Daily Positive Thread for Monday

gloriajean — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 07:31:58 GMT

S C R I P T U R E S F O R T H E D A Y

God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother's authority he
confirms over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and
preserves himself from them. ~Sirach 3:2-6, 14-16

Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing
with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against
another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on
love, that is, the bond of perfection. ~Colossians 3:12-21

He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and
his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor. ~Luke 2:41-52

Scriptures: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/

M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y

Today we celebrated the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We
recall the love and respect that is necessary to live as a Holy Family ...
and the faith that draws us together and strengthens us. We can rely on God
to bring us through the challenges of family life. We can seek His strength
too, to help us live loving and compassionate lives, and to give us the
courage to forgive and ask forgiveness when we need it. God has all we need
to help us live together in peace and love as a Holy Family.

P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y

I pray that I may live with respect and love and to do all I can to build a
Holy Family around me. I pray that I may say I'm sorry when I need to and
forgive those who have harmed me. I pray for the patience to be a good
family member.

Greetings my friends! On this Holy Family Sunday which is always the Sunday after Christmas, my family used to meet years ago - until it got so hard with the snow storms etc. that they all decided to just have a family reunion in July and that's been working out for years very well attended. Also for some years now Linus' family met on this day - and now they, too, have decided to have a family reunion in July instead. Makes for us not having to go so much and just enjoy Christmas with our family.
Our next door neighbors invited us over for cards tomorrow night! Really looking forward to that! Today was a really nice, relaxing day for us - we both took a nap, he watched football, while I slept - I was so tired and it was wonderful we didn't have to go anywhere, but Mass. Now yesterday morning we didn't know that Mass was at 9 instead of the usual 10:30, and when we got there, people were leaving, so we went to St. Peter's Church, not far, and got there in time, it is the Church we got married in, the Church my parents belonged to for five years, and it brought back a lot of memories. This morning we went to our Church - St. Michael's and finally did get to see our new pastor, Fr. Vince. He seems very, very nice and funny, too. For the Gospel, Holy Family Sunday, he had all the kids come up to the altar and sit down and he read them all a story about Jesus in the manger and it was very good. The story was about a crippled sheep who couldn't go along with the others because of his leg, so he went to this stable and he was the first animal to see Jesus! I think I'm going to like Fr. Vince and we're going to meet him some day soon.
How blessed we are to have both young Fr. Matthew and Fr. Vince - he is 69.
Tomorrow morning Linus goes to Dr. Mike again - and Darla is coming for breakfast with us when he gets home. I'm making pancakes.
Looking forward to this.

Homily of the Day

December 26, 2010

Do You Know What You´re Sending and Receiving?
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

The Feast of the Holy Family

Sir 3:2-7, 12-14 / Col 3:12-21 / Mt 2:13-15, 19-23

A man left work on Friday afternoon, but instead of going home, he went partying with the boys and didn’t return till Sunday night. His wife was furious, and after a lengthy tirade finally said, “How would you like it, if you didn’t see me for two or three days?”

“I’d like it just fine!” he slurred. And that’s what happened. All day Monday, he didn’t see her even once. Tuesday and Wednesday passed without his seeing her. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, he caught just a glimpse of her as the swelling of his eyes started to go down.

+ + +

This is the Feast of the Holy Family. Whether we live alone or have a dozen faces gathered round our dinner table, we all belong to God’s big family. And like it or not, our ability to thrive, and indeed our salvation, depend on how well we learn to live in family.

We have immense power for bringing good and evil into each others’ lives. The simplest things we say and do can change the course of whole days or even years, sometimes poisoning them, sometimes enriching them immeasurably. And the same is true in reverse. The people we choose to connect with and the people we’re just thrown in with can change us, sometimes in major ways, for good or ill.

Our ability to change others and to be changed by them confronts us with two crucial questions. First, what are our words and deeds saying and doing to those around us? Are they saying, “I value you and I want to help you have a good life”? Or perhaps, “It’s survival of the fittest! Have a nice day if you can”? Are we becoming life-givers or life-robbers?

Secondly, what are we receiving from others? The question is not, what are folks saying and doing in our regard, but rather, what part of what they say and do are we taking in? Some of the folks around us are sending some pretty ugly stuff, but we don’t have to receive it and take it in. We can mark it “Return to Sender.” On the other hand, by their words and deeds, some folks are sending us some tremendously valuable gifts. Are we receiving those good gifts or are they being lost to us forever?

Deciding what to send to others by who we are and what we do, and deciding what to receive from others, are crucial decisions that shape our very center and then feed back into our family and every one of our friendships. In giving us the power to make those decisions, God has given us a share in His own power to create what is good, true, and beautiful.

Use that power wisely, and your life will be good, true, and beautiful, and you’ll die without regrets!

If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
So God sent us a Savior.
Merry Christmas

Christmas Prayer

I said a Christmas prayer for you
Because the season's near
I didn't ask for riches
But for gifts so much more dear.

I asked for joyful gatherings
With your family all around
And for carols to inspire you
With their old familiar sound.

I asked for quiet moments
In your heart on Christmas morn
For a special time to celebrate
The Savior who was born.

I asked for friends to send their best
That you might know they care
I asked for peace and love and hope
And I know God heard my prayer.

(Nancy Brummett)

Will the Christ Child Come?

One Christmas we had an interesting experience that I would like to share.
Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there
was a knock at the door. We opened it to find a small package with a beautiful
ceramic lamb inside. We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days
of Christmas were beginning! We waited excitedly for the next night's surprise
and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realize that
the lamb was part of a nativity set.

Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive.
Each was exquisitely beautiful. The kids kept trying to catch the givers
as we slowly built the scene at the manger and began to focus on Christ's birth.

On Christmas Eve, all the pieces were in place, all but the Baby Jesus.
My 12-year-old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began
to devise all kinds of ways to trap them. He ate dinner in the minivan,
watching and waiting, but no one came. Finally, we called him in to go through
our family's Christmas Eve traditions. But before the kids went to bed, we
checked the front step - - no Baby Jesus! We began to worry that my son
had scared them off. My husband suggested that maybe they dropped the Jesus
and there wouldn't be anything coming. Somehow, something was missing that Christmas Eve.

There was a feeling that things weren't complete. The kids went to bed and before
I went to bed, I again checked to see if the Jesus had come - - no, the doorstep was empty.
In our family, the kids can open their stockings when they want to, but they have to wait
to open any presents until Dad wakes up. So one by one they woke up very early and I
also woke up to watch them. Even before they opened their stockings, each child
checked to see if perhaps during the night the Baby Jesus had come.

Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd effect. At least it changed
my focus. I knew there were presents under the tree for me and I was excited
to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mind was the feeling of
waiting for the ceramic Christ Child. We had opened just about all of the presents
when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs of the tree.

He handed me a small package from my former visiting teaching companion.
This sister was somewhat less-active in the church. I had been her visiting teacher
for a couple of years and then, when she was asked to be a visiting teacher, she requested
to go with me. I had learned over time they didn't have much for Christmas, so that
their focus was on the children. It sounded like she didn't get many gifts to open,
so I had always given her a small package -- new dish towels, the next year's Relief
Society lesson manual -- not much, but something for her to open.

I was touched when at church on the day before Christmas, she had given me this
small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation. As I took
off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with gratitude for
knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in this giving me a gift. But as the
paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry. There in the small brown box was
the Baby Jesus! He had come!

I realized on that Christmas Day, that Christ will come into our lives in ways that
we don't expect. The spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one another.
We had waited and watched for Him to come, expecting the dramatic "knock at the door
and scurrying of feet" but He came in a small, simple package that represented service,
friendship, gratitude and love.

This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas
comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Savior. But we will most
likely find Him in the small and simple acts of love, friendship and service that we
give to each other. This Christmas I want to feel again the joy of knowing that Christ
is in our home. I want to focus on loving and serving. More than that, I want to open
my heart to Him all year that I may see Him again.

CHRISTMAS VISITATION
By Ariel Driz
December 21, 2009

"… and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they
pleased..." – Matthew 17:12

A speaker in one of our seminars challenged us to be more generous and
give more than usual. On top of this, he wants us to give with a
joyful spirit and expect to be blessed. It was almost Christmas season
then and I accepted the challenge willingly. My wife and I did it with
flying colors and the Lord blessed us as promised — tangibly and
intangibly. Thank God we responded to the call.

On Christmas Eve, I was driving with my wife and we made a full stop a
few meters away from an intersection. A band of street kids were
begging from vehicle to vehicle. Some of them were unruly and bullied
the other kids as they begged. This caused them to practically gang up
on us and hit the door of my vehicle while one of them was riding on
our sideboard. I was irritated! Instead of giving as I had resolved to
do, I ignored them and angrily changed lane so that they would get
off. I opened the door and even scolded one of them.

Was my anger justified? I guess so. But did I act as Jesus would? No.
I should have been more generous with my patience. After all, they're
just kids. I failed to recognize Him who visited me.
He resides in each one… even in the difficult ones.

REFLECTION:
Am I conscious of the Lord's presence in each person? Am I generous?
Am I generously patient? Lord, thank You for reminding me of Your constant presence. Let me recognize Your time of visitation. Amen.

Persons are gifts!
At least Jesus thought so:
“Father I want those you have given me to be where I am.”

Persons are gifts which the Father sends to me wrapped!
Some are wrapped very beautifully” They are very attractive when I first see them. Some are in very ordinary wrapping paper others have been mishandled in the mail. Once in a while there is a “Special Delivery”.
Some persons are gifts which come very loosely wrapped; others very lightly.

But wrapping is not the gift!
It’s so easy to make this mistake. Sometimes the gift is very easy to open up.
Sometimes I need other to help. Is it because they are afraid?
Does it hurt? Maybe they have been opened up before and thrown away.
Could it be that the gift is not for me?

I am a person! Therefore I am a gift too:
A Gift to myself first of all. The Father gave myself to me!
Have I ever really looked inside the wrappings?
Perhaps I have never accepted the gift that I am.
Could it be that there is something else inside the wrappings other than what I think? Maybe I’ve never seen the wonderful gift that I am.
Could the father’s gift be anything but beautiful? I love the gifts which those who love me give to me. Why not this gift from the Father?

And I am a Gift to other persons!
Am I willing to be given by the father to others?
A person for others like the Man for others?
Do others have to be content with the wrappings…
never permitted to enjoy the gift?
Every meeting of persons is an exchange of gifts!
But a gift without a giver is not a gift. It is a thing without relationship to one who gives or to one who receives.

Friendship is a relationship between persons who see themselves as they really are!
Gifts of the father to each for others-sisters, brothers. A friend is a gift not just for me, but to others through me. When I keep my friend - possess him or her – I destroy his or her “Gift-ness”. If I save his or her life for me, I lose it.
If I lose it for others, I save it.

Persons are gifts, gifts received and gifts given….like the Son!

Closing prayer will be for Carmela:
Dear Lord Jesus, we hear that Carmela is worse - we all come together as a group surrounding her with love and ask your blessing of healing upon her, and Mary, our dear Blessed Mother, please do intercede for us for our dear friend, Carmela.
Hail Mary, Full of Grace! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayer for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Good night everyone - see you tomorrow!

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Daily Positive Thread for Monday