Pray for the Pope



*picture from allvoices.com


Don't forget to pray for our Pope as he travels to Rio to inspire the world and bring hope! Let's also pray for all those who are travelling from all over the world to see our Holy Father, that they might be safe and that they will be inspired and moved by the Holy Spirit to change the world for the greater glory of God.

Saint Christopher, patron saint of travelers, pray for us.

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit upon all who travel to Rio and all who are with them in spirit and especially upon the Holy Father. Help him to be open to You so that he may speak with Your voice and set our hearts ablaze so that we can help renew the face of the earth.

Come, Holy Spirit!



Turn to the LORD in your Need

*picture from stjudechapel.org

Either you heard this verse from the Responsorial Psalm this weekend or you heard: "Your words, Lord, are spirit and life." Your parish had to decide which one to read for mass. But I really like this verse from Psalm 69. It reminds us to turn to God with our needs and trials and pains. We should look to Him for help and support, so that we will live. 

He alone can give us true life, eternal life.

It seems like so many try to figure things out for themselves. They believe that they don't need God's help or they don't ask Him for guidance. (I can definitely be this way sometimes, too.) We read self-help books and act like we have it all figured out, but we really can't when we try to do it on our own. We need the Lord's help. He gives us everything, all we need, 

if we just ask.

So let's ask! Let's run to the Lord with all our hurt and pain and our needs and hopes and sadness. He will renew us with His everlasting peace and He will give us a fulfilled life. He will give His Holy Spirit, for He is the breath of our souls and He will breathe into us and make us whole. 

Let's turn to the Lord so we will live.

...but the laborers are few.

This Sunday is yet another Sunday of Ordinary Time - the fourteenth to be exact. Since the Church doesn't recognize Ordinary Time as a period of preparation (like Lent or Advent) or a time of celebration (such as Easter or Christmas), you might think that Ordinary Time is a period where you can just relax and take a break from God. It's not. Ordinary Time is just as important as any other Church season. The Gospel of Christ is just as important and just as beautiful now 

as any other moment in time.

*picture from http://lhim.org

This Sunday, we hear Jesus saying to us that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. This may seem rather ordinary, but there is a deeper meaning behind His words. He wasn't talking about a farm near town, He was talking about the soil in our hearts. What grows there, in your heart? What seeds have you planted? What seeds have you let take root?

Our Lord plants seeds in your heart every day. They may be the words of your priest, the readings from the Bible, or the notes from an inspiring song. But there is another sower who tries so hard to plant sinister seeds. He is the devil, and he is very persistent. Each day, he plants seeds that are quite different from the seeds of God. They may be insults from an enemy, disloyalty from a friend, or temptations. He whispers growth to them, and sometimes they begin to take root and flourish in our hearts. They start to take over the other plants that Christ has planted and tried so hard to cultivate. Sometimes we don't even realize how much they take over as they consume our hearts and dominate the soil within. But they are weeds and they don't belong in the hearts of the children of God. Confession is like God pulling weeds. He takes out all the lies that were planted by the evil one. 

He makes our hearts beautiful and pure again.

Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful. There are so many hearts out there that need to bloom and flourish with the flowers of Christ and His abundant love for us. "...but the laborers are few." We are called to be those laborers. Each one of us is called to be another Christ and to sow His love in the hearts of all. Not just our friends, not just our families, but even our enemies, even those in our workplaces, even those in our schools. Since the harvest is so abundant, we need to reach out to everyone and plant in their hearts the seeds of God's Word. And if you want it to take root and grow, you have to water it by giving others the hope and light of Christ. 

The laborers are few, so let us not stand still! Let's be laborers in the hearts of all, so that everyone will come to know the love of God. Since there are so few, we cannot afford to let seeds of sin grow in our hearts. We must uproot the weeds of the devil in our own hearts, so that we may sow only the seeds of love and hope and life in the hearts of others. As Father John Corapi once said, "You need to know your faith. You cannot give what you do not have." So let's grow in our Catholic faith, so that we may share its beauty with others.

 Since there are so few laborers, we cannot afford to be mediocre Catholics. We should take charge of our faith and let it grow in our hearts. We should always continue to grow in our rich Catholic faith and reach out to others and help them grow and fall in love with the One who loves us most. So don't stand on the sidelines. Take the devil by the throat and let him know that only the love of Christ will prevail.

 THE DAYS IN WHICH WE LIVE NOW REQUIRE HEROIC CATHOLICISM, NOT CASUAL CATHOLICISM. 

WE CAN NO LONGER BE CATHOLICS BY ACCIDENT, BUT INSTEAD BE CATHOLICS BY CONVICTION.

~BISHOP DANIEL R. JENKY

Dear Jesus,

Come into our hearts.

Change us so we will love the way You love.

Teach us to live the way You live.

Show us how to plant Your seeds of love 

in the hearts of all we meet.

Shine through us so everyone will look at us 

and see only You.

Set our hearts on fire for You alone.

Give us the zeal to be true Catholics 

so we may bring others to You.

This we ask through Christ our Lord.

 Amen.