Hello my friends! I wish Shorelady could have great news - maybe it will take a little while longer? So sorry for all you are going thru, dear lady, and your husband. Today's blessings first of all - the lots of views and posts on today's (Wednesday's) thread, Thank you everyone! And we're having a different chicken meal today - it's in the oven, I just put a ready to cook pecan coated chicken breast in - mashed potatoes are going with that along with a salad. With that I'll send out the inspirations now.
Live life with an attitude of gratitude and partner with God in all that you
do.
Lord, thank You because I am blessed and highly favored.
Scripture for the day:
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are
varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of
activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."
~1 Corinthians 12:4-7
Meditation for the day:
God can be the great interpreter of one human personality to another.
Even personalities who are the nearest together have much in their natures
that remains a sealed book to each other. And only as God enters and leads
their lives are the mysteries of each revealed to the other. Each
personality is so different. God alone understands perfectly the language
of each and can interpret between the two. Here we can find the miracles of
change and the true interpretation of life.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may be in the right relationship to God. I pray that God will
interpret to me the personalities of other people, so that I can understand
them and better help them.
WHY DOES GOD LET PEOPLE SUFFER?
People suffer. Even good people. Pain can be a helpful signal that something
is wrong. But what of people whose lives seem to be swallowed up in a great
cloud of suffering? We view on the news the catastrophic suffering caused by
earthquakes and wars, famine and disease. Such suffering leads people to
question: if God is as benevolent and almighty as we believe, why doesn't
the Good God use divine power to stop people's suffering? Why does God let
people suffer? What follows are some personal reflections on the great
mystery of suffering.
Our Responsibility
Almost all suffering is caused by what we do, or fail to do. God gives us an
earth rich enough, and intelligence keen enough, to meet the needs of all
the earth's children. It is our own greed and fear that squander our
material and mental resources, and lead to so much suffering.
For example, we create such inequitable economic systems that 20% of the
world's population consume 80% of the earth's resources, leaving 80% of
humanity to subsist on only 20% of the earth's goods. Can we rightly blame
God, then, for the 40,000 people, mostly children, who die every single day
from malnutrition?
If we dedicate the time and talents of half our scientists and engineers to
the defense industry, should God be blamed because so many of our basic
human needs are left unmet? If we spend as much money on one B-1 bomber as
we spend all year on cancer, or heart, or AIDS research, who's to blame if
we have not yet found the cure for these ravaging diseases?
The sorry list of our tragic misuse of resources goes on and on. We cannot
blame God for the injustices we ourselves cause. We are personally
responsible for our own actions, and for their consequences, in our lives
and in our world. God is not a scapegoat for our sins.
What of all the suffering produced by natural disasters--floods,
earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanos? Isn't God responsible for these?
Many of our floods are caused by our own wanton stripping away of the
earth's protective forests. We prefer not to see how our sins against the
earth lead to so much suffering. The alarming increase in many diseases,
like cancer and asthma, are the direct result of our contamination of the
environment. The accusing finger needs to be pointed not at God, but at
ourselves.
We divert vast resources to produce an obscene overabundance of armaments.
It is within our power, instead, to harness our technological energies to
produce safer housing, etc, in danger zones, and so drastically curtail the
damage caused by flooding, earthquakes, etc.
As it is, much of the suffering from natural disasters is not caused by the
initial trauma, but by the horrible aftermath of trapped victims,
homelessness, hunger and disease. We have well armed military forces ready
to move on a moment's notice to engage an enemy in any part of the world. We
are able to equally well equip rescue forces prepared to move on a moment's
notice to combat the aftereffects of natural disasters, and so dramatically
reduce suffering. If we were as committed to sending out rescue forces and
vaccines as we are to sending military forces and weaponry, how much
suffering could be reduced. The fault does not lie with God, but with
ourselves, with our greed and fears. As President Kennedy once said: "Here
on earth God's work must truly be our own."
The Good News
Far from wanting people to suffer, God sent Jesus to lead us out of
suffering, to usher in God's reign of peace and love. Jesus came with the
Good News ("Gospel") that only God's love, not greed, can fill the emptiness
of our restless hearts. Jesus showed us that fear is useless, but that trust
heals (Mk 5:36).
Because so many of us turn our backs on the Good News and entrust our hearts
to worldly idols--possessions, power, prestige, pleasure--the reign of God
is still eclipsed by a reign of tears. Scientific and technological progress
is not going to bring suffering to an end. Only the Good News will do that.
That's why our faith is so important. Nothing is as important as
understanding and living the Good News. Only Jesus, and the new Way of
living that His life, death and resurrection have made possible, can
liberate us from the sufferings brought upon us by our own sins.
Holy Tears
Rigorous training causes athletes pain. They accept their "suffering" as the
best way to condition their bodies. As Christians we accept our suffering as
the best way to holiness. Jesus came to take away our tears, but He also
shows us how to make them holy.
Our sufferings can crush us, make us hard and bitter. We have all met people
like that. These people weren't always like that. They let life's crosses
crush the love out of them.
We also know people who have suffered just as much as the embittered ones,
but did not let their cross crush them down. Instead of becoming bitter,
they became better people. Their faith enabled them to dig down deep within
themselves, to connect with a Power beyond their own, and let God raise them
up above their sufferings. Christians have no easy answers to the mystery of
suffering. But we do know that if there were another, better, way, God would
not have let Jesus die on a cross. Jesus is our model. In His death agony
Jesus experienced desolation (Mk 15:34), but He did not despair (Lk 23:46).
God is continuously at work transforming Good Fridays into Easter Sundays.
One of the most beautiful people I have ever met had just graduated as a
teacher. She shared her story with a group of us studying alcoholism. She
told us that in her childhood she had been abused by her father. Upon coming
to college she tried to cover up her pain by abusing alcohol.
Fortunately, she eventually sought counseling and, through hard work in a 12
Step program, gained sobriety. She said that as a teacher she would have her
eye out for signs of child abuse in her students, the signs that had been
missed by her teachers. She was not going to work out her issues through
these children; she had her own resources for that. But she would be alert
to assist children suffering abuse. There was a deep beauty in this young
women, a sensitivity and compassion, a purpose and maturity beyond her
years.
At the end of the session I approached her and thanked her for her
presentation. I told her that I though my own sufferings as a child, as
painful as the were, had helped make me the person I am today.
She responded by telling me something I will never forget. Looking back on
how she had been abused, and on how she had abused herself, she said: "I
wouldn't change any of it." God had used it all to make her who she is
today! What a profound spirituality!
This young woman's wisdom for living far surpasses my own. If I could change
things that have happened to me, or things that I myself have done, I would
be sorely tempted to do so. But she is right. God is so awesome that God can
bring blessings even out of evil. That is why, at our solemn Easter Vigil,
the Church calls original sin a "happy fault...which gained for us so great
a Redeemer!" To the extent that we open our lives to God's healing, God does
write straight and true with all the crooked lines of our lives.
God does not want people to suffer. But God does respect our human freedom
and tolerate our sins. Jesus patiently leads us away from greed and fear to
the day when "God will wipe away all tears from [our] eyes" (Rev 21:4). We
follow Jesus, burdened, but not crushed, by our crosses. In the midst of our
sufferings we continue to trust that the darkness which sometimes engulfs us
is the shadow of God's Hand stretched over us in blessing.
Ronald Stanley, O.P
Prayer for Harmony
God the Father, source of everything divine, you are good surpassing
everything good and just surpassing everything just. In you is tranquility,
as well as peace and harmony. Heal our divisions and restore us to the unity
of love, which is similar to your divine nature. let the bond of love and
the ties of divine affection make us one in the Spirit by your peace which
renders everything peaceful. We ask this through the grace, mercy, and
compassion of your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
St Dionysius of Alexandria, Bishop and Educator
May is known as the month of Mary. Many people join in with
their families and friends to pray the Rosary..
WHY THE DAILY ROSARY?
Our Lady has 117 titles. She selected this title at Fatima:
"I am the Lady of the Rosary."
St. Francis de Sales said the greatest method of praying is
to Pray the Rosary.
St. Thomas Aquinas preached 40 straight days in Rome Italy
on just the Hail Mary.
St. John Vianney, patron of priests, was seldom seen without
a rosary in his hand.
"The rosary is the scourge of the devil" -- Pope Adrian VI
"The rosary is a treasure of graces" -- Pope Paul V
Padre Pio the stigmatic priest said: "The Rosary is THE
WEAPON"
Pope Leo XIII wrote 9 encyclicals on the rosary.
Pope John XXIII spoke 38 times about our Lady and the
Rosary. he prayed 15 decades daily.
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort wrote: "The rosary is
the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our
Redeemer, who so loves His Mother."
MARY, QUEEN OF THE HOLY ANGELS -- PRAY FOR US!
God's Road Map
I opened my map that God had left
Realized that I had missed my turn
Searched for the error I made
And God's voice I heard
He said rely on me my child and I'll direct your path
For the mistake you made was neither right nor left
I quizzed the words he said and turned the page
There I saw another lost and afraid
We both turned the next page and a note was left
God said, Do not fear for I haven't left
His words were comforting and true
But left me to ask, Did I leave you?
In His words I heard a smile
And He said you've gone the last mile
I looked at the map realizing my fate
The directions simple from state to state
Take my hand He said again
Without a second thought we placed our Faith in Him
Realizing the power we felt
We knelt to give Him Praise
And the final direction He gave
He said soft and sweet
You are done and have found the place
Where I have promised silver and gold
Reign with me and rest at home
For the Map you've used hast made thee whole
Continue to tell the journey you made
And the words you've heard
For the map you've used is simply God's Word!
10 Important Things Are....
LOVE
The Special Feeling That Makes You Feel
All Warm And Wonderful.
RESPECT
Treating Others As Well
As You Would Like To Be Treated.
APPRECIATION
To Be Grateful For All The Good Things
Life Has To Offer.
HAPPINESS
The Full Enjoyment Of Each Moment.
A Smiling Face.
FORGIVENESS
The Ability To Let Things Be
Without Anger.
SHARING
The Joy Of Giving
Without Thought Of Receiving.
HONESTY
The Quality Of Always
Telling The Truth.
INTEGRITY
The Purity Of Doing What's Right,
No Matter What.
COMPASSION
The Essence Of Feeling Another's Pain,
While Easing Their Hurt.
PEACE
The Reward For Living
~Author Unknown~
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