God wants us happy right now and continually points us in that direction
even when we look the other way. Lord, grant that nothing will turn me
away from doing Your will.
Scripture for the day:
"You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of
joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore." ~Psalm 16:11
Meditation for the day:
We can hold our lives in trust for God. We can think deeply on what
that means. Nothing is too much to expect from such a life. We can
begin to see how dedicated a life in trust for God can be. In such a
life miracles can happen. When we are faithful, we find that God has
many good things in store for us. God can be the Lord of our lives,
controller of our days, of our present and our future. We can try to
act as God guides and leave all results to God. We need not hold
back, but can go all out for God and the better life God promises. We
can make good our trust.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may hold my life in trust for God. I pray that I may no
longer consider my life as all my own.
Greetings to all you, my friends! Hope you all had a good day even if it was
just the ordinary - God was there with you all the way! Here it was quiet
and peaceful, and I got a nap in, first one I've had in a while and it felt
good! We had left over chicken soup for supper with a salad. Our priest
will be coming again soon - we just need to make a time, he mentioned it
after Mass today to name the day and time and he'll be here! He is a lot of
fun - this is our main pastor, Fr. Vince. We need to get Fr. Matt over
again too. Time flies by so fast!! Tomorrow morning my friend, Linda L will
be having her cancer surgery on her lung - please remember her in prayer for
successful surgery and quick recovery and I thank you all very much. Hard
to believe that December is upon us already - and time I get my Christmas
cards out before I start working for Lori again - I think that will be soon.
Homily of the Day
November 30, 2011
What Do You See When You Look at a Stranger?
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle
Rom 10:9-18 / Mt 4:18-22
There is something in us human beings that inclines us time after time to
define one another as either insiders or outsiders. Sometimes the
distinction is racial or ethnic, sometimes it’s religious, sometimes the
dividing line is economic or educational or political, or slave versus free.
But whatever the cause, the lines are always there and firmly drawn. This
kind of thinking has even invaded the Church at times. It was not until 1839
that a pope definitively condemned slavery. It was not until the end of
Vatican Council II that the Church finally rejected the idea that there
could be no salvation outside its boundaries.
St. Paul rejected that kind of thinking 2000 years ago, as we hear in today’s
epistle. “There is no difference between Jew and Greek; all have the same
Lord, rich in mercy to all who call upon Him.” It certainly does take a long
time for that truth to trickle down to the rest of us! Yet the words of
Jesus in the Gospels are full of that very insight. It makes us wonder how
much of the rest of Jesus’ message we may have been missing!
Jesus asks us to look at one another — without exception — through God’s
eyes, and to see in each human being either a brother or a sister, a beloved
child of God like ourselves, a stumbling wayfarer very much like ourselves.
He asks us to extend to each of God’s children the same compassion which God
our Father extends to us every day without fail.
How can we say no? Very simply, we cannot!
SIX YEAR OLD'S PRAYER
Author Unknown
Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son had
asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, "God is
good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you
more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for
all, amen."
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a
woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't
even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream. Why, I never."
Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it
wrong? Is God mad at me?"
As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God
was certainly not mad at him.
An elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and
said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
"Really?", my son asked. Then in a theatrical whisper he added
(indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too
bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for
the soul sometimes."
Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son
stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the
rest of my life.
He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it
in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is
for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is good
already."
In Christ we have ....
A love that can never be fathomed,
A life that can never die,
A righteousness that can never be tarnished,
A peace that can never be understood,
A rest that can never be disturbed,
A joy that can never be diminished,
A hope that can never be disappointed,
A glory that can never be clouded,
A light that can never be darkened,
A purity that can never be defiled,
A beauty that can never be marred,
A wisdom that can never be baffled,
Resources that can never be exhausted.
Jesus is our all in all!
A MAN WAS BORN
2000 YEARS AGO THERE WAS A MAN BORN CONTRARY TO THE LAWS OF NATURE. THIS MAN
WAS REARED IN OBSCURITY. EARTHLY RICHES WERE NOT IMPORTANT TO HIM. HE DID
NOT TRAVEL EXTENSIVELY, ONLY ONCE DID HE CROSS
THE BOUNDARY OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH HE LIVED AND THAT
WAS DURING HIS EXILE IN CHILDHOOD TO EGYPT. IN INFANCY HE STARTLED A KING;
IN CHILDHOOD HE AMAZED JEWISH
LEADERS, IN MANHOOD HE RULED THE COURSE OF NATURE, WALKING
UPON THE BILLOWS AS IF PAVEMENT. HE HUSHED THE SEA TO SLEEP. HE HEALED
MULTITUDES WITHOUT MEDICINE AND MADE NO CHARGE FOR
HIS SERVICE HE NEVER WROTE A BOOK, AND YET ALL THE LIBRARIES OF
THE COUNTRY COULD NOT HOLD THE BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN
ABOUT HIM, HE NEVER WROTE A SONG, AND YET HE HAS FURNISHED THE
THEME FOR MORE SONGS THAN ALL THE SONGWRITERS COMBINED. HE NEVER FOUNDED A
COLLEGE, BUT ALL THE SCHOOLS PUT TOGETHER
CANNOT BOAST OF HAVING AS MANY STUDENTS. HE NEVER PRACTICED PSYCHIATRY AND
YET HE HAS HEALED MORE
BROKEN HEARTS THAN ALL THE DOCTORS FAR AND NEAR. NAMES OF GREAT SCIENTISTS,
PHILOSOPHERS, AND THEOLOGIANS HAVE
COME AND GONE; BUT THE NAME OF THIS MAN ABOUNDS MORE AND
MORE. HEROD THE GREAT COULD NOT DESTROY HIM AND THE GRAVE
COULD NOT HOLD HIM. HIS NAME STANDS HIGHEST OF HEAVENLY GLORY,
ACKNOWLEDGED BY ANGELS AND FEARED BY DEVILS. "FOR THE LIFE OF THE FLESH IS
IN THE BLOOD AND I HAVE GIVEN IT TO
YOU UPON THE ALTAR TO MAKE ATONEMENT FOR YOUR SOULS; FOR IT IS
THE BLOOD THAT MAKETH AN ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL" AS THE LIVING
PERSONAL CHRIST, THE MESSIAH AND SAVIOUR, THE REDEEMER OF MAN.
HERE IS GOD'S APPOINTED SACRIFICE FOR SINS. LONG AGO GOD'S DIVINE PRINCIPLE
WAS ESTABLISHED, THAT "WITHOUT
SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO REMISSION" TODAY GOD, IN WONDROUS LOVE TELLS
US, "THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST HIS SON, CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN" JESUS IS
THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS FULFILLED ALL OF THE SCRIPTURES
REGARDING MESSIAH'S BIRTH, MINISTRY, DEATH AND RESURRECTION.
THERE ARE OVER 300 PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
CONCERNING MESSIAH'S INCARNATION. JESUS FULFILLED THEM ALL. GREAT IS THE
MYSTERY OF GODLINESS GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE
FLESH IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT DIE FOR YOU. HE CAME TO EARTH BUT WAS REJECTED
BY THE PEOPLE AS THEIR KING
AT THAT TIME. HE IS GOING TO COME TO THIS EARTH AGAIN AND THEN
HE WILL BE ACCEPTED AS NOT ONLY KING OF THE JEWS. BUT AS KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS TIME HERE ON EARTH IS SHORT ETERNITY IS FOREVER SOON JESUS
WILL
RETURN TO CLAIM HIS BELIEVERS ~~~ I KNOW I WILL BE ONE OF THEM
BECAUSE I SAID A SIMPLE PRAYER FROM MY HEART THE BIBLE SAYS WHEN YOU ASK FOR
FORGIVENESS AND EXPRESS YOUR
KNOWLEDGE THAT JESUS IS YOUR SAVIOR THE ANGELS REJOICE.
SEND THIS MAN TO YOUR FRIENDS
THE PARACHUTE
Author Unknown
November 30, 2011
Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot
in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a
surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected & parachuted into enemy hands.
He was captured & spent six years in a Communist prison.
He survived that ordeal & now lectures about lessons learned from that
experience.
One day, when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at
another table came up & said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in
Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise &
gratitude. The man pumped his hand & said, "I guess it worked!"
Plumb assured him, "It sure did-if your 'chute hadn't worked, I
wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says,
'I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform-a
Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered
how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered
how many times I might have seen him & not even said good morning, how
are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot & he was
just a sailor.
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden
table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds &
folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the
fate of someone he didn't
know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, 'Who's packing your parachute?'
Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through
the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes
when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his
physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, &
his spiritual parachute."
He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience
reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie
ahead.
SUGGESTION: Recognize people who pack your parachute & strengthen
yourself to prevail through tough times.
PRAYER FOR STRENGTH AND WISDOM
Lord, give me strength and wisdom to live this day as I ought.
Give me
strength to overcome every temptation which may come to me,
strength to do well every task which is assigned to me,
strength to shoulder every responsibility which is laid upon my shoulders,
Give me
wisdom to know when to speak and when to keep silent,
wisdom to know when to act and when to refrain from action,
wisdom to know when to speak my mind and when to hold my peace.
So bring me to the end of this day in goodness, in happiness and in peace.
Amen.
Good night everyone and God bless you in all that you do! Sweet Dreams!
Have a very peaceful and positive Thursday filled with many blessings.
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