Know What To Ask For and You Will Always Receive It !

Beloved:
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice. 
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity. 
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.
Where do the wars
and where do the conflicts among you come from? 
Is it not from your passions
that make war within your members? 
You covet but do not possess. 
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war. 
You do not possess because you do not ask. 
You ask but do not receive,
because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Let's face it, there is much more discord than there is harmony in this world.  The one place you would think that would be an exception, an oasis of harmony, would be the Church. Yet, if you listen to the news you will find factions pitted against one another even in the Church.  By Church I mean the one Christ founded the one that is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, the Roman Catholic Church.  

We have cardinals that are defying Church rules, ones that are attempting to undermine the holy father.  There are those that say priests should face away from the people, use Latin and go back to ancient ways.  And as for us in the pews, we have decided that there are rules we will keep and rules that we will ignore.  We pick and choose as if the Church were some sort of cafeteria.  

All of these things add to the discord that we have to endure in this world.  What we, the people in the pews, have to do is to be counter-culture.   First, we have to filter what we hear about our Church.  The media is looking for ways to attain more readers or viewers.  You can attack the Catholic Church without fear of being retaliated against. We should expect to be attacked and persecuted for our faith.  Our Lord went to the Cross, can we expect to escape a similar fate?

Remember, the deacons, priests, bishops, and higher-ups that were involved in the sex scandal were a minority.  The number of holy men and women in the Church outnumbers them by one-hundred to one at least.  Next, we have to remember to be good citizens and good Catholics.  You cannot be one without being the other.  This means we have to take an active part in elections, making our votes count for the best of the slate of candidates. We must also support worthy causes that help to bring Catholic morality to people's attention.  We must also love one another as Jesus has loved us and people must see the difference between us and those of the world.  If they cannot see the difference then we are not living our lives as we should.   

We must look at each person we see at mass as if they were standing next to us in heaven.  This is because they will be!  We don't always have the same ideas as the person next to us in Church, but we should have respect and love for them because they are our brother or sister in Christ. 

Loving our fellow pew dwellers can have its moments but what we also need to do is to love our enemies and those who persecute us.  We must not return evil for evil for that is what our enemies expect and guard against.  Instead, we must adopt the turn the other cheek principle and we must always respond with as much love as possible.  This is a very hard thing to do. almost impossible in fact.  But, remember we can call on God to give us the strength to represent Him in the way He wants us to.  All we need to do is ask.  

Some people will pray for things that are downright evil and expect God to provide the means to attain their sinful goals. For example, drug dealers have a saint that they pray to and ask that their enterprise is protected from the authorities and that their drugs are delivered safely.  Do you think that God will allow this favor to be granted?   Our prayers must be for holy things, for graces for ourselves, our families and friends, and for our enemies as well.  This is all part of doing good to those that wish us evil. 


Our God is an awesome, loving, faithful God.  He is aware of the chaos that is infesting this world. His hand is ready to move at the most opportune moment. We pray for His help assured that it will come when it will do the most good.  This week, pray for someone in your circle of people that you do not like.  It might be a relative or a co-worker that rubs you the wrong way.  Whoever it is, pray for them and pray that God makes it possible for them to reach the heights of sainthood.  This prayer is one that God will always grant and you might even see subtle changes in the short-term.  God will be pleased if you pray as suggested for He wants us to help everyone attain heaven. 

A word from our Sponsor - The Poor Souls in Purgatory

St. Gertrude the Great is invoked often, for prayers for the poor souls in purgatory. She had a deep empathy for those souls in purgatory and would ask God at each mass to have mercy on them.

God would reply to St. Gertrude that He would use whatever was offered to Him for the faithful departed, according to His inclination to show pardon & mercy.

St. Gertrude was a Benedictine and mystic writer. She had the gift of miracles and prophecy.

Jesus revealed to her His infinite love and asked her to spread it, with love, for the suffering, and for sinners.

The Prayer of St. Gertrude

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family.
Amen.