Hebrews 6:10 -20

To navigate the pandemic many people are seeking many paths of hope. Some find hope in the roll out of vaccines. Others in the many digital communication platforms that are keeping us connected in new ways. Still other people take solace in their addictions to substances or endless television series available on the web. Each of these ‘hopes’ have some good to offer whole communities and countries in lockdown, but really, each of these hope-giving elements of our present day society is finite, and delimited from life’s major events like birth, death, illness, violence and depravity and not least of all, attempted political coups.  No vaccines, digital communications, nor flicks on the net can give our lives the meaning and purpose, and lasting peace and joy, that we as human beings are designed to have. Only the Son of God who was the Son of Man, who taught and healed, died and rose again can provide sure and tangible Hope in the midst of all the challenges and chilling circumstances we face in life.  Will I seize the false hopes and dreams the world holds out to me, or will I firmly hold onto the hope that is before me, in the story and the state of Christ Jesus? Holy Spirit of God, help me seize the hope that is before me through Christ Jesus.
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He sent redemption to his people…  (Psalm 111:9)
We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.
The book of Hebrews 6:19  
 
Go to the following link for a lengthy quote on finding silence to listen to God in prayer…
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7329549-in-the-silence-of-the-heart-god-speaks-if-you#:~:text=If%20you%20face%20God%20in,God%20will%20speak%20to%20you.&text=Silence%20of%20the%20ears%2C%20by,tale%20bearing%2C%20and%20uncharitable%20words.
 
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Soli ad gloriam Dei
 
 
 

Hebrews 4:1-11

The phrase, ‘Enter into my rest’, implies that choosing to be at rest with God is an active rather than a passive activity.  So often I wonder why God doesn’t give me rest when I ask him for peace in my life –and then turn around and jump right back onto the treadmill of a lifestyle rife with consumerism, entertainment and self-pity, and their by-products of envy, dissipation, and anxiety.  But when I deliberately take steps to enter into God’s rest, by asking for forgiveness for squandering my time, treasure and talents; by taking quiet time to power down, pray, and ponder ; and by resting on the Sabbath, then I find that I am approaching God’s mercy in a complete, whole and unique way, and find the wellsprings of faith, hope, and love, and ultimately rest. Will my choices today reflect my desire to enter into God’s rest? Holy Spirit of God, help me enter into your rest.   
                                              
They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways. Therefore... They shall not enter my rest.  (Psalm 95:10-11)
Just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.
GK Chesterton
 
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Soli ad gloriam Dei
 

 
Hebrews 3:7-14

 
“For Forty Years I have been working wonders for you... and you still don’t have faith in me...?” says the Lord to the Israelites - and us today. In those forty years the Lord was referring to in scripture, Pharoah of Egypt had agreed to let all the Hebrews slaves go;  had parted the Red Sea and closed it again on the Egyptian army in pursuit; provided water from a rock in the desert; provided manna and birds for food in the desert and etcetera. These were not small miracles, they were life-giving wonders! Similarly, each man, woman and child living today has experience life-sustaining, and life-changing blessings. What life-giving wonders have I, am I, experiencing in my life? After all the graces I have received, will I harden my heart and still insist that there may be no God after all?  Will I harden my heart and continue to begrudge the time needed to cultivate my relationship to God? Holy Spirit of God, open my heart to your works and words.  
                                              
O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts! (Psalm 95:7-8)
 
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
St. Augustine of Hippo


 Check out this 3-minute allegory of Plato, “The Cave” , to explore the relationship of humankind with faith. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM&t=9s&ab_channel=bullheadent
 
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Soli ad gloriam Dei
 
 
 
 
 

Mark 1:21 – 28

‘Wow!  He knows how to expel demons from people?! You know, the demons even recognize him! They really don’t like him – they even yell at him to leave them alone! And that doesn’t bother him at all! He just tells them to scat, and they go – leaving the person sane and in his right mind! Can you believe it?’, my friends says to me. Wow! Let me talk to that guy! Who is it....? That’s Jesus ....!  When I am struggling with ‘my demons’ – sins that keep hounding me, dark depressive thoughts that won’t go away, strongholds of ignorance and doubt that grab my imagination –will I struggle with them alone, or turn to the One who has the authority to expel them from my being?  Christ Jesus, remind me that you have the power to remove demons.  
                                              
Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?   (1John 5:5 )
 
Fulton Sheen once talked about the "expulsive power" of Christ. When you place him in the center of your soul, he will expel all those things that don't belong in that center and make them find their proper place.
Robert Barron, daily reflection Jan 21, 2021


 Check out this 3-minute allegory of Plato, “The Cave” , to explore the relationship of humankind with evil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM&t=9s&ab_channel=bullheadent
 
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Soli ad gloriam Dei
 
 
 

1 John 5:5-13

When I am care-less, unkind, driven by my ‘obligations’ and passions past others, not acknowledging them, or even seeing them, but treating them like objects, then I am not conquering the world. Indeed, the world has conquered me, using my time, treasures and talents to promote and project worth-while and good ‘things’ but not redeeming and enlivening men, women and children from the black hole of self-referenced business and entertainment. Rather, as a beloved child of God I am meant to be an instrument of God’s mercy.  Sometimes this means that I manage projects and write papers, but more often when I am truly in synch with the love of God, I keep in touch with the Holy Spirit by prayer and then I speak life-giving and care-full words heart to heart to others – by devices when necessary, and face to face when possible, and do things in this world that are kind, true and mercy-full.  Today will I be conquered by the world or will I, like Jesus, work with God to conquer the time, treasure and talents of humanity with, and for, love?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, teach me how to conquer the world by love.   
                                              
Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?     (1John 5:5 )
 
Prayer and praising, all men (and women) raising... ‘Alleluia!’ earth to the heavens replies.
J. H. Hopkins, We Three Kings, v. 3
 
A Blessed, Happy and Joyful New Year, the 2021st Year of Grace,
to you and your family!
 
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Soli ad gloriam Dei