Mon, 01 Nov 2004 09:29:03 +0530
Verse of the day
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." -- 1 Peter 5:8 and 9
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ALL SOULS' DAY- Book of remembrance.
The Church has a long tradition of remembering those who have died, to the love and mercy of God. We do this in a special way on the Feast of All Souls Day, and throughout November. In many churches around the world, there is a Book of the Names of the Dead, as a continuing reminder of our prayer.
I offer you an online book of remembrance. Please email me the names of your beloved departed ones, so that I can pray for them in a special way in my Holy Mass during the month of November.
Joyachan
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Merciful Father, hear our prayers and console us.
As we renew our faith in your Son, whom you raised from the dead, strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in this resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
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Tue, 02 Nov 2004 09:43:29 +0530
Verse of the day"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." -- Ephesians 1:18
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Wed, 03 Nov 2004 09:44:17 +0530
Verse of the day"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." -- 1 Peter 2:9
May God Bless you
Joyachan
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Wed, 03 Nov 2004 09:58:59 +0530
May all that I am today, all that I try to do today, may all my encounters, reflections, even the frustrations and failings all place my life in your hands.
Lord, my life is in your hands. please,
let this day give you praise..
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Wed, 03 Nov 2004 20:38:19 +0530
Pope Prays That Faithful Will Respond to Call to Holiness
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 2, 2004 - John Paul II's prayer intentions for November are that the faithful will respond to the call to holiness.
This is the general and missionary intention published by the Apostleship of Prayer, which the Pope makes his own every month, offering his sacrifices and prayers together with thousands of faithful worldwide.
The general intention for which the Holy Father is praying this month is that Christians will respond with generosity to the divine call and progress in holiness in their environment.
In addition, the Pope is praying "that all those who work in the missions will never forget that personal holiness and intimate union with Christ are the source of the efficacy of evangelization," the missionary intention states.
Cardinal Bernardin Gantin commented to the Fides agency about on the Pope's missionary intention.
The "Christian, 'charged with the mission,' … who has received the command to proclaim the Gospel, cannot forget that life bears fruit only if it is attached to Christ, like a branch to the vine," the cardinal explained.
"Personal holiness is an inward effort renewed day after day by God's grace to keep always intimately bound to Christ," he said.
And the "spirit of Christ is a spirit of fidelity, love in perfect obedience to the Father and, therefore, to duties as a baptized Christian, a consecrated person, a missionary at the service of the Gospel," the cardinal added.
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Thu, 04 Nov 2004 09:58:06 +0530
Verse of the day"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." -- Romans 13:1
Have a blessed day!
Joyachan
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Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:00:08 +0530
Luke 19:11-28
The first came forward and said, ´Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.´ He replied, ´Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.´ .....
Introductory Prayer:
I give you thanks, Lord, for the myriad of talents and abilities you have endowed me with. At times I am tempted to think I have been short-changed or disadvantaged, especially when I see your glory shining through the life and abilities of one of my brothers or sisters. I know that your love for me is equally as strong. You are great in your gifts.
Petition:Help me to develop my talents to the full, Lord, so that I can love you more with them and proclaim your glory to all peoples.
Dialogue with Christ: Lord, I know that the gifts you have given me need to be invested. They are not mine but yours to be administered. Help me to know how to invest them wisely. Help me not be stingy and miserly in their use but share them with all. May they bring a great return to the interests of your kingdom.
Resolution: I will share one of my talents with someone else today.
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Fri, 19 Nov 2004 10:22:06 +0530
Matthew 14:22-33 At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."
Introductory Prayer:
Lord, I often get that sinking feeling. It is easy for me to lose hope in life, in my abilities, even in you. Help me to never despair. I know you have the words of eternal life. I know that I sometimes need to be tried in my faith in order to grow stronger and mature in it. Lord, help me choose faith in you over doubt and pessimism.
Petition:Help me live in the optimism of your love, Jesus.
Dialogue with Christ: Lord, I have gone through many ups and downs. I feel I am in a continual flowing into and out of trust in you. May each new discovery of you leave a permanent deepening of my faith. May each venturing out away from you be shorter and less distanced from you. May I finally learn to live in constant reference to you and your love.
Resolution: I will hand over to God one of the areas I least trust him in. I will never mistrust him in that matter again. In everything that happens to me, my prayer will be: “Thy will be done.”
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Sat, 20 Nov 2004 10:23:01 +0530
Luke 19:45-48
Jesus entered the Temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, ´My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.´"
Introductory Prayer:
Lord, I often get distracted and caught up with my own affairs. I only want to serve you. Whenever I serve myself I find emptiness. When I turn to you I find a love that grows and fills me. You have been so caring for my welfare. I want to show my love now for you.
Petition:
Lord, remind me daily of your love for me. I only want to care for you.
Dialogue with Christ:
Lord, I thank you for your lessons to me. There is always a danger that I can make you into a “tailor-made” god that suits my tastes and sensibilities. I thank you for reminding me of the truth. I want to adhere more to that truth than to a false idea of it that can sometimes take over in me. Help me to love with the same zeal and fervor as you do.
Resolution: I will analyze my soul and see if there is love for anything that keeps me separated from God. I will take concrete steps to root it out.
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Sun, 21 Nov 2004 07:58:39 +0530
Luke 23:35-43
“Let Him Save Himself If He Is the Chosen One.”
Petition: Grant me, Christ our King, a renewed and active faith that seeks your will and trusts your forgiveness.
“Let Him Save Himself If He Is the Chosen One.” How often we fall into testing God! “If you are God free me from this trial and suffering.” “If you are God, bless me with human success in this important endeavor.” In other words, prove to me that you are God, and prove it by doing things my way. The ultimate abuse hurled at Christ is precisely to come down and not be God. Rulers, soldiers, even common criminals … the whole world repeats the same challenge: “If you are the King… save yourself.” Yet, Jesus has not come to be saved or to do what we would do. He has come to give his life, undo our disobedience, and offer salvation to those who are willing to believe. God becomes man so that he can reach men’s hearts. He has come to reveal who God is to those made in his image. And to our surprise God is love, self-sacrifice, Christ crucified; he is not one who “saves himself.”
Dialogue with Christ: Dear Lord, increase my faith! I want to see your merciful face and believe in your love and good will. Help me to embrace my crosses, trusting in your goodness, knowing that you remember me. I want always to be aware of my own misery and need for your forgiveness and strength. Make my heart sincere and humble before your face. Turn my heart so that I never demand things for myself, but offer myself for others out of love for you.
Resolution: I will prepare and make a good confession (before asking anything more of God). -------------------------------------
Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:55:10 +0530
Luke 21:1-4
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."
Introductory Prayer:
Lord, I believe that you have granted me life and all the good things I enjoy. I trust that your grace will help me always to judge people and things as you do. I trust that only you are my rock and my refuge. I love you and want to give you more and more of myself in prayer and in deed.
Petition:Lord, grant me enough confidence in you so to share more freely the goods of my life.
Dialogue with Christ:
Dear Lord Jesus, teach me to give of myself with a generous heart. May sacrifice and suffering never limit what I offer you; rather may they be the constant currency of my gift. Help me place my hope and confidence in you, and not in the fragile possessions I hold in this life.
Resolution: I will prepare a gift for someone in my life, which will cost me a sacrifice of love. -------------------------------------
Tue, 23 Nov 2004 08:35:39 +0530
He Gave Them Ten Gold Pieces:
A Relationship The Lord has given each one of us “gold pieces” for a concrete mission in life. Our mission is to invest in the Kingdom. The gold coin he gives me is still his. It is a loan. It does not really belong to me. The gifts I have received from God, natural and supernatural, are God’s property. I have these gifts, but do not own them.
The most profound and important value of this “gold,” more than its face value or the responsibility that accompanies it, lies in the relationship that it constitutes. In virtue of the entrusted gold I have a special relationship with the Lord. His act of entrusting me with his gold reveals his personal confidence and trust in me. Even more, since he has entrusted his gold to me, he has trusted in me as more than a servant. “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15).
The generous gift of gold betokens personal friendship and love. But the maturing of these more precious values depends on my response. My use of and care for his “gold” will determine the quality of my friendship and love for the Lord.
Dialogue with Christ: Dear Lord, you have entrusted me with so much. Help me to give all I can back to you, multiplied by faith, as an _expression of my love. Grant that I never waste your gifts, especially the gift of time. May my love have no limits as I strive to serve you and the souls you entrust to me.
Resolution: I will ask God in prayer for one change he wants me to make in my life and pursue it with joy for love of him.
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Wed, 24 Nov 2004 08:53:56 +0530
“Because of My Name.” The name of Jesus Christ is powerful. It has cast out demons and cured illnesses. It has brought great consolation and intense love to so many throughout history. But this occurs when it is met by faith. Why wonder then that when met by rejection or resistance, a similarly strong effect follows, only antagonistic in nature? No one can long remain neutral before the name and person of Christ. His taking my sins upon himself and then rising to new life are not something I can ignore. He comes to challenge my way of living. He came and loved me with an extreme and total love before I was born. To consider a response and option for him provokes a spiritual revolution, self-denial and repentance from sin. So his call finally threatens my habits, lifestyle, priorities, loves and security.
Dialogue with Christ: Lord, grant me the desire to love you with all my life. Help me to see that every moment, especially moments of suffering, is when you want my love. I do not want to live my faith in private, hiding your gift and friendship. Grant me the inspiration and courage to speak your name with my life and give testimony with my words.
Resolution: I will give testimony of my faith by enduring in silence the next time my faith brings me suffering.
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Thu, 25 Nov 2004 08:05:21 +0530
Luke 21:20-28
Introductory Prayer:I believe in you Lord, that you are present in my life and always working to lead me to yourself. I trust that you will transform my suffering and struggles into power and life, if I can only give them to you. I love you Lord, for you work always for my good, despite my repeated failures and lack of love. Help me to love you more today than yesterday. Raise my spirits to share my life more willingly and generously with you.
Petition: Grant me, Lord, hope and confidence in your presence and strength, especially in the midst of my trials.
Dialogue with Christ:
Lord, I want to offer you my entire life, with all its sufferings, failures and sin. Grant me the grace to see beyond the pain of the present moment and believe in your redemption. Bless my hope so that I will keep you, my powerful King always before my eyes. I trust that you are with me and that nothing I live or suffer is indifferent or foreign to you. Above all, keep me from turning my heart from you. Break me of my resistance to your will and grace by the power of your love.
Resolution:
For the salvation of one more soul, I will offer my most difficult cross today to Christ, with faith, confidence and joy, not giving in to discouragement and complaints
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Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:18:07 +0530
Luke 21: 34-36 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."
Drowsy Hearts. What does it mean for our hearts to become drowsy? The cause of this drowsiness is an “escapist” lifestyle. We were created to live life and to live it to the full. A full Christian life is a life of self-giving and sacrifice for love. This is what our heart was made to do, give itself for others. Sin and the deviations of disordered living corrupt and frustrate the heart’s action. Instead of giving to others, it begins to turn in on itself. A cycle of selfishness robs the heart of healthy renewal; giving to myself leads to stagnation. Finally, we lose the ability, or at least the facility, to love. A drowsy heart is old and tired, grown insensitive to love and lies isolated in its own self-satisfaction. God is no longer at the center of a drowsy heart, nor will such a heart reach out to God when the moment of tribulation comes. This is the heart whose life of faith and love has been suffocated by the thorns and brambles of worldly cares. The frightening fact is that a heart does not become drowsy overnight; rather a slow process of self-seeking leads to the final heart attack. How awake is my heart?
Dialogue with Christ:
Lord Jesus, awaken my heart to your friendship and the challenges of bringing your Kingdom to other hearts. Help me to fight each day to be faithful and overcome the temptations to selfishness and discouragement. Where am I failing to fight or compromising my faith? Keep me from self-deception. Teach me to grow deep roots of virtue that will stand the test of trial and suffering. Purify and form my conscience so that I can stand before you each day with confidence, confident in your grace rather than in my strength.
Resolution: I will place myself deliberately and consciously before the Lord as I begin my nightly conscience examen.
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Sun, 28 Nov 2004 07:53:21 +0530
Matthew 24:37-44
Introductory Prayer:
Lord Jesus allow me to spend this time in prayerful dialogue with you. Permit me to place all of my worries and cares aside to prepare myself for your coming during this Advent season.
Am I Prepared to Welcome Him? Advent is upon us and the celebration of the birth of Christ is just around the corner. How much our hearts long for the joy and peace that the angels foretold the night of Jesus’ birth! Will Jesus find a place to be born this year? Like that first Christmas he will go from door-to-door, in the womb of Our Blessed Mother, seeking a place to stay. Maybe like that first Christmas years ago, there will be some houses where no room will be available for Jesus. Perhaps they will be too filled up with the concerns of the festive moment. Yet, while all the mansions and palaces may be booked up, there will be other humbler places for the little Lord Jesus to stay: simple hearts littered with straw and afire with burning love on a cold winter night. Offer Jesus your heart; just leave the door open a crack and he will find his way in.
Dialogue with Christ:
My Lord Jesus, I know that I am not worthy of the great love you have for me. I get so caught up in the concerns of the moment that at times I forget about what is most important. When you knock on my door this Christmas I desire to be awake with my candle burning, prepared to receive you into my heart.
Resolution: I will arrive five minutes early to Mass and prepare my soul for Jesus’ coming in the Blessed Sacrament
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Mon, 29 Nov 2004 08:30:59 +0530
Matthew 8:5-11
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centrurian approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurian said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject me. And I say to one, ´Go,´ and he goes; to another, ´Come here,´ and he comes; and to my slave, ´Do this,´ and the slave does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from east and west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.”
Faith Moves Rain Clouds. If it can be said that Jesus had a weakness for something, it would seem that Christ’s “weakness” showed itself when he perceived faith in others. He never worked a miracle without first demanding faith from the one to receive it, and he never refused anyone who asked anything from him with faith. Jesus says that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains. Although I personally have never seen anyone move mountains, I surely have seen prayer move smaller things, like rain clouds for instance. Alright, you can be skeptical if you want, but if you need mountains, rain clouds or anything else to be moved, ask for it with faith, and you will really touch Jesus’ weak spot. Direct your prayer of petition to Our Lord with confident faith and love for his will. He really listens and he can move whatever needs to be moved.
Dialogue with Christ:
Christ Jesus let me ask you for the faith that you demand from me. Help me to see your guiding hand in all the moments of the day and to recognize you in those who seek my aid.
Resolution : I will act charitably today, looking to see Christ in my neighbor.
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Tue, 30 Nov 2004 08:23:19 +0530
Luke 10:21-24
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Turning to the disciples in private he said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."
Introductory Prayer:Lord help me to turn to you in this moment of prayer with childlike faith and simplicity. I really want you to spend this day with you. Help me to rejoice in you.
Petition:Lord grant me the simplicity of a child so that I can marvel at your Father’s plan.
Dialogue with Christ:
Christ Jesus I want to see everything with the wonder of a child. Allow me to avoid complicating life and to grow in simplicity and love of you.
Resolution:
I will be cordial and simple with Jesus during my moments of prayer today.
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