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Destiny and Free Will

God has a plan for each of us: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

I believe that while God has a plan for each of us, He will not force His plan or His will upon us.  God gives us free will and we each have to discern what would Jesus want us to do with our lives and our talents.

Many years ago I heard Jesus say to my heart, “Follow me”.  I did not own the Bible at the time and I did not know that these were the words He used when He called the first apostles to a ministry of evangelization.  I wondered “Where are we going?”  “Am I not in the right place?”  To this question He responded “Truly you are not.”  So I said, “Ok, I will follow You.”  I knew it was Jesus speaking and I realized that I needed to buy a Bible right away and start learning God’s Word.   God knew that I was not living as He wanted me to live.  I had completely lost sight of the miracle of the Eucharist, so I was not going to Church.  I was not volunteering my time to worthy causes.  I was not focused on learning about God and on loving Him the way He wanted.

However God knew that I would love Him and like a determined suitor, He made it clear to me that He was determined to have me totally.  Early in my spiritual journey, Jesus taught me something important.  He taught me about the battle that He fighting against Satan.  This revelation began with a question I asked Him.  “Who destroys Satan, is it You Jesus or is it the Virgin Mary?”  To this Jesus responded, “Woman it is I that destroys Satan.  I am the seed.  Look it up.”  I wasn’t sure how to interpret this “You are a seed Jesus?”   I wondered what was Jesus saying.  I knew He had many names like “Messiah” “Good Shepherd” “Lord” but Jesus is the seed?   I had never heard that expression before.  So I asked “Look it up where?”  To this He responded “Genesis”.  I had just recently bought a Bible so I asked another dumb question, “The Bible Genesis?”  To this He replied “Truly”.  So I ran to get my Bible and within seconds Jesus had me reading the passage Genesis 3:15:  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

In this passage God is speaking to Satan.  When I got to the word “her seed”, Jesus said “It is I”.  I realized that the “woman” referred to was the Virgin Mary and I understood that God would ultimately crush Satan’s head through the sacrifice of Jesus.  This was the day when I realized that God, for whatever reason, was indeed speaking to me.  There was no possible way that I would suddenly wake up and discover and understand the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.  But for quite awhile I wondered why was Jesus going through this trouble?

I believe the answer is He loves me and He loves you!  It’s not by chance that you are reading this.  God has summoned you to this page.  He wants you to understand that He needs your help in this final battle against Satan because while Jesus has already triumphed through His death and resurrection, we His people are called to proclaim His love through our lives devoted to His glory

Here’s what happened to me.  I repented.  I gave God the sacrifice He would not despise, a broken and a contrite heart.  “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”  Psalm 51:17  I began to study and learn the Scriptures through the grace of God.  I surrendered my life to Him and I began to trust Jesus completely.  I returned to Church to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.  I became so enamored with Jesus in the Eucharist that I signed up to help little children prepare for their first Sacraments.  I began praying the Rosary as I meditated on His Word through the Scriptures.  I started volunteering in various places meeting our Lord in the most unusual places and I created a sacred time with Him everyday when I walked the Way to Calvary and prayed for His mercy upon all souls at 3pm, the time He died for us.

I decided I needed to communicate what Jesus had taught me so I began to publish how He converted me by calling me to “Follow Him” and “Trust Him” and “Learn from Him” and be “Fed by Him”.

I believe that each soul is invited to give God glory.  That is the summit of our existence, but we play a hand in shaping our destiny with every choice we make.  We can choose to belong to Jesus or we can choose to belong to Satan.  Love is a choice to honour God.

If we belong to Jesus we will enter deeply into His Holy Spirit, nourished by His Word and His Holy Sacraments and live Holy lives.  If we choose to belong to Satan we will live a sensual existence where we continuously try to nourish our senses.  A life dedicated to Satan is selfish and full of lust and deception but a life dedicated to Jesus is selfless and loving and truthful.

We are the Body of Christ if we pray together and work together for the glory of God.  Join me in remembering Our Holy Lord each and every day at 3pm, if only for a few moments.  Three o’clock is not ordinary time!  It is the Hour of Mercy.  At 3pm, see Your Saviour Jesus dying on the Cross for You, for He loves You so much! Let Him take hold of Your life, shaping your destiny to be all that He wants you to be!  Surrender to Him and Trust Him!