Hail, Mary!

Hail Mary, full of Grace!

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On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are reminded of the perfection of our Blessed Mother, and sadly, our own imperfection. She, always and in every way, was wholly pleasing to God. Her every desire and action was always in response to the Divine Will of God. Though a creature with a free will, she had, unlike us, no inclination to sin.

I think it’s awesome to consider that we should have been - could have been - like her. But tragically, sin has mutated us; we're not what the Lord intended us to be.  Happily, the generous outpouring of His merciful love we’re called to repentance.  Our lost innocence is restored and the supernatural outpouring of His grace inclines us to respond in love - as did Mary.

So let’s rejoice on this Holy Day and thank God for His Beautiful Mother who has embraced us as her children. Let us listen to her instructions and follow her example so that one day in the heavenly Jerusalem we may love the Lord as she does.

Well, today was the ninth day of our novena to St. Peregrine for intercession on behalf of Darlene as she struggles with cancer.  She had her surgery yesterday.  Marilyn spoke to her today and said everything went well.  Praise God! 

My prayer intention today is thanksgiving and praise to God, on two particular blessings of interest to me personally:  First, Darlene’s surgery appears to have gone well.  Second, after a year of prayers, the Holy Father has finally announced a new bishop for the diocese of Fresno. 

Lighten your burdens

Be at our side, Lord, with your invitation that brings life. Help us to be eager to respond to the needs of our world with the help of your hopeful and affirming grace.  Amen

Where do you find life burdensome today?

If we stop to reflect in this time before Christmas, we may answer this question with a number of concerns:  concerns about how much there is to get done and so little time, struggles in our family, personal worry about a family member or friend, sadness over the loss of someone dear, concerns over health for ourselves or a loved one, yearning for reconciliation with someone we love, pleading for freedom from addiction for ourselves or another.

Jesus says, “Come to me…and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28)

These words are more than nice; moreover, they deeply challenge us.  These words speak the deep truth of this Advent message of what His coming fully means.  

Take some time today to pray with what you find burdensome.  Often we will pray with the deep, personal concerns that we have mentioned already, and as we pray to God with these concerns, a deeper, “spiritual pain” can surface for us.  Most often, we carry in our hearts some attitude of disbelief of the reality of the truth of the Incarnation.  Sure, we know that Christ has redeemed the world, but in the midst of our very personal struggles and pains, we often subtly think that somehow we—of ourselves—have to make it better.  Often there is a deeper pain in our hearts that has taken on a false burden of needing to make something happen.  We can take on too much responsibility instead of placing the responsibility on God; we can feel that, “If I don’t do it, who will?” instead of asking God to do it; we can feel that we have to earn God’s love or get it right so that He will love us; we can feel that “I’m not enough” and so we always have to try extra hard; we can become so good at managing our lives that we fail to be honest with ourselves and God; we can become so concerned about what others think that we fail to listen to what God wants.  We take on false burdens.  The voices and the attitudes are unique to each of us, but the reality is true for all of us.  We believe that Jesus has come to set us free—and we don’t believe it completely.  

“Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.”  (Matthew 11:29)

Jesus’ emphasis is on gentleness and humility.  He asks us to assume, as He did, the posture of a child, to come to Him with all of our burdens and to place them all on Him.  Ask Him if you have taken on any false burdens.  Don’t try to figure it out on your own.  He will reveal it to you in gentleness.  Through the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation or the placing of this burden on the altar to be transformed, you and I become transformed and are freed from the heavy burden.

“Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.”  (Matthew 11:30)

THIS is the truth of the Christmas message: that Jesus has come into our deeply personal struggles and pains to relieve us, to set us free, and to bring us and those we love to fullness of Life with Him—forever!  Now that’s Good News!

We are halfway through the Second Week of Advent. On Sunday we lit the second candle on the Advent wreath, the candle focused on love. This week, let us focus on the love God has for us, the love he shares with us, and ask that that through his love, we will rest in him and our burdens will be light.

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Thanks to all who have been saying the novena to St. Peregrine with me this last week for my neighbor Darlene.  We're still waiting to hear the results of the surgery today.  Wednesday is the last day of the novena. DON'T STOP PRAYING! 

Sheep are filthy animals..but the Good Shepherd still loves them

Lord of all, draw us to Yourself that we may live in the joy and glory of Your new life.  Amen.

Reading Matthew’s gospel of the parable of the lost sheep and the loving Shepherd brought back a memorable sermon I heard once.  “Sheep are nasty animals” Father began, pointing to the statue of Jesus carrying the one lost sheep on his shoulders.  He continued, “They are filthy and stupid, never obeying and going their own way.” 

The polished beauty of the Holy Shepherd rescuing his sheep does not quite do justice to the stark imagery in Matthew’s Gospel.  Perhaps this imagery would have its most profound meaning for sheep farmers themselves who know all too well the vices of sheep.  As Garrison Keillor puts it, “sheep are fine as long as sheep do what sheep want to do, but when a shepherd tries to get sheep to do what he wants them to do, many people get out of the shepherding business.”  Thank God our loving Shepherd has not “gotten out of the shepherding business.”  That is not to say that each human being, “created in the image and likeness of God,” is on a par with sheep.  The point is, even in our weakest moments, the Shepherd is always seeking us out to bring us back to Him who loves us and cares for us unconditionally.

What are these weakest moments in the human condition?  While both Matthew’s Gospel and Isaiah deal with the reality of sin and God’s unwavering fidelity in spite of that sin, for me, the tendency is to focus on certain acts, attitudes or habits that are part of my sinful life.  On a more profound level, the true sin of humanity, the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is the only sin that will not be forgiven, is the sin of refusing God’s unconditional love and acceptance.  As Christians, it is easy to see our sin and, sometimes, even to let that awareness block out our beauty and uniqueness.  This, however, is the greatest sin.  The fact that human beings sin and stray from the shepherd goes without saying.  At some point in our lives, we are each the one sheep separated from the ninety-nine.  Oftentimes the greatest challenge is to accept that the Shepherd does, in fact, seek us out even in our weakest moments.   

In Isaiah we read, “…prepare the way of the Lord.”  This period of Advent is a wonderful period of reflection, joy and anticipation.  Just as Jerusalem can rejoice in anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promise, so too, we can rejoice in the coming of the Shepherd who constantly seeks us out and loves us unconditionally.

Day 7 of our novena to St. Peregrine for the victims and survivors of cancer continues……Please add an extra prayer to the Blessed Virgin for Darlene, as she undergoes surgery on Tuesday. 

My rosary intentions today are for all of those who are out of work this holy season.  I pray that they find fulfilling work at a fair wage. 

We need to see as God sees

How and what we see influences so powerfully how we judge people and events in our world. Look how wrong the people of John's time were in how they judged. Even though the Jews rushed out to the desert to see this odd, fascinating figure they referred to as John the Baptizer, how many were just curious to see the spectacle? True, a number took to heart his warnings to repent of their sins. They even let this strange man baptize them in the Jordan. But how many others just laughed at the show and forgot about him the following week? We need, all of us, to see as God sees!

How can we make this Advent a time for new vision and understand the stupendous truth of God coming to earth as a little child? Even though there will be thousands of glittering Christmas lights all around us, how can I get excited at another breakthrough into our dark world of the dazzling light of Jesus, my Lord and Messiah? It takes deep reflection to appreciate the reality of history. What humility it took for God to come as an ordinary poor man! In Jesus’ time, every Jewish male was required to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and offer his praise to God. For thirty whole years, no one noticed Him except a few poor shepherds and some foreign scholars we call the "wise men." The Lord expects much more from us.

Advent is a dangerous season if we see it merely with the eyes of an increasingly unreligious society. Advent is a time to prepare to really see the coming of the Messiah as both historical event and as present miracle. I must work every day at improving my spiritual vision through reading and prayer, so that a kind of miracle can happen to me personally. This Second Sunday is an important one, because it calls forth from all of us new efforts at heeding the voice of John the Baptizer. John preached a message of repentance for spiritual blindness. He proclaimed the coming of Light into darkness, a Light by which, through works of Love and Justice, we could build a highway toward eventual Peace. Advent is a time for patience, penance, and renewal of heart.

Day 7 of our novena to St. Peregrine for Darlene et al.  Please keep praying.  She has surgery on Tuesday December 6.

My rosary intention for today is for Father Sam Woods, who will say his first Mass of Thanksgiving after his ordination 2 weeks ago.  Also, I pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Heavenly Father, help me to be more like John the Baptizer in announcing the impending arrival of Your Son.  Help me to become a strong “voice in the wilderness”, preparing the way of the Lord.  Amen.

Moved with pity

Jesus traveled through the land bearing the good news of God's love and His redemption. Each time He met a new group of people His heart was moved with pity for them. He was moved because they were so lost, so directionless, so terrified, and so alone.

As followers of Jesus, we travel through the world today (and the world has become a lot smaller through the internet) and circumstances have not changed. Every day we encounter people who are lost, lonely, confused, or directionless. Worse than this, many of these lost souls believe that they know the way and understand the path--they think they have all of the answers. They are hard to speak to and difficult to influence.  Many may even be members of our own family!

Nevertheless, continuing the mission of Jesus, we need to bring the good news to the lost souls of today. It can be as simple as a smile or a word or a helping hand. The distorted desire we meet in the street needs to see the light of the Desire of Ages. Then heart speaks to heart and the lost ones can be drawn to Jesus Christ.

That is what we are called to do as Catholic Christians. We light the lamp and place it on a stand and welcome any who wander into the circle. Difficult though it may be when fighting the battle for hearts and minds, be moved to pity and prayer by the illogic and sometimes sheer ill-will you hear emerging. When you see a lost soul, one so wrapped up in himself or his ideas, pray for that person regardless of how you may feel about him. These are the substantive steps that can be used to lead each person to the triumph of the Father and the love of Jesus Christ, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

O Heavenly Father, help us to grow close to Your Son to learn from Him all those virtues that embody Your love and truth; Make us ambassadors of peace on earth.   Amen.

Day 6 of our novena to St. Peregrine for Darlene and all others who have cancer now or have ever had it, so that it does not return.  Pray that those suffering from cancer carry their crosses with the dignity (and help) of Christ for the sake of His sorrowful Passion.

My rosary intentions today are for my brother Bill, who is retiring mainly due to health concerns, but also because he’s earned the rest!  I pray for his family, as well.  I tried to find a humorous photo for his retirement, but decided to use one that shows the dignity of hard work and passing a work ethic on to your children, as Bill has done.  St. Joseph, pray for Bill.

Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation, for through Your goodness You have given us the gift of labor and fruitful productivity that Your people may thrive and grow.

You invite us to be co-workers with You in the world, to join the fruit of the earth with the work of our hands that we may create something new for the good of others. We thank You and bless You for the dignity of work, which has called forth from us unknown skills and talents.

Yet You call us also to come to You, we who labor and are heavy-burdened, for work without rest is enslavement and a forgetfulness of our dependence upon You alone.

So look with favor now upon Your faithful servant, Bill, who has labored long days in Your vineyard and now enters a new way of using the time and talents You have given him.

Bless him with eyes to see the places where he is most needed, with ears to listen to others with the luxury of time, with hands that create for the simple joy of creating, and with a heart lifted from the burden of toil.

Remove any fear of feeling useless or unwanted, protect him from boredom and despair, and free him from all anxiety.

May he know that his worth and dignity are not measured by what he does but by who he is in Your eyes, Your precious child and our beloved brother.

And when each day is ended, may he find delight in knowing that God who has begun the good work in him will bring it to completion in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Do you see what I see?

In our day to day busy-ness of the holiday season, it becomes too easy to become deaf and blind to God’s presence in our midst. It is so easy to lose sight of who we are called to be in the midst of preparing to celebrate and we may grow deaf to the real meaning of this holy season.

When on earth, Christ revealed himself in various ways. Some, like the blind men, called out to Him as Messiah, the Son of David (Mt 9:27-31); others, like the woman who touched His cloak, had their quietly-held belief (Mt 9:20-22; Mk 5:25-34; Lk 8:43-47); Nicodemus came at night (Jn 3:2) and the Centurion professed his faith at the foot of the cross (Mt 27:54). I am particularly moved by how He revealed Himself to the shepherds on the day He was born, as a baby in a manger, with nothing but His mother’s body and the breath of farm animals to keep Him warm. (Lk 2: 15-20)

Advent is about waiting, longing, searching for the Lord of my life, to have Him come anew, to grant me healing mercy and deeper faith. Advent is about needing a savior, my life's refuge, and the need of all people for a Savior: "Prepare ye, the way of the Lord."(Mt 3:3)  The Lord continues to reveal Himself in various ways today—in the Eucharist, the Word, in prayer and in the communion of believers, and, as always, in our neighbor.  To quote the title of a great Christmas carol, "Do you see what I see?"

Don’t forget Day 5 of our Novena to St. Peregrine for all of those suffering from cancer or survivors of cancer, especially my neighbor Darlene, my mother and my mother-in-law.

My prayer today is that we each will find the quiet space in our lives and allow the anticipation of God’s Incarnation at Christmas to find a home in our hearts and in our lives.

In God We Trust

As Christians, we believe in God’s presence in Jesus’ coming among us...and yet we wait; for what? If we already know the person of Jesus, God’s presence, Who walked among us, then for what are we waiting?

At this time of year my thoughts turn to many special people who walked with me in life (my dad, my brothers, aunts and uncles, some friends) who have died. I know their loving presence to me in life, but feel a great loss in their death. I feel that they are with God and somehow still with me, but I miss the fullness in life of who they are (were) with us here. Perhaps this is true in many ways with how we struggle to “know” God’s presence. We believe that Jesus did walk, talk and live among us. We remember as we reflect on His words and life in the Scripture. We believe that God’s spirit IS with us now. Yet, the fullness of God’s presence in our daily lives is something for which we seek, pray and yearn...God’s peace and love in fullness.

During this special time of Advent each year, we step back to remember that yearning, the hoping, that deep desire for God in our life, NOW!

But, as we go about our day to day lives, filled with “to do” lists that seem to grow during the holiday season as we prepare to gather with family and friends, we drift from the center of our yearning - the peace, the Godliness in our lives.

In whom do I trust...is it God? How and where is God truly present (or perhaps the question really is, “How and where am I really present to God”?).  Seeking, hoping, and taking time in praying for peace, and for God’s presence is one step, but if I truly believe that God’s Spirit IS within and around me, then how do I help create that center of peace?

God‘s fullness IS here, but not yet realized. That is what Jesus’ words call us to do; to build on a rock—to build on our faith in Him ! ! !

“Anyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them. . . .” (Mt 7:21, 24-27)

 It’s not enough to listen. Action is called for! It’s insufficient to know what is good to do; one must do the good that God has asked from one.

St. Paul reminds us that we are many parts, but we are all one body. (1Cor 12) The gifts we have, we have been given to share. That means each of us performs a unique, required task within the body of Christ. Each of us does some good that no other person can do. Some have ministry for feeding the poor, others visit the sick and the shut-in; still others help out the Church in its various ministries. And still others simply pray--or pray simply.

Each person has a task, a form of good that only that person may do. Even though many may visit the sick, the visit of one particular soul to another may be more efficacious than dozens of visits made by another - not because the other person is not good, but because God has given us our particular tasks - and when we cooperate with them, we multiply the bounty of His Goodness through our obedience.

So, don’t worry about the tasks given to others - tend to those that God brings particularly to you. In this way we will multiply the blessings given the body of Christ and we will please God so that He will shower us with more gifts and more tasks. Everything we undertake should be undertaken solely for the love of God.

In our readying for the Christmas holidays, we need to take some time to stop and reflect in peace; to trust and be with God and do what is just.  Building on our Rock means paying attention to where those in need around us need the most help.  Is the promise of God’s fullness among us something we only hope for, or are we also open to working toward being God’s presence in the now toward that day of fullness?

As we continue in our Advent journey, let’s pray the words of Isaiah: “A nation of firm purpose (unwavering faith and living presence in God) you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you. Trust in God forever!” (Isaiah 26:1-6)

O Merciful Father, we ask that You open our hearts and minds by removing all that hinders Christ's wisdom and love from entering within us. Let us then rejoice in His light, peace and joy.  Amen.

It’s day 4 of our novena to St Peregrine for Darlene and all others who are suffering from cancer.

It’s also a good day to pray for those who have no warm place to rest their head tonight.  May our Blessed Mother keep them warm with the love of her Son.

Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death!

The first called had happy feet

O Lord, Thank You for the fishermen You called to be apostles, especially St. Andrew whose feast we celebrate today. Through them we benefit from hearing about You and believing in You! May we always listen to Your call - and follow You.  Amen.
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“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15) On this feast of St. Andrew the Apostle I am grateful for all the apostles, preachers, family and friends whose feet have brought the good news of the Gospel to me.

Faith is the foundation of my life — truly the greatest blessing God has given me. My Christian faith has been my strength and guide in good times—it has also been my strength and guide and comfort in difficult times. Most of the time, however, I take this blessing for granted.  Sadly, I don’t adequately thank God for this gift. 

Fortunately there are special times each year when I realize anew the great blessing of faith.  Advent is one of these times.  My heart resonates at Old Testament passages that express humankind’s longing for a better world, for a messiah, for a savior, and those that speak directly to my own restlessness and to my often unarticulated longing for a fuller coming of God to my heart and to our world.

 “Faith comes from what is heard,” Paul reminds us. (Romans 10:17)  During this advent season I ask myself, “Do I witness to what I have heard and believe?  Can mine be the feet bringing the good news to others and the voice that is heard and that arouses faith in others?  “Their voice has gone forth to all the Earth and their words to the end of the world”. (Romans 10:18)

During this season of giving, is there any greater gift we can share with loved ones?

I continue my novena to St. Peregrine for Darlene and all other victims or survivors of cancer.  I ask you to pray for me.  I’ve caught the cold that is going around.  Usually that means an evolution into bronchitis.  Pray that I can keep it from getting any worse this time around. Thanks.

Immacualate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.....

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit . . . . (Luke 10:21)

And then Jesus prayed to the Father.

The Trinity appeared in this instant of great joy!

We have entered Advent and we relive, in these first weeks, the long and impatient waiting of the people of Israel for the Messiah long promised them. Jesus recognized this when He said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it . . . “ (Luke 10:24)

Although we are not direct eyewitnesses, we are also among the privileged because we are no longer waiting. We have been chosen among all the people of all time to live in an age when we know with certainty, the salvation that is Jesus Christ. We no longer wait, but we hail Him as Lord and Savior!

And we do this through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within and who constantly urges us to a closer relationship with Jesus, the Christ. In the times before Jesus, the Holy Spirit inspired men and women to lead Israel in the way it should go—He moved them toward their salvation even though they walked in the dark.

In the present day, the Holy Spirit constantly urges us to open our eyes to see the light that has come to us: Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is still the harbinger, announcer, and confirmer of that most wonderful act of Holy Love—The Incarnation! But now we walk in light and knowledge and we too should rejoice with the Holy Spirit in what we are most blessed to be able to see!

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love.  Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. We ask You this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Don’t forget day 2 of our novena to St. Peregrine for Darlene and all other cancer victims and survivors!

I’m also remembering our very own “AdventMan” (my brother Bob) on the first anniversary of his leaving this world to be with Jesus in the next.  Happy feast day, brother!

By the way, how cool is that?  His birthday is November 1 (All Saint’s Day) and his “feast day” is November 29^th (if he’s ever recognized by the church as a saint—of course, until then, continue to pray for him and all the faithful departed).  It will make it easier for me to keep him in my prayers all through the month of November!

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Chipping away at the House of the Lord

The readings of the Advent season call us to prepare in the ways of the Lord.  For instance, all of Monday’s readings have a “house of the Lord” context to them.  Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-5) creates a vivid picture of people flocking to the Lord’s house, built on the highest mountain, drawn by their hunger to receive the word of the Lord.  Isaiah predicts a time of peace, where swords are beaten into plowshares, and war ceases to exist.  In the psalm (Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9), people go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.  And in Matthew (Matthew 8:5-11), the house is not of the Lord, but of the servant, and the servant acknowledges his unworthiness to have the Lord enter his house.

One of the joys, and also frustrations, of celebrating holidays when families expand and grow is the intricate dance of determining at whose house to gather and who should be invited.  Grandma has always done this, but Aunt Mary wants to try that, and what about my side of the family, when do we fit them in? These are real problems, but good ones, because we have options.  We can choose to expand our house and include others, or we can choose to limit our house to a select few.

As Isaiah reminds us, God doesn’t have that problem.  God includes us all.  The house of the Lord will be on the top of the mountain and all will stream toward it, from all directions, each on their own path.  Who is in this human stream seeking the Lord?  The rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, the sick and lame, the morally upright and the morally corrupt, the victims and the perpetrators – in short, all of us, all 7 billion of us now wandering around on this planet.

Are we close to changing swords into plowshares?  Well, there was a recent report that we live in one of the least violent times of human history.  How can that be?  I think it was based on the number of people in conflicts as a percentage of the total population, so the growth in numbers actually has made all of us a little safer.  We still train for war, and still spend a lot of our resources on it (especially the US).  But we also have increased agricultural yields to un-dreamed of levels, we have eradicated many diseases, we have provided educational and cultural and societal opportunities around the world that could not have been anticipated a century ago.

So where is the Lord’s house?  Is it on top of a mountain, or is it in each of us as we strive to move forward on the path that calls us to the Lord?  Don’t we really build the house of the Lord one small act at a time by our reverence for each person, by our willingness to stop and help, by our civility, by our recognition that the Lord is in each of us, and therefore we all are in the house of the Lord in our every moment?  Don’t we add to the house of the Lord when we remember not only the victims of heinous crimes and acts, such as the children harmed by pedophiles, but also when we pray for the pedophile, in whom the Lord also resides?  And don’t we chip away at the house of the Lord when our anger, our frustration, our selfishness, our greed, causes us to think only of ourselves and not of the other 7 billion pilgrims on their own path to the house of the Lord?

I have to admit that I “chipped away” at the house of the Lord this afternoon.  I told Marilyn that I would like to leave home about 4pm or so in order to get to Bakersfield by 8pm.  It’s usually a 3 hour and 40 minute drive.  So, the loving wife she is, she made sure my dinner was ready close to 4pm so I could have my favorite Thanksgiving leftover—turkey tetrazzini—before leaving for another week.  I was in a pretty good mood, actually, when I left—not considering the fact that I hate having to be gone from home so much for work.  Everything on my drive was going as usual, until about 20 minutes from home.  Traffic stopped on I-5 to a standstill.  “Uh oh,” I thought, “there must be an accident ahead”.  As I usually do, I said a Hail Mary for the “victims” of the accident and settled in for the wait.  As the traffic started moving again, it was at between 15 and 30 MPH with brake lights flashing about every second somewhere ahead of me.

After 30 more minutes, I realized I was in the middle of the holiday traffic!  It was bumper to bumper, in-your-face-drivers weaving in and out and causing more congestion than relieving it.  I was getting really frustrated and yelling at the other drivers, as if they could hear me.  The more I screamed my frustrations out, the more frustrated I became.  I realized I was not going to change the situation by being frustrated, but what was I going to do?  I asked the Holy Spirit to help me calm down as I started praying the rosary.  As I got deeper in prayer, I became more aware of the fact that all of these people I had been yelling at are also the Body of Christ and are simply trying to get home after the holidays.  At that point, my frustration and anger just simply melted away and the drive became more bearable, thanks be to God!   

And so my prayer today is for the grace to better recognize the needs of my fellow pilgrims and act toward them in a way that adds a small piece to the house of the Lord as we journey together on our individual paths to the Lord.

I found out today that my neighbor Darlene has breast cancer.  Please join me in praying a novena to St. Peregrine on her behalf, and on behalf of all women who are or have been affected by this disease.  I have placed the novena on the right sidebar of this blog.  If you want to know more, or if you have cancer and want to pray the novena on your own behalf, click on the saint’s picture.  It will take you to EWTN’s website with more on the Saint and the novena.  Thanks.  I’ll remind you each day for the next eight days until the completion of the novena.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Watch for the changing seasons

In our spiritual life, we should be attuned to the seasons and strive to get the most out of every breath we take and every prayer we speak. It is so easy for any of us to get caught up in the daily happenings of our lives and get pulled away from our faith and a life that is centered on Jesus. Stopping to look back on the year, not to relive, but to learn, we have an opportunity to assess: how has my relationship with Jesus grown, how has my prayer life deepened and how have I allowed the Holy Spirit to help me to live the beatitudes?

Jesus says in the Gospel, "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." (Lk 21:34-36) 

No one knows exactly when that day will come, or when each individual will die.  Everyone should live each day as if it were the day.  Jesus says to be ready just in case.  Those who get tied up with worldly cares, instead of giving glory and eternal praise to Him, may wish they had more time to get their spiritual affairs in order.   

I think about that passage in Daniel (Dn 3:82-87) that is all about giving praise and glory to God.  If people start each day thanking God for the gift of the day, and give glory and praise to God throughout the day, it seems to me that it’s a pretty good step in putting God first in their lives.  The passage says that all people should give glory and eternal praise to Him.  Eternally praising God might not leave a lot of time for sinning.

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Almighty and merciful God,  You have broken the power of evil; keep us faithful to Your Son, working to help create a new world prevailed by truth, love, joy and peace.  Amen.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

Pray for strength in faith, and pray for one another as we end this liturgical year today (Saturday).  Pray that the new English translation of the Missal is instrumental in creating or renewing the focus of the Mass on the Holy Eucharist; our Savior’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.