Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Giving thanks for the seen and unseen

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

I've been battling this cold for over a week now and today, I finally decided to have the doctor prescribe something. Thank You, God, for providing me with a doctor. Thank You for giving Your children intellects to devise medications that help people get over all sorts of ailments. I trust in You that I will get better faster now.

I got home from Bakersfield this afternoon and had to be picked up by Alicia and Lily. Thank You, God, for blessing me with a beautiful daughter who has become quite the homemaker and mother herself. You outdid Yourself with Lily! No matter how poorly I feel, she can bring a smile to my face and my heart. And as a "bonus", You blessed us with Lorenzo as well! He tries so hard to support his family and has a heart of gold.

Marilyn picked up my prescriptions and just brought them in. Thank You, God, for putting Marilyn in my life. Only You know how much she means to me. I don't have a sufficient vocabulary to express how much.

Sarah just called. She is coming down tonight so she can drive up to the cabin with Marilyn, Alicia et al tomorrow for our Thanksgiving Day meal. Thank You, God. Sarah is a blessing to so many of Your children who have nowhere else to turn.

I will be picking Mom up in the morning and driving her to the cabin. But first, we'll take Rose to Mass at 9:00 and get our bread blessed while we're there. Thank You, God, for rewarding Your good and faithful servant with a long life filled with Your Grace. And for blessing me with a mother who has been able to keep my eyes on You through good times and bad. Let's not forget Rose, who You sent to Mom to help her when I couldn't be there. Thank You, God!

I have so many things to be thankful for--as our Profession of Faith exclaims, "..all that is seen and unseen." It's easy to be thankful for the blessings we see and hear, and touch. But do we really take the time to thank God for those things that occur that bless our lives in unknown ways that we won't even know about until we are face to face with our Creator? Spiritual warfare is going on all around us with forces we cannot see, hear or touch. How many times have we been saved from the devil through the Providence of God? Thank You, God.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".