Great Blue Heron Picture by Jerry Torres
Our Blog is Inspired by The Holy Spirit
Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Extraordinary Time
Rejoice and leap for joy!
Your reward will be great in heaven.
Emphasis mine: Alleluia Refrain Luke 6:26ab
My reward will be great in Heaven.
We have asked this before , but let’s ask the question again because I think we can sometimes forget the answer.
The answer to where is Heaven is clearly spelled out in the Our Father, in Matthew 6:9-13
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts.
as we forgive our debtors;
and do not subject us to the final test,
but deliver us from the evil one.
This is the Our Father from the New American Bible Revised Edition.
And do not lead us into temptation is what I found in The New Catholic Bible. I believe the New American Bible Revised Edition is what is used at mass,
And, as reported by one of our readers, the Spanish pray do not let us fall into temptation. This is how I now pray The Our Father.
Sorry we digressed.
Where is Heaven?
St. Matthew clearly states Our Father lives in Heaven, and then we pray that His Kingdom Come.
Come where?
Here!
When?
Now!
But where is here?
The men in the Cumberland County Jail said all around us so I guess they were saying Our Father was in the Jail, and in an important way they’re right.
But,
That doesn’t change my life much, does it?
Over my eighty-four years I have heard Priests and Ministers say this, but the statement doesn’t do as much for me as it should.
As we kept talking, one of the men said Heaven was inside him, and we pray you should know this is the right answer.
But,
There he goes with those but’s again,
How do we know we are truly living in Heaven now?
Love, Joy, and Peace.
If you are living in Love, Joy, and Peace you are as close to Heaven as you can get here on earth in our sinful life and world.
Two quick examples.
The first: In April I thought The Holy Spirit wanted us to teach a class about Love, Joy, and Peace in a college setting to senior citizens. The moment I signed up I started worrying about how we could do a two hour class.
Well hello DUMMY! If I am worried about teaching the class, whose will am I NOT doing?
My Father’s!
And,
Whose will AM I following?
satan!
How do I know?
I have become anxious and have had a slight loss of Joy because of the anxiety.
But,
God took care of me by having only one person sign up, and five people were the cut off for having or not having a course. I saw the error of my ways, apologized to God for my sin, and went home from the meeting praying “Thank You Father” numerous times JOYFULLY. I am back in Heaven, not believing how stupid I, yes I, was.
The Second example is from my oldest son Mike, who thought my original second example was weak. Mike wrote:
I listened to a Podcast while walking today between a christian host and a young man who had been a transgender for 12 years. Just as is happening in the Middle East (thousands of conversions)…the young man had several visions and dreams in recent months of Jesus and soon after converted to Christianity. His Joy you could hear during their conversation. In Summary – the interviewer noted that as a transgender, he was following “fools gold” a temporary happiness, but now this young man is experiencing the Fruit of the Spirit and has a mission to share his conversion and Joy (heaven here and now).
And therefore I do Rejoice and leap for joy!
Your reward will be great in heaven.
Prayer:
If you want to grow in Love, Joy, and Peace this is a result of growth in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
It’s Monday, and for the second time I, yes I, don’t have a clue what The Holy Spirit wants to talk about. “Patience Fred,” and just after we wrote “Patience Fred,” I, yes I, laughed, Joy, What an interesting life this is. God will provide in His time NOT mine.
Tuesday, and off we go. I, yes I, have a hard time fully appreciating all that is going on in the Bible. Tim Gray, daily Formed 9-2-25, said something that made me appreciate more of what was going on.
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,(1)
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” (2)
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him! (3)”
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them (4)
and came out of him without doing him any harm. (5)
They were all amazed and said to one another,
“What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.”
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region. Underlining mine Luke 4:31-37
- The demon cries out trying to disrupt Jesus’s teaching.
- He names Jesus to try and exert power over Jesus – I didn’t see that coming.
- Jesus commands the demon to be quiet,
- The demon trying to hold onto the man throws him on the ground, I didn’t realize this.
- The demon OBEYS Jesus and comes out of the man, and the man is unharmed..
Dr. Gray also added that this all took place in a Synagogue (Church).
We pray this has added to your appreciation of the constant attacks Jesus had to endure while he was on Earth. satan never let up on Jesus and we should expect no less.
But,
If you’re filled with Love, Joy, and Peace you know you are in a Celestial Dance with the Triune God, and that makes the fight much easier.
Picture:
I caught this Great Blue Heron soaring overhead. Although not the most attractive bird out there, they exhibit a certain grace and cut an imposing figure when their wings are outstretched.
“He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.” – Deut. 32:11
Please keep Snapping!
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
Email me if you want a copy of the prayers we discussed.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
