Today’s Readings

Scripture: Lectionary # 501. Fri. of 33 week. I Macc. 4:36-37.52-59. I
Chronicles 29:10.11.11-12.12. Luke 19:45-48:

Jesus in many ways is similar to the prophet Jeremiah who had a very
special calling from the Lord to confront kings and religious leaders.
Jeremiah also suffered very much and pleaded with God whom he was convinced
had duped him! Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me.” Today we see Jesus confronting with his justifiable anger the money
changers within the temple. Jeremiah had done the same for other reasons
and said it is useless to fake homage to the Temple and then behave
immorally. “The Temple! the Temple! the Temple!” Jesus uses the
expression of “My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of
thieves…Zeal for your house has eaten me up.”

Perhaps, we as believers, can take the first part of that expression and
think about it in reference to our prayer life and our desire to worship
and honor God with reverence and devotion. “My house is meant for a house
of prayer.” We are encouraged by this saying to respect sacred places like
synagogues, chapels, and mosques. Even today, when we think people are
civilized, crimes are committed agains these houses of prayer. They are
desecrated, burned, destroyed. We therefore must cherish these places that
are rather accessible to us. We often know of others who have found a
sanctuary to be a place for calming oneself and for finding some peaceful
space to just “be.” On some Catholic campuses one can see students
gathering to pray and worship God both as friends and as individuals. This
helps others to think about God and to do the same with respectful behavior
and with prayer.

In religious communities there is usually a chapel for the praying of the
Divine Office or for the Mass, but religous brothers and sisters also have
a space in their own room for prayer–a favorite corner with an icon or a
candle and maybe a Bible nearby or a spiritual reading book. With Advent
fast approaching us, we may wish to look into whether we have a sacred
space for our personal prayer and whether we may find some prayer time to
visit a Church and pray there. The quiet atmosphere will help us in our
preparation.

Finally, here is a thought from Cardinal Newman: “May God support us all
the day long, until the shadows lengthen and evening comes and the busy
world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done.
Then in His mercyhmay He give us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace
at last.” Amen.

Today’s Readings



Scripture: Lectionary # 500. Thurs. 33 week. I Macc. 2:15-29. Psalm
50:1-2.5-6.14-15. Luke 19:41-44:

Jesus weeps over the holy city of Jerusalem. He is envisioning the
destruction of the holy Zion by the Romans. It will be devastating and
cause such sorrow that has not been seen before by Jesus’ people. It is
also the culmination of his journey up to Jerusalem. Now he will have his
last week that starts with joy but will end with his suffering, death, and
resurrection. The disciples are being called to enter into the deepest
mysteries of Christ as they follow him during this coming week of his life.
We are disciples of Jesus so as we come to the final days of this week and
next week we realize we are ending another liturgical year. The readings
are chosen because they help us to reflect on the “last things”–or as we
have seen, on the eschatology of the Evangelists who are struggling with
the same things we do when it comes to the death of Jesus and what this
means for us as committed Christians. We should take some time to reflect
on the past liturgical year and assess how we have done with our
participation in the liturgy, our attention to the words of the Gospels and
the readings. We can also tune up for the season of Advent by carefully
reflecting on these eschatological readings that we will be hearing this
coming week. Renewal, self-examination of our spiritual life, and prayer
are themes for these next days.

Here is an excellent insight from Fr. C.Stuhlmueller on the weeping of
Jesus taken from his Jerome Biblica Commentary on Luke: “Luke draws his
imagery and language from Jeremiah. The Greek verb for weep (klaio)
registers great emotion at departures (see Acts 21:13); with deep interior
agitation (Phil.3:18; I Sam. 1:7); because of shame and regret (Luke 7:38;
Lamentations 1:16); in mourning for the dead (Mark 5:38; Luke 7:13:32)).
Seldom does Luke reveal such anguished emotion in Jesus, The occasion is
Jesus’ first glimpse of Jerusalem since his boyhood episode (Luke 2:41ff).
It calls to mind the agony in the garden where Jesus sweats blood and
water. Amen.

Today’s Readings



Scripture: Lectionary # 499. Wed of 33 week. II Macc. 7:1.20-31. Psalm
17:1.5-6.6-8. 15. Luke 19:11-28:

Yesterday the reading from I Maccabees was about the heroic martyrdom of
Eleazar, an elderly Israelite who is a martyr. Today we have from II
Maccabees a more powerful story of a mother and her seven sons who are
martyrs. The narrative seems similar to what the early Christians wrote in
what are called “martyrologies.” Both Eleazar and the unnamed woman are
powerful models of courage and commitment to their belief in God as Creator
and Redeemer. God is a person for them; not a cosmic force–that is too
impersonal for men and women of the Bible. Eleazar is more involved with
the rituals of the Israelites and laws of purification whereas the example
of the mother and her sons is totally focused on their personal recognition
of a God who created them in the image and likeness of God. She and her
sons give their lives for the beliefs; they would rather die than break the
commandments God has given them. The mother is a source of great strength
for her children. They become martyrs for their convictions and fidelity to
their Personal God. Themes of creation, redemption, and even resurrection
are present within this dramatic narrative.

We see there is a type of unity between the deutero-canonical books of the
Alexandrian Jews and the Christian writings about the martyrs. The early
Church fathers and mothers insisted on the unity of both testaments and
that the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. Only
superficial reading of the bible makes people say that the God of the Old
Testament is a God of wrath; the God of the New is a God of love. Paul
challenges us to think more deeply than a superficial hasty reading of some
parts of the Bible rather than seeing the revelatory mysteries and
salvation history in the light of the whole of the Scriptures. Paul tells
us the “gifts of God are irrevocable.” He explains this in the section we
saw a few weeks ago dedicated to the gifts God has given to the Jewish
people. See Romans chapters 9-11.

What can we take from the readings from Maccabees? A lesson about fidelity
at all costs even of one’s life and the courage to become a martyr. We
will not be called to this in our lives, but we do know of modern day
martyrs from the Holocaust, from Rwanda, from those who died under
Communism. The innocent victims of the wars going on today are also
martyrs and have the same courage and dedication that the earlier martyrs
had. We need such powerful witnesses in a world that is filled with greed,
lust, and hate. Amen.

Today’s Readings

Lectionary # 498: Tue of 33 week
Scripture: II Macc.6:18-31. Psalm 3:2-3.4-5.6-8. Luke 19:1-10:

Zaccheus is wealthy because of his expertise in collecting taxes in the
city of Jericho. He however has been searching and looking for someone or
something that would give him passion for living. Jesus is now in Jericho
and Zaccheus aware of this desires to see this unusual person who not only
speaks well but has some extraordinary powers of healing people. Realizing
that he is amidst a large crowd following Jesus, he is not able to see
Jesus because he is small in stature. He runs ahead of the crowd and finds
a biblical sycamore tree (one that is more like a bush than our lofty
sycamores that are unable to be climbed). His extra effort pays off, for
we have seen that Jesus is a great observer. He notices this crafty man and
summons him to come down and to have dinner with Jesus in his house. The
man is overwhelmed and says he will give people back twofold whatever he
may have made for himself in some of the taxes he has collected. His
confession and firm purpose of amendment are sincere and he does have an
evening with Jesus. Finally, he has some passion in his life and can go on
doing good for people rather than living off of them through taxes he
collects.

We see that Jesus calls this person by name unlike the blind person who
was healed on this same journey near Jericho. His hospitality and change
of attitude is a good model for our own openness to finding Jesus anew each
day. Jesus’ saying at the end of this event is memorable: “The Son of Man
(Jesus himself in his total humanness) has come to search out and to save
what was lost.”

Fr. John McKenzie a popular scripture scholar from the middle of the last
century enlivens the scene for us by saying, “The story of the dignitary,
small of stature, who climbed a tree to see the distinguished visitor and
was called down liek a small boy is told with humor.” We too all need to
at times fall back into our “inner child” and climb up a tree in order to
get Jesus’ attention and maybe be invited to a banquet with the
Lord–perhaps we have this opportunity each day in the Eucharist if we wish
it. Amen.

“Today, if you hear His Voice, do not harden your hearts…” Hebrews 3:15

Have you ever heard God talking to you? He does, you know, and He longs for you to listen. Sometimes, we’re so preoccupied with going here, doing that, that we don’t hear it. His Voice gets lost in our grocery lists, our work responsibilities, while driving the kids to music lessons, and while packing lunches. Others hear Him, but ignore what they hear. But how can you listen, and really hear the Holy Spirit for yourself?

You must be silent.

This doesn’t just mean turning off your iPhone or the TV. Getting rid of all external noise is a start, of course, and very necessary. But to really listen for God, you must also still your mind. Think about God, and think about how much He loves you and wants to talk to you. Be really, truly silent—with your ears and your heart.

St. Therese, the Little Flower, was good at this. She knew the importance of quieting the mind and listening for His Voice. Sometimes we are so busy talking to ourselves or hearing unimportant chatter of the day from electronics or people around us that we aren’t letting God get a word in edgewise.

Sometimes, though, God speaks to you when you least expect it, and aren’t even prepared for it. This happens a lot to me!

On a grey winter day, in the silence of my car, God told me He had a plan for me: I was to write a fiction book for Catholic preteens, and it would be about St. Therese, my dear friend in Heaven. I was excited, but I had many doubts. Would this be a book kids would want to read? Could it actually be published? What if I got some information wrong about St. Therese? I have to admit that I was plagued by doubt. As many do, I questioned the Voice.

God and St. Therese (who is wonderfully persistent!) had other ideas, however. Because I listened to Him, God made so many wonderful things happen in one year. I know that St. Therese was praying for me during this time, interceding for me and giving me new ideas while I wrote, nudging me along. Last month, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of Olivia and the Little Way, when God made my writing dream come true. In one short year, I’ve had three printings, a Catholic Press Association book award, met hundreds of wonderful, faithful people, and have thousands of readers and fans of my little book. Amazing. And to think it is all because of a Voice.

I love going to book signings and meeting my readers. They tell me their stories about St. Therese, their grandchildren, their parents, their teachers, their children. I’ve been told I have a friendly face, and I like to think that I am approachable. It must be true because people tell me, a person they have just met, their personal stories all of the time! I love to listen. They love to tell. There’s something about St. Therese that brings out so much love in so many people. Some of them have much emotion when they talk about her, and some start to cry. “Little Therese,” as she liked to be called, has had such a powerful impact on so many people.

At one particular book signing this past spring at a church, I sat and chatted with parishioners about my book and St. Therese. The day was very long, and, being human, I started to get hungry and a little tired. Anyone who knows me knows that when I get hungry, I can get a little…crabby. Usually all it takes is a handful of cookies or crackers and I’m back to my old self. At this book signing, I was starting to feel the effects of a long day. I stood up and straightened up the books and St. Therese chaplets on the table, then started to rummage through my purse for a quick snack. While I was doing this, a very old woman came up to the table. Elderly and frail, she stopped and looked at me.

“I do love St. Therese,” she said, her eyes red and brimming with tears.

I sat down, smiled, and asked her to share her story.

She began a halting explanation of how St. Therese had touched her life in many ways. As she spoke, I couldn’t help but notice that the frail woman had not bathed in a long time. While she was talking to me, a parishioner came up beside her and offered to treat her to a copy of Olivia and the Little Way. She was delighted to accept, and was very grateful.

I signed a book for her and watched her hobble away. I felt very saddened because I knew she was poor, but I felt very happy too that she had a loving friend in the parish. She lingered by the church and stared inside while I watched her quietly, feeling something in my heart I could not explain.

It was in that instant that I heard His Voice.

“Give her a chaplet.”

The Voice was as clear as day. It was the same one I had heard before, and I smiled. I glanced at the table, which held books and chaplets with pink rose beads.

“Give her a chaplet,” the Voice said again, very insistent.

I reached over and collected a chaplet and the instruction card that I make to go with it. I approached the lady and held both of them out to her.

“Excuse me, Ma’am, these are for you,” I said.

The look on this lady’s face was sheer joy as I placed the items in her wrinkled hands.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” she cried.

“Thank you for coming to talk to me and sharing your story,” I said. Then I thought to myself, You’ve given me so much more than what I have given you.

Listen to His Voice. Do what He wants you to do. Be still and hear what He wants to say to you and you will be amazed, as I was and still am.



Copyright 2009 Nancy Carabio Belanger

Prayer: The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Music: “Spirit of Life” written and composed by Carolyn McDade (hymn #123 in the Unitarian Universalist hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition), performed by Susan Bailey.

Special links:
Frederica Mathewes-Green
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Susan would enjoy your feedback. Share your stories, your prayer requests. Write to her at susan@gvonline.net or call the feedback line at 206-600-6940. Support her ministry by visiting her Purchase page to buy books and CDs.

Copyright 2009 Susan Bailey

Today’s Readings


Scripture: Lectionary # 495. Wisdom 13:1-9. Psalm 19:2-3.4-5. Luke 17:26-37.

Wisdom is contrasted with those who lack it and are held responsible for not paying attention to the signs of God seen in all of creation. Wisdom is the creation of God and the spirit behind all that is created. Both our first reading from the Book of Wisdom and the Gospel point out that many of us miss the signs of God’s wisdom seen in the created things around us and in the lives of those who live by wisdom and its manifold gifts and virtues. We often miss the presence of God seen in nature and all the moreso seen in persons leading a noble and holy life of virtue. We consider them pious or other-worldly and of not much help to us in our sophisticated world of secular values and materialistic interests. Many stop short of going any further in contemplating the goods of creation seen as such as coming from a Personal God. In today’s reading from Wisdom, the inspired author is arguing from the “lesser to the greater.” This is both a principle of reasoning and also a sound principle in interpretation. Our commercial world is clever and likes to play on its sophistication by turning things around and saying, “Less is more!” Wisdom does not say this or mean this. We are considered foolish when we stop at less in the order of grace and Wisdom’s gifts. All that we see about us should help us to see and think about God. This takes time for reflection and prayer. St. Augustine tells us how he got lost in the beauty around him both in his sexual relations and in the joys of natural knowledge. He however continued to search and not be satified with the “less” and thus came to find God the beauty ever ancient and ever new. Peace and joy followed in his life and with the help of St.Monica’s prayer and sound advice he eventually became a person of true Wisdom and holiness. He was then ready to be a leader and a saintly theologian. Amen.

Today’s Readings

Scripture: Lectionary # 493. Wisdom 6:2-11. Psalm 82:3.4.6-7. Luke 17:11-19.

Thankfulness to God on the part of a Samaritan leper who has been healed by Jesus is a great example for us as we approach Thanksgiving Day. Ten lepers had been healed but the nine who were Israelites did not return to give thanks to Jesus; only the Samaritan did. He was considered by the Israelites to be a foreigner and a heretic. Jesus is deeply appreciative of his return and tells his disciples that this person was cured because of his faith. His thankfulness merited this extra confirmation of Jesus that not only was he healed of bodily infliction but also his spirit was now graced with the gift of faith acknowledged by Jesus in whom he trusted and believed. Jesus tells him, “Stand up and go, your faith has saved you (healed you,too).” Scholars tell us that in the narratives of the Gospels we not only have some of the historical events of Christ’s life but also the situation in the communities of the time in which the Evangelists wrote–often a generation or two removed from the actual time of Jesus. Thus Luke may be narrating this event in order to support the first influx of Samaritans to the Christian faith. We see this in his second work where this is emphasized, that is, that Samaritans were converting to the message of Jesus. Luke seems to be aware of this and hands it on in both his Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. There is also the third level of the Gospels, that of the Evangelist’s intention. For Luke we know that the themes of poverty, thankfulness, joy, and prayer are among the ones he hands on to the churches and to us. (This three stage development of the Gospels is clearly demonstrated in the Pontifical Biblical’s statement “Historical Truth of the Gospels”, 1964, and official document of Roman Catholicism). We can start our day with a prayer of thanksgiving for being alive to serve the Lord for another day. Placing ourselves in the presence of God at the start of a day offers us this great opportunity of thanking God for life and for our faith. This will help us appreciate not only Thanksgiving Day that is approaching us as a holiday but also as a day that is wholesomely and holy dedicated to God the giver of all good gifts. Amen.

Today’s Readings



Scripture: Lectionary # 492. Tue of 32 week. Wisdom 2:23-3:9. Psalm 34:3-4.18.23.27.29. Luke 17:7-10.

Many of us have heard today’s first reading at the Mass of Christian Burial. It is very consoling and shows us belief in the immortality of the soul already was a strong thought some hundred and fifty to two hundred years before Jesus was born. The rewards of the just are emphasized and their destiny in God is confirmed. They have lived with a certain amount of wisdom and gained integrity of heart through the various experiences of life. Now they are bathed in the peace that the God of Wisdom gives them. November is a month in which we have this week of readings from the Book of Wisdom. It is also the month in which we recall the lives of those holy ones who have gone before us on the journey of their faith toward God. We celebrate also the departure of all souls who are at peace with God and pray for those who will attain this peace. There is a give and a take in this communication of the saints both here and in the here after and this is a wholesome and holy thought that is confirmed in the Book of Wisdom. Though this is not the same as the Last Judgment or the Second Coming of Christ we believe that the kingdom of God is in the here and now and this included those who have gone through their “here and now.” The communion of saints past, present, and future is essential to the kingdom of God. More than any other writing that is inspired the Book of Revelation is all about this and how all are called to be united in the worship of God alone. The faithful departed and the saints witness to us of the absolute trust and hope that is full of immortality. “Chastized a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tied them and found them worthy of himself.” Amen.

Mary’s  “Yes” to God’s pro-life plan for her and our world dramatically changed history forever. Mary’s words, “Be it done unto me according to thy word” was absolute – it wasn’t hesitant or mediocre in any way. Mary didn’t even stop to consider what others might think of her. She was unwed when the Arch Angel Gabriel announced the news to her, after all. Yet, that faithful Jewish young lady put her faith fully in God’s plan for her life and was obedient to every detail that unfolded since that momentous occasion.

It was at the foot of her Son’s Cross that Mary became Mother of the Church and really our mother too. “Here is your Mother,” Jesus said from the Cross (Jn 19:26-27). He entrusted Mary to John and John to Mary. The disciple John actually represented the whole Christian community, so Mary became the Mother of the whole Church at her Son’s request. She became the new Eve (Jn 19:26).

We can learn so much from our Blessed Mother during our mothering. Mary may seem to be very far away and even unapproachable. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. We can call on her through simple or formal prayers to her and she will mother us and lead us to her Son, Jesus. We can pray to imitate her virtues.

As mothers busy about many things, we can pause, even momentarily throughout our days to lift our hearts in prayer. The beautiful prayer of the Rosary keeps us connected with the Blessed Mother and her Son, Jesus as we contemplate the Gospels while the beads meditatively slip through our fingers and we pray for the graces we need to continue our mothering.

In Bits and Pieces

Many times our hands are occupied with the care of the children and our household so we are unable to hold our beads to pray. At times like these, our beads may be in our pocket and we pray the Rosary in bits and pieces, one decade at a time, sometimes counting the Hail Mary’s on our fingertips. Other times we count our baby’s toes as we nurse him or her in the night. The acts of service to our families, driven by the love we have for them is the holy glue connecting our decades together to form at least one complete Rosary that we can offer to Mary and Jesus before the day is done. We can all attest, I’m sure, that sometimes it’s not until we are on our weary knees before we climb into bed that we can finally pray our closing Rosary prayer. We need to remember that God knows our lives. He made us the busy Moms! So, let’s not worry about what may appear as lost time in prayer. We can pray through our service to our family as long as we offer all of it to God.

In my book, Catholic Prayer Book for Mothers (Our Sunday Visitor, 2005), I wrote a little prayer to Jesus and the Blessed Mother about a mother’s prayer of the Rosary. It’s called, The Rosary, One Decade at a Time:

“Because caring for my family

Demands my full attention, Please, Lord, accept my Rosary

One decade at a time.

When the children are fed and dishes washed

And baby is asleep

I can borrow some time now to kneel down

And pray a decade of the Rosary.

And later, as I sit and rock and nurse my baby,

My heart goes out to You, my Lord,

As I recite the second decade.

When my baby cries and I attempt to calm her,

My fingers will be a substitute

For the next ten beads of the next decade.

After dinner, I can gather my flock

To kneel together for family prayer.

We will recite a decade along with our evening prayers.

Finally, when the day is finished,

And all are in bed,

With a quiet sigh,

I settle down and complete my Rosary to You.”

Amazing Opportunities for Grace

Our first responsibility, as we know, is to our families in a myriad of ways and we also strive to fit the prayers in wherever we can at every opportunity our Lord allows. But we must also be content knowing that it is through our acts of loving service and sacrifices of our time and energy in the care of our families that we earn the most valuable graces. Everything we do can be offered to God through our loving hearts. We’re so fortunate to have been blessed with a vocation in which we have amazing opportunities to earn grace and help to sanctify our families. God is so good to us!

In between our sometimes broken or interrupted Rosaries that we string throughout our days, we can offer short aspirations to our Blessed Mother – “Please dear Mary, help me in my mothering” or “Guide me please, dear Mary, to come closer to your Son, Jesus.” Mary is powerful and will protect our families. Since she knows all about motherhood, she will indeed help us in our mothering. We should get in the habit of praying to her often.

Years ago, when I was on complete bed rest due to a hemorrhaged uterus, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (whom I knew at the time) instructed me to pray a very simple but powerful prayer, “Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a Mother to me now. “ Notice the key word, “Now.” It’s a great prayer to use when calling upon our Blessed Mother when we are in a dire need of her at any moment – and even when things are calm, we welcome her loving presence near.

My doctor initially thought that I was miscarrying because I had three previous miscarriages and the hemorrhaging during this pregnancy did not look good. I prayed the prayer that Blessed Mother Teresa taught me throughout my high-risk pregnancy, wore the Miraculous medal that she gave me, and kept watch over my baby in all of my sonograms (the only time I was allowed a reprieve from bed rest). I watched with great interest the little, vulnerable unborn heart beating away, expressing its precious life to me. My own heart was intensely thankful and rejoiced each time I saw my unborn baby. Blessed Teresa also told me that “The Blessed Mother has helped others, she will also help you.” She was right. My tiny unborn baby survived that pregnancy and my daughter, Mary-Catherine is now eighteen-years-old. We’re counting our blessings.

We know that we will never accomplish what our Blessed Mother has, or be able to come close to her holiness, yet we are also called to holiness in the sublime role of raising our children. Our Mother Mary gives us so many attributes and virtues to emulate in our vocation as a mother. We can look to Mary and realize that her deep faith was really the foundation of her holiness. We can also remember that Mary was human like us and needed to pray so that she would be unwavering in her faith, just as we mothers are called to do. Mary’s faith is the same gift that is available to us. We can ask Our Lord for the gift of an increasing faith and ask Mary to be a mother to us, guiding us closer to her Son Jesus.  What better way to get closer to Jesus than through His mother?

As far away or unapproachable as Mother Mary may seem to us at times, she’s actually much closer than we think. She’s with us and assisting us in our domestic churches. Let’s not forget to ask her for help though. Let’s be sure to invite her into our homes. If you haven’t started to pray the beautiful prayer of the Rosary with your family yet, begin today with just one Hail Mary prayed together after “Grace Before Meals” is said at your dinner table. Then, build upon that, putting your family under the motherly care of Mary.

“Roses For You”

Dear Blessed Mother, please accept my motherly tasks this day

As a little act of love. Let them be as roses to be put at

Your feet, one by one.

I pray that by the end of the day, there will be an

Enormous bouquet to adorn your feet. Amen.

Blessed Mother Mary wants to mother us all. Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a Mother to me now!

This article originally appeared on the TORCH website (www.torchhomeschooling.org). Traditions of Roman Catholic Homes (TORCH) is an association of lay faithful established to promote homeschooling among Catholic families and to support those families who are engaged in providing their children’s primary education at home.

Copyright 2009 Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle

After making my last confession, I asked myself how would I be able to avoid this sin in the future. What is the perfect balance between being Christ-like and being permissive?  I know as a parent I am not serving God or my children if I don’t bring them up correctly.

I have found several things to be effective. The first and foremost is asking the help of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Holy Spirit will guide us: wisdom, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude,  knowledge and fear of the Lord.  We need all these things to not only raise our children, but to get through life.

Another thing I do is remind myself of and pray the Rosary. I notice my patience is shorter if I haven’t prayed the Rosary in a while. Why is that? When we pray and meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary, we are filled with peace. A purifying, holy peace. And when we’re filled with peace, there is no room in our hearts for anger. As Jesus once said, ” No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. ” (MT 6:24 .  While He was speaking of money, I think this could be applied in this situation.

One last thing I try is to ask myself, “If Jesus was standing in the room, would He approve of the way you are handling the situation? Would it make Him happy or would it hurt Him?” That is the ultimate goal in our lives – is to serve God and to please Him. He loves all of us more than we know.  It is our duty to treat each other with charity and guidance.

Will all these things in mind, I pray the Holy Spirit will guide me daily in raising my children.  And as I grow in God’s grace, I hope to avoid these words in my next confession: “Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been one week since my last confession and I’ve already lost my temper with the children.” God Bless.

Copyright 2009 Jennifer Gladen

Today’s Readings



Scripture: Lectionary # 489. Fri of 31 week. Romans 15:14-21. Psalm
81:1.2-3.3-4. Luke 16:1-8:

Jesus is a parable preacher par excellence. No where in the Bible are there
so many gathering of parables as we have in the Gospels except for that of
St. John who speaks more in symbolic figures of speech that are more
abstract.  The parable describes the style of Jesus who never missed an
opportunity for a teaching moment with this his favorite “genre.”  He does
this with such facility and frequency that forces his listeners–and we are
among them– to think the thoughts of God and to actuate their meaning and
motivation in our own daily practices and decisions.  Parables are colorful
and attractive; they easily fascinate and capture our attention and after
thinking about them we can easily see them as helpful in making our
decisions about doing good and avoiding evil and the wiles of temptation.
Jesus spoke them from his experiences of life and from he learned in his
small town of Nazareth where his own extended family probably met and
shared such creative stories that helped him learn how to be the parable
speaker that he is.  Like Jesus, we, too love to hear little stories and
anecdotes that help us. You certainly remember how your mother taught you
some rhymes and little stories to help you be good or to watch out for
danger.  Jesus learned from his mother Mary and from his relatives in that
little town of simple farmers. His mind was being filled with such creative
images and became a resource for his own mature years of preaching the Good
News.  We are fortunate that the Gospels collected all that they could
remember about Jesus’ speaking in parables.

Jesus’s Jewishness is vibrantly alive in these parables.  They have many
sides to them and become as interesting to solve as a crossword puzzle or
sudoku square.  Even the experts whom we call “exegetes” interpret them in
different ways from time to time.  In Hebrew thought these parables fit
under the word “mashal” which means similes, metaphors, riddles, turning
your thought upside down,  proverbs, maxims, fables,etc.  These creative
ways of Jewish prophets and Jesus who is among them are not what we call
historical anecdotes or realities but they are true to our life experiences
and thus become perennial in their application.  One World Fair had a film
called “The Parable” and this is who Jesus is for those who take the time
to read, to pray , or to study the Gospels. We know well there is no real
historical person who is the Prodigal Son or the Indulgent Father; nor is
the Good Samaritan a historical character yet these examples hop with life
once we ponder over their meaning; they help us to get outside of ourselves
and to appreciate the call to “be all who we can be.”   They have power and
strong appeal. They motivate us to do something about our lives.

Undoubtedly, Jesus did not have these parables infused into his brain by
the Spirit. He developed them by listening to his mother tell about how
yeast rises in the lump of dough; how she searched for the coin she had
lost; how fig trees have signs of maturing with fruit. and how you sew a
garment with appropriate thread and color.  He learned much from the woman
who loved to ponder over the things she experienced; she weighed them daily
for her own way of getting through another tough day of work and attention
to Jesus and Joseph. Luke captured this glimpse of her being a great story
teller with Jesus as her favorite listener: “And Jesus increased in wisdom
and in years and in divine and human favor .”  (Luke 2:52).

Today’s Readings



Scripture: Lectionary # 488. Thurs of 31 week. Romans 14;7-12. Psalm
27:1.4.13-14. Luke 15:1-10:

Do you like one-line statements?  Well, whether you do or do not, there are
“one-liners” in the Bible and they are quite helpful in jolting us out of
our boredom and our laziness when it comes to things spiritual like prayer,
faith, and self-giving in service to others.  Look for these one-liners in
the daily liturgical readings and you will find them giving you a
“jump-start” for the day.  Paul offers one at the end of the reading for
today, “Everyone of us will have to give an account of himself/herself
before God.”  It fits the context of what he says above about not judging
others. Leave that up to God who is the compassionate and just Creator and
Redeemer.  Better to fall into God’s hands than into those of humans who
are prone to judge, control, and correct.  We tend to judge others who do
not meet our standards of attractiveness, cooperation, and expectation.
Leave all that aside and we discover that people relate to us better.
Better to listen to them than to open our mouths in judging them. This
little ditty shows us how to listen without judging: “Her thoughts were
slow,her words were few, and never formed to glisten; she was a joy to all
her friends–you should have heard her listen.”

Jesus came not for the righteous (who think they have it all together) but
for sinners.  He speaks like a shepherd who searches for the lost sheep
leaving the “good” ones; he like the woman who lost one of her silver coins
searches for it so does Jesus for us when we stray and are lost under the
carpet of our selfishness.  Jesus, too, has a “one-liner” in the Gospel: “I
tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than
over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.”

The Psalm contain many of these one-liners that are dart-like prayers to
heaven. Our responsorial psalm ends with this one:”Wait for the Lord with
courage; be stouthearted and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14).  This verse
sums up the message of the psalm and shows us the importance  of trust in
God who is our light and our healing and salvation.  Amen.

Today’s Readings

Scripture: Lectionary # 487. Wed of 31st week. Romans 13:8-10. Psalm
112:1-2. 4-5.9. Luke 14:25-33:

Luke’s narrative of the journey up to Jerusalem continues and once again
this is the part of the Luke’s long narrative that deals with discipleship.
Today it is very clear that we are learning about the criteria that makes
one a disciple of Jesus.  The reality of Jesus’ cross is applied to his
followers even though not as starkly as in St. Mark’s Gospel it is there
and is presented in a daily call from the Lord.   Jesus’ first requirement
is to put our trust entirely in God (and himself as the Son of God) and
even not to cling to our family members if that destracts us from this
trust and belief in God.  God is to be first in our lives; the rest will
follow and take its natural course in our interaction with our family
members, our brothers and sisters.  The demand is very hard and these
saying are among the most difficult that the Lord Jesus gives his
followers.  His examples in the two short parables are meant to help us to
discern carefully what he means when he says we must take up the cross and
follow him daily.  As the pericope (paragraph) ends we find another
criteria of discipleship is that of detachment from our personal
possessions. Here again the call to share and be generous toward those who
are poor is part of the call of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke–a Gospel of
prayer and poverty. Luke is always careful to point out the needs of the
poor and the need for us to do what we can for them.

In the Vatican II Constitution of the Church called Gaudium et Spes (Joy
and Hope) the pastoral concerns of the call to follow Jesus in today’s
world are emphasized.  There are some concrete and practical applications
of the criteria of discipleship.  They are extended to young people,too,
who are encouraged to give generously of their time in developing
countries. They are to collaborate with other Christians in an ecumenical
endeavor when it comes to helping and educating the poor.  Often they do
this and come back home to find they have a new vision on a more meaningful
life for themselves after having experienced people in other countries who
were helped by their technology, their education received at good
universities, and their willingness to leave their lives of relative
comfort to serve others. They are especially loved and cherished by the
children they come to help and befriend.

The people of God who are aging are also called to follow the criteria of
discipleship by their patience in their sufferings, their loneliness, and
their confinement.  Their prayer, patience, and sufferings are new forms of
carrying their cross and following Jesus more closely.  No Christian is
excluded from the call of discipleship which is so clear in the Gospels.
Amen.

Back in her bedroom, Beth gathered her clothes, her favorite and well-worn jeans and one of her numerous comfy t-shirts, and started the shower. Within thirty minutes Beth re-entered the kitchen and was more than ready to enjoy her first cup of coffee for the day. For the next fifteen minutes Beth could peruse the newspaper while sipping contentedly.

Unlike most people, Beth started at the back of the newspaper and worked forward. She wanted to take a quick peek at anything newsworthy or worthwhile on the television that evening, and then she checked the weather, and finally the obits and the living section where Beth was sure to find some new article of interest to her. Save the heavy news for later on, was her motto, and most days it rang true…not today.

As Beth read, she never expected to come across the name of a former employee from her workplace. Beth was stunned to read that her one time co-worker and friend, Barb, had died. Skimming the death notice for more information, Beth took note of the request for donations to the local heart center in town. Remembering Barb’s zest for life, despite her oft-frail condition, Beth felt a knot in her throat.

Eyes stinging with tears, Beth pulled herself away from the paper and left for work. Everyone has probably heard the news by now, Beth guessed. Parking her van, Beth continued to battle against the surging emotions within her. Later, Beth told herself, I’ll deal with this later. We have huge orders going out today with all the weddings and graduations this weekend.

Taking a deep breath, Beth prayed for God to help her through the next eight hours. Upon entering the florist shop, Beth instantly knew Barb’s passing was known for every one of the eight employees stood with tissues in hand, red-eyed and sniffling. Feeling her own eyes brim with tears again, Beth didn’t even try to fight it this time. Instead, Beth and her friends shed their tears and found solace in one another’s shared memories of Barb. Before the day was over, they had each had taken a hand in designing the most spectacular bouquet to be given in honor of their friend’s life.

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them.’”
Ecclesiastes 12: 1

Dear Lord,

I don’t really understand how to begin my prayer today. My emotions and thoughts are running in such divergent directions. I cannot think clearly. So many memories, wonderful memories, are vying for preeminence in my mind. Oh Lord, how dear this soul was to us all. How she loved life…and her with more reason than most to despair.

I am put to shame for the number of times I’ve groused about this minor inconvenience or that. As I recall the courage my friend consistently exhibited, I cannot help but give thanks for the blessing of her acquaintance. This single person gave so much to so many. Lord, would that my life will make such an impact, that my words bring such inspiration.

Will you bring the heart healing to all those who suffer now? Lend us your strength lest we fall away because of our despair. And never allow such sorrow to turn into bitterness of the soul. Rather, help each of us to put life into perspective. Remind us that you are calling us, every one, to a special purpose. Please Lord, undertake for us this day and let your love shine brilliantly through us for your glory.

Amen

“When life gets tough, when you’re overwhelmed with doubt, or when you wonder if living for Christ is worth the effort, remember that you are not home yet. At death you won’t leave home – you’ll go home.”  Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life

Copyright 2009 Michele Howe

Today’s Readings



Scripture: Lectionary # 485. Tuesday of 31st week. Romans 12:5-16. Psalm
131:1.2.3. Luke 14:15-24:

Paul is the writer of the New Testament who begins the origins of the theme
the Mystical Body of Christ. We are all members of that who believe and
live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its command to love, to believe,
and to hope. The term Body of Christ can mean the Church, the community,
and our participation in the mission of Christ in today’s society by living
and witnessing more by our demeanor and our virtue than by any overt
preaching. Did not St. Francis say, “Preach the Gospel and sometimes use
words!”

We listen to what is known as a paranesis or encouragement from Paul in the
selection for today’s first reading. The message is practical and helps us
see how our personal gifts are to be used for the common good, for the
family, the Church and for society. There is not one inkling of
selfishness in this section nor vainglory or greed. Leadership fails for us
if it is guided by power, authoritarianism, pride, and self-seeking. You
know there are people who are climbers and these usually are not good
leaders. Paul’s words help us to discern what makes a good leader.

No matter what our personal gifts are they are meant for helping the whole
community or as Paul says the Body of Christ. If we have the gift of
prophecy, that is speaking God’s plan sincerely and accurately after
reflection and prayer on the revealed word of God, then it is helpful to
the community. Any aggressiveness in this or proselytizing is not what he,
Paul, is talking about. If we are ministers then we are to be good pastors
and good counsellors for people; if teaching we should be good at it not
just shaking it out of our sleeve saying we were well prepared years ago
for what happens in the classroom today. Generosity and hospitality are
expected of all of us who are one with Christ. Diligence is needed and
orderly practice for those who are administrators. Mercy and consolation
should be done sensitively and with joyful grace upon our part. All of
what Paul is saying has a certain resonance with the Sermon on the Mount
and the Beatitudes seen in chapters 5-7 in Matthew’s Gospel.

Anticipating the needs of others and picking up where there is slack in the
community because of some people’s negligence or forgetfullness. We are
also to be attentive to the last line that Paul gives us today,”Have the
same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the
lowly.” Paul gives us the way to do this, namely, by emphasizing praying
with perseverance. Amen.

Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa.

We will have additional information for you on Our Lady of Kibeho during the month of November.  The following is a lovely prayer, shared by our friend Brian Kravec of the Immaculee Committee at St. Patrick’s Parish in Merced.

Prayer to Our Lady of Kibeho

Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Word,
Mother of all those who believe in Him
and who welcome Him into their life,
we are here before you to contemplate You.
We believe that you are amongst us,
like a mother in the midst of her children,
even though we do not see You with our bodily eyes.
We bless You, the Sure Way that leads us to Jesus the Saviour,
for all the favours which You endlessly pour out upon us,
especially, that, in your meekness, You were gracious enough
to appear miraculously in Kibeho, just when our world needed it most.
Grant us always the light and the strength necessary to accept,
with all seriousness, Your call to us to be converted,
to repent, and to live according  to your Son’s Gospel.
Teach us how to pray with sincerity,
and to love one another as He loved us,
so that, just as You have requested,
we may always be beautiful flowers
diffusing their pleasant fragrance everywhere and upon everyone.
Holy Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows,
teach us to understand the value of the cross in our lives,
so that whatever is still lacking to the sufferings of Christ
we may fill up in our own bodies for His mystical Body,
which is the Church.
And, when our pilgrimage on this earth comes to an end,
may we live eternally with You in the kingdom of Heaven.
Amen.

* Imprimatur:
* Gikongoro, the 25th of March, 2006-05-29
* + Augustin Misago – Bishop of  Gikongoro

I kept it together. I didn’t get too mad. I’m resourceful. Certain utensils can double for others in a pinch. At the end we ate in the living room watching Notre Dame trounce their opponent. And dinner was appreciated by four.

But four isn’t six; four is not all.

Tonight I pieced together the last halfway simple ingredients for an edible meal. Mother Hubbard’s cupboards are bare. And tonight we were six; tonight we were all. I don’t know why, but I lit a candle and placed it in the middle of the table. I think somewhere in my psyche candles mean love.

We ate. We talked. Nothing special. I purposely brought up nothing disagreeable. Looking around the table at my five men I could have spouted plenty, and I’m sure they all could have reciprocated. But it’s difficult to be grumpy in candlelight.

When the first son started to bolt, I asked him to stay, saying simply, “Humor me. Pretend it’s Thanksgiving, and let’s hold hands.” My kids aren’t kids anymore; they are grown men aged 19-24. And they humored me – we all held hands.

A powerful strength lies in the family. Sometimes I wonder why none of my boys have gone off to college. What’s the draw to stay here to work and attend classes? God knows we certainly have our share of flaws. We know each and every button to push to bring out the worst in each other.

But when one is in need, another zeroes in on the cure. We try.

I can hold the fiercest feeling in my heart to walk out that door – Ooh, they’d miss me! – and someone will hug me or make me laugh or just be plain stupid, and thoughts of flight fly out the window. I survive another day among the men.

For good, bad or somewhere in between, I am one-sixth of this crazy pie called family. Our lives are intertwined. I’d like to think that the light that shone tonight was the Light – God’s Light – shining up a family in need of a little buffing.

The candle stays on the table.

Copyright 2009 Maureen Locher

As we close out this Month of the Rosary, it’s not too late to put a little spark into your devotion to the Rosary.  One of the best resources I’ve seen lately that will help you fall in love with this wonderful devotion is

The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary. 

I am pleased to share the following Book Spotlight interview with Karen Edmisten, author of The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary.

Please briefly introduce yourself and your family to our readers.

I’m the homeschooling mom of three wonderful daughters, ages 15, 13 and 7, and I am blessed to have been married to Tom for 25 years. We are both converts to the Catholic faith — I was received into the Church in 1995, and Tom came in five years later. It’s been a lively, unpredictable and exciting journey.

Please share an overview of your wonderful book, The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary.

Thank you! The book is meant to be a source of information, encouragement and support for anyone interested in the Rosary — cradle Catholics, converts, and even non-Catholics.

I include some personal stories about my own experience with the prayer, especially since when I first came into the Church, I had some anxiety about the Rosary. I worried that one had to pray it a certain way, in order for it to “count.”  It also seemed dry and rote to me, and not particularly meaningful. As I worked on this book, I found that my early anxieties weren’t altogether uncommon. So, it was important to me to address them in the book.

I also include a brief history of the Rosary, and cover some common misconceptions (held by Catholics and non-Catholics alike) about Mary, and about the prayers of the Rosary. There’s also an explanation of the role of the mysteries, and some down-to-earth, practical help offered — ways to incorporate the Rosary (and more prayer in general)  into our lives.

I’d love to hear about your conversion story and what prompted you to become a Catholic author.

I grew up without any kind of religious belief. My parents are great people, but they simply didn’t have a religious background, and they had no interest in Christianity. By the time I was in college, I was seriously questioning the meaning of life — more specifically, the meaning of my life. I explored a number of different philosophies and tried on different belief systems. But I couldn’t find a good fit — nothing answered all my questions. I stayed away from Christianity for a long time, because I couldn’t believe that such a “patriarchal” religion had anything to offer me. But I ran out of things to investigate … and since I wanted to honestly examine all options, I did begin to look more closely at Christian ideas.

Reading C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity was a huge turning point for me. Also, a good friend of mine had grown up Catholic, left the Church, and then returned, and he became a great source of information for me on what Christianity was really all about. Eventually, I began to read the Bible and pray that if God were real, He would somehow reveal Himself to me. I always say that once we start to pray, we “haven’t got a prayer”! And that was true in my case. Objections began to topple, and before I knew it, I desired baptism. At the age of 30, I was baptized by an Episcopal priest, and five years later, after further prayer and study, I was received into the Catholic Church. I love being Catholic, and I love to share this beautiful faith with others.

As far as becoming a Catholic author, it happened slowly. I worked with our parish’s RCIA team, and gave witness talks about my conversion. A priest friend encouraged me to write my conversion story and send it to OSV’s New Covenant magazine, which at the time was edited by Mike Aquilina. Mike very kindly accepted the piece (which was twice as long as what NC usually ran — he deftly edited it to an acceptable length, when he could have simply told me to take a hike for not reading the writers’ guidelines.)  I wrote several other pieces for New Covenant after that, and began to write a bit for other magazines as time, homeschooling, and mothering allowed.

What motivated you to write this book on the Rosary?

The book actually came about in a funny way. I started blogging in 2005, as a way of pulling all my writing links together in one place on the web. I occasionally review books (mainly books I love — I’m not always terribly objective) and I had just reviewed Mike Aquilina’s Love in the Little Things: Tales of Family Life. His editor at Servant read the review, and we ended up connecting. The result was this Rosary book. It was such a privilege to have the opportunity to write it and to share my love for this prayer with other people.

What have you learned and implemented in your own spiritual life as a result of writing this book?

What a great question! I learn something from everything that I write, and that’s one of the things I love about writing.

I actually learned quite a bit about the history of the Rosary during the writing of this book. Many of us are familiar with the stories of St. Dominic and his role in the Rosary — a book by a Dominican priest helped me to clarify and convey a lot of that history.

From a spiritual perspective, the book has been an affirmation of my own commitment to the Rosary, and a re-examination of how easy it can be to “put off prayer” until a “convenient” time. The tips I share in the book are tips I return to repeatedly myself, so it’s really a matter of one sojourner encouraging another, not the case of an expert dishing out advice.  I think it’s important to acknowledge that in our fallen condition, prayer is always a battle. We need to constantly encourage ourselves and one another.

In the book, you share encouragement for folks who may feel overwhelmed or anxious about praying the Rosary.  Can you share some of that with our readers?

I’d love to. First, we all need to remember that prayer is indeed a battle! (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2725.) We will fail, but we can’t let our failures discourage us — just as we encourage our children to learn and mature from their mistakes, our Heavenly Father encourages us to do the same. We have to persevere. When we do, we will eventually see progress.

Second, I think we have to be willing to take baby steps. If you don’t currently pray the Rosary, try incorporating it into your life in small ways — a decade on the way to Mass, a decade in the shower, a decade in the car. Small habits grow, and these things can be great starting points.

Third, don’t worry about “doing it right.”  For example, if your Rosary repeatedly stalls out because you’re constantly interrupted right after the Apostle’s Creed, try jumping right into some decades. Those decades still “count.”

We’re all so busy these days!  What are some of your suggestions for finding time to pray the Rosary?

I find that I have to be brutally honest with myself — if I think I don’t have time to pray, I need to take a closer look. Is there something — anything — in my day that I can cut out so that I will have time?  TV? Computer time? Phone time? There’s usually something that can go, especially if we’re looking only for an extra fifteen or twenty minutes in a day.

Also, attaching prayer to other activities works well for me — praying while I walk or work out, praying in the car and the shower, or while doing a chore or errand. Certainly those times will not have the contemplative dimension that we desire and often associate with the Rosary — it’s supposed to be all about meditating on the mysteries, right? And it is about the mysteries … they are what make the Rosary a contemplative prayer, and they plunge us deeply into the life of Jesus. But, establishing some rhythms for prayer is the first step. Adding the mysteries, and deepening one’s prayer time, will follow.

How does the Rosary ultimately draw us closer to Christ?

In the book, I quote Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, several times. He offered such beautiful answers to this question.  First, he pointed out something very basic about the tool we use to help us pray the Rosary: when we look at the beads, we see that they all “converge upon the Crucifix.” He went on to say: “Everything begins from him, everything leads towards him, everything, through him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father.”

Even the Hail Mary itself is about Jesus — He is implicitly present in it from the beginning. (I go into more detail about this in the book, and look at the Hail Mary line by line.)

And, in meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, what we end up doing is journeying with Jesus Christ. Because the mysteries are Scriptural references to the lives Jesus and His mother, meditation becomes a way to spend time with, to keep company with, Jesus and Mary.

And, remember, meditation, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, simply means using “thought, imagination, emotion, and desire” to enter more deeply into prayer (see CCC, 2708.) Don’t be intimidated by the idea of meditating, or worry that it’s beyond your spiritual grasp. If you can think about Jesus, and imagine being with Him at various times in His life, if you can ponder the attendant emotions, and desire to know Him better, then you are meditating!

The bottom line is that Mary doesn’t want our attention, and she isn’t trying to draw us closer to her –  she wants us to direct our attention to Jesus. The Rosary can help us do that.  However, praying the Rosary will draw us closer to Mary, too, because it will help us to see (and want to emulate) her as a beautifully devoted disciple. But, Mary will always lead us to her Son.

Are there any additional thoughts or comments you’d like to share with our readers?

I often remind myself that all prayer “counts” — from the quick thoughts tossed up to God to the slow, meditative Rosary on a quiet Sunday afternoon … from the depth of a sublime holy hour to the rote Hail Marys droned while doing a load of laundry … it all counts. It’s all part of our relationship with God. Just as we have different levels of interaction with our spouses — from quick, utilitarian conversations, to intimate exchanges — so will the spectrum of our communication with God play out. Prayer is about talking to the One we love, so don’t wait for the perfect time to talk. Just talk to Him. All the time.

Purchase The Rosary: Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary and help support CatholicMom.com.

In Episode #1, titled “Feasting,” Susan shares how feasting on prayer, the scriptures, the mass and the Eucharist have strengthened her and surrounded her with grace. And how a very familiar prayer, and one line in particular, has given her much needed strength.

Scripture: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 (from the Sunday Lectionary, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Psalm 34 (from the Sunday Lectionary, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Music: “How Can I Keep from Singing” (Quaker Hymn), performed by Susan Bailey.

Susan would enjoy your feedback. Share your stories, your prayer requests. Write to her at susan@gvonline.net or call the feedback line at 206-600-6940.