When Life's Got You Down, Whatcha Gonna Do?

First, let us set our eyes on Christ. God sends us hope in Psalm 27 "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living ... and The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear."  When you are down then it's time to recommit yourself to Christ Jesus who has the power to help us overcome even Satan, the power of darkness...listen to today's passage from Luke 4:34 -  "I know who you are"the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed ..." Let yourself be amazed by trusting in the power of Christ our Savior!

Second then, is to pray, pray as if it's the only good that you can do, pray for relief, pray for answers, pray for direction, pray for barriers to be knocked down, pray for grace, pray for forgiveness, pray for renewed strength to endure, pray that you may be renewed in your mind to conform to Christ and not fall into the seductions and temptations, sins and lies of this world, pray for others needs, pray that you may listen and follow the ways of the Lord and thus respect and defend the dignity of every person from the moment of conception to natural death, pray, pray, pray an hour a day.  Prayer is simply talking with God. Sometimes we talk and God listens, but since he is our Father then all the more we need to stop talking, mediate on God and listen to know what is on his mind, what is good, what is pleasing and what is perfect for us. Remember Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." AND "Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me." John 15:5-4 Now there is the heart of your problem!  Reading a Chapter a day in the Bible, reading slowly, reflecting and meditating on the mean of the words or putting yourself in the position of the various people in each scene is a great way to pray, as well as medidating on the mysteries of Christ's life through the Roasay or Divine Mercy Chaplet. Make prayer a habit, not a happenstance or just when you are in need.

Jesus is here to lift us up time and again.  Yet, if I remain in Him then I won't be down so much to begin with!  Do I need to remain in Him? Am I faithful to Christ? Has he not been faithful to me? What problem do I have that Christ can not handle?  One step at a time and God will deliver us from our torment. And when he does deliver us are we going to be thankful? How so? Gratitude is demonstrated with our atitude and actions. No, we are usually quickly forget His Help and soon enough we fall into another pit. No, the real pit and pity is that we lack appreciation of God who is all good, all powerful, all charitable, and thus we return to the pit he just pulled us out of. Your cries then, will not be heard because you have chosen to separate yourself from the Vine, which leaves you dying helplessly and hopelessly. Return to the Lord this time, then, and learn from Him how to handle life's difficulties with Him as your strength, the Church as your visible guide, your pastor and parish leaders as your support group.  Then your yoke will be easy and your burden light.  Now that's what I call a great plan !!! Get to it!  Fr. Kyle