Hello my friends! We're home again and it was a lovely time spent with my sisters - weather and roads were great!! Mass this morning was great at my sister, Ethel's Parish. Then from there we headed out to visit Erma at the Nursing Home, had a wonderful lunch with her there, her daughter arranged it all. Nice visit with all my sisters. All of them! Maybe the next time we'll all be together will be our Family Reunion the end of July. Before we left here, my daughters came too for lunch on Saturday before we left. That sure was nice. Ethel had some cough medicine with codine in it and I was taking that, and I am so much better now! Praise God!
When we want things around us to change, the best place to start in within
ourselves. Lord, grant that my frustrations can be a motivation to better
myself and my environment.
S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y
"Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10
M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y
Calmness is constructive of good. Agitation is destructive of good.
I need not rush into action. I can first "be still and know that God
is God." Then I can act only as God directs me through my conscience.
Only trust, perfect trust in God can keep me calm when all around me
are agitated. Calmness is trust in action. I can seek all things
which can help me to cultivate calmness. To attain material things,
the world learns to attain speed. To attain spiritual things, I can
learn to attain a state of calm.
P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y
I pray that I may learn how to have inner peace. I pray that I may be
calm, so that God can work through me.
Lenten Reflections by Bishop Robert Barron
Lent Day 12
God on the Mountain
Today at Mass, we hear about the Transfiguration of Jesus, which was of great importance for the early Christians.
The Transfiguration takes place on a mountain, and this right away places it in relation to the Old Testament. Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son on a mountain; Noah’s ark comes to rest on Mt. Ararat; the law is given to Moses on Mt. Sinai; Elijah challenges the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel; Jerusalem is built on the top of Mt. Zion.
Mountains are places of encounter with God.
In the New Testament, Jesus gives the law on a mountain: the Sermon on the Mount. He dies on Mt. Calvary. And, in a climactic moment in his public life, he brings three of his disciples to the top of a mountain—and there he is transfigured before them.
What is especially being stressed here is the manner in which Jesus represents the fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation, economically symbolized by the two figures with whom he converses: Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets.
When a Jew of Jesus’ time would speak of the Scriptures, he would use a shorthand: the Law and the Prophets. So in speaking to Moses and Elijah, in the glory of the Transfiguration, Jesus signals that he brings the law and the prophets to their proper fulfillment.
N.T. Wright, the great contemporary Biblical scholar, says that the Old Testament remained, fundamentally, a story without an ending, a promise without fulfillment…that is, until Jesus came into history.
Seven Simple Steps to Repentance
Have Mercy, Lord!
Seven Simple Steps toward Repentance
1. Every evening or morning, take some time out to review the previous day. Begin by quieting your mind so you can hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your conscience.
2. Ask the Spirit to show you any wrongdoing—in your thoughts and desires, in your words and relationships, and in your actions. You may want to use the examination of conscience.
3. Think about how the sins you see have clouded your experience of and trust in the Lord’s love.
4. Check your heart: Are you pliable and willing to change your mind about these sins? Do you feel unwilling to change? Do you have any sense that it’s hopeless even to try?
5. Cling to God. Acknowledge that he is your strength and tell him that you want him to reform your mind so that you think as he would have you think and choose as he would have you choose. Renounce any drive in you that wants to remain independent of the Lord.
6. Place yourself in God’s hands and obey whatever you think he is asking you to do. As you practice, God’s voice will become clearer.
7. Be sure to move from thought to action. Make a decision to take one or two concrete steps to overcome or avoid that sin area the next day. Remember: Jesus is with you every step of the way!
My Jesus, I do not want to die without loving YOU!
Oh God of love, what greater means could you have discovered to make yourself loved by us? It was not enough for you to become man, and to subject yourself to many of our miseries. It was not enough for you to pour out all your blood for us to die on a tree destined for condemned criminals. You were finally reduced to giving yourself to us as food under the form of bread; so that you could unite yourself to our inmost being. How unhappy we shall be if, in this life, we do not love you! What remorse it will bring us, when we go into eternity, if we have not loved you!
My Jesus, I do not wish to die without loving you.
Oh, I am deeply grieved because of the pain I have given you so often. I repent, Oh Jesus, and I would like to die with sorrow. Now I love you; I consecrate to you all the affections of my being. My Jesus, now that you have drawn me into your love, I forsake all else.
Oh Mother of my God, Mary, pray to Jesus for me, and make me holy. Add this one more to the rest of your miracles - change a sinner into a saint.
Amen.
(Adapted, St Alphonsus Liguori)
Chamber of Prayer
Lord God take me there
Where You and I can share
Our innermost thoughts in prayer
With all my problems bare
For as I seek Your face
You lift me with Your grace
You surround me with Your light
And give me renewed sight
Lord God take me there
Where You and I can share
Your Kingdom yet to come
And the love we have for Your Son
The peace and calm You give
Almost seems unreal
Then I remember the place
You've brought me with Your grace
It is when You take me there
To that secret Chamber of Prayer
And expecting a miracle there
You show how much You care
Lord God gently lead me there
To that secret Chamber of Prayer
Shower me with Your fountain
Miracles in answered prayer
- Author Unknown
February 21 - Jesus Calling
Trust and thankfulness will get you safely through this day. Trust protects you from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps you from criticizing and complaining: those “sister sins” that so easily entangle you.
Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me. It is a free choice that you must make thousands of times daily. The more you choose to trust Me, the easier it becomes. Thought patterns of trust become etched into your brain. Relegate troubles to the periphery of your mind, so that I can be central in your thoughts. Thus you focus on Me, entrusting your concerns into My care.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
—Colossians 2:6–7
But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
—Psalm 141:8
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
—1 Peter 5:7
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