Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! Hope your day was filled with lots of blessings! We were taken out for supper tonight at our favorite restaurant by our former neighbors followed by cards at our house later, it was in our town. Sure miss them for neighbors but now they are friends. They again wanted to take us out for taking care of their driveway last winter and we had lots of snow! They are so appreciative! It was that couple who introduced us to the card club in our parish and we are still a part of it for 10 years now. They sure have been a blessing to us while here, and even now. Another blessing - Sammy's coughing less now, praise the Lord! Thanks for praying for him.

Keep yourself young in spirit always by thinking new thoughts and getting
rid of old habits. Lord, may my spirit never become a frail and my abilities
never become barren.

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

"Jesus turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a
stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things
but on human things. 'Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If any want to become
my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow
me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose
their life for my sake will find it.'" ~Matthew 16:23-25

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

We were born with the Divine within us. Living a selfish life can hinder
the Divine from being expressed and shared. The celestial fire has to be
tended and fed so that it will grow into a real desire to live the right
way. By trying to do the will of God, we grow more and more in the new way
of life. By thinking of God, praying to God and having communion with God,
we gradually grow more like God. The way of our transformation from the
material to the spiritual allows God to work in and through us.

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

I pray that I may tend the spark of the Divine within me so that it will
grow. I pray that I may be gradually transformed from the old life to the
new and fuller life.

VACANT PAGES
By Marion Smith

Ecclesiastes 3:11

At one time my daughter pursued a second career. Besides
being a first grade teacher, she decided to sell scrapbook/ photo
albums, and teaching folks how to organize and enjoy their boxes of
saved photos. The initial class starts, and most women who attend buy
a blank photo album. All pages empty- ready to fill with saved
memories. I had a lifetime of photos and trip memorabilia which I was
ready to categorize and paste. I filled my multiple albums with photos
of family and friends which reminded me of relationships through the
years-many of them now gone. There were travel photos and keepsakes,
photos depicting accomplishments, and pictures of nature which seemed
important to me at one time. All the photos showed me things of
temporary happiness and short lived beauty.

Temporary is fine, as long as we realize it for just what it
is-something which lasts only for a little while. It is wonderful to
go back through the years and review happy moments, but each heart
longs for something, or someone, who will be there forever. I know
just that someone.. God . That longing in our heart for that someone
is explained in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes 3:11. It says, “God has set
eternity in the hearts of men.” Eternity is not temporary or
fleeting. It is forever, and we have someone to share it with. It
begins when we realize this fact, and lasts forever.

God can fill the empty pages of our heart’s blank album
with all that He is. He is eternal and never ending,, and you can have
a love relationship with Him starting today---- it will last
forever!!!

Straight Ahead

At sometime during World War II, a passenger ship set sail from Great
Britain headed for port in New York City. The Captain of the ship being
afraid of enemy vessels, sought the advise and guidance of the British
Admiral.

The Admiral calmly assured the captain that no matter what happens, he
should be sure to sail his ship straight ahead. "Do not take any detours --
sail the ship straight ahead -- continue on-ward, heading straight towards
the intended mark" he said.

After several days of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean which was undeniably
filled with submarines and enemy vessels of all kinds, the Captain spotted
an enemy destroyer off his forward bow.

Nervously he grasped the handset and called for assistance.

The calm voice replied, "Keep on straight, Do not detour, just sail the ship
straight ahead. Everything will be just fine. Just keep on going - straight
ahead."

After a couple more days the ship pulled safely into the great harbor of New
York city.

Shortly after docking the great British battleship "Man-of-War" pulled into
port behind the passenger vessel. The Captain realized that while he did not
see the British battleship, she was there, standing bye. Standing ready to
come to his defense should it prove necessary.

So it is in our lives. God is standing by. We may not always see Him there,
but He is. Waiting. Bidding us onward toward the mark...

Keep your ship on course. Keep on going - straight ahead...

- Author Unknown

Good Looks

Joshua was a very wise advisor to the king. But he had a rather ugly face.
The king's daughter was jealous because Joshua was getting more attention
from her father than she was. So she tried to make fun of him.

One day she asked him mockingly: "If you are so wise, tell me why God stores
so much wisdom in such a plain vessel." Joshua asked her: "Does your dad
have any wine?" "Don't be silly," she said. "We've got the best wine in the
whole world." "Okay," asked Joshua, "where does he keep it?" "In large
earthenware jugs," she answered quickly. "Earthenware!" Joshua roared with
laughter. "I'm surprised that a clever man like your dad would use such
plain material for such good wine. Even the poorest people in town do that.
I would expect royal wine to be kept in gold and silver jars." He bowed and
left the princess, who was red-faced with anger.

She raced over to the royal wine cellar and ordered the caretaker to pour
all the wine out of the earthenware jugs into vessels of silver and gold.

Shortly afterwards the king invited people to a banquet, and he ordered the
waiters to serve his best wine. The guests sipped it and their noses turned
up. The wine had gone sour. The king was furious and called in the chief
steward and demanded an explanation, which he got. The princess got a proper
scolding and she then put the blame on Joshua.

"You tricked me into doing this," she shouted. "I am truly sorry, little
one," began Joshua, "but perhaps now you see why God sometimes prefers to
put wisdom in ugly containers. Wisdom is like wine: it is best preserved in
humble vessels."

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings instead of your crosses,
Count you gains instead of your losses,
Count your joys instead of your woes,
Count your friends instead of your foes.

Count your courage instead of your fears,
Count your laughs instead of your tears.
Count your full years instead of your lean,
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.

Count you health instead of your wealth,
Count on God instead of yourself.


~ Author Unknown

Prayer to be Said by a Sick Person
(May be used for a novena)
O Merciful Infant Jesus! I know of Your miraculous deeds for the sick. How
many diseases You cured during Your blessed life on earth, and how many
venerators of Your Miraculous image ascribe to You their recovery and
deliverance from most painful and hopeless maladies. I know, indeed, that a
sinner like me has merited his sufferings and has no right to ask for
favors. But in view of the innumerable graces and the miraculous cures
granted even to the greatest sinners through the veneration of Your holy
infancy, particularly in the miraculous statue of Prague or in
representations of it, I exclaim with the greatest assurance: O most loving
Infant Jesus, full of pity, You can cure me if You will! Do not hesitate, O
Heavenly Physician, if it be Your will that I recover from this present
illness; extend Your most holy hands, and by Your power take away all pain
and infirmity, so that my recovery may be due, not to natural remedies, but
to You alone. If, however, You in Your inscrutable wisdom have determined
otherwise, then at least restore my soul to perfect health, and fill me with
heavenly consolation and blessing, that I may be like You, O Jesus, in my
sufferings, and may glorify Your providence until, at the death of my body,
You bestow on me eternal life. Amen.