Faith, Hope and Love: August 2021

Wednesday 25 August 2021

Women Of Faith and Hope: Hypocrite

Women Of Faith and Hope: Hypocrite: According to Webster’s dictionary, ‘‘A hypocrite is someone who acts in a way that goes against what he or she claims to believe.’’ Or it...

Growing closer to God.

Matthew 7:7

Ask, and it will be given to you, search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

What part of God’s words or teachings of Jesus do you hold dear to your heart?

Do your words and actions communicate peace, love, and unity?

St. Monica who is a true friend of Women of Faith and Hope has wise words to share, “nothing is far from God.” Meaning God is everywhere, he loves us, and he is always with us cheering us on as we run the race of life.

My daughter has recently well for a while now been borrowing out story books about Noah’s ark and like Noah, we are all given second chances it’s never too late to turn around and start trusting, obeying, and honoring with our lips while our hearts are wide opened and ready to experience and welcome a father, a teacher, a director, and a guide who is never far from us.

Lately, I have struggled with my faith, and I admit it feels and seems tiny like a mustard seed but as I sat watching When a Men Loves a Woman on Disney+, tears rolled down from my eyes and I opened my heart in prayer and God answered and gave me hope. Our other friend St. Mary Magdalene once asked Jesus, what is heaven like? Jesus replied, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-33

May these words bring some hope and light into your heart this very moment for my faith may be tiny right now but faith as small as a mustard seed, a seed of God’s which is planted so deeply has the potential to move and grow into something bigger for the greater good of all God’s creation.

In the words of our other friend Women of Faith and Hope, St. Mary Mackillop. “Let us all resign ourselves into His hands, and pray that in all things He may guide us to His Holy Will… When thoughts of this or that come, I turn to Him and say: “Only what you will, my God. Use me as you will.”

You see, when we open our hearts to God and Invite him in to search us, to know us that is when our will to do what is right gets stronger. To finish off, it may at times feel as though God is far from us, but I believe we are the ones who are far from him.

Will you grow a little closer to God?

“It is love that asks, that seeks, that knocks, that finds and that is faithful to what it finds.”

Saint Augustine

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.

Sunday 15 August 2021

The Grace of God has saved you.

Last week, I couldn’t help but think of how full Mary was with the grace of God and how one might ignore or put off the grace God kindly bestows and maybe that was because we celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady or it was because of the prayer ‘Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with Thee.’ A part of me finds it difficult to live life with grace but that doesn’t mean I am not generous, respectful, or act with compassion or strive to have the energy that is led by the Holy Spirit. What I have realized is God’s grace empowers us all to do the impossible to help us find confidence in our lives, the way we live and the way we think and if we consider our 28 days of true love with God, we are affirming that we are lavished in love, a victor, radiant, transformed, chosen, and accepted and all these are the grace of God. If this is the case, why do I continuously ignore it? Why am I running when all God wants from me is to spend time in silence and solitude to help me live life to the fullest with joy and happiness?

I have started watching a TV show on Netflix called Derry Girls and it is really good, funny and something I can relate too when I think back to growing up in the 90s, which includes family life, religion, music and school. I also stumbled across a video on YouTube of Sister Clare Crockett who was from Derry sadly though she passed away she was playing her guitar and singing when the house where she was staying collapsed due to the Ecuador earthquake in 2016. A few things I took away from Sister Clare Crockett and one being that we shouldn’t put off the grace God has for us it really is all or nothing and as Ephesians 2:8 suggests, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved.’ We receive grace through the body and blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross, our baptism, our Eucharist and confirmation. Grace is the power that God willingly gives us to help us do what we could never do on our own.

So, for the month of October, I want to share some verses from scripture that tell us about the Grace of God this might help us to understand the true meaning of Grace and help us to share grace with others because it is when we share grace, we are in fact giving unconditional love. So, make sure to mark it in your calendars.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope

Written and created by My Mother Rose.