On March 19, we remembered St. Joseph, Jesus' Father. And on March 31,
the Annunciation of our Lord, where the Angel Gabriel is sent by God to announce to Mary that she would be the Mother of the Son of the Most High, God's Son. What great parents Mary and Joseph were -loving and devoted, Jesus' Mom and Dad in every sense of the word. There are all kinds of parents. Some are foster parents like Joseph. There are people who married a person who had children and become a step parent. There are people who simply volunteer to parent a needy child in their neighborhood or maybe at school. Their lives are testimony to the value of simple everyday things called parenting. God bless all of you past and present. There is a wonderful parenting story about how Jesus got separated from them at a festival for three days in Luke 2: 41-52. They were beside themselves with worry until they finally located him. Below you will find a beautiful reflection from "Forward Day by Day's" Mary Cox, March 2019, about Joseph's love for Jesus - and for the love all you who parent have for their children too. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. He said to them, “Why were you searching for me ? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49) For 12 years this boy has been at my side in the carpenter shop, my hands guiding his. I had almost forgotten the angels, the stable, and the journey to Egypt...and that he's not really mine. Today has brought it all back. He's God's child,and God knows what is planned for him. When he went missing, my heart went cold.I didn't want Mary to see how terrified I was. "He's probably with family," I said. And he was - in his Father's house. We will go home, back to our ordinary lives, but I will look at him in a new way. What will he say at his bar mitzvah? What will I say to him ? O Lord, how I love this child, every minute of it. Whatever comes next, I thank you for your Son - my son. I have kept Prayer Journals for a lot of years. I encourage you to do so, too. It's just a lined notebook in which I put quotations from scriptures and articles I like, and prayers people request. What is does for me is provide a wonderful compass of where I am at on my journey with Jesus, how much I have grown as I try to keep Jesus at the center of my life. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack As you know, I have kept Prayer Journals for a lot of years. I encourage you to do so, too.
It's just a lined notebook in which I put quotations from scriptures and articles I like, and prayers people request. What is does for me is provide a wonderful compass of where I am at on my journey with Jesus, how much I have grown as I try to keep Jesus at the center of my life. "The Lord is near to the broken hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18) "I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears." (Psalm 34:4) Episcopal Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, encourages all of us to adopt "The Way of Love." To consider ways we can keep Jesus at the center of our lives. Adopt a practice he says that include turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, and rest. He gave me a lot to think about and do. Why don't you give it a try? We have nothing to lose and everything to gain: Jesus. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. The Brick Wall Prayer
Our Mike Gollihur sent me this prayer recently. I'm placing this in my 2019 Prayer Journal for sure. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack A Prayer to Know God's Will for Your Life. By Rachel-Claire Cockrell "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29: 11) The Brick Wall Prayer (A Prayer to Know God's Will): God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my fears and my desires. You know how much I want this. You know how much I will be devastated if this doesn't happen. I know you love me. I know you have a plan for me. Please, Lord, don't let my desires blind me to your will. If this is not within your plan for me, throw up a Brick Wall. Give me an obstacle I cannot get past. Help me follow your will Father. Give me peace about whatever is to come. If this falls through, I will know it is your hand. Thank you for loving me. Amen. This is from my 2019 Prayer Journal.
I like it because it tells all of us just how much God loves us. Blessings and love, Fr, Jack. "I lift my eyes to the hills-from where will my help come? My help comes the Lord, who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 121: 1-2) "Our God is the God of always more. As Saint Paul so beautifully put it in his letter to the Ephesians, 'Can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.' (3:20 ) Such is the overflow of God's richness, the generosity of God's outpoured love for us and for all that God has made." (T.S. Haller, BSC. The Anglican Digest, Summer 2018 ) I like this prayer from my 1983 Prayer Journal.
It has been very helpful for me. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. A Healing Prayer Only by calling on God are we able to forgive and forget. Father, we praise you for your healing mercy. Thank you for loving and accepting us with all our hurts, hangups and sins, but thank you even more for caring enough to change us. Thank you for saving us from ourselves and our unwittingly self-destructive tendencies. We reach out and open to receive your tender mercies, praising you for showing us that we are forgiven so that we may be able to forgive - both ourselves and others! Amen. (Jon Eargle, Healing Where You Hurt on the Inside) This prayer for members of the Armed Forces is taken from issues of Forward Day by Day that were published during WWII. It's a prayer we can use for those who serve today. Both of my brothers served in WWII.
Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. For those in the service of our country: Bless, O God, all who have left their homes to fight for the world's freedom, and those who risk their lives to serve them. Give them wisdom, courage, and fidelity to the highest. Let no ordeal separate them from the love of Christ. Sanctify the strong, uphold the weak, stretch forth thy gracious hand to the dying, in mercy receive the dead. And hasten the coming of godly peace, through the power of the Holy Spirit who cometh from thee, O Father, and thee, O Christ, world without end. Amen. (1945) This is from my 2006 Prayer Journal. It's a quotation from the famous Christian Apologist, C.S. Lewis in his book titled, "Mere Christianity." I love his humility and compassion for people like you and me. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. "(A Christian ) does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it." C.S. Lewis, British Christian Apologist, novelist and writer, lay theologian, 1898 - 1963. Also taught at Oxford and Cambridge Universities This quotation from Madeleine L'Engle from my 2006 prayer Journal is so true.
It is in the difficult times of our lives that it is so easy to turn away from or blame God for what happened to us. Remember God is always with us. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. "It is when things go wrong, when the good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly." (Madeleine L’Engle, 1918 to 2007, fiction writer, Episcopalian) Friends: I believe it is God's nature to be loving, kind and gentle to us and others always. Sometimes we have a tough time believing this and are far too hard on ourselves. Maybe this article I saved in my 2016 Prayer Journal
will help you. Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. "Jesus died for the sins of Judas, the same for the sins of John. There is no sin so great that our Lord cannot love you - otherwise we would not be commanded to love our enemies. If you have been an enemy to God, it's okay. You are still loved. God will not turn you away for being unlovable." (Lane Morris Buchanan-Forward Day By Day-July 2016) This is from my 2006 Prayer Journal. I think you will enjoy it.
Blessings and love, Fr. Jack. "Preparing the Heart." "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." ( Psalm 103:12 ) Confession does for the soul what preparing the land does for the field. Before the farmer sows the seed he works the acreage, removing rocks and pulling stumps. He knows seed grows better if the land is prepared. Confession is the act of inviting God to walk the acreage of our hearts. "There is a rock of greed over here Father, I can't budge it. And that tree of guilt near the fence? It's roots are long and deep. And may I show you some dry soil, too crusty for seed?" God's seeds grow better if the soil of the heart is cleared. And so the Father and the Son walk the field together, digging and pulling, preparing the heart for fruit. Confession invites the Father to work the soil of the soul. (Max Lucado's book of inspirational thoughts titled, " Grace.") |