Your Light Found My Bottle In The Night; Gave Me Second Life. You Found Me Once And For All; I Laid It Down In The Sinking Ground

You woke the morning up
Running off my darkest night
The longest fight I've seen
Here goes a chance I know
Cashing in on all my chips
Let all my ships come fly

These days, a little bit longer than the last
And all of His ways, a little bit stronger than the past
And Your light, found my bottle in the night
Gave me second life, kept me in this fight

And I won't back down
I won't turn around and around
And I won't back down
Doesn't matter what comes crashing down
I'm still gonna stand on solid ground

You found me once and for all
I laid it down in the sinking ground
The hopeless undertow
Singing out the gentle sound
Rattling through my smoking screens
My broken dreams last night

These days, a little bit longer than the last
And all of Your ways, a little bit stronger than the past
And all of Your light, found my bottle in the night
Kept me in this fight and gave me second life

And I won't back down
And I won't turn around and around
And I won't back down
Doesn't matter what comes crashing down
I'm still gonna stand my solid ground 

Hallelujah ripped through my veins
I heard the hammer drop
My blood in the rain
Hallelujah came like a train
When all is lost
All is left to gain

I won't back down

And I won't turn around and around 

And I won't back down

Doesn't matter what comes crashing down

I'm still going to stand my solid

Hallelujah, Hallelujah...

Finding the Peace of Passive Penance by Father Roger J. Scheckel

To understand mortification in...practical terms and how it might be incorporated into the spiritual life of [the faithful] begins with [a] two-fold manifestation: 

suffering that happens to us, what is known as passive mortification, and suffering we allow to happen, known as active mortification. 

Passive mortifications come in various forms, but they are not the sufferings we experience from having sinned, e.g., suffering a hangover after being intoxicated. Rather, they come to us unsolicited, the consequence of living in a world that has fallen from the grace of God. Passive mortifications can be grave, for example, sickness or injury, the death of a loved one, losing one’s employment. For the most part, passive mortifications come to us in smaller and less severe versions such as a difficult boss or co-worker, a spouse who from time to time is insensitive and uncaring or children who are demanding and unappreciative. 

St. Jose Marie Escriva, the founder of the Opus Dei Prelature often pointed out that our daily life and work provide significant opportunities to experience passive mortifications, primarily through petty annoyances like an unexpected change in plans, instruments or tools that fail us, the discomfort caused us by the weather being to hot or cold. When these small crosses are embraced generously and courageously they help us to grow in holiness. 

Pope Paul VI spoke eloquently about carrying these kinds of daily crosses in his March 24, 1967Address: “To carry one’s cross is something great. Great….It means facing up to life courageously, without weakness or meanness. It means that we turn into moral energy those difficulties which will never be lacking in our existence; it means understanding human sorrow; and finally, it means knowing really how to love.” 

To avoid the many crosses that come unsolicited to our lives each day is to avoid the possibility that God makes available to us to become saints.

We Are His Portion And He Is Our Prize, Drawn To Redemption By The Grace In His Eyes

He is jealous for me, 
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, 
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, 
And I realise just how beautiful You are, 
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so, 
Oh how He loves us, 
How He loves us all...

Thy Mercy, My God, Is The Theme Of My Song, The Joy Of My Heart And The Boast Of My Tongue

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep for the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Pain Is A Forest We All Get Lost In

Pain is a forest we all get lost in
Between the branches hope can be so hard to see
And in the darkness we've all got questions
We're all just trying to make sense out of suffering but

You say I am blessed because of this
So, I choose to believe
As I carry this cross, You'll carry me
Help me believe it

Fear is a current we all get caught in
And in its motion faith can be so hard to find
And we all falter 'cause we're all broken
We're all just trying to turn the shadows into light but

You get glory in the midst of this
And You're walking with me
And you say I am blessed because of this
So, I choose to believe
As I carry this cross, You'll carry me

And I know Your promises are faithful
And God, I've seen Your goodness in my life
And oh, I've found Your mercy is a river
Your love is an ocean wide

You say I am blessed because of this
You get glory in the midst of this
And You're walking with me

And You say I am blessed because of this
So, I choose to believe
As I carry this cross, as I carry this cross
'Cause as I carry this cross, You'll carry me

You'll carry me, God
You'll carry me
And Your love is an ocean wide

One Thing Is Necessary...And It Is Not Beauty, Not Health, Not Talent. It Is The Salvation Of Our Immortal Souls.

‎Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with God. Speak with familiarity and confidence as to your dearest and most loving friend. Speak of your life, your plans, your troubles, your joys, your fears. In return, God will speak to you--not that you will hear audible words in your ears, but words that you will clearly understand in your heart. These may be feelings of peace, hope, interior joy, or sorrow for sin...gentle knockings at the door of your heart. 

Who knows? Perhaps if God had given us greater talent, better health, a more personable appearance, we might have lost our souls! Great talent and knowledge have caused many to be puffed up with the idea of their own importance and, in their pride, they have despised others. How easily those who have these gifts fall into grave danger to their salvation! How many on account of physical beauty or robust health have plunged headlong into a life of debauchery! How many, on the contrary, who, by reason of poverty, infirmity or physical deformity, have become saints and have saved their souls, who, given health, wealth or physical attractiveness had else lost their souls! Let us then be content with what God has given us. "But one thing is necessary," and it is not beauty, not health, not talent. It is the salvation of our immortal souls.

From all this can you now have any doubt that God wishes to save you? From this moment onward never dare to utter again: 'I wonder does God wish to save me. Maybe He wishes to see me damned on account of the sins I have committed against Him.' Get rid of all such thoughts, once and for all, since you must now realize that God is helping you with His graces and calling you insistently to love Him. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori

We Should Never Again Use The Expression, 'When Jesus Was On Earth;' Jesus Is Still On Earth

“We should never again use the expression, ‘When Jesus was on earth’ or think of Him as being only in heaven; Jesus is still on earth.” – Fr. John Hardon, S.J.


“He remains among us until the end of the world. He dwells on so many altars...” – Saint Maximilian Kolbe


“While all the sacraments confer grace, the Eucharist contains the author of grace, Jesus Christ Himself.” – Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

“It is there in His Eucharist that He says to me: ‘I thirst...thirst for your love. I thirst for your happiness, for it was to save you that I came into the world, that I suffered and died on the Cross, and in order to console and strengthen you, I left you the Eucharist. So you have there all My life, all My tenderness.’” – Mother Mary of Jesus, foundress of the Sisters of Marie Reparatrice

“To speak of the Blessed Sacrament is to speak of what is most sacred. How often, when we are in a state of distress, those to whom we look for help leave us; or what is worse, add to our affliction by heaping fresh troubles upon us? He is ever there waiting to help us.” – Saint Euphrasia Pelletier, foundress of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

Mercy Bend And Bring Me Back To Life But Not Before You Show Me How To Die

You could plant me like a tree beside a river
You could tangle me in soil and let my roots run wild
And I would blossom like a flower in the desert
But for now just let me cry

You could raise me like a banner in a battle
Put victory like a fire behind my shining eyes
And I would drift like falling snow over the embers
But for now just let me lie

Bind up these broken bones
Mercy bend and breathe me back to life
But not before You show me how to die

Set me like a star before the morning
Like a song that steals the darkness from a world asleep
And I'll illuminate the path You've laid before me
But for now just let me be

Bind up these broken bones
Mercy bend and breathe me back to life
But not before You show me how to die
Oh, not before You show me how to die

So let me go like a leaf upon the water
Let me brave the wild currents flowing to the sea
And I will disappear into a deeper beauty
But for now just stay with me
God, for now just stay with me