Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! We had a very prayerful,inspiring, prayer service today at the Convent at 2:30. It was very powerful! Glad we went there. Our Church’s was at 1:00 and Linus was gone until close to 1 so we went to the Nun’s Monastery one. Just 5 miles, it’s in Lori’s small town. Saw Linus’ cousin, Sister Elaine and visited with her and also Sister Pat, visited with her too. This was the best blessing of the day! Another one was that Lori was here for supper after her work, and we had a nice visit. When she was in Guatemala, she met a Maria there, and she found out she has incurable cancer – would you please pray for Maria? She is now in Chicago for treatments.

Our words are powerful tools and can influence even when we are not aware.

Lord, help me to speak with kindness and sensitivity and to be a positive

source of encouragement and support to others.

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

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in
you?" ~1 Corinthians 3:16

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

God is all around us. God's spirit pervades the universe. And yet we often
do not let God's spirit in. We sometimes try to get along without God's
help and we make a mess of our lives. We can do nothing of any value
without God's help. All our human relationships depend on this. When we
let God's spirit rule our lives, we can learn how to get along with others
and how to help them.

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

I pray that I may let God run my life. I pray that I will never again make
a mess of my life through trying to run it myself.

Homily of the Day

Good Friday

April 3, 2015

The Paschal Mystery, the story of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord, is the ultimate victorious love story rather than a tragedy and defeat. God is totally and unconditionally in love with us and wants all of us to share in His divine life. That’s why Jesus, the Son of God, became man and shared in our humanity, even being “tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sinning.” In Jesus, we have a high priest and intercessor who’s familiar with and understands all our weaknesses and the vicissitudes of the human condition. Out of love and complete obedience to the Father, Jesus went through horrible suffering and death on the cross to save us from our sins and bring us home to the Father. In Jesus’ Paschal sacrifice, we can therefore have the confidence that we are already victorious over sin and have been saved and have God’s mercy and help when we obey him.

“Our God gives constantly and unceasingly.” (Fr. Johnny Go, SJ) Jesus gave up everything for us during his Passion and death on the cross. This kenosis or self-emptying love is a call to us for self-diminishment: “we need to tear ourselves away from ourselves, leave ourselves behind [in order to] emerge from ourselves.”

It’s important that we “hold fast to the faith we profess.” “Faith is an encounter with Jesus, with life.” (Pope Benedict XVI). “Faith is about God. It involves consciously looking for God in everything we do. It is about seeing God in everything and everyone. God is the focus, not me. It is not about my needs, desires, and ambitions. Faith starts with listening to the Word of God and this should lead to transformation and action. Faith is kept alive by actions of love.

Has my encounter with Jesus changed me for the better? Am I transmitting faith to the people I live with, meet or come in contact with? Do they encounter Jesus in me?” (Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle)

April 3

In Me you have everything. In Me you are complete. Your capacity to experience Me is increasing, through My removal of debris and clutter from your heart. As your yearning for Me increases, other desires are gradually lessening. Since I am infinite and abundantly accessible to you, desiring Me above all else is the best way to live.

It is impossible for you to have a need that I cannot meet. After all, I created you and everything that is. The world is still at My beck and call, though it often appears otherwise. Do not be fooled by appearances. Things that are visible are brief and fleeting, while things that are invisible are everlasting.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…
-Ephesians 3:20

Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
-2 Corinthians 4:18 amp – From Jesus Calling

Pat’s Reflection:

Today's readings 4/3/15
Is.52:13--53:12; Ps.31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25; Heb.4:14-16, 5:7-9; Jn.18:1--19-42

Good Friday can be a difficult day for many of us to get through as thoughts of what Our Lord endured on our behalf flood our minds. There's no doubt that it's difficult to comprehend that the sufferings Jesus endured at the hands of evil men was how "He learned obedience and was made perfect", and yet when we think about the ways in which we learned our important "life lessons" we realize that suffering played a key role in all of those experiences. Of course we all know that God could have chosen another way to save us from our sins other that having His Beloved Son endure the horrors of this Friday we call Good, that's why we have such a hard time reflecting on what Jesus suffered from the moment of His arrest to the moment He declared "It is finished". What all this reveals is the great depths of God's Intimate Love for us, so much so that He chose to save us by becoming one of us in the most extreme way possible. No, there's nothing fake or phony about suffering or death, they are the very foundation of what it is to be human, even for those who seem to have everything, and that is the "Truth" that eluded Pilate and so many people today as well. No matter who we are we cannot escape suffering or death, they are and always will be a very real part of the only path that leads to Jesus' Kingdom, and He knew if He avoided or excused Himself from it no one would ever find their way to Him and His Father. That's why God chose the Cross for His Son and why Jesus embraced it to the bitter end, and that my friends is why we call this Friday Good.

God bless you,

In Jesus - Pat

[HiLo]

Enjoyed Pat's message so much Gloria and must say Amen! Thank you for posting it as we observe Good Friday and the soon to be Resurrection Sunday. It's not possible for us to ever know how He suffered and for the likes of sinners like us all but Pat does it well; what a spirit filled man he is!!!.

[lovestopaint]

Praying for Lori's friend Maria.

Is Jeremy feeling better?

Blessings to all.

Harlene(lovestopaint)

[Bobbi sue]

Blessings on this holy day...

Gloria, I have prayed for Maria. May God heal her.

Lovestopaint, Thank you for the lovely card. I wanted a card with Jesus on it and you sent it to me. Thank you very much. God has given you a great talent.

Blessings to all who post and read. May God answer your prayers. Have a good day.

[jubilant]

Have added Maria to my prayer list. I am enjoying some Easter songs on youtube this morning. They have some beautiful renditions.

Bobbiesue: Thank you for your kind post to me on the "Heaven" thread. I appreciated it.

Happy Easter to everyone as we reflect on the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. There truly is no greater love than this.

[pinky ann]

Hello Everyone, Just wanted to stop in and wish all of you a beautiful Holy Saturday today, and a very happy Easter tomorrow. We'll go to mass in the morning, then have family here, so I don't know if I'll get a chance to post or not. Have a beautiful and blessed weekend! Also, a good Passover to all who observe! pinky

[AnikaBrodie]