Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Daily Inspiration, Scripture, Meditation and Prayer
February 10

Each morning gives us one more chance to pray, one more chance to help another and one more chance to make this a better world. Lord, thank you for working in and through everything.

Scripture for the Day
Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" — Luke 13:6-9

Meditation for the Day
Like a tree, it is best for me to be pruned of a lot of dead branches so I can be ready to bear good fruit. I can think of changed people as trees which have been stripped of their old branches, pruned, cut and bare. But through the dark, seemingly dead branches flows silently, secretly, the new sap, until with the sun of spring, comes new life. There are new leaves, buds, blossoms and fruit, many times better because of the pruning. I am in the hands of God, a master gardener, who makes no mistakes in pruning.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may cut away the dead branches of my life. I pray that I may not mind the pruning since it helps me to bear good fruit later.

Greetings to you all! Hope you all had a good day today and will still enjoy a great night! It was nice today - we did go to the noon Mass - Fr. Jerry had the Mass - visited with him afterwards, and all that was a blessing. It was cold, but not too bad, no wind until tonight. We were going to take Fr. Jerry out for lunch but he had an appointment, maybe we'll do it Friday as he has the noon Mass again. Friday morning I have a dentist appt. Haven't gone in about 2 years. Hope it won't be bad - but everything seems fine. I wouldn't have made the appt. if the nice lady there didn't call and ask for an appt. I've been pushing it off so much, I finally said ok. So Friday at 8 AM! Today was a laid back day, with a nap, I so needed, and felt so much better when I woke up - an ordinary blessed day! One of Lori's friends, Jen, is pregnant again, she lost her first one in a miscarriage, then couldn't conceive, and this time she tried the procedure introvitro-fertilization and she is almost a month pregnant. She asks for many prayers so she can carry this baby though. Linus' old boss died a few months ago - he really loved him and his wife - today in the mail we got a letter from her and a picture of us she thought we'd like to have at one of their conferences. It had to be an old picture - I had big glasses! Wow! She sent us that piece on Heaven's Grocery Store, too. I'm sure you all have seen that, haven't you? Another little blessing hearing from her.

Homily of the Day
February 9, 2011
He Has Breathed His Own Breath into You!
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Gen 2:4b-9, 15-17 / Mk 7:14-23
The range of foolish and evil things of which we human beings are capable never ceases to astonish. We destroy our bodies and sometimes our brains with controlled substances, even though we know better. We make stupid choices that we know in advance will lead to trouble. We devastate our marriages and friendships by repeating the same mistakes again and again. How often we’ve heard it said, quite correctly, ‘she’s married the same man again.’
And that’s just the stupid part. There’s also the downright evil side of us, the lying, cheating, stealing and killing, the willingness to wage war for no good reason, the willingness to tolerate an unjust society, the willingness to turn our backs on the poor and the suffering. All in all, between stupidity and downright evil, this human nature of ours seems a fairly nasty piece of work.
Yet, there’s something more to us than all that, and today’s first reading from Genesis gives us a hint of it. After God formed Adam’s body from the clay, the story says that he breathed into Adam’­s nostrils HIS OWN BREATH. In a word, there is more to us than sin and foolishness. There is something of God’s own life in us, something holy and precious that should give us hope. We are made for something more, something very special, and God will never stop trying to help that emerge onto the center stage of our lives.
So never despair. Never give up. He has breathed his own breath into you, and he doesn’t intend that it be wasted!

TRUE REPENTANCE
Author Unknown
God... commanded all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30b).
True repentance is keenly painful, but very beneficial in
its results. Some people easily forget their period of repentance;
other never do. This is referring to the period when a person fully
feels what one has been. The Spirit of God allows Christians to lose
all memory of horrible pit and miry clay of sins out of which God has
delivered them. The apostle Paul never forgot what he was; and that
memory reminded him that he became what he "now is" by the
marvelous grace of God.
Repentance does not mean that you will never commit those
sins again. It means that you have, by God's grace, reached a place
where you do positively the other things. The only truly repentant
person, in the fullest analysis, is the person who allows God to deal
with what was wrong - sin.
Set your heart and mind toward God and let the holy light of
Jesus Christ search through every wrong and opening. The result will
be a marvelous readjustment of your whole life.

ABC´s Of A Fruitful Life
A lways put God first in your life.
B e a true friend and you will have many friends.
C ount and thank God for your many blessings daily.
D iscipline yourself. Decide to make your life count.
E dify and encourage others consistently.
F ollow great leaders and then become one.
G ive liberally and joyfully of your time, talents and means.
H ave an attitude of gratitude.
I nvert any negatives thrown your way. Turn them into positives.
J ourney through life one step and one day at a time.
K eep written goals set ahead. Make specific plans to accomplish them.
L ove and forgive everybody.
M aximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.
N ever, never, never give up!
O pen the door wide when opportunity knocks.
P ractice patience. Promote peace.
Q uit bad habits by replacing them with good habits.
R ead God's Word and other profitable material every chance you get.
S hare the Gospel whenever and wherever possible.
T ake time to appreciate everything and everyone God has given to you.
U se your God given common sense.
V isualize your dreams and stretch to reach for them
W atch, listen and pray without ceasing.
X amine your motives on a regular basis.
Y ield to the Holy Spirit when He prompts you.
Z oom in on God's real purpose for your life.

It's Time To Throw It Out...
Last week I threw out Worrying,
It was getting old and in the way.
It kept me from being me;
I couldn't do things my way.
I threw out those Inhibitions;
They were just crowding me out.
Made room for my New Growth,
Got rid of my old dreams and doubts.
I threw out a book on My Past
(Didn't have time to read it anyway).
Replaced it with New Goals,
Started reading it today.
I threw out childhood toys
Remember how I treasured them so?
Got me a New Philosophy too,
Threw out the one from long ago.
Bought in some new books too,
Called I Can, I Will, and I Must.
Threw out I might, I think and I ought.
Wow!, You should've seen the dust.
I picked up this special thing
And placed it at the front door.
I Found It - its called Peace
Nothing gets me down anymore.
Yes, I've got my house looking nice.
Looks good around the place
For things like Worry and Trouble
There just isn't any place.
Its good to do a little house cleaning,
Get rid of the old things on the shelf.
It sure makes things brighter.
Thank You God for cleaning up my-self.
- Author Unknown

Heaven's Grocery Store
I was walking down life's highway
a long, long time ago.
One day I saw a sign that read,
"HEAVEN'S GROCERY STORE."
As I got a little closer, the door opened wide,
and I found myself standing inside.
I saw a host of ANGELS.
They were standing everywhere.
One handed me a basket and said,
"My Child, shop with care."
Everything a human needed
was in that grocery store.
And if you couldn't carry it all,
you could come back the next day for more.
First, I got some PATIENCE.
LOVE was in the same row.
Further down was UNDERSTANDING,
you need that everywhere you go.
I got a box or two of WISDOM,
a bag or two of FAITH.
I just couldn't miss the HOLY GHOST,
for it was all over the place.
I stopped to get some STRENGTH and COURAGE
TO HELP ME RUN THIS RACE.
By then my basket was getting full,
but I remembered I needed some GRACE.
I didn't forget SALVATION,
for SALVATION was free.
So I tried to get enough of that
to save both you and me.
Then I started up to the counter
to pay my grocery bill.
For I thought I had everything
to do the MASTER'S will.
As I went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER;
and I just had to put that in,
for I knew when I stepped outside,
I would run into sin.
PEACE and JOY were plentiful;
they were last on the shelf.
SONG and PRAISE were hanging near,
so I just helped myself.
Then I said to the angel,
"Now, how much do I owe?"
He smiled again and said, "MY CHILD,
JESUS PAID YOUR BILL A LONG, LONG TIME AGO."
(I found it on line - I didn't have to type it out! Another blessing!)
By Ron DeMarco
C Copyright 1990 ~Used With Permission~

Closing Prayer: (found this on the internet too, (I lost my prayer folder!) Another blessing!)

A Prayer For Spiritual Strength
O Lord Jesus Christ, out of love You died and rose for me and gave me the
Holy Spirit. In His light and through the prayers of your Holy Mother, I
ask You to proclaim the Gospel of Your love in my heart and in my life
today. I renounce an attachment to sin, and I rebuke in Your Name every
spirit of evil and disorder. Let Your risen glory shine all through me
that I may love and adore You with my whole being. Shine in my body, my
brain and nervous system, my chemistry, every tissue and organ. Shine in
my mind and will and all their powers; in my psyche, my unconscious, my
sexuality and all my energies, so that I may love and work, pray, play and
sleep in Your holiness. Shine in my heart and spirit. Put to death my
egotism. Cast out my fear and every sinful habit. Enlighten me wholly and
transform all my relationships. Fully restore Your image in me so that I
no longer live, but You live in me. Root me and center me in the Father's
love. Consecrate me to His praise and to the wholehearted love of all my
brothers and sisters; and order all my days and deeds in your peace. For
You are my Life, my Hope, my Joy and my Healing. And I send up glory to
You, and to Your Eternal Father, together with Your All-Holy, Good and
Life-Giving Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
---from Fr. Robert Pelton of Madonna House

Good night and God bless you all! Sweet Dreams - hope you all have a great sleep! Remember Darla in prayer so she can sleep!
Enjoy the Gift of God's Day - and don't forget to smile at someone to make their day!