St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, "If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive."
"Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
May God Be Praised.
"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!" [Author Unknown]
May God Be Praised.
"Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
Upon first reading about Job, we would not be inclined to rush out and invite him for a meal. Job said, “Is not man’s live on earth a drudgery?” “I shall not see happiness again.” If today you found out that you were going to lose all of your material possessions, how would you react?
Why is there suffering if God is all loving, all good and all-powerful? Why does anyone suffer?
Why does God permit suffering? Well, I don’t know!
You & I will not fully understand the why of suffering until we arrive at our eternal reward.
Eugene Kennedy said, “Heartbreak is impossible unless there is great love. Without love, sorrow and tears would disappear.”
But Why? Our loving God and Creator sent us His Son, who showed us how to handle suffering.
When Jesus suffered, He offered His suffering to God the Father and it was anointed [blessed] by the Holy Spirit, and good came from it. We usually don't know the good, until we get to the "land of the living" when all tears and sorrow will end.
May God Be Praised.
"Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
Suggestions to Live Well Each Day:
1. Don’t let the past drag you down. Develop short memories when it comes to hurts.
2. Don’t fear the future.
3. Be a doer and not a worrier.
4. Be appreciative. Show gratitude often.
5. Overlook flaws. See the big picture.
St. Francis de Sales encourages us, “This life is short, but it is valuable, for by means of it we are able to gain eternal life.”
May God Be Praised.
St. Teresa of Calcutta offers us this powerful insight into prayer, "God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be."
May our prayer be attentive listening to God and realizing God is attentively listening to us.
May God Be Praised.
A Blessing for Parents who suffered a Miscarriage
Take some time to pray as a couple or as a family.
Make the sign of the cross.
Begin: Let us praise the Father of mercies, the God of all consolation. Blessed be God for ever.
Response: Blessed be God for ever.
For those who trust in God,
in the pain of sorrow there is consolation,
in the face of despair there is hope,
in the midst of death there is life.
We mourn the death of our child, and we place ourselves in the hands of God and ask strength, for healing, and for love.
We read from the book of Lamentations:
“My soul is deprived of peace,
I have forgotten what happiness is;
I tell myself my future is lost,
all that I hoped for from the Lord.
But I will call this to mind,
as my reason to have hope:
The favors of the Lord are not exhausted,
his mercies are not spent;
They are renewed each morning,
so great is his faithfulness.
My portion is the Lord, says my soul;
therefore I will hope in him.” [Lamentations 3: 17-18, 21-24]
The Word of the Lord.
Response: Thanks be to God.
Take a few minutes to pray in silence.
Together pray the words that Jesus taught us the Lord's Prayer.
Father and Creator,
in whom all life and death find meaning,
we bless you at all times,
especially when we have need of your consolation.
N. and N. entrust to your care a life
conceived in love.
May your blessing come upon them now.
Remove all anxiety from their minds
and strengthen this love
so that they may have peace in their hearts and home.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Response: Amen.
Make the sign of the cross. Then, conclude with this plea, May the almighty and merciful God bless and protect us, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
May God Be Praised.
The Prince of Peace, come let us adore Him.*
my heart is ready.
I will sing and chant praise.
Awake, my soul; awake, lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn.
I will praise you among the peoples, Lord;
I will chant your praise among the nations.
For your mercy towers to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Exalt yourself over the heavens, God;
may your glory appear above all the earth.” [Psalm 57]
“Father in heaven, grant us the Grace to Celebrate Your Son’s birth and to look forward to His return in Glory."
May God Be Praised
St. Francis de Sales offers us this powerful and beautiful insight into God’s Gift. “God came himself to bring us this gift, and he came in the middle of the night. This special gift is the grace which helps us attain what would otherwise be impossible for us: the joy and happiness of glory.”
Our Advent preparations are over let’s pray this Advent Prayer one last time, "Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
Ponder the love of God which brings us the gift of “joy and happiness of glory.”
May God Be Praised.
*The image is available at the Salesian Shop https://www.salesianshop.com/the-sacred-artwork-of-bro-mickey-mcgrath/
King’s Return sing, O Holy Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6wyS2TvonA
Advent Prayer: "Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
May God Be Praised.
May “It” be well with your soul, today, and when tomorrow gets here it will be today.
Christmas reminds us of God’s love, eternal and offered before the manger, while we are on our earthly sojourn and after the grave with the Lord our God.
Advent Prayer: "Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
May God Be Praised.
Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the
shadows of history.
But to reach him we also need lights close by – people who shine with his light
and so guide us along our way. (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI)
May God Be Praised.
Today say a prayer for the people who have shared the Light of Christ with you.
The last frame of the comic strip has Snoopy starting his story again. Now he is ready.
He types, "Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night." Do you feel like Snoopy sometimes? No matter how you begin your story you somehow revert to "a dark and stormy night." [Sermons.com - Richard A. Hasler, Empowered by the Light, CSS Publishing Company]
Darkness comes every evening to our world, and sometimes to our lives. When darkness enters your life, light a candle to remind yourself that Christ the Light of the world is leading you.
His Light will guide you, let the season’s darkness remind you that Christ is our Light.
Advent Prayer: "Lord, may we praise You with our words, share You with our actions, and embrace You with our hearts & souls. Give us the grace to look forward to Your return & be ready for it."
May God Be Praised.
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St. Augustine said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement."
Many people think the world has gone crazy, the singing group Pentatonix released a song that speaks to that called, Prayers For This World.
“These are hard times in these times
Feels like the world's 'bout to capsize
Feels like it might take a miracle
To make it out alive
The clock is ticking, what do we do?
Is someone listening?
Help us through
Prayers for this world
Bring peace to its doors
Bring hope to its shores
We've got to change it
Prayers for this world.”
Our Advent Waiting is almost over but not our Hoping. We Hope for a peace filled, joy filled AND grace filled world.
Ponder this, What would the world be like if this Christmas we wanted:
the healing of broken relationships,
someone to say I love you,
the courage to correct something that is wrong,
the healing of someone’s brokenness,
the heart of the prodigal son’s father,
the faith of the farmer who plants,
the hope of the merchant in search of the pearl of great price,
the courage of Isaiah,
the humility of Paul,
the trust and faith of Mary to say “YES”, the compassion of Joseph to love Mary and Jesus.
What we need and what the world needs is not found under the Christmas tree. The “gifts” we need can be found in our hearts, in the quiet of the starlit night where Jesus waits for us to commit to be His disciple. In the manger of our hearts, we need to ask God to forgive us for the love we take for granted, the love not offered & the love we fail to celebrate.
May Mary’s YES, & Joseph’s YES encourage us to say YES to GOD during these last days days of Advent and then each day that follows. Say YES to GOD, answer the call to live the dream as a follower of the Babe of Bethlehem; the world will be better if you do.
[Adopted from Connections December 2022]
Remember what St. Augustine said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement."
Tomorrow night we have our Penance Service, if possible, plan to attend to help prepare your soul for Christmas.
May God Be Praised
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121822.cfm
Today we begin the O Antiphons, the O Antiphons refer to the seven antiphons that precede the Magnificat during Evening Prayer [Vespers] of the Liturgy of the Hours.
They are prayed during the Octave before Christmas, [December 17-23].
Here they are in the proper sequence:
´O Wisdom,
´O Lord,
´O Root of Jesse,
´O Key of David,
´O Rising Sun,
´O King of the Nations,
´and O Emmanuel [God is with us]
1.Titles of the Messiah
2.Each one refers to a prophecy in Isaiah
Take a few minutes to listen to this beautiful piano and cello rendition of O Come, O come Emmanuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7ySn-Swwc