Blog Post 5/06/2024 – Celebrating Grandchild #5’s 1st Holy Communion on 5/05/2024

 

Once again, I have been granted the beautiful and moving blessing of giving one of our grandchildren his First Holy Communion [picture above].  I want to share with you my reflection on that singular privilege.

A Child’s TRUST in God’s love and caring is demonstrated profoundly in the reception of a child’s 1^st Holy Communion.  Jesus taught us, Do not be afraid!  He wants us to TRUST Him and to TRUST our Heavenly Father.  TRUST is fundamental to loving God, loving others and loving ourselves. 

What kind of TRUST does God ask from us?

In a traditional flying trapeze act, flyers mount a narrow board and take off on the fly bar.  The flyer must wait for a call from the catcher to make sure they leave at the correct time.  If leave too early or too late, the catcher will not be close enough   to the flyer to make the catch.  The flyer must have complete trust in the catcher.  The flyer is often perceived as the star of the show, but the real star is the catcher.  The flyer must do nothing and allow the catcher to do everything. [The Flyer and Catcher by Kaizen on December 19, 2013]

To be a disciple of Jesus requires one to completely trust our catcher, our Heavenly Father, with all our heart.  We are not supposed to catch God but allow God to catch us, by giving our our hearts and wills – without fear, trusting in Jesus our spiritual catcher.  We are flyers asked by God to TRUST and PREPARE!

Dear God,

During my life You and I have been through births, deaths, marriages, Baptisms, Confirmations, 1^st Holy Communions, successes, failures, times of war, times of peace, sickness, health, good times and difficult times.  I know You first loved me, and I responded by loving You and I pray that I choose to love You every day.

Sometimes You answered my prayers with a yes, sometimes with a no, sometimes with a not yet and sometimes no answer at all.  But I believe that each of Your answers is the best for me.  Loving You, TRUSTING You gives me the HOPE and the ENERGY to PREPARE to meet You and spend eternity with You.

I pray that my children, my daughters-in-law, my son-in-law and their children [my grandchildren)] come to know You, Love You, Trust You and Hope in Your Promises so that their lives are a  Preparation to meet You in eternity.

In Love, Trust and Hope 

Deacon George

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 5/05/2024 – The Starfish and our Crosses

 

God grant us the Grace to offer up our hardships and crosses to You, bless them and make Good come from them.

 

Maybe this story can help us, The Starfish A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm.  When she came to a starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean.  People watched her with amusement.  She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this?  I am helping this Starfish.  

 

Look at this beach!  You can’t save all these starfish.  You can’t begin to make a difference!” After reflecting for a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean.  Then she looked up at the man & said, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”   [Adapted from 'The Star Thrower' by Loren C. Eiseley]

 

May God Be Praised.

                                                           

 

 

Blog Post 5/04/2024 - Suffering

 

 

It is what we do with our suffering that helps us grow or stumble on our road here on earth.  Pray part of Psalm 18 slowly, “I love you, Lord, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my savior.  My God is the rock where I take refuge; my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.” 

 

St. Francis de Sales offers us this insight, “Let God gather what He has planted in His garden, He takes nothing out of season.”  In God’s season, we find our ultimate hope, the land of the living. 

 

de Sales, also, taught us, “Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life with fear; rather look upon them with strong hope that, as they arise, God, whose child you are, will deliver you from them.”  Begin each day TRUSTING in God, live each moment in that TRUST, and allow TRUSTING God’s WILL to DIRECT your life - then you will live as a child of God.  Easy to write, easy to say, but very hard to live.

 

St. Francis de Sales said, “Let nothing disturb you; Let nothing frighten you.  All things are passing.  God never changes.  Patience obtains all things.  Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God.  Go alone suffices.” 

 

I hope these insights help us to remember to pray for the strength to follow God’s will, not to change God’s mind, to pray for the strength to accept what comes your way as from the hand of God.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 5/03/2024 – A Reflection on the Blessed Mother

 

St. John Bosco said, "We find ourselves in this earth as in a tempestuous sea, in a desert, in a vale of tears.  Now then, Mary is the Star of the Sea, the solace of our desert, the light that guides us towards heaven."

Go to Mary with your needs, your concerns and your requests, she is waiting for you.

May God Be Blessed.

Blog Post 5/02/2024 – A Reflection.

 

 

Christ made known to us the life that lasts forever, He feeds us with the Word of life and the Bread of life.  Jesus gives us the Grace to be faithful in listening to His Voice,  may we be faithful to Him by our holiness of life. 

May we accept both the sadness and the joy that enter our lives as part of our journey to the Lord whose Resurrection brings us Grace for the journey. 

So today we pray Lord, Your resurrection bring us Your grace may we humbly accept that glorious gift and allow it to permeate our lives.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 5/01/2024 A Thought for the Pastoral Constitution in the Modern World Vatican Council II

 

“The Church believes that Christ died and rose for all and can give man light and strength through his Spirit to fulfill his highest calling; his is the only name under heaven in which men can be saved.  So too the Church believes that the center and goal of all human history is found in her Lord and Master.”  [From the pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council]

Reflect of the place Jesus has in your heart, your soul, your daily life.

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 4/30/2024 - Loving God

 

“Let us pass on now to the other question—namely, what you can do to strengthen your resolutions and make them succeed? There is no better mean than to put them into practice. But you say that you are still so weak that, although you often make strong resolutions not to fall into the particular imperfection of which you want to cure yourself, no sooner does the occasion present itself than down you go.  

Shall I tell you why we are still so weak? It is because we will not abstain from food that does not agree with us. It is as if a person who wished to be free from pains in the stomach were to ask a physician what he should do. The doctor replies, ‘Do not eat such and such food, because it brings you pain’; and yet the person will not abstain from it.”  [The Art of Loving God, St. Francis de Sales, p. 97]

May this prayer help us, “Dear God, I am discouraged by my weakness, give me confidence in Your love.”

 

May God Be Praised.