Rules...

Christianity is not a mass of restrictions and rules, but the true path to peace, joy, life and fulfillment. If only we had more strength to trust in the God who shaped the mountains and carved out the seas, instead of trying all the time to avoid his wise law, we would find the peace we long for but search for vainly everywhere else.

~ Father John Bartunek

Lost...

Dear Jesus,

Unless you make my heart more like yours, I will continue judging my neighbor just like the Pharisees. Unless you give me a deeper experience of your goodness, I will keep slipping into the wrong idea about you. I see the Pharisee in myself, Lord, and I don’t want him to win out. I want to be your ambassador, not your adversary

I was that lost coin, and you found me. I have been the lost sheep many times, and you have always come after me. Thank you, Lord. I don’t thank you as I should. I am glad you haven’t given up on me. Now please teach me to be like you, to seek and find lost coins and lost sheep, so as to repay your love to me by bringing joy to your heart

How patient you were with the stubborn, self-righteous Pharisees! Pour some of that patience into my heart, Lord. I have too short a fuse. I know I’m acting like a fool when I harp on others and become exasperated with them – as if I were perfect. Help me to think more about the good of my neighbor than the satisfaction of my own desires. Teach me to love as you love

~ Me