For there will be days when each of you will feel like giving up.

For there will be days when each of you will feel like giving up. 2/13/2009

Notes from Feb 10th 1999 Wednesday 8:05am msg. #1685

http://littlemary.excerptsofinri.com/messages/transcript/1999/0215-1999-mon.html

My daughter, you have been chosen for these times, so be glad each time your mother from heaven will come to you. … Be glad or worldly doubt will set in. When you are tired, come to me so I can give you encouragement. …

The reason why so many of our messengers give up is because they forget to take time to be consoled. … Many wait for Jesus and I to come to them, instead of turning to Jesus and I for help. My daughter, you too must take time for yourself. Take quiet time with God. You cannot carry these messages alone, for many are heavy and will pierce your heart. You need more time to talk with us, for this is how you will be comforted on this earth.

Today, I must remind all our children to pray and take refuge in our heart. For there will be days when each of you will feel like giving up. If you try to carry your burdens alone, you will become discouraged. … So please remember children, to take time to share your thoughts and feelings with us. God will then refresh you. God and I will help each child who comes with an open heart.

We will help each who spend prayer time with our Lord. So be not foolish and turn to God instead of man, for all your needs. Be not foolish… I ask today that each of you spend less time talking with those around you for this takes precious prayer time away from you. … I ask that you turn to God when you feel like talking and speak with Him. I ask you to pray and deepen your relationship with God. If you leave God last, then you will not be given the you will need on this earth.

If you do not take time to pray throughout the day, then the enemy will attack you whenever you are weak. The enemy, my children has planted many traps on this earth. And many will fall if you are leaving God last. … Each of you must ask yourselves today, are you spending enough time with God?

If you do not feel peaceful or joyful, then you are not leaving enough time for God. If you feel lonely or depressed, then you are not spending enough time with God. If you feel on edge or Confused, then please children, increase your time with our Lord. … Come to Mass more, so your soul can be nourished. Come more often… Take time to kneel before the Blessed Sacrament…

Don’t wait so long between visits, come more often. Don’t wait to cleanse your soul, come when the spirit moves you. ..Don’t wait for.. spend time each day with Christ. Don’t wait or it will cause you to fall further away from God.

My children, please listen and respond today, for I need each of you strong for times to come. … I need healthy children who are full of life and joyful. I need children who will remain peaceful through each new storm. This will not be if you are not nourishing soul. You will not remain strong if you are not coming to know the Blessed Trinity. If you are spending all your time watching TV or on the phone then you too will panic, for you will not know how to confide in God. You will not be at peace if you are wasting this time to truly come to know God.

I am here today to remind you to turn away from what ever it is that is pulling you away from God. If it is luxury, remove it from your home. If it is your money, then give it to those who are in need. … If it is pride, then humble yourself today… If it is because of busyness, then you will need to slow down. Each of you will have to be honest with yourself, or in the end you will suffer.

In the end, each of you know what is best for your soul. Each of you cannot say, “I did not know”, for I have reminded you many times. It is up to you, because I cannot force you to nourish and cleanse your soul. It is up to you to turn to God for strength. It is up to you to rely on God instead of our messengers for direction. Each of you need to come to know Jesus in a special way. Each of you need to examine your conscience… Without taking a look at how you are living, you will not change. You will not have true peace if you are separating yourselves from God. You will not be happy or joyful unless you are willing to work.

Without a willingness on your part, God cannot help you. Now I ask each of you to take time to reflect on this message so you spend more time with God. For this is the only way to really come to know God. This time my children, cannot be wasted, for this time cannot be given back to you… So be wise, take our hand, God and I are here for each one of you. God knows just how to help you, so please turn to God each new day. Amen.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm 2710

The choice of the time and duration of the prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the secrets of the heart. One does not undertake contemplative prayer only when one has the time: one makes time for the Lord, with the firm determination not to give up, no matter what trials and dryness one may encounter. One cannot always meditate, but one can always enter into inner prayer, independently of the conditions of health, work, or emotional state. The heart is the place of this quest and encounter, in poverty ant in faith.

Excerpt of a Homily by Fr. Robert Altier Sunday February 3, 2002 http://www.desertvoice.excerptsofinri.com/text/2002/Alti020302.htm

Most of us probably do not seek our refuge in the Lord, but rather, we seek our refuge in anything and everything other than the Lord, most often. You can ask yourself: When you feel stressed, do you turn to pray? When you are feeling attacked, do you turn to Our Lord? When you are feeling lowly or lonely or despised, do you turn to the Lord?

Many of us, in answer to those things, would probably say that we call someone else on the phone, we turn on the TV or we eat. We turn to material things; we look to all kinds of other things other than God. We do not necessarily seek our refuge in the Lord. What we need to strive for is true humility. There is not one single individual in Heaven who is not humble, not one. There is not one single person in Heaven who sought refuge in himself or herself.

There is no one in Heaven who did not seek the Lord. We need to be very clear about that. We have a choice to make. And the choices that we make in this world are also eternal choices. I have asked many times from this pulpit: Do you want to serve the Lord? Or do you want to serve some other god? Most of us are not going to bow down before idols; that is, little gods made of wood, silver, or gold.

But there are lots of idols in this society that many, many, many people bow down before, that many people put before God. We need to choose whom we are going to serve. Jesus tells us in the Gospel what the life of the Christian person is to look like. We are to be poor in spirit. We are to be mourning over sin. We are to be meek. We are to be lowly. We are going to be persecuted. We are going to be slandered. He makes all those points in the Beatitudes and calls those people blessed.

Now that is not what anybody who lives a worldly life would call blessed. But the Lord does. And so, we need to ask ourselves: Are we seeking our reward in Heaven? Or are we seeking our reward here on earth? Remember, if we go out of our way to seek the attention of others

Our Lord tells us: “You have already received your reward.” I think the same, then, can be said when we look at the Beatitudes. If we are seeking the things of this world – the comforts and the riches and all of the things that this world affords – if we are trying to be wise in the ways of the world, if we are trying to fit in, we have already received our reward, which means that we are not going to receive it in the end.

We will stand before God on the Day of Judgment and He will say, “I do not know you.” The goal of our Christian life is to be conformed to Jesus Christ, indeed, even more: to be transformed into Jesus Christ. Jesus was poor and meek and lowly. Jesus sought to serve others.

He gave of Himself, poured everything out for our sake. He was persecuted. He was slandered. And that is what is going to happen to us if we want to follow Him. That is the choice we have to make. Do we want to be like Jesus? Or do we just want to keep Jesus at a far distance and give Him lip service while our lives and our hearts are far from Him? The choice is entirely ours. The day of God’s wrath is drawing near. There will be a remnant that will be saved through it. And it will be a remnant only of those who seek refuge in the Name of the Lord. Do not think that when that day comes you are suddenly going to seek refuge if it is not what you are accustomed to already.

It is something that we have to do every day because then when that day comes we will be accustomed to calling upon the Name of the Lord. When that day comes, whether it is the day of our own individual judgment or a day of the Lord that will befall this world, it is not going to frighten us; it is not going to be a problem for us if we are accustomed to being humble and righteous and seeking our refuge in the Lord.

But if instead we seek pride, power, selfishness, if we are seeking our refuge in wealth, materialism, position, or anything else, then when the day of the Lord comes upon us we will not be seeking the Lord, but we will be seeking all the other things. It is absolutely essential that we strive for humility, that we strive for righteousness, and that we call upon the Name of the Lord. It is not something that is just a good idea. It is not something that [we can say], “Well, of course, we would hear it in church. But that is what we hear in church; we don’t really have to live it or pay attention to it.”

It is not something that we can compartmentalize and say, “Well, that’s on Sunday morning, but the rest of my life I don’t have to pay attention to that,” because one day each one of us will stand before the Lord and the choice we make now is the choice we will make then. Seek righteousness, seek humility, and seek refuge in the Name of the Lord.