Community Chat

[gloriajean]

What we endure in this life is nothing compared to the glory that God
has in store for us in heaven. Lord, take every moment of my life as
a prayer to praise and glorify Your holy name.

Scripture for the day:

"Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10

Meditation for the day:

I can be calm, true and quiet. I need not get emotionally upset by anything
that happens around me. I can feel a deep, inner security in the goodness
and purpose in the universe. I can be true to my highest ideals. I need
not let myself slip back into old ways of reacting. I can stick to my
spiritual guns. I can be calm always. I need not talk back or defend
myself too much against accusation, whether false or true. I can accept
abuse as well as I accept praise. Only God can judge the real me.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may not be upset by the judgment of others. I pray that I may
let God be the judge of the real me.

Greetings to you, my friends! Hope your Sunday is going well! After Mass
this morning we had a nice breakfast and a relaxing day as we await tonight
seeing Darla and Greg. We will meet them at Pizza Ranch at 7:30 so that's
why this thread is out a bit early. We will be celebrating their birthdays
tonight, well, also our good news, which is worth celebrating with the
family too. Lori will be there too. Right now both girls are at a movie
together - would you believe "The Smurfs"? They always loved the smurfs,
guess they never got too old for them! After that we meet them. Today as I
was thinking of all my blessings, there are several I haven't acknowledged
for awhile so I'll mention them here - First of all, I'm so grateful for my
Faith, my wonderful husband and girls given to me - for a lot of prayers
answered, for you, my dear friends who make this thread possible! I'm
grateful for Mary, for Jesus giving her to us for our own Blessed Mother,
too! Her intercessions are many and I'm so grateful! I'm grateful for our
porch - for the birds of the air who like to come to the feeders! All the
beauty! And much, much, more blessings!! Thanks be to God!!

Mother Teresa Said...

"In my heart there is only one vacant seat.
It is for God and nobody else.
Temptation is like fire in which gold is purified.
So we have to go through this fire.
The temptations are allowed by God.
The only thing we have to do is to refuse to give in.
If I say I do not want it, I am safe.
There may be temptations against purity,
against faith, against my vocation.
If we love our vocation, we will be tempted.
But then we will also grow in sanctity.
We have to fight temptation for the love of God."

Did You? Can You?

Can you say today in honesty,
As the hours slip by so fast,
That you've helped a single person
Of the many you have passed?
Did you waste the day, or lose it?
Was it well, or properly spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness,
Or mementos of discontent?

Have you given God a moment,
In humble, devout prayer?
Have you talked with God in honesty,
To let Him know you care?

As you close your eyes in slumber,
Do you think that God would say,
You have made the world much better,
For you lived a lot today?

Author Unknown

What Jesus Did For You and Me

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends."
(John 15:13)

The physical trauma of Jesus Christ begins in Gethsemane with one of the
initial aspects of his suffering - the bloody sweat. The physician of His
group, St. Luke, is the only one to mention this. He says," And being in
agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood,
trickling down upon the ground."

It is known that under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat
glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone could
have produced marked weakness and possible shock.

After His arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the
Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest. A soldier struck Jesus across the
face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards
then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each
passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face.

In the morning, Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from
a sleepless night, is taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the
Fortress Antonia. It was there, in response to the cries of the mob, that
Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and
crucifixion.

Jesus' hands were tied to a post above His head. His clothing was stripped
off. The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum in his hand. This
is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small
balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down
with full force again and again across the shoulders, back and legs of
Jesus.

At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows
continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first the
oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally
spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small
balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by
subsequent blows.

Finally, the skin of His back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area
is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by
the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is
finally stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone
pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in
this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His
shoulders and shove down a ring of long, very razor sharp branches with long
thorns made in the shape of a crown into His scalp.

Again there is copious bleeding. After mocking Him and striking Him across
the face, they take a stick and strike Jesus across the head, driving the
thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, the tire of their sadistic sport and
the robe is torn from His back. This had already become adherent to the
clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the
careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes excruciating pain - almost as
though He were again being whipped, and the wounds again begin to bleed.

The heavy beam of the cross is then tied across Jesus' shoulders, and the
procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves and the execution detail,
begins its slow journey. The weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with
the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and
falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles
of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed
beyond their endurance.

At Golgotha, the beam is placed on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown
backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the
depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square,
wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he
moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull
the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The beam is
then lifted in place at the top of the posts and the titulus reading "Jesus
of Nazareth, King of the Jews" is nailed in place.

The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet
extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each. As He pushes
Himself upward to avoid the stretching torment, He places His full weight on
the nail through His feet. Again there is searing agony of the nail tearing
through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting
them deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability
to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are
paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn
into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in
order to get even one, short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in
the lungs and in the blood stream and cramps partially subside.
Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the
life-giving oxygen.

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps,
intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His
lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then
another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the
pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into
the tissues - the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in
small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of
stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps, "I thirst."

He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. With one last
surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail,
straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last
cry, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit."

Apparently to make double sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance
through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the
pericardium and into the heart. Immediately there came out blood and water.

This is the greatest example of one laying down his life for his friends. We
can never fully comprehend the spiritual aspect of Christ's suffering and
shame, but medical studies shed glimpses of light on the physical agony and
all the horror that Jesus Christ endured on the cross for you and me.

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary and so it's appropriate to
close with this prayer:

Queenship of Mary

Dear God, the Feast Day of Mary Our Queen was instituted by Pope Pius XII to
consecrate the whole human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I ask our
Holy Queen to renew this consecration. Protect each person in this world as
the precious child of God that we are. Fight for us against the wickedness
and temptations of the devil, convict us of our need for repentance, and
lead us to reconciliation through Jesus. O Lord, bring all of humanity under
the authority of Mary's queenship. Jesus have mercy on us and on the whole
world, and help us to fully use the tools of conversion. Mary our Queen,
pray for us. Amen.

Good night all - Sweet Dreams! Have a great day tomorrow - and God bless
you in all that you do and say!