Greetings Prayer Warriors,
No matter where you live now, there is always an inner call to return to your childhood home, if only for a brief visit. Memories of family, fun, innocence, and perhaps crazy times bring a sense of nostalgia, peace, and laughter, although for some, it may hold darker memories of what should never be.
On this feast of St. John of Capistrano, aka San Juan Capistrano, I am reminded how the swallows return annually to their mission home. We too have a distant home, for we were not made for this world, but rather to complete our journey here so that we may live forever with God in the next. Thus, let us use our time here wisely to prepare. Let us examine our life and make amends. Let us purge ourselves of pride so that we may grow in humility. Let us cleanse our soul in the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we may be refueled by grace to continue on the journey. If we are not Catholic or have no access to the sacrament, let us kneel in humility and ask for the light of grace to recognize and acknowledge our sins and beg His mercy and forgiveness. Then, the gates of our eternal home will be opened wide for us. Our true and perfect home awaits.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In [those] days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be [also] at the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:36-39
Stay in prayer for one another and for your families, that you may not put off until tomorrow, what may be important for today. Sin blinds, grace opens our eyes. May our collective ark of prayers be lifted by grace, and save us from the storms that rage.
I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call. Ephesians 4:1-4
Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet
Have mercy and forgive and most of all, pray for one another. Pass it on!
