It's early Saturday morning and I'm trying to get back into some very good habits. For quite some time now I had always put God first and said morning prayers, even on the weekends when I pray alone. The challenges in life seemed to get to me, and complacency began to creep it's ugly head into my life. I made excuses, I began to procrastinate a bit, just like a man falling off his diet. By the way, I did that too! There was nothing terribly bad being done, it's just that I let my life change gradually, and not for the best. I realized this more and more and prayed for help.
It is the weekend and I vowed, like a New Year's resolution to return to form, and bring back order in my life. It's time to get back on track, so prayer and reflection time were first on my agenda. It was good, actually very good! So good that I am sensing His presence close again. Not that He moved away, but it was I! Shades of a previous posting about who moved?
This past Holy Day as we honor Mary, we hear how she pondered all these things in her heart. This is an example for us to try to understand how Christ is shaping our lives, allowing us to grow and become what He intended us to be.
As I reflect on this Christmas season I will share three beautiful examples of how I saw and heard Our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's Christmas eve and I volunteered to help Sister Pauline with her ministry of bringing presents to children of men who are in prison. We loaded my car and we were off to visit the family. We had two children to present two huge bags of gifts for. They were given clothes, games, etc. and they were just overjoyed by the gifts. Their smiles were so bright it started me thinking of my grandchild to be. We then took pictures to send to the man in prison to help him also during this time, a beautiful touch that Sister had learned many years ago. Before we departed we offered our Christmas blessings and then it happened..... I looked into the mother's eyes and I realized that I had just seen Our Lord through this wonderful lady. The love that came pouring out of her eyes was so precious, more precious than gold. I was just given the best Christmas gift ever.
It's Christmas day and we finally talked our daughter and her fiance into waiting to celebrate Christmas with us until next week. They both live in Portsmouth and we were expecting a large storm. Terry is upstairs on the computer and I'm watching an old episode of Frasier on Netflix. Suddenly the dogs go running to the door and start barking, and then they are quiet. I thought to myself, that's strange, who in the world is here on Christmas night. Then my daughter and her fiance say "We're here, Merry Christmas!" My daughter has turned into an expert at surprising us at very wonderful moments. I called for Terry and tears came down both of our eyes. We were witnesses of the greatest gift Our Lord has for us, LOVE! Just the thought of this again continues to move me. Once again the Lord continues to give!
It's New Year's eve, and I'm remembering that I still have to call an old friend. I have mentioned in the past how I have tried to reconnect with my days in the Seminary. John was a treasure for me in a very difficult time in my life. He was my guardian angel for me in those days. When I left I put all of those days behind me and thought that I would never look back. Well, obviously the Lord had different plans for me. I reached out to him and we are slowly recapturing some of that life that remains with us both. I picked up the phone and called him again. We spoke for about 40 minutes, which actually felt like 5 or 10 minutes. We shared more thoughts, laughs, hopes, dreams, and great words. He ended it by saying..........."Mitch, thank you so much for calling, you really made my day!" This was my third Christmas present!
This Christmas I saw, I felt, I heard Our Lord in my life. I learned a lesson with my conversation and relationship with John. He is there waiting for all of us to reach out, and when we do..............an abundance of grace and love is waiting for us!
Bonjour et Adieu mes Amis,
Mitch
It is the weekend and I vowed, like a New Year's resolution to return to form, and bring back order in my life. It's time to get back on track, so prayer and reflection time were first on my agenda. It was good, actually very good! So good that I am sensing His presence close again. Not that He moved away, but it was I! Shades of a previous posting about who moved?
This past Holy Day as we honor Mary, we hear how she pondered all these things in her heart. This is an example for us to try to understand how Christ is shaping our lives, allowing us to grow and become what He intended us to be.
As I reflect on this Christmas season I will share three beautiful examples of how I saw and heard Our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's Christmas eve and I volunteered to help Sister Pauline with her ministry of bringing presents to children of men who are in prison. We loaded my car and we were off to visit the family. We had two children to present two huge bags of gifts for. They were given clothes, games, etc. and they were just overjoyed by the gifts. Their smiles were so bright it started me thinking of my grandchild to be. We then took pictures to send to the man in prison to help him also during this time, a beautiful touch that Sister had learned many years ago. Before we departed we offered our Christmas blessings and then it happened..... I looked into the mother's eyes and I realized that I had just seen Our Lord through this wonderful lady. The love that came pouring out of her eyes was so precious, more precious than gold. I was just given the best Christmas gift ever.
It's Christmas day and we finally talked our daughter and her fiance into waiting to celebrate Christmas with us until next week. They both live in Portsmouth and we were expecting a large storm. Terry is upstairs on the computer and I'm watching an old episode of Frasier on Netflix. Suddenly the dogs go running to the door and start barking, and then they are quiet. I thought to myself, that's strange, who in the world is here on Christmas night. Then my daughter and her fiance say "We're here, Merry Christmas!" My daughter has turned into an expert at surprising us at very wonderful moments. I called for Terry and tears came down both of our eyes. We were witnesses of the greatest gift Our Lord has for us, LOVE! Just the thought of this again continues to move me. Once again the Lord continues to give!
It's New Year's eve, and I'm remembering that I still have to call an old friend. I have mentioned in the past how I have tried to reconnect with my days in the Seminary. John was a treasure for me in a very difficult time in my life. He was my guardian angel for me in those days. When I left I put all of those days behind me and thought that I would never look back. Well, obviously the Lord had different plans for me. I reached out to him and we are slowly recapturing some of that life that remains with us both. I picked up the phone and called him again. We spoke for about 40 minutes, which actually felt like 5 or 10 minutes. We shared more thoughts, laughs, hopes, dreams, and great words. He ended it by saying..........."Mitch, thank you so much for calling, you really made my day!" This was my third Christmas present!
This Christmas I saw, I felt, I heard Our Lord in my life. I learned a lesson with my conversation and relationship with John. He is there waiting for all of us to reach out, and when we do..............an abundance of grace and love is waiting for us!
Bonjour et Adieu mes Amis,
Mitch
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