Dearest
Ones,
One of the most beautiful promises in the entire Bible is: "Cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7. What a loving Father we have! Of the millions of the people in the world, Jesus has time to help each one with their burdens. He doesn't leave us alone, in the dark, to solve our problems.
Casting all your cares on Him doesn't mean you will never be unhappy or that you will never experience trials of your faith. What it DOES mean, is that you have the guarantee from God that He will never forsake you. We don't have it within ourselves to overcome the storms of life, we need lots of help. The Bible tells us where to go for that help. When we see others, who never pray, and good luck seems to follow them around, that is, materially speaking, we may be tempted to think it doesn't do any good to pray and that God blesses those who don't pray. That's because we see only what's visible. God sees the heart and He will reward in the next world, those who put their trust in Him. "Trust in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37. Don't get caught up in jealousy or envy of those who seem to be blessed, even though they don't pray. We must get our eyes off of what we see. We need to mind our own business and not be telling God what He must do to be fair.
God has a great interest and concern for what happens to us and for what may be bothering us. Whenever care and concern come into your heart, Jesus invites us to give it to Him quickly. Let it be His care, not yours anymore. He can handle it because nothing is too big for Him to handle.
We need to give our burdens to Him, no matter how impossible they seem. Abandon yourself and then wait and see what He is going to do with your problem. Say "Thank you, Lord," right away before you even get an answer. "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall carry it for you." Psalm 55:22.
Jesus said, "Do not worry." Worry is meditating on the lies of the devil. When we speak words of worry, we are speaking the words of the enemy. It will do nothing to solve your problem, but will only increase the heaviness of your burden. Speak words of faith instead. Jesus says so many times, "Do not be afraid." Say things like: "In God will I put my trust."
It takes faith in God to "cast all our cares on Him," but in Baptism we were given the gift of faith, which helps. Chronic illness, rejection, loneliness, seeing others succeed and we barely get by, are all burdens we feel we can no longer bear. Yet we have a loving Savior who did not just put us in this world to cope by ourselves but says, "Bring me ALL your worries, sickness, problems and I'll fix them."
One of the most beautiful promises in the entire Bible is: "Cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7. What a loving Father we have! Of the millions of the people in the world, Jesus has time to help each one with their burdens. He doesn't leave us alone, in the dark, to solve our problems.
Casting all your cares on Him doesn't mean you will never be unhappy or that you will never experience trials of your faith. What it DOES mean, is that you have the guarantee from God that He will never forsake you. We don't have it within ourselves to overcome the storms of life, we need lots of help. The Bible tells us where to go for that help. When we see others, who never pray, and good luck seems to follow them around, that is, materially speaking, we may be tempted to think it doesn't do any good to pray and that God blesses those who don't pray. That's because we see only what's visible. God sees the heart and He will reward in the next world, those who put their trust in Him. "Trust in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37. Don't get caught up in jealousy or envy of those who seem to be blessed, even though they don't pray. We must get our eyes off of what we see. We need to mind our own business and not be telling God what He must do to be fair.
God has a great interest and concern for what happens to us and for what may be bothering us. Whenever care and concern come into your heart, Jesus invites us to give it to Him quickly. Let it be His care, not yours anymore. He can handle it because nothing is too big for Him to handle.
We need to give our burdens to Him, no matter how impossible they seem. Abandon yourself and then wait and see what He is going to do with your problem. Say "Thank you, Lord," right away before you even get an answer. "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall carry it for you." Psalm 55:22.
Jesus said, "Do not worry." Worry is meditating on the lies of the devil. When we speak words of worry, we are speaking the words of the enemy. It will do nothing to solve your problem, but will only increase the heaviness of your burden. Speak words of faith instead. Jesus says so many times, "Do not be afraid." Say things like: "In God will I put my trust."
It takes faith in God to "cast all our cares on Him," but in Baptism we were given the gift of faith, which helps. Chronic illness, rejection, loneliness, seeing others succeed and we barely get by, are all burdens we feel we can no longer bear. Yet we have a loving Savior who did not just put us in this world to cope by ourselves but says, "Bring me ALL your worries, sickness, problems and I'll fix them."
Far too often we get caught up in complaining,
instead of using our energy to pray to the ONE who can do something about our
situation. We completely forget about faith, but instead, allow fear, worry and
doubt to set in and they invite despair to come along! Psalm 27 tells us:
"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your
heart."
"Casting all your cares" does not mean take it to Jesus and then discuss all the negative things with everyone you meet. We may say, "My sickness is worse than yours," just to show how bad-off we are - but pity parties never help. All the while, Jesus is whispering, "Fear not, I am with you, peace be still." If only we can believe that.
Next week, Tuesday,
November 1, Feast of All Saints, is a great day for celebrating all the
beloved saints in heaven. The following day, November 2, Feast of All Souls,
is the day we pray especially for the Poor Souls in Purgatory. Even if one
doesn't believe in Purgatory, that doesn't mean it isn't real. In fact
it is so important, the Catholic Church has devoted the entire month of November
to praying for the Poor Souls. Numerous saints saw Purgatory and spoke with
souls there. My mother taught us that if we pray for the poor souls, they will
never stop praying for us until we get to heaven, too. If we don't have time to
say prayers, we can offer our work as a prayer for souls. I
need all the help I can get - some day I may be one of those "Poor Souls." I
hope someone is praying for me.
All my love and prayers,
Sister
Francelle
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