Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known. MK 3:7-12

Why do people desire Jesus? On the surface, because he heals them. Spiritually, he has mercy on them as a sinner and frees them from sin. More deeply though, He has what we want, POWER! Lucifer, the fallen angel, the most powerful angel wanted that power more than anything and could not have it. Today, Lucifer continues to seek and destroy love wherever he can, especially marriage and the family is under attack. We want to control everything in our lives and we are so upset when our plans don’t work out. We are upset when we can’t control people in our relationships and make them do what we want. Power when used incorrectly is about popularity or status, wealth, strength, high positions, awards, and achievement. It is not wrong to achieve when we use the gifts God has blessed us with to the best of our ability to share with others. St. Teresa of Calcutta said, “It does not matter how much we accomplish, but how much we love.” The problem is when we obsess over it, work too many hours and leave our families behind, miss Mass for weekend sports tournaments, and have to go into extreme debt to keep up a fake life of wealth to keep up our status. Mother Teresa said, “In the end, it is always between you and God.”

Jesus has done an amazing job of revealing Himself to us in the last 3 weeks. He comes to us as a baby, completely innocent and poor. He is revealed at the Epiphany and worshiped by earthly kings recognizing Him as the one who has all of the POWER and is the one True King. God, with this power, does not hold it over our heads and use it against us, He gave it to us and gave Himself to us, so we may share in this power which is love. He is adored by the shepherds who were told by angels that God is on earth to bring peace to His people. Zechariah and Anna reveal at the Presentation in the temple, “This child will be responsible for the rise and fall of many in Israel”. Mary’s heart is pierced which begins a sorrowful and suffering heart that recognizes the most POWERFUL will have to suffer and die to REDEEM all sinners.

Then, John the Baptist speaks prophetic words, “Behold, the Lamb of God”. God speaks from the heavens and says, “This is my beloved Son of whom I am well pleased”. Now, we enter into Jesus’s healing ministry in the Gospel of Mark. This is to fulfill prophecies from the Old Testament about a Messiah who will come to save His people. It is to draw people to Him. But, most importantly it is to teach us how to use POWER correctly, by SERVING and HUMILITY. Jesus uses the greatest power to serve. He uses it to love. He uses it to have compassion on others.

Most importantly, we struggle with POWER every day of our lives. If we truly desire God in our hearts, we must let go of all of our power and submit to the ONE POWER that can make us the most joyful in this life and the next. Our identity is in the GREATEST POWER through His death and resurrection, we are made in His image and likeness, we are baptized into His family and become His child, through the blood of Christ we become His brother or sister, the GREATEST POWER lives in us in the Holy Spirit and is given to us in the SACRAMENTS. God’s grace is His life in us. This is why the saints went to Mass daily sometimes more and to confession sometimes daily or weekly. They recognized how POWERLESS they were and how much POWER God had to help them be holy and fight Satan. God desires nothing more than to give you His love and grace. Our greatest POWER is living to be the person God made us to be and sharing that with others.

God’s love is the most POWERFUL thing in the world. It conquered sin and death. It overcomes evil and darkness in our world. It forgives and is for giving. It heals. It changes lives and creates lives. Most importantly, God’s POWER is LOVE. There is no greater POWER than God’s LOVE in all the world. NOTHING has ever beat God’s LOVE!!! Our POWER is pale in comparison to God’s POWER. We will be held accountable by this POWER on judgment day. At some point we are going to have to submit to the POWER that created us, it would be smart not to let that be our death bed. It would also be wise to humbly submit to Him, give Him everything, visit Him daily in prayer, invite Him into our daily activities and especially our temptations, visit His mother daily and ask for her help since He told us to from the Cross, receive Him at Mass, and share Him with others by modeling Him in our lives being who we were created to be. Why do people desire Jesus and want to get so close to Him and crush Him? Holiness is attractive. He is the Way to our heavenly home, our hearts greatest desire. He gives us the POWER to get there and the joy is overwhelming.

Today’s challenge: Make a habit of getting up early in the morning to spend time with Jesus to make Him the center of your life, not just a part of your life. Give up yourself totally and completely to Him through Mary and everything you own. Allow Him to have power over you, so that you have power over the Devil and your desires.

Be a servant, become a saint!
​#Christian YOLO