A Daily Dose of God

 

 

Preparing for Advent

 

As Advent approaches, we should begin to reflect on Staying Awake, on Preparing, and getting ready!  Prepare for what, get ready for what, we should PREPARE for the Kingdom of God. 

Athletes prepare, musicians prepare, artists prepare, people in business prepare, people prepare for retirement, children and their parents prepare for college, etc, etc.  We live in a world preparing, BUT are we PREPARING for the most IMPORTANT thing?  God’s Heavenly Kingdom!  I think this story may help us: “Recording Advent”

Being a mom to Brendan, 7, and Maggie, 4, was the most important thing in the world to Karyn.  The best time of the day was when she and the kids would read and sing together.  (In 2006) Karyn was diagnosed with breast cancer; earlier this year, she learned that the final treatment was not working.  So, with the help of the nonprofit group “LifeChronicles”, Karyn and her husband, Jeff, gathered Brendan and Maggie together in their living room to make a video.

The video, Karyn told her giggling children, was just a fun memento of the moment.  The kids knew their mom was sick but did not understand that she would soon be gone.  Over the next 90 minutes, they read stories, including Brendan's favorite, Dr. Seuss. Karyn sang the children's favorite lullaby, Que Sea Sera.  Mom and Dad and the kids reminisced about family events & vacations.

Karyn and Jeff told the children how much they loved them and loved each other.

After the children left, Karyn & Jeff (shared) on camera how they met and fell in love.  "I want them to be able to see me when I'm gone, to see us all together as a family.  I wanted something more than pictures, for them to remember me. And to remember how happy we were."

"It's not talking about death; it's celebrating our family," Karyn said.  "It tears me up that they won't have a mom, and this is a way I can leave a piece of me with them."  As Karyn survived each year despite the initial prognosis, she became more … aware of each … moment … (as a gift).  Karyn died when she was 38. She is survived by her husband and two children.  And many wonderful memories.

Karyn and her family struggled to “stay awake” and not miss the opportunities life sent their way.  Advent reminds us that life gives us opportunities to behold God in our midst.  It calls us "watch," to pay attention to the signs of God's unmistakable presence in our lives.

Karyn and her family came to understand, this lifetime of ours, which we so often take for granted, is precious and limited.  It is a gift that God gives us so we can discover God in our world (and in each other).  (Connections December 2010)

As you get ready for Advent this year, pay attention to God in your life, in the sounds, and the moments that God gives you.  To be aware of God in our midst, we need to pray more faithfully, more attentively.

How can we do that?

1.    Spend some time in prayer each day (3 minutes – 3 hours). 

2.    During your prayer allow God’s grace to touch your hearts, your minds, and your wills.

3.    Focus each day on doing God’s will!

Our Faith reminds us to be filled with HOPE because our God will not leave us orphaned; our God will return and take us to Himself.  St. James said, “Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.” (James 4:8)

As Advent draws near may we be reminded: to draw NEAR to God, to SEEK God, to HOPE in God, and INVITE God in our hearts!

May God Be Praised!

                                             COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.”  You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]  Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]

 

A Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Amid the COVID Pandemic

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson offered this Thanksgiving Prayer:

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything thy goodness sends.

 

Msgr. Buckley offered this Thanksgiving prayer - For appreciating others:

 

We thank you, Father, for the gift of Jesus your Son who came to our Earth and lived in a simple home. We have a greater appreciation of the value and dignity of the human family because he loved and was loved within its shelter. Bless us this day; may we grow in love for each other in our family and so give thanks to you who are the maker of all human families and our abiding peace.

[The Catholic Prayer Book, compiled by Msgr. Michael Buckley]

 

Samuel F. Pugh offered this prayer - Help Me Thanksgiving Day Prayer

 

O God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry;

When I have work, help me to remember the jobless;

When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all;

When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer,

And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency;

bestir my compassion, and be concerned enough to help;

By word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted.

Amen.

 

Today, Thanksgiving Day I offer this prayer:

Lord our God for all that has been thank you,

for all that is thank you, and for all that will be thank you.

For an end to the COVID 19 Pandemic, I beg You,

For a safe& joy filled Thanksgiving Celebration, I beg You,

For a deeper awareness of Your love & care, I implore You.

 

Sometime today reflect on Winnie-the-Pooh’s profound insight shared with Piglet.

 

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

St. Francis de Sales gives us this wonderful advice, "If you really want to love God, keep loving Him more and more.  Never look back!  Move forward constantly!"

 

 

 

 

 

Francis also said, "What is the prize if it is not Jesus Christ?  How can you take hold of him if you do not follow him?"

 

Today is the gift God has given you to love Him, don't waste it doing anything else.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

            

 

 

 A Prayer for Our Nation

Loving God help us to serve those who are shunned or eschewed; guide our civic leaders; bless our nation; and bestow Your grace upon our elected officials and anoint them with the desire to promote the common good.  Amen.     Dcn. George Kelly]

 

COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

 

Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.”  You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic] Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

                 Everyday Greatness

Stephen Covey’s book Everyday Greatness points out “… occasionally the world witnesses a heroic feat or discovers a person with truly rare & remarkable talent.” (Celebrations, 11-16-08)

 

Covey said that most people are aware of another type of greatness that rarely makes the evening … everyday greatness.  Everyday greatness is a way of living ….  For us a life lived for Christ and His Kingdom!

 

Today’s take some time to think about taking risks!  Faith in Jesus Christ cannot be understood or lived without risk; our faith calls us to: care, give, witness, trust, love and hope.

 

We cannot do that w/out taking RISKS!  St. Paul challenges us to stay alert.  Discipleship is hard and difficult work, which often involves tough choices: it demands our best effort & our total self.

 

Let me share a story that Robert Bohl told, God’s Kingdom Comes through Small Acts of Kindness

 

Have you ever felt like giving up?  Have you ever wondered, even in what you try to do for God, whether it is doing any good?  I recommend that you let God be the judge of that!

 

In 1876 a little girl named Annie was ten years of age. She was put into a poor house for children...in Massachusetts.  Her mother had died, and her father had deserted her, and nobody could handle her.

 

She had a bad disposition, a violent temper, a painful eye condition which

made virtually her blind.  But there was another inmate named Maggie who

cared for Annie.  Maggie talked to her, fed her, even though Annie would throw her food on the floor, cursing and rebelling with every ounce of her being.

 

But Maggie was a Christian and out of her convictions she was determined

to love this dirty, unkempt, spiteful, unloving little girl.  It wasn't easy, but slowly it got through to Annie who gradually responded.

 

Annie eventually went to the Perkins Institute. After a series of operations, her sight was partially restored.  She finished school at age twenty.

 

Having been blind so long she told the director of Perkins that she wanted to work with blind and difficult children.  They found a little girl seven years old in Alabama who was blind and deaf from the age of two. So, Annie Sullivan went to Alabama to unlock the door of Helen Keller's dark prison and to set her free.

 

 

One human being, in the name of Christ, helping another human being! That's how God's kingdom comes, through small acts of kindness!

As Thanksgiving, a COIVD 19 plagued one, we should remind ourselves that all of our gifts, all of our talents have been given to us for God’s Kingdom.

 

It is up to us to figure out how to best use them for the Kingdom, knowing full well that someday we will answer to Jesus about our use of those talents!

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

 

Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.”  You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….”

[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]

 

Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

 

A Plea for Healing

 

 

 

 

 

Lord, You know the burden of my sorrow.  

Hear My Prayer for Healing

I am worn out with crying, with longing for my wife’s healing. 

I look to you daily, O God, for her return.

My eyes cannot see because they are filled with tears, tears of love, tears of longing, and tears of anxiety.

 

Loving God hear my plea and answer my call.

You are our beginning and our true destiny.

My wife, my friend needs Your healing grace, bestow it on her.

 

Thy will be done, send the strength I need to make this journey with her, as she recovers.  Our journey will be blessed because dear Lord You our leading it.  “In Your great love, answer me, O God, with Your help that nevers fails.” [Psalm 69]

 

Glory to You, Lord, Praise to You Lord, Healing and Grace from You, Lord God!  Thank You today and forever more.  Amen.

 

This plea was from a husband for his wife to our loving God, but it can be adopted for other situations.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

            A Prayer for Our Nation

Loving God help us to serve those who are shunned or eschewed; guide our civic leaders; bless our nation; and bestow Your grace upon our elected officials and anoint them with the desire to foster the common good.  Amen.     Dcn. George Kelly]

 

COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

 

Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.”  You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….”

[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]

 

Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]

A Daily Dose of God

 

For all of your thoughts and prayers on our 50^th Wedding Anniversary Joanne and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts, know you are always in our prayers 🙏.

With grateful hearts, again thank you.

 

 

St. Francis de Sales said, "Obedience is the salt that gives taste and flavor to all our actions and renders them meritorious for eternal life." 

 

To follow God's will for us, to love God's will for us and to be grateful for God's will for us is the secret of the spiritual life.

 

Take a few minutes to listen to this rendition of ‘Be Thou My Vision” – sung by Audrey Assad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Optrm7lF16s

 

Here are the words of St. Dallan Forgail’s “Be Thou My Vision” to ponder:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art

 

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word

 

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord

Thou my great Father, I Thy true son

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

 

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise

Thou mine Inheritance, now and always

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart

 

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art

High King of Heaven, my victory won

May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heav'n's Sun

Heart of my own heart, whate'er befall

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all

 

May God Be Praised!

 

            A Prayer for Our Nation

Loving God help us to serve those who are shunned or eschewed; guide our civic leaders; bless our nation; and bestow Your grace upon our elected officials and anoint them with the desire to foster the common good.  Amen.     Dcn. George Kelly]

 

COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.”  You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….”

[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]

 

Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday we heard in the first reading [from Proverbs]:

“When one finds a worthy wife,

her value is far beyond pearls.

Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,

has an unfailing prize.

She brings him good, and not evil,

all the days of her life.

She obtains wool and flax

and works with loving hands.

She puts her hands to the distaff,

and her fingers ply the spindle.

She reaches out her hands to the poor,

and extends her arms to the needy.

Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;

the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Give her a reward for her labors,

and let her works praise her at the city gates.”

 

Today my wife and I celebrate our 50^th Wedding Anniversary, and I am grateful to God for sending her into my life and for her yes, to marrying me.  She is wonderful in so many.  She is my wife, my best friend, a wonderful mother to our children, a terrific grandmother, sings like an angel, a beautiful person, and she reflects God’s love in so many ways.

 

“Marriage is not a ritual or an end.  It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together and nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and your choice of partner.”  I have been blessed with a wonderful partner.

St. Paul tells us that Love is: “patient, kind, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.”  In marriage love is stretched and stretched again, but with the grace of God it increases and perdures. 

 

 

 

 

We have remained in God's love and in love with each other, a beautiful gift.  Victor Hugo wrote, “To love another is to see the face of God.”           St. Francis de Sales said, “The measure of love is to love without measure.”  We have tried to live that in our marriage, may we continue each day that God grants us.

 

Today I thank God for my wife, my best friend and the wonderful mother of our children, who is a terrific mother-in-law and grandmother.

 

May God Be Praised!

            A Prayer for Our Nation

Loving God help us to serve those who are shunned or eschewed; guide our civic leaders; bless our nation; and bestow Your grace upon our elected officials and anoint them with the desire to foster the common good.  Amen.     Dcn. George Kelly]

 

COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

 

Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.”  You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….”

[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]

 

Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]