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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

• 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~

I mentioned this before but I’ll repeat myself for the sake of those that don’t know me well.

Lent has always been my favorite season in Church, but this year Advent has been running a real close second. I’m pretty sure it has to do with prayer, maybe that’s been helped along by our Pray All-Ways campaign– but I’ve really loved the readings in Mass and my prayer time. Sometimes when I read the bible, not a lot will jump out at me, or when I’m listening to different speakers on my favorite radio station (KBVM 88.3), their topic may be interesting listening but ask me 20 minutes later what the subject was and I will have forgotten.

This year it seems like every line I read, or sentences I'm hearing are sticking and being very pertinent to things going on in my life. Some people refer to times in their life where prayer or Mass just isn't doing anything for them as a "dry period" in their prayer life. I've gone through periods like that, when you can’t shut down your brain and just listen, hear, or feel close to Jesus. Right now it's not like that at all. I feel very blessed to be in a time when I can feel the Presence of God all around me in all areas of my life. There just seems to be signs or people or wonders that just bring me to praising God for all He's given me.

I'm on the Pray All-Ways campaign committee. When I was asked to be one of the people working for Fr. John's campaign I said sure, I'd love to. I was told that several people had turned down the request to help. I was shocked and said "who wouldn't want to pray?" It just seemed odd to me. The more I pray the more I see the blessings all around me. I'm not saying that everything is perfect in my life, far from it, and I'm not looking through rose colored glasses.

Recently I've had several things that I was struggling with and that were very difficult for me to handle. The more things compounded, one upon another, the more I praised and thanked God for all the things in my life. Yes, there were a few moments when I had to ask, "What is this all about and why is it happening?" But I tried to quickly move past that and prayed all the more. I asked others to pray for me as well. It didn't take long before all the struggles around me were dissolving. God does answer prayers. I have no doubt there will be more struggles and problems for me before I leave this earth. I don't know of anyone that hasn't had to face difficulties sometime in their lives. I do hope and pray that when those difficulties start to overwhelm me that I'll have the faith and strength to always turn to our loving and merciful God. He's there for us all our lives, not just in the good times. We must always remember that and ask Him for His help and guidance, and thank Him for the blessings he's showered upon us.

One of my favorite bible verses is Jeremiah 29: 11-15, "For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord, and I will change your lot, I will gather you together from all the nations and all the places to which I have banished you, says the Lord, and bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you."

GAP beloved members of St. Joseph!

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