Saturday 3rd Week of Ordinary Time

 

The Eyes of Faith Hebrews 11:1-2

Faith is believing in what is not seen. Heb. 11:1-2

Jesus tells his disciples that "a little while and you will not see Me, and again a little while and you will see me." Jn. 16:15

One should never measure one’s Faith by what he or she can see.

For Christians walk by Faith.

And Faith is a mystery.

It cannot be seen or touched or controlled or manipulated.

Sometimes we see where we are going, sometimes we do not.

Sometimes we feel Jesus beside us and sometimes we do not.

But we continue to walk.

We continue our journey.

Because we have Faith.

And one day we will not need Faith,

For on that Day, we will see Him

Face to Face!

God Bless

Friday 3rd Week of Ordinary Time

 

The Kingdom of God. Mark 4:26-34

The Kingdom of God is like a Mustard Seed.

It starts off small but when grown it becomes a large bush;

So that the birds can dwell in its shade.

To those who have no Faith,

The Kingdom of God is almost unnoticeable.

Like a small seed planted in the ground.

But one day it will sprout and grow

So that all peoples can dwell in its shade;

Safe from all harm and fear and death.

So do not be fooled by what your eyes cannot see,

But Hope in what only the eyes of Faith can see!

For the Kingdom of God is at hand.

God Bless

Thursday 3rd week of Ordinary Time

 

Thomas Aquinas

By our wounds we are known

One day while Thomas Aquinas was at his desk studying

He had a vision of a man

Dressed in white, light shining all about him

Looking glorious.

And Thomas asked the man who he was.

And the man said

“I am your Lord”

And Thomas said,

“If you are my Lord, show me your wounds.”

And instantly the man disappeared.

Because it was the devil disguising himself as Jesus.

Jesus is known by His wounds.

And so are we!

There are some Christians who outwardly look like Jesus,

But are only in disguise.

It is By the wounds we bear.

And the wounds we suffer

By forgiving and turning the other cheek.

That We too will be known as True Christians.

God Bless

Wednesday 3rd Week of Ordinary Time

 

The Cross and the Mass : Hebrews 10:11-18

If you could stand at the foot of the cross with the Blessed Mother and share in the sufferings of Christ the High Priest,

Would you?

You can......at every Mass!

At the Last Supper, Jesus knew His disciples would not be there at the foot of His cross where He would offer up His Body and pour our His Blood.

So at the Last Supper, Jesus gave them His Body to eat and poured out His Blood in the chalice to drink so that they could Sacramentally be present and share in death on the cross.

The Mass IS the same sacrifice of the cross, that the disciples shared in at the Last Supper, except in a Sacramental form.

It is the SAME Body given from the cross

And the SAME Blood poured out from the cross,

That the Disciples shared in at the Last Supper,

And that we too like them share in at every Mass!

God Bless

Tuesday 3rd Week of Ordinary Time

 We Proclaim

The Psalm Response for Mass was

“Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations”

The Acclamation of Faith at Mass says,

“We proclaim your death O Lord and profess your resurrection.”

Timothy and Titus did just this.

They spent their lives proclaiming the Good News of Jesus.

We may not spend our lives proclaiming the Gospel,

But in our own way;

In our own home and neighborhood,

We too must proclaim the Gospel,

So that others can share in our Joy and our Hope

For this world and the next.

God Bless

The Conversion of St. Paul

 The Conversion of St. Paul

St. Paul thought that he was living his Jewish Faith perfectly

God however, thought otherwise.

It does not matter if we think that we are living our Faith perfectly or not.

What matters is what God thinks!

The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul is a good day to ask God,

" How am I living my Faith?"

"Do I need to change course?"

"Does God want something more from me?"

And then to be willing to accept the answer that God gives us.

Even if it knocks us off our horse.

As it did St. Paul.

God Bless

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Repent....the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The Assyrian Empire was in what is now Iraq.

Assyria was the empire that conquered the Northern 10 tribes of Israel

And exiled them, never to be heard of again.

Thus the origin of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.

Nineveh was the capital and was filled with every kind of wickedness you can imagine.

So God told Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh.

For If Nineveh did not repent,

God was going to destroy it for its sins.

Jonah however did not want them to repent.

He wanted God to destroy them for their wickedness.

What do we want God to do to our enemies?

To people who sin and cause harm to others?

Maybe if God would just get rid of them

The world would be a better place!

Most people know from what “other” people need to repent.

Is it always the other person who needs to repent?

The other person who is the problem?

But what about ourselves?

Our sins are like our noses.

We can’t see our own but everyone else can.

Jesus preached the need for repentance too.

Not because God was going to wipe out sinners,

But because the Kingdom of God was at hand.

The Kingdom of God is coming and Jesus is bringing it,

And if we wish to enter its gates,

Then we must repent of our sins.

Of our pride and selfishness;

Lust and anger;

Self righteousness and jealousy;

Gossip and gluttony

Because there there is no room for these things in the Kingdom of God

The message of Jesus and Jonah is repent.

Jesus however tells us to repent,

Not for fear of Hell,

But for Love of Heaven.

For as St. Paul says,

“This world is passing away even as we speak

And the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

And only those who repent

Can enter its gates.

God Bless

Saturday 2nd Week of Ordinary Time

St.Marianne Cope Jan. 23

 St. Marianne Cope left the convent in Syracuse New York

To go to Hawaii.

Not to enjoy the beaches and the warm air.

But to minister to the Lepers on Molokai

With Fr. Damian the Leper priest.

Who are the lepers that need our love and support?

Who are the lepers who are rejected, alone, hurting,

And in need of love, healing and forgiveness?

We do not need to travel far like St. Marianne Cope.

All we need to do is look in our own family, neighborhood or church.

God Bless

Friday 2nd Week of Ordinary Time

 

The Calling Mk. 3:13-19

While Jesus called his chosen 12 To be His disciples.

At out Baptism each one of us were chosen by God to be disciples of Jesus.

Maybe not to go forth and be fishers of men or to preach the Gospel to the nations ,

But each one of us in our own way are called to follow Jesus and share His message with others.

How do we do that is a question each one of us must answer.

St. Agnes

Agnes lived in Rome at the last half of the 3rd century,

During the time of the Christian persecution.

She was a young girl about the age of 12 who decided to dedicate her life to Jesus.

Many men wanted to marry her but when she refused,

She was imprisoned in a house of prostitution.

She was later condemned and suffered martyrdom.

She heard the voice of Jesus say,

“Let the children come to me.” Mt 19:14

And she followed Him.

We are all children of God,

But do we listen to our Heavenly Father’s voice

As did Agnes?

God Bless

Thursday 1st Week of Ordinary Time

 

Do not harden your heart. Hebrews 3:7-14

After being set free from slavery in Egypt

One would think that Israel would be forever grateful.

But they were not.

Instead they refused to listen to God’s voice

As He tried to lead them to the Promised Land.

God is trying to lead us from the slavery of sin to the Promised Land of Heaven.

We may hear God’s voice with our ears,

But are our hearts hardened so that we too do not follow Him?

Hearing God’s voice in the Scriptures and Prayer is one thing,

But doing what He asks in another.

If today God speaks to you,

Do not harden your heart,

But follow Him.

God Bless

Wednesday 2nd Week of Ordinary Time

 St. Sebastian

St Sebastian was a soldier in the Roman army.

During his time in the army he helped Christians who were being martyred.

When he was found out he was sentenced to death.

He was tied to a tree and arrows were shot at him.

So he he always pictured with numerous arrows in his body.

But he did not die.

He recovered but was later beaten to death when he confronted the emperor for his cruelty to Christians.

When the slings and arrows of life come at us.

We should not fear.

For like St. Sebastian we will be victorious

If we have Faith!

God Bless

Tuesday 2nd Week of Ordinary Time.

 

The Sabbath was made for Man Mk. 2:23-28

The Sabbath was made for Man.

In other words the commandment to keep the Sabbath is not an obligation but an opportunity for people to find rest from a crazy and chaotic life and world.

And those who do not keep the Sabbath will never find true rest.

For Jesus said,

“Come to me, all you who labor a d find life burdensome and I will give you rest.” Mt. 11:28-30

True rest is only found in Jesus

And Jesus is found in the Eucharist of His Body and Blood every Sunday at Mass.

God Bless

Monday 2nd Week of Ordinary Time

 

The Priesthood : Hebrews 5:1-10

Where do priests come from?

They are not angels come down from Heaven.

They are flesh and blood just like everyone else.

They come from families:

Some have mom and dads and sisters and brothers.

Others only one parent and no siblings.

Some come from broken homes

Others come from the city while others come from rural areas.

In other words priest come from places just like everyone else

And are “beset by weakness”

Just like everyone else and therefore offer sacrifices / Mass for themselves and everyone else.”

God Bless

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Here I Am Lord

God calls us in many different ways and at many different times in our lives.

He calls us through prayer, through our neighbor and through strangers.

He calls us not only when we are on our knees in church, but when we are doing the dishes, driving the car or even sleeping.

And when God calls how many of us say “Here I am!” ?

How many of us say “What do you want?”

And how many just do not answer?

I believe that God calls only those who will answer.

God is no fool, and while all time and ages belong to Him, He does not like to waste time anymore than we do.

God knows who will do the work.

He knows who will make the sacrifices.

He knows who will lay down their lives.

And these are the ones He calls.

If we do not hear God’s voice,

Is it because God is not calling us

Or because God knows that if He did call us, we wouldn’t answer

So why bother?

When was the last time we said to the Lord,

“Here I am Lord.”

Whatever You want;

Whenever You want;

However You want.

No Questions;

No Conditions;

No Hesitation.

If you want to surprise the Lord just say,

“Here I am Lord, I come to do Your Will,”

Because He doesn’t really hear that too often!!

God Bless