Let Your Light Shine

Photo credit: Free-images.com

If we read the lives of the saints, we may be inspired by their great works and heroic bravery. We may also think there must have been something superhuman about them that let them live such holy lives or make such a dramatic difference in the world. In reality, most of the saints were ordinary people like us who did extraordinary things simply by letting God’s light shine in and through them. And while most of us won’t be asked to do something remarkable like caring for people who are sick and dying in the streets as St. Teresa of Calcutta did, all of us are called, with our own skills, to have a holy and positive impact on the world around us. How can we do this?

We can do this with God, Who lives in us. No matter what job or role we hold, all of us who’ve been baptized already have the power of God within us to do good works and change the world around us for the better, in small or big ways. 

God is always with us. When we become aware of His presence and let His light shine in us, we let Him affect all of our thoughts, words, and actions. As our faith strengthens and our awareness of His presence grows, we let the power of His love overtake our hearts. The more we do this, the more we act less from our own strength and inspiration and more from His power. With Him, we know that we can be and do more good than we could ever do on our own. Even as we work to overcome our human weaknesses and failings, we strive not to do what is our will but God’s will. For example, with God we can love those we find difficult; be patient and calm in times of stress; be peaceful, and peacemakers, in our chaotic world. Knowing that He’s present with us, loving us, and guiding us gives us His peace, which no one can take away from us. And His peace brings us deep joy.

When we let God use us to be beacons of light to the people around us, we really can have a holy and positive impact on our world. And when others see God working through us then they, too, will want the peace and joy that we have. They, too, will thank God for His loving power.         

So our kindness toward others, our loving actions, and our peaceful, joyful demeanor all happen when His light shines in us. For that and all that comes from Him, we give thanks and glory to God.

“You are the light of the world…. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” – Matthew 5:14, 16  

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

The Advocate Is With You

Photo credit: Free-images.com

When was the last time you did something for the first time? When was the last time you did something that made you nervous or scared? Those common questions challenge us to take a look at how willing we are to go out of our comfort zones to grow physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

When was the last time you asked God for a gift? Not just a favor, or the answer to a prayer, but for one of His gifts: Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, or fear of the Lord? What about the gifts of His love, patience, peace, joy, honesty, humility, and all the other good things He wants and is eager to give you? 

When we ask Him for these things, we acknowledge that something is lacking in us. That takes honesty and humility. It takes courage to ask, too, because we know that these gifts will help us grow stronger in our faith. With stronger faith, we may be bolder in sharing His love in more concrete and perhaps even profound ways with the people around us. This might stretch us out of our comfort zone; we may feel anxious at the thought of living our faith ‘out loud.’

But we can ask God for these things with confidence. He has already given us His Spirit – His Spirit – through our baptism. He is eager to give us more and more of His gifts and has promised to stay with us as we work to put them into practice. We just have to ask Him and then trust Him to guide us and strengthen us. With the blessing of His gifts and the power of His Spirit, we can be and do more with Him and for Him. 

In these days before Pentecost, let’s ask our Lord to fill us with His gifts. Let’s open our hearts to receive more of His goodness from Him. Let’s courageously go out of our comfort zones and allow Him to use us to show the power of His love in more concrete and profound ways to the people around us.

Let’s ask Him:

Lord, fill me.

Fill me, change me, energize me with the gifts of Your Spirit.

Fill me with Your love so that I can share You with the people in my world.

Fill me with Your Spirit so that no other spirit hinders me.

Fill me with Your peace so that I can bring peace to others.

Fill me, love me, empower me with Your Spirit.

“I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”

– John 14:16 

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

They Sang in Prison

Photo credit: Free-images.com

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read how the apostles went from city to city teaching people about the risen Christ. Usually, the people listened to the apostles and welcomed their message. But on one particular occasion, Paul and Silas were met with hostility; they were beaten and then thrown into prison. Picturing them sitting in a cell with their feet chained to a stake, we might expect that they panicked. We could relate to them if they agonized about what else could possibly go wrong. We could even understand if they ranted at God and questioned how He could allow them to be arrested while they did His work. 

But that’s not what they did. As Paul and Silas sat in their cell, they prayed out loud and sang hymns to God while the other prisoners listened. They were such a non-threat to the jailer that he fell asleep at his post. 

Paul and Silas may have first felt panic, worry, anger, and the other difficult emotions we naturally feel when we find ourselves in a painful situation; we don’t know. But we can follow their example and make a decision to turn our hearts and thoughts to our Lord when the going gets tough and ask Him to help us get through it.

It’s a choice we can make. When we’re in a crisis, we can either let ourselves get into a tizzy – and stay there – or we can pray and praise God even with those difficult emotions. We can use our praying or singing to ask God to help us carry our pain. We can continue to praise Him for His goodness and His love for us, confident that He’ll support us through every struggle. 

This may be difficult to do. We so easily get dragged down into despair! However, if we make it a habit to pray and praise God when things are going relatively smoothly, then it will be more natural for us to do so when life overwhelms us. That’s one reason why Paul writes, “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks…” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

Praying and praising God might not take away our struggle, but doing so will help us focus less on the problem and more on the loving compassion of God. We’ll remind ourselves that He will never abandon us, and that reassurance may help ease our burden. We might ask Him, “Now what do I do?” We can listen for direction from Him, spoken either through the people around us or in the thoughts and feelings that come to us. Maybe there will be something we can do to remedy the situation, and maybe not. Either way, we can trust our Lord to lead us through every challenge. We just have to ask Him. 

“About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened…” – Acts 16:25

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Complete Joy

Photo credit: Free-images.com

For our Christmas present, our daughter and son-in-law put together a ‘Surprise Pre-Planned Road Trip.’ One day this summer Ted and I will get to “explore a new area, and the work is already done for you to hit great spots!” We’ve been given several sealed sheets of written instructions, to be opened one at a time, that will take us to a number of interesting locations. We don’t know yet where each stop will be – we don’t even know the final destination! If we follow the directions as prepared, they’ll lead us to a day’s worth of fun. We could, of course, ignore all the instructions and just go our own way. But Theresa and Andrew picked this trip specifically for us, and so we’ll trust those directions and be open to the adventure that awaits!

Christ has given us instructions, too. Not for a road trip but for life. He’s given us directions on how to find what our hearts long for most of all: love, peace, and joy. His joy. He’s told us that, if we learn to trust Him and listen to Him speak to us through Scripture, through our spiritual leaders, and through each other, His Way will lead us to our deepest joy. 

And what is His Way? 

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39).”

He makes it sound so simple! However, we know from experience that it’s not easy. We often ignore His instructions and try to find joy our own way. This may lead to happiness, but that happiness is fleeting. Christ’s directions for His joy are clear: First, love God above all else; make time to talk to Him and listen to Him in prayer; open our minds and hearts to what He wants to teach us; strive to do His will in all circumstances. Second, love our neighbors as ourselves, including those neighbors we find difficult to love; reach out to them in service; give to them as we would want them to give to us. This is His Way.

 

Let’s start this journey with the Lord today. Let’s open our hearts to Him, love Him, and learn to trust Him. Let’s follow His directions for loving and serving others. When we do these things, we’ll find the deep, peaceful, and complete joy our hearts are longing for. We’ll find His joy.

“If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” – John 15:10-12 

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

I Call You Friend

Photo credit: Free-images.com

Remember the excitement of being chosen for a team? Whether it was for a neighborhood game or a varsity sport, being chosen certainly put a glow in your heart and a smile on your face. Someone wanted you! 

Now, imagine Christ calling out your name! Imagine it, and realize that it has already happened. He hasn’t chosen you to be on a sports team, though. No, this is something much better, much deeper. It’s more profound and more personal: He’s chosen you to be His friend. His friend!

Christ doesn’t want to be just an acquaintance, someone you talk to mostly about the weather. He doesn’t want to be merely someone you read about once in a while, a distant figure who did great things for people 2,000 years ago. And He doesn’t want you to think of Him as a kind of automatic favor-dispenser. 

No. He wants to have a relationship with you – a close relationship with you. He wants you to know that He’s chosen you to be His friend. 

So turn to Him like you do your human friends. You don’t have to present to Him only your ‘good’ side; share with Him your deepest desires, fears, successes, and frustrations. He knows about them anyway – why not tell Him about them? And don’t just give Him just the news; tell Him how you feel about what’s going on. Learn to be honest with Him, and then open your heart to hear what He might say to you about what you’ve shared. That’s what true friends do, isn’t it? We share our hearts with each other. Sometimes we talk and sometimes we listen. We learn from each other. We affirm and encourage each other. We make ourselves vulnerable and trust each other. Over time, the bonds of friendship strengthen and we grow closer. 

Christ wants that kind of relationship with us. Our God wants to be friends with us! Let that sink in; it may take quite a while to do so! It’s an incredible truth we can hold onto. He wants us to trust Him and open our hearts to Him.  

Christ knows you more intimately than you know yourself, and He loves you more deeply than you could ever imagine. He could never not love you! He sees where you’re strong and where you’re weak; He sees you try and fail; He sees your heart and your motives. He sees all of it, and loves you with all of it. So share all of it with Him. Let Him affirm you, console you, teach you, encourage you, and strengthen you. Let Him fill you with His love and His peace. 

Christ has chosen you to be His friend. Let the wonder of that reality sustain you and bring you joy.

“I have called you friends… It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” 

– John 15:15, 16

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Believe in the One He Sent

Photo credit: Free-images.com

Watching all you people with green thumbs this time of year is like watching little kids in early December. The excitement is palpable. You finally get to dig in your dirt. Finally, you get to plant your salads and your flowers. And, like the kids who write their letters to Santa and wait in hopeful anticipation, so do you do your planting and watch for the first sprouts to poke up through the earth.

If you didn’t believe that your garden would grow, you wouldn’t do the work of planting seeds. If little Johnny didn’t believe that presents would be under the tree on Christmas morning, he wouldn’t bother making a list.

What about our faith? Do we believe that Christ, risen from the dead, is alive within us? Do we do the work of asking our Lord to strengthen our faith? 

Our brains may not be able to grasp the power of the risen Christ, and our minds may not be able to fully comprehend that the Eucharist really is the Body and Blood of Christ, but when we profess our belief in these truths and open our hearts to Him, we invite our Lord to bless us with even deeper faith – faith that has the power to transform us.

Deeper faith gives us the strength to imitate Christ even more closely and become more like Him. It also gives us the courage to take steps toward Him with humility, kind of like how you plant seeds: We trust that He’ll bless us and our efforts and bring to fruition the works of our hands. 

With stronger faith we open our hearts to Christ’s loving grace and come to understand His Way better. As Augustine of Hippo said, “For understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe so that you may understand.”

And what rewards we receive when we believe! We receive insight where there had been ignorance. We experience peace of mind and heart when we accept that “God makes all things work together for good for those who love him” (Romans 8:28). We learn the redemptive value of suffering. We are strong with Him where we had been weak by ourselves. And so much more.

As you plant the seeds in your garden this spring – or watch your neighbors do so – ask our Lord to plant the seeds of faith deeper into your heart. Ask Him for faith that fills you with grace, courage, strength, humility, and understanding. Let your belief in Him enlighten you; transform you; and empower you to do His will.

“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”  –John 6:29

Open my eyes, that I may see You. Open my ears, that I may hear You. Open my heart, that I may love You in the people around me.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Born of the Spirit

Photo credit: Free-images.com

Have you ever gotten an idea to call or text someone, not for a special occasion but just to see how he was doing? And when he answered, you discovered that he was feeling lonely or in need of some kind of help? And maybe he told you that your call was an answer to his prayers? Giving you that idea is just one way that the Holy Spirit works. 

Have you ever felt a desire to become active with a charity, or get involved in a ministry in your parish, or volunteer your time for a cause that’s meaningful to you? Have you ever felt dissatisfied with the status quo and then also felt a persistent ache to make a change? When we sense an insistent pull in our heart toward a particular action, we can trust that the Spirit is leading us. 

After Jesus’ resurrection, He sent us the Holy Spirit to be our inspiration, our guide, and our strength. When we’re ‘born from above’ – that is, when we’ve been baptized and we allow the Spirit to help us live in holiness – He’ll work in us. We can’t see the Spirit but we can see evidence of Him, just like we can’t see the wind blowing but we can see tree branches bending and waves crashing. 

When we pay attention to the promptings in our hearts, like those described above as well as others, we see evidence of the Spirit working in us. With experience, we recognize that those ideas are put there by Him. We don’t come up with them on our own, and we can’t force them. We can’t control when and how the Spirit will guide us; what we can do is open our hearts to Him. We learn that when we make ourselves available to Him, He’ll give us His gifts as we need them: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Then, when we follow His lead and take action, we find ourselves moving closer to God.

Through all of this, we discover that God is creating something new in us, maybe in little ways but something new just the same. We may look back and see that He was leading us toward someone or something that would draw us closer to Himself. Or, He was using us to draw someone else to Himself.

Let’s make ourselves available to the Spirit. Let’s pay attention to His promptings and pray for His guidance and strength. Let’s let Him lead us toward Himself.

“(Jesus said,) ‘You must be born from above. The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’” – John 3:7-8

Open my eyes, that I may see You. Open my ears, that I may hear You. Open my heart, that I may love You in the people around me.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.