Let's Be Saints!

“A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace for its trust in you.” Trust is not spoken; it is lived. “Everyone who listens and acts will make their house on rock…but not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom.”

Anxious and lonely America worships the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. The shepherds and kings did not go to the Inn with the rest of the world. They went to Him. Where do I spend my time?

Isaiah is utterly convinced of the goodness and greatness of God, yet He never knew Jesus. I do know Jesus…am I as convinced as Isaiah the prophet?

“Stand erect and raise your heads, for your redemption is at hand.” Do I live at the Inn or the manger? Do I want the lights of the world, or the LIGHT of the world?

“The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him…Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.” Do I rejoice in the Spirit and let the Spirit of the LORD rest upon me? Where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is FREEDOM.

“From the place where He dwells He gazes on all the dwellers of the earth. He who shapes the hearts of them all.” He just wants to be with us! Will we let Him fight for us?

“In no one in Israel have I found such faith.” Do I live like the centurion or an Israelite in the presence of Jesus. Be bamboo!

Worry makes me Weird; Jesus makes me Free. “I through the greatness of your love, have access to your house.”

What are you waiting for?! Stop stalking the mailman and let your blood pressure drop during this blessed season.

Black Friday is the day for consumers! What am I consuming? What do I let consume me? “Here, God lives among his people.”

It is our duty and salvation to give Him thanks! This is what the wedding feast of the Lamb—the Mass—is.

Heaven costs everything. Do I want it?

As the world is passing away, our friends in the gospel are focused on the externals! “Do not let yourselves be deceived.”

What do today’s Saint and the woman of the gospel today know that often I forget? “His name and His Father’s name were written on their foreheads.”

Jesus IS King. Do I say this on my own, or do I think and live like Pontius Pilate?

Jesus is BOTH a sacrificial lamb who has made us into a kingdom of priests, and the lion of the tribe of Judah Who has fought for us and set us free.

Fear and disobedience go hand in hand. We do not fear God’s thrice holiness; but we do acknowledge, trust in, and receive its power.

Today, salvation has come to our house, because we too are children of Abraham, and our God has come to seek and to save what has been lost.

Our saint today could be seen as the patroness of epic failure! Her identity was not found in what she did, but in who she lived in friendship with. The natives whom she evangelized remember her as “She who prays always.”

PAY HEED. It is all passing away…but He is not.

“Many deceivers have gone out into the world…anyone who is so ‘progressive’ as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.”

Sometimes Jesus takes on the persona of a situationally unaware 7 year old! “The Kingdom of God is among you.”

St. Frances Cabrini knew that identity flows from relationship; not from mission. She let her mission flow from her friendship with the living God. Do I?

Christ calls us to work for unity in His Body on earth, as St. Josaphat did. “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.”

“Appoint presbyters in every town as I directed you.” St. Martin reminds us that there is more to this life than meets the eye. Martin was motivated by a love for souls.