Friday, June 24, 2011

A confident, expectant faith

Prayer for the Day

Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed!

Reflection

When we pray to Jesus, He hears our prayers. Sometimes we just don't have faith enough to know that His answer is always the very best heartfelt touch of a loving God.

Today, as in the days of Abraham (Genesis 18:1-15), and as in the days of the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5-17), we are called by God to have expectant faith. The Centurion's prayer, often like ours, is from the heart and for the good of some great need. Jesus was amazed at the faith of this non-Jewish person. Jesus also knew His own people, how they would like a bigger show of power involved in the healing.

We see each day how God keeps the universe in beautiful harmony, how all the creatures of nature are sustained, how God keeps our human bodies in motion through the beating of our hearts, the coursing of blood through our veins, and the breathing of air into our lungs, all without our even thinking about it.

We are surrounded by God’s miracles each day. We need to come to God with expectant faith for our daily needs, knowing that God’s love for us is infinitely greater than the love of the centurion who wanted his servant to be whole. Trust in the words of the angel to Mary: “Nothing is impossible for God.” (Luke 1:37)

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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".