Offer Praise

"Offer praise as your sacrifice to God,
 fulfill your vows to the Most High.
 Then call on me in time of distress;
  I will rescue you, and you shall honor me."    Psalm 50: 14, 15

A few months ago my mother received a word  "I live in the praises of my people". Another one was, "The whole earth is groaning." Seeing that Lent is almost upon us, I thought it was a good time to reprint these words. During Lent, as we abstain and fast from things of the world let us remember that as good as these things are -  it is most important to keep our eyes on God and offer praise for all that He has given us, but most of all, simply because He is God. We must remember to circumcise our hearts. The entire earth is groaning with the weight of our sins. This Lent would be a good time to take a long hard look at ourselves and to fast from anger, unlovingness, unkind thoughts and words. Get to the HEART of the matter. Fasting and then turning around and yelling at the driver behind you....is this what God wants? Giving up sweets and then acting in an unloving manner toward others...does this please God?  No, we should fast, pray, AND work on charity and the other virtues.

"But to the wicked God says:
"Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips?
You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you!
When you see thieves, you befriend them; with adulterers you throw in your lot.
You give your mouth free rein for evil; you harness your tongue to deceit.
You sit maligning your own kin, slandering the child of your mother.
When you do these things should I be silent?
Or do you think that I am like you?
I accuse you, I lay a charge before you.

Understand this, you who forget God, lest I attack you with no one to rescue.
Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me;
 to the obedient I will show the salvation of God."    Psalm 50: 16-23

Father of all, may we all increase in charity during the Holy Season ahead. Pour your love into all the dark corners of our hearts so that we may become aware of the areas that we need to work on. May we respond to the grace and light you shine upon us that we may truly become like your Son, Jesus Christ. Heal the wounds and divisions among families and countries. I praise You and thank You for your goodness and patience with us, but most of all I praise You because You are the great I AM and everything is yours.

Prayer - The Gift of Praise

As far as prayer charisms go you would think the gift of praise would be the first one given. Maybe, for many people, that is the case. Not for me. This was one of the last prayer gifts I received, only God knows why.

For many years I had trouble praising God. Oh, I praised Him. Often. The problem was: unlike the rest of my prayer life, it didn't seem to come from the heart. I would force myself to do it and I would even pray Psalms of praise to Him. I loved Him dearly. Why couldn't I praise Him with my whole heart? It was as if I was somewhat blocked when it came to praise. So... for years I praised and thanked God and then I would apologize to Him. "I'm sorry, Lord. I want to praise You with my whole being but it just won't come out."

One day my daughter was watching TV and fiddling with the remote control. She got bored and left the room to go do something else. I started cleaning the living room and paused to dust the top of the TV. As I was dusting, a televangelist on the TV said, "Something BIG is going to happen in your life!"  Fire went through my body.  "I don't know if this is for someone in the audience or someone at home, but something BIG is going to happen in your life."  The fire of the Holy Spirit engulfed me and I was given the gift of praise. This is a true story, despite how weird  it sounds. God has a great sense of humor and if He wants to heal or give gifts to someone through a television set, that's exactly what happens. All power is His and who are we to say otherwise. After that I was able to praise Him with my whole heart. I was even waking up from dreams with praises on my lips. It was really strange, but stranger things have happened. God is a God of miracles!

Thank you, Lord, for this precious gift!

Oh, by the way, pip, it gets a lot weirder than this but I guess you're right, I can always offer it up as suffering if people think I'm crazy ;)

Praise!

Praise! This Sunday I am joining Jennifer at My Chocolate Heart in praising God for His goodness and unfailing kindness to me :

I praise God for His infinite mercy! What would I do without this?

I praise you, O Lord, for the graces you have showered upon me!

I praise you, O Lord, for my husband and daughter - may you bless them abundantly and guide them always.

I praise you, O Father, for sending us your beloved son to save us from our sins.

And Father, I praise you for all things, for I see your hand upon my life and I trust in your eternal wisdom.

But most of all, Father, I praise you for life itself, without which, there is nothing.

" I will praise you , Lord, with all my heart;
   I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
 I will delight and rejoice in you;
   I will sing hymns to your name, Most High."             Psalm 9: 2,3

Amen