If you've ever experienced a quiet moment under a tree, alone in a taxi cab sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, or simply staring out of a window, you've probably found yourself pondering the eternal questions: "Who am I?" "What am I to do?" "When will something happen?" "Where am I supposed to go?" "Why me, Lord?" "How can I do this?" The hard part about those moments is that it rarely seems as if something mind-blowing or earth-shattering comes. But what would happen if you kept asking those questions, over-and-over, like a meditation. Slowly, simply, peacefully, asking the same thing over and over until your self-talk stops, until your heart beats a little slower, until your eyes close, until your breathing becomes calm. What would happen if you let God in? When we slow down, we can discern what God wants, what we need, and how to go about getting to the next. That's what the apostles did when they realized they needed someone to replace Judas who had killed himself after betraying Jesus. Read what it says in Acts 1:21-26. "So one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.’ So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles." They knew that God knows hearts. They trusted what He would bring to them. That's what discernment is. So, when you're faced with a life-changing moment; when you're faced with what seems like difficult circumstances; or when you simply don't have an answer: discern...discern...discern. Get quiet and let God fill you. #Discernment #Anxiety #Stillness #prayer #silence

Unburden your soul by going to confession with a trusted, knowledgeable and loving priest. Keep close to the truth that the recitation of sins in front of Christ with a properly ordained priest will prepare your mind, body and spirit to receive God in deeper and more lasting ways. While we can and should speak with God in a familiar sense or pray our humble prayers to him, the act of going to a confession helps us to be repentant. This is important because God loves a contrite heart. If you can do this on a regular basis, you will make way for deeper prayer in meditation, which can lead to God's greater presence in prayer, which is contemplation. Ultimately, these lead you on the path to theosis, which is union with God. So, go to confession. #Confession #MeditativePrayer #ContemplativePrayer #Sin #Repentance

Pentecost is, among other things, a time when we are reminded of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It came upon the apostles as Holy Fire and it comes upon you during the Eucharistic Prayers in Liturgy. It re-orients you. It re-energizes you. It reminds you that God is with you in all places and keeps you in all things. When you pray, ask God to help you be more attentive and responsive to His Most Holy Spirit. Live in Him. Make your abode in Him. His Fire will envelop you. It will burn away that which is not of God and fortify what is of God. Let the Holy Spirit lead you to the Son who is begotten, and the Father who is creator of you and everything around you. #HolySpirit #continualprayer #MeditativePrayer #ContemplativePrayer #secretmeditation

Take time for silence today. Breathe. Learn to stop blocking God. In fact, offer yourself to Him. Let the Most Holy Trinity envelop you. #Trinity #ContemplativePrayer #MeditativePrayer #prayer

Take five minutes to talk with God. #VocalPrayer #continualprayer

Christ asked His Apostles, "But who do you say that I am?" (Mark 8:29). Should we not ask others the same thing about ourselves? We each need to know interiorly and exteriorly who or what it is that we bring into the world. Do I bring peace and healing? Or do I bring trouble and chaos? Why? The Evil One is always bringing discord, disunity, and discontent. The rest of us are doing our part too, to degrade, defame, and destroy what is good in ourselves and others. All you have to do is to look within and without to figure out that we've entered into a time and place of special difficulty, sadness and unrest - largely because we want it to happen. In past decades, it was easy enough to dismiss such questions by saying that each of us brings a little of both trouble and healing. But now we must address this question in a more serious way. How do we heal so that our wounds become symbols of love and not opportunities to inflict even more pain? Start your healing now. Continue it no matter the difficult climb. Help others along the way. Lift them up. Sacrifice for them like Christ. Protect them like His Most Holy Mother. This is how you will grow closer to God now and into eternity. And your work will be obvious because "a bad messenger brings trouble, but a faithful envoy healing" (Proverbs 13:17). Love and forgiveness are not weaknesses, but the greatest weapons of all. They defeated the Enemy when he sought to be God. They defeated sin when they sought to destroy humanity. They will defeat all that is horrid in and above the world for all eternity by the Most Holy Trinity and in the name of Jesus the Christ in a specific way. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (John 14:27). #Sin #Healing #IntercessoryPrayer #JesusChrist #MotherofGod

Emptying yourself - so that the fullness of the love of Christ can take over your interior - can feel like a Crucifixion. When it does, embrace the Cross. Let Jesus envelop you; experience His wounds; look into His eyes and see what He experienced. Then remember what St. Peter told us: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief-maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgement to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?’ Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good" (1 Peter 4:12-19). Read that again: "Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good." What that means is: discern God's will; follow it authentically and organically and willingly; and NEVER give up. #StPeter #Healing #Anxiety #Suffering

If we truly want to be close to God in this life and come into the fullness of union with Him in the next, then we must empty ourselves of that which is not Him. That means we will have to rid ourselves of impatience. We must learn how to be kind and stop being jealous. We can't be boastful or arrogant or rude or irritable or resentful. We cannot constantly demand our own way or rejoice in wrongdoing. We must learn to live in the truth and believe with all of our mind, soul, and body that Christ endures and that we must endure with Him (cf. 1 Cor 13:4-7). This is hard to do in a world that preaches the earthly Trinity of 'me, myself, and I'. But we must decrease so that Christ can increase in us (cf. John 3:30). As it is written: "The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all" (John 3:31). Seek the one who is above us all and He will raise us up on high with Him.

Footprints. They ask and tell all. "In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed" (Mk 1:35). "And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone" (Mt 14:23). "Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God" (Lk 6:12). Jesus walked; into the desert, on top of a mountain, out to the deserted places. In the morning, during the day, at evening time, and over night, Jesus went to be alone with His father. We seek the deserted places too; into the worldly things; on top of each other; out to the margins of truth and love. He prayed. His footprints became knee prints. We ran. Stop running. Let God in. Go to the desert of contemplation. Pray for us O Holy Apostles! Help us to return to Christ in prayer! #ContemplativePrayer #continualprayer #prayer #MeditativePrayer #secretmeditation

When Jesus asks you: "Who do you say that I am?" (Mk 8:29), what will you answer? If, like Peter, you answer: "the Messiah," then how is it that you spend so much time worshipping at the altar of Mammon? Material goods are not the solution to your emotional problems and they're certainly not the answer to your spiritual questions. In other words, you cannot choose God and the world, which is just a mask for the Evil One. As Matthew tell us: "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Mt. 6:24) Please, oh dear ones, consider whom it is you serve. Choose God. Listen to Him. Follow Him. He is your eternal and loving Master. #JesusChrist #Conversion #continualprayer #Confession

When tears and blood landed like seeds in the sandy soil at the foot of an olive tree those many nights ago, humanity could not conceive what was truly taking root. There were those who had faith (Mt. 16:18) and the one that suffered (Mt. 26:36), but were these really two separate rocks or one? The bloody sweat shed upon the rock of agony at Gethsemane (Luke 22:44) is eternally tied to the bitter tears of denial (Luke 22:62) precisely because "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38). We too must prostrate before the rock of faith and the rock of suffering. That is why we have altars. It is where the two become one. Go to the garden. #Stillness #silence #JesusChrist #StPeter #StMatthew #StLuketheEvangelist #StMark #Suffering #ContemplativePrayer #continualprayer

Can we not stay awake with you for just one hour (Mt 26:40)? Help us and have mercy on us, O Lord. For if we cannot speak to our Father in heaven with you now, how can we submit our plea before the Judgment Seat? If we cannot kneel with you now, how can we stand at trial? If we cannot suffer with you now, how can we ask for the glories of the Kingdom? Teach us your ways of prayer so that the words we say are the actions we take (Mt 6:9-13). Help us meditate on your life, so that we do not build tabernacles in the wrong place at the wrong time (Luke 9:33). Let us contemplate you so that we may be bathed in your light and love (John 1:9). Plant the seed of that fateful hour. Water it with the blood of sacrifice. Stay awake at Gethsemane to find the path to Heaven. #ContemplativePrayer #continualprayer #Suffering #JesusChrist #transfiguration