Daily Positive Thread for Sunday

gloriajean — Sun, 15 May 2011 00:31:21 GMT

God is better to us than we deserve. Lord, thank you for the strength
You give in my trials and especially thank you for the trials You have
kept from my door.

Scripture for the day:

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come? My help
comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth." ~Psalm 121:1-2

Meditation for the day:

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come?" We can try
to raise our thoughts from the depths of some of the sordid, mean and impure
things of the earth to the heights of goodness, decency and beauty. We can
train our insight by trying to take the higher view. We can train it more
and more until distant heights become more familiar. The heights of the
Lord, the source of our help, can become nearer and dearer, and the false
values of the earth can seem farther away.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may not keep my eyes forever downcast. I pray that I may set
my sights on higher things.

Hello dear friends! Hope you day is going well. Linus is working today - I haven't been very busy, have another closet to clean tho, do you save all those paper bags, I mean gift bags? I have been, now I have to get rid of them all - too many piled up. It's been a cold day all day. Went out to get the mail with my jacket on! It's like Spring doesn't want to come and stay - but on the positive side, this is spring and soon it will be summer - it's going to happen. I don't have much to say now except my blessings are that I'm feeling a bit better today. Got a nice phone call from a friend and enjoyed that a lot, I also called Cherry today, nice visit with her too. Friends are such blessings along with family!
Peaceful day - no realtor calls - nothing.

Homily of the Day

May 14, 2011

The Sheep Gate
by Rev. Joseph A. Pellegrino, Diocese of St. Petersburg, FL

Acts 2:14a,36-41 / 1 Pt 2:20b – 25 / Jn 10:1-10

We have quite a large number of babies in our parish. It’s fun watching them
grow and seeing them take their first steps. Isn’t it amazing how fast they
can move. One minute you see them, the next minute they’re twenty feet away
getting into trouble. I remember giving friends the baby book called Baby
Taming. It has a chapter entitled, “Walking and other dangerous past-times”.
Keeping the baby from falling down steps, running into the pool, etc, is a
full time job of mothers and fathers. Every move the child makes is watched
with a parent close by to keep the child from hurting himself or herself.
The baby’s guard rail is the very body of his/her Mom or Dad.

During Jesus’ time, shepherds protected their flocks with their own bodies.
Many of the sheep pens were merely a wall of loosely connected rocks with a
single entrance. At night the shepherds slept across the entrance so that
their bodies became a protection for the sheep from their own straying or
from marauders. The body of the shepherds kept the sheep from wandering out
and getting hurt as well as kept animals and bandits from entering the pen
and attacking the sheep.

Jesus makes an allusion to this in the Gospel for today when He says that He
is the sheep gate. He is the sheep gate and we are the sheep. He is the
guardrail keeping others from hurting us and keeping us from hurting
ourselves. He is our protector. He is alive for us today, keeping us from
hurting ourselves and from being hurt by others.

The Body of Christ protects us. The early Church was very much aware that
the establishment of the Kingdom of God entailed a great war against the
forces of evil. The Book of Revelation speaks about this in grasping,
emotion- laden terminology. Armageddon would be the place of the final
defeat of the devil by the army of the Lord. Each liturgy, each celebration
of the Breaking of the Bread, each Mass, to use our terminology, was seen as
one of the victories of the power of the Lord over the onslaught of the
devil.

The Body of Christ protects us from the forces of evil.

This evil extends far more than our concepts of the devil. The Body of
Christ protects us from the evil of our society. We cannot receive the
Eucharist in a sincere manner unless we are willing to put up a fight
against all the evils of our society that are continually assaulting us. The
abuse of God’s gifts, the worship of materialism, the plunge into the abyss
of selfishness assault us every day. When we receive the Eucharist we are
seeking protection from our spiritual enemies. We are seeking protection
from the worst aspects of our own lives. The Body of Christ protects us.

Usually, the Lord protects us in far more subtle ways. Because His presence
is important in our lives, we stay away from situations where we know He
wouldn’t be found. This might include questionable places or people. Because
of our respect for the Lord, we put a tremendous faith in the leaders He has
given us. The longer I’ve been a priest, the deeper my understanding is of
all that I do not know. And the deeper my awareness is of how mistaken I can
be when I’m on my own. It is a blessing to be guided by our Bishop, and an
even greater blessing to be guided by the Bishop of Rome.

We need to put our faith in the Sheepgate, our Lord, and not believe what we
hear, read or see in the media. We can’t be getting our religion from TV,
the secular newspapers, or from so-called religious novels. Usually the
scripts, articles or novels are written by non-believers or people with an
anti-Catholic agenda. For example, a popular crime drama revolved around a
case being re-opened because a priest said he was no longer bound by a
confession he heard years earlier since the penitent had died. Wrong. Wrong.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The seal of the confession is permanent,
forever, or the priest is de facto excommunicated. This wasn’t just bad
research by the script writers, this was a subtle swipe at the sacrament
that Catholics put their absolute trust in, confession.

Many popular TV shows are concerned about the power of the devil. It is good
to be aware that the devil does have power, but this shouldn’t make us
anxious, or fill us with anxiety. We have the Divine Protector with us.
Christ is more powerful than the devil. Just as He won’t let us stray out of
the sheepfold and hurt ourselves, He won’t let the devil come in and hurt
us. The Body of Christ, the Eucharist is our defense. He is the sheepgate.
We are his flock.

There are fundamental questions of life: Who am I? Why do I exist? How can I
make a difference in the world? We cannot search for the answers to these
questions in some sort of innate sense of knowledge we think we have. Nor
can we trust in the garbage that we see on TV or read in the newspapers or
the latest fad religious novel. We just need to trust in our Lord and
Savior.

The theme of scripture this week is simple: Jesus is the sheep gate who
continually protects us, both from intruders and from ourselves.

Short Meditation

True Christian Approach

The true Christian approach is to believe that with God all things are
possible—
to pray by all means for the miracle
and at the same time to pray to accept and live whatever God allows.
The God we believe in is the God of the impossible.

from The Miracle of Lourdes: A Message of Healing and Hope

The Right Moves

One day, many years ago, when I was working as a psychologist at a
children's institution in England, an adolescent boy showed up in the
waiting room. I went out there where he was walking up and down restlessly.

I showed him into my office and pointed to the chair on the other side of my
desk. It was in late autumn, and the lilac b ush outside the window had shed
all its leaves. "Please sit down," I said.

David wore a black rain coat that was buttoned all the way up to his neck.
His face was pale, and he stared at his feet while wringing his hands
nervously. He had lost his father as an infant, and had lived together with
his mother and grandfather since. But the year before David turned 13, his
grandfather died and his mother was killed in a car accident. Now he was 14
and in family care.

His head teacher had referred him to me. "This boy," he wrote, "is
understandably very sad and depressed. He refuses to talk to others and I'm
very worried about him. Can you help?"

I looked at David. How could I help him? There are human tragedies
psychology doesn't have the answer to, and which no words can describe.
Sometimes the best thing one can do is to listen openly and sympathetically.

The first two times we met, David didn't say a word. He sat hunched up in
the chair and only looked up to look at the children's drawings on the wall
behind me. As he was about to leave after the second visit, I put my hand on
his shoulder. He didn't shrink back, but he didn't look at me either.

"Come back next week, if you like," I said. I hesitated a bit. Then I said,
"I know it hurts."

He came, and I suggested we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that we
played chess every Wednesday afternoon - in complete silence and without
making any eye contact. It's not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit that I
made sure David won once or twice.

Usually, he arrived earlier than agreed, took the chessboard and pieces from
the shelf and began setting them up before I even got a chance to sit down.
It seemed as if he enjoyed my company. But why did he never look at me?

"Perhaps he simply needs someone to share his pain with," I thought.
"Perhaps he senses that I respect his suffering." One afternoon in late
winter, David took off his rain coat and put it on the back of the chair.
While he was setting up the chess pieces, his face seemed more alive and his
motions more lively.

Some months later, when the lilacs blossomed outside, I sat starring at
David's head, while he was bent over the chessboard. I thought about how
little we know about therapy - about the mysterious process associated with
healing. Suddenly, he looked up at me.

"It's your turn," he said.

After that day, David started talking. He got friends in school and joined a
bicycle club. He wrote to me a few times ("I'm biking with some friends and
I feel great"); letters about how he would try to get into university. After
some time, the letters stopped. Now he had really started to live his own
life.

Maybe I gave David something. At least I learned a lot from him. I learned
how time makes it possible to overcome what seems to be an insuperable pain.
I learned to be there for people who need me. And David showed me how one -
without any words - can reach out to another person. All it takes is a hug,
a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, a sympathetic nature - and an ear
that listens.

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure
ecstasy.

When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.

Let others know when they've invaded your territory.

Take naps. Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and
pout... run right back and make friends.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you're not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them
gently.

Mother of Unity Prayer

Virgin Mary, Mother of the word incarnate, our Mother of renewed faith, hope
and love, instill in us your call to unity, so that we may be one in heart
with you and the most Holy Trinity. Show us your way to peace and bring us
to oneness in spirit and mind. All for the glory of God we pray. Unite us O
dear Mother of Unity, in a song of praise and adoration to our Father in
heaven, and make us one family, one faith, one love offering, to our Father
most high. Bring us home O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Unity. Amen.

Prayer given to a Holy Soul by Our Blessed Mother

Sustaining Faith

Faith is a decision that each person must make for herself, but community is
what sustains faith.

— from Parenting Your Adult Child

Closing prayer:

*~Thank-You God~*
(author: unknown)

***

Thank-You God for being my Comforter,
When my soul was weak
and the tears wouldn't stop,
When my heart was aching with pain
and I was searching for refuge,
When my spirit was broken beyond repair
and I felt lost and hopeless,
Thank-You for Joy.
Thank-You God for being my Teacher,
When I was ignorant to the Lessons of Life
and rebuked wisdom,
When I was rebellious against your principles
and rejected morality,
When I was hindered by obstacles
and blinded by self-doubt,
Thank-You for Knowledge.
Thank-You God for being my Spiritual Guide,
When I chose the wrong path to tread
and lost sight of my purpose,
When I didn't know the power of faith, prayer,
and forgiveness,
When I didn't know how to surrender all my
anger, fears, and temptations,
Thank-You for your Guidance.
Thank-You God for being my Counselor,
When I didn't know how to acknowledge nor
express my feelings,
When I chose Sin over Self-Love,
Thank-You for Revelations, Awakenings, & Resolutions.
Thank-You God

Good night everyone and sweet dreams to all! May you all have a very blessed Sunday!

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Daily Positive Thread for Sunday