Archive for September 25, 2012

More Testimonies That Jesus Lives! God Is Good…

Posted: September 25, 2012 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys
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All the time!

In this age it is apparent, that unless you lead a religious life it quite difficult to maintain a long sustaining relationship with Christ through prayer and reflection. Distractions are aplenty! So much so that we often lose sight and wonder of His presence in and through our lives.  Doubts may even creep in…..*sigh*….But here I am to tell you that HE LIVES!

Here are a few recent encounters of His love I have been blessed to share….

1) Given the circumstances of the brother in Christ I had been administering Holy Communion for the sick to ( see earlier post) , it was understandable that he was going through a little depression and spiritual darkness.  But after a few sessions of listening to the Word of the Lord, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and in co-operation with the holy spirit through personal determination and spiritual growth he mustered enough strength to attend one mass so far in his wheelchair.  Praise the Lord! Please keep him in your prayers….that he may continue to grow in strength, love and spirit, to do and live according to Our Father’s will.

2) The baby son of the brother in Christ mentioned above had to be rushed to the hospital with a high fever recently, however within a week of daily family prayers for his son and am quite certain lots of others were praying too, his son recovered fully within the week and was reported to be a handful! Praise the Lord!

3) My elder son now coming eleven in December had to take his final stage test to qualify to be an alter server for the weekend mass. He was anxious and nervous about it because as far as he knew no one passed the first time around, in fact one of his friends took as many as four times before passing the test.  I told him to pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and assured him that so long as he had the heart to serve, all would be well.  He passed the first time round and was even requested to serve the Sunday on the same weekend! Praise the Lord!

4) Last year I had facilitated the Holy Communion program for three families. During the adult portion of the program, I had learned through the sharing after speaking about reconciliation and the Father’s love for us;  That one of the participant’s father had lapsed in his faith, had a strained relationship with his wife likely, due to his frequent travels and even admitted to constantly being exposed to temptation while overseas. After the whole program ended and a few months had passed, I noticed both Father and son were regular in receiving the sacrament of reconciliation, then last week I manage to catch up with the Father and he shared with me that he will be starting a new job next month where he will no longer be required to travel and he is even considering joining a ministry in Church to server the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Jesus loves us all! open your hearts and minds to Him and you will experience Him in all things, large and small, loud and bold or soft and subtle like a gentle breeze……

 

 

The Church, Like A Vine, Spreads Everywhere In Her Growth

Posted: September 25, 2012 by CatholicJules in Memory Book
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From a sermon On Pastors by St. Augustine, bishop

They were scattered on every mountain and on every hill and over the entire face of the earth. What is the meaning of the phrase: They were scattered over the entire face of the earth? Some men continually strive for all the goods of the world, the goods that are so evident on the face of the earth; yes, they love and prize them. They do not want to die, to have their lives buried in Christ. Over the entire face of the earth: such men love earthly things; moreover such straying sheep are to be found over the entire face of the earth. They dwell in different places, but one mother, pride, has given birth to them all, just as one mother, our Catholic Church, has given birth to all faithful Christians scattered over the whole world.

Small wonder that pride gives birth to division, and love to unity. But our catholic mother is herself a shepherd; she seeks the straying sheep everywhere, strengthens the weak, heals the sick, and binds up the injured. They may not know one another, but she knows all of them because she reaches out to all her sheep.

Thus she is like a vine that is spread out everywhere in its growth. The straying sheep are like useless branches which because of their sterility are deservedly cut off, not to destroy the vine but to prune it. When these branches were cut down, they were left lying there. But the vine grew and flourished, and it knew both the branches that remained upon it and those that had been cut off and left lying beside it.

She calls the stray sheep back, however, because the Apostle said in reference to the broken branches: God has the power to graft them on again. Call them sheep straying from the flock or branches cut off from the vine, God is equally capable of calling back the sheep or of grafting the branches on again, for he is equally the chief shepherd and the true farmer. And they were scattered over the entire face of the earth, and there was no one to search for them, no one to call them back, that is to say, no one among those wicked shepherds. There was no one to search for them, that is, no one among men.

Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: I live, says the Lord God. Notice the beginning of this passage; it is as if God were taking an oath, giving testimony to his own life. I live, says the Lord. The shepherds are dead, but the sheep are safe, for the Lord lives. I live, says the Lord God. Which shepherds are dead? Those who seek what is theirs and not what is Christ’s. But will there be shepherds who seek what is Christ’s and not what is theirs, and will they be found? There will indeed be such shepherds, and they will indeed be found; they are not lacking, nor will they be lacking in the future.