You are loved. Perfectly.

No matter what you are going through or how much it hurts, you are loved perfectly. Here and now, as things are in all their intense agony and deep misery, you are loved by almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This God has spared nothing to prove His love for you, becoming man and taking all your sins, guilt, griefs, and pain upon Himself and suffering in this world to deliver you from eternal suffering.

You did not have to earn this love or become worthy in order to receive it; He doesn't love you because you can do anything for Him. He loves you because you are HIS, and and that is cause enough for Him to even die in your place to win heaven for you.

So right now, no matter if you are on a hospital bed, going through a divorce, or struggling to even put food on the table, please stop for just a moment and ponder: God loves me. He loves me now, He loves me here, and He knows exactly what I'm going through. In some mysterious hidden way, this too will work out for my good and His glory if I can just believe, or even *want* to believe but can't.

We all suffer.

But in reality, none of us suffers alone. The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world suffers with us, in us, and for us. He offers us the unfathomable mercy of uniting our sufferings with His own, thereby sanctifying them and elevating them to a redemptive value. Our suffering and sorrows are imbued with divine purpose when we unite them to His.

You are loved. Perfectly. Believe it. Absorb it. Cling to this truth with all your might. God loves you NOW. And He will never change His mind.

Originally posted 17 January 2020

The enemy of our souls despises our childlike trust in the Father

When you think you've made a significant gain in the life of faith, prepare for a nasty blindsided counter-attack by the enemy. No stride forward in trust of Christ goes unopposed. To trust in Jesus is to paint a giant bull's eye on yourself which flashes, "Satan, attack here!" The enemy of our souls despises our childlike trust in the Father. The wounds of childhood are his opportune weapon to destroy our trust. This is a very complex and difficult battlefield. I would love to tell you I have overcome this enemy but I have not. His blistering accusations are brilliantly designed to exploit our sins; his arguments are seemingly bulletproof. Only the blood of Jesus, the Holy, Immaculate, sinless and all-powerful blood of Jesus Christ our Blessed Lord can overcome him. Jesus, keep me near the cross.

Originally posted 19 January 2014

The quest of human existence

The quest of human existence does not resolve to the complete avoidance of all suffering, nor in obtaining extraordinary understanding of its causes and effects. The quest of human existence consists in ascribing meaning to our suffering. God-Who-became-man in the Virgin's womb carried our griefs and bore our wounds in His own body on the cross. It is in accepting His compassionate invitation to unite our sufferings with His own that we find meaning in our agonies, our torments, our sadness, and our bitter loneliness.

Teach us Lord to suffer with faith in your Redemption, and to unite our sufferings to Your own.

Originally posted 26 January 2019

Learning the lessons of divine love

Sometimes heartbreak, agony of soul and sustained torment are the only ways God can get us to open up and invite His deepest work into our spirits. When the trial is at its zenith, it seems unbearable and God seems either far away or even the cause of the pain. But when we finally open up, humble ourselves, cry out to Him in sincerity and add just a tiny, minuscule amount of faith to our prayer, He floods our soul with divine love which drives out all our fears. It is then we see that there was never any reason not to trust Him. A very difficult lesson to learn, especially for those for whom trust can be a crisis. God is pure love and complete goodness, and there is never any reason to resist His perfect will for us. Lord, thank you for the tears. And thank you for for your nearness and healing love.

Originally posted 26 January 2014

Sacredness of marital love

The Catholic teaching on marriage is almost disappeared from the earth:

God created Adam and Eve, and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and to subdue the earth. The purpose of holy matrimony is first procreative, secondly unitive, and thirdly a remedy for concupiscence. The connubial act is intrinsically sacred because by it, a husband and wife participate with almighty God in the creation of an immortal human soul.

From this foundational doctrine flows all proscriptions against contraception, fornication, adultery, divorce, and unnatural acts. From its rich font come all the happy fruits for family life intended by our Maker for our good and His glory.

Originally posted 27 January 2017

You are not alone

In the garden of Gethsemane, our divine Redeemer sweat great drops of blood in His agony. The stress of the hour was so intense He told Peter, James, and John, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me" (St. Matthew 26:38)

If our Lord suffered thus, is it any wonder that we likewise pass through seasons of great agony as we face our own betrayals, condemnations, and crosses? If our Lord desired the company of His friends in this hour of such intense agony, do we not also need ours to be near?

Yet many suffer alone, convinced by Satan that no one cares, that no help is available. Some despair and are even tempted to commit suicide. The holy Gospels also record that in response to His agonizing prayer, "there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him" (St. Luke 22:43).

We too, have a guardian angel who always beholds the face of God (St. Matthew 18:10). Yet how often we neglect so great a help, a messenger to carry our every need directly to the Altar on High!

Are you in great distress tonight? In the throes of agony? Is the stress of life affecting your health and your relationships? You are not alone; for God has promised not to leave us nor forsake us. You are not alone; your guardian angel is closer to you than your own breath, ready to fly to heaven to obtain the graces you need to endure. You are not alone; there are people who care for you whom you have never even met! Reach out and ask for help from your friends, loved ones, a pastor, or even a help line. If in His sacred humanity even our Lord felt these things, it should not surprise us that in our fallen humanity, we do too. Originally posted 1 February 2018