“Haiku” prayers, in Japanese poetical form, have their origin in the fourteenth century. They consist of 17 syllables arranged in three lines (5-7-5). This provides a simple format for composing personal and family prayers. The following haiku prayer is a Canadian example. You are encouraged to develop your own.
Blessed mother, pray
to Jesus for all the world,
pray to Him for us.
Author: WebDept ParishAdmin
Pray, Hope, Don’t Worry
When I taught preschool, we put this phrase to the tune of “Old MacDonald’s Farm.” When I run into the parents of my former students, I often hear about how they are still singing, “Pray, Hope, Don’t Worry.”
What a great way to live!
This famous phrase of Padre Pio can ground us in such uncertain times.
There is so much happening around us which is beyond our control, we need to get real with ourselves about what we can control, and the answer to ”What can I really control?” is very often, “Not much.” We don’t control the world around us, we don’t control much of what happens to us. What we do control is how we respond.
In today’s readings, Jesus sends out the Twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He tells them to take nothing for the journey. Stay where you are welcomed and if you aren’t welcomed, shake the dust from your feet. In other words, go out and pray, hope, and don’t worry. You are doing my work and that is enough, I will take care of everything else.
How different my life might be if I could be like the Twelve and focus so firmly on proclaiming the Kingdom of God with my life that even if rebuffed, I could rest in God, shake the dust from my feet and move on? What would happen if I stopped worrying about all the things I can’t change and focused on what I could? What would happen if I let God be God and I just worried about being Sheryl? He created me, and just like the Twelve, he knows how I fit into His plan for His kingdom.
What can I do today to help in building the Kingdom of God?
Padre Pio had the answer and for that. He is a great modern Saint. Pray, hope, Don’t worry. God’s got this.
Sheryl O’Connor delights in being the number 1 cheerleader and supporter for her husband, Tom who is a candidate for the Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. They are so grateful for the opportunity to grow together in this process whether it is studying for classes, deepening their prayer life or discovering new ways to serve together. Sheryl’s day job is serving her community as the principal for St. Therese Catholic School in Wayland, Michigan. Since every time she thinks she gets life all figured out, she realizes just how far she has to go, St. Rita of Cascia is her go-to Saint for intercession and help. Home includes Brea, a Bernese Mountain dog and Carlyn, a very, very goofy Golden Retriever.
St. Padre Pio: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, September 23, 2020
St. Padre Pio was an Italian priest who was known for his piety and charity, as well as the gift of the stigmata, which has never been explained.
St. Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione, on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy. His parents were peasant farmers. He had an older brother and three younger sisters, as well as two other siblings who died in infancy. As a child, he was very religious and by the age of five he reportedly made the decision to dedicate his life to God.
Fortunately, …
Prayer for Women with Breast Cancer: Prayer of the Day for Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Father, for the strength you have given me I thank you.
For the health you have blessed me with, I thank you.
For the women who are going through breast cancer and their families
I ask you to strengthen and to heal as you see fit.
Lord we know you want us to be in good health and to prosper.
Lord use us to do the work you have for us to do.
For we know time is getting short on this earth.
Lord be with every woman who is sick
and encourage them as only you can.
I know …
We Are Family
“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Today’s Gospel is one of the ones that critics use to argue against Mary’s perpetual virginity (I’m talking about the “brothers” part but that’s a topic for another blog post). I believe that today’s Gospel offers us something else – a reminder about the universality of the Church, that all are welcomed into God’s family.
Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd, so much so that the ones whom Jesus loved – his mother and his “brothers” (also used for nephews, nieces, cousins, half-brothers and half-sisters) could not get to Him. Someone passed along the news that Jesus’ loved ones were waiting for Him and Jesus responded with the above.
With His response, Jesus said that all who were in the crowd were his mother and his brothers as they were the ones hearing His word and being moved to action. The crowd wasn’t taking the place of the Blessed Mother and His loved ones but, in essence, the crowd was becoming part of Jesus’ family.
God created each and every one of us to be a part of His heavenly family, and the entirety of salvation history, from Adam and Eve culminating all the way up to the New Covenant and the person of Jesus Christ, is the story of God working to bring us into His family fold.
Here, Jesus is saying that being a part of His family, God’s family, is more than just the physical bond of flesh and blood. Rather, it’s about obedience to God’s word.
This is a constant theme in the Gospels. Just a few chapters later in Luke, a woman calls out to Jesus, proclaiming blessedness on His mother Mary (11:28). Jesus responds here similarly, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to fully be a member of God’s family, we must take a hard look at ourselves. Have we heard the word of God and heeded it, obeyed it? Or are we hearing the word of the world and following that instead?
Dive deep into the Word of God in Scripture. Listen to the Word of God in prayer. Take it, internalize it and then proceed to action.
Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still uses her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.
St. Thomas of Villanueva: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Augustinian bishop. Born at Fuentellana, Castile, Spain, he was the son of a miller. He studied at the University of Alcala, earned a licentiate in theology, and became a professor there at the age of twenty-six. He declined the chair of philosophy at the university of Salamanca and instead entered the Order of St Augustine
at Salamanca in 1516. Ordained in 1520, he served as prior of several houses in Salamanca, Burgos, and Valladolid, as provincial ofAndal usia and Castile, and then court …
Prayer to Our Mother of Perpetual Help: Prayer of the Day for Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Mother of Perpetual Help, today we face so many difficulties. Your picture tells us so much about you. It reminds us to reach out and help those in need. Help us understand that our lives belong to others as much as they belong to us.
Mary, Model of Christian love, we know we cannot heal every ill or solve every problem. But with God’s grace, we intend to do what we can. May we be true witnesses to the world that love for one another really matters. May our daily actions proclaim how fully …
St. Matthew: Saint of the Day for Monday, September 21, 2020
Little is known about St. Matthew, except that he was the son of Alpheus, and he was likely born in Galilee. He worked as a tax collector, which was a hated profession during the time of Christ.
According to the Gospel, Matthew was working at a collection booth in Capernaum when Christ came to him and asked, “Follow me.” With this simple call, Matthew became a disciple of Christ.
From Matthew we know of the many doings of Christ and the message Christ spread of salvation for all people who …
So What’s In It For Me?
“Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why should you be envious because I am generous?”
As a cradle Catholic, I’ve found myself getting envious of people who are non-Catholic. Watching non-Catholics get to do whatever they want starts to wear on you if you’re not careful. The devil deceives us to think we are somehow disenfranchised by living a moral life.
At parties we’re the only one out of our friends who feels guilty for drinking too much. We don’t get to use birth control like other couples who “have it together” and get to do “whatever they want.” We must stay chaste while dating (and while married). We’re required to go to Mass on Sunday so we have to take off work or miss the pre-game tailgate. We don’t get one of those juicy burgers that the company bought everyone because it’s a Friday in Lent.
Everything in life has to be fair. As small children, we want our turn on the swing. As adults, we don’t want people cutting in line outside of the Apple Store.
Being a Catholic isn’t a punishment. We are the ones who are free. The rest of the world is a slave to their passions. They don’t get to live the life they want. So many people struggle with addiction, broken families, and habitual sin. Many of them don’t know there is a God who created and loves them. Can you imagine struggling without the Sacraments? We are the ones who are free. The rules of the Catholic Church are a gift, they are a universal Truth and it is when we follow that order that we show God we love him.
It’s a tendency of human nature to begin thinking we are held captive to God’s rules so we check the boxes grudgingly. It might be something small, but before we know it we start to think we’re hot stuff. It’s easy to get into an elitist mindset. We begin to think we are God’s chosen people: Look at all these holy things I do.
From there, our next step in our flawed human logic seems to be: so what’s in it for me? So God, I’ve been good. Now what special thing do I get?
Putting in more “hard time” of following the laws of Christ doesn’t mean we’re the only ones who get to heaven. If we go to Church more than our friends that doesn’t make us holier. We should hope and pray that God’s Mercy showers down upon them and they too are granted heaven in spite of their ignorance and sin.
Love doesn’t expect anything in return. It gives freely. Do we only love God because of what we hope to get out of him or is it because we’re in love with the Creator of the Universe? Do we attend Mass to avoid Hell or because we want to be with Him forever?
We often apply human attributes to God. We turn God into someone like ourselves. Someone who gets jealous or prideful. We are stingy. God is not. It’s a good thing God is as merciful as he is, because we all need it. Especially if we don’t have the Truth of the Gospel.
Having the Truth of the Gospel is a gift and it’s our responsibility to share that gift with others whenever we can. We have no business keeping it to ourselves.
Patrick produces YouTube content for young Catholics on Catholic Late Night and Overt TV. He loves using humor to share the Truth of the Catholic faith with anyone who will listen. He resides currently in Chattanooga, TN and is a parishioner at The Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. Patrick graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a degree in Communication Arts and a Minor in Marketing.
Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions: Saint of the Day for Sunday, September 20, 2020
Feastday: September 20 The evangelization of Korea began during the 17th century through a group of lay persons. A strong vital Christian community flourished there under lay leadership until missionaries arrived from the Paris Foreign Mission Society. During the terrible persecutions that occurred in the 19th century (in 1839, 1866, and 1867), one hundred and three members of the Christian community gave their lives as martyrs. Outstanding among these witnesses to the faith were the …