Adoption: the Loving Option

Attitude of Gratitude

For Freedom...

Conversion is a life-long process which is why St. Paul reminds us:  For freedom, Christ has set us free, so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
And St. Peter warns us to be on guard: Be sober and vigilant.  Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same suffering. (1 Peter 5: 8-9)
Temptations, memories, accusations, etc. will be thrown at us to discourage us, but never forget that God's love and mercy are always more powerful than our own sins and weaknesses:

Joy of the Presence of the Holy Spirit

When we do the will of God our lives are filled with joy:

"My disability doesn't define who I am."

Often we allow our weaknesses and/or our strengths to be the defining factors of our identities, but it is never what we can or can't do, how we look or don't look or even how we feel or don't feel that defines us.  Who we are is defined by Who made us: we are children of God.  We are made in his image and likeness and our purpose is simply to love and be loved.  When everything else follows in order from that reality, your true greatness shines through:

He is Waiting For You...

Happy Memorial of Bl. John Paul the Great!

"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness, he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fulness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal." - Bl. John Paul the Great

Random Acts of Kindness

"We should not serve the poor because they are like Jesus, we should serve the poor because they are Jesus." ~ Bl. Mother Teresa

From Canada comes this inspiring story from a rider on the Winnipeg transit system:

The ride was, as usual, long and uneventful, until we reached the corner of Portage and Main.  That’s when the driver pulled over. This of course surprised all of the passengers on the bus.  But, what happened next still brings tears to my eyes.

The bus driver jumped off the bus to chat with a man that looked to be down on his luck; by all accounts, a homeless man. I first thought the driver was going to offer the man a ride until...

I know you're now in suspense....goal achieved.  haha Read what happened here.