Tuesday Mardi Gras

 

Today is Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. 

It is a day in which we consume as much as we can before we start the season of Lent. 

At first it seems to make a lot of sense, because Lent is a time of prayer and fasting;

A time of self denial. 

The only problem is for many people in the United States and other countries, everyday is Mardi Gras. 

We have become a consumer society 24/7. 

People consume everything from food to fashion to gadgets. 

What we fail to realize is that the consumer is the one really being consumed. 

Our cravings  are consuming us!

Lent is a time of physical, emotional and spiritual freedom. 

Through Prayer, Fasting and Self Denial we take back control of our life and are no longer consumed by our cravings, addictions and desires. 

No longer consumed by our anger, our selfishness or our past. 

This Lent  we should try and consume as much Prayer, Fasting and Self Denial as we can and so that at Easter we will be free to  experience our own resurrection. 

Monday 6th Week of Ordinary Time

The Testing of Faith James 1:2

Every teacher tests the knowledge of their students. 

Every coach tests the skill of their athletes. 

And so God tests our Faith!

For by the testing of our Faith

Our Faith is revealed and strengthened. 

And God tests our Faith by various trials. 

Are we up to the challenge?

How do we prepare for these tests of our Faith?

Through daily prayer and following the example of the saints who passed these tests and trials of their Faith with flying colors and who won the crown of victory. 

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Be Imitators of me. 1 Cor. 11:1

St. Paul strove to imitate Christ in everything he did. 

Because he knew that no one would believe a word he said

If he did not imitate Jesus in all things. 

Especially in His cross. 

As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, 

but Christ who lives in me.”

St. Paul therefore told the Corinthians and the Philippians to imitate him as he imitated Christ. 

It was as if he was telling them,

“If I can do it, so can you.”

“If I can imitate Jesus so can you.”

Follow my example. 

Paul’s greatest teaching was not his words but his actions. 

This is why he could say, “as I have imitated Christ, so you are to imitate me.”

He and Jesus had become one. 

The Corinthians may never have seen Jesus face to face,

But they have seen Paul. 

And by seeing Paul they saw Christ. 

By hearing Paul, they heard Christ. 

By doing what Paul did, they were doing what Christ did. 

By imitating Paul therefore they imitated Christ. 

Is our Faith worth imitating?

Do we imitate Christ so closely that we can tell others to imitate us,

Just as Paul told others to imitate him. 

Paul told the Corinthians 

As I have imitated Christ, so you are to imitate me. 1Cor. 11:1

Can we say the same?

Do we live our Faith in such a way that we can say to others,

Imitate me!

Do our words, our actions, our lives so perfectly imitate Jesus 

That we can tell others to imitate us?

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Why Me?

For all those who have ever had a bad day,

Of feel as if they are having a bad life,

There is Job. 

He had everything!

Family, riches, land, Fame!

And then one day he lost everything. 

The storm came and killed his family. 

Robbers came and stole his possessions. 

Sickness came and stole his health. 

He had kept the Faith!

He had never sinned!

Why does all this suffering come to him. 

And so he cried out “Why me?”

Who hasn’t said, “Why Me?”

Job even thought it would have been better if he had never been born!

But if Job had died at birth,

We would never know the end of the story. 

For in the end, God restored all that Job lost a hundredfold. 

More children, more land, more riches and more fame than ever before. 

Suffering may come our way,

And we too may even wonder why we were born;

But our story will end like Job’s

For like Job we know that our Redeemer lives. 

And for all we have lost;

God too will bless us with a hundredfold more. 

Saturday 4th Week of Ordinary Time

LOVING ONE'S ENEMIES

“The key to loving ones enemies is to focus on the word love, not enemy. “

Friday 4th Week of Ordinary Time

GOD'S MERCY

God's Mercy is beyond our comprehension and logic and reasoning. 

God is Merciful when we would not be. 

God is Merciful when we would demand justice. 

God is Merciful when we take advantage of Him. 

God is Merciful when we sin. 

God is Merciful when others sin

God is Merciful to our friends. 

God is Merciful to our enemies. 

God is Merciful when we condemn ourselves. 

God is Merciful when we condemn others. 

God’s Mercy rains on the just and the unjust! Mt 5:45

Thursday 4th Week of Ordinary Time

 The Good Samaritan 

If everyone is my neighbor than no one is my enemy. 

Is there someone I would pass by?

Someone I want to pass by?

Someone who I think got what they deserve?

Someone who hurt me and therefore I want to keep going?

How much of a Good Samaritan am I really?