Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

What is the purpose of God's law or commandments? The Pharisees prided themselves in the knowledge of the law and their ritual requirements. They made it a life-time practice to study the 613 precepts of the Old Testament along with the numerous rabbinic commentaries. They tested Jesus to see if he correctly understood the law as they did. Jesus startled them with his profound simplicity and mastery of the law of God and its purpose.

Our love for God is a response to his exceeding grace and kindness towards us

What does God require of us? Simply that we love as he loves! God is love and everything he does flows from his love for us. God loved us first and our love for him is a response to his exceeding grace and kindness towards us. The love of God comes first and the love of neighbor is firmly grounded in the love of God. The more we know of God's love and truth the more we love what he loves and reject what is hateful and contrary to his will.

Faith and hope strengthen our love for God

What makes our love for God and his commands grow in us? Faith in God and hope in his promises strengthens us in the love of God. They are essential for a good relationship with God, for being united with him. The more we know of God the more we love him and the more we love him the greater we believe and hope in his promises. The Lord, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, gives us a new freedom to love as he loves. Do you allow anything to keep you from the love of God and the joy of serving others with a generous heart? Paul the Apostle says: hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Romans 5:5). Do you know the love which conquers all?

We love you, O our God; and we desire to love you more and more. Grant to us that we may love you as much as we desire, and as much as we ought. O dearest friend, who has so loved and saved us, the thought of whom is so sweet and always growing sweeter, come with Christ and dwell in our hearts; that you keep a watch over our lips, our steps, our deeds, and we shall not need to be anxious either for our souls or our bodies. Give us love, sweetest of all gifts, which knows no enemy. Give us in our hearts pure love, born of your love to us, that we may love others as you love us. O most loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom flows all love, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to you and cold to others, be warmed by this divine fire. So help and bless us in your Son.

source: From the desk of Don Schwager, 

hosted by Kairos Europe and the Middle East

Bind my children to your Immaculate Heart

The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wonderous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary,at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her,"With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart", she will attend to their souls.

~ St. Louise de Marillac ~

Louise de Marillac 

was born out of wedlock in Paris in 1591. She later became a resident student to a Dominican convent where her aunt was a religious and the experience deepened her introspective ways and her intellectual skills, as well as her desire to be a religious. 

In 1629, Vincent de Paul, the founder the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians), invited Louise to assist him with the Confraternities of Charity in the parishes of France. In the mission, 

she gained a deep knowledge of the needs of the poor, developed her innate management skills and identified effective structures for service. On 29 November, 1633 in her residence she began to train young women to address the needs of poor persons and to gain support from their life together which was the mark of the humble beginning, the community of Daughters of Charity.

On the 15 March, 1660, she was call by the Lord to His Heavenly Kingdom. She was beatified on 9 May, 1920 and proclaimed a Saint of the Church on 11 March, 1934. In 1960 Pope John XXIII proclaimed her the Patroness of Christian Social Workers and till today she lives in the works of the Ladies of Charity, Daughters of Charity, and Sisters of Charity throughout the world.

Keep JESUS in the midst of your heart and ...

If you are suffering, 

He can ease your pain.

If you are confused, 

He can clear your mind.

If you are fearful, 

He can give you peace.

If you have bad habits, 

He can break them for you.

If you have vicious harmful thoughts, 

He can scatter them for you.

If unclean spirits are within you, 

He can cast them out.

If you are hateful toward others, or indifferent, 

He can fill you with love.

If you need anything whatsoever, 

He can provide it.

If you give yourself to Him, 

He will give Himself to you.

If you accept your rightful place in the household of God, He will love you as His child and take care of you forever.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Lean on, trust in, 
and be confident in the Lord 
with all your heart and mind 
and do not rely 
on your own insight or understanding. 
In all your ways know, recognize, 
and acknowledge Him, 
and He will direct and make straight 
and plain your paths.

TRUST IN JESUS, 

GOD BLESS and AMEN.

Trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ means you are in a living in a complete reliance and confidence in Him, that He loves and cares for you always! When you realize the Father God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ watch over you continually and there ears are open to your prayers.

Psalm 34:15

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

The life of faith is a child like trust and total dependence in the Lord that He will always be there as your provider and as your great shepherd.

Mark 10:15

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

Hebrews 13:5-6

Keep your lives free from the love of money 

and be content with what you have, 

because God has said,

�Never will I leave you;

never will I forsake you.�

So we say with confidence,

�The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can mere mortals do to me?�

I Give You My Heart | Hillsong (Featuring Holly Dawson)