For the one who is Tired
Dear heart, God does not say today ”Be Strong”
He knows your strength is spent; He knows how long the road has been,
How weary you have grown; for He walked the earthly roads alone,
Each bogging lowland and each long steep hill, He can understand,
And so He says “Be still and know that I am God”
the hour is late and you must rest a while,
And you must wait until life’s empty reservoirs fill up
as slow
rain fills an empty upturned cup,
Hold up your cup dear child, for God to fill,
He only asks today that you be still
The stolen moments from our
busy day to spend in prayer.
Let us reflect for a moment on God’s presence around us, and in us. Creator of the universe, the sun and the moon, the earth, every molecule, every atom, everything that is: God is in every beat of my heart, God is with me now.
We need to realize
what God would make of us, if we abandon ourselves into his hands, and let ourselves be formed by his grace, we need to ask for the grace to trust ourselves totally to God’s love.
So let us
unwind the past day, starting from now and looking back, moment by moment, we gather in all the goodness and
light, in gratitude. We attend to the shadows and what they say to us, seeking healing, courage, forgiveness.
What is stirring in us as we pray? Are we consoled, troubled, left cold? We imagine
Jesus himself standing or sitting at our side and share our feelings with him.
Prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy
- Begins on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2015 and ends on the Feast of Christ the King 20 November 2016
Lord Jesus Christ,
You have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
And have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze
freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money,
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness in created things;
Made Pete weep after his betrayal, and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the
Samaritan woman: “if you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
Of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
Let the Church be your visible face in the world,
its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
In order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
Let everyone who approaches them feel sought after,
loved, and forgiven byGod.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to the captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy, you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
Sixteenth Sunday 19th July – Black Sheep
It is easy to be kind to a poor person who deserves it. But our reaction is usually different when we read of someone who has made themselves homeless through drink or
drugs, we consider it as self-inflicted and feel they deserve the consequences of their actions.
God loves all the sheep of his flock. But he has a particular concern for those who have got themselves into difficulty. Today through Jeremiah he
berates the shepherds that have allowed the sheep to be scattered, and Jesus looks out on the crowd and sees sheep without any shepherd at all.
If God is going to be able to pasture his flock in our day, then it must be through the Church taking seriously
its shepherding role. How do we react to those in our flock who have got themselves into a mess? Do we join the tabloid chorus and denounce the unfashionable of our society, the beggars, the homeless, those addicted to drugs or alcohol, those who are
refugees or asylum seekers? Or do we see it as part of our calling to rehabilitate those who have wandered onto a barren track? And if so, how do we go about it without throwing in the towel and blaming it all on the social services or the lack
of government funds?
How we react to the “undeserving” is the acid test of our shepherding skills. For God there is no such thing as a black sheep of the family; only a lost sheep that needs bringing back into the fold.
Feast of SS Peter and Paul
Sunday 28th June 2015
The feast reminds us that the apostles Peter and Paul were entrusted, with handing on the faith to their
successors. Our task today is to take Christ’s message to the world. A tradition of ordaining priests and deacons is exercised by some churches around this time .
The greatness of these two saints make us feel that ordinary people
we are, cannot live up to their high standards. But on a second look at their lives they were not different from us, in that they had the same daily problems, and had to try as hard as us, to love and follow Jesus.
In trying to
identify with Peter we find he is a down-to-earth honest and willing person but has all the foibles that we have. What Jesus, in effect, said to Peter he says to us: “It is not you who have chosen me, but I who have chosen you. Peter, it is not
human wisdom that makes it possible for you to believe, but my Father’s revelation”. These words of Jesus make us realize we need to allow the Spirit to work through us, to enable us to be effective Christians.
The driving
force of the risen Jesus which Paul experienced on the road to Damascus made him the most zealous, dynamic and courageous ambassador of Christ the Church has ever had. The carrying of his cross, of persecution, humiliation and weakness transformed him.
We too, have the same weaknesses, and lack of spiritual energy, especially when we sight of the fact that we are called to present Jesus to our world, rather than carry the world on our back to Jesus. Peter and Paul are role models for us.
Have a Blessed Day
Look back and thank God.
Look forward and trust God.
Look around
and serve God.
Look within and find God!"
God closes doors no man
can open and
God opens doors no man can close.
Without
God our week would be: Sinday, Mournday, Tearsday,
Wasteday, Thirstday, Fightday
& Shatterday.
Trinity Sunday
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the
presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and
in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst
as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
For Loved Ones Departed
Light Happiness And
Peace
Treasured memories of joys once shared, cherished moments with one who cared, precious times now held so dear, gentle walks, quiet talks, times all gone, now only the pain of parting and moving on, and sweet sadness in every lingering
tear.
The many memories glow,
but now how heavy the heart, and slow!
At times too heavy to carry a
smile.
On my darkness, Lord, shine your light,
help me through every unsettled night.
In your
goodness that will never cease
please give to those I dearly miss your light, happiness and peace. Amen.
Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled
When I wake up feeling heavy and weary,
Lord please help to lighten me.
When I struggle through the day feeling
empty and weak,
Lord, please give me the strength to keep going.
When I’m downhearted, unable to
deal
with things, even the most ordinary,
Lord, please help me to cope.
You won’t leave me abandoned,
Lord
for you said to your disciples
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God always, and trust in me.”
Yes, Lord, you reach out to comfort all who mourn,
to calm every fear.
You it is who will wipe away our every tenderest tear. Amen
For Loved Ones Departed
Lord be good to them and show them all your love.
Be kind to them,
And grant them peace above
Be merciful to them, and wipe their sins away.
Be generous to them,
for good that they have done
Be gentle with them, for sufferings undergone.
Lord, may we meet again,
When heaven’s crown is won. Amen
Lord May We Find Rest In You
Lord, at holiday
times I ask you to look after my family
As they enjoy themselves, as they journey, as they
swim or sail, or rest, or whatever they do.
Please keep them safe from harm, especially the children,
That they may return home refreshed.
Lord,
refresh me in your love. Like a gentle summer ‘s
afternoon, may your calm surround me.
Keep me safe in the haven of your love,
so that I may find rest in you.
For indeed our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Lord, I’ll try my Best
Jesus, I’ll try to be brave, with you as my friend
I’l l try to be good, through the spirit you send.
I’ll try to be faithful,
with you as my shield.
I’ll try to be true to you as my friend.
I’ll try my very best to the very end.
If I Forget The Poor
Lord, If I forget the poor,
Because I am Busy running around,
If I close my eyes to their plight
Because
I am anxious about my own life,
Forgive me, and help me
To be more mindful, in future.
May I pay
back Your love to me with love to them.
The Exaltation Of The Holy Cross
On this the Feast of the Exaltation of the
Cross (or Triumph of the Cross) we honour the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world.
The miraculous discovery of the cross on 14th September 326, by Saint Helen mother of Constantine, while she was on pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, is the origin of the tradition of celebrating the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on this date.
The cross is a symbolic summary of the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ - all in one image.
The cross is the most potent and universal symbol of the Christian faith. It has inspired both liturgical and private devotions: for example, the Sign of the Cross, which is an invocation of the Holy Trinity; praying the Stations of the Cross;
and the Veneration of the Cross by the faithful on Good Friday by kissing he feet of the image of Our Saviour crucified.
Placing a crucifix (the cross with an image of Christ’s body upon it) in Churches and homes, in classrooms
of Catholic schools and in other Catholic institutions, or wearing this image on our persons, is a constant reminder and witness of Christ’s ultimate triumph, His victory over sin and death through His suffering and dying on the Cross.
Corpus Christi - 22nd June 2014
Eucharist Past, Present, Future
Today we Christians have a living memorial of that saving action of Christ. It is the Eucharist. Over the centuries Christians have
never ceased to follow that command of Jesus at the Last Supper.
As we eat and drink from the one bread and cup the Eucharist becomes a sign of the unity that we share and at the same time it also makes us one in Christ. The Eucharist is food for our
journey, medicine for our health and strength for our future. Not simply about the past and present it directs us towards two futures. The first future means that the Eucharist is a sign of our commitment to building up the kingdom of God here
on earth. So receiving the Eucharist is not just an act of devotion; it commits us to action. Through the grace of the Holy Spirit we pledge ourselves to playing our full part in the Church’s work of bringing about a world in which justice,
peace and holiness reign. And the second future is the afterlife. The Eucharist is a pledge of the heavenly banquet that God has promised to those who listen to the voice of his Son. The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ allows
us to thank God for this wonderful gift.
Today Pentecost Sunday celebrates the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit who is ever present to the Church, guiding, sustaining, and inspiring us in
the myriad circumstances of our modern world.
To celebrate Pentecost is to remember that Jesus is still alive and active in his Church through the Holy Spirit. We call Whitsunday the birthday of the Church because on that day the
proclamation of the gospel took place after Christ’s death and resurrection.
And the apostles were just as daunted at the prospect as we sometimes are. They feared for their lives. Yet the tongues of fire which is the Spirit gave them
the courage boldly to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
For the Church is the living Body of Christ and anything we do as the Church will produce results only if it is grounded in the Spirit. We cannot boast of our own efforts; it is the
Spirit of God working through us that is effective.
So if we are reticent about bearing witness to our faith, if we want our prayer to be more heartfelt and our worship to come alive, if we feel that we need to recapture the joy and first commitment
of our faith, then Pentecost is for us. Our prayer is that he Church throughout the ages; Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful!
The Ascension of the Lord
In celebrating this feast of
the Ascension we need to accept that we are far from being abandoned by Christ Ascension into Heaven. We celebrate the virtue of hope , conscious that our prayers are to the God whose Son has now passed from our sight, but our songs vibrate with
the faith-filled conviction that where Christ has gone we will surely follow.
The Ascension is very much an Easter Feast, in fact the “Easter Mysteries” include the passion of Christ, his resurrection, his ascension and the sending
of the Holy Spirit. Every time we take part in worship we are recalling some aspect or other of these four elements in the Easter story.
Christ who has risen above death and evil, ascends on high, not to leave us desolate and alone, but to send us the
ever-present help of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Christ ascends to the Father to claim a share in God’s life for each one of us. Where he has gone we hope to follow. That is why Ascension deserves a new song.
Easter Sunday
If Easter says anything to us today, it says this: You can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but
it will rise!
The Resurrection is more than just a one-off event, it is a sign for all humanity, God's pledge that death will not triumph over us.
The difficulties and pains of life do not stop just because it
is Easter, but if I can accept this sign, and trust in God's love for us, then we can have a real sense of joy and peace.
Outwardly, we are not necessarily bubbling over with joy, but deep inside us there is a reassurance and
an enduring hope that is a solid foundation for my life.
Welcome To My Site
Here
you can find many way to increase your spiritual life.
Dear Lord
Let me welcome the challenge of this new year;
With
hope in my heart, and faith in Your goodness.
Let me look forward to each new day,
As a many splendid gift from You
A Prayer for the Beginning of Lent
Do no limit the benefit of fasting merely to
abstinence from food, for a true
fast means
refraining from evil. Loose every unjust bond,
put away your resentment against your neighbour
forgive
him his offences.
Do not let your fasting lead to wrangling and strife.
You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother,
You abstain from wine, but not from insults.
So all the labour of your fast is fruitless.
The
Lord does not want the sinner to die
but wishes him to repent and find life...
If you have fallen then pick yourself up,
if you have sinned, then you must repent.
Do not remain on the path of sin, but get off it.
Once you have corrected and have groaned in
pain,
then you will be saved, for it is only after sweat and toil
that you can be restored to health and find salvation
"The bread you store up belongs to the hungry;
The cloak that lies on your chest belongs to the naked;
The gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the Poor."
St. Basil the great
"The merit
of good work increases when someone does or suffers for God what he would not will for its own sake; for we can recognise that a will is more kindled by the fire of divine love, the more opposed to our will are the things we do or suffer for God."
St. Thomas Aquinas
"Sow, sow God's word!
Make good on the talents entrused to you!
God has given you, and your neighbours as well,
not merely one talent but ten.
These are the
ten commandments, the very life of our soul.
So be enterprising in your use of them."
2014 Your Year For
Change
No one is ever too old to change and grow, change is always possible and consistently encouraged in the Bible and Especially in the New Year.
Here are changes you can try in the coming 12 months through which you can progress to transform your life in one year.
For January: Overcome
Many people live a limited, cautious , hesitant life because of fear. This month overcome your fear by confronting it directly. Don’t use it as an excuse to stop your progress forward.
For February: Gratitude
Increase in happiness, academic performance and life satisfaction is revealed among teens who display gratitude. For 30 days focus on
your blessings. Identify them and offer thanks to God. It will enhance the quality of your life.
For March: Healthy Diet
Protein,
vitamins and minerals which is energy consumed and expended in a healthy diet that will vary with age and gender. Maintaining a healthy diet gives you more energy to enjoy life.
For
April: Positive Speech
Hold back the negative and harsh remark your change in attitude can lead to success. Accentuate the Positive, eliminate the negative, and let you speech be a joy to others.
For May: Kindness
Kindness counts. You might be the smartest person in the room, but if you are not the kindest you will not get far. Your highest priority every
day this month will be to do at least one act of kindness.
For June: Smile
Smiling is the easiest but most profound way to
make it an action of love, not only will your smile benefit others but it will reduce your own stress levels.
For July: Forgiveness
This
month work on extended forgiveness for individuals who have hurt you, they don’t need to be aware of your forgiveness, but in doing this you are setting yourself free and releasing the anger in your heart by forgiveness.
For August: Judge Favourably
When you assess a friend, do not rely exclusively on their bad points, be influenced instead by the good things you know of their
significant goodness, reverse the habit of adverse judgement and give them the benefit of the doubt.
For September: Wisdom
Focus
in cultivating wisdom “Cleverness is not wisdom” Seek it out with writings of wise women and men, learn from bad mistakes, start again every time you fall, learn from a spiritual friend, Pray for it and be worthy of it.
For October: Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is an often contagious joy and energy, try to bring enthusiasm to everything and everyone in your life, even when
things are not going your way.
For November: Prayer
Prayer is God’s way to transform us, add the discipline of prayer
to your daily life and pray to dear Lord to see more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly, day by day.
For December: Lighten Up!
Don’t take yourself so seriously. Laugh a little, smile even more when life is not all you wish.
In the heart of every Christian God has planted the desire for spirituality.
No
matter how unfit your life may seem, in striving for holiness God gives us sufficient grace and if we correspond, it brings us sanctity.
Every effort for any one striving after holiness gets its reward.
God deals with our efforts for holiness,
with great generosity.
He bestows us with graces to overcome all obstacles, and only permits trials which are never beyond our strength.
We can draw spiritual gain from our daily life and return God’s generosity.
We harden
ourselves against God’s call “Come Follow Me”
“My Yoke Is Sweet And My Burden Is light”.
The reason that we fear the yoke of Christ is that unimportant ideas occupy the stronghold of our minds, our zeal
is spent on gains and pleasures that give us a rapid return, and leaves no room for holiness.
We need to alter the fact that we undervalue holiness and realize that it is the most important thing in our lives to strive after it.
In order to change
our outlook, we must give our minds the chance to raise it self from the unimportant things in which it is immersed, and face the facts of Death and Eternity and immortality of our soul, and realize our insanity in preferring the temporal to eternal.
When we fall.......HE PICKS US UP.
When we are low.......HE ELEVATES US.
When we cry.......HE GATHERS OUR TEARS.
When we are broken.......HE PUTS US BACK TOGETHER.
Our Savior.
♥
When you are drowning.......I will lift you out.
When you lack faith......I will erase your doubt.
When you are slipping.......I will restore control.
When you are dying.....I will embrace your
Soul.
I am your Savior. Will you grab my outreached hand?
When we are drowning He lifts us out
When we lack faith He erases our doubt
When we are
slipping he restores control
When we are dying He embraces our Soul
Grab Our Savior’s outreached hand
My prayer for all my family and friends is that we will take time
to pray and open our hearts to the gift of the Holy Spirit, asking for our faith to be deepened, for confirmation of our hope in God’s promises, and help to increase our generosity in our love for God and one another, especially to open our eyes to the
needy and suffering of those around us. It is in the suffering in our midst that we meet the suffering Christ, and it is in them that we truly serve him.
NAME IT and CLAIM IT, BELIEVE IT and
RECEIVE IT!!!!!!!!!! !
It's a POWERFUL PRAYER! When you are DOWN to nothing ...
God is UP to something'
Father, in the Name of Jesus, bless me even
while I'm reading this prayer
and bless the one that sent this to me in a special way.
Open Doors in our lives today, Save and set free!
Give us a double
portion of your Spirit as we take back
everything that the devil has stolen:
· Emotional Health
· Physical
Health
· Finances
· Relationships
· Children
· Jobs
· Homes
· Marriages
I cancel every plot, plan and scheme the enemy has devised against us in
The NAME OF JESUS.
And I declare: NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US WILL PROSPER.
I speak LIFE into every dead situation.
And, I thank you that nothing is over until YOU say it's over!
Speak prophetically into our lives and to our situations:
· our households are blessed;
· our health is blessed ;
· our marriages are blessed;
· our
finances are blessed;
· our relationships are blessed;
· our businesses are blessed;
· our jobs are blessed;
· our children are blessed;
· our
grandchildren are blessed;
· our parents are blessed;
· our siblings are blessed;
· our ministries are blessed;
· our decisions are blessed;
· Our
friends are blessed.
· Mortgages are paid and debts cancelled;
our hearts' desire is on the Way; According to
YOUR
perfect will and plan for our lives.
You Said You Would Never Forsake Us!