Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends - didn't go out today at all - weather nasty and icy. They talk about more snow yet overnight maybe through tomorrow. We'll see. On a positive side, I had a very nice, restful day - remember Jeannie that I wanted to see and hadn't seen for years??? She called me this afternoon, and it was so nice to talk to her. We'll for sure keep in touch now. What a blessing to get back to some good friends of the past into the present! She was at a healing Mass - she got prayed over and got healed! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!! It does happen! God bless you all, praying for all of you, even you who only read here and don't post. Praying for your needs.

Do not be discouraged if it seems that there is no response to your prayers

at this time. God always responds. Lord, Your wisdom always responds to

my needs with unceasing peace and love and when I listen and give thanks

I am blessed with results that bring goodness to me in better ways than I

expect.

Scripture for the day:

"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God

that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have

been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-- just as

the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-- so that you

are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of

our Lord Jesus Christ." ~1Corinthians 1:4-7

Meditation for the day:

The grace of God is an assurance against all evil. It holds out

security to the believing soul. The grace of God means safety in the

midst of evil. We can be kept unspotted by the world through the

power of God's grace. We can have a new life of power. But only in

close contact with the grace of God in its power realized. In order

to realize it and benefit from it, we can have daily quiet communion

with God, so that the power of God's grace will come unhindered into

your soul.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may be kept from evil by the grace of God. I pray that

henceforth I will try to keep myself more unspotted by the world.

"Brighten" The Corner Where You Are

We cannot all be famous, or be listed in "Who's Who",

But every person, great or small, has important work to do,

For seldom do we realize the importance of small deeds

Or to what degree of greatness unnoticed kindness leads.

For it's not the big celebrity in a world of fame and praise,

But it's doing unpretentiously in an undistinguished way,

The work that God assigned to us, unimportant as it seems,

That makes our task outstanding and brings reality to dreams.

So do not sit and idly wish for wider, new dimensions

where you can put in practice your many good intentions.

But at the spot God placed you begin at once to do

Little things to brighten up the lives surrounding you.

If everybody brightened up the spot where they're standing

By being more considerate and a little less demanding,

This dark old world would very soon eclipse the evening star

If everybody brightened up the corner where they are!

- Author unknown

No time to pray?

Prayers are the food of the soul, they open the door to Heaven and they

lead us to God.

Prayers are like phone calls to God, they surely get the message across.

Prayers are like arrows that pierce through the clouds, they go straight

to Heaven with our petitions and desires.

Prayers are the expression of the soul, they are a private conversation

between man and God.

Prayers are not only petitions, they are also adoration, praise and

thanksgiving.

Pray without ceasing [1Thess 5:17], pray in the Spirit [Eph 6:18] says

St. Paul.

Pray with your mind, but also pray in the Spirit [1 Cor 14:15]

Pray that our God will give you a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation as you

come to know Him [Eph. 1:17]

Pray for the sick , pray for one another [James 5:14-16]

Luke 22:46 Pray that you don't fall into temptation

The path of humility

Jesus is the path, since he is the incarnation of humility. But for us

mortals, humility must be found in the things we do, in the humiliations we

accept and in the littleness we embrace just as Jesus did.

Humility is not about being poor and wearing humble clothes, is not about

staying away from riches or power or things of the world since we must live

in the world and for some, riches and possession can coexist with humility

of heart. However a humble rich man would not count too much on his riches,

he would share his riches with the poor in order to follow Jesus.

King David was a very rich man, yet he was humble of heart, even though he

committed great sins, he confessed his sins to God and had them always

before him, he obtained his forgiveness and lived to love Him.

He pleased the Lord by having a humble and contrite heart.

The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10) . Not fear of his

punishment but rather fear of offending him, of losing him or separating

from Him. Sin separates man from God therefore man becomes proud and ignores

the law of his maker. God does not force his commandments upon us but allows

us to fall into sin so that in our humiliation we can come to our senses,

discover our pride and repent.

Humility of the heart consists in becoming like Jesus in all our thoughts,

words and actions.

We must think humbly, always remembering that God is watching our thoughts

(Psalm 44:21), so we must avoid thoughts of impurity, envy and hatred since

we may offend Him.

Our words must be filled with charity and understanding, so that we don't

offend anyone, remembering that we shall be judged for every careless word

that we say (Matthew 12:36)

Our actions must be conducted in the Will of God; in a way we must seek

permission from God for everything we do and we should seek his blessing for

all our undertakings. We must exercise our free will with humility to avoid

doing something offensive in his sight.

The path of humility is a path of self discovery, it involves being over

critical of any little thing that may threaten our relationship with God.

Humility involves a desire to be like Christ, leaving behind the burden of

pride to be free to carry the yoke and the burden of the cross. Humility is

submission to Christ which can only come if we love his commandments. The

humble man does not get offended by the pride of others who offend him, he

will forgive them and resist the temptation of being hurt.

Humility is not so much made up of external actions to obtain praise of

other religious people, it is a personal secret surrender to God, a very

profound annihilation in the sight of God because we are nothing and God is

everything (Matthew 6:6).

In order to be justified by humility, we must acknowledge that we are proud.

After all this is the first of all sins, since all sins are committed in our

pride (Proverbs 11:2). Pride is the sin that made Lucifer loose his place of

honor in Heaven, it is also the poison that destroys all the good we may

have gained through humility.

To be truly humble we must need God above all things, we must feel totally

dependant on Him, we must be afraid of losing Him, because without him we

are nothing.

We, human beings are so far from God as darkness is from light, in fact our

natures would repel each other if we didn't have a bridge between us which

is Jesus Christ our Savior. Therefore we must spend the rest of our lives

considering how to be humble.

And to say it once again, if we think we are humble, that in itself is a

proud thought, because there is only one who is humble, Christ himself who

said learn from me because I am meek and humble of heart (Matthew 11:29).

It would make us humble to meditate on how little charity we have for

others, on how we have harbored thoughts of impurity in our souls to offend

the purity of God, on how cruel we have been by crucifying our Savior with

our sins or on how much we have loved ourselves depriving God of our love.

You give me strength

Holy Spirit when I am weak, You give me strength to carry on.

You comfort me each time I seek Your loving arms to lean on.

You are the Father that I need. You have the wisdom that I lack.

You give me courage to succeed, when I alone, would have turned back.

I may have crosses in my life, but I will never know despair;

for when I seek you in my strife, I know so well you will be there.

THE BIBLE & THE COAL BASKET

Author Unknown

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains

of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was

up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out

Bible.

His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in

any way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the

Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do

understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does

reading the Bible do?" The

Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said,

"Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of

water." The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked

out before he could get back to the house.

The grandfather laughed and said, "You will have to move a little

faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to

try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he

returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was

"impossible to carry water in a basket," and he went to get a bucket

instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a

basket of water. You can do this. You're just not trying hard enough,"

and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point,

the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather

that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out

before he got far at all. The boy

scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather

the basket was again empty.

Out of breath, he said, "See Papa, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that

the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it

was clean. "Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible. You

might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it

will change you from the inside out.

That is the work of God in our lives.

To change us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the

image of His son.

Take time to read a portion of God's word each day.