Community Chat

[gloriajean]

When you have faith in yourself and God, you will know that you are loved
and safe and never alone. Lord, I am these things because You are always
with me.

Scripture for the day:

"The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the LORD
tests the heart." ~Proverbs 17:3

Meditation for the day:

I believe that my life is being refined like gold in a crucible. Gold
does not stay in the crucible, only until it is refined. I need never
despair or be despondent. I have friends who long for me to be
victorious. If I should err or fail, it could cause pain and
disappointment to them. I can keep trying to live a better life.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may always call on God's strength, while the gold of my
life is being refined. I pray that I may see it through, with God's
help.

Hello my friends! We went to Mass this morning at 7 AM - for Ash
Wednesday - and that's early - but as long as we were up, thought we'd go
then and not at noon at the Cathedral or at 6:30 at our parish. Linus again
is not having the TV on all Lent - I don't mind because I hardly watched it
and it's so peaceful. After supper tonight, after the kitchen was cleaned
up, we played some cards. This afternoon he went to the Parish Office -
paid for our tickets for Saturday night - our Dinner Fund Raiser and Silent
Auction - it's always so much fun and we hardly miss it. Father Matthew
will be singing again, this time some Hawaiian songs because it's a Hawaiian
Theme. We're having Hawaiian chicken! Our Parish has a nice library you
can check out books and he brought a couple good spiritual reading ones home
to read. Love to read spiritual reading books - to uplift my spirit and
learn more about the Spiritual life and more about prayer. Thought you'd
like to read this Homily:

Reflection on Ash Wednesday
by Food For Thought

First Reading: Jl 2:12-18
Psalm: Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
Second Reading: 2 Cor 5:20-6:2
Gospel: Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

Both the first reading and the Gospel in today’s liturgy speak of
fasting. Fasting has a long and honored history in Judeo-Christian
religious practice. From its earliest days fasting has always been seen
as a means of providing food for the hungry.

Fr. Joseph Donders in his reflection on Ash Wednesday quotes St.
Augustine on fasting and mortification: “Don’t believe that fasting
suffices. Fasting punishes you, but it does not restore your brother.
How many poor people could be nourished by the meal you did not take
today?” Donders points out how Augustine reflects the words Isaiah
wrote centuries earlier: “Is not this the sort of fasting that pleases
me-to share your bread with the hungry?”

It is the practice in some schools during Lent to have a “mite” box on
the teacher’s desk. Children would put the money that they saved in the
box; money they saved by not taking a soft drink or buying candy. The
Far East Mission Society would use the money to buy unwanted babies in
China. Fasting would buy these unwanted babies life.

The Church encourages this sort of fasting-for-others during the season
of Lent. In a country where poverty holds the vast majority in its
grip, fasting-that-others-might-eat can satisfy the faster’s spiritual
hunger as well as the physical, and perhaps also the spiritual, hunger
of the poor.

Fasting


"When you fast do not look gloomy," Jesus says (Matthew 6:16). Today's
consumer society looks on fasting itself as gloomy. Urging everyone to eat,
drink, and buy more and more, our world today has made fasting
unfashionable.

Yet the gospel message says more and more can ruin human life. An
acquisitive spirit is a selfish spirit. And as the alarming numbers of
people addicted to drugs and alcohol today prove, the taste for too much can
destroy.

Food and drink, clothes and amusements - the good things of life - can turn
into your captors, Jesus teaches. In our acquisitive, pleasure-oriented
society, fasting is a way of keeping ourselves free.

This Lent, recognizing the hold things have on us, let us try, with God's
help, to keep them in their right place. Some reasonable abstaining from
food, drink and entertainments can help us do that.

Indeed today we have new compelling reasons for taking fasting seriously. As
the resources of our planet are increasingly threatened, it becomes clear
that the human family, especially those living in affluent nations, can no
longer be unlimited consumers. We must develop a leaner, less wasteful way
of life.

ONE SOLITARY LIFE
Author Unknown


He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter
shop until he was 30.

Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.

He never held an office.

He never had a family or owned a house.

He didn't go to college.

He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place he was born.

He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him.

His friends deserted him.

He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a
trial.

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

When he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the
only property he had.. . . on earth.

When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of
a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central
figure of the human race, the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed,
all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put
together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that
One Solitary Life.

Do You Know Who He Is?

Live Your Prayers


I knelt to pray when day was done
And prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone,
Lift from each saddened heart the pain
And let the sick be well again."

And then I woke another day
And carelessly went on my way,
The whole day long I did not try
To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load
Of any brother on the road.
I did not even go to see
The sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done
I prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone."
But as I prayed, into my ear
there came a voice that whispered clear,

"Pause now, my child, before you pray.
Whom have you tried to bless today?
God's sweetest blessings always go
by hands that serve him here below."

And then I hid my face and cried,
"Forgive me, God, I have not tried,
But let me live another day
and I will live the way I pray."

~ Author Unknown
Heaven as written by a 17 Year Old Boy....

This is excellent and really gets you thinking about what will happen in
Heaven.

17-year-old Brian Moore had only a short time to write something for a
class. The subject was what Heaven was like. "I wowed "em," he later told
his father, Bruce. It"s a killer. It"s the bomb. It"s the best thing I ever
wrote." It also was the last.
Brian"s parents had forgotten about the essay when a cousin found it while
cleaning out the teenager"s locker at Teays Valley High School in Pickaway
County .

Brian had been dead only hours, but his parents desperately wanted every
piece of his life near them, notes from classmates and teachers, and his
homework. Only two months before, he had handwritten the essay about
encountering Jesus in a file room full of cards detailing every moment of
the teen"s life. But it was only after Brian"s death that Beth and Bruce
Moore realized that their son had described his view of heaven. It makes
such an impact that people want to share it. "You feel like you are there,"
Mr. Moore said. Brian Moore died May 27, 1997, the day after Memorial Day.
He was driving home from a friend"s house when his car went off Bulen-Pierce
Road in Pickaway County and struck a utility pole. He emerged from the wreck
unharmed but stepped on a downed power line and was electrocuted. .

The Moore "s framed a copy of Brian"s essay and hung it among the family
portraits in the living room. "I think God used him to make a point. I think
we were meant to find it and make something out of it," Mrs. Moore said of
the essay. She and her husband want to share their son"s vision of life
after death. "I"m happy for Brian. I know he"s in heaven. I know I"ll see
him.

Here is Brian"s essay entitled "The Room."
Page 1
In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room.
There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with
small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list
titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which
stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction,
had very different headings.
As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one
that read "Girls I have liked." I opened it and began flipping through the
cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names
written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I
was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for
my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in
a detail my memory couldn´t match. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled
with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and
exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense
of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if
anyone was watching.

A file named "Friends" was next to one marked "Friends I have betrayed." The
titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. "Books I Have Read,"
"Lies I Have Told," "Comfort I have Given," "Jokes I Have Laughed at."

Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: "Things I"ve yelled at my
brothers." Others I couldn"t laugh at: "Things I Have Done in My Anger",
"Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents." I never ceased to be
surprised by the contents Often there were many more cards than expected.
Sometimes fewer than I hoped. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the
life I had lived.

Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to fill each of these
thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth.
Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.

When I pulled out the file marked "TV Shows I have watched," I realized the
files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet
after two or three yards, I hadn"t found the end of the file. I shut it,
shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast time I knew
that file represented.

When I came to a file marked "Lustful Thoughts," I felt a chill run through
my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size,
and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to
think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on
me.

One thought dominated my mind: No one must ever see these cards! No one must
ever see this room! I have to destroy them!" In insane frenzy I yanked the
file out. Its size didn´t matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards.
But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not
dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to
find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it. Defeated and utterly
helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the
wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh.

And then I saw it. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With."
The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled
on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my
hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.
And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt. They
started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I
cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file
shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of this
room. I must lock it up and hide the key. But then as I pushed away the
tears, I saw Him.

No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as
He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn"t bear to watch His
response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw
a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes.
Why did He have to read every one? Finally He turned and looked at me from
across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity
that didn"t anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and
began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have
said so many things. But He didn´t say a word. He just cried with me.

Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of
the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over
mine on each card. "No!" I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say
was "No, no," as I pulled the card from Him. His name shouldn"t be on these
cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, and so alive.
The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood. He gently
took the card back He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I
don"t think I"ll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next
instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side.
He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, "It is finished."

I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door.
There were still cards to be written.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Prayers for Ash Wednesday
Lord, protect us in our struggle against evil. As we begin the discipline of
Lent, make this season holy by our self-denial. Grant this through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

+ + + + + + + + + +

Father in heaven, the light of your truth bestows sight to the darkness of
sinful eyes. May this season of repentance bring us the blessing of your
forgiveness and the gift of our light. Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May you all enjoy the Gift of Our Lord's presence within you! God bless
you!