is all about relationship - my relationship with my God: the Father - He told me to call Him Papa. . .the Son - my dear sweet Jesus. . .the Holy Spirit - He's Sasha to me. It's about my journey with Them, my Catholic faith, the Family of God, and the way it shapes my life.
“True love of God consists in adhering perfectly to His holy will, not desiring to do or be other than what God dictates for each of us, to the point of becoming, as it were, “a living will of God." Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.
I shudder as I read Fr. Gabriel’s words. I love God and strive to truly love Him. I want to desire to live this statement, but if I’m totally honest, I silently desire my will at times. Me, “a living will of God?” Regretfully, I am not.
It’s already near the end of the fifth week of Lent and a reflection that I read on Ash Wednesday has stayed within my heart and soul.
It’s a continuing theme that resonates deep within me, and in talking with different spiritual friends, I hear it echoed in our conversations.
“Create a clean
heart in me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”
We were already into the second week of Lent, and I was a failure!
“My daughter, you give Me most glory by patiently submitting to My will, and you win for yourself greater merit than that which any fast or mortification could ever gain for you. Know, My daughter, that if you submit your will to Mine, you draw upon yourself My special delight. This sacrifice is pleasing to Me and full of sweetness. I take great treasure in it; there is power in it.” Jesus to Saint Faustina
I am well aware that accepting God’s will in my life is what He truly wants, and I really try my best to do so. But if I’m perfectly honest, it is often not with patient submission. Instead, it is more a “white knuckling” submission in the hope that things will soon change and be more to my will.
“He came to His own, and His own received Him not.” John 1: 11
I was suffering! Suffering for Our Lord and suffering for myself, or so I thought!
“Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.” St. Pope John XXIII
I read this quote and although I recognized it as truth, I could not receive it.
“To always be close to Jesus, that is my life plan." St. Carlo Acutis
I was very excited and felt encouraged, that two young people from “our time” were being canonized on September 7, 2025: Carol Acutis and Giorgio Frassati – both Italian laymen.
Although I was familiar with both “Blesseds,” because of my great love for Jesus in the Eucharist, Carlo’s journey resonated more deeply with me.