"We go to heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him. Heaven is a person: Jesus himself is what we call heaven." Pope Benedict XVI
Wow! This is so amazing! It greeted us on this Ascension Thursday as John and I were sharing morning prayer before he headed off to work! He thought that it was a bit different, but I was filled with rejoicing at the depth and beauty of this powerful message to the world! If we take Jesus into our deepest temple of the Holy Spirit and get our selfishness out of the way, and walk following HIM down the narrow path carrying our Most Cherished Cross - we will find heaven - Jesus Christ! I know the experience within my domestic Church/family to be small slices of heaven when the LIFE and LOVE is embraced, and we can give up of our wills and follow the will of HIM, who loved us with HIS LIFE!
"Before departing 'to heaven', he blesses them with the hands that show the wounds of the cross. As blood had poured out of them forty days before, now light and blessing pour from them as Jesus' final, visible deed on this earth. This event marks a major turning point in the story of Jesus' relationship with mankind, because this blessing is as if Jesus were saying to them: 'I leave for heaven so that your own hands may now become my hands, your deeds my deeds, your heart my heart.' How else can we explain their great joy in returning to Jerusalem?... He is not abandoning them but rather making room interiorly for them to be what they have seen him be - by now having the same Father as he and the same Spirit animating their lives.... Jesus now ceases to be but one person in one physical body among many in the world so that the Church corporately and in every individual member can become the presence of his Body on earth. Jesus disappears as single individual in order to fill the whole world with his presence. From now on, those who want to see Jesus, the Messiah, will have to look to the Church and her members..." Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis
How true... now Christ can be in all places at all times! He is God with us!
Baby Rose had her two week check up on Monday and has gained 2 pounds already - she is thriving and wonderfully healthy! She is a delight to her family and such a gift of God! We can "see" the Spirit at work in her perfect new LIFE and the LOVE we grow in as we come to welcome and protect her! Jesus, we are so amazed at the glory of your creation and the ability to find heaven here on earth - YOU! May we die a little more with each day so that you may come and dwell within us and show us the path to True Happiness - heaven on earth! Your resurrected body still had the wounds! They did not disappear! They are a part of our finding you and leaving all the world and all of its distractions behind - we are wounded and yet we continue to LOVE, and truly that allows us to love more totally! We realize that our lives are filled with trials and pain so that we are reminded that we need you and that you are in control! In the midst of the storms of life we need only look to you with Faith, Hope and Trust! Jesus, protect all life this day, and be with all those that are facing the worries of illnesses of all kinds! Jesus, we are yours, and that is where we find peace as you lead us beside the still waters and restoreth our souls! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb
"All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness.
For the Lord, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great King over all the earth.
God mounts his throne to shouts of joy:
a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the Lord, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praises to our king, sing praise.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne."
Psalm 47 The psalm from mass today and sung by the entire Catholic World! Highest of PRAISE - Hallel!
“In the inner heart of every person the voice of God and the insidious voice of the Evil One can be heard. The latter seeks to deceive the human person, seducing him with the prospect of false goods, to lead him away from the real good that consists precisely in fulfilling the divine will.”
Blessed John Paul II
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