On my nightly Internet radio show on BlogTalkRadio, I like to read prayer requests sent in by listeners. I then ask everyone listening to pray for the intentions along with me. Last week I received the following request on my Facebook fan page:

Please pray for a young man Billy 22yrs., in Ireland, who has had a lung transplant and is now in a coma…that his lungs will be healed and that he will make a complete recovery to full health, in Jesus’ Name. Thank you and God bless.

In addition to remembering Billy in my daily prayers and asking my Facebook friends to pray, I read the intention on my radio program. Tonight I received the following email:

Hi Gary, Thank you for the prayers of all your listeners on your radio program for Billy in Ireland (22yrs) who had the lung transplant. He has made a remarkable recovery. Praise the Lord! The doctors are amazed. They had called the family around his bedside as he lay in a coma. Prayer was their only hope. The day after I posted the message at your invitation to submit petitions for prayer to broadcast on your radio program, Billy was taken off the ventilator and today 15 Jan. he is sitting up in bed! His family say a big ?Thank You? to all who prayed for Billy?s recovery. The Lord has heard and answered our prayer. God bless you.

I just returned from the adoration chapel, where every Saturday I pray before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. I ask for people to submit their intentions and join me in prayer from wherever they are. It has become a very special part of my work at Following The Truth. I’ve discovered that there are so many people carrying very heavy crosses and are very much in need of healing and God’s peace.

From time to time, we all doubt the Lord’s ability to work miracles in our lives. Sadly, many times He does perform miracles, but we miss them because our prayers aren’t answered in the way we expect. When we hear stories like Billy’s, we are reminded that the healing power of Jesus Christ is just as alive in 2011 as it was 2,000 years ago!

What is important to remember is that God hears and ANSWERS all prayers. Sometimes he says “yes”, sometimes He says “no”, and sometimes He says “not yet”. We also have to remember that the Lord gives us what we need (for our eternal salvation), not necessarily what we want. If you have needs in your life, share them with the Lord. Don’t ever feel bad about bothering Him. Jesus wants you to talk to Him all the time. However, if your requests don’t get answered in the way you want, trust that the Lord knows what is best. And if your requests do get answered in the way that you want, don’t forget to say “Thank you”!

Thank You, Jesus, for Billy’s recovery. Just as when You healed the paralytic in Capernaum (Mk 2:1-12, Lk 5:17-26), let us all “glorify God and be filled with awe”!

The First Reading from today’s Mass reminds us that Jesus “gets” what we are going through. While being God, He also took on flesh and became man. He understands what it’s like to be tempted by the devil and by the allurements of the world. He experienced humiliation, rejection and suffering. In His hour of greatest need, He was deserted by those closest to Him. Ultimately, He was murdered by the very people that He came to save.

By His life, death and resurrection, Christ showed us that the Cross is the way to eternal life. Each of us have crosses in our lives, some worse than others. No matter what kind of cross you are carrying today, take comfort in the fact that Jesus knows what you are going through. What may seem like pain and agony is your personal way to Heaven. By all means, ask the Lord to give you the graces to carry your personal cross. Feel free to ask Him to take it away, but accept His decision. Above all, don’t forget to unite your suffering with that of Jesus. By doing so, you will not only experience peace, but you will be helping Our Lord with His redemptive mission. What a privilege and honor!

Today’s feast of The Baptism of the Lord brings the Christmas Season to an end. Tomorrow, we resume the liturgical season referred to as Ordinary Time. Before shifting our focus away from Our Lord’s birth, I recommend that we spend a few minutes contemplating what He did for each of us. The Son of God became one of us, so that we can one day go to Heaven. This involved suffering, humiliation and rejection by those He came to save.

Despite being sinless, Jesus humbled Himself and submitted to John’s baptism of repentance. He did this to transform Baptism into a Sacrament and to fully become one of us. By acting in this way, he reminds us of importance of humility in our lives. Our Lord’s humility would continue throughout His public ministry, culminating with His death on a Cross.

Whatever humiliations or sufferings that we endure pale by comparison. Let’s ask Jesus for the help to willingly accept the humiliations that come our way and thank Him for becoming one of us so that we can become sons and daughters of God!

As we transition from the Christmas season (which ends on Sunday) into Ordinary Time and then to Lent, we experience a shift in focus that ranges from joy to sadness. Similar to how the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary are surrounded by the Joyful and Glorious Mysteries, we are constantly reminded that the life of a Christian consists of joys and sorrows. Looking at Our Lord’s life, we see that His most difficult and sad time was followed by the great happiness of His Resurrection.

Although it’s easier said than done, the secret to achieving peace is to to remain relatively unaffected by the external circumstances of our daily lives. If we truly trust in God’s providence, then we shouldn’t be overly sad when things don’t go our way. While that doesn’t mean that we can’t grieve at the death of a close friend or relative, it does mean that we can try to accept it as something that God allowed to happen. The same logic applies to an unexpected illness or job loss. A huge source of frustration for many of us is the inability to come to grips with the fact that the Lord does not base His Will on what will give us earthly happiness. Instead His Will is designed to help us to achieve our salvation. This sometimes means that we will be forced to endure suffering. While this is difficult, it goes along with being human. As Christians, we are blessed with the ability to unite our sufferings with those of Christ. If we lean on Him for help, our crosses will become lighter. Also, remembering that all earthly suffering will end one day (either in this life or the next) can bring us much peace.

If you’re struggling with difficult situations in your life, unite your sufferings with those of Christ, think about eternal life in Heaven, ask the Lord for His help, receive the Sacraments often and remember these important words:

One of the things I admire about the Apostle John is his directness. Many of us claim to love our faith, love God, love the Church, etc…but don’t like people who get on our nerves or boss us around, those who don’t take their faith seriously or those who have hurt us.

If we really love God, we must love everyone with no exceptions. Is it always easy? No way! However, the Lord doesn’t expect us to do it alone. Ask for His help and He won’t let you down. If we claim to love God, let’s make sure we’re telling the truth!

For Christmas this year, my wife gave me the recently published book, The Prayers & Personal Devotions Of Mother Angelica. Compiled by Raymond Arroyo, this book is a collection of Mother’s favorite prayers, some composed by her and others from her prayer books. Additionally, this book also features excerpts from her personal prayer journal. One of the most comforting things I’ve learned is that Mother Angelica had doubts and shortcomings, just like the rest of us! But even when faced with her personal “dark night of the soul”, she continued to pray – relying on her faith to keep her going. It is an excellent book and I recommend it to anyone who desires to grow closer to Christ.

The following prayer touched me a great deal. There are many days that I look at what lies ahead and I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the day. Mother has put my feelings into words and reminded me that it’s OK to lean on the Lord for help. I hope it helps you also…

The Prayers & Personal Devotions of Mother Angelica can be purchased online at http://ewtnreligiouscatalog.com/

It’s always easier to follow Christ when all is going well. When problems arise in our life, we often find ourselves questioning the Lord and even getting angry. How could He let my husband/wife get sick? How could He let me lose my job? How could He let my mother die?

As we begin the new year, let’s take a good look at our motives for following Christ. Are we looking to “feel good” or are we following Him out of love? If we are followers of Christ because we love Him, then it shouldn’t matter how we feel. We should thank Him for our crosses as well as our consolations. For by loving Our Lord and His cross, we will one day achieve our eternal reward!

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. Over 2,000 years ago, the Savior of the world was revealed to the magi. This represented the fact that Jesus was the savior of all people, not just the Israelites.

There are many people in the world who do not know Christ. Some may know facts about Him, but they don’t know Him. Contrary to our initial perception, not all of these individuals live in remote corners of the world. Unfortunately, many of them are Catholic and members of other Christian churches. Many of them are our family members, friends and co-workers.

If we know Jesus, it is up to us to spread the “Good News” to these individuals by our example and our words. As illustrated by the Epiphany, Jesus is the Savior of all people and needs to be shared with others. If we really love others, why would we want to keep Christ to ourselves?

One of the most important questions that a Christian can ask himself is, “Do I know Jesus?” It is something that every follower of Christ should ponder frequently. While most Christians know facts about the Lord, not all of them can honestly say that they know Him. As a cradle Catholic who attended Sunday Mass faithfully for all of my life, I can honestly say that I only recently got to know Him. While that may sound surprising, it is very common among Christians. How can you be sure that you actually do know Jesus?

Fortunately, we can find the answer very clearly in the Bible. St. John (the Apostle and Evangelist) couldn’t be more direct:

The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived. (1 Jn 2:3-6)

I spend a lot of time writing and speaking about the importance of following the teachings of the Catholic Church. At times, it gets a little tiring and I ask the Lord if I should back off a bit. However, it seems like every time I’m in this position, I run across someone who feels that Catholics can pick and choose the Church teachings that suit their personal set of beliefs. I hear that it’s optional to abstain from meat on Lenten Fridays or attend Sunday Mass, it’s acceptable to practice contraception or live together without being married. I hear Catholics say that all religions are the same or that they can attend Protestant services when they get bored with participating in Our Lord’s sacrifice at Holy Mass. Suddenly, I’m energized again because I realize that there is a serious lack of knowledge about the Catholic faith.

Although the Bible was written by humans, the Church teaches that God is its ultimate author. Therefore, God speaks to us when we read the Bible. Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church and gave her the authority to teach without error (Mt 16:18-19). He also instructed the Apostles (the first bishops) to baptize all nations and teach them to observe all that He commanded (Mt 28:18-20). That authoritative teaching continues to this day and will continue until the end of time.

Do you really know Jesus? According to St. John, the answer is simple. Do you follow the commandments of the Church founded by Christ? If so, you can be assured that you do indeed know Him. If not, I recommend that you take another look at what John has to say. Is it harsh? You bet…but these words come straight from the Bible and they aren’t mine, they are God’s: