Count Your Blessings - New Week of June 3rd

gloriajean · ‎03-10-2010

If you are stressed, you are probably making things more important

than they really are. Lord, I pray for clarity of thought and calmness

of spirit because I know that when my heart grows weary, You send

me peace.

Scripture for the day:

"One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and
seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, 'Which commandment is the
first of all?' Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our
God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no
other commandment greater than these.'" ~Mark 12:28-31

Meditation for the day:

I can try to make the world better and happier by my presence in it.
I can try to help other people find the way God wants them to live. I can
try to be on the side of good, in the stream of righteousness, where all
things work for good. I can do my duty persistently and faithfully, not
sparing myself. I can be gentle with all people. I can try to see other
people's difficulty and help them. I can always pray to God to act as
interpreter between me and the other person.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may live in the spirit of prayer. I pray that I may depend on
God for the strength I need to help me to do my part in making the world a
better place.

THE ONION
Author Unknown

I was an onion before Christ set me free.
Layers upon layers of iniquity.
An ugly old onion whose fragrance was strong;
That my Jesus bought and loved all along.

Unknown to me what He was going to do.
Of what He was planning, I had not a clue.
Pulling each layer off one by one.
In order to make me more like Jesus the Son.

The first layer wasn't so bad.
I saw all the sins that I knew I had.
They were easy to fix, just change the way I talk.
And learn more of how He wanted me to walk.

Reading His Word, and learning again;
How to put aside my life of sin.
But the next layer was pulled which hurt more.
He was getting closer to the core.

Unknown what He would find there.
I simply gave it to Him in prayer.
As another layer was removed, He started to cry;
Pulling this layer brought pain to my Father on High.

And I was crying over the sadness I felt;
The brokenness and all of the guilt.
Past memories that I thought were gone;
They were buried under layers disguised in a fragrance so strong.

As onions peel more and more;
And they put tears in our eyes as we get close to the core;
So my Father wept over my pain;
Giving me a balm of comfort and strength to sustain.

"No More Layers." I would scream.
As He continued to peel them off of me.
"I'll have nothing left my Lord, what will I do?
I'll be nothing but a worthless core to you. "

But He just said "Trust me," and continued to peel
I was sure He was blinded to my pain that was so real.
Year after year I shrunk more and more;
Until all that was left of this onion was a core.

It was then that I began to understand;
As the Lord embraced me in His loving hand.
He said, now and only now can you be;
The creation that will minister before me.

Clothed with the righteousness only from above;
Gone are your layers of self so you can be filled with my love.
He took my layers of sin, hurt and pain;
And clothed me with love, truth and mercy in His name.

Yes, we are all onions, learning with each day;
How to overcome as each layer is taken away.
Some layers tear and pull at our heart;
While others grieve us to our innermost part.

But we are nothing but an ugly onion without Christ.
Layers upon layers of pride, sin and strife.
Only God can take those layers away.
And clothe us with His righteousness in that final day.

<h1>In my weakest moments, God reveals His Love</h1> <h2>Father Craig Butler, diocesan priest</h2>

I meet God through the people I encounter every day. One of the most enjoyable and humbling aspects of my life as a priest is simply being with people, spending time just talking - "hanging around" and sharing in their lives. At the same time I am privileged to meet people and talk with them at more than just a superficial level.

During these encounters I'm often overwhelmed by their goodness, their kindness and their holiness. By holiness I don't mean that they are nice or insipid or weak but rather that somehow they are in touch with God. They "know" Christ, not just about him. They are close to God, and more importantly, God is close to them. It gives me great joy to remind them of this and at the same time I feel as though I am sharing in their experience of God.

Ironically these people are often unaware of just how close to God they are and how much God loves them!

Of all my encounters with God, through the lives of people, the most profound are at those times and in those situations when I am at my most vulnerable. To sit with someone who has experienced a great tragedy is, I find, a real challenge. At those times I'm most deeply aware of my own inability to "do" anything, other than simply sit with the person and be there. My strongest inclination is to get up, excuse myself, and walk away - to some- where else where I can be more useful - and feel more comfortable!

It is in my weakest moments that God reveals his love for me most powerfully and I then find myself able to deal with just about anything.

Finally, the situation where I meet God on a "regular" basis is when I pray and most especially when I'm celebrating Eucharist. It is at these times that I experience my greatest need to know that the work I do is not mine but rather that it is God's, and that I can't do it on my own. I often feel inadequate when I look out at a sea of expectant faces.

It is my experience that it's at the most difficult and challenging times, and when I am aware of my dependence on God, that God reminds me of his love and his very real presence with me.

My blessings today: Our new priest, Father Joe's' parents were at Mass this morning - they are taking him out for his one year ago today he was ordained a priest - we are so blessed to have him! He's only 30, so talented, and can he ever sing!!

Speaking of singing, here's the voice of Pope John Paul II before he became Pope: