That Your Joy May Be Full

Awake O Sleeper

Watch! Our Lord beckons to us all multiple times throughout the Gospels to be vigilant, but vigilant for what? For many of us we go through life almost in a dream-like state, without ever realising that we are being robbed of opportunities to grow closer to God and to live for Him by the snares of the world, demonic forces and our own passions. God grants us clarity in many moments of our lives to wake us up so that we may turn, repent and begin anew to take off the old man and pursue Him, the beginning and end of our salvation.

Persisting in Him

God delights for us to persist and to wrestle with Him. It is the one thing He desires for us to do, to persevere and to seek Him and ultimately to demand from Him just as our forefather Jacob, blessing. May God give us strength and humility to seek Him diligently so that we may persist and strive for Him that we may receive Christ enthroned in our hearts.

Pentecost

The only difference between us and the saints is that they yielded to the Holy Spirit. Many of us struggle and try to conquer our sins and passions through sheer willpower, but it's only through the grace of the Holy Spirit that we are able to resist our sins and move closer to God.

That Your Joy May Be Full

In the Gospel today Christ tells his disciples and by virtue us that in this world we will have trouble and tribulation and that in Him we 'may' have peace. One is definitive and the other is contingent on us. One will come upon us inevitably and the other will not. So then let us press into God begging Him and pleading Him for His mercies. For Christ is the only true joy giver, who alone is able to comfort us and support us in all our tribulations and adversities. For He alone has overcome the world.

Endurance

Christ calls us to endure and to persevere to the end, for he who does so will receive the crown of Life. We may many opportunities within each day where those around us may unjustly say something against us and it is this very moment that the Lord gives to us so that we may persevere and endure all things for the sake of love.