Dear Family

I chose to leave the Mysteries, because I live a lifestyle which excludes me from them. Please pray for me, as this Meatfare Sunday comes. This season is precious. Thanks. Johanna

May the Lord make His caring and healing Presence known to you as you are. May His Spirit lead us all to open more fully the parts of our lives that we keep closed to Him. May He forgive us with the love shown for us by His Son in the Mystery of His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension.

May He bring us home to Him and give us the strength to live as He would have us live.

God loves you always, child of light.

Michael, sinner

"Owe no man anything except that you love one another for thus you will fulfil the law of Christ." "God is Love; whoever abides in love, abides in God, and God in them."

Our God is bigger than the small stuff. Pray your butt off; and serve with kindness any and everybody you meet. The rest is just fluff. And don't let the small-soul'ed give you stress and pain because you don't do "this" or "that". Mary Magdalene pleasured people; and the Lord said of her life: "Much has been forgiven her because she has loved much."

It's the love of God, and the love of neighbor that counts. Keep doing that, and be assured that this is what Christ wants of His children.

Blessings to you and all yours!!

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dear Friend:

I used to live a lifestyle that also would not let me receive the Sacred Mysteries. I am still flooded many times with memories of my past. But I have found that to have the Presence of God is more fulfilling. To have the audience of the Almighty because you are in a State of Grace is the most awesome thing one can ever experience.

Listen to the testimony of Holy Scripture:

"The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee."
Jeremiah 31:3

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38,39

"If we confess our sins (In the Sacrament of Confession), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL (caps mine)unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

"Therefore if any man be in Christ (In Baptism) he IS a NEW creature; old things are passed away; BEHOLD all things are NEW!" II Corinthians 5:17

Listen to the words of our Father Amongst the Saints Basil the Great in his letter to a lapsed monastic:

If you still have any hope for your salvation remaining, if you have retained even the slightest thought of God, if you have any desire for the joys of the future or any terror of the tortures reserved for the impenitent, then come to your senses at once and lift up your eyes to Heaven. Abandon this perversity, shake off this madness which has enveloped you and show some resistence to this Force which is casting you down.

Pick yourself up from the ground and remember the Good Shepherd who will come looking for you and restore you. If you still have too legs and a source to hear, then abandon this source of pain. Remember the compassion of the Lord when he tends us with oil and wine. Do not give up all hope for your salvation. Remember what is written: those who fall shall rise again, those who turn away shall be restored, those who have been beaten shall be looked after, those who are trapped by wild beasts shall survive, those who confess shall not be forsaken.

The Lord does not want sinners to die but wishes them to repent and find life. Do not feel contempt because you have fallen into the depths of disaster. For this is a time of opportunity when you must think deeply and begin you recovery and return to health. If you have fallen then pick yourself up, if you have sinned then youmust repent. Do not remain on the path of sin but gett off it. Once you have been corrected and have groaned in pain, then you will be saved, for it only after sweat and toil that you can be restored to health and find salvation.

Do not let yourself be beaten. Remember the old days. Salvation and restitution are still open to you. Have courage do not despair. There is no law to consign you to a pitiless death, but there is grace to save you from punishment and offer you the chance to be restored. The doors are not yet closed to you, but the Virgin is still listening, the sin is not yet in control. Take up the fight once more and feel pity for yourself and for all of us in Christ Jesus our Lord in whome is power now and forever. Amen."

My dear God loves you intensily. There is mercy with Him. Take consolation in the words of Scripture and the Fathers. No matter what is holding you back nothing is stonger than God's love.

Your friend in Christ and Mary.

Robert Horvath

Dear List

Thank you for your kind responses. Several made me cry. Spiritual food . . . .crumbs under the table. THank you so much.

Dear Johanna,

Trust in God

He is Mercy and merciful and He loves you with a love that will not let you go

Anhelyna

Johanna
Yoiur words struck a chord with me

Here is an extract from a Prayer I say before Communion

Lord,I do not presume to come to this Thy Table trusting in my own Righteousness but in Thy manifold and great mercy.

I am not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy Table, but Thou are the same Lord whose property is always to have Mercy..

I hope it brings you some comfort

Anhelyna

Dear Readers,

Thank you again. Your words are precious to me. I am a recent convert to Catholicism from Biblical Fundamentalism, and chose the Ruthenian Rite after much study.

Johanna Chrysostom

Johanna,

Dear Sweet One, you have many kindred spirits here. The faith journey has taken most of us by twists and turn through life and I'll bet if you pay attention you'll find a few people here who have been where you are, and ache for you.

Although just a forum, I think this might be a good place to stay in touch with believers, learn, share and grow in faith while you discern your life-path and your relationship with Jesus Christ. (Just remember that the little scrapes and battles you see here are just a bunch of sincere souls grappling with truth) I also encourage you to have active participation in your church, even if you do not feel that you can participate in the Mysteries go and pray!

And pray for us, as we pray for you.

In Christ our Lord
Michael, sinner

You are in my prayers. This is strange though. Most converts are so in love with the Church that you couldn't get them to to do anything that would separate them from the Mysteries.Even at gun point. What ever you do keep going to Church. If you refrain from the Mysteries out of obedience to the teachings of the Church there is a blessing in that somewhere for you.Take Care.

Nicky's Baba