Tag Archives: Love

Ep11 Lessons from Jesus on the Dangers of Fear

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Father Len explores Christ’s teachings on fear and how it controls all of us in not such good ways without us even knowing it.

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Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

  • Fear and anger are identical cousins.
  • We don’t always recognize when we’re being controlled by fear.
  • Martin Luther King trained his followers in the civil rights movement to pray, pray, and pray and never react with fear or anger no matter what opponents would say to them.
  • Jesus taught his apostles to have no secrets and not to be controlled by fear.
  • “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28
  • “If we’re going to be a church that helps change the world, we can’t be controlled by fear of rejection, suffering, gossip, criticism, and standing up for our convictions.” – Father Len
  • If we want love to control us, we first must deal with our fears.
  • The phrase, “do not be afraid,” appears 365 times in the Bible.
  • In God, there is only truth. There’s nothing hidden that won’t be revealed.
  • Jesus cautions us not to lose our souls for fear of pain, rejection, or standing up for truth.
  • We can’t be authentic, honest, or loving with each other unless we can conquer our fears.
  • Heaven is a place of pure light where there are no secrets. Everything will be revealed. So, why not live courageously in truth now.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you are being controlled by fear.
  • Litany of Humility Prayer: https://tinyurl.com/mts3da2v

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Ep8 Why God Chose to Take on Human Flesh

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Father Len explains that God became one of us to establish a different religion because 2000 years of religion based on laws, regulations, and teachings from the prophets on how to love wasn’t working so well.

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Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

  • Father Len shares a fun story about a student’s reaction to his teaching in a class on Jesus and the point of God taking on human flesh.
  • Christmas celebrates the love that created the universe taking on human flesh and becoming one of us to establish a different religion to help us love like God.
  • God’s standards for life and the religion of Jesus are unconditional forgiveness and sacrificial love.
  • The only way for us to live God’s standards for life and love is to let Christ live in us.
  • Father Len explains how “religion” kept everyone in Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem from opening their hearts and homes to Mary and Joseph in their time of need at the birth of Jesus.
  • Religion based solely on laws and regulations doesn’t create love in the world.
  • In the Eucharist, Holy Communion, we feed on the love and life of Christ so that Christ’s influence and power grow in us more and more.
  • Father Len tells the story of Grandmother Spider to illustrate how the light of Christ should inspire each of us to form a web of light and love over the earth to protect everyone’s life.
  • Father Len explains the meaning of the symbols swaddling and army of angels present in the story of Christ’s birth.
  • Father Len explains why in spite of all the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah only the humble showed up for the birth of Christ.

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Ep1 How to Love like Christ

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Father Len unpacks three Bible stories about love and illustrates the traits God will help us develop, and we’ll surely need, if we are to love like Christ.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

  • When Jesus began preaching love and pushing the boundaries of love to include loving all people unconditionally, the people didn’t like it. All they wanted to hear was God loves me and people like me.
  • God tells the prophet Jeremiah, people “will fight against you” when you preach unconditional love, but I will “form you into a wall of brass, a pillar of iron, a fortified wall” so “they shall not prevail against you.”
  • “If you call yourself a follower of God, you need to push yourself to try to love everyone.” – Father Len
  • “Some religious people say they want to hear the word of God, but only if it agrees with everything they think and believe already.” – Father Len
  • “When I die and stand before Christ, the question won’t be, does God love me? The question will be, did I love like Christ?” – Father Len
  • Bible stories examined in this episode:
    • Book of Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
    • First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 12:31-13:13
    • Gospel According to Luke 4:21-30
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  • We welcome your questions and comments;