HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

My best wishes for a Happy, Holy, and Healthy New Year to all. God Bless you abundantly this New Year!!!

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Thanks Be to God!

Snippets of 2009

Memories 2009

These are just a few snippets of 2009, a very good year! Wishing all the very Happiest of New Years in 2010. Our year was full of family and friends, weddings and births. God has been good to us.

Please join in the fun and share some of your picture memories of the last year. Offer us your link through Mr. Linky so we can all share with you these Snippets of 2009.

~~~^j^~~~
And in all things,
Thanks be to God!

For you that asked, Yes, indeed this can be done with Picasa.

New Year Reflection

St. Meinrad Archabbey
Originally uploaded by cindy47452

Notice I didn't title this "New Year Resolutions." I make them and break them just as readily. For several years now I have not even attempted any. When the kids were still small and living at home I would set a goal. That, I think, is different than a "resolution."

At any rate here is my reflection by Archabbot Lambert Reilly , O.S.B. from his book Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth.

Maria montisque polliceri
("The promise of the seas and the mountains")

There is a German saying, "Big in the head and little in the follow-up." Some promises, made in moments of excitement or offered as an extension of our pride, are impossible to keep. Such promises as these are simply beyond the power of the speaker. Do we recall Peter's promises of faithfulness to Christ and his failure to keep them?

God's promises seem the most extreme of all: A child will be born of a virgin. our sins, no matter how great,are forgiven. Spend your days on earth loving God first, and death will not really be the end.

Wild fantasies? Impossible visions? Not with Good, the One who can do a thing, the One who can do all things.

With that same God, we can do some impossible things, too. We can be at peace with life as it is, rather than striving for more. We can forgive. We can even love our enemies.

It's all because of faith. I faith, we take on the mind of God, open our hearts to His strength, and live within the peace of His promises.

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This New Year brings we again to, NOT a new beginning, but an extension of the years gone by. It does offer us possibilities to live as God's chosen. As Fr. C wrote in his blog about the Inner Light, we can be mirrors of Christ to those we encounter along our way. I hope to recognize Christ as my companion this year. My hope is that all will recognize Christ as their companion this year.

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Thanks be to God

Vade in Pace!

The Eye of God

I took the picture as we flew out of Dublin two years ago to return to England where we visited with our daughter Laura and her family while they were in residence there for a year. This picture is a constant reminder to me of the awesomeness of our God and the peace and serenity that is His to offer us. It is with this in mind that I offer this in reflection as an extension of all the wonderful offerings I have read this day regarding Peace and the New Year granted us by our Maker.

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The Romans bid each other farewell with Vade in pace!--"Go in peace!"

Since the renewal of the Liturgy we Catholics have grown accustomed to this farewell greeting, too. It is interesting to note that Our Lord's disciples would have been familiar with the Romans' use of this leave-taking message. It also clarifies Our Lord's farewell to them, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you" (John 14:27). His peace is not the same as the everyday nicety the Romans exchanged routinely.

The few thoughts [here] are meant to remind us through reading and reflection that the Lord's peace is heritage for every circumstance, no matter the happening. It's His gift along with--inseparable from--His cross. Dante caught it all: In voluntate eius pax nostra, "in His will is our Peace."

[This reflection] also warn[s] us that the theme song in hell may easily be: "I Did It My Way." The world sets before us one avenue of peace, the Lord another.

While life here is still ours, may we seek after His peace and pursue it. And then we'll know its fullness eternally.

As the Lord gives, not as the world, Vade in Pache!+

from Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth
By Archabbot Lambert Reilly, O.S.B.

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And so with the Old Year soon to be replaced by the New Year, I say, with much sincerity to all, "May His Peace be with you." And in gratitude for all who have touched my life so tenderly this year I say, "Thanks be to GOD!"