Giving up Something for Lent

I gave up something for Lent this year:  sweets.  "Has it been hard?" a friend asked.  Yes, it has been hard.  I look forward to Sundays, the celebration day when I can have sweets.  Lent starts forty days before Easter, not counting Sundays.

Whenever I want something sweet,  instead of eating it, I thank Jesus for all He gave up for me.  This is a small token of my love for Him and allows me to deny myself and remember Him.

TV~  (Today's Verse)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  [I John 3:16]

How to Love Life

Whoever desires to love life and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil  and his lips from speaking deceit;  

let him turn away from evil and do good;

let him seek peace and pursue it.
                                                         I Peter 3:10,11

Simple, yet challenging.   Six actions are necessary:

1.  Keep tongue from evil.
2.  Keep lips from speaking deceit.
3.  Turn away from evil.
4.  Do good.
5.  Seek peace.
6.  Pursue it.

 Two results:

1.  Love life.
2.  See good days.


TV~   (Today's Verse)
 

 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 
[Ecclesiastes 3:12]

St. Patrick's Breastplate

THIS is the real St. Patrick.  If you have time, look up rest of the prayer. (The above is just one part.)         "I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the Trinity....."

TV~  (Today's Verse)
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  [Colossians 1:27]

Sorrow: Yes. Guilt: No. Prayer: Necessary.

 

Parental Wisdom from St. Louise de Marillac

"The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wondrous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a
failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary,at the end of each decade they should
hold the Rosary aloft and say to her,"With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart", she will attend to their souls. "
(St. Louise de Marillac)

Patroness of Social Workers
Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) helped direct the Ladies of Charity in their work of caring for the sick, the poor, and the neglected.  She set up a training center for candidates seeking to help in her work. This was the beginning of the Sisters (or Daughters, as Vincent preferred) of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. She took her vows in 1634 and attracted great numbers of candidates. She traveled all over France establishing her Sisters in hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions. By the time of her death in Paris on March 15, the Congregation had more than forty houses in France. Since then they have spread all over the world. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934, and was declared Patroness of Social Workers by Pope John XXIII in 1960. Her feast day is March 15th.    (Excerpts from Wikipedia)

Cemented with Tears

The Altar

by George Herbert

A broken A L T A R, Lord, thy servant rears,

Made of a heart, and cemented with tears:

Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;

No workman’s tool hath touched the same.

                A H E A R T alone

                Is such a stone,

                As nothing but

                Thy pow'r doth cut.

                Wherefore each part

                Of my hard heart

                Meets in this frame,

                To praise thy Name;

That, if I chance to hold my peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease.

O let thy blessed S A C R I F I C E be mine,

And sanctify this A L T A R to be thine.

Altar of Saint John the Evangelist at St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia

The Altar of Saint John the Evangelist was originally that of the Lady Chapel, and was given by Rodman Wanamaker, the son of John Wanamaker. When his wife Fernanda Henry died in 1900, he built the Lady Chapel as a memorial and she is buried in the crypt beneath it. The original furnishings of the chapel were of alabaster and carved wood, deigned by C. E. Kempe.

When Mr. Wanamaker subsequently decided to re-furnish the chapel in it present style, the altar and reredos were placed at the head of the north aisle. This altar, which is of carved alabaster, was rededicated to Saint John - now the arrangement of altars echoes the traditional grouping around the foot of the Cross with Jesus in the center and his Blessed Mother and the Beloved Disciple on the sides. The reredos is of black oak carved in Oberammergau in 1903 and then polychromed in England. It contains figures representing David, Isaiah and other Prophets of the Incarnation, as well as great theologians of the Church: Saints Ambrose, Augustine, and Anselm on the left and Saints Gregory the Great, Jerome and Bernard on the right. The carved figures of the Annunciation that are now in the Baptistery were originally in the center panels of this polyprych.

Craving Sweets

We all know the feeling of craving sweets.  Chocolate is the most notorious for this, yet oftentimes any sweet will quell the craving.

God's words are called sweet:  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)  May it be that we crave His words as well.  They are a healthy, delicious sweet of which we can never eat too much.

TV~ (Today's Verse) 
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. [Job 23:12]
 

Church Fruit

When we talk about the fruits of the spirit, we mean: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  The scriptures say that we will know "them" by their fruits.  I always have taken this to mean individual people.

However, this can apply to church congregations as well.  What sort of fruit do you notice among your church congregation, as a whole?  If the fruits of the Spirit are evidenced, then it is a good "tree." 

TV~  (Today's Verse)
So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.…  [Matthew 7:18]