Stay by my Cradle

Padre Pio says, “For the feast of the Infant Jesus, my wish for you is that your heart may be His cradle adorned with flowers, where He can rest without the slightest discomfort.”

How are our hearts looking right now? Are they weak? Are they dirty? Are they hearts of stone? Are they dark? Or are they strong, pure, and pointed to Christ? In light of what Padre Pio said, let us ponder the wonderful thought of our hearts as cradles for the precious newborn. Would that child be able to rest there taking delight in its softness and cleanliness? Or are our hearts so hard and filthy, corrupted with sin that the poor baby Jesus would cry upon touching it, seeking for Mother Mary and Father Joseph to pick him back up and console Him?

 

Our Dear Lord Jesus will have no part with a sinful manger. He will not and cannot rest in a heart that loves the sinful pleasures of this world more than it loves Him. Our hearts are either residences for Satan and therefore a breeding ground for sin or residences for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and therefore a breeding ground for love. Jesus desires so much to reside in our hearts so His love, peace and joy can permeate through our entire being, and then radiate forth to other souls. He seeks to find a home in our hearts every waking moment of every day. He knows that Satan is trying to steal our hearts or at least turn them away from the One Who truly loves them. He knows that the effect of this person taking residence in our hearts is only death and therefore cannot experience the wonderful miracle of life and love.

Look at how much Jesus longs to make our hearts his dwelling place. Let us want the same thing with the same furious desire. Knowing that Jesus cannot share space with sin, let us genuinely reject all evil and ask God for forgiveness. When we do this, it is like opening the door to the Holy Spirit who has been knocking on our hearts exclaiming, “Housekeeping!” And then Boom! Our hearts are rendered spotless. And if they were mangers, they'd be the perfect place for the baby Jesus to lay His head.

The ONE who RENEWS my PURPOSE

The ONE who RENEWS my PURPOSE

Lord Jesus, when I think of You

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of Your Passion

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of Your agony in the garden

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, at the sound of Your Name

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of Your Resurrection

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of You sitting at the right hand of the throne of God

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I'm kneeling before the cross

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of you looking down upon me

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I hear music glorifying Your Name

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I try to comprehend Your sacrificial Love

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of Your Victory over death

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think about how Your terrible suffering brought about an abundance of Life

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of the family you have blessed me with

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of all my brothers in Your Body,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of all my sisters in Your Body,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of all those who need You now more than ever

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of Your Infinite Mercy,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of the vastness of Your creation

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I read about You in Scripture,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when You make the blind man able to see,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when You cast out demons,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when You forgive

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when You raise the dead man to life,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I see how you worked in the lives of the saints,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I witness Your miracles,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

Lord Jesus, when I think of You in my depression,

MY PURPOSE IS RENEWED

FOR TO TRULY LIVE IS CHRIST. THERE IS NO LIFE APART FROM HIM.

I REJECT ALL EVIL AND CHOOSE TO FIX MY EYES ON JESUS.

FOR IN HIM I FIND MY PURPOSE AND IN HIM

MY PURPOSE IS ALWAYS RENEWED

THIS LIFE IS NOT FOR ME BUT

FOR YOU AND YOUR

PEOPLE.

I OFFER MY LIFE UP TO YOU NOW LORD FOR YOUR PURPOSES

AND FOR YOUR PURPOSES ALONE

AMEN. 

Reflections with the Lord: Oceans

                                                                                                              7/29/2014

Lord,

I met a couple of your daughters the other day on the job as a pool maintenance guy. Both of them were probably around 10 years old. They were in my friend's summer camp group. The first one, bold as she was, made a comment about how tall I was. Accustomed to receiving that kind of attention everywhere I go, I responded dryly, “Yes I am. What's your name?”. She told me her name was Haley. There was a girl next to her who had been quiet up to that point, but after seeing what her friend had just done she offered me an excited, “Hi!”. I asked her what her name was and I heard her tell me “Ocean!” What? You mean like the Pacific? I had to make sure I had heard her correctly because I thought she had just told me that her name was Ocean. “Are you sure?” I asked her. She, again, assured me that her name was indeed Ocean. The name nonetheless surprised me. I've never met anyone with that name or heard of someone with that name. So with not much else to say, I told her that I liked her name and that was it. 

This 15 second encounter got me thinking. I thought it comical that such a small girl could have such a vast an immense label, but I guess that is also the beauty of it. She is so small in size and stature that compared to the any ocean, she is less than insignificant, but as I began to think deeper about the heart and soul God gave her, little Ocean grew and grew until all the oceans of this world could not compare to her.

Lord, like each one of us, you gave her a heart and a soul. Her soul is God-fitted so that only You can fill it to the brim. You created her soul in a special way so that if she turns her eyes toward You, Your peace, joy, happiness, mercy, and love would rush into it like a raging river. And there You'd be..the Eternal God resting within her, like the waters of the Pacific ocean weighing down upon the crest floor. With her eyes fixed on You, the ocean of love that now lies within grows larger and larger. It grows to the point where she is inspired to no longer keep it in anymore and then, with her heart, she chooses to share that life-bringing water with the world; it becomes like waves crashing on the shores of other souls.

Suddenly, little Ocean does not seem so little anymore.

Thank you Lord for this insight. Praise Your Name!    

                                                   
                                                Your son,                     

                                                             Dominic

                                                            

 

Prayer:

Lord, fill our souls with the ocean that is Your love and mercy. Make Your dwelling place there.  Inspire our hearts to love as You love. Give us the confidence that with You anything is possible even if we are only but one of Your little ones. Jesus I trust in You. Amen.

 

 

                                          

                                       Oceans by:  Hillsong UNITED

                            Fill Me Up by: Jesus Culture