NO INSTANT SOLUTIONS, CONT’D

I gave you the Peace Prayer the other day. Today we will start talking about how to pray it and use it for the good our ourselves, our neighbors and our Country.

We are asking for a great spiritual gift in the Peace Prayer. We are asking to live a life of gospel holiness, deep faith, compelling hop and self-giving love. We are asking to serve God and our brother and sisters. We are asking to be disciples.

Do we really want to pray such a prayer? Many of us are like the young Augustine: he was moved to ask God to make him chase and holy–but not just yet! Perhaps it would be more realistic to lower our goals this Lent and ask to be faithful in, say, the Ten Commandments rather then aspiring to become a self-giving instrument of God’s peace.

No, the reach of our prayers must exceed the grasp. There may be times when we don’t feel like praying a prayer that seems to put us on the spot as this one does. Yet we realize that we are called anew each day to live the gospel. We realize also that our responses of faith, ultimately are based on our will rather than on our feelings. We choose this, knowing full well that we may not be ready to choose it with our whole heart and soul. If we pray only when our faint heart conforms to all the aspirations of our prayer, how much praying would we do?

This Lent, let us humbly accept that, in our frailty, our prayer isn’t always as wholehearted as we’d like, and that, even on our best days, our weak wills may seem to be hedging.

So, folks, do we start praying and acting the St. Francis Peace Prayer? Do we start to change this Country, do we ask our teachers and our children to start acting the St. Francis Peace Prayer?  Do we start to being love, honesty, respect and hope back to this Country and our children? Do we do what really needs to be done to stop violence everywhere?

PRAYER;  Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy.

Give and show love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy to the people around you today. If you are a teacher, please start with your family then the children at school. God bless you all.

 

LENT- THE 9TH AND 10TH COMMANDMENT

NINE: YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR

TEN:  YOU SHALL NOT COVET

NO. 9: Small as it is, the tongue is one of the most powerful organs in the human body.

With it, we can do great good–defending other people, encouraging them, speaking words of comfort and hope.  God himself has chosen to share his precious promises with us by means of words.

The tongue can also be one of the most dangerous weapons we possess.  Without touching other people physically, we can do great damage by betraying, slandering, or lying about them.

Even silent, the tongue can be an instrument of evil–if we fail to speak when words are needed and could make a difference.

How have you used your tongue today?….or misused it?..or failed to use it?

PLACE ALL OF THESE ACCUSATIONS OVER JESUS’ HEAD ON THE CROSS:

NUMBER 10:  COVET is not a common word these days, but it describes a very common attitude.  GREED and LUST are more familiar words, and they have a sinister ring to them.   And rightly so, for almost every sin that we commit–stealing, lying, hurting, harming, abusing, betraying, deceiving, defiling–has its roots in our hearts long before it ever comes out into the open.

Like the little match that starts the raging forest fire, the tiny flame of coveting also has the potential to burst forth destructively.  THAT IS WHY GOD IN HIS LOVE CONDEMNS COVETING AS SIN, while it is still within us, before it has a chance to harm others or ourselves.

THIS, TOO, NEEDS FORGIVING.  PLACE EVEN SINS OF THE HEART ON THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST.

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Sat. of the Fifth Week of Lent, March 28.

“(Caiaphas) prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.”  Jn 11:51-52

PRAY FOR AN INCREASE OF FAITH FOR ALL PEOPLES OF THE WORLD.

LENT-7TH COMMANDMENT, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL

YOU SHALL NOT STEAL:  Stealing can take many forms, overt and subtle–everything from holding up a bank to cheating on a test, from loafing on the job to fudging on your income tax, from looting and vandalism to overcharging and underpaying.

And even if we pass the test here, we are only halfway through this commandment’s requirements; we are also to help others, “to improve and protect their property and means of making a living:–which indicates that a form of taking may simply be not giving.

EXAMINE YOUR CONSCIENCE AND PLACE ALL OF THESE ACCUSATIONS THAT APPLY TO YOU OVER JESUS’ HEAD ON THE CROSS

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FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT- PALM SUNDAY COMING UP: Jn 10-32 “Jesus said, ‘I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?'”

PRAY THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS SEEKING THE GRACES OF FORGIVENESS AND PERSERVERANCE.

LENT-6TH COMMANDMENT-YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY

YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY- SEX WAS GOD’S IDEA.  In the beginning it was God who created us male and female and gave husbands and wives to one another in Holy Matrimony.

The word HOLY IS IMPORTANT HERE, AND frequently forgotten, AS ARE words like PURE and HONORABLE.

THE GOD who made us holy through the blood of Jesus Christ and called us holy in our Baptism requires us to be HOLY in all our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Society frequently views SINS in matters of sex as virtually beyond forgiveness, but Jesus died for these as well.

EXAMINE the demining evidence against you today, and place every accusation over Jesus’ head on the Cross

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“Neither do I condemn you. God (and) from now on do not sin anymore…..”Jn 8:11)

RESOLVE TO CHANGE A HABIT IN YOUR LIFE THAT LEADS YOU TO SIN.!

Easter is only a week and 1/2 away.  Are you ready??????????????????

LENT & COMMANDMENT #4-HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER

HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER

THIS COMMANDMENT PLACES US IN A KIND OF “CHAIN-OF-COMMAND.” UNDER GOD, we have a serious obligation toward those whom God has placed over us in life–parents, teachers, employers, supervisors, and those whom God has called to govern.  We are not to despise or anger them, we are taught, but to respect, obey, love, and serve them–for they represent the authority of God himself in their various spheres of responsibility.  Likewise, we have a serious obligation toward those whom God has placed under us in society–children, students, employees, any whom God has placed in our care–for we bear the Name of the Lord in our dealings with them.  It is tempting to “step out of line” in either direction!

Examine the damning evidence against you today, and place every accusation over Jesus’ head on the Cross.

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Gospel Reading: Monday-Fourth Week of Lent  -Jn 4:43-54

“……..Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”  (Jn 4:48)

PRAY FOR THE COURAGE TO SURRENDER DOUBT AND PLACE YOUR TRUST IN GOD’S PROVIDENCE IN YOUR LIFE.

LENT, FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT, AND 3RD COMMANDMENT

REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY. (HEBREWS 10:19-25,& COLOSSIANS 3:12-17)

“WE ARE TO FEAR AND LOVE GOD so that we do not neglect his Word and the preaching of it,” we are taught.  Is that always the case with you?  Is it true every time God’s Word is being proclaimed in church?  Is it true also in your own home?

OR DO television programs, sporting events, social obligations, and business concerns speak more loudly in our ears than does the saving Word of God?  Even when we try our best, we fall short.  We are to “REGARD GOD’S WORD as holy and gladly hear and learn it,” we are taught.  Is GLADLY always the word that characterizes our worship?  Is HOLY the attitude we bring into the presence of the Lord?

EXAMINE the damning evidence against you today, and place every accusation over Jesus’ head on the Cross

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GOSPEL READING-4TH SUNDAY OF LENT

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (Jn.3:14-21)

PRAY THAT YOUR BELIEF AND FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, OUR SAVIOR, MAY BE STRENGTHENED.

LENT, THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK

SECOND COMMANDMENT: THE NAME OF THE LORD was given to you in your Baptism.  There God claimed you as his own child, a member of the Royal Family.

With that great honor comes also great responsibility.  Wherever you go and whatever you do, you take the Name of the Lord with you.  Wherever you go and whatever you do, God’s reputation is at stake, for you are God’s representative who bears the Name.

God’s Name is hallowed when we believe his holy Word and live according to it.  God’s Name is dishonored whenever our actions do not correspond with what God has named us to be.

HOW HAVE YOU “TAKEN” THAT NAME?…FAITHFULLY..OR “IN VAIN”?

EXAMINE the damning evidence against you today, and place every accusation over Jesus’ head on the Cross.

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Gospel Reading: LK 11:17 – “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.”

PRAY FOR UNITY WITHIN THE CHURCH.