“to find the example of Jesus”
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MESSAGE #2965 from the Blessed Mother
February 12, 2007
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My daughter, I am with you. Continue to pray and do your part for the salvation of souls.
Prayer and obedience to God is how conversion will happen. All my children must pray and live, live the Gospel. They must be an example to all their brothers and sisters. Without love in your hearts, you will only turn others away. Please be prayerful, loving children so more turn to God before it’s too late. Satan loves war, so please do the opposite of what he is telling you. Be loving and forgiving and rescue those who have allowed hate to rule their life.
It is time now to move forward with love and joy in your hearts. It is time to speak the truth in a gentle loving way. All must wake up from their slumber, so please respond and share all that I am teaching you.
Now, please be obedient servants so more can be accomplished in this time of renewal, mercy and grace. Amen.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
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#520 In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is "the perfect man", who invites us to become his disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate, through his prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way
#1011 In death, God calls man to himself. Therefore the Christian can experience a desire for death like St. Paul's: "My desire is to depart and be with Christ." He can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ:
My earthly desire has been crucified; . . . there is living water in me, water that murmurs and says within me: Come to the Father.
I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die.
I am not dying; I am entering life.
Titus 2: 1-3, 11-14
Duties of the Older and Younger
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But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.
in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Excerpts of a Homily by Fr. Robert Altier - Tuesday November 12, 2002
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Saint Paul lays things out rather nicely. He tells us we have to live our lives in a way that is consistent with sound doctrine. We have to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and endurance, and so on. We have to be living our lives as good examples to people around us. We have to be humble. We have to be charitable. We have to be pouring ourselves out.
And he tells us that the reason for this can be found in the Incarnation. The little passage at the end of the reading today is about Christmas; it is about the Nativity of Our Lord. He says, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training all to reject godless ways and worldly desires, to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await our blessed hope, the coming in glory of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ,”
So for our own selves, then, we need to look at the example of Christ. We need to look at this little, tiny Baby who was born of a human woman, who was born in a cave, who has come into this world for the purpose of being obedient to His Father and of giving His life for us, who lived in such a way that He was above reproach. He teaches us how we are to live and that we are to find ourselves to be servants of God and servants of one another.
When we can finally come to the point of actually doing what God requires of us â€" that is, when we can get to the point of becoming saints â€" then we can truly say that we are unprofitable servants. Until then, we need to get rid of even that amount of arrogance and we need to recognize that we have not even approached being an unprofitable servant yet; but rather, all we can say is that we are selfish, disobedient slaves who are not doing what we are supposed to do. Therefore, we need to keep working at it, to find the example of Jesus, and to become truly the dignified individual who is living as an unprofitable servant of God.
