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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, october twenty sixth, nineteen eleven, volume ten. Let us begin in the will and name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, grant us the grace to recognize your presence in this moment. Free our hearts from whatever keeps us distant from you. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, teach us to trust your goodness and to welcome the quiet movements of your grace. May this time together belong entirely to you. A reading from the Book of Zephaniah chapter three verse seventeen. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty Savior, who will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love, who will sing joyfully because of you as on festival days. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in Paragraph twenty five sixty seven. God calls man first. Man may forget his creator or hide far from his face. He may run after idols, or accuse the deity of having abandoned him. Yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first. Our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals Himself and reveals man to Himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation. As we turn to today's reading, let us listen with the intentiveness of a heart seeking to know Jesus more intimately. Louisa writes He continues to make himself seen, but wanting to hide within me so as not to see the evils of creatures, I seemed to find myself outside of myself, and I saw venerable men, all dismayed, speaking about the war, and with great fear. Then the Queen Mama made herself seen, and I my beautiful mamma what will happen with the war? And she my daughter, pray. Oh how many troubles pray pray, my daughter. I was dismayed, and I prayed to good Jesus. But it seems that Jesus does not want to pay attention to me even more. It seems that he does not even want me to talk about this. It seems he only wants refreshment, and only the refreshment of love. Instead of pouring bitternesses, he pours sweetnesses. And if I say you are full of bitternesses, and you pour sweetnesses into me, Jesus says, My daughter, I can pour out bitternesses with everyone, but the outpourings of love, the sweetnesses I can pour only into one who loves me, and who is all love for me. Don't you know that love too is a necessity for me? And that I need it more than anything. There is something remarkable about the words of the prophet Zephaniah. God is not presented simply as a distant ruler who watches over his people. He is the Lord who dwells among them, who saves them, and who rejoices over them. Consider that for a moment. The God who created the heavens and the earth takes delight in those he has created. We're accustomed to thinking about what we must do for God. We consider our responsibilities, our prayers, our efforts to overcome sin, and our desire to become holy. All of these have their proper place. But Christian life begins somewhere more wonderful. It begins with the astonishing truth that God loved us first. Before we could offer him a single prayer, before we understood his commandments, before we had accomplished anything worthy of praise, we were already the objects of his love. And that love has a human face. Jesus Christ. Look at the way Jesus encounters people in the gospels. He notices those whom others overlook. He welcomes those who approach Him with trembling faith. He restores dignity to people who have forgotten their own worth. He doesn't wait until they have perfected themselves before allowing them to draw near. This reveals something essential about our relationship with God. Holiness is not an attempt to persuade God to love us. It is our response to the love He has already given. The catechism teaches that God calls every person into a mysterious encounter with Himself. Prayer is our response to that invitation. And what a difference this understanding can make. Perhaps you have spent years trying to become a better Christian. You have examined your conscience, struggled against familiar weaknesses, and wondered whether your spiritual progress has been sufficient. Those efforts matter. Yet beneath them lies a more fundamental invitation to receive the love of Christ and allow it to change the way you live. Living in the divine will deepens this response. We seek not merely to perform good actions for God, but to surrender ourselves so completely that our thoughts, intentions, and actions become increasingly united with His holy desires. This is never independent of grace. It is the work of Christ within a willing soul. And it begins with something wonderfully simple. We allow ourselves to be loved, not because we've earned it, not because we've finally overcome every weakness, but because Jesus Christ has given himself for us, and his love is faithful. There is no greater beginning to holiness than to receive that gift with gratitude. Let us pray. Jesus, my beloved Savior, I adore you. You have known me from all eternity, and you have loved me with a generosity I cannot comprehend. I offer you my heart with all its limitations and all its longing. Let your divine will reign within me. May every movement of my soul become an expression of gratitude for your goodness. Teach me to receive your love without fear and to return it without reservation. And through the immaculate heart of Mary, draw me ever closer to your sacred heart, where every longing finds its fulfillment. Jesus, I am yours. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. Until tomorrow, stay in his will, and your faith will be made anew.