Here I am at an elegant restaurant and the waiter gives me a menu that is full of wonderful choices with each one looking better than the next; then I am in a quandary.  What to choose when everything on the menu is something I like?  That’s about how I feel when I look at our NOW word and try to decide what has affected me the most when, in truth, it all has. 

The CALL is always reassuring especially when I’m not feeling so assured. “I have called you by name.” WOW – as Jesus called the apostles, He calls me!!  He says that I am His desire. Can you imagine He loves me as I am, “lock, stock and barrel.” 

The reassurance continues with PROCLAMATIONS that tell me I can rely on Him no matter what, because He is unchanging – my firm foundation. He loves me yet waits for me to give Him my YES.  Amazing, the Lord of Lords and Kings of Kings waits for my YES – can you imagine?! 

Then are the PROMISES: He gives me hope, wisdom, peace, strength, His all, the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit – WOW!  Then He tells me His desire for me is to rejoice, to put Him first, to surrender, to listen, to trust, to witness, and to always rejoice. 

In this NOW word I hear “confidence.”  I hear “let go.”  I hear “love and forgive yourself and others.”  I hear “just be.”  The effect it has had on me is a deeper awareness of His love, His grace, that His ways are not my ways.  I experience His blessings and His peace especially in all my every day comings and goings as well as in relationships with my family and others.  

My prayer is the prayer of Bro. Lawrence:  “Sometimes during my hours of prayer, I picture myself as a piece of stone before a sculptor who intends to make a statue out of it.  Presenting myself like this before the Lord, I beg Him to form in my soul His perfect image and make me wholly like Christ.”

                 by Darlene Czop

 I am the light that shines in the darkness.

“Through him all things came to be,

Not one thing had its being but through him.

All that came to be had life in him

And that life was the light of men,

A light that shines in the dark,

A light that darkness could not overpower.” John 1:3-5

My life is in all created things. My breath, my Spirit, gives life to all, with Me, in Me, and through Me.  It is this Spirit that keeps all of creation alive. You have being because of My life within you.  When human beings are not oriented to Me who am their life, everything is out of order. There is darkness and inner struggle.

I call you to be My witnesses. 

“The Word was the true light that enlightens all men,

And he was coming into the world.

He was in the world

That had its being through him,

And the world did not know him.

He came to his own domain

And his own people did not accept him.

But to all who did accept him

He gave power to become children of God.” John 1:9-12

Sadly, many of My creatures do not recognize My life in them.  Because they do not receive the light, much of their lives are spent in darkness and they reflect the culture around them.  They are experiencing tremendous inner struggles because they seek a peace that can only come in accepting and receiving God’s life. The stress and pressures of this culture of death will hasten the struggle within so they either choose for Me or against Me.  I am working through mercy and grace to cause many to turn to face Me and choose Me.   I need you for this job.  You are my witnesses.

Allow Me to breathe new life in you.

“A man came, sent by God.

His name was John.

He came as a witness

As a witness to speak for the light,

So that everyone might believe through him.

This is how John appeared as a witness.

I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

‘A voice that cries in the wilderness:

Make a straight way for the Lord.’” John 1:6-8,19,23.

You also are My witnesses called to cry out in the wilderness of your culture, a wilderness filled with rebellion, pain, sorrow, materialism, greed, and injustice; to cry out the good news of the Father’s love.  But how was John prepared for his ministry?  Through 30 years of prayer, discipline, sacrifice, obedience and formation. 

Beloved, I am about transforming your hearts and renewing your minds.  With My Holy Spirit I work this new life of transformed hearts and renewed minds into you constantly and unfailingly.  Do not be discouraged by the distractions and trials you are experiencing.  Stay faithful: 1. To our time together; I am with you always especially when you do not feel My presence. 2. To the Sacraments; Rejoice in our life together. 3. To each other; I form you as you gather to praise Me.  Do not forsake the assembling of the body.  Encourage and build each other up through the gifts I have given you.

Cooperate with this grace of transformation and renewal and you will make straight my way in your own lives and in the lives of others.

by Ann Bonenfant