the path of our life journey I think the surest way to know that we are headed in the right direction is to practice self reflection.   This is a practice of humility – when we are willing to see ourselves in His light of truth, the light continues to grow and extends beyond the boundaries of ourselves shining it’s light on our path ahead.

John 3:21
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Laying low

In today’s modern world their are very few times if any during our lives when we are physically laying low on the ground.  I think skipping this chance to humble ourselves and physically lay prostrate on the ground deprives us of His Mercy and the many Graces that still pour forth with great fervor from the wounds of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  If the spring of Mercy and Grace is truly still flowing, wouldn’t the world be slowly filling up with Mercy and Grace from the ground up.

Let us lay low in the Mercy and Grace that continues to cover the ground at the feet of our Mother Mary hidden in the dark folds of her mantle letting her words permeate our souls and knowing that she remains always at the foot of her Son’s Cross, the source of the spring of His Mercy and Grace.

Psalm 119:25
I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to Your Word.

Footprints

As I walk along a beach covered in the visible footprints of today, and in the hidden footprints of many yesterdays and tomorrows  – I praise and thank You, O Lord, for directing my steps into the footprints of those who walk in Your ways, and I praise and thank You, O Lord, for leading in Your ways those whose footprints I walk in. Amen.

Psalm 25:4
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths.

Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Hail Mary

About two years ago I started feeling called to pray the Rosary.  I was excited to pray it and wanted to spread the call. I asked a friend to pray with me.  I bought Rosaries to give to the homeless and asked them to pray with me, and I bought a book about the Rosary, The Secret of the Rosary by Saint Louis de Montfort.

And then the time came to pray… every time I would begin to pray, I lacked patience, the desire to complete it left me as soon as I began and honestly I kept falling asleep in the middle of saying it.  My attempts became fewer and fewer and my excitement waned.

Then about six months ago I had an interesting discussion regarding the strong connection between our physical actions and our prayers, and I decided to begin trying to pray the Rosary again, but in action this time.

I decided to connect praying the Rosary with an exercise I love, yoga. Below is how I have been been praying the Rosary of our sweet and wonderful Mother, and I hope that if you struggle to pray the Rosary this will help you.  Use this as a guide to pray with me, or as a spark to ignite a new idea within you to honor and pray the Rosary of our sweet Mother Mary!

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I begin the Rosary by praying the Apostle’s Creed in the humble position of prayer on my knees with my hands together in prayer.

I then pray the Our Father with my arms spread wide and my face tilted upward open to both receiving and giving according to His Holy Will.

For each Hail Mary I go through a vinyasa yoga flow.

I begin in the downward-facing dog pose, a humble position showing Mary that I desire to learn from her.

Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.

I then flow into a plank pose, a position of strength acknowledging the great and unimaginable strength required by her to FULLY surrender to our Lord.

Blessed art thou among women,

I then lower into a prostrate position and spread my arms wide to form a cross as I speak of her Holy and Blessed Son, Jesus.  I desire to be one with the dust of the ground when speaking of our Lord.

And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God

I then bring my hands in and press up into a cobra pose, the pose of a snake acknowledging that I have sinned and I have caused others to sin just as the snake in the Garden of Eden did so long ago.

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Pressing back into downward dog pose, I continue this flow for each Hail Mary.

Then at the end of the first 3 Hail Mary’s or at the end of each decade I sit back into a child’s pose, a pose of rest and humility, honoring the Trinity, begging for forgiveness and mercy and once again acknowledging that Mary is my mother, and I long to learn from her as I pray.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.

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Acts 1:14
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.