December 17 : O Wisdom

 December 17 : O Wisdom

 O Wisdom, Coming forth from the Mouth of the Most High;

Reaching from one end to the other. Mightily and Sweetly ordering all things; Come and teach us the way to salvation. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 

Jesus is the Word made flesh, spoken by the Father. 

Jesus is the Wisdom of God Who orders all things;

Who sets all things on the path to Salvation. 

May every word, we speak be Wise,

That leads others to Salvation, Hope and Peace. 

Thursday 3rd Week of Advent

 

My Love shall never leave you. Is. 54:1-10

The history of Israel is one of straying from the Lord and coming back to the Lord. 

The Endless Prodigal Son. 

And no matter how far or how long Israel strayed,

God never broke His side of the Covenant and He never stopped loving Israel. Is. 54:10

So no matter how often or how far or for how long we stray from the Lord,

God will never break His covenant with us,

Because it is sealed permanently in in the Blood of His Son. 

A Love that can never fade

And a mercy that is Eternal

Wednesday 3rd Week of Advent

Remember Lk. 7:18-23

John the Baptist, the great herald of the King who proclaimed the Lamb of God,

Had his doubts. 

After he was thrown in prison and shackled,

Awaiting his beheading,

He began to have his doubts,

So he sent his disciples to Jesus,

To ask Him if He really was the one. 

And Jesus reminded him

That the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed and the poor hear the Gospel. 

When find ourselves in the prison of our own doubts and fears. 

Come to Mass, 

Where we will hear Jesus speak to us in the Gospel. 

And come to us In His Body in the Eucharist,

And Believe!

Tuesday 3rd week of Advent

 

St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross once said,

“Where you do not find Love,

Put Love.

And there you will find it!”

Love seems to be missing in so many places. 

Family, society, politics sometimes even in church. 

Rather than complain about it,

Put Love there. 

Put Love wherever it is missing and

There you will find it. 

And soon Love will be everywhere. 

Monday 3rd Week of Advent

 

The Prophecy of Balaam. Num. 24:2-17

There are prognosticators every where predicting things from the weather, to who will win the game, the election to climate change. 

Some are better than others. 

Balaam predicted that a “star would rise from Jacob;

A staff rise from Israel.” Num. 24:17

A star did rise over the place where Christ was born;

And His staff and scepter shall reign for ever and ever. 

Believe in the prophets of the Bible. 

For their prophecies come from GOD!

3rd Sunday of Advent

What should you do Lk. 3:10-18

If you know that it is going to rain,

What should you do?

If you know there is going to be a monster snowstorm,

What should you do?

If you get COVID 

What should you do?

Most of us know the answer to these questions

And most of us do what we should do. 

John the Baptist told everyone that the Messiah was coming. 

And they all asked “what should we do. 

He told the rich not to hoard. 

Tax collectors to be fair,

And soldiers not to  abuse their power. 

Each person depending on their state in life were to prepare for the Lord. 

If you knew Jesus was going to come to you tomorrow,

What should you do?

Stop and ask yourself. 

Who am I and what is my state in life. 

Am I a child,

Then to prepare for the Lord,

I should respect and obey my parents. 

Be the best son or daughter I can be. 

Am I retired?

Then to prepare for the Lord,

I should spend the time that I have wisely and productively. 

If I am a husband or wife then I should 

Love my spouse as myself and give all I have to my beloved. 

If I am an employee, then I should work with pride and accountability. 

If I am a priest then I should practice what I preach. 

John the Baptist did not tell the people to worry about what everyone else is doing. 

Rather look at one’s own life and calling and live it to the best one can. 

Because when the Lord returns,

He is not going to ask us what our neighbor has been doing, 

But what have we been doing?

Have we been the best brother , sister, mother , father,

Worker, Christian, Priest that we could be. 

This what we should do,

To prepare for the Lord’s return. 

4th Sunday of Advent

I

Come to do Your Will. 

Back in the day,

Bethlehem was smaller than small. 

Not even largest enough to be a clan,

In the tribe of Judah. 

And yet from the most insignificant of all,

Came the Messiah of the entire world. 

Nothing and no one is too small for God. 

Does it get any smaller than Lostant, Wenona, Toluca and Minonk!

But that doesn’t matter. 

Do not underestimate the great things God can do here. 

Because God likes to work with small things. 

In ancient Jerusalem they would bring animals to offer for sacrifice to God

And they used to think the bigger the better. 

As if God was hungry and needed bulls and goats

To satisfy Him. 

But the letter to the Hebrews tells us

That God does not need Bulls and Goats

And doesn’t delight in these kind of offerings and sacrifices. 

What God delights in is a soul that desires to do His Will. 

That means that anyone can make God happy. 

Great or small

Powerful or weak

Rich or poor

Because what God delights in most is a heart that seeks to do His Will. 

And this is what makes the Virgin Mary Holy. 

She sought to do the Will of God. 

She did not come from money or power or fame. 

Nazareth was nothing to talk about or visit. 

But God looked down from on high upon the world

And saw one soul

One heart 

Whose only desire was to do His Will. 

And there He came to descend and dwell

In her heart and in her womb. 

And from that solitary soul came the savior of the world. 

All God wants is a heart that seeks to do His Will. 

And then God will do great things in them!