January 3 – God is So Smart!

How to have joy? Love! (John 15:11)


How to be free from fear? Perfect love casts fear out! (1 John 4:18)


How to stay out of spiritual prisons? Forgive! (Matthew 18:34)


How to stay strong? Rejoice! (Nehemiah 8:10)


How to be sure your prayers are heard? Ask according to God’s will! (1 John 5:14)





Let’s launch right in, dearest Sisters and Brothers, to make ready for a year full of joy, and to make sure we do not fail of this resolution, by going about it God’s way. Let us set out to love one another as He has loved us, and let us find our joy in LOVING . . . it absolutely must be there. Let’s take a scythe to disappointment, bitterness, unforgiveness, and rejection, for nothing is more certain in all the universe than that we have not been rejected, we have been forgiven, the goodness of God will not fail us in the land of the living (Psalm27:14,) and the Spirit we have received is NOT one of fear, but of power and love and soundness of mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)





We could go on . . . and we will throughout this blessed new monastic year, but JOY is a good place to start, because of how we must obtain it (John 15:11,) and what it accomplishes in our lives when we do (Nehemiah 8:10.) Besides all of which, nobody wants to live in a gloomy monastery! Certainly not here, in Cor Unum, the monastery of the heart.



"Happy, Holy Hearts"
photo by Kerry