Journeying With The Saints

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 643-645.

The readings today are very curious. Her new confessor tells her to give all these inspirations up, they are all an illusions. And curiously, she is relieved to get this message. However, she falls into darkness. Later, Christ talks with her and seems completely fine with how things are playing out. It's all very curious and I'm interested to see how this plays out.

This week we are reading the 21st number from "Way to Inner Peace. Bishop Sheen will be talking about passion. As a person who gets told that I am a very passionate, I appreciate this reading. It's not bad to be passionate about things, as long as it's ordered correctly. It's okay to be passionate about hating evil, however, we must be Christian in our approach to eradicating it. In the world we live in, we are often pressured to be passionate about everything under the sun and that's just not possible or sustainable.

Three key points: Enthusiasm, knowledge, and passion.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 639-642.

Sister Faustina has been going through Lent. Now she is thinking about Palm Sunday. I share my experience of walking the Palm Sunday path when I was in the Holy Land. Whenever I read the Palm Sunday narrative, it reminds me of the fickleness of the human heart when it comes to Christ.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 634-638.

Sister Faustina has a conversation with Mary in our readings today. Mary implores Sister Faustina to get the message of mercy out so that souls can receive it before the Second Coming of Christ. At the Second Coming, Christ will be the Just Judge. We prepare for lots of things in our life, just in case something happens. Do we prepare our souls for the coming of Christ?

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 629-633.

As Sister Faustina is getting ready to depart, another sister comes and apologizes to her for being so difficult. Sister Faustina had been patient with this other sister and, in the end, it had brought about good change. Though it can be incredibly difficult to be patient with those that try us, we can change their hearts if we show them a Christ-like witness.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 624-628.

Sister Faustina has a interaction with an elderly sister who was struggling to believe that she has been forgiven by God. Sister Faustina promises to pray for her and ask Christ if she has been forgiven. Sometimes, we struggle with doubts about whether God really loves us or really forgives us. God wants us to trust Him, but, thankfully, He never tires of reassuring us.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 617-623.

Sister Faustina writes about how our prayers for specific souls in purgatory may not get applied to who we attend. God will apply our prayers to those that need them. I did an Ancestry DNA kit a few years back and I realized that I have a lot of ancestors that could possible use my prayers if they are in purgatory.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 615-616.

Sister Faustina gives a lot of thoughts on following God's Will versus our own will. There are times when we know, deep in our bones, what God wants us to do. Many times, we just ignore and pretend not to know because we realize that following God's Will will mean giving up some sin we enjoy. Or we think we know better.

This week we are reading the 20th number from "Way to Inner Peace." The topic is very interesting this week and when I first saw it, I was very curious as to what exactly we would be learning about. It's called "Bread and Kings" and at first you may wonder what in the world those two things have to do with inner peace. What's interesting is that for the past two months, my husband has been asking a question that I haven't been able to answer. I think, though, this week, Bishop Sheen will mostly answer his question.

Three key points: Liberty, surrender, promises

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 610-614.

Sister Faustina fears that she has possibly offended Christ. Because she is unsure, she decides to stay away from Communion until she can later get to Confession. While her desire to be free of sin is admirable, it is not good that she stays away from Communion. Her confessor even tells her so much. If we have mortal sin on our soul, we cannot receive Communion. But, we can with venial sin on our soul and we should because the Eucharist is food for our soul.