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December 7, 2021

Lord, help us to be unified and encourage each other in our joint mission of ministry for the salvation of souls and to comfort those who are hurting. Let Your wisdom and love be our guide daily. Amen.

Mother Clare began, "Mother, I am here."

She replied, "Yes, you are...thank you for coming. You were right not to avoid prayer, especially today, there are so many hurting. May I ask that you say this prayer more than once a day?"

"Mother, do you mean the Mercy prayer or the Rosary?"

"I admit my prayer is long, but what you will be losing in time, you will surely make up in grace. I would like all of you to be sensitive and pray when prompted. In truth, there is nothing in your life more deserving of your attention than these prayers. Much time is wasted in foolish thoughts and engaging me in prayer is a far better way to proceed. I am so glad you are here Clare; I love to be in your presence and with all the community members present. What a lovely lily you are growing on this mountain."

"Thank you, Mother, I don't feel like a lily."

"All the same, you are all lilies growing on the side of this mountain and a joy to your Spouse. Thank you all for giving Him your lives."

"I am eternally grateful that He saved me."

Blessed Mother continued, "And that is as it should be. Always remember the good when you have the tendency to grumble. And if you do grumble, be swift to repent and declare your gratitude. I want this place to become "Prayer Mountain." Night and day, praying with very acute attention. This would be pleasing to Us. In the beginning you started out with many projects to complete. But now that they are coming to completion it is time to shift gears and replace work with prayer. More and more prayer. You will look back in time and ask the question, "Why did it take so long for us to become a community of prayer?"

"Mother, we need more faith." --

She responded, "It's coming. It is coming. But do you realize how faith is developed? I know you do because you mused on this very topic yesterday. Yes, faith comes by hearing the words of the Lord, but faith comes after stretching. You must continually reach for it. When you reach, (meaning stretch) you broaden your faith and see clearly how God works through faith. But in order to cultivate the kind of faith we want all of you to have, you must pass through many trials. Ever since you began to be a community you have had trials. In order to grow in faith, there must be more, so that you can see that Jesus is a God who responds to prayer and knows even the hidden desires of the heart.

"All of you in this room have hidden desires that only God knows about, many of those desires have been put there by Him, some are left overs from the world. But as you yield yourself to His grace in this community you will be cleansed of worldly desires and become alive to Holy Spirit desires. There are things you have never acknowledged, that are deep, deep, holy desires. As you yield to obedience and become more and more detached from what you want to what He wants, these hidden talents and desires will surface. It is true that this Franciscan life is a life of going out and coming in. That means you will go out to pour graces you've received upon others, then you will come back in and fill up again. How blessed are those you go out and touch. Truly God's love works through you.

"Little Leo, my little lamb, you made such a difference to the man who lost his dog. He will always remember that kindness. I was able to touch him through you. You will be doing more and more of that when you go out. Blessed are you when you do your Lord's work. Did it feel good son? This is what my Son did when He went out. He comforted people in whatever way they needed to be comforted. For the poor widow, He raised her son from the dead and gave him back to her. For the leper He cleansed him of the disease. For the harlot He washed away her guilt and showed to her that God loves her. That was something she did not know because she lived with rejection and hatred all of her life. For the hungry, He fed them.

"So, you see, whatever the need of the soul, Jesus met it. This is what ministry is all about. Bringing comfort and hope to the lost and hurting. You are not a minister because you graduated from seminary, you are a minister because of your compassion and willingness to relieve others of the burdens they are carrying. This is the true meaning of ministry. When you minister you draw others to Christ and then the Holy Spirit brings conviction and they come to Jesus.

"Most people are so overloaded with guilt; they dare not look up to Heaven and ask God in prayer. No, they are so ashamed of what they have been that they run and hide from God. So, God must come to them, from inside you. And when you felt the man's pain, you came to comfort him. Do not be afraid to call yourself a minister, you are well on the way, my son. My children, you all need to develop unwavering faith and then you will be able to stand firm to the end."