Community Chat

[gloriajean]

A blessing is an explosion of joy from God that ripples through your heart
and fills
your mind with God's light and hope. Lord, help me speak the words of
blessing
when they are needed by someone who is lonely, or who is dying or who is
depressed.

Scripture for the day:

"But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and
persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be
blessed in their doing." ~James 1:25

Meditation for the day:

When something happens to upset us and we are discouraged, we can try to
feel that life's difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest
our progress in the spiritual life, but to test our strength and to
increase our determination to keep going. Whatever it is that must be
met, we can either overcome it or use it. Nothing need daunt us for
long, nor need any difficulty entirely overcome or conquer us. God's
strength is always there, waiting for us to use it. Nothing can be too
great to be overcome, or if not overcome, then used.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may know that there can be no failure with God. I pray
that with God's help I may live a more victorious life.

Hello my friends! How was your day? Mine was restful - and we went to the
wake of the husband of my first cousin who died of cancer. Would you
believe that before he died he asked his son, a carpenter, to make his
casket - and he did a fine job out of love! It was nice seeing my cousins
again, but so many people, no chance to really visit. Can't go to the
funeral tomorrow because Linus has to go to another one - his cousin's son
committed suicide and he's going there with his brothers. Funerals so close
to Christmas is so sad. John, the one who took his life, was 42, married
and divorced - don't know why he wanted to end it all - that is so sad.
Before the wake tonight we shopped for stocking stuffers, and have them
almost finished. Have to go to another store to get the remainder. We had a
nice blessing today when our friends, Ray and Ann, stopped in and gave us a
nice card and cookies she baked! Nice visit too. They are so dear to us
and a blessing to know them. Tomorrow is my last day working at Lori's.
Linus' schedule in Jan. is light and he's thinking of having hernia surgery
done then.

Mary’s Song of Praise

Mary’s Magnificat praises God, especially
for his care for the humble and downtrodden.
The sign of the Messiah’s coming
is the restoration of justice on the earth:
The poor and lowly are lifted up
and the hungry are fed.
God keeps his promises and shows mercy to all people.
Read Mary’s song, and think about how it applies to your life.

from Catholic Update: Rest Stops for a Rushed People

A reflective Christmas prayer
Father God, When your precious Son became a tiny baby in a stable in
Bethlehem in poverty and simplicity, you changed our world. As we imagine
those surroundings, we join with the shepherds and the wise men in wonder
and praise. We thank you for our material lives, praise you for our
spiritual lives, and trust in you for our eternal life. Amen.

How "Merry Christmas" is said ......


Afrikaans: Gesëende Kersfees
Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees
African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Albanian:Gezur Krislinjden
Arabic: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal
Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha
Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce
Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
(Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian: Pace e salute
Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo
Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
or Zalig Kerstfeast
English: Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian: Ruumsaid juulup|hi
Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!
Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish: Hyvää joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noël
Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Galician: Bo Nada
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi: Shub Naya Baras
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaian: Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!
Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Latvian: Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!
Lausitzian:Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto
Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Maltese: LL Milied Lt-tajjeb
Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
Maori: Meri Kirihimete
Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado
Papiamento: Bon Pasco
Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go
long yu
Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha
Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn
Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Serbian: Hristos se rodi
Slovakian: Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh
Serb-Croatian: Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina
Serbian: Hristos se rodi.
Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovene: Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tami: Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal
Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
Vietnamese: Chung Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yugoslavian: Cestitamo Bozic
Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!

A Dozen Christmas Roses
Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow.
Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any.
The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of
keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour
already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his
mother's Christmas gift.

He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with
an idea, I don't have any money to spend,"

Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five
had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there just
never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small
wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far. What the family
lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and
family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran the house
hold in their mother's absence. All three of his sisters had already made
beautiful gifts for their mother.

Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had
nothing. Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to
walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy
being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.

Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window.
Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get
dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught
the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of something along the
curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime. Never before has anyone
felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment.

As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire
body and he walked into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly
turned cold when the salesperson told him that he couldn't buy anything with
only a dime.

He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop owner
asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could
buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift.

The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his
hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see
what I can do for you."

As Bobby waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a
boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.

The sound of the door closing as the last customer left jolted Bobby back to
reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.
Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before
Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny
white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank
as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white box.

"That will be ten cents young man," the shop owner said reaching out his
hand for the dime.

Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could this be true?
No one else would give him a thing for his dime!

Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have
some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them?"

This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box into
his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was
holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas, son,"

As he returned inside, the shop keeper's wife walked out. "Who were you
talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?"

Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he
replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting
up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set
aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the
time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway.
Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop and wanted to
buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.

"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too, was a poor boy
with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never
knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give me ten
dollars.

"When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I put
together a dozen of my very best roses." The shop owner and his wife hugged
each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air, they
somehow didn't feel cold at all.

May this story instill the spirit of Christmas in you enough to pass this
story along. Have a Joyous and Peace-filled season.

Good night all - Sweet Dreams and may you find many Friday blessings! God
bless you!