Blog Post 2/29/2024 - R.E.P. Prayer

 

Unlike Leap Year which arrives every four years, Lent comes every year, Why – Because we need it.

As our Lenten Journey continues  God’s Grace helps us grow closer to the Lord so we can do His Will more faithfully.  May our sacrifices mold our hearts to Your Heart, so that our actions illuminate Your Love and Care to the world.

“Lent is a time for each of us to think about how and how often we love God.  Do we say a prayer when we wake up to thank God for the gift of the day?

Do we say a grace, which is a prayer, when we eat breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack?

Do we say a prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the day?

Maybe this Lent we could spend a little time thinking about focusing on Three of the Fourteen Stations of the Cross.

#4. Jesus Meets His Mother – Mary had great sorrow seeing her Son, suffer say a prayer for someone you know is suffering.

#5. Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross – Jesus was weak from carrying His Cross, Simon help Him along the way, look for an opportunity to help some during Lent.

#6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus – Veronica offers compassion to Jesus in His suffering, this Lent look for a chance to help someone who is hurting.

Henri J. M. Nouwen wrote, “God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving toward the house of peace and joy.”

Each moment, of each day God invites to walk with Him as we carry our burdens and celebrate our joys. The Lord reminds us to be not afraid.

Intercessions - Mrs. Kohler

Final Blessing - Deacon Kelly

May God Be Praised.

 

 

 

Blog Post 2/27/2024 – Listen to and Follow the Word of God

 

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“Always give good heed to the Word of God, whether you hear or read it in private, or hearken to it when publicly preached: listen with attention and reverence; seek to profit by it, and do not let the precious words fall unheeded; receive them into your heart as a costly balsam; imitate the Blessed Virgin who ‘kept all the sayings’ concerning her Son, ‘in her heart.’

 

 

And remember that ... as we hearken to and receive God’s words, so will He hearken and receive our supplications.”  St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, p. 99.

 

The Word of God should be our Guiding Light, is it yours?

 

May God Be Praised.

 

 

*Brother Mickey McGrath’s artwork is available at: https://www.bromickeymcgrath.com/

Blog Post 2/26/2024 – Friendship with God, and with Others

 

 

We pray inside God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Relationships are the essence of human life; of what really matters!  Fr. John Powell, S.J. said, “The essence of a love relationship is the communication of feelings.”  The qualities of a good relationship: Trust, Care, Empathy, Compassion, Selflessness and  Time.  An Old Irish Toast says this, “May the hinges of our friendship never grow  rusty.” 

In Edward Sellner’s, book Wisdom of the Celtic Saints he writes, “…wisdom is nothing-more and nothing less-than knowledge of self, compassion for others, and friendship with God.”  Pope John Paul II said, “… that in the Incarnation we see the human face of God and the divine face of humanity.”

 

 

May God Be Praised.

Homily Cycle B 2/25/2024 – Offered at OLPH

  

 

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm

Dreadful Gloom, Dazzling Light and Total Trust.

A deacon was ending a Lenten Prayer Service on the evils of Alcohol.  He said with great emphasis, “If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.”  With increased emphasis he said, “And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd  take it and pour it into the river.”  And then finally, he said, “And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.”

His sermon finished, he sat down.  Then, the choir leader sheepishly announced, our next hymn is “Shall We Gather at the River.”  Well, I am not preaching on the evils of alcohol today, but I am preaching on three seemingly unrelated ideas: Dreadful Gloom, Dazzling Light and Total Trust.

In our Collect [Opening Prayer], Fr. Marty called “O God, who have commanded us to listen to your beloved Son, ….  Through the discipline of Lent help us to grow in our desire for you.”

Lent is a time for us to focus on our relationship with God and our Obedience to God.

Obedience from the Latin word meaning “To Listen.”  Those of us who are parents know how frustrated with get when our children don’t listen to us.  Imagine how frustrated God is with us when we don’t listen to Him!

The Greek Poet Aeschylus wrote: “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”  We should reflect on the “awful grace of God”  because awful in ancient Greek meant awe-inspiring/ awesome, that’s what grace is.

Abraham and Isaac Trusted in God’s promise and knowing that God’s Awful Grace might not alter our life here but will carry us to the Joy of the Lord’s love in eternity.

At the Transfiguration Peter, James & John get a glimpse of God, as Moses [the Law] and Elijah [the Prophets] witness to Jesus the Word of God made flesh.   The light was not surrounding Jesus as much as it was emanating from and through Jesus; it was beyond description.  Then, God the Father proclaims, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.”  A powerful reminder for each one of us during Lent.  Listen to the Son of God & shape your life around His.  Make Jesus the center of your life and how you live your life.

If you do your life will be a “dazzling light” to others.  Pope Francis said, “We are called to experience the encounter with Christ so that, enlightened by his light, we might take it & make it shine everywhere.”  [Pope Francis, Angelus, Lent 2/28/2022]

Today’s Readings call each one of us to confront the promise and the demands of faith.  Whether we experience Dreadful Gloom or Dazzling Light, we are called to Trust, to Obey Jesus.  “If today you hear His voice harden not your hearts.”

“Listen to Him.”

P.S. Our Recessional hymn is not "Shall We Gather at the River" it will be "Be Thou My Vision."

May God Be Praised.
 

 

Blog Post 2/24/2024 – Life Inside God

 

St. Anthony of Padua said, "The life of the body is the soul; the life of the soul is God."
Human relationships, ideally mirror our relationship with God.  Both our human relationships and our relationship inside of God need our time, our attention, and our care to be fruitful.  Our Prayer Life is how we nurture our relationship with God.

 

Be mindful when you pray today, that you are praying inside God Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 2/23/2024 – Lord Help Me.

 

“Lord, give me eyes to see and love others as You see and love them.”  Amen.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 2/22/2024 - We Are Not Alone

 

Henri J. M. Nouwen wrote, “God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving toward the house of peace and joy.”

Each moment, of each day God invites to walk with Him as we carry our burdens and celebrate our joys. The Lord reminds us to be not afraid.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 2/21/2024 - The Eucharist as Remembrance & Embrace

At the Last Supper Jesus asked the Apostles and us TO REMEMBER HIM, and to do that He gave them and us: THE EUCHARIST, the Memorial of His Body and Blood.  We remember Him most profoundly in the Eucharist.

Hopefully, this story can provide a glimpse into a deeper appreciation and an increase in gratitude for the Eucharist.   6-year-old Mortakai refuse to go to the school, when his Mom took him, he ran home; when his Dad took him, he ran home.  His parents tried everything from gifts to threats, nothing worked.

In desperation they went to their Rabbi, he said if the boy won’t listen bring him to me. The Rabbi did not say a word; he held the boy to his heart for a long time and then put him down.  This silent embrace accomplished what words could not.  The young boy went on to become a great scholar & Rabbi.  [The Sunday Website of St. Louis University, “In Exile”, Ron Rolheiser OMI, 6-7-15]

When you receive Eucharist allow God’s Embrace to envelope you as you remember Him and His great love for you.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 2/20/2024 – What Does Love Look Like? Sts. Augustine & Teresa of Avalia

 

 

St. Augustine asks, "What does love look like?”   

St. Teresa of Ávila answered to Augustine’s question is, Christ Has No Body But Yours!

 

 

 

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which He looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are His body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.  [St. Teresa of Ávila - attributed]

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May God Be Praised.

 

 

Blog Post 2/19/2024 - Prayer

 

In the play, Le Miserables, Marius prays: “There are thoughts which are prayers.  These are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.”

 

The Our Father is primarily a prayer for Jesus’ disciples, the Gospel of Matthew places it at the center of the Sermon on the Mount

 

Fr. Gerhard Lohfink wrote, “The Our Father leads us to desire only what God wants.”  Essential in prayer is the disposition of our heart, we are called to have the heart of God.  Jesus was praying in a certain place, & when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”                                        

 

Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread & forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, & do not subject us to the final test.’”

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Homily Cycle B 2/18/2024 – Offered at OLPH

 

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm

 Occasionally people offer insights about preachers, here is an example, “A preacher is someone who talks in other people’s sleep.”  [Fr. William Bausch]   I hope and pray that you don’t nap now, even if you need to offer listening to me as a Lenten sacrifice.

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Lent is a Special Time to Pause for prayer, for some solitude and for a look at our discipleship.  God saved Noah with The Ark and waters, and God saved us by The Word and the waters of Baptism. 

Lent is a New Beginning”! 

In her song “How Deep” Eliza Gilkyson sings a powerful and haunting question on life, “Did I let my tears fall at the wonder of it all, but most of all how deep did I love.”  Lent calls each one of us to ask, how deep did I love,  How deep do I love God?  Have I offered God my tears & thanked God for the wonder of it all? 

Lent provides us the opportunity to Double-Down as disciples of Jesus Christ, to Receive His Word & allow it to penetrate us to the core.  Lent reminds us to Love of God & love of neighbor, as the center of our lives.  All three Synoptic Gospels recount Jesus’ desert experience but only Mark offers us this detail about Jesus “being among wild beasts, & the angels ministered to him.”  Christ calls us to recognize the wastelands of sin in our lives & refashion our lives with the Kingdom of God as our North Star. 

The Scripture Readings for Lent call us to repent.  In Hebrew, the word for repentance is to turn, like the turning of the earth to the sun at this time of year or like the turning of soil before spring planting,  Our Lenten began on Ash Wednesday with a call to turn away from those things that separate us from God.  “Christ is the water that does not drown us but slakes [quenches] our thirst & cleans our sins.”  [The Embodied, John Kavanaugh, S. J.]  “To serve God well, a person …. has to do those things that God has called him [her] to do.”  [Eleonore Stump, Sunday Website at St. Louis University, 2/07/2021]

Lent’s 40 Days seem daunting, so maybe this story can help us:

“One Spring day man was driving home from work, when he spotted a little league baseball game and he decided to stop and watch.  As he sat on the bleachers & asked one of the players what the score was.  "We’re behind 14 to nothing," the kid with a smile.  The man said, "Really, … you don’t look very discouraged."  "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face.  "Why should we be discouraged?  We haven’t been up to bat yet."                                                              [Adopted from We Haven't Been Up to Bat Yet, Brett Blair - Sermons.com]

I offer you this advice for Lent – Don’t Be Discouraged and Choose something that will help you grow closer to God.  If it helps continue it after Lent ends.  I began my homily with a short vignette, so I want to close with one.   George Burns said, “The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning, a good ending; And to have the two as close together as possible.” 

I hope I did that today; may your Lent be a blessed one.

May God Be Praised. 

 

*Brother Mickey McGrath’s artwork is available at: https://www.bromickeymcgrath.com/

 

Blog Post 2/17/2024 – A Prayer to Start a Special Day

“God on high, source of all light, hear my morning prayer.  Turn my thoughts to what is good and guide me by the glow of Your Holy Spirit.  May my actions be those You want lived today.  I offer this pray through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.”  Amen.  [Deacon George Kelly]

My morning prayer today is THANK YOU GOD for my wife and best friend, 57 years ago today we meet at De Sales University, then, Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales in Center Valley, and my life was blessed and continues to be blessed.

 

St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal and all the Saints, pray for us.

 

May We Give Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit and May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 2/16/2024 – Perfection?

 

 

St. Francis de Sales offers us this profound insight, “It is a major element of our perfection to put up with our imperfections.  The more real and perfect our trust in God, the more Divine Providence will shine forth on us.” 

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Reflect on how you handle your imperfections, do they help you in your spiritual growth or do they frustrate you?  Use them as progress points, not points of angst.

May God Be Praised.

  

*Brother Mickey McGrath’s artwork is available at: https://www.bromickeymcgrath.com/

 

Blog Post 2/15/2024 – Repent, Believe and Love

 

 

In Imitation of Christ  Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Love is an excellent thing … which alone maketh light all that is burdensome and equally bears all that is unequal…. it carries a burden without being burdened and makes all that which is bitter sweet and savory.  The love of Jesus is noble and generous; it spurs us on to do great things and excites us to desire always that which is most perfect.”  [p. 87]

Love as taught and lived by Jesus is accessible to us when we offer our will to Jesus and ask Him to mold it and form it in His Way.  In our Lenten sacrifices may the ashes we received either “Repent, and Believe in the Gospel” or “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” remind us that our life here on earth is short and temporary so we must keep our heart, our will, our soul pointed toward eternity for that is where we are headed.

 

May God Be Praised.