Exploring new ways to pray is a good way to reignite your prayer life. I know that I can get stuck in a rut and merely rely on the rote prayers that we learned as a child. Being in a relationship with God requires more than just sitting around waiting for an epiphany. Think about your life. Think about the things that make you happy and fulfilled and the things that make you sad or repel you. When you draw up the list of things that are valuable to you, where is God on that list? As a free person, are you making choices that bring value into your life? When you look at the man-made things around you, are you relying on those to make you happy? Are they bringing you closer to God? Money, power and influence just were not on Jesus' bucket list. Are they on yours? Why? God will attend to your every need. What are the things that turn you to God and make you more loving to Him? The What Would Jesus Do bracelets were a good thing. I wonder why they have gone away? It is a great reminder for how to live our lives. What would Jesus do about the abortion epidemic in our world? What would Jesus do for the poor in our community? What would Jesus do if He visited our church on Sunday? Would Jesus recognize me as a Christian? Do the things that I cherish make me more authentic? Am I making decisions based on the accumulation of more things instead of gaining eternal life? Allow God's power to work within you. Allow God's wisdom to collect inside you. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father" (John 14:6-7).
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...
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