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Joined: May 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 29 Location: Erie, Pa; USA
Friday night evening prayer 11/20/09 « Result #6 on Nov 20, 2009, 3:54pm »
This was written for the (7) men who will be installed as Deaconal Candidates on Dec 5, 2009 and ordained on May 21, 2010 in the Diocese of Erie. May God bless them and have His way with them.
Romans 15:1-3
We who are strong in faith should be patient with the scruples of those whose faith is weak; we must not be selfish. Each should please his neighbor so as to do him good by building up his spirit. Thus, in accord with Scripture, Christ did not please himself: "The reproaches they uttered against you fell on me."
My Brothers and Sisters, We’ve been together for over (4) years now and have truly grown not only in our individual relationships, not only in our relationship as a group, but especially in our relationship with Jesus. We now have a new zeal for our Catholicism that we didn’t have before we met……it’s awesome and you know what, that zeal is going to get stronger with the grace of ordination...a strength in and of Jesus Christ. I beg you brothers and sisters do not lose your zeal. Tonight, Paul is teaching us how we who are being transformed by the renewing of our minds should demonstrate this renewal by a change in our mind-set toward those with whom we disagree or hold different values. Right now, it seems as if we can do no wrong. It seems to me at least, that most everyone is agreeing with us; with our interpretation of our faith… with our Theology. Things seem to be going pretty well for us…I’m not hearing any stories from anyone about people coming up to any of us and sharing a negative view or a misunderstanding of what we are preaching or the ministry we’re being called to. But without sounding pessimistic, that will happen soon enough my friends and I think what Paul is trying to say to us tonight, is that there’s going to come a time when we may feel like we are really strong…really safe in our faith; there may come a time when we feel like we can handle certain situations and act in a manner appropriate to those feelings of strength. But we must consider the weakness of others; we are obliged to think of others and where it could lead them…could it lead them AWAY from the Kingdom of Heaven? I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be ourselves, but the key to someone else’s salvation could lie in our awareness of how others perceive us. Do any of you remember M.A.S.H.? How about the episode where Hawkeye wanted to go home so badly that he started to give up on his job? He began not showing up for his turn in post-op and neglecting the patients...just lying in bed all day and not living up to his responsibility...not caring about how others felt. Of course Radar saw what he was doing and got upset with him and told Hawkeye that he was someone that everyone especially himself looks up to and that a lot of people were counting on him. But again, Hawkeye didn’t want to hear anything Radar had to say...he was only thinking of himself. I know in my own life this has happened to me many times...where I’ve been caught with my “pants down” so to speak and others have been watching. Those are the times when I have realized in a very powerful and sometimes embarrassing way, that people are watching me...they rely on me. These are the times when I have let people down because of my selfishness and lack of responsibility. This is one of the reasons that I long for the grace of ordination...not because I think that it will be a panacea for everything I do wrong, but because I know that it will be a great blessing...a great help in my struggle to think of and love God and my fellow man more. My brothers and sisters, we are very close to becoming the public figures that God is calling us to be. Through constant prayer for His grace and an awareness of His awesome Spirit within each one of us, may our love, our compassion, our understanding, and our acceptance of others, one day lead us and everyone who is watching us to our heavenly home.
Re: Autumn Reflection « Result #8 on Oct 27, 2009, 4:43am »
Great reflection Tim! The right words at the right time. This has helped me refocus and change course as I begin a new day. Providential. Christ's Peace Carl
Joined: Oct 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 755 Location: Robinson Twp., PA
Autumn Reflection « Result #9 on Oct 14, 2009, 2:36pm »
One of the duties in my assignment to the Diocesan Department for Persons with Disabilities is to come up with some kind of a seasonal spiritual reflection for a little letter we send out called:
This is My Body
One Body, One Spirit in Christ
Like A Leaf In The Wind
Autumnal greetings!
Fall has already begun and the true season of Winter is not something we even want to start thinking about yet, am I right? This is a season that can’t make up its mind sometimes… warm one day, cold the next, but usually with just the right amount of “in-between” days to remind us that Autumn is still a season all its own.
Looking outside the window of the sunroom in my house a week or so ago, I saw a solitary leaf fluttering way above my head. It was like it was in no hurry to reach the ground. It floated lazily one way, and then another; sometimes even drifting back skyward for a few seconds, then spinning a little like a top before drifting off in another direction. I kept watching, fascinated, wondering if it would ever reach the ground. Of course, it finally, gently, came to rest on the soft grass, but not until after the wind was finished with it.
In a way, our journey through life should be like that leaf. I’m convinced that many of us would enjoy a peace, that peace that Jesus promises to us, if we only did. Many of us (myself included!) desperately try to control our lives. The subtle message of our society and culture is that this is a virtue to be celebrated. Jesus offers us a different message, though. He asks us to trust that we are not falling out of control… that the Spirit is gently guiding us, like the leaf in the wind, if we allow it.
He says that we have to “let go” of the things which will ultimately drag us down, causing us to crash to the ground. Only when we “let go” will we find the peace which is offered to us. Only when we “let go” will we find the freedom that the Father intended for us from the very beginning. The Spirit of God is a gentle Spirit, not forcing us, not bending us over against our will, but waiting for us to give ourselves over to it, allowing it to move us calmly through the rough currents of life like a leaf in the Autumn breeze, laying us peacefully into God’s hands.
My hope and prayer for all of you during this season is that the peace of Christ will fill you and guide you.
Reflections: What are the “triggers” that decrease my trust in God at times? When do I feel the most free or at peace? Who or what do I try to control that I will never have control over. What can I “let go” of RIGHT NOW that will allow me to abandon myself more to the movements of the Spirit instead of my own will?
Prayer: Heavenly Father… you, who are Love itself, I abandon myself to your Spirit. In the name of that eternal Love, let me find the peace of your kingdom that your son, Jesus, gave his life to bring us. Help me to let go of the things that keep your peace from me, that I might only dwell in your love. Amen
« Last Edit: Oct 14, 2009, 2:45pm by Tim Killmeyer »
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