Roman Working Day
I’m back from Rome, and I’m all tired out. I think I’m getting a cold, too.
I’m back from Rome, and I’m all tired out. I think I’m getting a cold, too.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I’ll be touring virtually with my new book beginning this week on November 3 and ending November 15th!
Neither setbacks nor side roads deter our friends behind These Stone Walls from a year of grace and mercy with Saint Faustina guided by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle. This post is a continuation of one that I wrote in these pages in April, 2019, “A Divine Mercy Pilgrimage 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina.” I am late, […]
To be quite earnest, it’s quite important to be considerate too. It helps oil the wheels as it were and makes life run smoothly for you and everyone else don’t you think?
Earnestly speaking, I consider myself quite a considerate type of person. But unfortunately this doesn’t always work out as intended.
The other day for instance I saw an elderly lady in the street; she must have been about seventy or so, hobbling from foot to foot on the edge of the sidewalk. I waited until the lights indicated it was safe to cross then I held her gently by the arm and said, “Don’t worry madam; we’ll soon cross over safely to the other side!”
She tottered alongside me looking behind her all the time until we reached safely the other side as the traffic lights changed again. I took off my hat as a sign of respect and smiled politely.
She then hit me on the head with her umbrella.
I was about to say something when she cried, “You made me miss my bus, you idiot!”
“I’m sorry madam,” I said, replacing my hat, “I saw you hopping from foot to foot hesitantly …”
“That’s because I want to go to the toilet,” she hollered, “I’ve a good mind to pee in your stupid hat!”
I ran away before she did.
This however did not stop me being considerate by nature.
One night I noticed that one of the floorboards in our bedroom, under the carpet, was a bit loose. It made a distinct sound when you stepped on it.
Being very considerate I hammered it in the dark so as not to wake up my wife.
Unfortunately, in the darkness I hammered nails through my shoes lying there by the bed and I pinned them to the floor board.
Next morning when I put my shoes on I couldn’t move one inch. I fell flat on my face.
I thought I had put on weight in my sleep during the night and the extra calories all fell down to my feet!
That very night I had dreamt I was in a marshmallow factory. I woke up eating the pillow.
To make matters worse one of the dolphins came back, probably excited by the tartan colour of my shorts, and tore them right off. It swam away cackling with my shorts on its head.
The photo above is a final caress by Mom’s great-grandson Asher, not long before her death.
The Responsorial Psalm pinpoints the source of our hope: “My hope, O Lord, is in your mercy” (Psalm 13).In Romans 8: 26-30 Paul is saying that salvation is the work of God and a gift.It is clear in Scripture and Catholic teaching that God offers everyone the grace to be saved. He “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Timothy 2:4). But Paul gives a progression: “Those God foreknew he also predestined… called… justified… glorified.” It stands to reason that if God foresees that someone is not going to accept greater graces, God will not offer them (Matthew 7:6). But those whom he foresees will respond, he chooses as he chose Paul “from his mother’s womb” (Galatians 1:15). He “calls” them, “justifies” and “glorifies” them. Paul wants us to know that all is God’s gift: notice it and celebrate it:Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who … chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love…. He destined us for adoption as his children… according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1: 3-5).We must always give thanks to God for you… because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Thessalonians 2: 13-14).We should listen, then, to the Holy Spirit, who prays in our hearts “with inexpressible groanings.” Salvation is God’s ongoing work within us. Our part is to join in and cooperate as faithful stewards of his gift of love. “My hope, O Lord, is in your mercy.”In Luke 13: 22-30 Jesus warns us that when God calls we must respond in a timely manner and come to him by God’s path, not ours. There are many ways to live but only one leads to the fullness of life: the way of Jesus, who is “the Way the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6).Jesus is the “narrow gate” in the same way that the mathematical concept of a straight line is the narrowest thing there is, having no breadth at all. The Christian path is not a channel identified by laws like buoy markers, that make it broader or narrower by being stricter or looser. We set our course by steering toward the “fixed star,” which is Jesus. To be “on course” is to be looking at Jesus, whose way of acting, words, deeds and principles “constitute the moral rule of Christian life” (John Paul II). Any deviation puts us off course. To get back on course we look at him. “My hope is in your mercy.”Initiative: Be Christ’s steward. Accept salvation as a gift and “love back.”
Read the Whole Article at https://www.immersedinchrist.org/blog/