Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! It was a very profitable day for my husband! He went out to a town 2 1/2 hours from here, where our last priest assistant is at, Father Matt. He sold to four parishes! He's staying there overnight - and Angie came around 6:00, and we had a nice time visiting over popcorn and wine. She's off to bed now - was very tired.

When your burden seems heavier than usual, know that your blessings

are more than usual. Lord, I call on you for the strength, the wisdom

and the confidence that I will need today.

Scripture for the day:

"When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried
out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to
them and said, 'Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.'" ~Mark 6:49-50

Meditation for the day:

I can take the most crowded day without fear. I believe that God is with me
and controlling all. I can let confidence be the motif running through all
the crowded day. I need not be worried, because I know that God is my
helper. Underneath are the everlasting arms of God. I can rest in them,
even though the day be full of things crowding in upon me.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may be calm and let nothing upset me. I pray that I may not
let material things control me and choke out spiritual things.

GARBAGE TRUCK
Author Unknown


How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you
let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee
ruin your day? Unless you're the Terminator, for an instant you're
probably set back
on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly
she can get back her focus on what's important.

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a
New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and
we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right
lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space
right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes,
skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches!

The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident,
whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. My
taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was
friendly. So,
I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and
sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what
I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage,
full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As
their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let
them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't
take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
You'll be happy you did.

So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck.” I started thinking,
how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over
me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other
people a work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm
not going to do anymore." I began to see garbage trucks.

Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead
People." Well, now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're
carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I
don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well,
and move on.

One of my favorite football players of all time, Walter Payton, did
this every day on the football field. He would jump up as quickly as
he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit.
Payton was ready to make the next play his best.

Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good
parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school
with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be
fully present, and at their best for the people they care about. The
bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take
over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life,
starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by? Here's my
bet. You'll be happier. Life's too short to wake up in the morning
with regrets, so.. Love the people who treat you right. Forget about
the ones who don't.

What Satan Fears Most


What Satan fears most
Is a man on his knees;
Not vast marching armies
With great weaponry.

He knows he can stand
Against the power of men;
To engage us in battle
Is mere sport to him.

But a man on his knees
With his head bowed in prayer
Is something quite different
To the prince of the air.

For when he sees us in prayer
To our God most high,
He knows we have seen
Through his devilish lies.

That's why Satan fears most
A man on his knees;
And we'll keep him trembling
If our prayers never cease.

Author Unknown

<h3>Act of Spiritual Communion</h3>

I believe that You, O Jesus, are in the most holy Sacrament. I love You and desire You. Come into my heart. I embrace You. Never leave me. May the burning and most sweet power of Your love, O Lord Jesus Christ. I beseech You, absorb my mind that I may die through love of Your love, who were graciously pleased to die through love of my love.

Saint Francis

When unable to receive Holy Communion, it is a pious practice to make a Spiritual Communion.

Prayer for the Helpless Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life. Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.
Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life. Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother alone can give.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever, Amen.

Bibles In A Sack

It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived
and everything was alive with color. But a cold front from the North
had brought winter's chill back to Indiana.

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant
just off the corner of the towns-square. The food and the company were
both especially good that day. As we talked, my attention was drawn
outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who
appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back.

He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food."
My heart sank. I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed
that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved
in a mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal,
but his image lingered in my mind.

We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do
and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town
square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was
fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I
drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a
store and got back in my car. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept
speaking to me: "Don't go back to the office until you've at least
driven once more around the square." And so, with some hesitancy,
I headed back into town.

As I turned the square's third corner. I saw him. He was standing on
the steps of the storefront church, going through his sack. I stopped
and looked, feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to
drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign
from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached
the town's newest visitor. "Looking for the pastor?" I asked. "Not
really," he replied, "just resting." "Have you eaten today?" "Oh, I
ate something early this morning." "Would you like to have lunch with
me?" "Do you have some work I could do for you?" No work," I replied.
"I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you
to lunch." "Sure," he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things. I asked some surface questions.
"Where you headed? "St. Louis." "Where you from?" "Oh, all over;
mostly Florida." "How long you been walking?" "Fourteen years," came
the reply. I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each
other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered
slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke
with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his
jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never
Ending Story." Then Daniel's story began to unfold.

He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and
reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across
the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on
with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A
concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert
but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He
gave his life over to God. "Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I
felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."
Ever think of stopping?" I asked. "Oh, once in a while, when it seems to
get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles.
That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them
out when His Spirit leads." I sat amazed.

My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this
way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked:
"What's it like?" "What?" "To walk into a town carrying all your things
on your back and to show your sign?" "Oh, it was humiliating at first.
People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-
eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome.
But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives
and change people's concepts of other folks like me." My concept was
changing, too.

We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he
paused. He turned to me and said, "Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit
the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food,
when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in. "I
felt as if we were on holy ground.

"Could you use another Bible?" I asked. He said he preferred a certain
translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal
favorite. "I've read through it 14 times," he said. "I'm not sure we've got
one of those, but let's stop by our church and see." I was able to find my
new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful. "Where
you headed from here? "Well, I found this little map on the back of this
amusement park coupon." Are you hoping to hire on there for a while?" "No,
I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right
there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next." He smiled, and the
warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission.

I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and
as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things. "Would
you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep messages from folks
I meet." I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had
touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a
verse of scripture from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you," declared
the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you
a future and a hope."

Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just strangers,
but I love you." "I know," I said, "I love you, too." "The Lord is good.
"Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked. "A
long time," he replied. And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling
rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been
changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said,
"See you in the New Jerusalem." "I'll be there!" was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his
bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, "When you see
something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?" "You bet," I
shouted back, "God bless." "God bless." And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front
had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat
back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn
brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them
up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that
night without them. I remembered his words: "If you see something that
makes you think of me, will you pray for me?" Today his gloves lie on my desk
in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and
they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for
his ministry. "See you in the New Jerusalem," he said. Yes, Daniel,
I know I will...

Author Unknown

Scripture Reflection by Patrick Carnevale

Today's readings 7/10/13
Gen.41:55-57, 42:5-7, 17-24; Ps.33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; Mt.10:1-7

Let's face it, my friends, we're all guilty of committing some serious sins over the course of our lives, like Joseph's brothers I'm sure we've all "sold out" someone in one way or another, and like them our sins have consequences associated with them. But in no way does that mean God plans to abandon us to "die of famine" because of them, in fact as we continue reading this story we will see how God takes what seems to be an inexcusable sin and turns it into a blessing. That isn't an excuse for us to go out and murder someone and then expect God's Blessing for it, like Joseph's brothers there is a certain degree of accountability and "reckoning" we must face, but if we face it humbly by accepting personal responsibility for our sins and resolve to do our best to avoid them in the future God will "deliver them from death...and keep them alive in times of famine" just as He did for Jacob and his family in the land of Egypt. Of course we all know that it was only a matter of time before Jacob's descendants adopted the ways of the Egyptians and fell away from the One True God, we also know that "the whole cruel fate of slaves"(Ex.1:14) awaited them because of that, all of which would once again lead to God taking action by sending Moses to deliver them from their captors. The bottom line is God won't abandon us when we need Him the most, on the contrary that's when He draws the closest to us, and we need to remember that whenever we fall into sin. Yes, the Cross is much more powerful than our sins will ever be, and although there will be consequences associated with our mistakes God always has the Final Word when it comes to dealing with them. So when the devil starts bringing up your past sins remind him of the story of Joseph and the sin his brothers committed against him, a sin that God used "for the sake of saving lives"(Gen.45:5) instead of destroying them the way satan does. Like I said we're all guilty of sin, but when we bring those sins to the Cross and humbly acknowledge responsibility for them we will experience the same deliverance as Jacob's family did. That's not my word, that's God's Word, and like our psalmist says "The Lord's Word is true"!

God bless you,
In Jesus - Pat