Into Your Hands – Follower of Jesus – Imitate Jesus – Holiness of family

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – January 6, 2015

Dear Journeyers with Christ: 2015 Theme to live by – “God makes good come from bad”. When we only look at the bad things that happen, we become discouraged, loosing hope. Look to the good in all things and all people; focus with God’s grace. Jesus is the first and Last Word – What will I do in 2015 to be Jesus to others and see Jesus in others, even my enemies. Keep looking for the good things. Take all the good from 2014 and keep it. Give up the bad – “Let it go – let it go” Ask Jesus, “What’s next”? Show me Lord and I will follow. Take my hand and lead me. Carry me when I am weary and do not understand Your direction. Be with me always to serve You and all You place before me who are in poverty. Thank You for all the good in my life. Continue to bless my family, my Church family, my Vinentian Family and the families I serve who need our help and prayers. Amen!

Into Your Hands – God holds you in His palm. Believe in this and let go of the earthly things keeping you from feeling His trust, love, comfort and amazing joy. Trust in God and let Him control our spirit. He will lead us on the right path. When we die to ourselves and give everything to God we will be at peace and feel joy and love, a love that will not die.   “Into your hands O Lord, I commend my spirit”. (Ps 31:6) & (Luke 23:34). Jesus on the cross asked for forgiveness of those who tortured Him and His last words were, “Father into your hands, I commend my spirit”. (Luke 23:46) My favorite message is: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The birth of Christ is life changing and His coming to us is salvation and it is free. We just have to ask and receive and trust in God.

Follower of Jesus – To be a follower of Jesus means we learn to imitate Him. In doing good things, evil is defeated. When we accept His goodness, the greatness of Jesus extends outward from us. In His goodness, there is cause for great joy in us and those we encounter and serve. Don’t focus on what destroys your joy, for nothing can destroy the coming of the Lord. The absence of joy is merely a blank area in your view of what God is doing. Look at the love Jesus has for you! Jesus was born to save you from the darkness of sin; and more importantly He was born because He loves you – He loves YOU! Even if you had never sinned, He came into the world to love YOU just as you are. “Do whatever God asks of you and remain at peace; above all, love and support one another in Our Lord”. (St. Vincent de Paul). Be the follower who spreads joy and makes a difference in their families, at work and in service to those in poverty. It will give you and others great joy always.

Imitate Jesus – To be able to imitate Jesus, it is necessary to reflect and meditate constantly on His life. Receiving the Eucharist and feeling His presence each time, allowing it to change you. Have you been changed? Have you ever shared your miracles with others? We all have stories where God has touched us and the more we imitate Jesus the more stories we have. Think about how you have changed and share this with others, especially your children. Our perfection comes from Christ and many of us are not there yet. It takes great courage to imitate Christ, however the rewards are immeasurable not only for yourself, but for others, too. This imitation of Christ is not arrogant and not a lecture or proselytizing. It is seeing Jesus in others and treating them as you would treat Jesus as He taught us. Evangelization is the imitation of Jesus and in St. Francis’ words, “Sometimes we use words, but mostly it is our actions.”

Holiness of Family – “The image of God is a married couple, man and woman, not only man, not only woman, but both. This is the image of God; love, God’s alliance with us is represented in the alliance between man and woman” (Pope Francis). This was an appropriate reading for Tony and I as we celebrated 50 years of married life and we reflected on God’s goodness over these 50 years. We renewed our vows, which was a beautiful gift to each other. We had 4 priests and a Bishop at our celebration. The weather was cold, as was our wedding day. The joy of renewing our love and commitment to one another in front of family and friends was so special. We reflect on our years and laugh, cry and thank God for each day. We could not have done it without Him. He is the way, the truth and the light for our lives.

Blessings,

Lynn

Lynn L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator & Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada.

Her newsletter is translated into 3 languages, hopefully soon to be 4. They have a group which brings the prayer into China and it is translated into Mandarin and other Chinese dialects.