Lay Down Your Cloak….

Palms waving…”Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.”

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Cloaks laid down to honor the King.

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The King up on a lowly donkey entering Jerusalem to do His Father’s will…

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Ascending upwards to His throne…

His throne up on the Cross.

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Will we too in gratitude and humility lay down the cloaks of our lives?….

                      And follow Him who chooses the Cross as His throne?

“Rejoice heartily, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.” Zech 9:9

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From Stunted Growth to Springtime…

“Jesus loves as a PURE GIFT….

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He makes others better by loving them.  Not only does he NOT accuse their mediocrity,…but He takes up their defense and gives them His heart, His time, His trust.

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He knew that if (such) people were weak, small, mediocre, it is precisely because they lacked the love to grow and because others did not love them enough.

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What does our Lord do? He calls forth, arouses, renews the best part in man, the part that is hidden in each and every person. Because Christ loves, and shows His love in creating new and good things…

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Everybody who meets Him once again begins to believe, to have trust in God and in themselves.” (By Fr. Bernard Bro, a Dominican priest and author of “Learning to Pray”)

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If we see with eyes of compassion the hardness in others and in ourselves as merely stunted growth from lack of love…how differently we would then treat ourselves and our neighbor. Loving ourselves and others in Jesus could cause a flourishing of new growth…a springtime in Him who is love.

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“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  Stop judging and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven.  Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.  For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. ” Luke 6:36-38

Born Within Us…

“Because there was no room in the Inn, Jesus had to be born elsewhere …

that is, in each one of us.

We may be simple and humble, like a stable…

But with Christ within us we can be magnificent and change the world.” (Michael Moran)

Live + Jesus.

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THE KING IS COMING…THE KING IS COMING…

HE IS ALMOST HERE!

Live the Reason…

With Christmas two weeks from now…

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We must honestly ask ourselves the question…

Are we consumers?

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Or are we being consumed?

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 Are you Living the Reason for the Season?

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The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:10-11,13-14

Thieves and Pickpockets…

Thieves of the Mind….Pickpockets of the Heart….

(Beauty Revisited….)

Thieves of the mind attempt to rob the truth of Beauty written within. Whispering deceits of doubt, division, discouragement, despair. Emotions get twisted around the lies. Beliefs, not of God, swell and bring infection to the heart.

“I am alone”, “I am worthless”, “No one cares”, “No one loves me”

Pickpocket steals peace from the heart. Leaves it in broken bits.

Yet…….

A Whisper…softer but more powerful than the noisy din is heard.

“I AM WITH YOU”

Saturating the wound the whisper dispels the lies, the deceits.

“I AM WITH YOU”

 Jesus speaks from the cross.

The Blood of the Lamb streams forth.

Victory.

Christ allows His heart to be broken, in order to heal ours.

Let not the lies become your truth. The battle has been won.

You are chosen. You are loved. You are beautiful.

“Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My Love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord, who has mercy on  you.” IS 54:10