Three Favorite Scripture Verses

Anne at Imprisoned In My Bones has tagged me in the lastest blog MEME.  The theme is "Three Favorite Scripture Verses." The rules are:

1. Write a post on your three favorite verses from the Bible and why you like them.
2. Link back to this post.
3. In your post tag three other bloggers to carry this theme forward, link to you and tag additional bloggers.

I was tempted to cheat by using chapters instead of verses, but as I followed the trail everyone else was good enough to follow the rules (well most used multiple verses at a time, but not chapters) so I better too.

The first one is going to look like I am cheating because I am going to use some verses that aren’t part of the three to explain why I love the first so much.  Plus, this isn’t being graded, right?

1.      Revelation 4:8b, 11b, 12b, 5:13b

Day and night they never stopped singing:

Holy, Holy, Holy
is the Lord God, the Almighty;
who was, and is and is to come

You  are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you made the whole universe;
by your will, when it did not exist, it was created

Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed
to receive power, riches, wisdom,
strength, honor, glory, and blessing.

The reasons I love this verse:

A.     Isaiah 53:4-5
Yet it was our infirmities that he bore; our sufferings that he endured . . .
but he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins,
upon him was the chastisement
that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.

B.     John 10:17-18
The Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me;
I lay it down of my own free will,
and as I have power to lay it down,
so I have power to take it up again;
and this is the command I have received from my Father.

C.     Revelation 21:3-7
Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘Look, here God lives among human beings.  He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God –with-them.  He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain.  The world of the past has gone.’
Then the One sitting on the throne spoke, ‘Look, I am making the whole of creation new.  Write this, “What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true.  Then he said to me, ‘It has already happened.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty; anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things; and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!  By your cross and resurrection you have redeemed the world!

2.     John 19:26-27
Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’  Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’  And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

While the gift of himself in the Eucharist is probably the biggest gift, after salvation itself, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is right there too, as it is God giving us God, the gift of Mary to be our Mother is so humbling and overwhelming at times to me, how gracious, loving, and wise Jesus was to do this, even as he hung on the cross in the final moments of his agonizing sacrifice for us.
Mary as my mother, our mother, so wonderful that words cannot express with any success how grateful I am to Jesus for this gift, and to the Father and Holy Spirit for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, mother of God, and my mother.

3.      Romans 8 may be my favorite chapter, at the moment, but like I said I am trying hard not to cheat.  So I’ll go with Romans 8:26b-28 first from Jerusalem Bible which I like because it uses the word “groans”

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words, and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God.  We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good.

 Second from the RSV-2^nd Catholic edition because seems to indicate Spirit is praying for us all the time according to the will of God

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.  And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

I just find it reassuring that when I am struggling, and even groaning myself vocally or internally,  the Holy Spirit is interceding for me in accordance with the will of God.  Also I find it reassuring personally that as I do love God very much, and pray that he will help me to love him more, that I can take confidence in knowing my omnipotent, all-loving Father will work everything for the good of me and those who love him.   

Thanks for the tag Anne!

And now I tag the following bloggers:
Two additional as I think I over-reached tagging Sister Mary Martha and Fr. John Bartunek:


Author at Do Not Be Anxious
Ebeth at A Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars


--- Completed
Danya at He Adopted Me First
--------- Pending tags ---------
Sister Mary Martha at Ask Sister Mary Martha

Fr. John Bartunek at Catholic Spiritual Direction

Praise God!

There was a question posted on the Catholic Spiritual Direction blog asking for help with praising God.

Q: Can you give any help on how to learn to praise God? I enjoy going to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and would really like to learn how to praise Him. I don’t feel my words are adequately expressing the praise I really would like to give. Thanksgiving is easier, but I would be grateful for some advice on the praise side.

The answers from Fr. John Bartunek were outstanding:
Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/05/02/more-on-learning-to-praise-god-part-i-of-ii#ixzz1No4SD0mc
http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/05/09/more-on-learning-to-praise-god-ii-of-ii

I enjoy praising by singing.  I listen to KLOVE, or my rather extensive, for a 43 year old, Christian Music library.  Well, I don't just listen, like I said, I sing.  I love to sing.  I sing while bike riding wearing my new Nano, I sing for as long as I have breath while running, I sing in my car the most, even when driving with my kids, and with their friends.  It helps that they attend a Christian school where they sing many of the same songs in chapel.  I imagine it would be a little awkward if we sent them to one of the Catholic high schools.

Or would it?

Are there any Catholics out there that are listening and singing to Christian praise music?  If so, please leave a comment!

Not all the music is praise music, of course, as some of it is meant to reach us in our sadness, disappointment, and frustration.  Some of it is about conversion.  Some is thanksgiving, some just offering love.  Maybe I'll have posts in the future with some of the non-praise music as there are some great, great songs.

There is at least one Catholic that gets play time, and concert time on the Christian music circuit.  His name is Matt Maher, and some of you are probably familiar with him.  I love his music and his witness.  He has a blog on his site where he writes his reflections on each Sunday's readings.  I happened across his first one where he was explaining the Lectionary to an audience that would  not be that familiar with a Lectionary.  Although he does have quite a following among Catholics as well, and plays a number of Catholic events during the year

This post is about Praising God, though and here are a few of my favorite songs that do just that, along with the lyrics so we can sing and praise together.  First 2 are by Chris Tomlin who is probably the #1 performer of Praise and Worship music at this time.

Well this one doesn't have lyrics but, still great song.  Listen 2-3 times you'll have the words, it is Song of Love praising the three persons in the Glorious Holy Trinity performed by Rebecca St. James.

Finally Matt Maher puts the praise in the Our Father to music, and it doesn't sound like the Perry Como version:

Quick Take Friday - first time submitter

- 1 -

Today is my mother’s and my mother-in-law’s birthday.  This, the fact that our parents were married one day apart (his 12/16/66, mine 12/17/66--probably within 24 hours so same day), and the fact that both my fiancé (22 years ago) and I had showers with the hot and cold reversed was one of the “signs” we were on the right path.  We have been married for 20.5 years now.  Happy birthday to our moms!

- 2 -

I found a baby turtle on a 2 hour 50 minute bike ride two weeks ago.  He must be a closet eater because somehow he is still alive even though I have yet to see him eat.  The novelty of this little pet is wearing off on me, although the kids are still asking me to hold him.  I am home for the summer and have never been reptilian pet fan.  Baby turtles do have to be the cutest reptiles, although I guess some prefer geckos.

- 3 -

I typed up my third grader’s biography report on Fanny Crosby, blind woman that wrote many famous hymns like “Safe in the Arms” of Jesus.  Here is my favorite part of Kelly’s report:

The children always said mean things like, “You’re lame!”  “You’re weird.”  “You’re different.”  “You cannot play with us, because you cannot see anything.”

I do not know what happened next, but if it was me that they were teasing, I would be crying in my mother’s arms.  But she thought that a blind person should be able to do almost anything a person with sight could do.  She also thought that just because she cannot see, does not mean that she should not be able to play with other children.

- 4 -

Here is my second favorite thing from Kelly’s report:

Fanny wrote most of her hymns after midnight.  When she wrote hymns she would like to have a tune rather than a topic to write about.  Lots of her hymns brought people to Jesus Christ, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, the One who created the earth, the Almighty One, the One who died on the cross to forgive the world’s sin.

I could say a lot more good things about God, but we need to get back to the story.

- 5 -

My third favorite thing from same report:

One teen-aged boy sang, “Safe In the Arms of Jesus” while he was in the hospital with a bad illness.  Five minutes later, he died.  Just as his soul departed, he cried out, “Ma, I hear the voices of angels!  Ma, there are fields of glory!  Ma there is a jasper sea!”

- 6 -

My 14 year old daughter has “banquet” tonight.  She attends a non-denominational Christian private school, as do my other three children.  Banquet is their prom, except 8^th grade through 12^th grade attend, as do the parents of the graduating students—those in 8^th and 12^th grade.  Megan has some genes from my mother-in-law I think or some that were recessive in me as I have always been a tom-girl with little to no fashion sense.  I was in Joann Fabrics with her the other day (I think I've been in there once before) selecting fabric for her to make a sash/belt for the dress she got for $25 at the sale at school.  Her selection was impressive as was the brightness of her eyes.  I couldn’t help her, but I was glad to see her enjoyment.  The kids in 8^th through 12^th grade also have off today, I guess so they can finish last minute preparations for their big event tonight.

- 7 -

My older son, Michael Shea is 12 and he is always asking me to catch.  I love to catch baseball, actually more than softball, because you can throw it harder and farther.  I remember I didn’t get signed up for sports before I was in 5th grade, and then it was just basketball at school.  Not exactly sure why, but I think it had something to do with my parents not playing organized  sports growing up, and there wasn’t much money left over for activities after paying the bills each month.  Anyway, I do remember playing catch with my Dad and him being a little surprised at how I threw the ball when we first found some mitts at my grandparent’s house during a vacation trip.  So great I have Michael to bug me to throw with him so often!  We both enjoy it until the end when we both get tired and start overthrowing each other.

Unceasing Prayer - The Jesus Prayer

Pray without ceasing. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17 

The most normal form of unceasing prayer in the Eastern rite and Orthodox tradition is the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer is the form of invocation used by those practicing mental prayer, also called the "prayer of the heart." The words of the prayer most usually said are 

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

This is truly a powerful prayer and has very much helped me to reconnect to my Lord and Savior throughout the day.  I was actually taught the prayer by a Roman Catholic priest at the end of a confession.  Now I am attending a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church and I am teaching it to the 1st and 2nd grade students each year in the Religion School.

Many of you are familiar with this prayer, whereas maybe some of you are hearing about it for the first time. 

If you have been praying this prayer would you leave a comment on why you pray this prayer and what it has meant to you?  

As my readership is quite low at this point, you may also want to subscribe to the comments because maybe some will come in weeks or months from now.

There are days that pass when I forget to pray this, but I don't think a week has gone by when I haven't prayed this.  Normally I pray it many times throughout the day.  There are monks that pray it hundreds of times throughout the day using prayer ropes!  

• It helps me focus my awareness on Jesus dwelling within me
• It fosters my proper place before God, humble sinner, dependent completely on his mercy
• I believe it protects me, I am calling to my Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God; the demons in New Testament would call him Son of God, but not Lord!
• Many times it gives me that peaceful, slight chill in the back of my head and neck reminding me--God is with me!
• When I am praying earnestly for someone, after I pray initially, I can continue to pray this prayer by inserting their name, and the names of those involved with their situation in place of "me" in the prayer.  It helps me to keep praying for them while I go about other things.

Where do I pray this:

• In my car driving
• At work:  at my desk, in meetings, in the stairwell, etc.
• At home
• In church if I feel distracted
• While working out--running, biking, swimming, etc.
• Anywhere else I remember, or the Holy Spirit prompts me

Theological and Spiritual Meaning of the Jesus Prayer

The choice of this particular verse has a theological and spiritual meaning.

First of all, it is centered on the name of Jesus because this is the name of Him whom "God has highly exalted," the name given to the Lord by God Himself (Luke 1:31), the "name which is above every name." (Philippians 2:9-10, cf Ephesians 1:21)

...for there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

All prayer for Christians must be performed in the name of Jesus: "if you ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:13-14) 

The fact that the prayer is addressed to Jesus as Lord and Christ and Son of God is because this is the center of the entire faith revealed by God in the Spirit.

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 

Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." 
And Jesus answered, "Blessed are you...for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven...and on this rock I will build my Church..." (Matthew 16:16-18)

That Jesus is the Christ, and that the Christ is Lord is the essence of the Christian faith and the foundation of the Christian church. To believe and proclaim this is granted by the Holy Spirit.

...no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:3) 

... every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:11)

In calling Jesus the Son of God is to acknowledge God as His Father. To do this is, at the same time, to have God as one's own Father, and this too is granted by the indwelling Spirit.

And when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:4-6) 

When we cry "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God ... (Romans 8:15-16)

Thus, to pray "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God" is already to be a child of God, and already to be certain that the Holy Spirit is in you. In this way, the Jesus Prayer brings the Spirit of God into the heart of man. 

"Have mercy on me a sinner" is the publican's prayer. When uttered with humble conviction it brings divine justification. (cf. Luke 18:9-14) 

Generally speaking, divine mercy is what man needs most of all. It is for this reason that the numberless repetition of the request for the Lord's mercy is found everywhere in the prayers of, the Church. 

And finally, all men are sinners. To know this is a fact, and to confess it with faith is to be justified and forgiven by God. (cf. Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 14:1-3)
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If you are interested in learning more after you read this, there are so many different sites that come up on quick Google. Unfortunately I can't find the one that provided the following information that I use with my 1st, 2nd graders and give on a handout to their parents.  I'll have to do better job keeping my references going forward!