Search Results "#FrJohnPax"

“Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant in written form; our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names on the sealed document.” — Neh 9:38

Prayer
We present to Thee, O God, ourselves to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, our reasonable service. Fulfil through us the good pleasure of Thy goodness, and the work of faith with power. Amen

#FrJohnPax

GC John Kelmy
KLT, Priory of St. Michael the Archangel

We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death. — 1 John 3:14

It is a great comfort to find that the Apostle does not regard Love as merely an emotional or sentimental matter for every reference point to action! The love of God was manifested in the laying down His life, and we are to be willing to follow in His steps (1Jo 3:16). The injunction is that we should love in our deeds. We are not to shut up our ...  moreWe know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death. — 1 John 3:14

It is a great comfort to find that the Apostle does not regard Love as merely an emotional or sentimental matter for every reference point to action! The love of God was manifested in the laying down His life, and we are to be willing to follow in His steps (1Jo 3:16). The injunction is that we should love in our deeds. We are not to shut up our hearts in compassion but to help our needy brothers and sisters. If we begin with doing kind and loving actions, we shall end by feeling the same. Often, when people come to me, saying that love has completely died out of their life towards some other person, I have bidden them to go back again and act with love, making the other one the center and object of helpful ministry, the invariable result is the refreshing and rekindling of the hot geyser-springs of affection.

Do not wait to feel love, but begin at once to show it because it is right and your duty, and as you step out in simple faith, you will find that God will make this to abound towards that also abound in grace you may this good work. Love of such kind is self-giving and the gift of the Spirit of God. This exotic bloom cannot flourish on our wintry soil; man's heart cannot furnish it. There may be a few wild growths, but they bear small comparisons to their beautiful flowers and fruit. Love is of God. It proceeds from His Nature and is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us. “The fruit of the Spirit is love,” and as we are united with Christ by faith, the love of God will be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and we shall be able to love with God’s love.

We know that we have been born from above as soon as we find ourselves willing to put the interests of another before our own, not because we have a natural affection or affinity for him, but because he and we belong to God. If there is hatred or dislike in our hearts towards any, let us beware! We must uproot it by generous action, or it will bring darkness into our lives (1Jo 2:9-11).

Prayer
Enable us, O God of patience, to bear one another’s burdens and to forbear one another in love. Oh, teach and help us all live in peace and love truthfully. Subdue all bitter resentments in our minds, and let the law of kindness be in our tongues. Amen.

#DailyWalk #FrJohnPax  

No, in all these things, we have complete victory through him who loved us! — Rom 8:37

Can anything separate me from the love of Christ? Was the only question that St. Paul felt worth consideration. In this paragraph, he takes the extreme conditions of being and carefully investigates them, knowing that they include all between. First, he interrogates Existence—“death and life”; next, created Intelligences—“Angels, principalities, and powers”; next, the extremes of Time—“things present, things ...  moreNo, in all these things, we have complete victory through him who loved us! — Rom 8:37

Can anything separate me from the love of Christ? Was the only question that St. Paul felt worth consideration. In this paragraph, he takes the extreme conditions of being and carefully investigates them, knowing that they include all between. First, he interrogates Existence—“death and life”; next, created Intelligences—“Angels, principalities, and powers”; next, the extremes of Time—“things present, things to come”; next, of Space—“height and depth”; lastly, the created Universe —“any other creature.” Each of these extremes is passed in review. He is like a man proving every link of the chain in which he will swing out over the abyss. Carefully and fervently, he has tested all and is satisfied that none can cut him off from the love of God.

We strangely misjudge and mistrust the Love of God our Father and think that our distresses and sufferings, our sins and failures, may make Him love us less. But in the home, it is not the troop of sturdy children that engross the mother’s care so much as the puny, feeble life that lies in the cot, unable to help itself and reciprocate her love. And in the world, death and pain, disease and sorrow, sin, and failure, so far from separating us from God’s love, bind us closer.

Oh, blessed Love! That comes down to us from the heart of Jesus, the essence of God's eternal love—nothing can ever staunch, exhaust, or intercept it. It is not our love to Him, but His to us, and since nothing can separate us from the love of God, He will go on loving us forever and pouring into us the fullness of His life and glory. Whatever our difficulties, whatever our weakness and infirmity, we shall be kept steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; gaining by our losses, succeeding by our failures, triumphing in our defeats, and ever more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

Prayer
Yea, thro’ life, thro’ sorrow and thro’ sinning, He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed: Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning, Christ is the beginning, for the end is Christ.

#DailyWalk #FrJohnPax  

Yes, throughout all our days, we experience your raging fury; the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. — Ps 90:9

This psalm is almost without parallel for sublimity, a worthy monument of the inspired genius of Moses, “the man of God.” It reflects the wanderings and experiences of the wilderness march, the watch in the night against the intrusion of the Bedouin thief, or the prowl of the wild beast; the rush of the flood, caused by torrential rain, but disappearing as quickly as on the...  moreYes, throughout all our days, we experience your raging fury; the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. — Ps 90:9

This psalm is almost without parallel for sublimity, a worthy monument of the inspired genius of Moses, “the man of God.” It reflects the wanderings and experiences of the wilderness march, the watch in the night against the intrusion of the Bedouin thief, or the prowl of the wild beast; the rush of the flood, caused by torrential rain, but disappearing as quickly as on the sandy soil; the morning grass, scorched by the sirocco; the tales borne by the camp spies so soon ended; the disappointment of the springs of Marah; the inevitable leaving of Elim! The long, weary days of marching, the mother and babe, the aged and little children, the weakling on the desert trail, the constant pitching and removal of tents—all these emblems of transistors depicting the harrowing experiences of life’s toil and trial. Secret sins and iniquities; the averted face of God because of transgression; the death of the old at eighty and of the young child cut down as a frail flower. Yes! But despite all this, God is the dwelling place and home of the individual soul, as of the succeeding generation.

Shall we not make the concluding petitions of this Psalm our own? We, too, are pilgrims over the desert waste to the eternal Home. We must be more careful of our days, watching their decreasing number, with careful anxiety to make the most of those left. We need to be satisfied and replenished each morning with God’s mercy to have perennial springs of rejoicing and gladness. We long to help in the overthrowing of the power of evil, and as we grow older, we pray that the beauty of the Lord our God may be upon us and may we feel that He has given permanence to the work of our hands.

Prayer
HOW shall we thank Thee sufficiently, dear Lord, that Thou hast demolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to light? Please give us the grace to follow Thee all the days of our life, and when the Call comes to us to pass over, may the waters of the River be at the lowest ebb. Amen

#DailyWalk #FrJohnPax  

Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the desert so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. — Deut 8:2

The keynote of this chapter is “Remember!” Faith begins without specific evidence of an external and positive kind, but as life advances, one day after another adds the weight of its indisputable testimony. If we step out on the supposition that there is an eternal and spiritual world enw...  moreRemember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the desert so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. — Deut 8:2

The keynote of this chapter is “Remember!” Faith begins without specific evidence of an external and positive kind, but as life advances, one day after another adds the weight of its indisputable testimony. If we step out on the supposition that there is an eternal and spiritual world enwrapping us on all sides, we shall come to so clear and distinct an assurance of it that it would be easier to doubt our existence. It is a good thing to look back and see the way; it is as specific as possible that the thread of Divine purpose is stringing together the many-colored links of our life.

Notice the alliteration of Deu 8:15 and Deu 8:16. “Who led thee”; “Who fed thee.” Where God leads, He feeds! Look back on the past and see that just as sure as the guidance of God has been His care. There is no lack of those who allow Him to lead them in His paths.

Look back on the past!-Its sins and backslidings leave them behind forever and rise to newness of life. Its discipline is intended to chasten and strengthen us. Its trials are meant to reveal God’s power to deliver in the hour of trouble so that we may glorify Him. The terrible wilderness of loneliness, the fiery serpents of temptation, the manna which has never failed to fall, the water which the Rock has ever yielded. Deu 8:17-18 teaches us the lesson of humility. If, for some reason, you have been put into a position of wealth, honor, or influence, do not be proud or think that your talents or abilities are to receive the praise. Thank God, and remember that He gives the power to get wealth or honor, and He does it with a definite purpose! Will you not pledge yourself to serve and worship Him? As you climb the crest of the hill and begin to descend into the plain, not knowing what lies before, veiled in the mist, fear not, tighten your girdle, put your hand in His, and walk with Him to be His instrument to bless the world of humankind.

Prayer
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet; Lest we forget–lest we forget! Amen.

#DailyWalk #FrJohnPax