It is a quandary
It's a mystery to me
Why some can't comment.
And
Thanks be to God!
An occasional bit of wit 'n' wisdom as gleaned from the wise and learned. Family fun and times to share.
The topic this week...Prayer. There is much to learn and be taught about prayer. Interestingly, there is a lot written about prayer. So, while I have the chance, in preparation for my presentation I though I would share my wanderings with you.
In Catholicism for Dummies I found this.
We Are Family
In the Bible, a mother begged Jesus to drive a demon our of her daughter (Mark 7:25-30). The Church maintains that Jesus, being God and man, already knew that the daughter was plagued by a demon, so he didn't need the mother to tell him. But he allow and permitted the mother to get involved and ask for help on behalf fo her child.
Likewise, the Church believes that Jesus doesn't need the saints to tell him anything but he permits people to ask the saints to ask him for help. Why? Because humankind is all one family, all made in the image and likeness of God, all children of God, and all brothers and sisters in Christ, with Jesus being the brother. And the dead who should are with God are still part of the family of humankind and still connected to all on earth.
On the eve of a weekend when All Saints are honored and All Souls prayed for I offer this as reflection on Prayer. Wishing you all peace of mind and love of the Savior through prayer.
I would also ask for YOUR intercessory prayer for Evelyn Bethel, the is the mother of my friend Karen, as she undergoes surgery today to repair a broken hip. May God the Father , the Son and Holy Spirit be with them all especially the surgeons who perform the surgery!
~~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God
Prayer doen't change God. He is enchanging and unchangeable. But it does change us, making us more like Him, and thus more able to accept His will, whatever it may be. Prayer makes us radiate goodness.
On the face of Moses there settles a kind of glorified hue, because of his righteous conduct and his constant conversation with God who spoke to him. So, too, a divine power of goodness clings to the righteous soul in contemplation, in prophecy, and in the act of governing. It impresses on the soul a kind of intellectual radiance, like a ray of the sun, as a visible sight of righteousness. It unites the soul with light, through unbroken love, which is God-bearing and borne by God. This is how someone who knows God grows in likeness to God the Savior, as far as human nature may, since he becomes perfect "as your heavenly Father is perfect"(Mt 4:48).
Take It to Prayer~~~~~+~~~~~A divine power of goodness clings to the righteous soul in contemplation.
"If. . .the Israelites could not look at Moses' face because of its brightness, fading as this was, will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater Splendor?" (2 Cor 3:7-8). "All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image of glory to glory" (2 Cor 3:18 NAB).Apply It to Your LifeSchedule Time for prayer each day. Make it the most important appointment on your calendar. Stick to it.
Sick Leave
I urgently needed a few days off work, but I knew the Boss would not allow me to take leave. I thought that maybe if I acted 'Crazy' he would tell me to take a few days off. So, I hung upside-down from the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb, so that the Boss might think I was 'Crazy' and give me a few days off . A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, 'What on earth are you doing?'
I told him I was a light bulb .
He said, 'You are clearly stressed out. Go home and recuperate for a couple of days.'
I jumped down and walked out of the office.
When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her,'And where do you think you're going?! '
She said, 'I'm going home too. I can't work in the dark .'
Going to the Margins of the ChurchThose who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, or emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters--they require our first attention.
We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralyzing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us.
Caritas prima sibi
("Charity is first to itself.")
John Wycliffe
~~~Where does love begin?
The Scriptures offers the answer, simple and profound: "God is love" (1John 4:8).
God is the source of love. God's love surrounds us from our beginnings, offering us an embrace we are free to accept or reject, filling us with a peace we are free to keep for ourselves and to share.
And what then? God loves us, so whom must we love?
It's not enough to love in general or to profess love for people we never meet. We're called to love people, as they are unique and specific brothers and sisters.
The only place to begin, then is with those around us, as the common translation of this saying instructs: "Charity begins at home."
As with every other virtue, love takes practice. We learn how to love by taking small steps of kindness and sacrifice right where we are, with those closest to us. At home we develop this habit of love, so when we walk out the door into the business of our daily live, we bring God's love wherever we are and to whomever we chance to meet that day.
I'm back home from the wedding festivities and what a grand time we all had. There is nothing to compare with the gathering of family and friends on such an occasion. The sharing of love and hugs is the best gift one can receive.
I'm going to take some time to recuperate and gather my thoughts, but in the meantime I am offering these pictures that were sent to me as a gift. Enjoy!
Canadian Fall
FALL AT BUTCHART GARDENS , VICTORIA , B. C.,
CANADA
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE ANYTHING
COULD
BE THIS BEAUTIFUL..
A sliced carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and yes, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all the research today show grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut look like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles and folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more that three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and, yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, bok choy, rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avacadoes, eggplant, and pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female--they look just like these organs. Today's research show that when a woman eats one avacado a week it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avacado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are 14,000 photolitic chemical constituents of nutritionin each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and name about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increse the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the gylcemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.
Oranges, grapefurits and other Citurs furits look just like the breast and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onlions look like the body's cells. Todays research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
The Book of Wit 'n' Wisdom is a Keller Family tradition based on the willingness of the Iris to always have advise to give, tales to tell or memories to share by family and friends for every occasion or celebration. The Keller Clan wishes [happiness to all in life's Adventure] full of tales with just enough Blarney to make them worth telling.
Yesterday Ron and I went to a friend's dad's house to pick apples. The trees were so over burdened with the apples that some of the branches were bowed and even broken. They weren't big apples or "store" pretty apples, but tasty they were. The bees were buzzing and humming over the ones on the ground, but do not fear. We thanked God for their presence.
When we were done. We loaded up the ladder and gathered the bags and went right down to Mother Theresa's Treasures and the Newburgh Food Pantry. Kathy was there to receive these tasty morsels and we were grateful that we could offer them. Ron and I had the opportunity to give of time, talent and the treasure of God's creation. And to give credit where credit is due. This was a wonderful idea, Ron had. For me, it was one of those Christ moments. He was there in our midst!!
Nothing Missing
Father John Dominic Corbel, OP"May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lor be with all of you."
~2Thessalonians 3:16~Sunday afternoons in the fall were my father's favorite time. They were set aside for the Cleveland Browns. In those years the Browns had Fran Ryan, Paul Warfield, Leroy Kelly, and of course, the Great Jimmy Brown taking care of business. These afternoons were peaceful times for me. Not because there wasn't excitement or suspense or the occasional disappointment. There was plenty of that. But no matter how tight the game became I always knew that between the Browns and my father there was nothing missing. Everything necessary was in place to bring us victory.
Could you compare a Sunday afternoon's football game with the peace of the Lord? Sunday is the Sabbath. It is the day the Lord looked out on the world he had made and said that it was very good. There was nothing missing.
When the Apostle prays that the Lord of peace may give us his peace, he is praying that the Lord who is complete goodness in whom there is nothing missing who lacks for nothing, may communicate to us that same security and completion.
This prayer that the Lord may give us peace at all times and in every way can't be granted to us in this life if we mean by peace the actual experience of the invulnerable serenity and infinite perfection that belongs to God as God. But all the same, we know in faith that there is nothing missing. The Lord is with us and so, even if we are hungry or thirsty, if we are in trouble, or even if our favorite football team is losing again, or if we face hunger or nakedness or the sword, still there is nothing missing. We have what we need to win eternal life. Everything. The Lord is with us. There is nothing missingLord Jesus, our lives are often full of stress and it is often hard to
feel your presence with us. Help us to know that you have given us
everything we need to be joyful with you for ever.
Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." -Mt 19:14
Even a little child can scatter flowers, to scent the throne room with their fragrance; even a little child can sing in its shrill treble, the great canticle of Love. That will be my life: to scatter flowers~~to miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word, always doing the tiniest things right and doing it for love.~~ St. Therese of Lisieux~