Hello my friends! Hope you all got spiritually fed today at your Mass, Services etc. we did, our new deacon gave a great homily on today's Gospel. He's doing a great job! His family was right in the front pew there! He has a son who's in the Seminary, his oldest child, and he's on his way to become a priest. When home he's very active in our Parish, lectors and is a Eucharistic Minister. I always thought he had a vocation to the priesthood! We served coffee and donuts again after Mass and I talked to his Mother. She is so proud he wants to be a priest. His picture was in the Catholic Visitor paper for our Diocese we get by-weekly, with all the new seminarians. I wasn't surprised to see him there. Met a new lady who served with us - her name is Rose and she's my age. The rest of the day was restful and I got a nap in while he's watching football. Here's wishing you all a great positive week - take care of yourselves always! Praying for all your intentions.
It is you, not where you are or what you have, that makes the difference.
Lord, may I always blossom where I am planted.
S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y
"I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God
will hear me." ~Micah 7:7
M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y
We can admit our own helplessness. God will hear our prayer. Our own need
can be recognized, then we can ask God for the strength to meet that need.
But once that need is recognized, our prayer is heard above all the music of
heaven. It is not theological arguments that solve the problems of the
questing soul, but the sincere cry of that soul to God for strength and the
certainty of that soul that the cry can be heard and answered.
P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y
I pray that I may be humble enough to realize my need and ask for help. I
pray that I may fell certain that God will hear and answer my prayer.
The I Am´s of Jesus
JOHN 6:35
JESUS SAID: "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE;
anyone who comes to me shall not hunger, and anyone who believes in me shall
never thirst.
JOHN 8:12
JESUS SAID: "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD; anyone who follows me will not
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
JOHN 8:58
JESUS SAID: "Truly, truly I say to you, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM."
JOHN 10:11
JESUS SAID: "I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep."
JOHN 11:25
JESUS SAID: "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE; anyone who believes in me,
even though they die, yet shall they live."
JOHN 14:6
JESUS SAID: "I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE; no one comes to the
Father, but by me."
JOHN 15:1
JESUS SAID: "I AM THE VINE,
and my Father is the Vinedresser."
JOHN 18:4
"Then Jesus, knowing all that would befall Him, came forward and said to
them, "Whom do you seek?" They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." JESUS SAID
to them, "I AM". When He said to them "I AM," They drew back and fell to the
ground.
Believing in People
A wealthy businessman in a small town had signs
printed and placed all over the town. They stated
that if any person in the town who owed debts,
would come to his office on a certain day between
nine and twelve in the morning, he would pay
those debts. Naturally, that promise was the talk
of the town. But very few believed it. They
thought there was a catch somewhere.
The day came. The business man sat in his office
at nine. By ten, no one had come. At eleven, a
man was seen walking up and down outside,
occasionally looking up at the office door.
Finally he seemed to take courage and open it. He
put his head in and asked, "Is it true that you
will pay any person's debt?"
"That's right," the rich man replied. "Are you in
debt?" "I certainly am," the caller answered. "Do
you have along the bills and statements to prove
it?"
The visitor produced the documents and the
business man wrote out a check covering all of
them. Before twelve o'clock, two other men came
and had their debts paid. People outside could
not believe it. But now there was no time left to
have their bills paid.
If people don't believe in the goodness of man,
how can they believe in the goodness of God?
TAKE TIME OUT FOR TEN THINGS...
Take time out to work ~
It is the price of success.
Take time out to think ~
It is the source of power.
Take time out to play ~
It is the secret of youth.
Take time out to read ~
It is the foundation of knowledge.
Take time out to worship ~
It is the highway of reverence.
Take time out to help and enjoy friends ~
This is the source of happiness.
Take time out to love ~
It is the one sacrament of life.
Take time out to dream ~
It hitches the soul to the stars.
Take time out to laugh ~
It is the singing that eases life's load.
Take time out to pray ~
It helps bring Christ near and washes the
dust of earth from our eyes.
--Author Unknown
Prayer to Christ the King (Feast Day Today)
Christ Jesus, I acknowledge You King of the universe. All that has been
created has been made for You. Make full use of Your rights over me.
I renew the promises I made in Baptism, when I renounced Satan and all his
pomps and works, and I promise to live a good Christian life and to do all
in my power to procure the triumph of the rights of God and Your Church.
Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer You my efforts in order that all hearts may
acknowledge Your Sacred Royalty, and that thus the Kingdom of Your peace may
be established throughout the universe. Amen.
Meditations by Padre Pio
Why is there evil in the world? Listen carefully. There is a mother who is
embroidering. Her son sitting on a low stool sees her work, but upside down.
He sees the knots of the embroidery; the tangled threads, and says: "Mother,
what are you doing? Your work is not at all clear?"
Then the mother lowers the embroidery frame and shows the right side of her
work. Each color is in its place and the variety of threads form a
harmonious design.
So, we are seeing the reverse side of the embroidery. We are sitting on the
low stool.
Homily of the Day
November 23, 2014
Christ the King
by Food For Thought
Today’s feast is quite unique. We proclaim Christ as our King. Most of the
kings we read about in history are not ideal leaders. Majority of them are
even tyrants. As the British statesman, Lord Acton puts it, “Power corrupts
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Today’s only kings are ceremonial figures such as the king of England or the
king of Sweden. Monarchy and kingdoms ruled by kings with absolute power as
a political system are a thing of the past.
However, we continue to cherish the notion of king itself, purified of its
political meaning of absolute power. Today, we speak of kings and queens in
the context of beauty pageant and fiestas, or to signify excellence in
beauty or quality of certain products. It is as if we
could not give up the idea that somehow, when someone has reached a certain
level of excellence, he is considered a king. In other words, we have
transposed the notion of royalty from politics to economics, finance,
entertainment, fashion, sports, etc. In all these areas of life, we give the
title king spontaneously to a person who is supreme, or highly successful in
some field or to something supreme in its class.
The reason for the obstinate use of the term “king,” when there are no more
kings around, is probably that deep inside our hearts, we are still
searching for a real king – that is, for someone, who would finally deserve
to be our king, because precisely he would be “supreme in his class,” – a
real role model. We yearn for someone we could trust absolutely. We long for
a king, who would wield absolute power without ever abusing it. In other
words, we dream of a man who would be utterly trustworthy, who would be
utterly loving, wise, understanding, and good.
Today’s Gospel reading shows forth such a man. He is Jesus of Nazareth. He
fulfills all the conditions of an ideal king.
First of all, he is king by birth and origin, being the very Son of God.
Secondly, he can never be dethroned or impeached, since he now reigns at the
right hand of God forever.
Thirdly, his power can never be tyrannical, because it is not imposed; it is
merely proposed, not imposed to anyone who wants to accept it freely.
Fourthly, his power is based only on self-sacrificial love.
Consequently, this king has no armed forces, no political party, no
propaganda machine, no Department of Dirty Tricks, no police, no judiciary,
and no prison. His only weapon, if we may call it such, is truth – that is,
the revelation of what God is, a loving Father for all of mankind. As Jesus
himself says, “The reason I was born, the reason why I came into the world,
is to testify to the truth.” And because of this, he can only appeal to
those who are interested in the truth – those, who have committed their
lives to honesty in all its forms, to righteousness, to fidelity. That is
why Jesus says, “Anyone committed to the truth hears my voice.”
When Jesus was saying these words, he was standing in judgment before
Pontius Pilate, looking in Pilate’s eyes, appealing for him to choose the
truth. Pilate did not. Instead of listening to the voice of his conscience,
the voice of truth, he chose to silence Jesus and his
conscience by condemning Jesus to death. But Jesus rose from the dead and
now speaks to each one of us. And each one of us must decide for himself or
herself whether or not Jesus is his or her king.
Now, that is a crucial decision, and a difficult one. For Jesus warns us,
“My kingdom is not of this world.” Naturally, Jesus wants to reign in this
world, that is, in every area of life (business,
politics, social affairs, education, entertainment, sports, etc.). But he
wants to reign through our free acceptance of his values, not through the
means of the world (money, power, fame, violence, hatred, lust, and
oppression). To choose him as my king means that we give up making ourselves
the center of things and that, instead, we make him the center of things. Do
I want him to be my king day after day, at work, in my family, at school, in
my recreational activities, in my
business? Today Jesus is looking straight into my eyes and asking me, “Do
you want me to be your king?” What shall I answer him?
Each one of us is in the process of deciding whether we’ll accept God’s love
or reject it. Each one of us is in the process of deciding whether we’ll
live happily with God forever and ever. The choice is yours. How will your
story end?
Read past editions of Homily of the Day here:
http://www.catholicexchange.com/morearticles?tid62
Mother Teresa Said...
I believe that God has created each soul, that that soul belongs to God,
and that each soul has to find God in its own lifetime and enter into His
life.
That is what is important.
All of us need to seek God and find Him.
Blogs & Forums
