Luke 23:36
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Thanks be to God!
An occasional bit of wit 'n' wisdom as gleaned from the wise and learned. Family fun and times to share.
Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!
A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong: she's failing algebra; her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely, Mom, I love
your cake.'
'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers. 'Yuck,' says her daughter.
'How about a couple raw eggs?' 'Gross, Mom!'
'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?'
'Mom, those are all yucky!'
To which the mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!
God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!
God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.
If you like this, send this on to the people you really care about. I did.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.
I have to tell you that this treasure, sent to me by a new friend, Peggy, both touched me and lifted me up! I was privileged to meet Peggy on retreat last weekend. You know sometimes you just know when you've met a soul mate, a sister.
When I watched and listened I thought of all of you, and you know who you are, and I thanked God for you! God has blessed me with your love, your tenderness, your ever present listening ear.
The Hebrew people entered the desert feeling themselves a united people, a strong people, and you'd think that perhaps they would have experienced greater strength as they walked through. But no! They experienced the fragmentation and weariness; they experienced divisions among their people. They were not the people they thought they were.
When all of our idols are taken away, all our securities and defense mechanisms, we find out who we really are. We're so little, so poor, so empty--sometimes, even so ugly. But God takes away our shame, and we are able to present ourselves to God poor and humble. Then we find out who we are and who God is for us. The desert is where Israel experienced its sinfulness, that it was weak and unable to do any good. Our temptation is always to shorten the time, make our timetable God's timetable. We want to get out and get it over with. But we cannot rush the journey of faith. We have to attune ourselves to its times and seasons. You can't bake a cake quicker by turning up the heat to 450 degrees, nor can you slow it down by lowering it to 200. It will flop either way.from Great Themes of Scripture
by Richard Rohr, O.F.M.
Peters approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must
is forgive him, as may as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times
but seventy-seven times."
(Matthew 18: 21-35)In Scripture, we can track one indication of the gradual movement of the human race (by God's grace) toward the Reign of God. It has to do with the reduction of vengeance.
~~~Genesis (which reaches back to pre-history) tells of Lamech, a son of Cain, who boasted: "I have killed a man for wounding me, a boy for bruising me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." (Genesis 4:23-24)
~~~Exodus (which treats events that took place in about 1,200 B.C.) tempers this approach: "If injury ensues, you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot..." (Exodus 21:23-24)
~~~Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, takes the human race to a new level: "You have heard that it is said, 'An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you...when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well." (Matthew 5:38-39)
~~~Now, 13 chapters later in that same Gospel, Peter asks how many times one has to do this. Jesus says that, to bring about the Reign of God, mercy must be measureless.
Vengeance prevents us from moving forward, for it simply adds evil to evil. Jesus calls us to break the vicious circle of evil for evil, and respond to evil with goodness, this bringing creation closer to its destiny.
The Self-revelation of GodThe dialogue between God and humanity is the give-and-take of self-revelation and response. That's what's happening in every relationship, you can't understand the rules of prayer.
In prayer God is gradually disclosing himself, revealing herself. So revelation and faith are correlative. There cannot be faith without revelation. We cannot believe in a person who has not shared himself or herself with us. To the degree that person has shared with us, we can believe in that person.
It's the same way with God. When we waste time with the Lord and listen, we're allowing
God to reveal not information but Self. This is what's symbolized on the cross: God is totally disclosed, God is the totally given God. But it takes us a lot of scraping and converting to open ourselves up to that disclosure. If we are filled with ourselves, there is, quite simply, no room for the other, and surely not The Other.excerpt from The Price of Peoplehood
Radical Grace, Daily Meditations
By Richard Rohr, O.F. M.~~~~~+~~~~
In reality there is but one prayer, only one substantial prayer. Jesus Himself.
In your life Jesus comes as the Bread of Life to be eaten to be consumed by you. This is how He loves you. Then He comes as the hungry one, the Other, hoping to be fed with the bread of your life, with your heart by loving, your hands by serving.
Jesus has drawn us to be souls of prayer.
Jesus is our prayer, and He is also the answer to our prayer. He has chosen to be Himself in us the living song of love, praise, adoration, thanksgiving, intercession and reparation to the Father in the name of the whole creation (unpublished.).
Love: a Fruit Always In SeasonDaily Meditation by Mother TereseEdited by Dorothy S. Hunt
God's love is total, unconditional, absolute and forever. The state of grace--God's attiugde toward us--is eternal. We are the ones who change.
Sometimes we are able to believe that God loves us unconditionally, absolutely and forever. That's grace! And sometimes because we get down on ourselves, and carry guilt and fear and burdens, we are not able to believe that God loves us. Biblically, that's the greatest sin: not to believe the good news, not to accept the unconditional love of God. When we no longer believe God loves us, we can no longer love ourselves. We have to allow God to continually fill us. Then we find in our own lives the power to give love away.Radical Grace, Daily Medications
by Richard Rohr, O.F.M.
Last week, I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace.
As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and Justice for all! Amen!"
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"
Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"
As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job, and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
"Really?" my son asked.
"Cross my heart," the man replied.
Then, in a theatrical whisper, he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."
Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment, and then did something I will remember the rest of my life.
He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes; and my soul is good already."
I turned to the Lord God,
pleading in earnest prayer,
with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
~Daniel 9:3~The use of ashes as a sign of penitence and remorse is rooted in Jewish tradition.
This Jewish penitential practice carried over into Christianity. In one early Church custom dating back to the fourth century, those who had committed serious sin would present themselves to their bishop on Ash Wednesday, and would then spend the rest of Lent wearing the hair shirt as a public display of sinfulness.
The Ash Wednesday custom of placing ashes on the forehead became universal in the 11th century. In the 12th century, the practice began of burning the palm branches of the previous year to make the ashes.
After the 16th century Reformation , most Protestant churches did away with this custom, along with many other external practices of the Catholic Church. However, in recent decades, Lutheran Presbyterian Methodist, and Episcopal churches have reinstated the use of ashes as part of their liturgical renewal.
~~The Little Black Book~~
St Telesphorus is the pope often credited with instituting the tradition of a seven week Lent.
Whether that is true or not, Telesphorus was one of the Church's earliest popes, serving from about 128-129 A.D. until his martyrdom about 10 years later.
Little is known about this saint. It is thought he was probably Greek. Legend says that he was a hermit before he became pope during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
But despite the scarcity of information of his background, he is credited (rightly or wrongly) with initiating may of today's Catholic traditions.
For instance, he is said to have begun the celebration of Easter on a Sunday, the tradition of midnight Mass at Christmas, and deciding that the Gloria should be sung at Christmas midnight Mass. It is also said that he started Quinquagesima Sunday (Shrove Sunday) to encourage Christians to prepare for Lent, and he determined the length of the Lenten season.
What is documented is that Telesphorus died a martyr possible because he was a powerful preacher who led many people to convert to Christianity.
The Greek Church celebrates his feast day, February 22.
This was sent to me my many friends. It is a little lighthearted humor about one of God's treasured gifts to us. Have a grand weekend with lots of smiles!
Angels Explained by Children
I only know the names of two angels. Hark and Harold... Gregory, 5
Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it. --Olive, 9
It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to heaven, and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes. --Matthew, 9
Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else. --Mitchell, 7
My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science. --Henry, 8
Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows. --Jack, 6
Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead. --Daniel, 9
Love this one:
When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there's a tornado. --Reagan, 10
Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go north for the winter. --Sara, 6
Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter.--Jared, 8
All! angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it. --Antonio, 9
My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth. --Katelynn, 9
Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it.
What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them
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Thanks be to God!