Matthew 22:37 (All In)

Welcome God now with this LIFE Group Devotion (FB), provided by LIFE Runners (FB). Guest Authors schedule. LIFE Minute radio.

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." ~ (full readings)

Steve's Reflections: Today's Gospel is where the rubber meets the road...Love of God and neighbor. Jesus explains that all the prophets and all the law can be summed up in loving God and neighbor. It is the definition of "all in." I experienced an "all in" moment two years ago on a routine training run in the Black Hills. I got into trouble on a desolate stretch of trail. After getting sick and running out of water I realized that I was beginning to show signs of heat exhaustion at mile 15. The sun was so high in the hills that I could not find a shade tree. It was the hottest day of the year. I quietly recalled how the prophet Elijah curled up under the broom tree and prayed for death only to be visited by an angel. I came around a bend and saw a lone shade tree...my broom tree. I laid under it resigned to the good life God had given me and gave whatever I had left to our Lord. If ever I was "all in" I knew it was then. It was just me and God. I had no fear and I knew that my Father in heaven would care for my wife and children, friends and family. There were no deals or haggling with God. I knew this moment was prepared for me. My story ends well with a good Samaritan happening upon me, but I knew I had been given a gift that day. I knew what it was to be "all in" and the peace that awaits each of us one day.

Faith Challenge: What "broom tree" has the Lord prepared for you? What would it take for you to be "all in"?

Sr. Francelle's Devotion: Encouragement

Counter-Culture News: LSN, LifeNews, Priests for Life, AFA, Vatican, Project Rachel. &gt

Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion, Spiritual Adoption, Alpha Center, Peters family (JP). Add Prayers on our website. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, LIFE Runners, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now. >

Feast Day: St. John Eudes (d. 1680)

Faith Quote: “Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires and his disposition live and reign there." ~ St. John Eudes, The Life and Reign of Jesus in Christian Souls

Through Christ Our Lord,
Steve
Romans 12:2 .

* Pray/Fast: Prayer connects us with God’s will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. Fast from things that take your eyes off Jesus. Those who pray together stay together, and close to God!
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion reality (images)…#1 death cause (22% pregnancies). Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa.
* Evangelize:Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/sacrifice/mercy). Matt 28:19.

Psalm 81:8 (Broad Shoulders)

Let's welcome God today with this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (archive, Facebook), based on Living Faith. Prove yourselves doers of the Word, and not merely hearers. James 1:22

In distress you called, and I rescued you. Psalm 81:8 (full readings)

Living Faith snippets: "Recently I watched my nephew Chris feeding his six-month-old son in his high chair. Each time Chris brought the spoon close to his son's mouth, the baby leaned forward and opened his mouth very wide. Chris mused, "He looks just like a baby bird." When it comes to feeding us, God thinks of everything...the image of parents feeding their children is certainly an appropriate one for God. Caring God, I thank you for all the ways you feed me. Help me to nourish someone you bring into my life today ." by Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D.

Steve's Thoughts: This past Sunday at my parish's Lifeteen gathering (for teenagers) we watched a video of an extraordinary woman, Renee Bondi. Our theme for the night was "Nailed" and the goal was to communicate the Love of God in spite of the suffering we see around us. Renee testified to the power of God's grace and love in her life as she talked about her anger toward God not at her own misfortune (which was extraordinary), but at the misfortune of her sister. She had never known real anger, even after her tragic accident, until her sister crashed a four wheeler and was paralyzed as well. She soon realized how the anger in her life was rotting her from the inside out (like a potato)...in her desperation she cried out to God, "I SURRENDER, I SURRENDER, I SURRENDER!" Every time she felt that wave of anger overcome her she would cry out and surrender it to God. Eventually God delivered her from that anger in a moment of joy with a friend. It was gone as quickly as it had entered her life. God can deliver (save) us from whatever ails us. It is is up to us to seek him. It may not come in the way we imagined, but God will find a way to get us through whatever trial we are facing. Please consider surrendering whatever ails you today to the Lord. He's got broad shoulders...

Faith Challenges: Let's generously share the LIFE Group by fwding a devotion or using the Facebook "invite people to join" link.
* NEW: What is God calling you to surrender over to him today? Comments on the Facebook page can be appreciated by many.

* NEW: Sr. Francelle's devotion, Our Lady of Lourdes.

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, Vatican, American Family Association, Priests for Life
* Let's never forget the horrific reality of abortion (images), #1 cause of death in America (23% of pregnancies). Let's courageously share ProLife Truth to expose abortion's unjust peace, rebuilding a Culture of Life for setting the unborn (and parents) free!

Our Prayers: Those who pray together stay together, and close to God (footnotes). Peters family (JP). Prayer to end abortion.

Faith Quote: "It is not my wounds but yours, O Christ, that hurt me." - St. Fina (Seraphina)

Feast Day: St. Fina (Seraphina)..."When she was still quite young, her father died. Soon after, Fina was struck with an illness that deformed and paralyzed her. She found it very painful to move and had to be carried everywhere on a board. Fina lay for six years on wooden planks"...

Through Christ our Lord,

Steve
Romans 12:12

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn't, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead.
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that take our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, pornography, bitterness, criticalness, impatience, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don't stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' (Blessed Mother Teresa).
* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead a friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service (Matt 28:19).