Hello my friends! Today was another strawberry picking day and the raspberries are starting!! Praise God! Love this time of year when we get free berries! I'm getting things ready for my visit with Angie, my classmate friend. She's coming tomorrow sometime and will stay a few days. We both are looking forward to it. It's a big blessing to have a good friend I went to school with stay a good friend over 55 years! We are a month apart in age. She and her husband raised four girls, and he died about 5 years ago so she's alone with two cats. We keep in touch.
We don't choose how or when we will die, but we do decide how we will live.
Lord, forgive my frequent drifting and help me to see clearly the best path
for me.
Scripture for the day:
"But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of
God dwells in you." ~Romans 8:9
Meditation for the day:
I cannot ascertain the spiritual with my intellect. I can only do it by my
own faith and spiritual faculties. I can sometimes think of God with my
heart as well as with my head. I can breathe in God's very spirit in the
life around me. I can keep my eyes turned toward the good things in the
world. I can empty my mind of all the limitations of material things. I
can sense the eternal.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that whatever is good I may have. I pray that I may leave to God the
choice of what good will come to me.
<h2>
Graces Through the Intercession of Saint Pio</h2>
TO THE TOP OF THE DOME
When my daughter Sarah was still suffering from the pains of fibre myalgia, I asked Ana if she would still be willing to take her on pilgrimage which was due to leave shortly.
Of course, Ana said yes, but when I told my daughter she said that she would only be a nuisance as she was still having such bad pain could limit her ability to keep up with the other pilgrims. Anyway Ana did not mind so Sarah went.
According to Ana, she hardly saw our daughter once she got to Rome. She was up to the top of the dome of St. Peter's, and visiting all the other wonderful sights of this great city.
Thanks be to God and to our dear friend Saint Pio.
S.M.J.
A PRISONER SET FREE
During my life in prison I was in desperate need of comfort. Every day I became more and more aware of Padre Pio's presence with me, I was glad because I needed him badly.
At night the lights from the search lights shone around the prison wall, it reflected through the windows of my cell and I saw Padre Pio's face before I went to sleep every night. I had a true friend.
I, like many other Christians, did not really know how to pray or meditate, but slowly with the help of Padre Pio I could sit for hours praying through Padre Pio to Our Lord.
As weeks passed by, I was becoming whole again and I was beginning to reflect an image to others that I was being re-habilitated. But I knew it was because Padre Pio had found me and he was not going to let me go.
I know now that the Devil had his own way with the first part of my life, but by the grace of God and intercession through Padre Pio, God will have the second part.
From a Prisoner released from Durham Jail.
Living a Life that Matters
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten
will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won´t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you
lived on at the end.
It won´t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,
not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage
or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many
will feel a lasting loss when you´re gone.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn´t happen by accident.
It´s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters
(Michael Josephson)
A young woman was packing a suitcase for a long trip.
She said to a woman who was watching her, "I'm just about finished. I only have to put in a guidebook, a lamp, a mirror, my favorite love letters, a microscope, a telescope, a volume of fine poetry, a song book, a few biographies, a package of old letters, a sword, and a set of books I have been studying."
The onlooker gasped, "How do you intend to get all that in your suitcase? It's almost full now!"
The young woman replied, "Oh, all that won't take much room."
She then walked over to a table, picked up her Bible, placed it in the corner of her suitcase, and closed the lid.
Winking at her friend, she said, "And I even got in a loaf of living bread, too."
Share this traveling secret with all you know!
Remind them that HIS word is All They Need.
Thought I'd share with you this nice prayer for Parents:
Most loving, merciful and all-wise Father of all mankind, help me in my divine task of parenthood. Help me see my children's problems through their own eyes. Keep my own childhood ever before me so that I will not expect too much.
Give me the patience of the silent stars. Give me a sense of humor. Help me wil them through love rather than compel them through fear. Assist me to help them see straight and to play the game according to the rules. Enlighten me to teach them that every home is an altar and each good desire a prayer. Help me live my own life above doubt or skepticism.
Prompt me to radiate faith in the basic goodness of life and to keep the ideals of youth aglow in my own life. Give me a strong hand for guidance when youth falters and would turn back.
Help me teach them to live bravely - to meet defeat courageously and to realize that a person's real character is what he is when alone with himself in the dark.
Inspire me to show them that the value of their lives will be measured by the service they give; that true happiness is found -- not in things -- but in the unfolding of their minds and souls.
Help me to make my life go on in theirs -- bigger, finer and nobler than I ever dared to be. Amen
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