*Note: Repost from last year
"Hi Bonnie, I received your book and thank you for it and the kind note. I like the way you have woven the YouCat Catechism with Anne's messages all under a chapter on a particular virtue. I think it would be an excellent tool for any young person as it it gives real life examples that are easy relatable to experiences that all young people go through."
We have a choice every day . . . to be happy or sad; positive or negative. We can let rejection affect our day, or, turn rejection around by seeing all the beauty God has to offer us. For every negative comment, I receive 99 positive ones. Little by little, I am erasing the old tapes that were set to replay for so many years in my head. With Christ, anything is possible!
In todays Gospel (Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46), Jesus uses the vineyard owner parable to enlighten the chief priests and elders that He knows of their rejection:
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
In Anne a lay apostle's book The Mist of Mercy, Jesus lets us know His Arms are always open and waiting for us:
“I speak to My beloved apostles today from the pain of My wounded heart. I suffer for each soul walking the earth without knowledge of My love. Despite rejection, My love cannot be limited and overflows into the world. Those who do not welcome the love of the Savior continue in loneliness. Those who welcome My love are deluged with it. Dear apostles, I know that you are weary. You do not see the full impact of your service on the Kingdom but please believe that one day you will experience the fruits of your labor. You will exult in each act of service and each act of self-denial because you will see the act attached to all of the graces obtained from it. At that time you will marvel at My generosity. You will also thank Me for obscuring this from you during your time of service because it is through this trust that you gain both merit for your eternity and conversion graces for souls. How many sinners are pulled back into My Sacred Heart through your smallest act of trust and love in the face of scorn and mockery? Dear apostles, you must consider whether or not you yourself were called back to Me through the selfless action of another. It is in this way that we are a family. Each apostle is indebted to others for his progress up the mountain of holiness because the service of each supports and sustains others. How blessed is the plan of God. My gratitude to you will endure forever."
Lay apostles, there is always going to be a critic within earshot. Remember, do everything for His Glory and quite frankly, nothing else matters. Have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you, Lord, for helping me to accept rejection so much easier than I used to take it! And, helping me to focus on You, not the world!
God bless,
Bonnie
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