Friends, Prayers, and Ministry

Acts 9:27 Acts 11:25,26

Then Barnabas took charge of him (Saul) and brought him to the apostles, and reported to them how on the way he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

Then he (Barnabas) went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch.  For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christian.

*****

At my church there is a quiet little ministry that speaks boldly in the name of Jesus. A ministry that comes together to knit and pray. It is the Prayer Shawl Ministry. With each click of the knitting needle, prayers are said for the healing and intentions of those who suffer. Prayers are given for healing in those who have requested prayers.  Each prayer is given in love by the members of the ministry for those they may have never met.

The knitted prayer shawls are made to comfort and go over a sick person's shoulders. The completed shawl is packaged with a prayer printed on a piece of paper and a miraculous medal. The shawls are then blessed.  When someone in our community, a church member, a family member, a friend, or just someone in need is suffering, the prayer shawl team is there praying for them as they knit. This ministry is made in faith with the click of needles and the sound of prayers.

The prayer shawls are available when there is a need.  When someone contacts the church, about an illness and a ministers visit, the shawl is brought during this personal visit. The minster will ask for permission to place the shawl on the person and pray.  The shawl represents all the prayers of the ministry team and the community.  

The prayer shawl is also an important part of our healing masses.  On the last Tuesday of the month, a small group of believers gather for a special healing mass. Those present announce their intentions and who needs prayers.  At the end of mass, the prayer shawls are made available to those who need one. If the person in need of healing is at mass, the priest and people will gather around, lay hands on the person and pray.  

The prayer shawls are used in our ministry at the local war veteran's home. They are made available to the elderly veterans and their families. These shawls are a remembrance, prayers, and appreciation for what they gave to protect so many. 

It is a quiet and powerful ministry of this small group of friends. Christian friends coming together in ministry. Prayer and asking God for his help to those in need. It is kind of what Barnabas and Saul did coming together in ministry. It is a nice coincident that this ministry is lead by a lady named Christian.

*****

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, In our Christian friends we find support and encouragement.  Give us a strong community to grow in your love.  Help all believers to serve,  witness and preach to the world united in Christian friendship.  Amen

Sharing God's Breath in a Prayer

Psalm 104:29-30

When you hide your face, they panic.  Take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust.  Send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth.

Being the fact that I almost died from pneumonia in 2007, I can totally relate to the symbolism of breath representing the Holy Spirit, God's presence to us in this world. These two verses truly represent my experience. I know that in God's breath is life.

One night I woke up and I could not catch my breath. I had went to the doctor earlier that day and explained that I felt bad, run down, and just could not take a deep breath.  I also had a pain in my shoulder area and my upper back. I thought I was maybe having heart problems. He said that I was fat and out of shape.  He gave me a muscle relaxer for the pain in my shoulder.

That night I woke up and could not breath. My wife rushed me to the emergency room.  My right lung had collapsed. The other lung was full  of fluid. It was not a good prognosis. I never panicked, I was actually calm.

A doctor, who I had never met before came in before anesthesia and surgery to explained what was going to take place. Then he asked me if I knew Jesus Christ. He asked if he could pray with me. Not pray for me, pray with me. He asked God to protect me, heal me, and be with him as he treated me. That experience was one of the most powerful witness for Christ I have ever had given to me. Through a doctor's witness, God was breathing his spirit on me. I never saw the doctor again.  Still,  I was not afraid

I did tell the surgery team to make sure that they had all the XXL tools.  They said no problem. However, when they were operating they found out that none of the tubes and surgery supplies were long enough. So they had to send for additional supplies while I was on the table. It made the surgery quite a bit longer than it should have been. This I may have been concerned about, if I knew about it.

I woke up on a ventilator. My mind rested. I was able to be quite and listened for God's voice. I saw how God had been with me throughout my life.  No matter how bad I thought things were, God never hid from me. On that ventilator, I did not panic because I truly saw how God was in my life and had been there throughout my life.

God's breath is his spirit. God's breath allows and sends forth his Word. The Word is Jesus Christ.  In our witness of Christ we bring the breath of God to the world. Something as simple as praying with a stranger can be the greatest witness of God's breath in the world that we can share.

Payer:

Lord God, Do not hide your face from us, send the Holy Spirit to renew us and the entire world.  Amen.

This Little Light of Mine, I'm going to Let it Shine

John 5:16

Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

"This Little Light of Mine, I'm Going to let it Shine." "This Little Light of Mine" is a great children's song written by Harry Dixon Loes. It is a lesson we teach to children in a song but sometimes as adults maybe we fail to let our light shine. 

What is this little light? Jesus tells us by his life and also in the beatitudes. 

This verse from the Gospel of John comes after Jesus had just taught the crowd and his disciples the beatitudes.  The beatitudes are interpreted many different ways, but before anything remember that Jesus was teaching about the Father and about the kingdom of Heaven. This is a message of the beatitudes.

The beatitudes are promises.  If you are completely dependent on God, do not morn because God is sending you comfort (Jesus) and the land (kingdom of heaven). If you depend on God and look for the kingdom of heaven, you will be harassed, insulted, and persecuted; but, we are to remain constant in our faith.  We are not be the instigators of conflict; but, ambassadors of Christ's love. In all of this, if you hunger and live for righteousness (the way God intended all to live) then be happy because you will be rewarded in heaven.

In this passage Jesus tells us that living these beatitudes should not be a life hidden. The beatitudes should not be a life lived without enthusiasm. The beatitudes should be a life that you witness everyday by letting the light that is Christ show forth from you.

It is not easy to let this light shine. When I was younger, I was asked to name two of the beatitudes. I couldn't give an answer. True, I was caught off guard and in a stressful situation. At that time, maybe, I did not necessarily live my life by the beatitudes. I let what others think and what the world expected block the light of Christ in me. It was not that I was ashamed, but sometimes "I thought" living the beatitudes got in the way of being a success. As I have lived my life, I have learned that what is the world is not the most important. Glorifying God is what is important and God has been good to me.  

I truly think that what we truly are will rise to the surface as we live our life.  It is through the entirety of our lives that we let the light shine or we keep it hidden.  We are not perfect, I'm not perfect. The light of Christ should never be obstacle in this world.  We should let shine in us and let everyone know the source of that light, Jesus Christ.

Prayer:  

Lord Jesus, in you we find the file that make our lights shine.  You are where the source of love that enables our good deeds.  Let us offer all that we do in the name of Jesus Christ to glorify the Father, through the Holy Spirit, one God forever. Amen

How We Learn To Be Good

Romans 14:7 (Jerusalem Bible 1966)

“The life and death of each of us has its influence on others”

This verse is the definition of being a good parent.  A good parent gives all to provide for their children. A good parent strives to teach their children the difference between right from wrong. A good parent wants what is best for their children when they are young and when they are grown.

The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” holds the truth of this verse, especially in today’s world. The parent’s home is where we learn our first and most important lessons.  In a virtuous home, we are born to what is good and just. Sadly for some, goodness must be learned outside the home. This is why it takes a village. Learning to be good, when we are not born to it, is taught by the village.

It takes a lot of courage for those in the village to be a positive influence to others. In today’s world, the village is expected to let people live in their own interpretation of life, morality, and virtue. It is through example that the village teaches. Our goodness and love of our faith is an example to the world. This is where we teach the most important lessons.

So I would like to introduce a word that most of us probably don’t use everyday - edification. Edification is the lives of the saints. It means to instruct a person morally or intellectually. Christians are called to be a village. We are called to edify others as parents and as the village.

Prayer:

Almighty God, 
Give us the grace to be examples through our daily acts and our lives. Let all we do be an example of Christ’s love in the world. 

We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit are One God, eternal. Amen

Let the children come to Me

I'm not the Conqueror of the World

1 John 5:5 - "Who, then, is conqueror of the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."

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John wrote this at a time when being a Christian required courage.  The Christians were being prosecuted for their faith.  John was promising them that by believing in Jesus they would be able to conquer the world. They may not conquer the world in this life but in believing in Jesus Christ they would conquer this world.

What am I supposed to conquer? To be honest with you, I don’t think that I am supposed to conquer the world. I don’t think that I am supposed to conquer my neighborhood. Being married, I know that I am not going to conquer my house. So what am I supposed to conquer?

I think today, the world we are to conquer is fear.  As Christians today, it is in fear that we are defeated. I will state that again, fear defeats us. Fear has crippled us as Christians. In fear we say “I would like to do more for people but I just can’t do anything,” or “I would like to be more involved in church, but I have no talent.” It’s not that you can’t. It’s not that you don’t have talent.  It’s because you fear.  It’s a fear of failure or fear of what other people think

The thing each of us must remember is that we all fear something. Our encounters with fear throughout our lives affect us and our response to that fear can leave us weak. We are called to conquer not just the fear, but our response when we face that fear. We conquer fear in our faith.

We are all afraid of failure. God says “Fear not for I am with you.” If God asks you to do something, you will be able to do it. If God calls you to his service, God gives you the talent for that service. God says, “I am with you.” God is with us and that means that God can use what we fear the most and make it our greatest gift.

When I was eleven years old, I was asked to ride with my aunt to my grandmother’s house. It was a 50 mile one way trip on a two lane rural highway. She was going after she got off work at 10:00 p.m. and my aunt did not want to be on the road alone, so I was sent along.

As we drove, there was no moon and the road was deserted.  We were actually lucky the road was empty.  At about the half-way point was a railroad viaduct. On this bridge, my aunt had an epileptic seizure. I reached over stomped on the brake and guided the car to the opposite side of the road. I was scared. 

This was before cell phones and there were no houses within sight.  I didn’t know how to drive. My aunt wouldn’t let me drive. She kept saying, “Billy, don’t tell your momma, please don’t tell your momma.”  It took us about 2 hours to drive the last 25 miles.

As I grew older, my greatest fear would be that I would date someone who had seizures. In high school and college, I had friends who dated girls with epilepsy. I had this unrealistic idea that only girls and women had seizures.  And I did not want to be in a relationship with a person who suffered from this for the rest of my life. 

I met a girl, fell in love, dated and then she became my wife. Eight months after we got married, she had her first epileptic seizure. We have been married for 29 years and I still see the pretty little eighteen year old girl I married. 

God uses our fears for his greatness. I believe that I had always felt some call to ministry but I never thought it would be as a Catholic Deacon. Because of my wife, I became Catholic. Because of her epilepsy, I prayed a lot and have had to put all my trust in God. I heard his call clearer than ever.

Through God’s grace and my belief in Jesus Christ, I have conquered one of the fears in my world. I have other fears. I think I am going to be finding these fears in my ministry as a deacon. God has called me to go and do his work. I'm not the conqueror of the world, my neighborhood, or my home. Christ called me to work in his battle for the world, in what I feared the most.

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Prayer: God, you give us strength to conquer our fears in this world, you give to us the ability to do your will.  Allow us to see this in ourselves, restore our lives without fear and give us strength found in Jesus, the Son of God; Lord, anoint your people. Amen.

Getting Past Being Told We Are Naked

Genesis 3:9-11 (NABRE) The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked?

Acts 2:39 (NABRE) "For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”

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Living in the promise of Jesus seems simple. It is a promise made to the entire world. A promise evidenced in love that is eternal and brought again to the world in Jesus. "Living in" the promise is easy.  But, it is in God's call to us where we are "living out" that promise.

Listening to God's call is the hard part. Like Adam, we tend to hide from God, ashamed of our naked sinfulness. God knows our thoughts, our deeds, and all we will do. God knows the scarcity of love in the world.  God still calls; to hear his call, stop listening to the one who told us we were naked.

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Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Send your saving power to the world. Holy Spirit help us to answer God’s call. Let us answer in simple ways by serving our neighbor, doing good, and building a community of love. Amen

I Sit and Think of God.

I sit and think of God. I think as I count my breaths and see in these God’s greatness and generosity. I find it in every breath that God gives me. This same greatness and generosity was given to the first man. In creation, God breathed his breathe into humanity. 

God gives me, his breath. God’s breath exists in the air that I breathe. The air a miracle of different gas molecules mixed in the right ratio so that when it enters my lungs, my body takes from this miraculous mixture what it needs. It is God’s breath that keeps me alive, makes by brain function, keeps my body warm, and allows me to share in the magnificence of God.

How does this share in the magnificence of God?  Think about it, if I were a person who did not believe in God, it would be easy to say "all of this the air, my breath, my thoughts are just the result of acts of randomness." In randomness, I evolved from choice stock that was best adapted to meet the demands of the environment. 

But if this is so, then how come man has become man, and why did only man became man?  How come dolphins that live in the oceans do not have the need for doctors or lawyers or inventors? How come horses do not have great wars with other horses? How come lions or tigers or bears don’t rule the world? These beast are the strongest.

It is said that it was man’s cunning and his intellect has made him master of the earth.  If that is so, then why do we have such a vast difference in people?  If it is cunning, then why do we have athletes and warriors?  If it is brawn that makes us superior then why do we have intellectuals? If one makes us strong would it not make sense that evolution would evolve the other out of existence? If we are truly so smart that we deny and try to prove that there is no God, then why is there still suffering, pain, wars, and evil? If we do not need God, then why is there such a thing as ethics and morals?  If man is his own master then why is there immorality and lack of ethics? 

It is the magnificence of God that made things in the order that it is. God made the air so that we could breath and then shared his breath with us.

I look at the beauty of the world and I enjoy it and it touches my heart. I breath in the air, my lungs are full and I taste his glory.  In the coolness of the water, I am refreshed my his forgiveness. In all the necessities that God gives us, God also gave us Jesus Christ. God gave us his word which exists through his breath. In Christ, God is the source of all forgiveness and grace, the fresh air of our lives. In Christ we see how important we are to God, like our breath is important to us.  In Christ, we appreciate the water of baptism, the breath of the Holy Spirit, and the nourishment that is communion with Christ, being one with the son and the father.

I sit and think of God. Maybe my thoughts are incoherent. Maybe my thoughts are rambling. But to truly express the magnificence of God in words is impossible. Maybe I can express the magnificent of God in the air, water, and nourishment that gives us life.  In all of these we have gifts from God. In all of these is God’s creation. In all of these we find life. In God we find the eternity that exist in the moment we experience all of these things.

It is God’s magnificence that made these things in the order that it is. God gave us creation to keep and protect, but we disobeyed. God asks us to love him, but we deny that God exists. Even in humanity’s disobeying and denying all that God gave, God does not take back his breath.

Short Reflection on the Ascension

Acts 1”11 (NABRE)

“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Sometimes we are awe struck by the massiveness of God's mercy and wonder. Instead of standing around waiting for something to happen, we are called to be his mercy and wonders in the world. Jesus lives in us. Jesus returns daily in our lives and witnesses to the world in Christians. The witness is how we live and what we do. We are the extension his resurrection. Each of us is asked by the Holy Spirit to be the miracle of Christ in the world.  In this we ascend to find the Kingdom of heaven that is here now and bring it to a world looking for something they do not understand. 

Prayer:

Dear Lord delight us in rejoicing in the blessings found in the Ascension of Christ your Son. Eternal joy is found where Christ is gone to be in your divine presence.  We pray for this the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Mercy Will Have Mercy - WEGoss2

Mercy will have mercy,

Mercy generously, Filling

creation - Mercy is Perpetual

Force continuing eternally.  

At dawn, fill us with

Mercy, at dusk Mercy

overflow.

Mercy will have mercy on which Mercy will

have mercy

Atonement is Mercy; mercy filled

reconciliation with Mercy. 

Forgiving sins is Mercy

found in a sacrifice. Mercy

happens between Mercy and creation.

Mercy is rich in creation,

made alive in an unmerciful death.

Mercy reprisal withheld

consequences for our humanness.

Mercy will have mercy on which Mercy will

have mercy; Mercy

we do not deserve.

Mercy is not getting

what you do deserve. The withheld punishment

is God's goodness. This is mercy.

 

Funny, that mercy draws sinners to

Mercy. Yet mercy pleases true

Mercy. Infinite, wonderful,

immeasurable. Taking Mercy for granted

is humanness. Ungrateful sinners

sweetened by Mercy sweetened infiniteness;

holiness without mercy is not Mercy.

Mercy will have mercy on whom Mercy will

have mercy; Mercy that

a chosen purposeful disorder in creation

does not deserve.

All the mercy in creation derived

from Mercy is free.  Mercy

given for merit is not mercy.

Creation, polluted never earns mercy.

Nothing earns Mercy;

nor forces it. Mercy cannot be made to love us.

Mercy loves us even in our disorder.

Mercy will have mercy on which Mercy will

have mercy; Mercy that

a chosen purposeful disorder in creation

does not deserve

any consultation or comfort

Mercy is an overflowing

Mercy; infinite eternal,

believe in Mercy. Trust

in Mercy and imitate

Mercy by coming to the aid of a neighbor.

Find rest in Mercy. 

Mercy - consultation and comfort,

prayer. Mercy

forgiveness and bearing

wrongs patiently. Without Mercy

what does life profit?

Have mercy on those who doubt. Too

bad to deserve,

mercy given by Mercy

rejected by self.

Mercy will have mercy.

Finding Time to Pray

Our Priest is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He was asked by the Priest Chaplin at the local hospital to work with a young family. The family is having problems and went to the priest for help; neither parent had a religious upbringing. They have three young children, the oldest is five. The children have never been exposed to prayer. Father decided to teach the children a simple prayer. 

He instructed the children to pray, one, two, three, four, five. The prayer the children were to learn was to make the sign of the cross and then clasp their hands in prayer. One - touch the forehead, two - touch the chest, three touch the left shoulder, four touch the right shoulder, and on five clasp your hands in prayer. It was a simple prayer but more than they had ever prayed.

In our lives we often have a similar dilemma. We have a hard time praying. Most of the time, God's presence in our lives is not dramatic, sensational, or impossible to ignore. Because of this, it becomes easy to push our prayer lives to the back of our daily activities. We get religious waywardness; forgetting to pray. They don’t have the time. Forgetting the importance of daily prayer, people forget how to to pray. Unlike the children who never knew how to pray, some Christians loose sight of their need for prayer and begin an get into a habit of spiritual unfaithfulness. 

James 4:8 (NABRE) “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands . . . and purify your hearts, you of two minds”

The Christian tradition has three types of prayer; Vocal prayer, Meditation, and Contemplative prayer. (CCC 2721)

How do we improve our prayer life.  Here are a few ideas; one method is no more effective than the other. The only one that will be effective is the one you do. Short prayers can open our hearts to the grace needed to be aware of God’s presence in our life. Short but sincere prayers can be only few words:

• “Here I am Lord.”
• “Lord, thank you for your presence.”
• “Give me wisdom/insight.”
• “Do not let our hearts be troubled.”
• “Jesus, I trust in you.”

Meister Eckhart, philosopher, priest and mystic, said that if you only prayed “Thank you” that would be enough. I like to think that I offer every breath I take as a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God, offering my whole self to his service.

If we look for time to pray we will never find it, so we need to make time to offer prayers. At work, use the moments between meetings, before and after phone calls, on the way to and from coffee breaks or lunch, before you go to work or leave for home as a time for prayer and reflection.

It is also important to take time several times a day to do an examination of conscious and take moments to reflect on your daily activities. These are times of brief contemplative prayer. During a coffee break, reflect on what has happened up until that time in the day. Have you done anything to wrong another person? Have you honored God in your thoughts and deeds? What has happened and how is God present in that experience?

If you are looking at the things in your calendar that has passed or is upcoming take the time to pray over each event, meeting or appointment.  Pray for the people involved or touched by that time or event. Ask for the grace to realized God in each moment of your life.

Psalm 46:11 (NABRE) “Be still and know that I am God!"

A time for meditation can be found before you get out of the car when you get home, stop and meditate on your day. What are you grateful for? Who are you grateful for? Does a coworker or friend need prayer? Realize the moments of God’s grace in the day.

Finally, in the quiet time before bed, pray to Jesus Christ.  Ask for forgiveness for the times when you failed to love God and your neighbor.  Thank God for all the gifts he has given you and be quiet and listen for his voice. 

Like little children, prayers must be offered in a purity that is earnest and from the heart.

Pray constantly, (1 Thess 5:17). It is always possible to pray. It is even a vital necessity. Prayer and Christian life are inseparable. (CCC 2757)

Prayer - Trust in the Lord

PSALMS 37:5

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will act

Prayer:

Lord God,

We stumble 

to you 

in our human 

pride and weakness 

which is failure

to trust in you, Lord. 

In meekness and humility 

allow us to commit 

ourselves to you 

through the Holy Spirit 

that you send to us.  

Help us 

to put away our failures 

and 

show greater love to others. 

Amen

Speaking at Mass

Sunday, I was asked to speak about the Holy Spirit at Sunday's Mass. This was asked of me at about 6:00 pm on Saturday evening as my wife and I were preparing for an anniversary date. (Twenty-nine wonderful and blessed years for the curious). I decided that I would prepare after our date and the next morning.

So, I asked and prayed about what to say. Copious notes were taken. The catechism was studied. I was prepared. When I got up to speak, what I prepared and what came out was something entirely different. What I said was not what I had studied on or what I had prepared. When I stood up, I spoke without knowing my end but only what I was being led to say. The first words out of my mouth were the Holy Spirit is harmony.

In our diaconate studies on the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is identified as the love that exists between the lover and the beloved. The unity that is between the Father and the Son is where the Holy Spirit exists. In this unity and love are where the fruits of the Holy Spirit come from and include love, joy, and peace. This is the essence of the unity between the Creator and the Word.

In this unity we also find the gifts of the Holy Spirit including wisdom, understanding, and fortitude. These are the fruits and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that Pope Francis is praying comes upon the people of the Holy Land and the rest of the Middle East. 

In these things I see the harmony that the Holy Spirit brings.  The harmony of peace, that brings love and joy. The harmony among people found with wisdom, understanding and the fortitude to use these in dealing with other peoples. Yes, I see that the Holy Spirit brings harmony. 

In the beginning the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. (Gen 1:2) 

The Holy Spirit was there at the beginning of creation. It existed so that when the word of God came forth; wisdom, understanding, fortitude, peace, joy, and love all came to God’s creation. The Holy Spirit did not create but made creation hear the Creator’s words. It brought harmony to the chaos.

Just as the Holy Spirit was there at the beginning of creation and brought the harmony need for creation. The Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us.  The Holy Spirit is always available to bring the harmony to our spirit that seeks to be a child of God, to know the peace and love of Christ, and to seek the joy that that is the kingdom of heaven. The Holy Spirit makes us now Christ. The Holy Spirit makes us hear the Father’s word and to know his grace. It brings us to harmony in our faith.

The funny thing is that when I was through, I wanted to read on thing that was written on my notes. So I looked down to say a prayer.  I stuttered and stumbled all over it. Maybe the Holy Spirit did not want people to hear it because it was not what God wanted me to say.

The Holy Spirit communicates to us the new life that God the father bestows on us through Jesus Christ. (CCC 684)

Holy Spirit does not speak of the Holy Spirit; Makes us hear the Fathers words; Makes known to us Christ (CCC 687)

Finding Happiness and Good Cheer

Colossians 3:15

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

In high school science class, we learned about grafting. This process of grafting is when you take a piece from a good productive plant and put it on a hardier root stock plant.  In the south, this is how many of the larger pecan hybrids are developed.  Both trees receive a gift.  The gift is the graft from a plant that produces good large pecans and the good strong root system to support the pecan.  As the tree grows that plant becomes fruitful and strong.  It produces good pecans.  

This is our lives as Christians.  Each one of us, so different, are brought together in the peace and love of Christ. Each of us is the root stock. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from God. In this gift is found happiness and peace. Promised to us by Christ, they are made part of us by the Holy Spirit.  In these we are empowered to bear fruit.  

These fruits are the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Christians are to share these fruits through their lives. These are the qualities found in true happiness that restores us through the Holy Spirit to paradise and leads us to the Kingdom of heaven. (CCC 736)

Prayer: (Saint Augustine)

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there your cheerful beams. Amen.

Working for God

Philippians 1:9
"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. . ."

Prayer: 

Heavenly Lord,

Yours are the gifts 
of love and talent
that we give to your service. 

Let us discern 
to use them justly 
for the good of many 
in the light of 
your truth and grace.  

We do this through 
the power 
of your Holy Trinity; 
the Father, 
the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Character and the Badge of Christianity

Isaiah 29:13
"The Lord said:
this people draws near with words only
and honors me with their lips alone,
though their hearts are far from me. . ."

Pope Benedict XVI wrote that "our character has to do with our being." Isaiah tells the same thing. Sometimes, God's people are his people in word only. They do not live for God. Even today, people profess God by saying they are Christians. Too many times, Christianity becomes a badge to wear not a life to live.

In time, our lives will reveal the motives of our heart. Our humanity divulges secrets. In the deepness of our inner self, we live a continual conversation with our self realized truths. We self reason and justify the desires of our heart. This self idealization can become misinterpreted as a divine path. 

Our unqualified reason has a natural basis and can be understood in the individual life experience in which it originates. However, it is usually an ill-equipped reason. Singularly justified, this reason is flawed in its ability to distinguish the successes and failures in the practices of life.  

God desire for us is to realize truth. Only in God's conversation with our character can we become the image of Christ. In our self reason, we must hear God and know Christ's love to answer "yes" to this conversation every day. In this we live truth.

Prayer:

Lord God,

Our lives reveal the motives of our hearts, our character is in our being, grant that our hearts are pure and our lives reveal your truth.

We ask this in Christ Jesus name, Amen

Memorial Day Prayer - WEGoss2

Lord God of Peace,

We pray
for those who have served and
laid
down their lives
to protect and defend freedom.

We pray
for the care of those
who still live the battles,
with spirits and bodies
scarred by war.

We pray
for our country, and
the healing
of wounds
received - near and far
defending
our freedom and
the freedom for others

We pray and remember
those who serve us now
shield
them from danger and
bring them home safe.

We pray
that all who have fought
to find in You, Lord
the power
to be gentle, and
the strength
to forgive and find peace.

We pray,
remember
in patience ,
understanding; and
endurance
the required duty
right and just

May the Giver of life –
bless these memories;
grant to each
of us peaceful souls.

May the Creator of all
help us to devote our
life
thoughts and
energy
to justice and peace.

May the Holy Spirit
create in us
the passion to fulfill
the destiny
for which all men were created.

Christ Jesus, hear our prayer,
Amen.

Finding Hosea in the Modern World

I learned a new word today. The word is “foist” which means to impose an unwelcome or unnecessary thing on to people. I discovered this word by accident. I was studying a blog by Christian writer Dylan Dodson. Dylan’s blog is a good example that I could tie to my bible study of the book of Hosea. Dylan did not use the word; but, when you start googling - You can just go all over the place. 

There is no fidelity, no loyalty, no knowledge of God in the land. (Hosea 4:1 (b)).

Hosea was written between 755 and 725 BC. That was a long time ago. Funny a whole lot of things don’t change. In his blog, Dylan Dodson writes about one of the same things Hosea writes about. Dylan makes the point that people can call themselves Christians but actually do not believe when they don’t agree with God’s commandments or Church teachings. This is similar to Hosea's prophesy.

If you believe in God, then there is a core reason for that belief.  Sometimes it is hard to say why you believe, you just know you believe. With all the ramifications, do and don'ts believing asks of Christians, people tend to pick and choose.  All that God asks is sometimes hard to accept in the world we live in. Even the people of Israel who could remember God working in their prophets, kings, and nation often fell short of what was asked by following false teachings that fed their human wants.  We also fall into the habits of worshiping our personal wants.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? (Luke 6:46).

Dylan Dodson and the Prophet Hosea talk about sexuality. But these are not the only things that Christ is asking of us. 

Jesus gave the apostles authority to build his Church and continue his ministry. Yet today, Christians forget this command, shun the Church, and pick what they want to believe. There is a disconnection between identifying oneself as a Christian and living a Christian lifestyle. Jesus asks us to follow him in all the details of our lives. If we believe that Jesus is God and God is truly our Father Creator, then we must also believe in what he is the Lord over.  

That same website where I discovered the word “foist” stated “religion focuses the people's attention and energy on a single, unchanging, uncompromising and invisible supreme being who created an inferior humanity.” This supreme being established oppressive and arbitrary rules to live by. These statements were written by an atheist.  

Isn't this great that this is not our God? Sadly, this is how many Christians understand God. But, we are not asked to be perfect, only to try to live in his commands. Disappointingly, many people just say they will do what they want to do if they do agree with Jesus' or the Church’s teachings. In doing this we are actually worshiping a god that we make.

Just remember God always believes in humanity. God is always revealing truth to us. Even if we see God as the god we selfishly want, the Truth of God is always calling to us. 

God is love and forgiveness.  Pope Francis wrote about forgiveness, “. . . God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart.” So even if we sin and get off track through our own selfishness, we can recognize our faults and truly ask for forgiveness. God was there with Hosea and the sinful people of Israel almost 2800 years ago. God is there for us, today.

Prayer:

Lord God our Father,

Give us the strength 

to live the life you call us to live.

  

Help us to put our human temptations behind us

so we can live in your glory. 

Most gracious God, 

show us our faults and forgive us when we fail. 

In Jesus name, Amen