Blog Post 4/30/2024 - Loving God

 

“Let us pass on now to the other question—namely, what you can do to strengthen your resolutions and make them succeed? There is no better mean than to put them into practice. But you say that you are still so weak that, although you often make strong resolutions not to fall into the particular imperfection of which you want to cure yourself, no sooner does the occasion present itself than down you go.  

Shall I tell you why we are still so weak? It is because we will not abstain from food that does not agree with us. It is as if a person who wished to be free from pains in the stomach were to ask a physician what he should do. The doctor replies, ‘Do not eat such and such food, because it brings you pain’; and yet the person will not abstain from it.”  [The Art of Loving God, St. Francis de Sales, p. 97]

May this prayer help us, “Dear God, I am discouraged by my weakness, give me confidence in Your love.”

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 4/29/2024 – How to Deal with Difficulties

 

“We should take as a maxim never to be surprised at current difficulties, no more than at a passing breeze, because with a little patience we shall see them disappear. Time changes everything."   St. Vincent de Paul

 

The goal of this life is to enter eternity to be with God, where all difficulties, hardships, sorrows and tears [of sadness] will be no more.  The burdens that we carry here on earth can plough the hardness of our hearts into the soil of God’s love.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 4/28/2024 – Ponder Why you are here and where you are going?

 

St. Augustine said, "We are Christians, and strangers on earth.  Let none of us be frightened; our native land is not in this world."

 

Teihard de Cardin wrote, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."

Live for God.

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 4/27/2024 – Today a Simple but Profound Prayer

 

“O Lord, You are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call. 

Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my voice.”  [Psalm 86]

The Lord loves you, hears your plea, stay alert to God’s response.

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 4/26/2024 – Time & the Human Heart

 

 

“Heaven’s clock is different from ours.”  Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ, p. 357

“The human heart despite the centuries has not changed, its fundamental rhythm is still the heartbeat of God.”   [Wendy Wright insight from St. Francis de Sales]

 

Think about your time here on earth and what is most important to your heart.

 

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 4/25/2024 - Called to be Leaven.

 

 

In Mark’s Gospel [8:14–21] , Jesus warns his disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. Today that warning applies to the Secularization of our culture.  We are called to be the leaven that transforms our culture, the society in which we live.

Our call to holiness began at our Baptism, that call to Holiness includes a call to be leaven in the society.  To light a path with “Love of God and Love of Neighbor”, a path to transform ourselves and our culture with generosity and peace, valuing each human life, trusting that with God we can help give rise to a new way of ordering things.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 4/24/2024 – Reconciliation God’s Gift to us.

 

Yesterday on my blog there as a picture of a bowl repaired by the Japanese art of kintsugi. Today it is displayed again.  Kintsugi is an art of precious scars and a parable of healing and reconciliation. 

 

The word kintsugi is made up of two Japanese words: “golden” and “repair.”  It’s the technique of repairing broken ceramics or pottery by joining the fragments together with liquid gold, liquid silver or lacquer dusted with powdered gold.

 

Through the art of kintsugi, what was once broken becomes whole again.   Jesus offers us the same in the Sacrament of Reconciliation [Penance], He calls us to allow His Grace to mend the broken within us.

We might think about someone who we need to reconcile with and offer them our apology for the hurt between us.

Can you think of a better way to celebrate during the Easter Season, new life; renewed life!

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 4/23/2024 - Meal Time

Meal Time  

When we share a meal with someone, at “… the table we discover each other.”  It’s the place where we pray. It’s the place where we ask: “How was your day?” It is the place of old and new stories.

It is the place of smiles and tears.  It is the place where the children feel the tension between the parents, where brothers and sisters express their anger and jealousies, where accusations are made ….

Precisely because the table is the place of intimacy for all the members of the household, it is also the place where the absence of that intimacy is most painfully revealed.

 

Say thank you to God for the gift of Meal Time.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 4/22/2024 - Psalm Prayer

 

“As a deer yearns for running streams, so I yearn for you, my God.  In you is the source of life, by your light we see the light.”  [Psalm. 42:1; 36:9]

Reflect on your yearning for God, is your soul “… longing and yearning, yearning for the courts of the Lord….”?  Or are you comfortable in the here and now? 

 

 

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 4/21/2024 – Time with Family & Friends

 

Joanne, my wife, and I just returned from a short but wonderful vacation in North Carolina.  We were with her cousins and their spouses.  The Lord blessed our time together with laughter, tears, and a dose of the Holy Spirit to inform our time together.  We shared joys, sorrows, hopes and prayers.  May each person on earth be so blessed with family and friends and the gift of time to spend with them.  With grateful hearts we offer thanks and praise to the Lord who enabled our gathering. 

May each of us “… through the contemplation of Jesus’ Wounds” realize that all is gift and how we respond to each person or event in our lives is our gift to God.   We are called to “Seek the Lord, alleluia.”  Easter Season is our time to remember the Lord is Lord of heaven and earth, and we are His people.

Today take a few minutes to ponder these words from St. Ephrem, “He who was also the carpenter’s glorious son set up his cross above death’s all-consuming jaws and led the human race into the dwelling place of life. Since a tree had brought about the downfall of mankind, it was upon a tree that mankind crossed over to the realm of life.”

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 4/20/2024 Homily Cycle B Offered at OLPH

 

Brennan Manning told a story of an Irish priest who was on a walking tour of a rural parish.  The priest saw an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road, praying and he said to him, "You must be very close to God."  The peasant looks up from his prayers, thinks a moment, and then smiled & said, "Yes, he's very fond of me." [www.Sermons.com Adapted from Phillip Yancey, What's So Amazing about Grace?] 

God is very fond of you and me, God is fond of each of us and all of us.

Peter tells the leaders of the Jewish people that that Jesus Christ the Nazorean is the cornerstone, is the way to salvation.  Our Scriptures tell us that we are God’s us children and Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  Ancient Israel was an agricultural society so they knew about Shepherds.  Most of us don’t live in that kind of society, so it is foreign to us.

But neither the Ancient Israelites nor we grasp the Good Shepherd that Jesus was talking about.  He told them and us that He looks after us constantly, each hour, each moment; Jesus cares for us and loves us.  Today we heard, “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep & my sheep know me, alleluia.”  [John 10:14]

From the Old Testament Ezekiel, tells us “For thus says the Lord GOD: Look! I myself will search for my sheep….  I will deliver them from every place where they were scattered …. I will bring them back….”  [34:11 - 13]

How can we emulate the Good Shepherd in our day, in our time.  Maybe this story, Picking up the Check, can help us.  Their father was in an advanced state of dementia & his family had to place him in a nursing home.  But they remain devoted.  One night the family visited, then stayed to have dinner with him, in the dining hall.  When dinner was over and everyone was getting up to leave, Dad suddenly became agitated.  No one understood what was wrong, when his wise daughter-in-law had an insight, she handed him a paper napkin and a pen.  He scratched away and handed the napkin back and was peaceful.  The napkin was the check for the meal and he was paying for it. 

He always enjoyed taking his family to dinner and at that moment, his family saw their dad both as he had been and what he had become.  In the fog of Alzheimer's, the essence of his old and protective habit of love survived.  The love that Jesus demands of us, is that simple and that profound.

Jesus asks us to put others ahead of ourselves, to seek our joy in bringing joy to others, to honor and cherish others simply because they are God’s sons and daughters.             [Connections May ’09]

“In ordinary acts of kindness, we have a chance to practice virtue more often, with greater humility and with greater holiness.” [Every Day with St. Francis de Sales,]

Offering small acts of love are part of the foundation of Christ’s transforming love, the love that is the foundation of the Kingdom.  The daughter-in-law in helped a person to live with dignity, the dignity – each one of us has as a child of God.   

For a few minutes reflect on how you are living as God’s child.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

 

 

Blog Post 4/14 to 4/19/2024 - Vacation Message

                                                                 Vacation Message

My wife and I are taking a short vacation to visit with two of her cousins. We will be away from April 14 to April 20.  My computer access will be limited so The Daily Dose of God Blog will not be updated during that time.  We will return on Saturday April 20 when the Blog will resume.

I will be praying for you, please pray for us.

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 4/13/2024 - The Most Important Inheritance We Can Give Our Children and Our Friends.

  

 *

Caring for our souls makes us better parents, grandparent and friends, of our children, grandchildren and friend’s souls.

Fidelity to God is singular lasting inheritance we can offer.  What spiritual benefice are we preparing for our family and friends to assist them on the eternal journey.

 

May God Be Praised.

* Gift from a wonderful Spirit-filled friend.

Blog Post 4/12/2024 Homily Cycle ii Offered at the OLPH School Mass

 

 

Homily Cycle ii Offered at the OLPH School Mass on 04/12/2024

 

Today, our Scripture readings give us there are Four things we should base our lives on:

1.     1. The Eucharist is our nourishment.

2.     2. Hope rests in Jesus.

3.     3. Remember our prayers take us to Jesus.

4.     4. Use our God given talents to give honor to God.

What a week: last Friday we had an earthquake, last Sunday concluded our 8 day celebration [Octave] of Easter.  Easter is so central to eternal life we celebrate it for seven weeks until Pentecost [May 19th this year].  Jesus’ Resurrection is the foundation of our faith and our hope in God’s eternal love.

Last Sunday was, also, the NCAA’s Division I Basketball Tournament with South Carolina Winning its’ second straight championship.  But I want to call your attention to Coach Dawn Staley who said, “We serve an unbelievable God” and a great player named Catlin Clark from Iowa who elevated Women’s Basketball with her skills, work ethic and her faith.  She goes to Mass regularly, prays the rosary and even prays for fellow athletes who are recovering from injuries.         

On Monday The Eclipse, but more importantly Pope Francis released a document on Human Dignity [Dignitas Infinita], the dignity God gives us as human beings.  Today we celebrate the really spectacular – the gift of the Mass, a glimpse into the eternal.  The Apostles celebrated because they were found worthy of punishment for their belief in Jesus.  And in the Gospel, we heard the account of Jesus blessing the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish to feed the crowd.

So today think about how you will incorporate these Four things into your life:

 1. The Eucharist is Your nourishment.

2.     2. Your Hope rests in Jesus.

3.     3. Remember your prayers take us to Jesus.

4.     4. Use your God given talents to give honor to God.

1.     

                                                                  May God Be Praised. 

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

Blog Post 4/11/2024 – My Earthly Journey

My Earthly Journey

“One day my journey here on earth will end and I will enter the presence of God, will I be ready?  Until that day may God’s grace mold me to live in God’s light and allow that light to shine through me.  I pray Dear Lord that I learn to serve You well.”

 

One day each one of us will meet our Creator and may it be a glorious day.

 

May God Be Blessed.

 

Blog Post 4/10/2024 – On the Eucharist

 

On the Eucharist

"If we approach with faith, we too will see Jesus ... For the Eucharistic table takes the place of the crib.  Here the Body of the Lord is present, wrapped not in swaddling clothes but in the rays of the Holy Spirit."  [St. John Chrysostom]

 

Pope Francis offers this insight “… the Eucharist is God’s answer to the most profound hunger of the human heart, the hunger of true life: in it Christ Himself is really in our midst to feed us, to console us and to sustain us on our journey…. The Eucharist is … more than a symbol, it is the real and loving presence of the Lord.”  [6/19/2023]

Take some time today to reflect on the overwhelming and sublime gift of the Eucharist.

 

May God Be Praised.