Blog Post 11/30/2023 - Ordinary is Wonderful

Ordinary is Wonderful

Often, we forget to be grateful for the “ordinary” stuff of life, today give thanks to God for the “ordinariness” of your life.  “There’s more to get thrilled about in the ordinary than the extraordinary.” [Colors, “Time Well Spent” pg. 73]

After you thank God for that “…spend your time loving people ….”  God will take care of the rest.   “Don’t waste your time trying to get people to love you. Instead, spend your time loving people and the other will follow.”  [Ibid. “The Enchanted Bird”, pg. 78]

Profound words of wisdom.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/29/2023 - Christian Care

 

Christian Care

 

Henri J. M. Nouwen wrote, a “… great secret of the spiritual life … is that everything we live, be it gladness or sadness, joy or pain, health or illness ….” is lived one moment at a time, our life is lived best when focus on the goal to be with God in eternity.

Beauty and good are joy filled, but suffer and pain, are not, but through the love of Jesus we are called to walk with each other in our brokenness until we enter eternal life, when every tear will be wiped away.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/28/2023 – Preparations for Eternity

 

Preparations for Eternity

 

“It isn’t the greatness we reach, the wealth we accumulate or the worldly fame we achieve, BUT the love of God that we share in word and action that prepares us for eternal life.” 

 

Reflect on your love of God and how God’s Word informs your life and your actions.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/27/2023 – Bless God

Bless the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit today and forever.  Praise God’s glory and exalt the Lord by your life.  Bless the Lord, with your thoughts, your words and your actions.

Make your life a prayer.

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/26/2023 – How to Live.

 

How to Live.

Jesus, You offer us the foundational principal to guide our lives - help those in need who are in front of you.

It comes from the Gospel of Matthew, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.” 

In the presence of human need do what Jesus would do and you will be filled with joy.  The Lord your God will be with you.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/25/2023 - Why Pray?

Why Pray?

St. Julian of Norwich wrote, "The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer, and it reaches down to our lowest need. It quickens our soul and gives it life, and makes it grow in grace and virtue."

We pray to love God more deeply, know God more fully and to allow God’s grace to fill our heart and soul.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/24/2023 – The Key to Heaven

 

  

The Key to Heaven

 

 

St. Francis de Sales said, "You learn to speak by speaking, To study by studying, To run by running, to work by working, And just so: You learn to love God and …" your neighbor by Loving.

 

Love of God and of our neighbor will enable us to open Heaven’s gate, where Jesus will greet us and embrace us.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 11/23/2023 – Thanksgiving Day Blessing

Thanksgiving Day Blessing

 

 

 In the United States Thanksgiving Day is a holiday with special religious significance. Originally celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Native Americans to thanks God after the harvest of 1621.  In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November should be a national day of thanksgiving.

Today our nation needs to return to God for guidance and then follow it.  Religion and morality should inform our way of life, including our politics.  We should keep the classical concept of the common good foremost in our decisions. 

Today thank God for His many blessings and pray that we are open to those blessings, and share with those less fortunate from God’s goodness to you.

Pray this Thanksgiving Blessing

“God most provident, we join all creation in raising to you a hymn of thanksgiving  through Jesus Christ, your Son.  For generation upon generation peoples of this land have sung of your bounty; we too offer you praise for the rich harvest we have received at your hands.

Bless us and this food which we share with grateful hearts.  

Continue to make our land fruitful and let our love for you be seen in our pursuit of peace and justice and in our generous response to those in need.

Praise and glory to you, Lord God, now and forever.”  Amen. 

May God Be Praised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/22/2023 – A Prayer for Grace

 

A Prayer for Grace

Today we pray, dear Father in Heaven, that You invite us deeper into Your Word, Your Sacraments and Your Church.  Drench us with Your Grace so that soaked with Your Strength we pray, fast and give alms.

 

Pour out Your Love to fill our hearts to serve You in Joy and in Sorrow.  And in Your Kindness grant that our lives we may reflect Your Light and Your Love to the world.  Amen.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/21/2023 – Wedding Anniversary

 

Wedding Anniversary

Our First Dance as a Married Couple: "Here, There, Everywhere": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHLQs6u9wXw

 

In Proverbs we read, “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 53^rd 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 ways.  She is 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.

“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.

May God Be Praised!

 

Blog Post 11/20/2023 - The Word of God

 

The Word of God

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God, listen to the Word of God, live the Word of God and cherish the Word of God in their hearts for they shall be called children of God.

Choose to be a child of God and you will choose well.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/19/2023 Eucharist, Study & Prayer

Eucharist, Study & Prayer

 

"Faith and love … will lead you along a path unknown to you, to the place where God is hidden."  St. John of the Cross

 

Strengthen your Faith with the Eucharist, Study and Prayer and God will lead you to where you need to be.

 

 

 

 

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 11/18/2023 - God has loved you from eternity.

 

God has loved you from eternity.

St. Brendan wrote, "If you become Christ's you will stumble upon wonder upon wonder, and every one of them true."

God has loved you from eternity once you accept that in your heart and your soul, you should find our troubled world still filled with wonders.  As you allow God’s wonders to fill you with joy, remember to pray that others will accept God’s Grace and begin to “stumble upon” God’s wonders and to live as God’s people.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/17/2023 – Homily Offered at OLPH School Mass

Homily Offered at the School Mass for OLPH

Readings for the Memorial 

Today we celebrate the Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a woman of royalty, daughter of the King of Hungary.  She could have lived a life of luxury and leisure, but she chose a life of prayer and care.  She helped the poor and suffering in her land.  In our first we were taught to help those in need. 

Then, in our Gospel we were taught to “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”   At the beginning of this school year, we were challenged to “… give to God our Personal Best.”

How?

One of the best ways to do that is by looking for God’s image in each person we meet.  We are called to treat each person we meet as if they were the Lord.

The famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy who wrote, War & Peace, Anna Karenina among others.  He, also, wrote a powerful short story, variously translated as Shoemaker Martin, Martin the Cobbler, The Old Shoemaker.

The shoemaker had a dream, he heard a voice say, “Martin.  Martin.  Look tomorrow on the streets for I am coming.”  The next day Martin saw an old soldier shoveling snow and invited him in for a warm drink.  He saw a mother with, no coat, and a small child in her arms, he invited her into his home gave them some food, a warm drink and his coat.  Then, he saw a little boy take an apple for a woman who was selling them, Martin paid for the apple gave it to the boy who promised not to steal again.

As Martin got ready for bed later that day; he was disappointed that the Lord hadn’t visited.  Again, he heard the voice say,  Martin, Martin did you not recognize Me?  In the corner of his shop Martin saw the image of the old soldier, the mother and the child, and the little boy with the woman selling apples.  Martin lived today’s Gospel, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

  

Martin learned that helping someone is helping the Lord.  Martin gave to God his personal best, we are called to do the same.  Sometime tonight or over the weekend watch the video with your parents it is on YouTube: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pifDZ1hu6gY

 

May God Be Praised & May we Do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

 

Blog Post 11/16/2023 - The Lord Wants us to Follow Him

 

The Lord Wants us to Follow Him

“I Will Walk with You, and I Will Talk with You, and You Shall Be My Guide.

Where You Lead me, I know not, BUT I TRUST it will be for my Good.”

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 11/15/2023 – Bending our Heart and our Will.

Bending our Heart and our Will.

 

Today pray Lord, open my Heart and Bend my Will, Give me the Grace to proclaim You to the world by my actions.

“Come, then, let us bow down and worship, bending the knee before the Lord, our maker,
For he is our God, and we are his people, the flock he shepherds… Today, listen to the voice of the Lord….”  [Psalm 95]

Glory to the Father, by my life and to the Son, by my actions and to the Holy Spirit by my thoughts and my life will be a light in this world’s darkness.  Amen.

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 12/14/2023 - Kindness makes us better.

 

Kindness makes us better.

In the hit Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso”, Ted starts his work day by bringing his boss, Rebecca Welton, some of his home-baked Biscuits.  The show displays the essential need for  kindness and indicates that kindness matters, it is fundamental to our humanity. 

Today focus on acts of kindness, if you do your day will be blessed and so will others, and your Advent will be enriched.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

 

Blog Post 11/14/2023 - How to Live.

 

How to Live.

"Live in such a way that you give proof of God's presence."  [St. Francis de Sales]

 

 

Give that proof today, by the manner in which you treat people.

 

 

May God Be Praised!

 

Blog Post 11/13/2023 - Offering to God

 

Offering to God

 

“Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love.”  Words of advice from St. Therese of Lisieux.

 

 

Do all that you do today for God, except sin, if you sin offer God your sorrow for not loving!

 

May God Be Praised!