A Daily Dose of God

 

 

 

Joe Heller drew the reflective comic below:

 

 

[Above] CNS illustration/Joe Heller

Thinking about 2020, the COIVD Pandemic and the world in general, maybe each one of us should take a moment to reflect on what and how and communicate with others. 

Bill called his parents to wish them a happy New Year, and his dad answered the phone. “Well, Dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?” Bill asked him. 

“To make your mother as happy as I can all year,” Dad answered.  When mom got on the phone, Bill said, “What’s your resolution, Mom?”  She answered, “To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution.”  [Sermons.com]

How and what we communicate is the essence of our humanity and our Christianity.  Today reflect on communication, it is essential to family life, as well as every other phase of life.  May your New Year be blessed.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

May God Be Praised!

 

A Daily Dose of God

Fr. Michael Hayes wrote, “To be Catholic is to be a person of hope and of vision,

a person who sees meaning in life in this world and promise beyond.”

 

Think about what you need, what you really need!

 

 

 

Lord, You Are All I Need

 

I TRUST You Lord, give me Grace,

I LOVE You Lord, give me Peace,

I NEED You Lord, give me Hope,

I FOLLOW You Lord, give me Light.

 

You are all I need, thank you Lord,

You are all I need, thank you Lord.

 

When it’s Darkest Lord, You are There,

When it’s Cloudy Lord, You shine Light,

When it’s Rainy Lord, You provide Cover,

When it’s Stormy Lord, You give Shelter. 

 

You are all I need, thank you Lord,

You are all I need, thank you Lord.

 

I TRUST You Lord, give me Grace,

I LOVE You Lord, give me Peace,

I NEED You Lord, give me Hope,

I FOLLOW You Lord, give me Light.

 

You are all I need, thank you Lord,

You are all I need, thank you Lord.

 

When all seems Lost Lord, You are Hope,

When the world is Dark, You are Light,

When the path is unclear, You are Direction,

When my heart is heavy, You are Healing.

 

You are all I need, thank you Lord,

You are all I need, thank you Lord.

 

Amen.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

 

            Thoughts on Prayer & Gratitude

 

The psalmist prays, “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”  Love and freedom are central to our relationship with God, and they are foundational to one’s prayer life. 

 

 

 

St. Francis de Sales outlined “… the conditions necessary to pray ….  The first … we must be little and humble; second … we must have a goodly supply of hope; and third keep our minds fixed on Jesus Christ crucified.”  Living the “present moment” gives each of us the “privileged” opportunity to know God and to do God’s will.  St. Francis de Sales said, “Go to Prayer in Faith.  Remain there in Hope.  Go out only by Love.”  Essential in prayer is the disposition of our heart, we are called to have the heart of God.

 

Remember the woman at the well, she asked Jesus to provide her with living water, she didn’t realize that Jesus is Living water. 

 

 

We sometimes thirst for more worldly things, money, time, cloths, a vacation, etc. but the only thing we need is Jesus.

 

Our Spiritual life began with the waters of our Baptism, spend a few moments at the Baptismal fount [virtually or in person] thanking God for choosing you, for calling you to be His disciple!

 

 

Cultivate an attitude of GRATITUDE for God, remembering that God created you and God loves you!

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

As we continue our Christmas Celebration in the Octave of Christmas let’s take a few minutes to reflect on our vision of Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior.

 

 

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 

[By St. Dallan Forgaill]

 

Now in the quiet of your heart listen to “Be Thou My Vision” – sung by Audrey Assad

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Optrm7lF16s

 

Think about how you can give your heart [life] more fully to the Lord.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

 

 

Christmas Begins

 

Dr. Howard Thurman wrote these beautiful and powerful words,

“When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken hearted,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers (and sisters),

To make music in the heart.  (Sick, and You cared for Me, Homilies & reflections for Cycle B)

 

 

Our Christmas begins today, decide to do one thing that will “make music in the heart”, in the heart of God, and in the heart of someone sad.  Then, your heart will experience the joy of Christmas.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us. 

May God Be Praised!

A Daily Dose of God

 

 

 

Today take five or ten minutes to sit with the Lord, maybe this Rembrandt painting of the Shepherds can help you become awed as you reflect on the magnitude of the birth of our Savior.

 

Our Greatest Need

"If our greatest need had been information,

God would have sent us an educator. 

If our greatest need had been technology,

God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money,

God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure,

God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness,

So God sent us a Savior!"  [Sermons.Com]

 

 

 

 

End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to guide us as we wander in darkness and give us the solace of Your eternal love today.  Amen. 

 

St. Joseph, pray for us.

 

May God Be Praised!

May you have a Merry & Blessed Christmas

 

- Irish Christmas Blessing:

 

    The light of the Christmas star to you,

 

    The warmth of a home and hearth to you,

 

    The cheer and good will of friends to you,

 

    The hope of a childlike heart to you,

 

    The joy of a thousand angels to you,

 

    The love of the Son and

 

    God’s peace to you.  Amen.

 

 

“In the 2 Book of Kings God says: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears.  Now I am healing you.’”

 

Trust that the COVID Pandemic will end and that the Lord is walking with us as difficult as our walk may be, celebrate the Lord in your life during these Christmas Holidays.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

This year try being a manger for the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you along your way.

 

 

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 
Isaiah 49: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name …. you shall know that I am the Lord, and those who hope in me shall never be disappointed.”

 

 "Augustine drew out the meaning of the manger using an idea that at first seems almost shocking, but on closer examination contains a profound truth. The manger is the place where animals find their food. But now, lying in the manger, is he who called himself the true bread come down from heaven, the true nourishment that we need in order to be fully ourselves.

 

This is the food that gives us true life, eternal life.  Thus the manger becomes a reference to the table of God, to which we are invited so as to receive the bread of God. From the poverty of Jesus’ birth emerges the miracle in which man’s redemption is mysteriously accomplished."  Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth Infancy, p. 68

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

Merry Christmas and May God Bless you and your family today, and today and today.

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

 

Reflection – OLPH Music Ministry 12/23/2020, Advent: A Time to Hope with the Prophet Jeremiah and St. Luke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Hope is based on our Faith and our Love for Jesus Christ.  Jeremiah told us the Lord said, “… I know the plans I have for you … You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Our soul, our being needs an anchor and that anchor is Hope!  When our soul is an anchored to Jesus, we are never alone and never without Hope.  “Human beings cannot live without hope.”  [The Spirit of Advent, Mark Searle - found in the Ordo]

 

Viktor Frankl wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”  [Man’s Search for Meaning]

 

As you know Hope is a theological virtue (along with faith and love) in Christian tradition.  Hope combines the desire for something with the expectation of receiving it.  Hope is longing for Divine Union, eternal happiness.  It is an act of the will, and is essential, because it enables us to believe, to have faith and to love.  Msgr. Morrison in his insert on Hope wrote, “We possess this spiritual … virtue of hope because God is faithful ….  Because we have faith, we can have hope.”  [Living the Spirit with Advent Joy – Hope]

 

In today’s Gospel St. Luke recounted Jesus’ parable about the widow and He told His disciples [and us] “… we should always pray and not give up.”  The widow prayed and never gave up, she prayed against all odds in her pursuit of justice.

The word “widow” in Hebrew means silent one or unable to speak, Jesus wants us to know, He is with us in our speaking and in our silence.

 

During this COVID Pandemic in a world lost in sin and darkness we should pray always and Hope always in the Lord, who answers our pleas, our petitions, and our prayers.  Maybe this story can help us remember to Hope and to Love and then do what the Holy Spirit urges us to do.

 

“Lullaby and good night . . .”

 

Every evening she could hear the newborn in the apartment next door cry and cry.  The parents put the child to sleep alone in the dark, when they do the baby cries for a long time; the exhausted parents clearly are oblivious to their child’s anguish or are at a loss as to what to do.

 

It seems HOPELESS!  What can and should she do?  She’s not sure.  Speaking to the parents might make what is just an annoying situation into something much worse.  So, she decides to sing.

 

SINGING INEVITABLY BRINGS HOPE, think of the times when you are singing and the Holy Spirit fills you, and often fills you with Hope.

 

Just as she can hear the baby, the baby can hear her.  So, every evening when mom and dad put the child to sleep, she sings lullabies and cradlesongs, talks softly and reassuringly to the baby through the walls, consoles and comforts the child.  The baby hears her invisible friendly voice and falls asleep peacefully, without a tear or whimper. [Connections, From The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci.] 

 

The baby experiences Hope without knowing it and the lady experiences Hope knowingly.  As we continue to deal with the COVID Pandemic and the plethora of other problems we face - our Hope lies in Jesus Christ.  Remember what Jesus told Thomas the Apostle, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Light.”

 

And St. Paul reminds us “… eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  [1 Cor. 2:9]

There is an old Hassidic story, I want to share with you.  “In the beginning there was only Holy Darkness, the source of life.  The world and everything in it came from the heart of this Holy Darkness as a great ray of light.

 

And then there was an accident.  And the vessel containing the light of the world was broke.  And fragments of that light fell into all events and all things and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.  We are all born with the capacity to find the hidden light in everything.  It is our task to lift it up and make it visible once again.”  [Hineni, In Imitation of Abraham, pp. xx & xxi, Alisa Kasmir]

 

Pope Francis said, “Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable.”  Christ is the Light of the world.  Christ is the Hope of the world.  We are called to follow in His Way, His Truth and His Light.  Christ’s Light shines through our lives, and our loving actions make His Light visible again.  Jesus is our Light and our Hope.

 

Tonight, join me in ending my reflection by praying a short Litany of Hope.

Christ Jesus, Son of the living God - Grant us Hope.

 

Christ Jesus, Son of the living God fill us - Grant us Hope.

 

Christ Jesus, Son of God Who came, Who is here & Who will come again –

Grant us Hope.

 

Christ Jesus, You know our Pandemic problem – Grant us Hope.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

N.B. Photo from Elizabeth Ann Koch, thank you Lizzie and love,

Dad

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

                                                “Carol of the humpbacks”

 

“In a normal summer, Alaska’s bays would have been filled with hundreds of cruise ships and whale-watching boats. But this year, instead of the constant hum of boat motors, the ocean is filled with whale songs. In the absence of the million-plus humans and their noisy engines, humpback whales are singing more, resting more and socializing more.

 

With tourism at near-zero during the pandemic, the endangered whale populations are thriving in the silent oceans. Dr. Michelle Fournet, director of the Sound Science Research Collective, has been “listening” to the hauntingly eerie songs of the humpbacks for the past ten years and has never seen — or heard — a summer like this.

 

“When an animal calls less, the likelihood of it finding a comrade goes down

significantly. [Our presence] alters their social structure.” But this year scientists like Dr. Fournet are seeing “how these humpback whales are interacting with their environment instead of how they’re interacting with us.”  [The Guardian, October 2, 2020.]

 

[Allow] the “song of the whales” inspire [you] to take on Jesus’ call to watchfulness and awareness, [to be guided by] God’s compassion and peace as we await the dawning of God’s perfect light this Christmas.

 

Faith in Jesus Christ is about seeing the world through His eyes.

It’s not about earning or achieving.  It’s about relationships rather than results or requirements.”  Like the song of the whales in the quiet ocean, may we “watch” this Advent to behold the beauty and wonder and grace of God’s presence in every moment of our lives.  [Connections, December 2020]

 

For the remainder of Advent look at everybody you interact with through the eyes of the Lord.

 

St. Joseph, pray for us.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

 

Jesus came in the Incarnation, Jesus is present today, & He will return in glory!  “We encounter God only in the now.  In the Eucharist the past & the future are joined to the present moment.”  (Fr. Barry Strong OSFS)

 

Saint Francis de Sales tells us to the Live Jesus, and to do that in the present moment, it is the only time that we really have. 

 

Our HOPE is nourished in the Eucharist where God becomes one with us. 

Advent reminds us that we are pilgrims on a journey, one that often takes place in darkness. 

When God’s love guides our hearts, it guides our actions.  Advent is the Season that reminds us that our Faith, Joy and Hope is in a person - Jesus Christ and that our waiting is complete only when we are in the “land of the living.” 

What we do here is preparation for that time, when Jesus promises us that every tear will be wiped away.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

 

 

COVID PANDEMIC PRAYER

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 ….” strength to the first responders, compassion and endurance to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to guide me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me the solace of Your eternal love today.   

Amen.  [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic Adopted by Dcn. George Kelly]