Bread of Life

Prayer...

Prayer is, in the strictest sense, a humble religious petition of man to God to seek divine benevolence and benefits he needs for life, both temporal and eternal. It is a conversation with God, either by accepted prayer forms, or from the heart. Consider these words as if God were speaking them to His children...

"It is not necessary my child, to know much in order to please me much; it is enough that you love me fervently. Speak here to me then, as you would speak to your most intimate friend, to your mother, to your brother."

~God your Father~

He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

Quotes to Live By

There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.

The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.

In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)

It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.

The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?

I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

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Praying Without Despairing

by Stella Armstrong

We need to hold onto the following truths:

1. God is perfect and we are not.
2. He knows past, present and future, and we don't.
3. He loves us and does not want us to go to hell.
4. He answers our prayers always in the best divine way that will not lead us away from Him.

He loves us and....

...and does not want us to go to hell.

Just in case we ever doubt numbers 1 to 4, remember that He has put down on the table the best proof that He loves us, that He is perfect and almighty, that no one has ever bested, nor will: Jesus Christ came for us, died for us, and rose for us. I say that is the best and perfect deal we can have, and if we trust our doctors, our accountants, even our government, why not God who is not only perfect, but also madly in love with us? No one has ever loved or will ever love us more. Having said that, we can learn and obtain the grace of praying with the right attitude and expectations, consequently giving to God the blanket authority that He needs to give to us the best possible outcomes for our prayers.

Because we only depend on what we think we see and what we expect, we believe that God does not answered our prayers when we do not get what we ask for, and there lies the unnecessary pain. Most times we get angry with God, certain that He never answers our prayers. On the contrary, He does. But because He can see the future and consequences of our requests, He gives us the best solution that unfortunately does not look like anything we have asked for. We sometimes fail to see His answer because we nail down His response to what we want and what we want only. Because we get so focused and sure that what we want is the best solution, we fail to see His perfect solution right in front of us. See the difference in these two prayers: "Dear God, if it is in thy will and that it will not lead me astray from you, let me win the lottery, and let me get this job. But in your infinite wisdom, show me the way to go and guide me to what I should do." Or this: "Dear God, make me win the lottery, and give me this job." The second prayer closes our mind to the many possibilities that God will use to answer our prayers. Because we have shut up our minds and hearts, we fail to see the many possibilities right in front of our eyes. We then get angry and then we despair and then we think that God has forsaken us. We think that God is the one inflicting us the pain of unanswered prayers, that God is cold and uncaring, which is not so.

On the other hand, the first prayer reflects our firm hold on the three truths that we have read in the beginning. Although we present to God what we think is the best solution to our problem, we open our hearts and eyes to the many possibilities that God is capable of thinking up for us. In doing so, we set our hearts and mind at peace because we know that our God has our best interests in our hearts, and that He who shakes the earth and cause the sky to darken and divides the sea, is completely in control and is fashioning a solution that is often so different from what we expect, but undeniably is always the best one.

...We sometimes fail to see His answer because we nail down His response ...

...to what we want and what we want only.

So the next time you pray and wait for God to send you His answer, always keep an open mind and keep your heart and eyes open, for you'll never know. He has probably already sent you an answer long before you asked for a solution, and all you have to do is ask God to let you see it right before your eyes.

URLVD

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