Christmas to Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Peace, I salute you -

Christmas to Christmas,

we go - each year to each year -

and from hope to hope.

Have we forgotten

the hope of two thousand years?

Christmas to Christmas...

Let us now

remember...

---<--@

Come see -

To each of us is born this day,

in a manger surrounded with love - and only with love,

and in all hearts sincere, willing, humble, and contrite -

Emmanuel, Jesus Christ the Lord!

Alleluia to God,

alleluia to the LORD -

Peace is among the nations,

good will to all men and women of peace.

EMHC

I stand by my God

and introduce Him to you

at the Eucharist.

I walk with my Lord

and I shall bring Him to you

when you most need Him.

This is my

vocation.

---<--@

An EMHC is an Extraordinary Minister for Holy Communion and is a parish ministry of the laity in the Roman Catholic Church.

I am an EMHC.

There are many ways to serve in the Catholic Church...

Go and find your vocation today.

Prayers Like Glue

My spirit slows down...

and my prayers feel like glue.

I feel tired inside.

So I look for it...

look for what's familiar.

Then I feel more tired.

Life slows down,

so must I.

---<--@

Lesson Learned: One does not dictate the tempo of the spiritual life. One gets dictated to.

If one seeks for more than one is presently entitled. One gets depressed.

Because even if ours is the faith to move mountains. The moving of the mountains is not ours - only the believing, the accepting... the love.

Alleluia to the LORD!

Adoration to Jesus Christ the Lord!

Tiara

All-American,
that's the crown that Sunbeams made,
that she gave to God.

May God bless her heart,
with colors bright, that her life,
may shine in His Light.

Forever
for Jesus.
---<--@

This crown went in the way of charity...

as an offering to the Throne of the LORD

in Eternity.

Uniting Shepherds

Bless us, O LORD,

with Thy unity and peace -

Thy Church in this world...

Gather us in Love,

embrace us in Thy arms - through -

Thy holy bishops.

O Spirit,

let us pray.

---<--@

Saint Peter the Apostle, pray for us.

Rebuild the Church around the Holy Father: Two strong lungs has the Church - east and west - and two strong arms has the holy bishopric of the Church - the holy priesthood and the permanent diaconate.

Ministering Shepherds

Raise up for Thy Church,

O LORD, Father in heaven -

proven and wise souls.

Prudent souls, O Christ,

faithful and true to Thy Poor -

Thy holy deacons.

O Spirit,

let us pray.

---<--@

The treasure of the nation is its people.

But the treasure of the Church are the Lord's poor.

The nation nurtures its treasures under the sheltering wings of its Peace.

But only the Church (with all men and women of good will) can pray for an end to War.

...when ordered to give up the treasures of the Church, he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said that these were the true treasures of the Church.

Saint Lawrence the Deacon, pray for us.

Gathering Shepherds

Grant us holy priests,

O LORD, send them forth like wind

to renew Thy Church.

Gathering shepherds,

servants after thy own heart,

O LORD, deign to bless.

O Spirit,

let us pray.

---<--@

Saint John Vianney, pray for us.

Renew our parishes, O my Jesus - advance the cause of Thy Christian communities!

Make us strong in Thy Spirit, O God of all good things, to love and serve Thy beloved poor and bring to them through a life of living service to our nation through Thy Church, the grace of Thy most blessed peace.

Christian Unity

O how our Lord longs
for you to come Home, my love,
back to Father's arms.

Consider thy heart,
what it says, amidst the noise,
"why art thou baptized?"

Kindred grace
forever!
---<--@

Unity is not sameness... It is saneness.

Unity is not singularity. Unity is an acceptance.

It is diversity.

Bright Morning Star

Our Holy Father,
Pope Benedict XVI,
once remarked, I learned...

How at Holy Mass,
the Church used to face eastward,
but now, the Pope said -

Christ the Lord
is our East!
---<--@

Christ-centeredness is other-centeredness.

Church Suffering

Knowing that their love
has yet to arrive when their
faith now rest in God...

The timeless souls - long -
for their burning thirst to end,
their hope they left - HERE.

Pray for the
Holy Souls!
---<--@

Life in the Trinity

Knowledge of the Son
and the Father who sent Him,
how is this our faith?

Faith distills like dew
the truths of our Christian faith
upon hearts made free.

Truth is Christ,
Spirit life!
---<--@

God Encompassing God

O LORD,

God encompassing God,

God encompassing All in Thyself!

O LORD,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -

Blessed Unity,

Holy Trinity,

Perfect Company!

O LORD,

there is none but Thee,

there is none like Thee!

O LORD,

Thou art from everlasting to everlasting -

in Thee All draw their being,

in Thee All draw their living life,

in Thee there is no shadow of turning,

in Thee there is neither darkness nor Night,

in Thee there is joy, abundance and peace,

in Thee there is only love and the Light!

O LORD,

Thou desire salvation for all beings

to whom shall all needful souls turn to,

my God, but to Thee?

O LORD,

Thou art the one Sovereign of all nations

unto Whom shall Thy exile peoples return to,

my God, but unto Thee?

Abide in us, O LORD, be with us!

Be the God of our lives, our families,

and our national communities!

O Goal of all my goals,

I love, I trust, and I adore Thee!

---<--@

Our God, O my beloved of my heart, is a God of relationships - One, Triune Perfection!

The Saving Cross

O Christ, my Savior!
Why do You allow suff'ring
to burden mankind?

To free us from sin
by our dying from evil
upon Thine crosses...

...O so kind,
God of mine.
---<--@

God did not say it's going to be easy. He said it was going to be worth it.

The Call of Vocation

Respond to thy call,
be true to thyself, and then -
cast thyself away!

Launch into the deep!
Cast thy suns, O dear Christians,
let us live our Light!

Shine upon
the darkness.
---<--@

Hear with courage...

Respond with generosity...

Embrace with charity...

Your Christian calling to serve...

Got Vocation? Everybody does.

Light Up the World

Being a Christian

is not a definition,

not just static words...

Our strength is the Word!

Let seep into thy marrow:

We are what we act!

Express it

like the light!

---<--@

"If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire!"

- St. Catherine of Siena

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.

Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.

Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

- Mat 5: 14-16

Jesus Christ is True Light!

True Light

We know God through Christ
for in the Lord is the Light -
the life of Mankind...

For the heart must see
before our feet takes a step
so in Christ, we see!

Not by sight
do we walk.
---<--@

The Light of Life

The triumph of goodness is obvious.

We see this triumph expressed faithfully
in the lives of great men and women
past, present, and forever.

We see this triumph expressed perfectly
in the life of Jesus Christ, the one Savior of Mankind,
the Light through Whom we gain true sight
and the power to give it to others.

This Light is the victory of life!

So it is this triumph of the goodness in all for all
- its force, its majesty, and ultimate reality -
that the Evil in all evil things 

everywhere strives to utterly obscure
in everyone and in every age
so that
evil is perpetuated
not because there is a lack of evil
but because there is a lack of good.
---<--@