From Norwood Morris, Mobile, Ala. -St. Ignatius
Our lives are but a vapor of smoke, but a breath, a mist (Psalm 39; James 4:14). Yet we are created by God and created FOR God (Colossians 1:16) to give glory to Him (1 Corinthians 10:31) and to please our LORD while we live (Romans 14:8-9). So let us today pray for the grace to do as we are commanded by our faithful Father (Ps. 117) to rejoice always and to not be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:4-6) for our King and Lord is worthy of all praise (Revelation 4:11). Jesus loves me, but you are His favorite!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Special MoSJ Meeting: Dr. Fletcher Armstrong to speak on the Genocide Awareness Project
Consider these two questions as you consider attending:
- Is there anything more important in our society than ending the mass violence against unborn children in America?
- Is there any better place to engage this battle than the college campus?
"My first experience with the Center for Bioethical Reform (CBR) was in college just two years ago. I started a pro-life organization at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and invited Fletcher and CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project to my campus.Please make every effort to hear Fletcher Armstrong speak about his work at The Marian Center Tuesday Nov. 17th at 7:30pm. I’m confident you will not regret it!
"It was incredible to see the amount of response we received. Everyone on campus was talking about abortion. It was great! Overall, the results were very positive. We do not know how many lives could have been saved, but we do know we had a major impact on many vulnerable students.
"Most people simply do not know what abortion really is or if they do, they are not fully conscious of its gruesomeness. The Genocide Awareness Project, set up by CBR on college campuses, allows people to become educated. We are pulling back the veil on the abortion industry and showing it to the world!"
-- Bry Shields, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius
Monday, November 9, 2009
Butterfly Kisses and a Father's Love
By Tommy Fulton, Mobile, Ala., - St. Dominic
Most of us have heard the song, “Butterfly Kisses”, by Bob Carlisle. If you haven’t, I sincerely hope that you take the time to listen to it. It’s the beautiful story of a father watching his daughter grow from a little girl into a woman. As she grows, her father thanks God for rewarding him with a lasting relationship with her. As a father of four girls and a son, I can certainly relate to those many, many cherished times as they grew.
Bob Carlisle wrote another song that I’ve just recently discovered. The title, “Father’s Love”, is so appropriate for the Men of St. Joseph. Although the words are appropriate for both sons and daughters, this song talks about a father’s relationship with his son. It’s pertinent to the Men of St. Joseph and our theme of putting the family back in the hands of The Father.
The main theme of this song moves from a father’s love for his son to our Father’s love for us. Carlisle assures his son that “there is no power on Earth, like your father’s love…so big and so strong, like your father’s love…” He says that it’s a promise that’s “sacred…a promise from heaven above.” To me, it’s at this point that you realize that he’s talking about God, our Father and His love for us.
“No matter where you go, always know you can depend on your Father’s love…” I know that my father gave me that feeling as I grew up, and I certainly hope and pray that my children know they can count on that from me. The father in the song then assures his son that, “even when my life on earth is through, there’s still a part of me in you…’cause some things are forever…”
The Men of St. Joseph are working hard to help instill this theme into all of us. Especially, though, MOSJ encourages us to remember that there is no power on earth, like Our Father’s love. Bob Carlisle does a beautiful job describing those relationships in both “Butterfly Kisses” and “Father’s Love.” I hope you take the time to listen!
Most of us have heard the song, “Butterfly Kisses”, by Bob Carlisle. If you haven’t, I sincerely hope that you take the time to listen to it. It’s the beautiful story of a father watching his daughter grow from a little girl into a woman. As she grows, her father thanks God for rewarding him with a lasting relationship with her. As a father of four girls and a son, I can certainly relate to those many, many cherished times as they grew.
Bob Carlisle wrote another song that I’ve just recently discovered. The title, “Father’s Love”, is so appropriate for the Men of St. Joseph. Although the words are appropriate for both sons and daughters, this song talks about a father’s relationship with his son. It’s pertinent to the Men of St. Joseph and our theme of putting the family back in the hands of The Father.
The main theme of this song moves from a father’s love for his son to our Father’s love for us. Carlisle assures his son that “there is no power on Earth, like your father’s love…so big and so strong, like your father’s love…” He says that it’s a promise that’s “sacred…a promise from heaven above.” To me, it’s at this point that you realize that he’s talking about God, our Father and His love for us.
“No matter where you go, always know you can depend on your Father’s love…” I know that my father gave me that feeling as I grew up, and I certainly hope and pray that my children know they can count on that from me. The father in the song then assures his son that, “even when my life on earth is through, there’s still a part of me in you…’cause some things are forever…”
The Men of St. Joseph are working hard to help instill this theme into all of us. Especially, though, MOSJ encourages us to remember that there is no power on earth, like Our Father’s love. Bob Carlisle does a beautiful job describing those relationships in both “Butterfly Kisses” and “Father’s Love.” I hope you take the time to listen!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Widow's Mite
Everything we have and everything we have done has been accomplished by God.
Isaiah 26:12
If everything I am is from our Father, if everything I have is our Father’s why is it so hard to give it back to Him?
This Sunday’s (11.8.09) Gospel reading from Mark speaks of the poor widow who “put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury” because “she contributed all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Mk. 12:38-44. For the widow, God was more important than anything else, including self. The widow understood that detachment from material possessions and dependence on Christ Jesus leads us to blessedness. See Luke 21:1-4 (and NAB note); Matthew 5:3-12.
God has called us to place Him before everything and everyone (Deuteronomy 5:7) and promises that He will give us our heart’s desires (Psalm 37:4). But, as we see in the reading from Luke 14:15-24 (11.3.09) we have many idols, many distractions and many excuses to refuse Jesus’ call. But, the truth remains that Christ Jesus has chosen us, we have not chosen Him (Jn. 15:16). Jesus has done it all for us. He has washed us clean by His personal sacrifice and given us eternal salvation (Hebrews 9:24-28; Jn. 1:29, 35).
The homily today (11.4.09) spoke about taking up our cross and renouncing all our possessions to become Christ Jesus’ disciple (Lk. 14:25-33). We must have a readiness to surrender, to die to self, to take up our cross to reach the end. This is the means to the end we “all want” and desire. It is God we were created for, but it is our idols that prevent us from getting there. So today let us pray for the grace to declare, “the LORD is my shepherd I shall not want or need” (Psalm 23:1). Let us today pray for the grace to receive the grace to live as the widow who wanted nothing but her creator.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
On Being Generous
By Todd Sylvester, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius
We all have standards that we live by. We draw lines, either in our heads or literally in our environment. When someone asks me for a “favor”, I always want to know what it is before I commit to it. Especially from some of my friends who have a tendency to push me to the limit of generosity (like the guy who asked if I could pick something up for him using my truck- it just happened to be a piano in Birmingham!) I continue to ask God to stretch me beyond my comfort zone of giving. I ask for greater opportunities to die to myself. I ask for God to show me deeper ways to give. I honestly don’t have much money to give away. I tithe and then give what else I can, but I do have talents that I can give away. I love helping out people in need. I am conscious about where I have drawn the lines in my own life and ask God to help me move them. When I hold back and say, “No, this is as far as I will go!” That’s when God will tenderly invite me to more.
A friend and I were talking one time about what our wives expect of us and what we normally do around the house and he was very critical of me. He told me that I blew it long ago. I asked what he meant and he said I should have drawn the line in the sand when I was first married (like he did) because as soon as you do something once, your wife expects you to do it all the time! To which I responded, “So does God.” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:18 “Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.” I’m not where I need to be yet. I still have lines in my life where I stop giving, but with God’s Grace I’ll get them all erased before I take my last breath- may you do the same. Peace, Todd
We all have standards that we live by. We draw lines, either in our heads or literally in our environment. When someone asks me for a “favor”, I always want to know what it is before I commit to it. Especially from some of my friends who have a tendency to push me to the limit of generosity (like the guy who asked if I could pick something up for him using my truck- it just happened to be a piano in Birmingham!) I continue to ask God to stretch me beyond my comfort zone of giving. I ask for greater opportunities to die to myself. I ask for God to show me deeper ways to give. I honestly don’t have much money to give away. I tithe and then give what else I can, but I do have talents that I can give away. I love helping out people in need. I am conscious about where I have drawn the lines in my own life and ask God to help me move them. When I hold back and say, “No, this is as far as I will go!” That’s when God will tenderly invite me to more.
A friend and I were talking one time about what our wives expect of us and what we normally do around the house and he was very critical of me. He told me that I blew it long ago. I asked what he meant and he said I should have drawn the line in the sand when I was first married (like he did) because as soon as you do something once, your wife expects you to do it all the time! To which I responded, “So does God.” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:18 “Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.” I’m not where I need to be yet. I still have lines in my life where I stop giving, but with God’s Grace I’ll get them all erased before I take my last breath- may you do the same. Peace, Todd
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Put it in Park
By Anthony Tobin, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius
The Gospel for All Saints Day led us into some great discussion and the presentation by Ronnie really made me think about what it is we are trying to do here. To refresh our memories the Gospel was Matt 5, also known as the Beatitudes. What Ronnie rightly pointed out is that the Beatitudes are a call to sainthood. Contrary to telling us what not to do, they are telling us how we need to be; meek, poor in spirit, merciful, pure of heart, ect. Ronnie then went on to share an experience from his life in which he was trying to live out the Beatitudes.
The way I see it, what we are doing here every Tuesday, and further more with every Mass and prayer, can be likened to football practice. It is like we are doing doubles with 6:15 Mass and then an hour of prayer and reflection. Just as football practice is physically exhausting, this can be spiritually exhausting. But what we are doing here is more than a practice, it is a training of our bodies/souls. And just as a football player works hard and drives his body so that when the coach calls him, when it is his time to perform, ‘when it matters’, he will not fail. So we, like a football player, train ourselves and drive our bodies so that when we are called upon, when it is our time to “shine”, we are a reflection of Christ.
Just as Ronnie, we will all be called to “put it in park”. We will all be called in little ways and in big ways to be witnesses and examples of God’s unfailing love. Trust me men, you will be called to play in the game. God will call on you and say, “Show them how I love.” And it will be hard, it will be exhausting, it will be a dying to yourself. This is why we need to do as Paul did, “I drive my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
The Gospel for All Saints Day led us into some great discussion and the presentation by Ronnie really made me think about what it is we are trying to do here. To refresh our memories the Gospel was Matt 5, also known as the Beatitudes. What Ronnie rightly pointed out is that the Beatitudes are a call to sainthood. Contrary to telling us what not to do, they are telling us how we need to be; meek, poor in spirit, merciful, pure of heart, ect. Ronnie then went on to share an experience from his life in which he was trying to live out the Beatitudes.
The way I see it, what we are doing here every Tuesday, and further more with every Mass and prayer, can be likened to football practice. It is like we are doing doubles with 6:15 Mass and then an hour of prayer and reflection. Just as football practice is physically exhausting, this can be spiritually exhausting. But what we are doing here is more than a practice, it is a training of our bodies/souls. And just as a football player works hard and drives his body so that when the coach calls him, when it is his time to perform, ‘when it matters’, he will not fail. So we, like a football player, train ourselves and drive our bodies so that when we are called upon, when it is our time to “shine”, we are a reflection of Christ.
Just as Ronnie, we will all be called to “put it in park”. We will all be called in little ways and in big ways to be witnesses and examples of God’s unfailing love. Trust me men, you will be called to play in the game. God will call on you and say, “Show them how I love.” And it will be hard, it will be exhausting, it will be a dying to yourself. This is why we need to do as Paul did, “I drive my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
Monday, November 2, 2009
All Soul's Day
As we renew our faith in your Son, Whom you raised from the dead,
strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters
will share in his resurrection,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
--Opening Prayer
Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day)
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