Hello my friends! What a beautiful day God gave us here today!! Got a lot done again, it was a joy being out picking raspberries and still some beans today as the sun was out and it was nice and warm! Loved it! I know that won't be for long. Cleaned some cupboards today, and re-arranged. Supper was something left over that I had frozen, and I added fresh cucumber salad, sliced tomatoes, and cooked cabbage (ours) and it all turned out great! Now the dishwasher is running, a full load. In cleaning though, I was up high with my step ladder, and I found a green color little jar that I had used for making frosting green when I made Christmas Cookies, well, that little bottle had green all over it, and what a mess! I got green hands, my dish cloth got green, wow! Is that ever hard to get off!! So I used bleach, soaked the two dish clothes in there and my hands, it helped a lot. I threw that away and will never buy it again, it's green food coloring. Don't even know how old it is, but it's gone! Ever clean up high and find stuff there that is all obsolete and ready to throw out? Glad I did! Now that cupboard over the fridge is all clean and empty! Tomorrow first thing in the morning at 8 I have my teeth cleaned - not the best way to start out the day. Oh yes! Got a special blessing after Mass today - I was thinking of asking Father Mark to pray over me for healing of that bladder problems, and after Mass, he announced that he'll give the anointing for anyone who wants it! Most of the Church wants it! and what a blessing!!! I had no idea he was going to do that this morning. Here I go ramblin' on and on again!!!! So many blessings!!!!! Praised be Jesus Christ!!
Talent is the ability to do easily that which others find difficult.
Lord, help me to recognize and value the abilities that I have
been given and use them gratefully.
Scripture for the day:
"Peter approached Jesus and asked him, 'Lord, if my brother sins
against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?' Jesus
answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."
~Matthew 18:21-22
Meditation for the day:
When we call on God in prayer to help us overcome weakness, sorrow,
pain, discord and conflict, God never fails in some way to answer our
appeal. When we are in need of strength for ourselves or for the help
of some other person we can call on God in prayer. The power we need
can come simply, naturally, and forcefully. We can pray to God not
only when we need help, but also just to commune with God. The spirit
of prayer can alter an atmosphere from one of discord to one of
reconciliation. It can raise the quality of thought and word and
bring order out of chaos.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may bring peace where there is discord. I pray that I
may bring conciliation where there is conflict.
WHY ME?
--By Erin Broussard
When I hated you, you loved me. When I did you wrong, you did good unto me.
When I gave up, you came along and picked me up. Now all I can say is thank
you. Now all I can wonder is why me?
When I drank to much, you put me in a treatment center. When I was
promiscuous, you protected me from disease. When I judged others, you showed
me my need for forgiveness. Now all I can say is thank you. Now all I can
wonder is why me?
In my sins I spit on you and mocked you, In my rage I nailed you to a tree
In your pure love you didn't spit back, You just looked up and prayed for
me. Now all I can say is thank you. Now all I can wonder is why me?
The answer is as simple as your beloved name Jesus, the Lord, who saves me
from my shame. Abba, the one who makes it rain on me again. Holy Spirit, the
one who heals me and makes amends.
Why me? because i'm bad, and I need you. Why me? because I failed, and
couldn't save myself. Why me? because YOU WANTED TO, and that's good enough
for me.
Daily Prayers are Heaven's Stairs
The "Stairway" rises "Heaven high"-
The "steps" are dark and steep,
In weariness we climb them
As we stumble, fall and weep...
And many times we falter
Along the "path of prayer"
Wondering if You hear us
And if You really care...
Oh, give us some assurance,
Restore our faith anew,
So we can keep on climbing
The "Stairs of Prayer" to You-
For we are weak and wavering,
Uncertain and unsure,
And only meeting You in prayer
Can help us to endure
All life's trials and troubles
It's sickness, pain and sorrow,
And give us strength and courage
To face and meet tomorrow!
- Author Unknown
Homily of the Day for Sunday
September 12, 2009
Give It Away If You Want It to Be Yours
Is 50:5-9 / Jas 2:14-18 / Mk 8:27-35
A very nervous young couple were standing at the altar of their parish
church, waiting to pronounce their marriage vows. The bride was pale, the
groom was shaking, and both had forgotten everything they’d practiced at the
rehearsal. Finally the moment arrived, and the priest asked the big
question: “Do you, James, take Heather here present to be your lawful wife?”
With a shaky voice the groom responded, “I do???”
“Nice try, young man,” said the priest. “Now, could you try it without the
question mark?”
+ + +
In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus is urging us to try life without the question mark.
He’s pleading with us not to settle for half a life, but to be fully
invested and hold nothing back. Listen to what he says: “Whoever would save
his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save
it.” He’s warning us about our ingrained habit of hedging our bets and
holding back, keeping our eye on the nearest exit, and always making sure we’ve
got a way out.
Now that’s a great survival strategy for investors, poker players, and the
Mafia, but it’s a recipe for failure at the core of life. For if our real
life work is to help one another grow into masterpieces, then nothing less
than our best efforts will do. Nothing less than investing everything we’ve
got in building up God’s kingdom within us and around us. To let our fears
cause us to withhold any part of ourselves from our life’s work is a recipe
for lifetime failure, sadness, and isolation. Holding tight to what we’ve
already got is a sure formula for dying from the inside out.
Jesus is telling us we have an alternative — losing our lives in order to
save them. It seems a strange paradox, but if we’ve been paying attention,
we’ve probably already discovered a bit of how it works.
Just one example: At times we’ve all had the experience of connecting
intensely with someone we trust. As we talked to that person and listened,
it was as if the whole rest of the world fell away and ceased to exist. We
forgot about ourselves, our image, how we looked, and whether we were
hungry. For a few moments we gave our whole attention, we gave away our
whole self to the other. And, in return for our gift, we found that we had
become more on the inside.
The pattern repeats itself in every part of our life: When we give our best
self into any moment, into any interaction, and hold nothing back and let
all that is secondary fall away, we find to our surprise that we become
more, much more. It is that “something more” that Jesus wants for us.
So let us pray for one another that we learn to give away our lives from the
inside — give it all away — that we may have real life in abundance now and
into eternity! Amen.
Mother Teresa Said...
"True obedience is a genuine act of love.
Obedience makes us practice the other virtues.
It likens us to martyrs,
for it is a much greater martyrdom to persevere
in obedience all through life
than to die in a moment by a stroke of the sword."
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE INSIDE
I remember reading a story once about a man who was exploring some caves by
the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of
hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled up some clay and left
them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued
the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him.
As he strolled along the beach, to pass the time, he would throw the clay
balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw.
He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked
open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone. Excited, the man
started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar
treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay
balls he had left, then it struck him.
He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the
clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of
thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have had tens of thousands, but
he just threw it all away.
You know sometimes, it's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe
even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like
much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we
discount it; we see that person as less important than someone more
beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy.
But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that
person. There is a treasure hidden in every one of us. We are wonderfully
made. Not just our physical bodies, our spiritual selves, which are
sometimes hidden from others by the *earthen vessel*
But if you take the time to get to know that person, and if you ask the
Spirit to show you that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to
peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile,
nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to
one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to
trust him with his friendship.
-- Author Unknown
GOD IN THE ORDINARY
Author Unknown
Once upon a time, there was a far-away land that was ruled by a vicious
king. His iron hand reached into every corner of his subjects' lives. Every
corner - except one. Try as he might, he couldn't destroy their belief in
God.
In his frustration, he finally summoned his advisors and asked them: "Where
can I hide God so the people will end up forgetting about him?"
One suggested hiding God on the dark side of the moon. This idea was
debated, but was voted down because the advisors feared that their
scientists would one day discover a way to travel into space travel and God
would be discovered again.
Another suggested burying God in the deepest part of the ocean. But there
was the same problem with this idea, so it was voted down.
One idea after another was suggested and debated and rejected. Until finally
the oldest and wisest advisor had a flash of insight. "I know," he said,
"why don't we hide God where no one will ever even think to look?" And he
explained, "If we hide God in the ordinary events of people's everyday
lives, they'll never find him!"
And so it was done. And they say people in that land are still looking for
God - even today.
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