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If you want your dream to be, build it slow and surely. Small beginning, greater and heartfelt work grows purely.

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Welcome, this is David Russell and your faith anew, daily reflections guiding you to live in the divine will. Today's reflection is from the Book of Heaven by the servant of God Louisa Picaretta, august seventh, eighteen ninety nine, volume two. Let us begin in the will and name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts, recognizing that every good gift originates in you alone. Remove every trace of pride that blinds us to your presence, and every fear that keeps us from receiving your transforming grace. Teach us to surrender our own judgments, our self reliance, and our desire for recognition, so that your divine will may become the source of our thoughts, our words, and our actions. May we never seek our own glory, but rejoice whenever your life shines more clearly through us. As we walk this day, let every encounter become an opportunity to reflect your goodness, your mercy, and your love to the world. We ask this through Christ our Lord, amen. Reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians, chapter two, verse twenty. Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me. Insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in Paragraph five twenty one. We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus' life and his mysteries, and often to beg him to perfect and realize them in us and in his whole church. For it is the plan of the Son of God to make us and the whole church partake in his mysteries, and to extend them to and continue them in us and in his whole church. This is his plan for fulfilling his mysteries in us. As we listen to today's Book of Heaven reading, let us open our hearts to discover how God's grace restores in us the beauty for which we were originally created. Louisa writes This morning my lovable Jesus would not come. After much waiting and waiting, finally he came. My confusion and annihilation was such that I was unable to tell him anything. Jesus told me The more you annihilate yourself and come to know your nothingness, the more my humanity, unleashing rays of light will communicate my virtues to you. I said to him, Lord, I am so bad and ugly as to be horrifying to myself. What must I be before you? And Jesus, If you are ugly, I can make you beautiful. And in the act of saying this, he sent a light from himself to my soul, and it seemed that he would communicate his beauty to it. Then, embracing me, he began to say How beautiful you are, but beautiful of my own beauty. This is why I'm drawn to love you. Who can say how confused I remained more than ever? But may everything be for his glory. One of the great obstacles to holiness is the temptation to believe that we must somehow perfect ourselves before drawing close to God. We often become discouraged by our own weaknesses, our repeated failures, or the distance between who we are and who we long to become. Yet the spiritual life does not begin with self-improvement. It begins with surrender. The divine will invites us to stop measuring ourselves by our own standards and instead allow God to accomplish within us what we could never accomplish alone. The Christian life has always been more about receiving than achieving. Grace is not a reward for those who have become worthy. It's the very power that makes us holy. Living in the divine will deepens this truth even further. It teaches us that when we freely yield our human will to God, His own divine life becomes the principle of our acts. We do not erase our personality or individuality, rather God elevates what He created, allowing His light to shine through every thought, every prayer, every sacrifice, and every act of love. This changes the way we look at ourselves and at others. Instead of dwelling on our defects, we begin asking, Lord, what do you desire to accomplish through me today? Our focus shifts from self to God. We become less concerned with appearing successful and more concerned with remaining available. Humility, then, is not thinking poorly of ourselves, it's seeing ourselves truthfully, completely dependent upon the one who is our creator. Such humility becomes fertile soil where divine grace flourishes. The soul that admits its need is the soul that God can continually fill. This is also how we begin to see others. Every person we encounter has been created for communion with God and carries the potential to reflect His glory. Rather than judging appearances or failures, we can learn to pray that God's life may shine more fully within each soul. Today, consider making a simple offering before every important task, whether answering an email, caring for your family, driving to work or praying quietly before the Blessed Sacrament. Pause for just a moment and say, Father, may this be your work in me. That brief act of surrender opens the heart to extraordinary grace. Over time, countless little acts offered in the divine will become a beautiful mosaic reflecting God's own life throughout the day. The saints became radiant not because they relied on themselves, but because they increasingly allowed Christ to live within them. The same invitation is extended to each of us. The more we welcome God's action, the more his beauty becomes visible, not for our glory, but so that others may be drawn to him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us with a love that never grows weary. Teach us to place every part of our lives into your divine will. When we're tempted to rely upon ourselves, remind us that true strength is found in trusting you completely. Purify our intentions, deepen our humility, and fill our hearts with the light of your grace. May our words encourage, our actions reveal your charity, and our lives quietly reflect the presence of Jesus to everyone we meet. Through the immaculate heart of Mary, help us become faithful instruments of your kingdom until your will reigns on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. Until tomorrow, stay in his will, and your faith will be made anew.