Daily Thought

Life With God Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. C.S. Lewis

No Fear ⎯ Called By Name “I have called you by name” (Is 43:1).  The first reason not to fear is the fact that God has called us by name.  The angel, God’s messenger, called Mary by name.  To God belongs the power to give names.  In the work of creation, he calls into existence every creature by name. There is an identity behind a name, that which is unique in every single thing, in every single person; that intimate essence that only God truly knows.  This divine prerogative was shared with man when God invited him to name the animals, the birds and also his own offspring (Gen 2:19-21; 4:1).  Many cultures share this profound biblical vision; they recognize in a name the revelation of the profound mystery of life and the meaning of existence. When God calls someone by name, he also reveals to the person his vocation, his plan of holiness and fulfilment, through which the person becomes a gift to others and is made unique.  And when God wants to expand the horizons of life, he gi

The Importance Of Family The following is taken from The 7th Annual Meeting with Families with Pope Benedict XVI (June 2, 2012) in Milan. The following is a question asked by a 7-year-old Vietnamese girl about the Pope's experience with his family. I share this with you and ask for your prayers for the healing and support of families.  1 CAT TIEN (Vietnamese girl): Hello Papa. I am Cat Tien and I come from Vietnam. I am seven years old and I wish to present my family to you. This is my Dad, Dan, and my mother is called Tao, and this is my little brother Binh. I would very much like to know something about your own family and when you were very young like me. HOLY FATHER: Thank you, my dear, and warm thanks also to your parents. You have asked me about my family memories. They are so many, and I can only speak of a few. The most important moment for our family was always Sunday, but Sunday really began on Saturday afternoon. My father would read out the Sunday

Beautiful Words of Encouragement Dear friends, open your eyes and look around you. So many young people no longer see any meaning in their lives. Go forth! Christ needs you too. Let yourselves be caught up and drawn along by his love. Be at the service of this immense love, so it can reach out to everyone, especially to those “far away”. Some people are far away geographically, but others are far away because their way of life has no place for God. Some people have not yet personally received the Gospel, while others have been given it, but live as if God did not exist. Let us open our hearts to everyone. Let us enter into conversation in simplicity and respect. If this conversation is held in true friendship, it will bear fruit. The “nations” that we are invited to reach out to are not only other countries in the world. They are also the different areas of our lives, such as our families, communities, places of study and work, groups of friends and places where we spend our free t

Being Content With Little Things I think the difference between me and some people is that I'm content to do my little bit. Sometimes people think they have to do big things in order to make change. But if each one would light a candle we'd have a tremendous light. Servant of God Thea Bowman

Happy Thanksgiving  Lord, we thank you for the goodness of our people and for the spirit of justice that fills this nation. We thank you for the beauty and fullness of the land and the challenge of the cities. We thank you for our work and our rest, for one another, and for our homes. We thank you, Lord: accept our thanksgiving on this day. We pray and give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. R: Amen.

All Things Work For Good Darkness transfigures into light, bad transfigures into good, grief transfigures into grace, empty transfigures into full. God wastes nothing – ‘makes everything work out according to his plan.’ (Ephesians 1:11). Ann Voskamp

Consistency A truly loving heart loves God's good pleasure, not only in consolations but also in afflictions, trials and crosses. In fact, in such cases it even loves more. Love does just this; it makes the lover ready to suffer for the beloved. St. Frances de Sales

If You Are Busy — Consider This Half an hour's meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed. St. Francis de Sales

Evangelization Person To Person Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you. St. Teresa of Calcutta

Stand Firm & Persevere   MY CHILD, I am the Lord Who gives strength in the day of trouble. Come to Me when all is not well with you. Your tardiness in turning to prayer is the greatest obstacle to heavenly consolation, for before you pray earnestly to Me you first seek many comforts and take pleasure in outward things. Thus, all things are of little profit to you until you realize that I am the one Who saves those who trust in Me, and that outside of Me there is no worth-while help, or any useful counsel or lasting remedy.   But now, after the tempest, take courage, grow strong once more in the light of My mercies; for I am near, says the Lord, to restore all things not only to the full but with abundance and above measure. Is anything difficult for Me? Or shall I be as one who promises and does not act? Where is your faith? Stand firm and persevere. Be a man of endurance and courage, and consolation will come to you in due time. Wait for Me; wait

No Fear The one thing we owe absolutely to God is never to be afraid of anything. Blessed Charles de Foucauld

Strength For The Journey God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies gray and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to your honor and glory. St. Augustine

The Eloquent Lesson of Our Example Your example, even more than your words, will be an eloquent lesson to the world. St. Madeleine Sophie Barat

Broken & Fruitful The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. The pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear. Henri Nouwen

Giving Thanks And Seeing Clearly The practice of giving thanks...eucharisteo...this is the way we practice the presence of God, stay present to His presence, and it is always a practice of the eyes. We don't have to change what we see. Only the way we see. Ann Voskamp

Quenching Our Thirst For God There is a moment when the interior light of the "eyes of faith" becomes one with the exterior light that shines from Christ, and this occurs because man's thirst, as he strives and seeks after God, is quenched as he finds repose in the revealed form of the Son. Hans Urs Van Balthasar

Open Your Door Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your soul to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light. St. Ambrose

Beautiful Message For All Souls Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning, Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints, and today the liturgy invites us to commemorate the faithful departed. These two recurrences are intimately linked to each other, just as joy and tears find a synthesis in Jesus Christ, who is the foundation of our faith and our hope. On the one hand, in fact, the Church, a pilgrim in history, rejoices through the intercession of the Saints and the Blessed who support her in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel; on the other, she, like Jesus, shares the tears of those who suffer separation from loved ones, and like Him and through Him echoes the thanksgiving to the Father who has delivered us from the dominion of sin and death. Yesterday and today, many have been visiting cemeteries, which, as the word itself implies, is the “place of rest”, as we wait for the final awakening. It is lovely to think that it will be Jesus himself to awaken us. Jesus himse

Find Us Faithful  (words and music by Jon Mohr) We're pilgrims on the journey Of the narrow road And those who've gone before us line the way Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace. Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses Let us run the race not only for the prize But as those who've gone before us Let us leave to those behind us The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives CHORUS: Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone And our children sift through all we've left behind May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover Become the light that leads them to the road we each must f