Someone Worth Knowing

                              Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God, insight into life from 
                                                   knowing a Holy God. Proverbs 9:10 

 I remember when I first know my husband. It was in the internet that we meet, it so happened that he got my email and saw my photo that he immediately emailed me. The first email he wrote five sentences only I get curious I told myself I've got to know this person he is very stingy in words. It made me excited if  I meet people who don't barely like to say something because I am the kind of person who talk for hours. So, I emailed him back and after emailing each other for two years and chatting over the internet we meet after two

 years. Knowing a person is a day to day journey we are human we have our ups and down moment that sometimes we get easily flare up with simple unintentional word or words uttered. And when I like to know a person I am intent on knowing you and try to accept you and understand you as you are. Just like......

God is also a friend worth knowing. Unlike the wooden statues some worship, he is accessible. He wants to be known. He's told you all about himself in his Word, and he waits enthusiastically for the dialogue to begin.
If your heart longs to know him, to grasp who he really is and what he wants from you, sit down with an open heart and an open Bible and get to know the God of the universe, who loves you with an everlasting love. source: www.bethanyhouse.comMome

                           Wonderful Father: Thank you for reaching out to me and opening the door 
                                to a loving, everlasting relationship between the two of us. 
                                     Thank you for allowing me to know you. Amen.

                                 Linking to MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY and SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

Where did the Holy Family live?

Tradition is strong and consistent of two points about the birth and early life of Jesus: (1) he was born in the town of Bethlehem, located in the area called Judea; (2) he was raised in Nazareth - about 90 miles to the north.
What is uncertain is where Mary and Joseph lived at the time of their marriage.
Matthew assumes that Mary and Joseph were living in Bethlehem and were married there. His problem is to get them from Bethlehem where Jesus was born to Nazareth where he was raised. Here is how this is accomplished in Mattehew. Recall that after Jesus' birth in Behtlehem, the holy family fled to Egypt. After Herod's death they intended to return to Bethlehem:

                      But when Joseph heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
                      in palce of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And
                      because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee.
                      HE went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth.


                      Luke has Mary and Joseph living in Nazareth and married there. His problem is to get them
to Bethlehem for the birth. Here is how his unfolds in Luke:

                       In those days a decree went our from Caesar Augustus that the whole
                       world should be enrolled....So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
                       And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea,
                       to the city of David that is called Bethlehem.

Prayer

Yesterday, Fr. Jerry our parish priest give an emphasis on prayer. He says "in this time and generation we often heard people said time flies so quick! He continued to say it is because we are too busy about life. Our business and all the things that has to be done that we don't have time to set and be quite even for 10 minutes." He says, in ten minutes you can say it is your time out time and that is when you have to silence yourself and be with God. Then he asked what is prayer. As I have known the definition of prayer, he one by one told us that all the definition of prayer is somewhat lacking. And he says that he read in a book that prayer is being with the Lord who loves us. That is the most important thing to know when we pray. And he gave this very beautiful example. There was this woman who came to him for guidance. She was so bitter in life, unhappy, judgemental etc. And she told Fr. Jerry that she was sexually abused by her own Uncle. She grow up sad and negative in life and she stopped praying. Because she knew that when she pray to God, God will asked her to forgave her Uncle and she said she can't do that. Fr. Jerry continued telling us that, that is prayer, we are in the presence of God. The all knowing and loving God. So what happened to the woman she surrendered to God, she was back in her knees and praying to God for healing and grace to forgave her Uncle and she did.
The message struck me so well because I myself neglected my prayer time. I may not have a 10 minutes straight time of praying to God in a day but from time to time I always call HIS name. For me one secret of this life so as not to make life chaotic and stressful is take time to pray to God, just listen and for sure you will find peace and joy we can't find anywhere in this world. So pray!

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.'"
                 John 6:51-58

He is Risen!!! Alleluia!!!

"I rose up and am still with Thee." After His labors and His humiliations, Christ finds rest with His Father. "I am still with Thee." This is perfect beatitude. Through His cross He entered into the possession of eternal glory. Christ has gained the crown of victory; through Christ men also win their crowns of victory. Humanity was under a curse and subject to the wrath of God. Now that they have risen with Christ, their guilt has been destroyed. "I rose up and am still with Thee." The liturgy places these words in the mouth of the Church that she may pray them with Christ.

"The earth trembled and was still when God arose in judgment." The resurrection of Christ is the judgment and condemnation of those who have turned away from God. This judgment was prefigured by the angel who passed through the land of Egypt destroying the first-born of the Egyptians. The Israelites marked the doors of their houses with the blood of the paschal lamb. We are the new Israel, and "Christ our Pasch is sacrificed." We mark ourselves with His blood, which we enjoy in the Holy Eucharist. We have been pardoned, we are saved, we shall live.

"He is risen." The resurrection of Christ is a pledge of our own resurrection. It is the foundation upon which our faith rests. It is the guarantee of our redemption and God's assurance that our sins are forgiven and that we are called to eternal life. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein. Give praise to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Alleluia." "Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. . . . The Lamb redeems the sheep. Christ, the innocent One, hath reconciled sinners to the Father." — Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

Prayer for Good Friday

Prayer for Good Friday

This prayer is designed to be said within the family before a Crucifix on Good Friday.

Mother or a child: Jesus lives his entire life for his journey or a child: under the Cross of salvation. St. John's Gospel gives us some of his last words (12:27-33):

Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say! Father, save me from this hour. No, this is why I came to this hour! Father, glorify thy Name. There came therefore a voice from heaven: I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Now is the judgment of the world, now will the prince of the world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all things to myself.

Father: He humbled himself becoming obedient unto death, even to death on a Cross. Therefore God also has exalted him and has bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus, every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

We adore your Cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify your holy resurrection

Family: because by this sacred wood joy has come into the whole world.

Father: Let us pray. We beseech you, O God, look upon this your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ allowed himself to be betrayed into the hands of wicked men and to undergo the torment of the Cross. In his Name grant our petition.

Family: Amen.

Holy Thursday...

It's Holy Thursday. In our Christian belief tonight Jesus had HIS Last Supper with his disciples and the washing of feet too. And later this evening Judas will betrayed HIM.
In the Philippines after the evening mass followed by the Eucharistic Adoration we  do Visita Iglesia. And I think it would be eight churches that we have to visit do the Adoration then after visiting eight churches all around the city and towns we  then go back to our parish church. Here in MI hubby and I will go to our parish church for evening mass then Eucharistic adoration. I so wish this tradition that I used to do in the Philippines I could do it here in the US too.

Daily Readings for:April 21, 2011
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: God our Father, we are gathered here to share in supper which your only Son left to his Church to reveal his love. He gave it to us when he was about to die and commanded us to celebrate it as the new and eternal sacrifice. We pray that in this Eucharist we may find the fullness of love and life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer of Wednesday of Holy Week

Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week

The special prayer either before or after the Wednesday evening meal is a selection from Psalm 21, in which we see through the eyes of David the picture of Christ suffering for us on the Cross.
Psalm 21:23-32
I will proclaim your name to my brethren: in the midst of the assembly I will praise you; "You who fear the Lord, praise him; all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him; revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not spurned nor disdained the wretched man in his misery Nor did he turn his face away from him, but when he cried out to him, he heard him." So by your gift will I utter praise in the vast assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him. The lowly shall eat their fill; they who seek the Lord shall praise him: "May your hearts be ever merry!" All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; All the families of the nations shall bow down before him. For dominion is the Lord's and he rules the nations. To him alone shall bow down all who sleep in the earth; Before him shall bend all who go down into the dust. And to him my soul shall live; my descendants shall serve him. Let the coming generation be told of the Lord that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice he has shown.

Prayer Source: Lent and Holy Week in the Home by Emerson and Arlene Hynes, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1977