Evangelizing while doing the dishes or folding the laundry?
J.M.J.
Thy Kingdom Come!
Today is a new day...a new day to open my heart to the wonders of Gods Mercy around me. To open my heart to let Jesus do with me as He wills. Hmmmmm......Lets see...taking care of my husband and the children...the dog....dometic chores, teaching, praying, trusting Him to work within my pride and vanity...i shall cling to His words of Mercy...in Mark 5: ....."Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."
Sometimes i get caught up in my vocation of the moment of being the wife and friend, and mom that i forget to let my actions evangelize to my family. To be the reflection of Christ's love in the world. There's being busy with work and concentrating on the task at hand: making dinner,teaching, organizing the laundry..that i forget to let the love within my heart for Jesus and the love for the family shine through the work i'm actually doing. i just need to get done what has to be done, because i only have so many hours in the day to do it.
i'm thankful to the Lord for His generosity for this vocation within my family. From a post abortive point of view, i couldn't understand why Jesus would allow me to have any more children, because of what i did almost 19 years ago. To trust me with the responsibility of marriage and then children. Sometimes when i look back on my post abortion distress i can see where i was like the man with the unclean spirits in Mark Cahpter 5 vs.1-20. The self condemnation, mistrust of men, the church and of God would fill me with so much anxiety, that it was hard for me to concentrate on the joy of living everyday life. In these verses i can see Jesus' Mercy and love because he had pity on the man.
i believe out of great love Jesus had pity on me. In this gospel passage Jesus also instructs the man to go home and to announce to the family what the Lord in His pity has done for him. When i lovingly make the lunches, do the laundry and pray with my family, instructing them in the ways of Our Lord, and most of all with a thankful heart, verbally thanking Jesus and stating why i'm thankful....i find this is the easiest way to "tell my home what the Lord has done for me". The children haven't asked why i do it, they've just come to know it as something i do and have their own way of evangelizing to me!
It's neat to see how Jesus gives an assignment to this man in the bible who was just possesed. The man wanted to stay with Jesus. How many times in prayer did i not want to leave the comfort of the moment of being alone with our Lord, to go and do my assignemnt; go to home and evangelize. To live the present moment is to faithfully do what God is asking me to do in my state in life and to do it with the best of my ability because He asked me to do it...to do it for His love to be present in the world. Its hard to do sometimes! Especially when there's chaos in the car or in the store and the children are at their most active! It is then i try to remember that charity in my actions and words are what help keep me in control. i've definately not aquired the quick responsive thinking in those stressful moments to be more calm than my surroundings, but sometimes if i wear my Jesus necklace, or having a prayer card in my pocket reminds me to say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" or "Thy Kingdom Come" or "All for the Holy Family"...then, i can quickly ask for Our Lords Pity and try and live in Gospel Charity. i can't wait to have the patience of a well trained saint so that i'm more willing to embrace those crosses than second guess what my response should be! Every instance in life i hope will be automatically a time for me to be thankful to Our Lord for letting me have the possibility to show love.
For years after the abortion i felt i could no longer show any sign of love...but by acknowleging that God can love me and forgive me and trusting and accepting His Mercy, He already has opens the door to a life filled with endless opportunities to Love and to show His love. To evangelize..even within my own family...which should be done any way...especially in Mark 5:19. It's in the trying that i can accomplish the task of sharing His Love with someone today. Drawing on the graces received through Christ when i've accepted Him into my heart, and through my Holy Communion of and with Him, allows for my union with Him to give the graces i need to live for His love and have His love present in the world. Sometimes at the reception of Holy Communion i don't want the time to end, being intimate with Christ. For so long He was not living within me, i was filled with the demonds that restrained me..the self condemnation, the unforgivenss of myself and others in my abortion experience. i've become like the man in Mark who wanted to follow and stay with our Lord, but my vocation now is to evangelize at home. Hmmm.... what was Jesus thinking when He asked me to do this..i just trust that he knows what he's doing and i keep trying and frankly, i love trying because love is fun, and love is when we meet His Mercy for us in every circumstance in life.
For me, when my son is making the girls perturbed by him picking on them, i sometimes quietly laugh, and then hug them first and then dialog with them instead of exchanging shouts. Its fun to hear the way they express themselves, because by their response i'll know how effective i've been in living the example of love to them. Its kind of like testing a theory and seeing where i need to perfect and tweak my experiment in the way love is shown through example. I've noticed that the children's learned behavior can be my best indicator if i've applied what i learned from Jesus correctly.
In St. Faustina's diary Our Lord stated to her , ".....My delight is to act in a human soul and fill it with My mercy and to justify it. My kingdom on earth is My life in the human soul..... " Entry 1784 Notebook VI
Our Lord wants to act within us, it gives Him pleasure. In the prayer "The Our Father" which Jesus himself taught us...Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done.....we are allowing ourselves to let the Triune God to live in us, so His kingdom will regin on this earth. If we allow Him into our hearts, and live in His love by being obedient to what He asking us to do in our state in life, and by expressing love while we are doing it, this is grace alive in us....Jesus' life in the human soul. We must take Jesus at His word...and why not? He's never lied to us; He loves us and when we are suffering or plagued with distractions He takes pity on us and is happy to take control of the situation for us, because it gives Him pleasure to help us. Remembering the words of our Lord in stressful circumstances helps me to remember He's wants to be alive in sinful me and wants to help me conquer my tendancies that lead me to sin and wants me to trust in His forgivenes and mercy! Isn't that so cool...so even in my mistakes, He can't wait to work in me to show love to me and to the world through my actions, especially at home! How cool is that? It gives Him pleasure to be invited to work within sinful me! What a Prince Charming!!!! Still loves to be with me, enfusing His love within me, in the secrecy of my heart and soul! Cool! He's intimate and most efficient in sharing His love with me and with others, all while establishing His kingdom on earth! Only sheer perfection can do all that and He is just that; Sheer, Beautiful, Everlasting Perfection....Pefect Love!
Thank you Jesus for your new mercies every second of everyday! Thank you for dying for my sins and for loving me so much that it gives you pleasure to live in me to help me be worthy to be called a child of yours, a member of your Kingdom! Thank you for giving me the chance to evangelize to the people you've placed in my home and in my care...May i never doubt your love for me and the task of furthering your kingdom by what ever duties you are asking me to do at home! Give me your grace and your love. Come live in my heart and let me be satisfied with you and your love and your will for my life! I love you because you loved me first and died for me!
sjn
Thy Kingdom Come!
Today is a new day...a new day to open my heart to the wonders of Gods Mercy around me. To open my heart to let Jesus do with me as He wills. Hmmmmm......Lets see...taking care of my husband and the children...the dog....dometic chores, teaching, praying, trusting Him to work within my pride and vanity...i shall cling to His words of Mercy...in Mark 5: ....."Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."
Sometimes i get caught up in my vocation of the moment of being the wife and friend, and mom that i forget to let my actions evangelize to my family. To be the reflection of Christ's love in the world. There's being busy with work and concentrating on the task at hand: making dinner,teaching, organizing the laundry..that i forget to let the love within my heart for Jesus and the love for the family shine through the work i'm actually doing. i just need to get done what has to be done, because i only have so many hours in the day to do it.
i'm thankful to the Lord for His generosity for this vocation within my family. From a post abortive point of view, i couldn't understand why Jesus would allow me to have any more children, because of what i did almost 19 years ago. To trust me with the responsibility of marriage and then children. Sometimes when i look back on my post abortion distress i can see where i was like the man with the unclean spirits in Mark Cahpter 5 vs.1-20. The self condemnation, mistrust of men, the church and of God would fill me with so much anxiety, that it was hard for me to concentrate on the joy of living everyday life. In these verses i can see Jesus' Mercy and love because he had pity on the man.
i believe out of great love Jesus had pity on me. In this gospel passage Jesus also instructs the man to go home and to announce to the family what the Lord in His pity has done for him. When i lovingly make the lunches, do the laundry and pray with my family, instructing them in the ways of Our Lord, and most of all with a thankful heart, verbally thanking Jesus and stating why i'm thankful....i find this is the easiest way to "tell my home what the Lord has done for me". The children haven't asked why i do it, they've just come to know it as something i do and have their own way of evangelizing to me!
It's neat to see how Jesus gives an assignment to this man in the bible who was just possesed. The man wanted to stay with Jesus. How many times in prayer did i not want to leave the comfort of the moment of being alone with our Lord, to go and do my assignemnt; go to home and evangelize. To live the present moment is to faithfully do what God is asking me to do in my state in life and to do it with the best of my ability because He asked me to do it...to do it for His love to be present in the world. Its hard to do sometimes! Especially when there's chaos in the car or in the store and the children are at their most active! It is then i try to remember that charity in my actions and words are what help keep me in control. i've definately not aquired the quick responsive thinking in those stressful moments to be more calm than my surroundings, but sometimes if i wear my Jesus necklace, or having a prayer card in my pocket reminds me to say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" or "Thy Kingdom Come" or "All for the Holy Family"...then, i can quickly ask for Our Lords Pity and try and live in Gospel Charity. i can't wait to have the patience of a well trained saint so that i'm more willing to embrace those crosses than second guess what my response should be! Every instance in life i hope will be automatically a time for me to be thankful to Our Lord for letting me have the possibility to show love.
For years after the abortion i felt i could no longer show any sign of love...but by acknowleging that God can love me and forgive me and trusting and accepting His Mercy, He already has opens the door to a life filled with endless opportunities to Love and to show His love. To evangelize..even within my own family...which should be done any way...especially in Mark 5:19. It's in the trying that i can accomplish the task of sharing His Love with someone today. Drawing on the graces received through Christ when i've accepted Him into my heart, and through my Holy Communion of and with Him, allows for my union with Him to give the graces i need to live for His love and have His love present in the world. Sometimes at the reception of Holy Communion i don't want the time to end, being intimate with Christ. For so long He was not living within me, i was filled with the demonds that restrained me..the self condemnation, the unforgivenss of myself and others in my abortion experience. i've become like the man in Mark who wanted to follow and stay with our Lord, but my vocation now is to evangelize at home. Hmmm.... what was Jesus thinking when He asked me to do this..i just trust that he knows what he's doing and i keep trying and frankly, i love trying because love is fun, and love is when we meet His Mercy for us in every circumstance in life.
For me, when my son is making the girls perturbed by him picking on them, i sometimes quietly laugh, and then hug them first and then dialog with them instead of exchanging shouts. Its fun to hear the way they express themselves, because by their response i'll know how effective i've been in living the example of love to them. Its kind of like testing a theory and seeing where i need to perfect and tweak my experiment in the way love is shown through example. I've noticed that the children's learned behavior can be my best indicator if i've applied what i learned from Jesus correctly.
In St. Faustina's diary Our Lord stated to her , ".....My delight is to act in a human soul and fill it with My mercy and to justify it. My kingdom on earth is My life in the human soul..... " Entry 1784 Notebook VI
Our Lord wants to act within us, it gives Him pleasure. In the prayer "The Our Father" which Jesus himself taught us...Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done.....we are allowing ourselves to let the Triune God to live in us, so His kingdom will regin on this earth. If we allow Him into our hearts, and live in His love by being obedient to what He asking us to do in our state in life, and by expressing love while we are doing it, this is grace alive in us....Jesus' life in the human soul. We must take Jesus at His word...and why not? He's never lied to us; He loves us and when we are suffering or plagued with distractions He takes pity on us and is happy to take control of the situation for us, because it gives Him pleasure to help us. Remembering the words of our Lord in stressful circumstances helps me to remember He's wants to be alive in sinful me and wants to help me conquer my tendancies that lead me to sin and wants me to trust in His forgivenes and mercy! Isn't that so cool...so even in my mistakes, He can't wait to work in me to show love to me and to the world through my actions, especially at home! How cool is that? It gives Him pleasure to be invited to work within sinful me! What a Prince Charming!!!! Still loves to be with me, enfusing His love within me, in the secrecy of my heart and soul! Cool! He's intimate and most efficient in sharing His love with me and with others, all while establishing His kingdom on earth! Only sheer perfection can do all that and He is just that; Sheer, Beautiful, Everlasting Perfection....Pefect Love!
Thank you Jesus for your new mercies every second of everyday! Thank you for dying for my sins and for loving me so much that it gives you pleasure to live in me to help me be worthy to be called a child of yours, a member of your Kingdom! Thank you for giving me the chance to evangelize to the people you've placed in my home and in my care...May i never doubt your love for me and the task of furthering your kingdom by what ever duties you are asking me to do at home! Give me your grace and your love. Come live in my heart and let me be satisfied with you and your love and your will for my life! I love you because you loved me first and died for me!
sjn
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