The Weekly Word

Bread of Life

Prayer...

Prayer is, in the strictest sense, a humble religious petition of man to God to seek divine benevolence and benefits he needs for life, both temporal and eternal. It is a conversation with God, either by accepted prayer forms, or from the heart. Consider these words as if God were speaking them to His children...

"It is not necessary my child, to know much in order to please me much; it is enough that you love me fervently. Speak here to me then, as you would speak to your most intimate friend, to your mother, to your brother."

~God your Father~

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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

Quotes to Live By

There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.

The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.

In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)

It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.

The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?

I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Spreading the Word spiritually, creatively, inspirationally, and historically on a weekly basis, by St. Joe's own parishoners

We're Saying NO to the Wrong One!

by Patti LaRue

We're always rushing around in our daily lives. With so much to do and always complaining that there's just so little time to do it. Never stopping to think that had we not opened ourselves up to accept so many of these tasks, and freely doing so, that we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

We never seem to have any problems saying yes to others that want our time and attention. In fact sometimes we find it quite a difficult task to muster up such a small word as NO. But when you take a look at your busy schedule, you will see the truth, when you could have said NO, you simply didn't.

The strange thing about all of this is that we say yes, over and over again to our friends, our family, our employers, etc but how often do we sit down and say YES to God? Take a look at your schedule and ask yourself, "Where have I got time penciled in for Christ?" I'm sure the first thing you will notate is "Well, right there on Sunday!" so there you have it, you do say YES to God. Good for you, but what about Monday through Saturday, got his name penciled in there anywhere amongst all those other yes appointments?

So there you have it, we find it extremely difficult to say no to everyone else, but we have no problem with telling Christ NO.

But think about this, Christ on the other hand freely and willingly said yes over and over again to us and still does to this very day. He willingly gave up his life, in place of ours to free us from sin so that we might be reunited with His Father in heaven.

Would YOU take the place

Of This Man?

He allowed himself to be pierced by the nails of our sins and to be publically humilated, disrepected, spit upon, tortured all so that we might know just how much His Father in heaven loved us. He did all of this by saying YES for us. The thought of saying that simple word NO was not an option.

Would YOU take the nails

From His hands?

Reflect back upon just how much Christ gave up to say yes for us and the next time you look at your daily planner, think about where you might be able to fit Him into your daily plans. It's time we start saying NO to lesser things in life and YES to what really matters.

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