Blog Post 6/30/2024 – Sacred Heart of Jesus

 

As we conclude this month, June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, may we take time to allow the Sacred Heart of Jesus to hold us, to embrace us and to envelop us in Jesus Heart, His Most Sacred our most in need of His.  A Glimpse into Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque’s Story [adopted from Franciscan Media] will help us appreciate the Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the First Friday Devotion.

Jesus chose Margaret Mary to ignite the Church regarding the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus.  She was a Visitation nun who was “not to be extraordinary except by being ordinary,” however on December 21, 1674, she experienced the first of her revelations and over the next 13 months, Christ appeared to her at intervals. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love.

Reflect on the idea that “our scientific-materialistic age cannot ‘prove’ private revelations. Theologians … admit that we do not have to believe in them.

Yet, it is impossible to deny the message Margaret Mary heralded: that God loves us with a passionate love. Her insistence on reparation and prayer and the reminder of final judgment should be sufficient to ward off superstition and superficiality in devotion to the Sacred Heart while preserving its deep Christian meaning.”

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/29/2024 – Follow the Blessed Mother’s Lead

 

Mary, you believed that the Lord’s Words to you would be fulfilled, now all ages call you “Blessed”, may we allow God’s grace to fill us, form us and lead us, so that one day we may be blessed, also.

 

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/28/2024 – An Insight on Prayer - Not Alone, but Being with God

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Solitude and silence can never be separated from the call to unceasing prayer. … solitude and silence are for prayer. The Desert Fathers did not think of solitude as being alone, but as being alone with God. They did not think of silence as not speaking but as listening to God.” 

Solitude and silence are the foundation for our prayer.  Today spend some time in the solitude of silence with God.

 

May God Be Praised, especially in the Solitude of Silence.

Blog Post 6/27/2024 - In Ancient & Modern Times Hubris [Pride] is a Problem

 

 

The ancient Greek Sophocles wrote, “All men make mistakes but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, repairs the evil, the only sin is pride.”

 

 

 

St. Thomas More wrote, "I will simply counsel every man and woman to beware of even the very least speck of [pride], which seems to me to be the mere delight and liking of ourselves for anything whatsoever that either is in us or outwardly belongs to us."

 

Be aware of hubris or pride subtly influencing your life.

 

May God Be Praised

 

Blog Post 6/26/2024 - Prayer is the Best Preparation for Life Here & in Eternity

 

St. Bernardine of Siena said, "Prayer is the best preparation for Holy Communion. Prayer is the raising of the mind to God. When we pray, we go to meet Christ Who is coming to us. If our Creator and Savior comes from heaven with such great love, it is only fitting that we should go to meet Him. And this is what we do when we spend some time in prayer."

I would add Prayer on earth prepares our soul to meet & greet our Savior.  Prayer in Heaven is the way we honor and adore our Creator and join in the eternal song of praise.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/25/2024 - Sing Praise of the Holy Spirit

 

The Spirit breathes where He wills; listen for His voice; follow His path.  

The Spirit breathes the grace of God on us. 

From Heaven's wind comes salvation. 

By the Grace of God we can breathe the air of Holiness until it fill us. 

Alleluia.  Alleluia.  Sing Praise to God.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/24/2024 – God is Love

 

“Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes a third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love." — St. Juliana of Norwich

 

Delight in God, Who is Father, Son & Holt Spirit.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 6/23/2024 – Live your live with a peace-filled heart

 

"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset." — St. Francis de Sales

 

Allow the peace of Jesus to form and inform your life every moment and every day.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/22/2024 – Live in the world, and try not to live in a worldly way.

 

St. John Bosco said, “Be brave and try to detach your heart from worldly things. Do your utmost to banish darkness from your mind and come to understand what true, selfless piety is. Through confession, endeavor to purify your heart of anything which may still taint it. Enliven your faith, which is essential to understand and achieve piety." 

 

Choose to live with your life a vision toward eternity.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/21/2024 – An Important Message from Jesus, “Follow Me”!

 

 

Wendy Wright said, “The human heart despite the centuries has not changed, its’ fundamental rhythm is still the heartbeat of God.” 

Our time on earth is to live the fundamental rhythm of our heartbeat, and when we do Jesus will lead us inside the Trinity to life everlasting, even if we are unaware of it.

 

Bishop Barron commenting on John’s Gospel [21:20-25] wrote, “Here at the close of John’s Gospel we can take this command to heart.  What does following Jesus involve?  True conversion—the metanoia that Jesus talks about—is so much more than moral reform, though it includes that. It has to do with a complete shift in consciousness, a whole new way of looking at one’s life. Jesus offered a teaching that must have been gut-wrenching to his first-century audience: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

 

God the Father said, “Listen to Him”, sage advice.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 6/20/2024 – Listening to Jesus, the Son of God

 

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Listen to your heart. It’s there that Jesus speaks most intimately to you. Praying is first and foremost listening to Jesus who dwells in the very depths of your heart. He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t thrust himself upon you. His voice is an unassuming voice, very nearly a whisper, the voice of a gentle love. Whatever you do with your life, go on listening to the voice of Jesus in your heart. This listening must be an active and very attentive listening, for in our restless and noisy world God’s so loving voice is easily drowned out. You need to set aside some time every day for this active listening to God if only for ten minutes. Ten minutes each day for Jesus alone can bring about a radical change in your life.”

 

Today take some time to listen to the Lord.

 

May God Be Praised

 

Blog Post 6/19/2024 – Time is a Gift

 

 

Average person lives for 79 years, or 948 months, or 11,376 days or 273,024 hours or 16,381,440 minutes.

 

 

No matter how you calculate your time here on earth, one thing is most important “How you use that time”.

The time you have is a Gift from God, how you use it is your gift to God.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/18/2024 – Why Are We here?

 

We are here on earth to meet God, to know God and to fall in love with God.

The Baltimore catechism offered us a question and answer format to teach the truths of our faith.  Example “Why did God make us? To know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be with Him in the next.” 

St. Teresa of Avila said, “In this life our lot is not to enjoy God, but to do his holy will."

Falling in love with God is difficult and easy at the same time, reflect on how it is so in your own life.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 6/17/2024 - Homily Cycle B 6/16/2024 - Theme - The Garden of Life is planted with small acts of love and kindness.

Fr. Murphy walked into a pub in Donegal, & said to the first man he met, "Do you want to go to heaven?"  The man said, "I do, Father."  Father said, "Then stand over there against the wall."  Fr. Murphy asked another man, "Do you want to go to  heaven?"  The man replied, "I certainly do, Father."  "Then stand over there against the wall."

Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole & said, "Do you want to go to heaven?"  O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father."  The priest was surprised by his answer and said, "I don't believe this.   You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?"  O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes!   I thought you were getting a group together to go right now."

Our scriptures offer us a straightforward message the smallest acts of love and kindness are essential to the Kingdom and Jesus wants us to live that way - it points the way to heaven.

In today’s readings, “The cedar stands for the restoration of the Davidic monarchy after the exile. .... The beasts and birds represent the nations of the earth.”  [Sunday Web Site 6/16/2024

Ezekiel offers us this beautiful image, “I … will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, & plant it on a high & lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.  It shall put forth branches & bear fruit & become a majestic cedar.”  [Ibid.]

St. Paul reminds us, “… we walk by faith ….”  In the Gospel Mark uses the Sower as a metaphor for Christ the Word, the Seed of God.  Our small acts of kindness and love will help others, even though we may never see it happen.  The keys to God’s Kingdom are: prepare the soil, plant the seed, wait for the harvest and then share the harvest.  The reign of God is matter of faith, hope, and love, & the kingdom’s growth cannot be measure in isolated moments.   “Life is slow & subtle.  Love takes time to show & grow.  In life, little acts count…. Children grow before our eyes.  But they age imperceptibly.  We recognize growth only after it has happened.  The full truth of the child is seen after the child is child no more.”    [Ibid., The Word, John Kavanaugh]

Today we as a culture remember and honor our fathers; we should do that but we should, also, spend some time with Abba, Our Father Who Art in Heaven … Who is with us each step of our journey.   

Our Gospel asks us to embrace the faith of boring, of the simple offering of our small acts of kindnesses and love, unheralded - but offered to someone as offered to God.

For a few minutes, now, thank God for your father & thank God – The Father for your life.

May God Be Praised. 

 

Blog Post 6/16/2024 – Happy & Blessed Father’s Day

 

Terrance Klein* wrote, “On earth, we see the seeds of heaven, not the blossoms ….  The seed is the kingdom of God, which our Lord came to plant firmly on the earth.  St. Mark in Chapter 4 of his Gospel writes, ‘To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?  It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.  But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.’

The Lord has given us the garden of our lives to tend.  Our gardening skills are to love our families, our friends our neighbors and yes, even our enemies.  Sometimes some of them, occasionally all of them are difficult to love.  So we till the ground, plant the seed, water the plants, and weed our weeds from the garden, the weeds of envy, anger, annoyance, selfishness, etc.  Those weeds keep us from letting the Holy Spirit shine through our lives.  

“We need to remember that the kingdom of God has been given to us as seed, not blossom.” 

Tend your garden and allow God to show you the blossoms at the proper time.  St. Francis de Sales said, "Let God gather to Himself what He has planted in His garden.  He takes nothing out of season."

This Father’s Day as you give thanks for your earthly father, remember to give thanks and praise to your heavenly Father. 

 

Father’s Day Blessing

 

God, our Father

Bless these men,

that they may find strength as fathers.

Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.

Grant that we, their sons and daughters,

may honor them always

with a spirit of profound respect.

 

- Author Unknown

[Jesuit resource at Xavier University]

 

 

May God Be Praised.

 

*[Rev. Terrance W. Klein is a priest of the Diocese of Dodge City is the author of Vanity Faith: Searching for Spirituality among the Stars]

 

Blog Post 6/15/2024 - A Glimpse into Salesian Spirituality

 

 

Thank you to my classmate Don Wright for nominating me for Alumni Salesian Spirit Award, for the others in my class who supported my nomination and for the committee in selecting me.  Congratulations, also, to the other Award recipients.

I want to offer a very special thank you to my parents, , my wife, my children, grandchildren, friends and the Oblates for their love, support and for the unique glimpses of God, [the Master Craftsman] that they have shown me over the years.  This Award highlights DSU’s core values of gratitude, gentleness, humility, hospitality, wisdom based most importantly on Faith, values our society and our world desperately need.  

Grateful to receive this award, allow to offer you a few thoughts from St. Francis de Sales.  The Gentleman saint advises us to “Walk joyfully through life & if at times you cannot walk with faith & courage.”  [Everyday with Francis deSales, June 12]  And to “Be who you are & be that well, to give honor to the Master Craftsman whose handiwork you are.” [St. Francis de Sales, Oeurves, XII. Letter 289 10 June 1607]

When people from my parish [Our Lady of Perpetual Help] ask for advice in strengthening their spiritual life, I very often offer them de Sales’ Direction of Intention and My Day Is Ending prayers [See below]. Those prayers help me each day and they can help anyone who seeks peace and joy as they journey through our troubled world.

 

May God Be Praised.

Direction of Intention

“My God, I give you this day.  I offer you, now, all of the good that I shall do … and I promise to accept, for love of you, all of the difficulty that I shall meet.  Help me to conduct myself during this day In a manner [most] pleasing to you.”

 

Day Is Ending Prayer

“Thank you for all the gifts of the day, for the place I spent it And for those with whom I spent it, for all its joys and all its sorrows, for the troubles overcome and for those that remain.
I offer you the silence of this night, its darkness and its solitude.  Whether you chose
under the cover of this night to take away the problems of this day,  or leave them for  tomorrow, I will bless your name.
Thy will be done.  Amen

 

 

 

Blog Post 6/14/2024 - Spreading the Gospel

 

“A final lesson for evangelists: in accord with Mother Teresa’s principle, don’t worry about being successful; worry about being faithful.  Announce the Gospel, don’t count converts, and leave the increase up to God.”  [Redeeming the Time: Gospel Perspectives on the Challenges of the Hour by Robert Barron]

 

 

 

Live as St. Teresa of Calcutta recommended: be faithful to the Gospel and let the seeds from God’s Word be proclaimed by how you live, God will harvest in God’s time.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 6/13/2024 - Why Pray?

 

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!  Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.”  [Deuteronomy 6:4-7]

From the Book of Deuteronomy we learn that we should put God first in our lives and teach our children to do the same.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 6/12/2024 – A Glimpse of God

 

“Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced.  Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven.  The Lord will make us prosper and our earth shall yield its fruit.  Justice shall march before him and peace shall follow his steps.” [Psalm 85]

Jesus is Mercy Incarnate, the Faithfulness of God enfleshed, Justice comes through Him.

May God Be Praised.