Love

"You have heard it said love your friends and hate your enemies, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Then why is it so easy to hate someone else?  Why do we find it easier to be offended by other's failures, then to forgive as we have been forgiven?  As Christians it seems more common for us to fall into anger or bitterness rather than loving and forgetting the offenses of those who have hurt us. Yet, we are called by Jesus Christ to overcome our emotions and to allow his grace to transform us so that we can actually love those who hate us.  Is there someone in your life you are angry with?  Is there someone who has hurt you that you have not yet forgiven?  When you argue with your spouse do you bring up everything they have done to hurt you, remembering their offenses in detail?

Only Christ can help you let go of the hurt that others have caused you.  The healing takes place when you truly forgive them.  Remember, forgiving someone contains a promise that you will no longer fling their offense in their face the next time you are angry at them, or they hurt you again.  Hanging onto unforgiveness because you feel the other person still has to 'make it up to you' only sets the relationship up for difficulty where someone can never meet your expectations.  Jesus is the just judge, and your forgiveness opens the door to his greater forgiveness and grace in your life - it doesn't allow another person to "get away with it."  A lack of forgiveness toward another who has hurt you does not ensure they will be 'punished for what they did', instead it only poisons your own heart.

True forgiveness can only come through prayer, humility, and the reception of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. But it can only come when you realize Forgiveness of another is the greatest gift you can give to yourself.

Visions

Visions, dreams, locutions, you can call them many different things. St John Bosco had such a vision which has been interpreted as a need for you to stay close to the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother. As our world continues to become increasingly violent, it is important for us turn to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and ask him to bring peace to a torubled world. To be instruments of peace ourselves, we will help to bring peace to our families and friends. How do you bring peace into your relationships? St Matthew's gospel presents the Beatitudes. In Jesus' teaching, Jesus turns the values of the world upside down and says that you are blessed when you are poor in spirit, meek, persecuted, when you mourn and are a peacemaker and seek righteousness. To live the Beatitudes will help bring peace to the world, by opening your heart to Jesus Christ. Receive the Holy Eucharist at Mass and pray to the Blessed Mother of God to intercede and ask for God's grace in your life. The Kingdom of Heaven starts in your heart and is fulfilled in the presence of God for all eternity in Heaven.

Article on Celibacy

Fr Dwight Longenecker, a convert and married man who became a Catholic priest, has an article on his blog about married priests. It is worth reading his article. You can find it at www.gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/2011/01/married-priests-magic-bullet.html

Bishops

Today, we celebrate the feast of Sts Timothy and Titus, co-workers of St Paul and leaders of the early church. St Paul wrote letters to each of these, which are recognized as canonical letters in the New Testament. It is a good reminder on this feast day that we need to keep praying for our bishops. A bishop's vocation is demanding and often leads to frustration, especially in today's climate. And bishops can and do make mistakes, as all of us are wont to do. St Paul was confronted with many issues and immorality, not only among the peple in the cities that he visited, but also even among those who were purported to be leaders in the Christian communities. And if you have ever been in a position of leadership, you undoubtedly would have experienced as well all different types of personalities and much criticism from those under you. One good book on leadership is from Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, called Lead Like Jesus. It's all about servant leadership and gives you the tools to really empower others as a leader so that all of us may thrive together in our work and in our relationships.

2011

It's a new year and new beginnings. Maybe you have decided to attend Mass more often this year. Maybe you promised to pray the rosary every day. Maybe you decided to speak words of love to your beloved and eradicate the negative speech from your conversations. Or maybe you decided that you have had enough of politics because you have come to realize that only Jesus can bring transformation to our country.

Until we accept his teachings and follow his laws and return to a Christian morality, our country will never rebound. Christ is the answer. King Herod knew that, and he was afraid of the answer, which is why he tried to kill the Christ child. So many of our own politicians are also afraid of Jesus Christ. They try to kill him through legislation that is anti-Christian. More importantly, they try to kill him by placing men and women in positions of power that claim to be Christian, or better yet, a "practicing Catholic," and these men and women refuse to allow their Catholic faith to form their conscience. They keep abortion legal, they support embryonic stem cell research (which kills babies already conceived) and support gay marriage. Let us turn to our Blessed Mother, Mary, the Mother of God and ask her intercession that our Catholic politicians will come to the defense of life. As long as we keep killing babies in the womb, our country will always be morally bankrupt.

Holy Family

Merry Christmas!. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we also remember the Blessed Mother and St Joseph, the Holy Family. Many Catholics used to place JMJ on their assignments when in school, which stands for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It was with great joy that we honor the Mother of our Lord and the foster father, St Joseph. They lived fully the tenets of what a family is supposed to be. St Joseph was asked by God to be a guardian for His Son, and St Joseph raised Jesus, teaching Him about the Law and the prophets, taking Him to the Temple and loving His Mother. St Joseph lived his fatherhood as a chaste man, someone who sacrificed in order to honor and cherish the Mother of God. And Mary, as weknow from her Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke, lived her motherhood with the joy and the sorrow of knowing that her Son is destined to be the downfall of many nations, as St Simeon prophesied to her.

We ask for their intercession that our families today would understand the essence of sacrifice, as well as the essence of chastity. And this chastity does not begin only at the exchange of vows. Let us ask the Holy Family that our young people would understand the essence of chastity before marriage. It is no coincidence that with an increase in promiscuity and cohabitation, that divorce is on the increase, sexually transmitted diseases are on the increase, abortion is on the increase, and adultery is on the increase. And it is not only the husband who is guilty of adultery. There is an increase in adultery by the wives as well. Our families are being torn apart because men and women have no idea how to be chaste and how to sacrifice for the happiness of the other. There must be mutual love and respect, gentleness and kindness, and a love for purity and chastity, which, far too often, does not exist in the hearts of our husbands and wives.

St Joseph, you are the model of purity for men. We pray through your intercession that our men would be good husbands and providers. Mary, ever Virgin, you are the model of purity for women. We pray through your intercession that our women would be examples of purity and holiness.

Joseph's Lullaby

Mercy Me has a beautiful Christmas song, called Joseph's Lullaby, which takes the viewpoint of St Joseph as he holds his newborn Son in his arms. St Joseph seems to be the forgotten man during the season, as even our postage stamps have picture sof the Blessed Mother with Jesus, but Joseph was given a great privilege to be the foster father of God's Son, Jesus Christ. You can imagine what must have been going throough his mind as he held Jesus in his arms, and as he watched with love in his eyes how Mary held her Son in her arms as well. Mercy Me captures this in their Christmas song, and it is worth downloading to listen and contemplate on the words put in the mouth of St Joseph. If only our fathers today would be more like St Joseph, a pure, chaste spouse of the Blessed Mother.