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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.
PEACE BEGINS AT HOME
by
Sister Genevieve Glen, O.S. B.
"Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which
you were also called in only body [...] be thankful. Let the
word of Christ dwell in your richly, as in all wisdom you teach and
admonish one another, singing, psalms, hymns, and spiritual
songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
(Colossians 3: 15-16)"Please go away and leave me in peace!" pleasds the weary mother beset by a gorde of toddlers, all clammoring for her attnetion. She echoes the cry of all those who seek relief from demands they cannot meet from attentions they do nto want, from hostility they cannont withstand. In fact, all of us tend to imagine peace as the cessation of something--demand, disturbance,suffering. However, peace is not an absence but a presence. Real and lasting peace is the gruit of disorder put fight. The peace of Christ is the gruit of the cross throught which Christ righted the order of a sorld gond mad in sin. To enter into Christ's peace, we must seek out that right order. Saint Paul tess us here to seek it by allowing Christ's word to dwell in us richly. Taught by those entrusted with the ministry of the Word, admonished by one another as we share in one another's wisdom, formed by worship--"singing psalms, hyms, and spiritual songs"--, shaped by the Eucharist, whose name means "thanksgiving," our hearts will gradually abandon all the sources of disorder that tear us apart, and will grow into right order of the Gospel. as the peace of Christ, born of a life of selfles strengthen the bonds that unite us to one another as members o Christ's Body. Thus individuals and Body confirm one antoher mutually in a growing peace which can spread outward to embrace family, neighborhood, workplace, and world. The work is slow. The disorder is deep. Individually, and together we will fall out of peace again and again as we struggle. But god is faithful, the promise is sure, and one day Christ's peace will prevail. Our task in the meantime is simple and humble: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you."
God of all peace, you have called me to live Christ's peace in a troubled world. Strengthen your peace within me and in those with whom I share my faith, worship, and life, so that I may be a living sign of hope amid violence and despair.
God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost. . .
may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.
~Pope Benedict XVI~
Prayer service at Ground Zero
April 20, 2008
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51: 10-12Change me,
God Please change me.
Though I cringe
Kick
Resist and resent
Pay no attention to me whatever.
When I run to hide
Drag me out of my safe little shelter.
Change me totally
Whatever it takes
However long You must work at the job.
Change me--and save me
From spiritual self-destruction
Ruth Harms CalkinPrayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God.
Oswald Chambers