Eternal Designs

     “The action of God upon His saints is most gentle. How He respects our liberty! How He condescends to our weakness! He does not run or jump or act violently. We, being weak creatures, rush; but God works slowly, because He deals with eternity. We bewail the passage of minutes; but God serenely watches the flow of years. We wish to achieve the goal of our desires with a single rush; but God prepares His work gently, nor does our inconstancy weary Him, nor do our failures startle Him, nor do the complicated vicissitudes of life overturn His eternal designs.”                 Archbishop Luis M. Martinez



          Our soul is priceless and fragile, created to spend eternity with God, and we must begin to treat it as such. We need to become gentle with ourselves, as God is. We often beat ourselves up because we fall, without taking into account the times we overcame our weakness. We have to learn to be patient with ourselves, and not expect sainthood to be achieved overnight.

Don't Stand God Up

     “Pray with your whole being even though you think it has no savor for you. For such prayer is very profitable even though you feel nothing, though you see nothing, even though it seems impossible to you. It is in dryness and barrenness, in sickness and feebleness that your prayer is most pleasing to Me, even though you think it has little savor for you.”                             God to St. Julian of Norwich


     Prayer to God is essential, if we want to grow in relationship with Him. It is the way we stay connected to Him and commune with God in love. It is an avenue of grace and love, where we can learn to grow past ourselves and focus on God. It is an opportunity to waste time, to keep God company, just because we love Him.

Your Hourglass

     “Like an hourglass with a certain number of grains of sand within it, God has appointed your life to last only a certain number of days, and you have absolutely no idea how many there are . . . In God’s presence consider: I have no idea when my life will end. All I know is that death will come for me eventually. Am I doing anything to prepare for the real possibility that God may call me, sooner than later? If He called me into eternity today, would I be ready?                                           Patrick Madrid


     During the month of November, the Church, in Her wisdom, has asked us to reflect on The Last Things: death, judgment, heaven and hell.

Love's Clock

     “The distance separating Our Lord from the house where Lazarus lived was about a day’s journey . . . in all it would have been four days since He received the news. God’s delays are mysterious; sorrow is sometimes prolonged for the same reason for which it is sent. God may abstain for the moment from healing, not because Love does not love, but because Love never stops loving, and a greater good is to come from the woe. Heaven’s clock is different from ours.”          Bishop Fulton J. Sheen


     Why does God allow suffering? Why does He delay in answering our prayers, or at times, appear not to even hear them? Those were probably the thoughts of Martha and Mary when they contacted Jesus and He failed to come to heal their brother Lazarus. Lazarus was already dead four days by the time Jesus arrived.