Community Chat

[gloriajean]

The important thing is not how long your life is, but how good your life is.
Lord, may I glorify You all the days of my life.


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

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were
called in the one body. And be thankful." ~Colossians 3:15

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

We can be at home and comfortable in the world. Yet some of us live
lives of quiet desperation. This is the opposite of being at home and at
peace in the world. We can let our peace of mind be evident to those around
us.
We can let others see that we are comfortable, and seeing it, know that it
springs from our trust in God. The dull, hard way of resignation is
not God's way. Faith can take the sting out of the winds of adversity and
can bring peace even in the midst of struggle.

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

I pray that I may be more comfortable in my way of living. I pray that
I may feel more at home and at peace within myself.

Greetings my friends! Hope you all had a nice day today - weather-wise and
other-wise! It was nice here - all day - I baked some more apple crisp
today, our trees have big apples to use. I tried something - I called the
Good Earth Food Co-op and asked them how much stevia can be used for one cup
of sugar. I was told 1 tbsp. so I made the apple crisp with the 1 tbsp. of
stevia and it was delicious! Who needs that sugar? For supper tonight we
had my cousin, Fr. Jerry over, and Linus got more fish so we had another
fish fry, with the sweet potato fries, good salad, and that dessert. Father
Jerry is surely a blessing to us both. I've known him since elementary
school. At 14 he went to be a priest, ordained the same summer I married.
We've always been close. Now that he's here in our town, I love to have him
over as often as I can. It was so nice out again that we spent the whole
time out in the patio.

Homily of the Day


September 9, 2011

Get your Own House in Order
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
1 Tim 1:1-2, 12-14 / Lk 6:39-42

Have you ever noticed the breadth of expertise, virtue, and wisdom on every
topic under the sun that seems to congregate at a cocktail party and most
other gatherings? It’s amazing how much we think we know, and how sinless
we seem to think we are! If only we were given the reigns of government, or
absolute control over our workplace, or full power to administer our local
parish, all things would soon approach the conditions of the Garden of Eden.

Jesus has a quick response to such illusions: “Get your own house in order
before you try to handle anyone else’s business.” How sensible that advice
is, and how hard it is to follow. It’s so much easier to take potshots at
what’s out there than to attend to what’s inside our own lives, especially
if we don’t have the habit of looking within.

Jesus’ admonition to attend to the plank in our own eyes before attacking
the splinter in our neighbor’s eye is surely graphic, and it gives a good
indication of the relative scale of the issues involved: Major lumber vs. a
piece of sawdust. The issue is blindness: “I think I’m just perfect and
therefore I have the right to focus on your faults.” Whereas the reality is
that I have big problems that I haven’t even seen.

And that brings us to our task for the day: Forget everybody else’s sins and
mistakes, and instead take a good look at your own. Face yourself in the
presence of the Lord. See yourself as He sees you. And then ask His help to
do what is needed. He never says “no” to anyone who asks with an honest
heart. And when you finally get your own life together, you’ll be ready to
be the compassionate friend and fellow pilgrim we all hope to find.

Mother Teresa Said...

"Chastity does not simply mean that we are not married.
It means that we love Christ with an undivided love.
To be pure we need poverty. Is it wrong to have things?
We vow poverty not because it is wrong to have things
but we choose to do without those things."

Who is My Customer?

We seem to spend a lot of time discussing this.
External customers, internal customers,
Government, supplier, manager, user colleague.
"Exceed customer expectations!" we say.
"Achieve customer delight!"

You were asked the question
"Who is my neighbour?" (Lk 10:29)

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself",
seems to be the same as
"You shall love your customer as yourself."

Perhaps the motive is different
Yet it depends whose business
I'm working in.
In your business Lord,
Neighbour and customer are one
and the same.
And the currency is love.

(From "Business Praise" by Howard Smith)

[ Heaven for the Humorist ]

There is the story of an Irishman who died suddenly and went up for divine
judgment. He felt very uneasy, for he didn't think he had done much good on
earth. There was a long line of people ahead of him, so he settled down to
look and listen.

After consulting his book, Christ said to the first man in line, "I see here
that I was hungry and you gave me to eat. Good on you! Go on into heaven."
To the second he said, "I was thirsty and you gave me to drink," and to the
third, "I was in prison and you visited me," And so it went on. As each man
ahead of him was sent to heaven, the Irishman examined his conscience and
felt that he had a great deal to fear. He'd never given anyone food or
drink, and he hadn't visited prisoners or the sick.

Then his turn came. Trembling, he watched Christ examining the book. Then
Christ looked up and said, "Well, there's not much written here; but you did
do something: I was sad and discouraged and depressed and you came and told
me funny stories which made me laugh and cheered me up. Get along to
heaven..."

This story makes the point that no form of charity should be undervalued or
neglected.

THE WAY TO GOD

If my days were untroubled
and my heart always light
Would I seek the fair land
where there is no night;
If I never grew weary
with the weight of my load
Would I search for God's Peace
at the end of the road;
If I never knew sickness
and never felt pain
Would I reach for a hand
to help and sustain;
If I walked not with sorrow
and lived without loss
Would my soul seek solace
at the foot of the cross;
If all I desired was mine
day by day
Would I kneel before God
and earnestly pray;
If God sent no "Winter"
to freeze me with fear
Would I yearn for the warmth
of "Spring" every year;
I ask myself this
and the answer is plain--
If my life were all pleasure
and I never knew pain
I'd seek God less often
and need Him much less,
For God's sought more often
in times of distress,
And no one knows God
or sees Him as plain
As those who have met Him
on the "Pathway of Pain."

By Helen Steiner Rice

The Universal Prayer

Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.

I worship you as my first beginning,
I long for you as my last end,
I praise you as my constant helper,
and call on you as my loving protector.

Guide me by your wisdom,
Correct me with your justice,
Comfort me with your mercy,
Protect me with your power.

I offer you Lord,
My thoughts: to be fixed on you;
My words: to have you for their theme;
My actions: to reflect my love for you;
My sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me:
In the way you ask, for as long as you ask, because you ask it.

Lord, enlighten my understanding,
Strengthen my will,
Purify my heart, and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins and to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weakness and to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you, my Lord and my God, and see myself as I really am:
A pilgrim in this world, a Christian called to respect and love all whose
lives I touch,
Those in authority over me or those under my authority, my friends and my
enemies.

Help me to conquer anger by gentleness, greed by generosity, apathy by
fervour.
Help me to forget myself and reach out towards others.

Make me prudent in planning, courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity.
Keep me Lord, attentive in prayer, temperate in food and drink, diligent in
my work, firm in my good intentions.

Let my conscience be clear, my conduct without fault, my speech blameless,
my life well ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.

Let me cherish your love for me, keep your law, and come at last to your
salvation.
Teach me to realise that this world is passing, that my true future is the
happiness of heaven,
That life on earth is short, and the life to come eternal.

Help me to prepare for death with a proper fear of judgment, but a greater
trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

(Pope Clement XI)

Good night everyone - Sweet Dreams and may you all have a very blessed
Saturday and weekend.
God Bless you all!!