Community Chat

[gloriajean]

God gives abundantly to those who pass His gifts on to others. Lord, let
Your blessings flow in to me and then out from me. I will neither be selfish
nor let my gifts stagnate.


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

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set
their minds on the things of the Spirit." ~Romans 8:5

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

God can draw us all closer to God in the bonds of the spirit. God
would have all people drawn closer to each other in the bonds of the
spirit. God, the great spirit of the universe, of which each of our
spirits is a part, wants unity with God and all God's children.
"Unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace." Each experience of our
life, of joy, of sorrow, of danger, of safety, of difficulty, of
success, of hardship, of ease, each can be accepted as part of our
common lot, n the bonds of the spirit.

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

I pray that I may welcome the bonds of true fellowship. I pray that I
may be brought closer to unity with God and other people.

Peace of Jesus to you! Hope you had a nice Friday so far and will have a wonderful evening! It's still sun shining out and I love that!! It's been a day - some good news is that Linus won't need surgery on his knee! I really didn't think there was a way out of it being the workman's comp was pushing it on him and made the appointment to day to see the surgeon. It's the same surgeon who did his rotator cuff surgery many years ago - a great success. He's an excellent surgeon. But when he found out that Linus isn't in any knee pain at all, even tho he has two tears in his cartilage, he said why have the surgery at all if you're not in pain? In all his thousands of surgeries he's done he said he never did any when the person had no pain to begin with, that would be the first! So he signed the paper - surgery cancelled!! Wow! He also said that he can do a good job on it, but he couldn't guarantee the outcome, then he could be in pain - or have a blood clot, any of those complications. So we decided no - and thanked him for his good advice. Now if he wasn't honest, he could have done the surgery, and got the money for it anyway, as the first doctor was going to do it, but he had to postpone because he was having shoulder surgery himself. Praise God for that little miracle! When we got to see Lorraine this afternoon, she was taken to the hospital again, and her husband stayed home to let us know as they knew we were coming. We took him to the hospital then to be with her, their daughter drove. We got in there to ER, but Lorraine was kept busy with tests etc. that we decided we'll come a different time. In the meantime, please pray some more for her.
Supper tonight was very simple. We grocery shopped and I bought two cans of organic split pea soup, hadn't had that for ages, it was good, and filling. You know that we both are trying our hardest not to have sugar and sugar is in everything, right? At the store, he almost bought himself another skim milk until he read the label and found out that there's 7 or more grams of sugar in skim milk! So he didn't buy it! Another thing that's interesting, my original Almond Milk has 7 grams of sugar, the Vanilla Almond Milk has 0 sugar, now isn't that strange? We've been really careful and checking labels a lot today. It's a life time job to keep that up and learn from it.

Homily of the Day


March 25, 2011


Mary, the Perfect Antidote
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Is 7:10-14; 8:10 / Heb 10:4-10 / Lk 1:26-38

Ahaz said “I will not ask. I will not tempt the Lord.”

Notice how pious he sounds. After all, Jesus made a similar statement when under temptation from the devil: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

It’s worse than different perspectives here. We have different goals. The devil was trying to goad Jesus into a display of His power as God as a way of proving His credentials. This was also true of the desire of the Pharisees later in Jesus’ ministry who were looking for a sign. Jesus would not rise to these “expectations” because He knew a show of power for power’s sake would never satisfy those without a longing heart.

Ahaz, on the other hand, did not want God to display His faithfulness. He was quite happy ignoring God’s call to the nation while he busily fooled around with false gods and their immoral rituals. If God made Himself present through some miraculous intervention, then Ahaz would be forced to take Him seriously. Not something this secularist/pagan-in-Jewish-clothing was willing to do.

Let me bring yet another example pair into the picture: the “yes” of the Blessed Mother and the “what” of John the Baptist’s father. In her trust in God, Mary did not hesitate to look forward to the movement of the Holy Spirit. When she was visited, not by a prophet but by an angel, she was willing to accept — at value — what was being proposed. Zechariah — also presented with an announcement of a son — could not accept the implausibility of such an action.

So here are our contrasts:

Ahaz who didn’t want to see God move, the Pharisees (and the devil) who demand a show of God’s movement, and Zechariah who couldn’t imagine God moving versus Mary who trusted God’s movement for her and Jesus Who is the very Movement of God.

Where do we stack up in this?

Are there times when we are afraid to let God move because, if we have to acknowledge His Presence, we would have to change?

Do we demand a movement of God as a proof of His love for us, or that He is at least listening?

Do we refuse to accept it when we see God moving for us and those around us?

Or do we trust in the movement of God around and for us? Have you ever heard of the title of Mary: Our Lady of Trust?

Today, as we acknowledge Mary’s “yes” and her trust in the Lord, we recognize she is the perfect antidote for:

• a secular world that is afraid to trust God;

• a demanding world that wants Him to step in and correct things, if He really loves us;

• a refusing, unseeing world that lacks the imagination to trust

“Immaculate Heart of Mary, true model of every holiness, grant us trust to become saints.” -– prayer by Bishop William Giaquinta, founder of the Pro-Sanctity Movement.

Prayer for the Feast of the Annunciation

Oh God, Who wast pleased that Thy Word should take Flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the message of an Angel, grant to us Thy suppliants that we, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be aided by her intercession before Thee. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

The Angelus

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary...
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary...

And the Word was made flesh.
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary...

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mary's Consent
You have heard it said, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weights heavily upon us.

The price of salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life . . . .

Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.

Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord," she says, "be it done to me according to your word."

From a homily in Praise of the Virgin Mother by Saint Bernard, Abbot

DYING TO SELF

When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take in all in patient, loving silence.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, or any annoyance; when you stand face-to- face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility-and endure it as Jesus endured.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or it ch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart.


THAT IS DYING TO SELF

Are you dead yet? In these last days, the Spirit would bring us to the cross.


"That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." Phil.3:10

Not-So-Identical Twins
Author Unknown

There were once two brothers who were identical twins. Now even though they looked exactly alike, they were exact opposites when it came to their personalities. One brother was an eternal optimist--he always saw good in everything and everybody. The other brother, however, was an eternal pessimist--he never saw good in anything anywhere.

One Christmas, their parents decided to try an experiment on them to see if there was any way that the two brothers could find some balance in their personalities. To the pessimist son, the parents gave a bright, shiny bicycle. To their optimist son, they gave a bag filled with nothing but straw. They put their presents under the tree with the boys' names on them and waited to see what would happened.

On Christmas morning, the two boys ran downstairs to discover what they had received from their parents. Upon finding the bicycle, the pessimist proclaimed, "A bicycle? Why did you give me a bicycle? It's too cold to ride outside, and besides, I will probably fall and hurt myself. I can't believe you got me a lousy bicycle!"

The optimist opened his present, found the bag of straw and thought for a minute. Suddenly he ran to the backyard and began looking around frantically. His parents and brothers were completely puzzled, and they finally asked him "What in the world are you doing?" To which he replied, "Well, after getting that bag of straw, I just know there's a pony around here someplace! I just haven't found him yet!"

Attitude can make a huge difference in your circumstances. When things happen to you at home, at school, with your friends--you have two choices. You can take the high road or the low road. The high road is to remain positive and look for the good in your situation. The low road is to be negative and to see only the bad. One road leads to happiness, the other to despair. Really, the choice is yours. Circumstances don't have to control your life. You can instead control how those circumstances affect you. You have the power.

As Christians, we have every reason to take the high road and to be optimistic about life. Because of Christ, we have hope--real hope. We know that no matter what happens, God is in control and we have the victory that Christ won for us on the cross. The apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4). That's the kind of attitude we need to have.

Interesting Insights into Jesus' Life and His Death


Jesus began His ministry by being hungry,
Yet He is the Bread of Life.

Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty,
Yet He is the Living Water.

Jesus was weary,
Yet He is our rest.

Jesus paid tribute,
Yet He is the King.

Jesus was accused of having a demon,
Yet He cast out demons.

Jesus wept,
Yet He wipes away our tears.

Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver,
Yet He redeemed the world.

Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
Yet He is the Good Shepherd.

Jesus died,
Yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.

*Written by Gregory of Nazasazus A.D. 38

THE APPLE BASKET
Author Unknown


One day an elderly man entered into a hospital. He was grumpy from
being on medication and the nurses thought him to be insane, as he
yelled for his wife to get the apple basket. By the time they had
checked him into his room the nurses were exhausted from the fight he
was putting up.

"Sir you have to calm down we are doing everything we can for you"
they would try to explain.

"I don't need your help" the grumpy man would yell "I want my apple
basket". He finally slept. The nurses sighed with relief and talked
among themselves whether they should call the hospital psychologist
about the old man and his obsession with the apple basket.

As they talked and laughed about the situation the wife came in
carrying the basket of apples. They looked kind of stunned as she
asked if she could see her husband and deliver his basket. Sure, they
agreed as they watched her slip past into his room.

Curiosity consumed them over the next few weeks as they tended to the
elderly man. He was eaten with cancer and the doctors had given him no
hope of survival. He turned out to be a very calm, happy man once he
had his basket. His wife, they noticed, would come in with apples and
go out with apples and the curiosity grew even more till one nurse
couldn't stand the suspense.

One night as he was nearing the end, the nurse sat down in a chair by
the wife." May I ask why do you have that apple basket? I just don't
understand the significance."

"I am an apple farmer by trade he sighed. From the time I was 20 till
the day I do die I will forever have my apples." The nurse nodded
thinking she understood. He just likes his work, she thought, assured
now he was a little bit crazy.

As she started to leave, the old man asked her to sit down. "At age 20
I was saved, I accepted the Lord as my Savior." Oh no, the nurse
thought. Here comes the lecture on religion. The old man continued.
"The day I accepted the Lord as my Savior I got this basket, and each
time I had a problem or concern that I could not handle, I put an
apple in the basket un-shined."

"Why?" the nurse said shaking her head.

"Because it reminded me to give those problems to the Lord for him to
shine. See my basket now, he stated. As my problems disappear so do
the apples. As I get new problems, ones I cannot handle alone, I put
an apple in."

The humble nurse looked into the basket...only one apple was there.

With that, he took a big breath and grabbed his wife by the hand and
faded into eternal sleep. The wife paused for a moment and got up from
her place to take from the basket the last remaining apple. She
whispered in his ear that his reward awaits him in heaven.

The nurse stayed still and asked with tears in her eyes, "what do you
think his riches will be?"

The wife knew what they were, eternal life with Jesus Christ. But she
could see the concern and sadness upon the young nurses' face and
handed her the apple and said "the biggest apple pie you can
imagine!"

That was the day the young nurse was saved, and from that day on she
always had a basket by her bed.



Friday, March 25, 2011

Annunciation of the Lord

The feast of the Annunciation goes back to the fourth or fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become one of us. From all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity should become human. Now, as Luke 1:26-38 tells us, the decision is being realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to bring it to God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected God, Jesus will accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13).
Mary has an important role to play in God's plan. From all eternity God destined her to be the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the creation and redemption of the world. We could say that God's decrees of creation and redemption are joined in the decree of Incarnation. Because Mary is God's instrument in the Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in creation and redemption. It is a God-given role. It is God's grace from beginning to end. Mary becomes the eminent figure she is only by God's grace. She is the empty space where God could act. Everything she is she owes to the Trinity.

She is the virgin-mother who fulfills Isaiah 7:14 in a way that Isaiah could not have imagined. She is united with her son in carrying out the will of God (Psalm 40:8-9; Hebrews 10:7-9; Luke 1:38).

Together with Jesus, the privileged and graced Mary is the link between heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus, exemplifies the possibilities of human existence. She received into her lowliness the infinite love of God. She shows how an ordinary human being can reflect God in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the Church and every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate product of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us.

Comment:
Sometimes spiritual writers are accused of putting Mary on a pedestal and thereby discouraging ordinary humans from imitating her. Perhaps such an observation is misguided. God did put Mary on a pedestal and has put all human beings on a pedestal. We have scarcely begun to realize the magnificence of divine grace, the wonder of God's freely given love. The marvel of Mary—even in the midst of her very ordinary life—is God's shout to us to wake up to the marvelous creatures that we all are by divine design.
Quote:
"Enriched from the first instant of her conception with the splendor of an entirely unique holiness, the virgin of Nazareth is hailed by the heralding angel, by divine command, as 'full of grace' (cf. Luke 1:28). To the heavenly messenger she replies: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word' (Luke 1:38). Thus the daughter of Adam, Mary, consenting to the word of God, became the Mother of Jesus. Committing herself wholeheartedly and impeded by no sin to God's saving will, she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of redemption, by the grace of Almighty God" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 56).

Closing Prayer:
Prayer for Daily Neglects

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with al its love, all its sufferings and all its merits.

To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

To purify the good I have done poorly this day and during all my life.

Glory be, etc.

To supply for the good I ought to have done, and that I have neglected this day and all my life.

Glory be, etc.

Good night all - Sweet Dreams!! Have a wonderful Saturday and watch for those blessings so they don't go un noticed!! God bless you!