Posts Tagged ‘ God ’

It is a Jeremiah day…

English: Repent window, Mathon church, near to...

English: Repent window, Mathon church, near to Mathon, Herefordshire, Great Britain. Beneath the left side: Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and the right: “Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Gift:  Piety (Reverence) – With the gift of reverence, sometimes called piety, we have a deep sense of respect for God and the Church. A person with reverence recognizes our total reliance on God and comes before God with humility, trust, and love.

 

Reading:  “The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: “I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you.  However, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy.  (Rev 3:1b-4)

 

“I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot.* I wish you were either cold or hot.   So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.   For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.   I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire* so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.  Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.  (Rev 3:15-19)

 

Observation:  I feel like I attend church in the time of the Revelation to John about the church in Sardis and Laodicea, and I can’t decide which of the two I attend presently.  It is me, of course, that has the lukewarm feelings at times and the tendency to get too lax in my spiritual life, but I feel like our church has so much lukewarmness and spiritual deadness, it is hard to not stand up on the pews and start screaming about when we are going to stand up for what we really believe.

 

Personification:  Joy  It is only in displaying the fruit of joy in my life, that I will be effective in delivering the news that it is time to repent.  This is not just a call to stop complying with evil in our society, it is that we need to recognize that sitting idly by while the neighborhood we live in goes to hell in a hand-basket is not ok either.

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner…For the sake of your sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world…I ask this, as always, in the name of  the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit…Amen!

 

 

 

 

 

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2013
04/11
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Jesus is a ninja…

Image

Reading the Gospel today, I couldn’t help but think that Jesus was showing his ninja skills when he evaded the stoning they aimed at him after His proclamation that “I AM”.  I led the communion service this morning and I have to say it was weird saying those words from Jesus this morning.  Not just because they are so important for us to hear that Jesus said them, but because when you read them in the Gospel of John, it is as if you are saying them.

Knowing my sinfulness, I expected that I would be stoned and run out of the service this morning, but thanks to His mercy, I was allowed to stay and offered a simple reflection based on th

e video reflection that I watched from the USCCB website.  I don’t understand the sig

nificance of the ninja theme that has been

the focus of my last few posts, but I have the pro

mise from  the Word of God, that God will work it together for good for those that love Him

and are called according to His purpose.  (Romans 8:28)

I am leaning on the Holy Spirit to lead my whole life and I hope that Jesus is taking the things that I struggle with in my life and preparing to reveal to me how I will be converted and continue to repent from my past sins and look to the future that is planned for me in heaven.

 I pray that my words on this post and this prayer can bring light to someone’s darkness and allow them to lean on the mercy that is promised to all those who strive to obey His Word…Amen!

2013
03/21
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Have you heard of the prophecy from Saint Malachy?

220px-St._MalachySo, it was this mornings daily Mass readings that is prompting me to discuss the prophecy and the implications to Our Mother Church.  If you read about the prophecy, you will see that its veracity can not be verified, but it is interesting to see how many people have spent countless hours, I am sure, rationalizing the names given by the prophecy to a somewhat endless list of popes that would lead us to the 112th one, that should be the last.  If I am hearing the interpretation correctly, many people believe that Pope Francis is the last pope that is called, “Petrus Romanus” or Peter the Roman.  I won’t bore you with the reasons that I have read for the justification for Pope Francis being him, but suffice it to say that many people will be talking about it being him, partly because they hope he is the last pope, and so do I.

Why?  You may be asking yourself, why would someone be hoping for Pope Francis to be the last pope.  You may just as well as yourself, why do we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!” at every Mass that we use Eucharistic Liturgy 1.  The truth is that we know from science that the earth is passing away, and some scientists say it could last a couple 1000 more years and others say we are on the brink of destruction, at least as far as the climate is concerned.  The point is, we know that the time we have to live our own lives is short, and as believers in Jesus Christ, we would rather start spending our eternity with our God who loves us, than a world that hates us.  However, that should not concern us or cause us to despair to the point of inaction, because the world first hated Jesus, as he reminds his disciples. (See John 15:18-19)

So, for me, I love talk about the prophecy and what it all means, as long as we keep in perspective that it should be calling to live our lives more fully for Jesus Christ, in this moment and every moment for the rest of eternity.  As Our Mother told Saint Bernadette, and I’m paraphrasing, that she did not promise her comfort in this world, but in the next.  Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

2013
03/16
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The Pope is still on fire, speaking truth that shines bright!

Benedict XVI (2005-present, Episcopal form of ...

Benedict XVI (2005-present, Episcopal form of Papal arms) An alternate version with Papal Tiara: here (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

POPE: DO NOT GIVE IN TO TEMPTATION TO INSTRUMENTALIZE GOD

 

Vatican City, 13 February 2013 (VIS) – Benedict XVI dedicated the catechesis of today’s General Audience to the season of Lent, which begins today, Ash Wednesday. “Forty days,” he said, “that prepare us for the celebration of Easter. It is a time of particular commitment in our spiritual journey. … Forty days was also the period that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public life, when he was tempted by the devil.”

 

Reflecting on Jesus’ temptations in the desert, is “an invitation to each of us to respond to a fundamental question: What is truly important in our lives? … The core of the three temptations that Jesus faced is the proposal to instrumentalize God, to use Him for personal interests, for self-glory and success. In essence, it is putting oneself in God’s place, eliminating Him from our existence and making Him seem superfluous. … Giving God the first place is a path that each Christian has to undertake. ‘Conversion’ … means following Jesus, so that His Gospel becomes the practical guide of our lives. … It means recognizing that we are creatures who depend on God, on His love …This requires us to make our decisions in light of the Word of God. Today it is no longer possible to be a Christian as a simple consequence of living in a society that has Christian roots. Even those who come from a Christian family … must renew daily their decision to be Christian, to give God the first place in the face of the temptations continuously suggested by a secularized culture, in the face of the criticism of many of their contemporaries.”

 

“The tests that Christians are subjected to by society today are numerous and affect our personal and social life. It is not easy to be faithful to Christian marriage, to practice mercy in our everyday lives, or to leave space for prayer and inner silence. It is not easy to publicly oppose the decisions that many consider to be obvious, such as abortion in the case of an unwanted pregnancy, euthanasia in the case of serious illness, or the selection of embryos to avoid hereditary diseases. The temptation to set one’s faith aside is always present and conversion becomes a response to God that must be confirmed at various times throughout our lives.”

 

The Holy Father recalled that in history there have been “great conversions such as St. Paul’s on the road to Damascus or St. Augustine’s. But also in our age, when the sense of the sacred is eclipsed, God’s grace acts and works wonders in the lives of many people … as was the case for the Orthodox Russian scientist Pavel Florensky who, after a completely agnostic education … found himself exclaiming, ‘It’s impossible without God.’ He completely changed his life, even becoming a monk.” The Pope also cited the case of the intellectual Etty Hillesum (1914-1943), “a young Dutch woman of Jewish origin, who died in Auschwitz. Initially far from God, she discovered Him by looking deep within herself, writing: ‘There is a well deep within me. And God is that well.’ … In her scattered and restless life, she rediscovered God in the midst of the great tragedy of the twentieth century, the Shoah.”

 

“In our age, there are more than a few conversions that are seen as the return of those who, after a Christian education, perhaps a superficial one, have turned away from the faith for years, then later rediscover Christ and His Gospel. … In this time of Lent, in the Year of Faith, we renew our commitment to the path of conversion, overcoming the tendency to be wrapped up in ourselves and to make room for God, seeing our everyday reality with His eyes. Conversion means not being wrapped up in ourselves in the search for success, prestige, or social position, but rather of making each day, in the small things, truth, faith in God, and love, become what is most important,” the Pope concluded.

 

( I feel the comparison to the forty years since Roe V Wade decision legalized abortion can be made here, and it is about time we all stand up for all the obvious issues that can be opposed and defeated, if we choose life now and choose now to not be afraid, the Holy Father said it would not be easy to publicly oppose this issue among others, but not impossible!)

 

2013
02/14
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If today was your funeral, would you attend the service?

English: Atlantic Ocean (Feb. 6, 2008) Electro...

English: Atlantic Ocean (Feb. 6, 2008) Electronics Technician 3rd Class Leila Tardieu receives the sacramental ashes during an Ash Wednesday celebration aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian May (Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Gift:  Wisdom  – With the gift of wisdom, we see God at work in our lives and in the world. For the wise person, the wonders of nature, historical events, and the ups and downs of our lives take on deeper meaning. The matters of judgment about the truth, and being able to see the image of God.

 

Reading:  For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:  “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 5:21-6-2)

 

Observation:  Today, we celebrate the beginning of Lent.  It even feels weird to write that we are celebrating the beginning of forty days of fasting, almsgiving and deepening our prayer life, as we prepare for Easter.  However, as I grow in my faith, I am realizing that this season that precedes Easter, reminds us of the suffering that will always come before the party.  Of course, if the party is a Jesus party.  My title today is basically pointing out that we remind ourselves of our human frailty on Ash Wednesday, and as we do so it can feel like we are celebrating the fact that we will die someday.   I am just wondering, in our busy lives, would we find time to celebrate our own passing from this world to the next, or would be too busy?

 

Personification:  Faithfulness. Maybe I have started focusing too much on the fruit of faithfulness lately, but it seems to me that it is only when God graces me with it, I am targeting my efforts of evangelization and prayer quite effectively.

 

Prayer:  Lord, continue to challenge me with your will for me and never let me be complacent with the gift you grace my life with daily.  I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…Amen!

 

2013
02/13
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Am I being the sower that Father Daniel told me to be?

Jesus on the wall of the senior Home

Jesus on the wall of the senior Home (Photo credit: freestone)

Gift:  Understanding – With the gift of understanding, we comprehend how we need to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. A person with understanding is not confused by all the conflicting messages in our culture about the right way to live.

Reading:  He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God;* it is as if a man were to scatter seed the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.”  (Mark 4:26-27)

Observation:  Wednesday night, one of our young adults and I went down to the Newman Center at the University to attend the weekly student Mass at 9pm.  I had just finished my Catechist training class and he had just finished choir practice, but I was hoping to make it in time for confession.  I did make it for confession, and Father Daniel’s homily on that day’s gospel was rather unorthodox.  He actually had us discuss what we heard the gospel telling us about the seed that was sown on the path and the rocky ground, etc…After we discussed it in our small groups, we heard him say to all of us that we should be the sower, and stop seeing ourselves as seeds.  Today’s gospel reading is explaining further that we should no longer be looking at where our seed lands, just be sowing it.  Father Daniel specifically told me to be a sower before I left Wednesday night, and I resolved to do so.

Personification:  Love   It is the true nature of love to be spreading the seeds of faith to anyone that may hear it.  I know my little blog does not reach many, but I am thankful to God for the work that he is doing through me here and in our church.

Prayer:  Lord, don’t let me lose sight of the work that you are working through me and let me love you more and more by continuing to spread the good news to everyone who is reading or listening.  I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of  the holy Spirit…Amen!

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2013
02/01
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I don’t know about the day drawing near, but this world will not last like this!

The Madonna in Sorrow

The Madonna in Sorrow (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Gift:  Fear of the Lord (Wonder and Awe) – With the gift of wonder and awe (fear of the lord), we are aware of the glory and majesty of God. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all we desire: perfect knowledge, perfect goodness, perfect power, and perfect love.

 

Reading:  We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.  We should not stay away from our assembly,* as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.  (Hebrew 10:24-25)

 

Observation:  Last night, I had a meeting with our Catechists at Saint Alice Catholic Church.  We discussed some Marian apparition information from Our Lady of Good Help, just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.  We discussed how our Mother Mary‘s admonition to Sister Adele Brise is still so applicable to us today, over 150 years later and maybe I convinced them that this message wasn’t meant for the immediate spreading like wildfire, that we saw with the apparition in Lourdes, France around the same time.  Her message to Bernadette was urgent about healing, not just physical but serious spiritual wounds that existed in the church back in the middle of the 19th century in France.  However, the church in our country was flourishing under the protection of religious freedom that was afforded to us by the Constitution.  Fast forward to today, our culture is being over-run by secular humanists that have designs on cutting God completely out of the public square.  Our Mother Mary’s message of educating our children in the faith is so important now, before they get rocked to sleep by the onslaught of media that is literally at their fingertips.  When I heard this reading at the all schools Mass at Marist High School this morning, the last part of the 25th verse was what caught my attention.  So, when I went back to read it again, I caught the thing.  Something one of our Catechist’s husbands said at our meeting last night shines a bright light on how we open ourselves up to changing our hearts and thereby being  vessels that can bring that change to our children.  He said, we should always remember to be charitable and show love to others.  One more time, our Mother Mary said that it was good that Sister Adele had received Communion that morning,  but there was still more work to do.  We need to be honest about our own conversion, which will lead others to trust us when we tell them about Jesus, and recommend Confession to our brothers and sisters in Christ, after we seek it ourselves, and keep looking for new and different ways to teach the children about our faith in this wild world that we live in.

 

Personification:  Generosity  If I am not willing to give myself completely to this ministry and I am holding back anything, who am I saving it for?  By the grace of God, I will breathe my last breath in this world knowing that I have given all that I could have to follow Jesus and tell others about him.

 

Prayer:  Lord, as you allowed the flood waters to invade Lourdes in October of this past year in anticipation of the visit of the relics of Blessed Pope John Paul II, allow the flood of your mercy to flow through my heart to everyone that I meet to show them that your presence is in me and working through me to bring them closer to you.  Come Lord Jesus.  I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

 

 

2013
01/31
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The New Jerusalem…by Jason Roebuck

Of course, I mean no disrespect to GK Chesterton‘s work entitled “The New Jerusalem” by giving that title to my post today.  I know that his book deals with a time in history when the Jewish people had not yet been given a state to call home in Israel, but I think the title fits, if you read further into my reflection on today’s Mass readings.  Of course, it could help if you read Today’s readings, as well as the Office of Readings that I prayed before beginning this reflection.

Gift:  Wisdom- With the gift of wisdom, we see God at work in our lives and in the world. For the wise person, the wonders of nature, historical events, and the ups and downs of our lives take on deeper meaning. The matters of judgment about the truth, and being able to see the image of God.

Reading:  

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,

for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still,

Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn

and her salvation like a burning torch.a

Nations shall behold your vindication,

and all kings your glory;

You shall be called by a new name

bestowed by the mouth of the LORD.  (Isaiah 62:1-2)

Observation:  I was reminded by my ten-year old son last night as I finished up with faith formation classes with the Hispanic community at our parish and he was heading out of the 5 o’clock Mass, that this first reading can be a powerful reminder of our calling as Christians.  He had committed to memory that first verse and repeated it back to me.  As I read it again this morning, along with the second verse and the rest of the readings, I realized that the prophet was talking about us too.  It is not just the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, but the rebuilding of our souls through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Especially for me, having allowed myself to be held in the Babylonian captivity of

English: Roebuck Surgery, Roebuck House, Roebu...

English: Roebuck Surgery, Roebuck House, Roebuck St (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

this world, before waking up to the original call that God laid on my heart.

Personification:  Joy.  If I am going to be able to display the fruit of joy, I must remember that God has called me to be a new creation.  I don’t know about the part about being called by another name, because I believe I would have to become a member of a religious community to do that, but maybe there is something to that.

Prayer:  Lord, help me remember to display the fruit of joy in my life today and thank you for all you do to keep me faithful to your word.  I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.  Amen!

2013
01/20
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WE HEARD THE GOOD NEWS, BUT ARE WE LISTENING?

So proud of Andy Schmelzer…From Coos Bay!  <  See video here!

Gift:  Fortitude (Courage) – With the gift of courage, we overcome our fear and are willing to take risk as a follower of Jesus. A person with courage is willing to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or even physical harm and death.

Reading:  For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened.Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.  (Hebrews 4:2,11)

Observation:  As you know, if you have read my journal before, I do not usually highlight the reading, unless it is the words of Jesus and I think I need to highlight in red.  However, today’s first reading for Mass, so reveals a truth about something that happened last night in our little town, I had to highlight it in bold letters.  After I post the video for last night’s rally outside of PP’s new facility, I think it will be abundantly clear why I think this first reading is speaking to us in this country now.

Personification:  Faithfulness. It is true that I am a little jealous of this guy that I met for the first time yesterday, because of his courage to stand up to the abomination that is PP.  I hope that I can stay faithful to the Word of God and our church, so that God will show me the way he is using me to do the same thing Andy was last night.

Prayer:  Lord, continue to build up in me courage and by your grace, keep me always faithful to the calling that you have laid on me and let us be united in your church with those who listened.  I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit…Amen!

2013
01/18
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Listen to this…

Gospel       MK 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Great reflection on today’s Gospel…Glad to share!

Thankful to God for the healing in my life…Hopeful for healing for my immediate and extended family…Hoping to stay focused on God’s intention for my life today…Amen!

 

2013
01/17
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