14th Sunday of Ordinary time

 My Grace is enough 2Cor 12:7-10

How do you know when you have enough?

Enough money?

Enough Time?

Enough food?

Enough clothes and shoes?

Enough Love?

Enough good health?

Enough of anything ?

The truth is we never seem to have enough. 

Life seems to leave us wanting more. 

St. Paul experienced suffering, a thorn in his side. 

He thought if he could only get God to take that thorn away,

It would be enough for him. 

So three times Paul begged God to take it away. 

Do we have thorns in our life and think, 

If only God would take them away?

But God did not take the thorn away from Paul. 

Rather God told Paul that His grace was enough for him. 

As a young man Ignatius of Loyola had everything 

until a cannonball shattered his leg. 

It was at that time that he found out that God’s grace was enough for him, as he wrote his famous prayer. 

“Give me only your love and your grace,

That’s enough for me!”

In their weakness, Paul and Ignatius realized that God’s grace was enough for them. 

When life becomes difficult;

And we feel as if we do not have enough of whatever it is we think we need. 

Ask God to give you His grace and His love 

And like Paul and Ignatius you will find it is enough;

More than enough!

Saturday 13th Week of Ordinary Time

 Why The Daily Rosary?

Our Lady has 117 titles. She selected this title at Fatima: “I am the Lady of the Rosary”.

St. Francis de Sales said the greatest method of praying is: “Pray the Rosary”

St. Thomas Aquinas preached 40 straight days in Rome, Italy on just the Hail Mary.

St. John Vianney, patron of priests, was seldom seen without a rosary in his hand.

“The rosary is the scourge of the devil” - Pope Adrian VI.

“The rosary is a treasure of graces” - Pope Paul V.

Padre Pio the stigmatic priest said:  “The rosary is THE WEAPON”

Pope Leo XIII wrote 9 encyclicals on the rosary.

Pope John XXIII spoke 38 times about our Lady and the Rosary.  He prayed 15 decades daily.

St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort wrote: “The rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who so loves His Mother.”

Friday 13th Week of Ordinary Time

 Hunger for the Lord Amos 8:9-12

When we wake up in the morning we are hungry. 

At night we want to know what’s for dinner. 

And in between we are always looking for something to snack on. 

The prophet Amos told the people 

That God was going to send a famine on the land. 

Not a famine of bread or water. 

But For hearing the word of God. 

A famine, a spiritual emptiness, 

So that they would hunger for God. 

If only we would hunger to fill our souls with the Body and Blood of Christ

As much as we hunger to fill our stomachs,

The world would be a paradise once again. 

Thursday 13th Week of Ordinary Time

Independence Day

While we celebrate the Independence of our country 

That never would have happened if 13 colonies had not come together and realized how dependent they were upon each other. 

Our independence comes from our dependence upon one another. 

Black and white, rich and poor, young and old, man and woman

We really do need each other. 

When we realize our need for one another is when we are truly free. 

True Independence only comes when we realize how interdependent we are on one another. 

Wednesday 13th Week of Ordinary Time

St.  Thomas the Apostle

The Church is founded on the Apostles and Prophets. 

At first thought that sounds like quite a firm foundation. 

Until one takes a closer look.

Thomas had his doubts. 

Peter denied the Lord. 

The other Apostles fled when Jesus was arrested. 

And then there are the prophets. 

Elijah just wanted to give up and die. 

Jonah was the reluctant prophet. 

Jeremiah felt he had been duped by the Lord and wished he had never been born. 

Its amazing the Church is still standing, 

With such a foundation. 

But that is because Christ is the cornerstone. 

And all the other stones of the Church,

Gain their strength from Him. 

So don’t worry if you have your doubts 

Or feel as if you don’t measure up. 

Neither did the Apostles or Prophets. 

For  Jesus will give us all that we need. 

Tuesday 13th Week of Ordinary Time

 Lord Save us! Mt. 8:23-27

A violent storm threatened to drown the disciples

So they woke the Lord and asked Him to save them. 

Jesus then asked them why were they afraid?

Where was their Faith?

And then he stilled the winds and the sea. 

And they were amazed that the sea and the wind obeyed Him. 

When the storm of life threaten us,

We should not be afraid. 

God is not sleeping. 

He can calm any storm 

If only we have Faith. 

Monday 13th week of Ordinary Time

Remember this, you who never think of God! Ps. 50

There are those who recite prayers

And then throw them aside by their actions?

Who give free reign to their speech

And never hold their tongue?

Who steal and commit adultery 

Thinking no one sees them. 

Who gossip about their family and friends;

Thinking no one hears them. 

These are the actions of those who never think of God. 

Who think that God does not see or will do nothing. 

But God does. 

And those who forget God,

Will have no one to rescue them on the day of reckoning.