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

Accept Suffering With Grace

by Patti LaRue

In our lives, we all suffer in some way, shape or form. There's simply no way of avoiding it.

Whether it's a broken heart, the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, an illness, disappointment, no matter what, suffering is impossible to avoid, it's simply a fact of life.

It's how we handle the suffering in our lives that's important. Not the unfairness of the suffering, and admit it to yourself, you generally feel that suffering is unfair.

It's how we handle the suffering....

Not the unfairness of the suffering.

But who do we think that we are that we should not have to suffer? Why should we think that we are so special that we don't deserve some suffering in our lives?

We need to understand that God's own son, Jesus Christ was not free from suffering. Far from it!

To be able to appreciate the idea of suffering, we need to truly understand what Christ gave up for us on that cross. We need to look at that cross and realize that the suffering before with His agony in the garden, the scourging prior to the cross alone far exceeded any suffering we've experienced in our lives.

God's own son...

Was not free from suffering...

Understand that this was a holy man completely free of sin. A man who graciously and lovingly embraced His suffering. With grace he accepted the will of His Father and allowed Himself to be humiliated, hated, taunted, tortured and hung on a cross like a common criminal. Could you suffer that and with grace?

Can you even begin to imagine the magnitude of His suffering?

Yes, we all suffer and can't expect, nor do we have the right to ask not to suffer, wouldn't that make us better than Jesus Christ if we were not to experience suffering? Do you think that you are better than Christ? Then why would you think that you should be free from suffering, when God's own son was not exempt from it?

Our own personal suffering then, should not be thought of as something we don't deserve. Christ didn't deserve what was given to Him, yet He accepted it with open arms and grace.

Instead of wailing and complaining to God and saying "Why me?", instead of blaming it on someone else, or even God for your suffering, take a long look at that cross He gave us and feel the grace that radiates from it. Give into the suffering of that cross with grace.

We need to understand that if there were no suffering on this earth, why would there be a need for heaven? What would there be to look forward to if we did not carry our own load of Christ's cross of suffering?

Without suffering, how could we ever fully understand or appreciate God's kingdom in heaven?

URLVD

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