Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Often times, life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Lord, help me to notice each moment and not rush through it.


Scripture for the day:

"Jesus straightened up and said to the woman caught in adultery,
'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one,
sir.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and
from now on do not sin again.'" ~John 8:10-11

Meditation for the day:

I can live one day at a time. I can make each day
one of preparation for better things ahead. I need not dwell on the
past or the future, only on the present. I can bury every fear of the
future, all thoughts of unkindness and bitterness, all my dislikes, my
resentments, my sense of failure, my disappointments in others and in
myself, my gloom and my despondency. I can leave all these things
buried and go forward, into
a new life!

Prayer for the day:

I pray that God will guide me one day at a time. I
pray that for each day, God will supply the wisdom and the strength I
need.

Hello my friends! Hope you all had a great Saturday! Today was Richard's
funeral, and we went to the Mass, and met up with our two couples we usually
go to the Fair with and visits, so we invited them over to our house to
continue visiting - it was so nice! We met them at a retreat in 1983 and we
stayed friends. A lot from that retreat was at the funeral, too. Nancy and
Richard made that same retreat - different ones that we did, but the same.
It's just like TEC, only TEC is mainly for 16 and up while Koinonia is from
20 on up, mostly adults. There were some Sisters in our parish that year and
they started this up and it's been going ever since. A really powerful
retreat! Poor Harold, he's got Alz now and he was there today but Lorraine
told me that this morning he forgot why and where he's going. It comes and
goes with him. So we went to Mass again tonight for our Sunday because we
are leaving in the morning for a sibling get together on Linus' side at his
sister's. Tonight was the first Mass with the new translation. It's very
nice. We like it. We have prayer cards at Church to help us along.
Happy Advent, everyone! May it be a blessed one.

Homily of the Day


November 26, 2011

Stay Awake or You´ll Miss the Best Part
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Is 63:16b-17, 19b: 64:2-7 / 1 Cor 1:3-9 / Mk 13:33-37

It was Thanksgiving time in the first grade, and the teacher asked each of
the students to draw a picture of something they were thankful for.
Predictably, some of the children drew pictures of the turkey dinner they
were looking forward to, others drew maps of our country, and one even drew
a flag. But the teacher was surprised at the drawing of one especially shy
and forlorn little boy: It was a childishly drawn hand. The class was
fascinated: Whose hand could it be?

Tne student said, “I think it’s God’s hand that brings us food.”

“No,” said the little boy.

“I think it’s a farmer’s hand,” said another, “because he grows the
turkeys.”

“No,” again.

Finally they asked, “Whose hand is it?”

The shy little boy answered very softly, “It’s your hand, teacher. You hold
my hand when I’m scared or lonely.”

+ + +

Two people, a teacher and a scared little boy, both awake to the grace of
the moment, the one to give and the other to receive what was needed. That’s
what Jesus is urging us to do: Give each moment our full attention. Watch
life’s shifting sands closely. Be alert to what life’s patterns are telling
us. And then act on what we see.

God wants happy lives for us, but they won’t happen if we don’t pay
attention, if we walk around with our eyes closed, or half asleep. Now it’s
easier to see this happening in others than in ourselves.

Think of all the people you know whose lives, kids, marriages, careers or
businesses are in trouble. A lot of people! And in most cases the reasons
for the trouble are pretty clear. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to
see them! Yet somehow those folks keep missing the obvious, missing the
opportunities to make things work, missing so many chances to say the word
or do the deed that would change lemons into lemonade, change what is bitter
into something sweet.

“What a shame,” we say so often as we ponder other people’s lost
opportunities for life and love. And it IS a shame. But how many folks are
saying the same about us? Quite a few, I’ll bet. And at least half of them
are probably right!

Lucky for us, God never gives up on us. Instead, he’s giving us a little
more time and some very specific instructions: “Wake up,” he says, “and pay
attention to your life. Watch the patterns: What’s working and what’s not.
Watch for those hands that need holding, and for the hands that are reaching
out to hold yours. A wonderful life is waiting for you, if you’ll just open
your eyes and act on what I’ll show you.”

That is God’s promise. And he always keeps his word!

Our priest tonight mentioned that he has his homilies posted in our Parish
Website - I'll have to take a look there!

5 Ways To Live A Holier Life

Make more time for prayer:
Spending time together is the best way to get to know God better.

Practice sharing:
God wants us to take care of each other. Look for more ways to share your
money, time, and talents with someone who needs them.

Celebrate the Sacraments:
Make Sunday Mass the highlight of your week. Go to confession and celebrate
God´s forgiving spirit.

Be a voice in the wilderness :
When you notice and injustice, be the first one to speak out and take
action. Treat all people with the dignity they deserve as children of God.

Share your faith :
Talk about God with anyone who wants to listen. We shouldn´t keep his love
all to ourselves. There´s more than enough to go around.


- - -
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.

(T S Eliot)

HIDDEN BLESSINGS

There was a king in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up with.
The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in
his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The
friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had
apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after
taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown
off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"

To which the king replied, "No this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send
his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have
known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their
village. They tied him to a stake surrounded by wood.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king
had but one thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less
than whole. They untied the king and sent him away.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his
thumb and felt so very badly about his treatment of his friend. He went
immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right" he said,
"it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the
friend all that had just happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you
to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "this is good!"

"What do you mean, 'this is good'! How could it be good that I sent you,
my good friend, to jail for all this time?"

"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you - and eaten!"

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.

The Paradox of our Time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but
shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more,
but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and
smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees,
but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, yet more
problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too
little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too
much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a
living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years. We've
been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street
to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space.

We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom,
but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but
accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more
computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but we
communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small
character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the times of
world "peace" but constant conflict, more leisure but less enjoyment, more
kinds of food but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses but broken
homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway
morality, one-night stands, and pills that do everything from cheer to
quiet, to kill.

Advent
(Latin ad-venio, to come to).

According to present usage, Advent is a period beginning with the Sunday
nearest to the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle (30 November) and embracing
four Sundays. The first Sunday may be as early as 27 November, and then
Advent has twenty-eight days, or as late as 3 December, giving the season
only twenty-one days.

With Advent the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. During
this time the faithful are admonished
to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's
coming into the world as the incarnate God of love,

thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy
Communion and through grace, and

thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and
at the end of the world.

Advent Liturgical Prayer

Father, in the wilderness of the Jordan you sent a messenger to prepare
people's hearts for the coming of your Son. Help me to hear his words and
repent of my sins, so that I may clearly see the way to walk, the truth to
speak, and the life to live for Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mary, my Mother, you have a great desire to see Jesus loved;
obtain for me this grace - to love Him with a love that is exceeding great,
and to love no other but Him.

My Lady, you always obtain from your Son all that you ask Him for.
Pray then for me and console me.
Ask for me also a great love for yourself who are so much loved by God.

Through the sorrows that you bore on Calvary,
when you looked on Jesus dying on the cross before your eyes,
obtain for me a good death.

Thus, dear Mother, loving Jesus and you in this life,
I shall come to love you eternally in paradise.

- - -
"O my Jesus, he who does not love you, does not know you." - St. Alphonsus

Dear Sweet Jesus,
Walk with me today and grant that I may hear your footsteps and gladly
follow where they lead.
Talk with me today and grant that I may hear your tender voice and quicken
to its counsel.
Stay with me today and grant that I may feel your gentle presence in all I
do, say and think.

Be my strength when I weaken, my courage when I fear.
Help me to know that it is your hand holding mine through all the hours of
this day...
Amen.

Good night - Sweet Dreams - Have a blessed Advent everyone and remember the
reason for the season. It gets lost so much, doesn't it?