Community Chat

[gloriajean]

God uses our trials to draw us closer to Him. Sometimes it's the only
way that He gets our attention. Lord, I accept with joy the times that
You test me and give You my joy as a prayer in the times that I lack
for nothing. In You I am complete.

S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y

"For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal
weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be
seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary,
but what cannot be seen is eternal." ~2 Corinthians 4:17-18

M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y

I know that my life will not be immune from difficulties, but that I
can have peace even in difficulties. I know that serenity is the
result of faithful, trusting acceptance of God's will, even in the
midst of
difficulties. Saint Paul said: "This slight momentary affliction is
preparing us for an eternal weight of glory."

P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y

I pray that I may not dread difficulties. I pray that as they test
my strength, I may use them to build my character.

Peace to you, my friends! Today I didn't go out at all - we overslept for Mass - and we had some more snow, not a lot this time, though. Linus had a good day - so now he has the whole weekend off - Praise the Lord! Our prayers are keeping him from having too much pain in his feet. I had a nap this afternoon and such weird dreams!! Can't remember them now, but it was a good nap and I felt more refreshed. Just an ordinary day here for me - but filled with many blessings - My health, my family, my sisters, and you, my dear friends!!


Homily of the Day


January 6, 2011


The Disease of the Pharisees
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

1 Jn 4:19-5:4 / Luke 4:14-22

Many thinkers and many people in general flee into the abstract and the universal as a way of avoiding the very dull and very concrete demands of everyday reality. It’s like the stereotypical housewife who flees to daily Mass, while ignoring the obvious need of her children for breakfast. It’s the disease of the Pharisees, having the passport perfectly in order, and then going nowhere.

St. John summarizes the problem with pungent words in today’s Epistle. “One who has no love for the brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.” It’s a strident warning to us all. We can’t hide behind eloquent prayers or fine sentiments. We have to take care of our neighbors, just as Jesus would, if we want to be His disciples.

So what kind of match is there between your prayers and your deeds? Does what you tell the Lord match what you do? Of all the people you pray for, are there any for whom you actually do something concrete?

Why not look for the point where your gifts and their needs touch? That’s God’s assignment for you and He’s waiting for you and for all of us to get busy.

LED BY A STAR
By Fr. Jerry M. Orbos, SVD
Excerpted from his column "Moments,"
The Philippine Daily Inquirer


The story of the Epiphany (Mt. 2, 1-12) is the beautiful story of the magi who were led by a star to Bethlehem where they encountered the Baby Jesus. A star preceded them. While they were being led by the star, they were just diligent searchers, taking orders from Herod. After they encountered the Baby Jesus, they became grateful disciples with a strong sense of mission and vision for Christ the Lord.

Many of us spend years and even a whole lifetime pursuing worldly treasures and stars, serving earthly bosses and leaders and end up empty, alone and lonely because we have missed the Superstar who alone can fill the void within us. Have you found the Superstar? Are you still in pursuit of worldly stars and still serving lesser stars? Do you still prostrate yourself before worldly cares and dream of money, power and position? When will you really pay homage to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in your life, and offer Him not your gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but your very heart?

World leaders come and go. Hopefully these leaders lead us to greater visions and missions...A leader is precisely someone who can lead us to something or someone greater than himself/herself... who know how to sacrifice and fade away and who point not at themselves but to something greater than themselves.

Learn from the usher in a dark movie house who lights the way so that we can enjoy the movie. The usher, as it were, does not light his own face. That would get us to nowhere, and that would lead us to nothing.

There comes a time in everyone's life when the journey comes to an end and the searching ends. It is still a point where everything leads to and from which everything proceeds.

That moment came when the magi encountered the Savior. It was a "peak moment," a "conversion moment" when everything became clear and everything fell into place. Dag Hammerskjold put it so beautifully: "At one moment of my life, I said 'yes' to something or someone, and that has made all the difference in my life."

Go back down memory lane. There must have been a time when you said, "Eureka" or "Yes!" Remember that while we live, the journey does not end. Be open to more peak and conversion moments. It's a new year. New hopes, new beginnings. Yes, we must be open. We must be hopeful. Our God is a God of surprises and many chances.

We must continue to be led by a star...Let us not forget that all of us are stars. Little stars maybe, but we must continue to twinkle, twinkle, so that through us, others may see and encounter the Superstar.

A MOMENT WITH THE LORD: Lord, remind me that it profits me nothing if I have all the worldly stars but don't have you, my Superstar. Amen.

Keep Swimming !

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl,
One was an optimistic soul;
But the other took the gloomy view,
"I shall drown," he cried, "and so will you."

So with a last despairing cry,
He closed his eyes and said, "Good-bye."
But the other frog, with a merry grin
Said, "I can't get out, but I won't give in!

I'll swim around till my strength is spent.
For having tried, I'll die content."
Bravely he swam until it would seem
His struggles began to churn the cream.

On the top of the butter at last he stopped
And out of the bowl he happily hopped.
What is the moral? It's easily found.
If you can't get out -- keep swimming around!

Author Unknown

I HAVE MOVED!
Author Unknown


Can't remember if I told you all, but:

I have moved out from 1 Beggars Alley, located at 2 Poverty Lane at
the corner of Bleak and Buster Circle. As of today, I have a brand new
home.

My new address is: Living Well on 3 Abundance Drive, located at the
corner of Blessings Street and Prosperity Peak. No longer! will I
allow my self to travel on Begging Peter to pay off Paul route,
located at a dead end intersection called I Don't Have, it connects
with Borrowers Junction.

I no longer hang out at Failure's Place, near Excuses Avenue, next to
Procrastination Point. I've moved on to an Upscale community called
Higher Heights with unlimited potential and opportunities for me to
succeed.

Look at me. Each day that I'm awake, I am thankful to be a product of
my new environment. All my clothes are tailor made. I'm dressed in
life's finest. Let me introduce you to all of them: Divine Favour,
Conceive, Believe, Act on Faith, Be Persistent, and Always be Prepared
to Achieve.

Life is good because God is good! Care to change your address? There
are many vacancies!

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

I AM WELL BLESSED AND SO ARE YOU!!!!!

'DON'T TELL GOD HOW BIG YOUR STORM IS, TELL YOUR STORM HOW BIG OUR GOD IS'

Recipe For A Successful Marriage

3 cups Tenderness
1 cup Commitment
1 cup Consideration
1 cup Courtesy
2 cups Unselfish support
2 cups Milk of human kindness
1 gallon Faith in God and in each other

Add:

2 cups -- Praise
3 cups -- Cooperation
1 small pinch of in-laws
1 realistic financial budget
3 T pure extract of "I am sorry"
1 cup Contentment
2 cups of open and honest communication
1 cup each: Confidence, Encouragement, Supportive friends, Blindness to each other's faults, Individual interests and hobbies

Mix in: Several mutual activities and hobbies.

Flavor with occasional tokens of your love and a dash of happy memories.

Stir well and remove any specks of temper, jealousy, or criticism.

Sweeten well with a generous portion of love and keep warm with a steady flame of devotion.

Never serve with a hot tongue or cold shoulder.


I dont understand it.

A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner,
the people were in and out of the cold.

The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell
many papers.

He walked up to a policeman and said,
"Mister,
you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could
find a warm place to sleep tonight would you?

You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and
down the alley and its awful cold in there for tonight.

Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You
go down the street to that big white house and you knock
on the door. When they come out the door you just say
John 3:16 and they will let you in."

So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on the
door, and a lady answered. He looked up and said,
"John 3:16." The lady said, "Come on in, Son."

She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom
rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, and she went
off. The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself:
John 3:16... I don't understand it, but it sure makes
a cold boy warm.

Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry?"
He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of
days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food,"

The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table
full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat
any more. Then he thought to himself:
John 3:16... Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure
makes a hungry boy full.

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub
filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a
while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16 ...
I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy
clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my
whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in
front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.
The lady came in and got him. She took him to a room,
tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers
up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out
the lights. As he lay in the darkness and looked out the
window at the snow coming down on that cold night,
he thought to himself: John 3:16 ... I don't understand it but
it sure makes a tired boy rest.

The next morning the lady came back up and took him
down again to that same big table full of food. After he
ate, she took him back to that same big old split bottom
rocker in front of the fireplace and
picked up a big old Bible.

She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face.
"Do you understand John 3:16?" she asked gently. He
replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it
was last night when the policeman told me to use it,"
She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain
to him about Jesus. Right there, in front of that big old fireplace,
he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there
and thought: John 3:16 … don't understand it, but it sure
makes a lost boy feel safe.

You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either,
how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how
Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand
the agony of the Father and every angel in heaven as
they watched Jesus suffer and die. I don't understand the intense
love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end.
I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.

BAGPIPER'S STORY
Author Unknown
January 6, 2011


As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently, I was asked by a funeral
director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no
family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in
the Kentucky backcountry. And, as I was unfamiliar with the backwoods,
I got lost; and being a typical man, I did not stop for directions. I
finally arrived an hour late and saw that the funeral director had
evidently left, and the hearse was nowhere in sight.


There were only the diggers and crew left, and they were eating lunch.
I felt bad and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the
side of the grave and looked down, and saw the vault lid was already
in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.


The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I
played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends.
I played like I had never played before for this homeless man. And as
I played "Amazing Grace" the workers began to weep. They wept, and I
wept; we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes
and started for the car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.


As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet
Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before, and I've been
puttin' in septic tanks for over twenty years."

Closing Prayer:

Prayer for Good Health

Blessed are You, the Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who fashioned man with wisdom
And created within him many openings and cavities.

It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory
That if but one of them were to be ruptured,
Or but one of them were to be blocked
It would be impossible to survive and stand before You.

In the merit of my appreciation for Your wondrous works,
May You grant me good health and long life.