I have come to understand, though it is hard to accept in the struggle, that suffering is one of the greatest graces God grants us. When you are suffering, know that God is close. He doesn’t hesitate to draw near to a suffering soul.  His power descends from heaven on the suffering soul that calls on His name. He sends angels and powers to attend.

When you are feeling lonely or afraid, there might be a presence with you that you can’t see. Angels are our friends, spiritual protectors and guides. Sometimes they do come to punish, but most times they come to help.

Whenever they do come to punish, they never do harm without good reason and there is usually the grace of endurance (and possibly other graces) granted to enable one to get through the trials.  It just so happens that, from my experience, the nature of punishment… that the cause and effect relationship is a mystery a lot of times, even to an extremely receptive soul. Though you can be sure that the intention is to lead to repentance, and God will not allow even the angels to lead someone off the path of salvation that they are already on – even when the required discipline might be severe.

Suffering and death is a season, but life in Christ is eternal. Weeping stays for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

In the end, everything has to answer to Divine Love. It isn’t going to be “How many times did you sin, and how did you show you were a sinner?” It is going to be “How did you love, and how did you show your love?”

The absolute most important calling for a priest or religious is the calling to love God, and through that calling, to love others selflessly. The sanctity of a soul is shown by how deeply it lives this love in daily life.

When you say you have faith, you are saying you have faith in Divine Love – since God is love itself.

I’m going to go to judgment and Jesus is going to go: “You did this wrong and that wrong and this wrong. It is an absolute mess! What should I do with you?” And I am going to say to God: “But Jesus, see this and that, and this… those things just mean I need you!”

I had the idea to pray but I felt a strong desire not to talk to Him. So I told Him “You can’t avoid me that easily Jesus.” And I used it as a reason to pray more than I intended to.

Repentance is desire to change, trying again and again and failing, and waiting for God to move.

God is a God of mercy. He has mercy on everything His hands have made.

I have heard that a lot of times, the Lord defends the Priest and what He teaches. The Lord speaks different truths (all from the same Spirit of Truth) through different Priests and there are different customs in each of the Lord’s Churches because it is for the greater good of the church in the current day.

Each person should pick the Church they feel the Holy Spirit is pointing them to. For me, it was the Catholic Church and I think there were signs present even before I realized it… that this was the Church His Spirit was pointing me to.

The Spirit of the Lord moves through each church and each congregation, in each Mass or service, and works in mysterious ways to bring about the good of those who gather in His Name. A lot of times this might go unnoticed to everyone else, yet someone in the Church that day will feel especially connected to that particular sermon or teaching in some way.

The Lord welcomes everyone, under any circumstance to come to Him. He tells the whole world (those who will receive Him) simply: “Come and be accepted.” Even to the most hardened sinner who is willing to live by Him, He says “Come. Bring your shame and accept my grace.”

Jesus said that those who follow Him will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. But I have come to learn that finding Him while you are in the darkness can be a great blessing to the point of being thankful for it, even over never having walked through darkness to begin with.

When I found Him in complete darkness, He was the only light that I could find. I remember what the Bible meant to me, and what He meant to me. I know that He means even more to me now. I know I am still finding Him in my heart and that He is there, but it is impossible to replicate that feeling of His light in a completely dark place. The significance you place on His every word – even when you barely understand it.

There is only a need for punishment where there is no repentance. In the case of true repentance, it is the only “punishment” needed.

It would be wrong to treat Jesus’s life and death as an excuse to continue living in sin. To say “the Lord lived and died for me so I can do whatever I want and get away with it” is a great insult to His grace.

The most important thing you can do in a moment of confusion is say “Jesus, I trust in you.” There is nothing that destroys people or a nation faster than confusion, but one rooted in faith doesn’t have to be confused. A lot of times confusion becomes more like self-destruction.

Prayer is the power of God’s people and His Holy ones. The Lord answers prayers in accordance with His perfect will.

God’s blessings don’t depend on us or our results. God says “I have mercy on whom I desire, and harden whom I will.” His blessings and graces work the same way. The Lord will do all that pleases Him.

It isn’t suffering because you did anything wrong, or because God wants to see you fall. It is suffering FOR Jesus. If there is a way out, then the willingness must be there to endure in His Name. I personally, would rather suffer for Him than try to avoid Him.

I laid down in peace and slept. I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.

Love endures all things. God is love – an indescribable, great, holy and enduring love. Jesus is love itself. When we look at God, we are looking at love itself. When we hear His voice, we are listening to the voice of an infinite ocean of love.

Don’t even let me resist Your Will Lord. Your Will for me. I ask you to work in me powerfully in Your love. I admit you know what is best for me.

Blessed is one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer.

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the corrupt, nothing is.

They will drink poison and it will not hurt them at all.

Kiss His Son, or He will become angry and your way will lead to your destruction. His anger can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

The only anointed one that counts to me is Jesus Christ.

Let my name be forgotten. Let my time in the Garden of Gethsemane be forgotten. I only wish to uplift the cross of Christ.

I have told Jesus and the angels and saints: “Bear with me. I am just getting through things right now.” My emotions have been a train wreck lately.

I am waiting for a change. For this season that feels like it is dragging on for 1000 years to end.

Why does the Lord punish us in His justice here? So that He doesn’t have to in our eternity.

I said: “God, you granted me the greatest grace a man could ever ask for.” I wasn’t speaking of the blessings or the good times, I was thinking of the fact that He has let me enter the garden, be scourged, wear my thorny crown and carry my cross with Him. I don’t think the Lord could bless a man more than He has blessed me. I know full well that there are painful and difficult times ahead. But I will fight through them like a warrior and keep praying. It seems the Lord is not sparing me the crucifixion either.

I have found, whether in the eyes of people, or the rest of creation even, if they saw it as dishonorable, when God calls you into fulfilling His plans for you… this is an honorable position itself and it is impossible in my eyes, no matter the position, notions of others or outward appearance, for it to be dishonorable.

1. Strive to live like Jesus in everything that you do.

2. Everything that is not for God’s honor and glory must be given up.

3. Seek the hard road, not the easy one.

Seek to respond with grace to hindrances, dishonor and persecution. If you want to know how humble someone is… look at how they react to these three things.

Don’t seek the love of creation. Seek the love of God. Tell yourself “I don’t want them to love me, I want them to love God. And I will love them, even when they hate me.” Then you can never be disappointed when a relationship fails, and the devil loses a massive power over you.

One of the devil’s greatest powers over us is our relationships with others. He divides and sets friend against friend and family member against family member, in countless ways. This can sometimes lead people down numerous destructive paths. The more you love someone else, the more power the loss of that relationship has over you. Love is the greatest power there is – the devil knows this and uses it. At the very least, be mindful of this fact in your daily life and relationships.

People don’t see the devil working with their eyes because he is a spirit, and works in invisible ways according to his spirit. They would like to tell you that the greatest lie the devil ever convinced the world was that he didn’t exist. But that is actually also a lie told by the devil. The greatest lie the devil ever convinced a great portion of the world was that God didn’t exist; that Jesus wasn’t the Son of God. He is very practiced at it – leading people away from God. To the point that even the very elect could be led away by him if it were possible.

The devil will try to convince you that Jesus either isn’t there or isn’t the Son of God. He has many tricks and many systems designed around it. He will try to convince you that he has absolute authority. He has great power, there is no denying it. He can do many things that seem impossible. He has angelic-like powers and a lion’s share of it. I have seen him transfigure people and objects, he has weapons sharper than the finest hairs, he can see years into the future, he is so smart he can literally kill you with knowledge if he desired, and he possesses so many massive and believable lies that he could easily kill you that way too. But he only ever possesses the authority over you given him by Christ, if he ever has any authority over you at all. This is why, despite his great powers, many of the saints could send him away with a simple prayer or by making the sign of the cross.

Every believer has power over every stronghold and power of the enemy. The one who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

It is good practice to assume that if you are a believer of Jesus Christ in the world, then you are also the devil’s target. Don’t let his flaming arrows hit you. Do your best to put on the armor of God.

I know this from experience. I have been one of his targets now for a while. He isn’t so much involved in the lives of people he is going to get in hell regardless (the ones that need Jesus’s intervention), but he takes a great interest in the lives of Jesus’s believers. Though, almost always in invisible ways so that they never even think to try to stop him or send him away by the authority granted them in Christ.

A lot of times God allows him to attack or work even in the lives of believers, because He desires to test us. The devil will try to use everything he can to tear us down, while the Lord will use it (yes, even the attacks of the enemy) to lift us up. Those that love God – everything works for their good.

Though I only touched the surface of the subject, I am going to stop right there, because as a pastor once told me “The devil will try to get you to build him up and try to lessen Jesus in your life. The focus should be on Jesus, not Satan.” I only wanted to mention those things for the benefit of those who have the devil working in their lives. While the focus should be on Jesus, not being on the lookout for which way the enemy is attacking from is not good.

Sometimes it is enough “to be willing to be willing” to follow the Lord’s plan for your life, even when it seems too hard for you to be willing directly. Then, in this situation, you need to ask the Lord to be an active participant in your will, so that He can make you able and willing.

Various ways of practicing repentance: for sins of pride or vanity, pray laying face down, with your forehead touching the floor; for sins of lust, fast; for sins of greed, give money to charity; for sins of idolatry, abstain from the idol – give it away or flee from it.

It is enough to say that a deed done in love and for the love of God is enough to reconcile you to God through Christ, even as a sinner. A deed done in love, with the mindfulness of repentance is in a lot of ways preferable to punishing yourself over sins. The presence of pure love is, seemingly to me, a form of baptism in Jesus Christ, the Lord. This is why a deed done in love can reconcile us to Him – and through Him – because not only can it be a form of perfect contrition, it is proof that He is still present despite our sins. It is also proof to God, who is love itself, that we are willing to let Him live through us.

The two loves meet, the lesser and the infinite, and they agree on reconciliation in the greater.

Even if there were the tiniest amount of love or faith in someone, then I believe the Lord is not just present, but powerfully present in them.

When the Lord sends away, He also, in one way or another, comes with. Everything is sustained by the Lord and nothing can exist apart from Him. This is why no matter where you ever end up, you can be sure that God is there too. Even in utter darkness, not a whisper or cry goes unnoticed. In the deepest pits, the highest mountains. Where can we go to escape Him? He is everywhere.