If I only had time

And Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.' Mark 16:15

How often we fail to do God's work here on earth because we're just too busy.

If I only had time ...

What do the words mean to you?

What do the prayers mean to you?


This is an exercise to help you think about the words you are saying when you pray.  Awareness.  This is also an excellent exercise for your prayer journal.

1) Begin with your favorite prayer to invoke the Holy Spirit.
2) Break your prayer down into phrases and leave a couple of spaces between each prayer.
3) Listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit in your heart as you begin to fill in the blanks of your prayers.
4) Consider doing this exercise every couple of months.  Meanings often change and when you listen to the Holy Spirit, you are called deeper and deeper into prayer.

Here are 3 of our basic prayers and how I interpret the words in each prayer.  Awareness.  Your words will probably  be different from mine.  Let the words from the Holy Spirit flow through you from your heart to your paper. 


Our Father
The prayer taught to us by Jesus as the perfect prayer.

Our Father,
Papa, Dad, Daddy, Beloved Creator, Name above all names, Creator of the Universe,

Who art in Heaven,
You are where we want to be when we die.  We want to be with you in heaven.  Heaven is Your creation, too.  You made this home for us.  Where ever you are is heaven.

Hallowed be Thy Name,
All holy are You.  Your name is Holy.  Your name is love.

Thy kingdom come,
May Your Kingdom come to earth.  May Your peace and love spread through out the world.

Thy Will be done,
May all that You wish be done here on earth.  May we, as your beloved children, live as You would like for us to live.  May we, as Your beloved children, do that which You ask of us as did the Patriarchs old to whom You promised the Messiah.

On earth, as it is in Heaven,
May our earth be filled with peace as peace fills Your heaven.  May we bring this about by doing Your will on earth.

Give us this day our daily bread,
Give us the food we need to eat, the homes in which we need to live, the clothes we need to live,

Forgive us our trespasses,
Forgive us our sins,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,
Forgive us in the  way we forgive others who have sinned against us.  Forgive us so that we might forgive them.

Lead us not into temptation,
Lord, even though you test us, give us the strength and courage to resist sin and abandon our earthly attachments which will lead us into sin.

Deliver us from evil,
Do not let us fall into the pit.  Give us the courage and strength to pick ourselves up when we fall and return to Your paths.

Amen.
So be it.

Read more at "His Unending Love."  Click HERE.

Quick Bytes #74: The Worst Evil

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"The worst evil is not the crime committed,
but the failure to do the good one might have done."
                                                  - Leon Bloy


P.S.  Want to see another thought-provoking quote
from Leon Bloy?  See my post at Reach Paradise.
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Prayers to St. Peregrine

Prayers to St. Peregrine

If you are afflicted with cancer:

St. Peregrine, whom Holy Mother Church has declared Patron of those suffering from Cancer, I confidently turn to you for help in my present sickness. I beg your kind intercession. Ask God to relieve me of this sickness, if it be his Holy Will. Plead with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, whom you loved so tenderly and in union with whom you have suffered the pains of Cancer, that she may help me with her powerful prayers and loving consolation.
But if it should be God’s Holy Will that I bear this sickness, obtain for me courage and strength to accept these trails from the loving hand of God with patience and resignation, because he knows what is best for the salvation of my soul. St. Peregrine, be my friend and patron. Help me to imitate you in accepting suffering, and to unite myself with Jesus Crucified and the Mother of Sorrows, as you did. I offer my pains to God with all the love of my heart, for his glory and the salvation of souls, especially my own. Amen.


For another prayer to St. Peregrine go to "His Unending Love."

You're the best friend ...

Have you heard the joke about ...

The comedian stood on the stage and shouted "12".

And the audience laughed in unison.

He then said "15" and they laughed even louder.

He cried out "23" and they stamped their feet with delight as they laughed and applauded.

He continued with his repertoire "24 ... 33 ... 39 ..." and the audience were in tears with laughter as he kept calling out various numbers.

After about fifteen minutes or so on stage I asked him afterwards in his room what all that was about.

He explained, "This is a very loyal audience who follow me everywhere wherever I do a show. Over the years they got to know all my jokes and they enjoy hearing them over and again. In order to make the show go faster, and so that I can pack in more jokes, I have printed them all out and numbered them. The audience have memorised all the jokes. Now all I have to do is call out the number, they remember the joke, and laugh at it!"

I was amazed at what he had just said. "Why ..." I asked hesitantly, "why did they not laugh when you said 42?"

"They had not heard that joke before!" he answered.

Over the passed few days we have heard the story of Christmas read out in church several times.

A pregnant Virgin and her husband go to Bethlehem on a donkey. There is no room in the inn. They go to the stable where a baby is born and placed in a manger. An Angel appears to shepherds and announces the Birth; and a star guides three Kings from the East to the stable.

We've all heard the story many times before and no doubt we will hear it again next Christmas and beyond.

Is it yet another old story from folklore which tradition repeats every twelve months and, like that comedian's audience, we remember once again and smile silently as we celebrate with family and friends?

Or is it perhaps something more important than that? In fact, the most important event that has ever happened in the history of the world.

God, the Creator of the whole Universe and what is in it and beyond it, loved us so much that He decided to make Himself flesh and visit us on earth as a human being.

I wonder how many people, as they celebrate the "12" days of Christmas from the 25th to the 6th, stop for a moment and really and seriously think about the awesomeness that this event really means?  

1? ... 3? ... 7? ... 100? ... More?

Quick Bytes #73: Even the Holy Family

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I complain all the time about this thing or that thing.

How small all those problem felt as I thought about the Holy Family this Christmas.

Are any of my decisions as difficult as Joseph's decision to stay with Mary after she inexplicably became pregnant?

Is any of my pain as bad as what Jesus felt when nails were being driven through his body?

Is any of my suffering even close to what Our Blessed Mother had to endure watching her Son die for us?

Of course not.

So if the Holiest of Families had to go through all that, how can I possibly complain about any of my little crosses?
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Looking Forward to 2014

Lord, 
Knowing that nothing good is accomplished without Your Love and Your Help, I ask You to bless us, to bless me, as we look forward to the year 2014.  Father, You are the God of all creation.  It was a gift of Your Love, that Jesus came to earth as a tiny babe.  As a Man, Jesus would come to save our world from sin.  Holy Spirit, You were sent to us by  the Father and Jesus to guide us in our earthly sojourn.  You fill us with Your gifts and graces that will lead us to the Father, the Son, and to You, Mighty Spirit of God who live and reign forever and ever.  Amen.

Praise be to You, Mighty God and Father.
Praise be to You, Jesus, the Son of God and our brother.
Praise be to You, Holy Spirit, giver of gifts and graces, Counselor.

In 2014, I ask for these graces.
Read More HERE at "His Unending Love."

A message from Father Francis Maple

FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE

This Christmas we need to focus on the greatest reality there is - that God loves us so much that He gave us His only Son to free us from our sins! We need to be grateful for His love and respond to His love; and the best way to do that is by surrendering our life completely to Him, as He has surrendered Himself completely to us. How do we do this - by putting Him first in our daily lives? This means that we build our day around Him. We need to give Him quality time in our prayer life. As we meditate on His birth and see Mary holding her divine Child in her arms we can think of her saying, "Would you like to hold Him?" Then she hands Jesus to you and you get to hold the God of the universe in your arms. But we do not just stop there – we realise EVERY DAY we can hold Jesus in our arms when we receive Him in the Eucharist! To believe that Jesus, who is God, and who the Universe cannot even begin to contain, became a little baby for us and continues this humility in the Eucharist is amazing - What a gift He has given to us! How very blessed we are!

I also realize and appreciate that there are some who think Christmas is a hard time. You may be experiencing loneliness or illness, or you may be in sorrow because you have lost someone dear. You need to know that you are never alone! Jesus became one of us so that He could be near us! There is never a time when you need to feel that no one cares or that you have to go through your struggles alone - YOU ARE LOVED! This is what Christmas is about, and this needs to be our hope that brings us through the darkness.

Remember that no matter how dark the darkness is - it can never conquer the Light! Try this - go into a dark room and light a match or candle and watch just how the darkness flees from the power of the light. Jesus is that Light and He is inside of YOU! That is so true. Cling to this Truth, and know His power!

This Christmas let us pray for each other and accept the love of the Christ Child, and of Our Father who gave Him to us, our best Christmas present. Mary and Joseph, we thank you for the part you played in bringing Jesus to our world.

  

Be Joyful! God is....

Great
Love
Goodness
Kindness
Healing
Above all else
King of Kings
Everlasting
Unchanging
Encompassing

Read More Here at His Unending Love

Add to the list!

GAUDETE

MAY YOU HAVE

 A VERY BLESSED CHRISTMAS

 AND A 

PEACEFUL AND JOYFUL 

NEW YEAR

Quick Bytes #72: Come to Think of It

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My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, 
is very simple: loving others. 

Come to think of it, 
why do we have to wait until Christmas to do that?
                                                
 - Bob Hope

Something for me to eat

It was five days before Christmas, Father Ignatius drove into the car park and was about to enter the Parish house when he noticed a man standing by the Church door. He walked up to him and the man asked: “Have you got something for me to eat?”

He was in his fifties perhaps, although he looked much older. Unshaven, wearing dirty clothes with tears down the pockets, an open shirt revealing skin that had not been washed since who knows when, and shoes with no socks.
CONTINUE READING HERE

A Christmas Tale

 

It was a very cold week in early December. Some parishioners asked Father Ignatius if it was all right to build a Christmas crib in the car park as well as the one usually set up in church by the Altar.

The intention was to build a small wooden hut made of old wood they could pick up cheaply from the local saw mill; and then decorate it, and use the Nativity scene statues which they discovered in the store room deep in the basement under the church whilst they were cleaning it in summer.

Father Ignatius agreed, “as long as you don’t ask me to lift those heavy statues from the basement … they’re quite heavy you know. So be careful!” he said.


Please continue reading HERE

Quick Bytes #71: Regifting

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This Christmas, we celebrate God's great love for us.

And that is one present that is acceptable to regift!!
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What did she know?

 

It’s amazing how sometimes a chance remark or a word spoken in jest can lead one to think something anew or with a fresh point of view.

Father Ignatius was helping with the dismantling of the Nativity scene in church and putting away the various statues safely for use the following Christmas. One of the helpers lifted the statue of the Virgin Mary and remarked: “Look at her face. She looks sad. It’s as if she knew what was to happen to Jesus when He grew up.”

“She’s probably tired after giving birth,” replied another helper.

“No … she looks sad, not tired. Do you think she knew that Jesus would be crucified Father?”

Father Ignatius sat down on a nearby chair.

Read the rest fo this story HERE.

Spiritually Adopt a Priest

Our priests need prayers.  Priests are challenged as satan seeks to tempt them and devour their souls. They are the first line of attack that satan wages on our church.  He knows that without our priests, we have no sacraments.  We have no Eucharist.   Evil seeks to destroy our church.  Without priests, we have no church.  They are the roots of the vine that Jesus planted when he chose Peter as our first Pope and the apostles as our first priests.  Without prayer, priests are unarmed in a world of sin.  We need to pray for our priests! 

I offer this suggestion when praying for priests.  Adopt a priest for a year or for a life time.  Pray for that priest.  Pray for him as if he were one of your family, one of your children.  Gather together as a family and pray a rosary for your priest.  When you cannot gather together, pray for this priest yourself.  Offer three Hail Mary's a day for him.  He is one of our Mother's beloved sons.  Offer up your sufferings for him.  Pray for his strength.  Pray that he have a burning love for souls.  Pray that he be given energy when he's tired.  Pray for him to see Jesus in every soul.

Read more at "His Unending Love." 

The Priestly Prayer of Jesus

And Jesus Prayed
John 17

After Jesus had spoken these words, He looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come;  glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  I glorified You on earth by finishing the work that You gave Me to do.  So now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had in Your presence before the world existed.

Read More at "His Unending Love."

Quick Bytes #70: Your Second Birthday

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Quick ... what day were you baptized?

If you are like me, or the hundreds that Pope Francis asked, you might not know.

But we should. 

And in his words, we should celebrate it as "our second birthday".  After all it is the day God forgave us from our sins and welcomed us into the Church.

And what better present is there than that?
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I need to Pray More

Yes, I really do.  I need to bring myself closer to God.  He waits in the silence of my heart for me to speak.  He stands there as my Lord and Savior.  His arms outstretched on the tree. Yes, I really do need to pray more.  For He is My God.  I am His Child. 

I need to remember the patriarchs of old who worshiped God in the deserts, valleys and hills.  They followed his commands.  He was their God, and they were His people.  They were loved and cherished by the One Who created all.  He was their great I AM.

Read more at "His Unending Love." 

How to donate nothing?

 

How to donate to a charity without costing you a cent or a penny?

 

Simple !!!

 

To find out how just click HERE.

When We Die

Our hearts stop beating.  Our lungs no longer fill with air.  Our bodies cease to function.  Our immortal souls are released from our bodies.  We enter into eternal life, and our souls leave our physical bodies.  We only take with us, that which we are.

Reports from those who have returned include tunnels through which the soul flies at speeds unknown on earth.  Lights are brighter than any here.  Colors are vibrant and living.  Colors that have never been seen are visible to the soul who has left the body.
 
Read More Here at "His Unending Love."

Erma Bombeck, Humor Writer, Catholic Woman

A Couple of Thoughts from Great Saints - On Obedience

You will become a saint if you have charity, if you manage to do the things which please others and do not offend God, though you find them hard to do.

- Saint Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)

Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue; there is neither goodness nor love. And where there is no love, there is no God. Without God, we cannot reach Heaven. These virtues form a ladder; if a step is missing, we fall down.

- Saint Padre Pio (1887-1968)

Quick Bytes #69: A Clear View

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In today's Gospel, we read how Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree so he could have a clear view of Jesus.

Zacchaeus did not let anything - the crowd, the grumbles or his physical limitations - get in the way of seeing his Savior.

I'm pretty sure we can apply that lesson to our daily lives.

(Tree climbing not required)
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