Compassion...  A really great trait to have!  Sometimes we just need to be inspired by the good works of another in our midst.  I once read "Keep yourself so busy that you will not have time, nor the desire, to ever speak ill of another".  Those words still remain true as the day I first read them.  Words we could and should all live by!  I have learned one of the greatest of all disciplines...  The importance of keeping myself very busy in the Vineyard of Our Lord.  

Compassion... How does a compassionate person live out their life?  They are solely dedicated in quietly doing the Lord's work.  They see a need and they fill it.  No one has to tell them they are needed, they just know and act.  Blessed to be a Christian.  Even more blessed to be a Catholic, taught by the Franciscan Felician Sisters all throughout my tender youth.  As early as the first and second grade, I remember the first lesson of Sister Mary Chrysanthus.  For homework we were asked to do at least one good deed everyday at home for our parents.  And the very next day at school we were all very anxious and excited to share the good deed of the day! 

Learning all about compassion at the age of 7 was life changing for me, I really took it to heart.  These were the good first seeds planted within me by the mentors of my youth, the Polish (Franciscan) Felician Sisters. God bless them all!  For each and everyone one of them, have all gone to their final reward in being forever with Jesus.  I consider myself very blessed because during the last thirty and forty years, I was able to reconnect with my seventh and eighth grade teachers who were instrumental in teaching me how to be an even better Catholic, but this time as an adult.  We spoke on the telephone and exchanged letters that I still have and will always cherish in my heart.  

Because of their compassion for teaching the faith, and for loving children, we were being prepared for life once we graduated the eighth grade, through their love for great knowledge, great discipline, it was quite evident we were all a family during those 9 years if you included kindergarden!  We graduated on that hot sunny day with tears in our eyes, no one wanted to say goodbye.  There was so much love that the Sisters outpoured into every single heart that God gave them to teach, we all felt the sadness of being pulled away.  I have kept letters of correspondence over four decades worth and will certainly share them with you in future episodes within Deb's Podcast.   

The Sisters gave their vows to Christ to serve.  And they served us very well!  They knew they were serving Jesus Christ (in every single child).  They sacrificed their life in being chaste (Felician Sisters), devoted to a lifetime of prayer and service.  And I honor them in this podcast today because of their every sacrifice to teach us with love, compassion, and joy, my heart and my mind will forever remember.  

As a student at Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Parochial School, the sisters made me who I am!  I may have bloomed very late in life, but every single blossom has their names on it.  Just writing this chokes me up inside because I don't believe the Catholic Religious were honored and respected for the work they chose.  But today they are being honored because Gods love shineth through me every seed planted grew for the faithful and I am honored to be a contributor of so beautiful a faith.

I imagine them smiling over me at this moment, Sister Chrysanthus, Sr. Carmel, Sister Angelis, Sister Inviolata, Sister Rosalima, pray for me, Amen!  

To be Catholic-Is to be responsibile/accountable to Christ who gave us breadth and life.  To be responsible/accountable, is knowing that any assignment given to us personally by God, can be achieved as long as we remain prayerful, truthful, and faithful, in Him.  

Jesus is counting on us to be open to HIS truth and share HIS truth with all  humanity!  I believe that we all are destined to be in Christ, and in living out his most perfect mission.  

Where HE assigns each of his children to experience a very special personal individual task. 

In TRUTH..........It may take decades even a lifetime before a Catholic realizes that they are Gods instrument created for his most DIVINE purpose.  Prayer at home, prayer as a community at holy mass, prayer within the Holy Adoration Chapel is the gas in the tank of every Catholic.

Receiving all of the 7 Sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist,Penance, Annointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Matrimony) within the Catholic church, all were meant to open us up to FULLY receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit..... Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord.  

All the above were meant for Gods people to be happy, to be complete, and to be one big beautiful family.  And yes once one enters into the beautiful Catholic faith, they see, they learn, they experience the most powerful sacred life in Christ as they mature individually and personally strengthened in (mind, body, soul, spirit). 

Free will is another gift given freely to us by God, but we have to protect it.  If we are not careful in protecting our free will we can experience great difficulty.  We need to have healthy parameters in life.  We have to know when to draw the line in the sand.  When to speak.  When not to speak.  When to listen. When to pray when there is no perfect solution.  Be mindful, be cautious, be respectful, be Christ!  

Saint Peter pray for us!  Pray that all of God's truths be revealed.  Bless and protect our priests, deacons, spiritual directors, lay people.  May nothing stand in their way of contributing to Gods most perfect plans.  There is a massive attack on traditional family life and values.  Gods people are lost, broken, deceived by the evil one.  Our mistakes have cost us everything, we have delibertely chosen to walk away from God, family, baptismal vows, and values critical in keeping families in tact.  How on earth did this ever happen to so priviledged of a nation living under one God?  One thing is for sure, life is already difficult on its own, and without God, life is much harder.  We lose our connection to who we are, we lose the identity given to us at our Baptism. We lose our faith.  We lose our soul.  We forget to live by the ten commandments given to us by Moses.  We lose all awareness of the lessons we have learned from reading the holy bible.  The sacraments lose their meaning.  We stop going to mass and confession, we begin to hold onto our sins for dear life when they are tearing the life out of our very souls.  For the soul finds no rest until it rests in Thee!  The soul finds itself in a war, against itself and against all others.  There is no rest whatsoever for the weary.  Sleep deprivation occuring rampantly.  Sadly no desire left deep within to re-engage with God, the evil one robs those who choose suffering in darkness.  We do make the wrong decisions that hurt us, and everyone in our path.  Numerous set backs that end up affecting the beautiful journey originally intended by God.  We lose everything in exchange of a cursed  dammed, sinful, unrepentent life locked forever in the fire of hell.  Hard to believe Gods creation denies their very creator, as if He never existed and yet He does!  Demoniac's roaming the earth, looking for another soul to devour.  Be on guard always, and protect the beautiful soul that was given to you, feed it holy nourishment.  Watch you tube on Capuchian Franciscan Priest Padre Pio type in His Last Mass.  He is a great go to Saint to learn from and they offer some of the best videos on his talks about our guardian angels and how they interact with other guardian angels all throughout our lifetime.  You will learn about the faith, the truth and the life to live in Jesus Christ.  There is no other way for a devout Christian to follow.  Take time to read the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II and delve deeper into the studying the truth about your Catholic Faith. Stay clear of every evil AWAITING every opportunity imaginable to snatch your soul away from Christ.  Your very soul is totally precious in the eyes of the Lord.  Souls who have handed themselves willingly over to the evil one will burn indefintely in the abyss of hell.  The power of free will given has enormous purpose, it is up to us to figure it all out.  We area all held to the highest accountability in this lifetime.  Death is on the very horizon. Everyone on earth dies.  Don't busy yourself so much with life you forget your final judgement day. Take very seriously in preparing yourself now for your final judgement.  When we accept Christ we are free, and only free when we live in him.  If we deny Him we entrap our very soul.  Evil will gladly take you and lead you astray into the big dark never ending abyss, where lies, murder, deceipt, desception, never allow your soul to rest. My hope, my prayer, is that you make a definitive decision in choosing Christ during this Lenten Season, as your Lord and Saviour for all eternity. Holy.  Holy.  Holy is the Lord, God Almighty.  Heaven and earth are full of your glory. May every soul deny itself and pick their cross and follow Christ. Amen.

May the power of the most high be with you!  Just exactly where you are.  For you were beautifully made in his image and in his likeness.  You were not a mistake.  You were born out of love.  A love larger than your comprehension.  And God allowed it to be.  We are imperfect people, seeking perfection through Christ.  Only he can make us holy.  And he has a way of drawing us into his holy presence.  All praise and honor be His!   We fall, we fail, we pick ourself up again, and we strive for the higher gifts.  The gifts of knowing our creator, and understanding that we were all meant to be living a purposefully a beautifully driven life within God's holiest realm.  Of course we are in battle, it is a spiritual battle here for souls.  Good verses Evil.  And we are seeing the prevail.  It doesn't take away the evil that exists, but we are here to pray it all away.  We are here at this time to assist in Gods plans for the eternal destiny of this century.  Not all of us will live to be one hundred, and very few will live to see life beyond one hundred years.  But within those years we must take a look at ourself.  The journey.  How it all began.  Where we made mistakes.  And where we saw the hand of God come into our lives convincing our hearts that his way is the only way for a Christian to follow.  And in immitating Christ, we learn to accept his law, his truth, his commandments, as a source a most reliable source that will never fail us.  We win when we live in Christ.  He has already won the battle.  But we are here trying our best to win our very own.  Will we immitate his life on the cross, will we sacrifice our life for others so that they can live eternally in Christ.  We have some very important decisions to make today, as we look at our lives head on, with an honest heart, a truthful desire to grow into our best immitation of Christ.  Is it possible?  Can we obtain such a life?  Think about it, think about all of our ancestors, look at your family tree, and ask yourself what type of lineage did I come from?  A look into the past is ok, but staying there is not.  We must continue our knowledge of who we are, in our family life, in our church life, and see if our identity matches the identity of our ancestors.  Did we follow their lead when it came to our faith.  Did we recognize their contributions to the faith.  Or did we turn away from the faith, seperating ourselves from the unity originally created for us by Christ.  All very valid questions.  But in order to find ourselves, we have to go back that far in order to retrieve the messages of truth that will help us to put the pieces of our mosaic of life into one big picture.  If in fact you are struggling with this, you can pray to our holy mother Mary, for "She Is The Undoer Of Knots".  She will help you tremendously.  If you have had a pretty decent life you can move forward with this reflection and delve deeper by the history you receive of your ancestry.  Sometimes the information we find out is quite fascinating.  Sometimes I see my ancestors as a generation of men and women who really lived life well! Survivors of two world wars, all exmilitary, all family men and women, all brought up and raised Catholic.  So everyone was on the same page, which made life easier to relate and understand and respect for eachother was a given.  With God there is no confusion whatsoever.  One wouldn't dare lie or cheat because they knew the ramifications would be great.  Others did push the limit, but I think they did not understand their place in life, maybe their mom and dad did not bring them up properly.  And they went out into the world hurting others out of ignorance.  When we live in Christ joy, peace, love, rule.

Guidance.  We all need to be properly guided in the faith and learn from our ancient christian writers.  How else are we going to fully understand who we are in and through them, all of the faithful.  Our ancestors within the 1st and 2nd century have alot of good advice for us to adhere to.  We need this awareness.  We have fallen asleep when it comes to the great gift we were given.  Jesus Christ is the greatest gift given to us.  And for good reason.  He wants to helps us in our walk, so that we do not stray and suffer out of stupidity, ignorance, poor choices.  He is the best and only choice for Christians to follow.  Wake up.  Walk out of the darkness and run into the beautiful light which is Christ himself.  He will tell you exactly how to live, and you will be grateful so much more grateful than you are today when you choose to live a life totally engrossed in his love.  

Our sorrowing world will continue to spiral downhill faster than the year that has just past us by.  We need to awaken and take to heart the message of Christ through Saint Polycarp.  These are true messages that discipline and guide us away from self desires so that we can desire only to live in Christ.  In him our path is protected.  Our lives are secure.  Secure for all eternity!  

Prayers...How significant are our prayers?  Very significant in saving ones soul.  They open up our mind, heart, and soul, to the Holy Spirit living within us...They awaken us out of our slumber completely!  Prayer is essential to the Christian life.  Prayer is food for the journey for the devout Catholic desiring to live a holy life.  A life totally devoted to Christ.  One of the most important decisions I have ever personally made on my own was to hold onto the Catholic faith that was given to me in my Baptism.  There comes a time in all of our lives that we begin to question our life and our destiny.  Who we are, who made us, where we came from, and where we are heading.  Making clear concise decisions that uphold the truth, that uphold the Catholic faith, that upholds our very souls for all eternity relies upon one very specific important decision that will affect us the rest of our lives.  God created us in his image and in his likeness, he created us to be eternal beings.  But with the choice of having free will not everyone chooses to live a life in Christ.  Sadly this goes on, and sadly I can see the seperation of man and woman choosing other Gods.  God distinctly reveals the difference and the contrast is so real.  When we walk in Christ, when we live in Christ, we are a different people.  We are people of Christ himself.  There is a distinction and those living in Him see it very clearly.  The happiness of Christ living in his people is obviously seen, and experienced.  His love cannot be hidden.  His love is placed in us who love Him, and we go on living as His children.  Full of love, and a joy that this world can never give.  I am most certain that God is writing these words for all to hear, my fingers are his instrument at this keyboard sending you His truths.  My voice is also his instrument, I pray that I use it only for His greater glory.  In essence our entire bodies are his vessels, and it is important that we keep them pristine.  We know that we were all given a soul and that our bodies house our soul.  And when our soul becomes filthy, we must recognize that it needs to be cleansed.  And as Christians, as Catholics, we go to Christ, and we pray.  We show our face to a priest and acknowledge where we have failed and done wrong.  When we own our imperfections, and release them from our consciences, we make the first step in growing out of them by owning them to begin with.  We recognize that as Christians we were meant to constantly strive toward perfecting ourselves for Christ Jesus.  And if we were all made in his likeness and image, we were meant to immitate Him as closely as possible.  Of course it will take a lifetime, of course not all of us will attain perfection, but in Gods eyes He already knows our hearts, and what gifts we were given and whether or not we have wasted any of them.  He is God he knows everything about everyone He has ever created.  And if we were made by Christ, and his perfection, don't we owe Him our utmost gratitude?  I would dare to say yes!  So as a woman, as a Catholic Christian, I want to excel in this life given to me by God himself and inspire you to think about living in every way that is pleasing to Him.  We can begin again together just by reciting these prayers, or reflecting upon them through this podcast, use this tool as a gentle reminder of God being present in you.  Knowing his love for you is real.  His joy is endless, his power we should utilize, and reflect in it every day that he gives us to live.  Never taking for granted this once in a lifetime gift of life that all began in our mothers womb.  To be born, is to contribute to the faith, it is a small way to thank God for the miracles we experienced during our lifetime.     

Researching ancient writing has made me realize the importance of delving deeper into the Catholic faith.  One can easily see the contrast in the lives of the saints, the popes, the apostles and the bishops that fought and died to keep the faith alive.  I am no different.  It is a strong desire that has been placed in my heart to rediscover who I am through every person making positive contributions to the Catholic church.  The truth is so obvious.  What we need to be doing is so simplistic and yet we freely choose not to look at the gift of faith, we choose not to research and learn from our elders.  Fortunately, I was blessed to see a live sermon happening in the presence of my maternal great grandmother. Every year at Easter Vigil, she had invited the priest and the altar servers to come and bless our home.  She was a beacon of light because every time I saw her in the building she wore a rosary around her waist and she was in deep prayer.  Whether she was mopping the first and second story hallway and steps, walking to church daily, her entire life revolved around the Catholic faith.  She lived during WWI and WWII and her husband and sons my great uncles were all military men. The finest men within our family and I had come to love them all dearly.  My great grandfather died serving the church by ringing the church bells and worked as a janitor at my parochial school.  He was of that generation that never stopped working.  His daughter my grandmother was the same way.  She worked as a seamstress in a factory, and at night she cleaned various offices in town and worked for the richest lady who owned a very high end womens clothing store.  A mother of four never stops.  And her husband worked right along side of her.  And I remember being invited to help but I had enjoyed their company much more than the work that was involved.  My grandmother was a holocost surviver.  She did share the story about hiding Christians underground beneath the home they had lived in.  And my younger brother creating a rendering as she described the house.  She lived to be 83 and the war stories and the holocost stories all died with her.  But it was our faith that sustained us all throughout the trials of life.  Our faith is our rudder, our faith helps us to see beyond the moment of great suffering, our faith teaches us to break through to the other side with God.  My Polish ancestry is very rich.  Some of the most intelligent men and women in the world have come from Poland.  And during the holocaust, the most talented people in all of Poland, composers, artists, writers, entertainers, even religious sisters and saints, all were deliberately placed in gas chambers, silencing their talents and God given gifts, never to be read, sung, seen, or painted on a canvas again.  But they lived!  I remember as a child hearing stories about art work being stollen and placed into crates later to be discovered upon trains, some of that art work found its way to the U.S. My late and great Polish Great Grandmother instilled in me to love God, to pray, to serve, and to live as his daughter.  And honestly, she was exactly right.  I caught her sermon by the way she lived her life.  And when my husband took me to Poland that solidified the deal.  I knew I would continue to honor her legacy, and surrender to God my life of service because we were born for greatness, a greatness that can only be found in loving God.  I was given one picture of my great grandparents and I cherish it because they were on Pilgrimage in Poland and I was given the honor of walking in her footsteps eight years after she had died, and a voice said, kneel and kiss the ground, all of your ancestors are with you.  And I sobbed like a baby!  So you see everything in life comes full circle and if we pay attention we can see

Have you experienced this encounter with Christ?  Have you paid attention to his voice that is silent and yet so powerful in that silence you can hear him speaking directly to your heart?  He is that close to us.  He is that intimate. You are his creation and forever you will be his son/his daughter.  He watches and listens/ sees and hears everything within every person living in the universe.  Those telling the truth and those following other God's.  How do you want to be remembered by God?  Did you live your life loving the life he gave you?  Or destroying everyone and everything in his path?  It's never to late to love.  To be in love with Christ.  To gain Christ is to gain everything that is necessary to save our souls.  Does your soul need saving?  We all at some point need to look at and re evaluate our lives.  After we reach the age of reason, we are responsible for our conduct, our speech, our interactions with others and it is important to reflect upon our human character.  Do we reflect Christ living in our lives or are we an abomination to him?  We have to be honest, we have to constantly be asking ourselves what can I do to improve my inner self.  In all honesty, only Christ the greatest of all healers has the power to help us overcome every single detachment of self.  Detached from all that is harmful to the eye, to the ear, to the heart, and to the soul.  We all need to flush away the filth that had entered into our very self.  How do we get there?  We make a conscientious effort on a daily basis to cleanse ourself.  Looking at what happened every ten years in our life whether good, bad, indifferent, we need to take an honest hard look at those experiences and how they have molded our thoughts, our beliefs, our behaviours, etcetera. What did we do to reverse the knots in our very lives.  How far did we get on our own, how far did we get with relying on our faith to get us through.  God can erase the mistakes we have made, and the mistakes others have caused in our lives, and as long as we are truthful and honest, God will honor great inner healing.  Our priests are the Vicars of Christ!  Our priests are trained properly in hearing confession and absolving our sins.  Christ is in the confessional as you speak and as the priest hearing your confession listens.  They are Gods assets and they are tremendous in helping the people break free of past sin that have held them in bondage for decades.  Its the devils work that holds us to our sinfulness in darkness over some of our lifetimes.  But when we try with all of our might to stay true to the course of being in Jesus, he frees us of everything that harmed our lives from the beginning of our memory.  Christ is everywhere, he stood motionless on the cross and died for my sins and yours.  Never forget that.  He died at age 33, wanting to save all souls from final damnation.  He died a cruel death crucified with nails pierced through his hands and feet and a lance through his side wearing a crown of thorns.  He was humiliated, spit on, mistreated, taking every insult imaginable why?  Because of his love for humanity...You mean that much to Christ.  You better believe it.  So the next time you hear a voice speak to your heart in love, listen, respond with great love, because that voice is a personal invitation to be in the presence of the great I AM.  And in return you can speak directly to his heart.  And Christ will listen with undivided attention and understanding and love beyond all measure.  For God is love and we were conceived in His love.  If we truly understand this message we will be a changed people.  Changed in every respect of everything wise, holy, and true.        

Prayer.  There are many different ways to enter into deep prayer.  We first decide where we will go to pray.  Finding the right church. Signing up for 1 full hour a week in silent prayer within an adoration chapel.  Attending a weekly bible study class.  Creating a prayer room/ or prayer space within your home.  All of the above are great tools to help you get started in having quality prayer time.  Prayer is our connection to God.  Prayer helps us to mature.  Prayer prepares us to be ready when God decides it is time for us to leave this earth and be with him forever.  Prayer prepares us for that end of life that becomes our new beginning for eternity.  We have to be open about death, we need to think about where we are heading.  And looking at our life, how we have lived, and how it has shaped our beliefs.  If we do not look deep within we will never see nor understand the importance of prayer.  The importance of cleaning out our hearts to Christ.  We may have walked away completly from the faith we were given as children.  But as adults we realize something great is missing.  Some of us were given so much, that with those gifts we have forgotten who had given them to us.  We have at one point all gone astray, and find ourselves wanting to return to the fold.  Having a true understanding of this is key.  We can return, we can rebuild, we can begin again and with prayer the truths will all be revealed to us.  Sometimes I pray for the souls of old childhood friends who left the earth way too soon.  Some to drugs, some to drowning, others who jumped off of bridges, and I wonder, why it was they left so soon.  I know in my heart every prayer counts.  Jesus hears my plea, and what he does with my prayers is his business, but I know in my heart I must not ever stop praying, because so many souls have become lost in my generation, and I am alive and given this great task and purpose for those reasons.  We are all in God whether we like it or not.  Whether we believe or not.  We were created in God's image and likeness.  We were made for a reason.  And we are given life, breadth, and the opportunity to delve into a purpose driven life, to find out its true meaning.  Some of us make it.  Others don't.  But either way you and I are here to pray and figure out our true purpose and do something amazing with the life we were given.  Being in Christ, being in a relationship with him, is a choice I make daily, as I pray, as I live, as I write this podcast.  Christ is everything, and he wants to be known as living deep within the recesses of our hearts.  We can choose to believe, and not deny him, and we can have an amazing life.  Many people have over the centuries, and especially the saints, if you read about their lives, and their contributions, you will see God's hands in everything they have ever accomplished.  Some started schools, others opened orphanges, others started hospitals, their contributions were amazing.  My favorite Saint Maximillian Kolbe wrote underground, and published truths about the catholic faith that reached many people.  I think as a writer I am bias, I love the saints who became writers for Christ.  Some of us, may never become saints or catholic writers, but if we decide to become prayer warriors, those of us who pray daily can pray for the conversion of souls, for peace among the universe, I believe that in itself is a gift so desperately needed in our times.  Prayer does more than any of our actions.  God sees the heart.  May more hearts step forward in love trusting God will help heal the brokenness by using our prayers.  Pray with me tonight for the truth, may it reveal compassion, and love to all desiring peace.  We have to begin each day in prayer.  

What does it mean to retreat in our Lord?  To set aside a full weekend to be in the great company of God.  To hear the voice of the Lord speak to you an entire weekend in nature, as an early sun begins to rise, as the birds sing, as the salty scented sea fills the air, all senses cease, as I fall into the loving arms of my Lord and his Holy Mother Mary.  I walk on holy ground, meditating upon the stations of the cross and the Lord's Passion.  I place myself in his story, my sorrows, my sins, and realize we live a life of great suffering, as did our precious Lord.  But we have Him, to go to, to open up our hearts, our souls, and he listens.  He is there, and we are here, to work out the details of our lives moving forward.  Never to be stagnant, but to be fluid in him, in our honest service of self and others.  We are given the gift of time.  And what we do with that precious gift of time is our gift to Jesus.  I want you to be aware of this retreat center.  Whether you are searching to find peace and meaning in your life, whether you have lost your way completely, Jesus and Mary want more for your life than the life you are living.  And in order to live in Jesus and Mary, we must bring our gaze upon them, we can do this by spending an entire weekend away on holy ground at Our Lady Of Florida Retreat Center.  Single, Married, Divorced, Catholic, Engaged to be married, no matter what your status, you can come to O.L.O.F. and meet Jesus!  We have a short time here on earth, so it is important not to waste a single moment that has been given to you by our Lord.  This year the Theme for the retreat weekend was "Prayer".  Do you pray?  How do you pray?  Whom do you pray to?  Is it our Lord, our Lady, our Saints?  We were given the gift of having a guardian angel to help us all throughout our lives here on earth, do you recognize the role of your guardian angel assisting and protecting you at every moment?  You have a soul and it must be guarded.  You have to feed it spiritual food.  It is important to know of the great gifts given to you by our Lord.  This Podcast is your podcast.  It is here to feed you properly.  So that your soul gets to heaven and you get to see Jesus face to face on the day of your death.  And we are promised that our cherished loves ones will be there to greet us when the time comes.  But before all of that happening we must prepare ourselves for that time.  Fortunately, I received in my soul a desire to help souls recognize this purpose.  Your souls sole purspose is to know God and love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and lean not on your own understanding.  He will guide your feet to the way of peace, Amen.  Jesus wants to catch you in his net.  He wants you and I to becone fishers of men, fishers of women.  But how do we do that when our own lives are in an upheaval?  We trust.  We pray.  We fast from food and things that harm us, physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, materialistically.  Yes they harm greatly, when we choose not to follow Christ.  Christ and his teachings become paramount.  His Mother our mother, our holy and blessed ever Virgin Mary, patiently waits for our surrender.  When we give her our yes, as she gave her yes to God, we change.  We must change to become one in Christ.  It is then God can work with us, he can heal us completly, and we can begin his most important work.  Serving his children in the vineyard.  The lost, the ill, the forgotten, our love is necessary, our love of Jesus and Mary is necessary right now.  We have an abundance of power within us through the holy spirit waiting to be unleased onto the world, we have to want it, and believe it will change and heal our broken world.