Daily Positive Thread for Friday

gloriajean — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 05:08:56 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:

"Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all
times." ~Psalm 106:3

Meditation for the day:

Life is not a search for happiness. Happiness is a by-product of living
the right kind of life, of doing the right thing. We need not search
for happiness. We can search for right living and happiness can be our
reward. Life is sometimes a march of duty during dull, dark days. But
happiness can come again, as God's smile of recognition of our
faithfulness. True happiness is the by-product of a life well lived.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may not seek happiness but seek to do right. I pray that
I may not seek pleasure so much as the things that bring true happiness.

Peace to you, my friends! Hope you all had a great day today. Our day was
again warm, and enjoy these nice, warm days as long as we can. Yesterday
was a record breaker here - it got up to the upper 80's and for October
that's wonderful!!! Well friends, Sister LaDonna, my sister, took off this
morning for her trip to Med. and I just finished talking to my cousin who
made that trip years ago, that no, she's not there yet. There plane
transfers and running to catch the next plane etc. and long plane trips and
with a sore butt from falling hard on it yesterday she must be absolutely
miserable! I pray God heals her so she can enjoy her blessed trip. She
called me this morning to let me know she got my card and the $20.00 I sent
her for the trip.
She plans on buying her sister's Rosaries for gifts. My cousin tells me
that mountain she plans on climbing is steep and that a lady who was right
above her in climbing it, fell and broke her ankle - so let's pray hard that
nothing else bad happens to her - she has had her share of bad luck lately -
that's for sure! Thanks for caring and praying!! We went to Mass at the
Cathedral at noon today - offered up the Mass for her. Tonight we had our
Bible Study on the book of James - Jeff Cavins work books and videos at
Church - very, very good and much to learn!

Homily of the Day

October 6, 2011

Do More Than Just
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Mal 3:13-20 / Lk 11:5-13

Life is fleeting, and as we watch the years pass by ever faster and faster,
we can grow impatient and can even fall victim to despair: Why is life so
hard? I try to do the right things, so why don’t I have more to show for my
efforts? Why do cheaters always prosper? Does God really know or care what’s
going on? What kind of friend is God? After all this time, what reason do I
have for believing that virtue really pays?

The prophet Malachi summed up those fears and frustrations when he quoted
some of his own contemporaries: “It is vain to serve God; and what do we
profit by keeping his command?” That is surely the way it seems at times.
And when those times come, we need to have an answer that is deeply etched
in our soul, an answer that comes from the inside.

That answer won’t be there, on the inside, if we’ve been living our life
totally on the outside. If our “spirituality” has consisted of “getting our
visa stamped,” just showing up at church and putting in our time, then we
won’t have come to know the Lord, we won’t have come to see the world
through his eyes, and there will be no answers and no spiritual power within
us.

If on the other hand, we’ve come to know not only the words but the Lord who
gives life and meaning to the words, then when the inevitable doubts and
challenges come, we’ll know the truth on the inside and no words will need
be spoken.

When the day comes, that’s where you want to be. So get to know him now, on
the inside. You’ll be glad you did every day of your life.

OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY

ON OCTOBER 7, the first Sunday of October in the year 1571, Don Juan of
Austria gained his famous naval victory over the Turks at Lepanto. In
thanksgiving for this event, which he attributed to the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin through the recitation of the Holy Rosary, St. Pius V
instituted an annual feast under the title of Our Lady of Victory. His
immediate successor, Gregory XIII, changed the title to that of the Rosary,
and granted its Office to all churches in which there was an altar dedicated
to Our Lady of the Rosary.

In 1716, the army of the Emperor Charles VI, under Prince Eugene, gained a
remarkable victory over the Turks near Belgrade, on the Feast of Our Lady of
the Snows, at a time when the members of the Society of the Holy Rosary were
offering solemn prayers in Rome. Soon after, the Turks were forced to raise
the siege of Corcyra. Clement XI, in memory of this, extended the feast of
the Most Holy Rosary to the Universal Church. Benedict XIV caused an account
of all this to be inserted into the Roman Breviary, and Leo XIII raised the
feast to the rank of a feast of the second class. He also added the Litany
of Loreto the invocation: Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.

In 1961, the title of this feast became: Our Lady of the Rosary.

According to a venerable tradition, the devotion of the Holy Rosary was
revealed to St. Dominic by the Blessed Virgin.

PRAYER: God, fill us with Your grace. We know the Incarnation of Your Son by
the message of an Angel. Through the intercession of Mary may we obtain the
glory of the resurrection through Christ's Passion and Cross. Amen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: Marian Year Celebration, Family Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Victory
Camp on Sunday, May 29th, 1988 at 2:30 p.m. (Article written by Fr. Sylvain
Casavant)

A Miracle of the Rosary - A Promise Fulfilled
Approximately two years ago, my two elderly great-aunts asked me for
assistance because they were failing in body and mind and had no one to help
them. I agreed to help, and it was a difficult task because they sometimes
were confused and even hostile. They were family and I loved them, so I did
my best.

My aunts were very devoted to the Mass and to the rosary. They said the
rosary daily. Sometimes I would call in the afternoon to check on them and
they would be in the midst of the rosary.

"Can you call back later, honey?" my Aunt Jo would softly ask. Having been
away from the church for about twenty-five years, I was impatient and not
very sympathetic. But I would call back later as requested.

As time went on, My Aunt Jo grew more frail and weak and soon her sweet
little heart gave out. In the emergency room, the day she died, a doctor
explained that there was really nothing more to be done to prolong her life.
So I asked if we could have a private room, that she be made comfortable and
then I asked if there was a priest on hand. The doctor called the priest and
soon my aunt had received the Anointing of the Sick. A few hours later, she
died peacefully.

Six months later, my Aunt Helen, who had been living in a personal care home
near where I lived, fell and broke her hip. Surgery was performed and she
came through it well, considering she was 90 years old, but she soon
developed respiratory problems and one night, was rushed to the hospital
from the personal care home.

Someone from the hospital called to tell me that they had, in fact, revived
her and that if she had a living will, I should bring it to the hospital
immediately so that she wouldn't end up on unwanted life support. I did
bring the will and asked that the priest be called. This time, Aunt Helen
received the Anointing of the Sick, which she would not have received if
they had had her living will the first time she arrested.

A few days later she died peacefully in the same hospital. Both my aunts'
funerals were held in St. Thomas More Church in a suburb of Pittsburgh. They
loved their church and had attended Mass there for many years. I felt an
immediate connection with their church and soon found myself attending Mass
there and reunited with my faith.

One day a friend presented me with a small pamphlet on the rosary, which
included the promises Our Lady made to anyone who would say the rosary
faithfully. The one that took my breath away was that she would assist the
faithful at the hour of death and they would not be without the sacraments.

It occurred to me with the forcefulness of a lightning bolt that I had been
the agent of fulfilling Our Lady's promise to my aunts! They had never said
a word about calling a priest - they trusted in the message and I took care
of the arrangements.

Now, through this miracle, I am also devoted to the rosary and even plan to
visit Medjugorje someday. I attend Mass daily and have felt the powerful
change prayer has made in my life. So, in essence, my aunts have been the
spiritual agents in my life as well.

The Blessed Mother fulfills her promises mightily. I will always believe in
the miracle of the rosary.

LOOPHOLES FOR DETERMINED SINNERS
by Sharon Bouriaque

1. If you must envy, envy the woman who hugged the feet of the eternal God,
or envy the children He held in His arms.
2. If you must steal, steal more time away from your daily routine and spend
it with Jesus.
3. If you must murder, work on crucifying the "old man" who lives inside
each born-again believer. [Caution: The old reprobate is extremely hard to
kill and does not tend to stay dead very long.]

4. If you must lie, tell the "old man" he can do as he pleases today.
5. If you must be a man of strife, put on the whole armor of God and
remember that we war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
6. If you must "get high" be intoxicated with the Holy Spirit.
7. If you must fear, fear that within yourself which can cause you to fall.
8. If you must be angry, rage against those sin-weaknesses in yourself.
9. If you must covet, covet those things that be of God: love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
10. If you must hate, hate the works of the flesh: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness,
revellings, etc.
11. If you must be overly ambitious, reach for a star: " ... To him who
overcomes, I will give the Morning Star." Rev. 2:26 & 28.
12. If you must be lazy, lie down in His green pastures and walk beside His
still waters.
13. If you must be shameless, walk this earth boldly, having no shame of
your King or His gospel.
14. If you must be gluttonous, open your mouth wide for God to fill. Psalm
81:10
15. If you must be stubborn, trust in the Lord and you'll be as Mount Zion,
which cannot be removed, but which abides forever.
16. If you must be nosy, poke your nose into the gospel of Christ, which is
something angels desire to look into. I Peter 1:12

Tissue Alert!!!!!

A GOOD-BYE KISS

By Thomas Charles Clary

The Board Meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up and
jostled the table, spilling his coffee over his notes. "How
embarrassing. I am getting so clumsy in my old age." Everyone had a
good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories of our most
embarrassing moments. It came around to Frank who sat quietly
listening to the others. Someone said, "Come on, Frank. Tell us your
most embarrassing moment." Frank laughed and began to tell us of his
childhood.

"I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved the
sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea.
He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the
family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his Mom and Dad
and the other kids that were still at home." He looked at us and
said, "I wish you could have met my Dad. He was a big man, and he was
strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch.
When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear
his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. His rain
hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my Mother
washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish." Frank's
voice dropped a bit. "When the weather was bad he would drive me to
school. He had this old truck that he used in his fishing business.
That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle down the
road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive toward
the school, I would shrink down into the seat hoping to disappear.
Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would belch
a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like
everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean
over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good
boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old, and
my Dad would lean over and kiss me good-bye!"

He paused and then went on, "I remember the day I decided I was too
old for a good-bye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a
stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I
put my hand up and said, 'No, Dad.' It was the first time I had ever
talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face.
I said, 'Dad, I'm too old for a good-bye kiss. I'm too old for any
kind of kiss.' My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his
eyes started to tear up. I had never seen him cry. He turned and
looked out the windshield. 'You're right,' he said. 'You are a big
boy....a man. I won't kiss you anymore.'" Frank got a funny look on
his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he
spoke. "It wasn't long after that when my Dad went to sea and never
came back. It was a day when most of the fleet stayed in, but not
Dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its
nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a gale and was
trying to save the nets and the floats."

I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks.
Frank spoke again. "Guys, you don't know what I would give to have my
Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek....to feel his rough old
face....to smell the ocean on him....to feel his arm around my neck.
I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have
told my Dad I was too old for a good-bye kiss."

May we never get too old to show our love..

The Value of the Rosary

Father Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican writes:

One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism:

"Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful
the Rosary was, it would be my end." The secret that makes this prayer so
effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed
to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a
meditation centered on Christ.

I write in addition to the above: Please enunciate each word of the Rosary
clearly and distinctly. Do not trample on the heels' of the words of anyone
with your words. Do not speak over the leader, if you are following, or the
responders if you are leading the Rosary. Remember that they also are having
a conversation with Mary Our Mother and it is not polite to speak when
someone else is speaking.

In the case of the public Rosary there are only two people speaking, the
Leader and the Responders. Each are speaking to their Mother and listening
carefully to her response within their hearts as they meditate on the scene
before them in their consideration of the mystery being spoken of and
interpreted and translated into their lives. Spread this powerful prayer of
exorcism, The Rosary which contains the Our Father, the Perfect Prayer,
prayed five times in the recitation of each set of the Rosary's Mysteries,
backed up by the powerful prayers of Our Mother who prays with us as we pray
53 Hail Mary's. The Eternal Father described to a group of us, through a
Visionary Friend of mine, what happens when we pray the Rosary, saying,
"When you pray Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now....., the
Blessed Mother comes instantly to your side to pray with you. And she does
not come alone. She brings angels with her. And not just one or two for she
is the Queen of Angels, so choirs of angels come with her. And she and Jesus
are joined at the heart and cannot be separated so she brings Jesus with
her. And Jesus cannot be separated from the Trinity so He brings the Father
and the Holy Spirit with Him.

And where the Holy Trinity is all of creation is and you are surrounded by
such beauty and light as you cannot imagine in this life. Your Mother comes
as Our Lady of Grace with her hands out-stretched. Rays of light emit from
her hands piercing your body, healing you and filling you with graces.

This is your inheritance which was poured out from the heart of Jesus on the
Cross, when the centurion pierced His Heart with the spear, into the only
pure vessel ready to receive such graces at that time,Your Mother.

Now as you pray the Rosary, or even just recite one Hail Mary, you receive
your portion of these graces."He also said at this time, "Anyone who goes to
our Blessed Mother Mary and prays the Rosary cannot be touched by Satan." Is
it any wonder that anyone who prays the Rosary from the heart is so blessed
and protected and powerful in their prayers for others?" Learn the Rosary!

Prayer For Relieving Stress And Anxiety
Lord, there has been too much change in my life recently, and I feel
overwhelmed. Because I try to be a responsible person, I sometimes forget
that it is unwise for me to allow my sense of duty to override my common
sense.

Lord, help me to allow myself more time to rest, relax, and pray. Guide me
toward something spiritual to read every day and a quiet time afterwards to
reflect on what I have read and how it pertains to my life. I truly want to
simplify my life and live more as Christ did. Help me remember that there
is no loss or problem I must face alone. You are always near, with Your
love and compassion to comfort me. Amen.

Good night everyone - Sweet Dreams and Good Morning to you who open this in
the mornings! May you all find many blessings throughout the day. God bless
you!!

topic Daily Positive Thread for Friday in Community Chat

Daily Positive Thread for Friday