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6th Sunday of Ordinary Time
February 11, 2007

Jer 17:5-8
Yahweh says this, ‘Accursed be anyone who trusts in human beings, who relies on human strength and whose heart turns from Yahweh. Such a person is like scrub in the wastelands: when good comes, it does not affect him since he lives in the parched places of the desert, uninhabited, salt land. ‘Blessed is anyone who trusts in Yahweh, with Yahweh to rely on. Such a person is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it has nothing to fear, its foliage stays green; untroubled in a year of drought, it never stops bearing fruit.
1 Cor 15:12, 16-20
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? For, if the dead are not raised, neither is Christ; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is pointless and you have not, after all, been released from your sins. In addition, those who have fallen asleep in Christ are utterly lost. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are of all people the most pitiable.

Luke 6:17, 20-26

He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples, with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.

    Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he said: How blessed are you who are poor: the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are hungry now: you shall have your fill. Blessed are you who are weeping now: you shall laugh. ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, look!—your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

    But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now. Alas for you who have plenty to eat now: you shall go hungry. Alas for you who are laughing now: you shall mourn and weep. ‘Alas for you when everyone speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Homily by Fr. Joe Robinson
Guiding Light: Feed My Soul

INTRODUCTION – (Jer 17:5-8; 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20;
Luke 6:17, 20-26) Life is full of options for people in the
world today, but the Bible tells us that all our options
ultimately will be reduced to two. We either make God
the center of our lives or we don’t. Choosing to make
God the center of our lives will lead to true happiness,
making any other choice may satisfy us temporarily, but
it will in the end leave us disappointed and unhappy.
This was crystal clear to Jeremiah the prophet who lived
at the time of the Babylonian exile. His way of
expressing this truth is crystal clear too.

HOMILY – We are more familiar with St. Matthew’s
beatitudes. They tend to be more spiritualized than St.
Luke’s version which we just heard. St. Luke’s version is
a little more puzzling and perhaps unsettling. The Greek
word which is translated here as blessed also means
happy. Jesus is saying some of the most unlikely people
are happy while the ones you would suppose should be
happy are in deep trouble. He is saying happy are you
who are poor, you who are hungry, you who are weeping,
happy are you when people hate you. He goes on to say
it’s bad news for those who are rich, the well fed, those
who are laughing and having fun and those who are well
liked. They face great sorrow and disaster. Pretty strong,
isn’t it!

    Certainly our Lord is not advocating that poverty,
hunger, grieving and being rejected by our friends and
neighbors is virtuous. As a matter of fact Jesus
encouraged people to care for the poor, even to the point
of promising eternal reward to those who feed the
hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit
the sick, etc. And he even invited some people to give
everything they had to the poor. He also had some
friends who had to have been fairly financially well off.
He is simply warning us with forceful language, we better
not build our happiness on partying, being well off and
well liked. Life goes deeper than that and so does our
happiness. Like a tree that sinks its roots deep into the
earth to receive water and nourishment, we have to have
our lives rooted in God, which means obeying the
Commandments, taking time for prayer and having an
active love for others.

    This past Friday I was driving down the expressway
from Dayton and as the wind gusts kept pushing my car
into the left lane, I had to keep turning the steering
wheel to the right just so I could keep going straight
ahead. That’s what I think our Lord is doing here in St.
Luke as he preaches to the people of his day. Like a
strong wind, the values of this world keep pushing us to
invest fully in the pleasures of this life. Our Lord is
trying to pull us back so our lives do not end up in great
sorrow and disaster. We face many options in our lives,
but in the end only one will really count, whether we
have made Christ and his law of love for God and for
each other the central value in our life. If we haven’t,
we will be sorry and it will be too late.

    Anthony De Mello in one of his many inspiring
books gives us a parable of life to ponder. There were a
group of tourists riding in their tour bus. The shades on
the windows were pulled down and they were busy
arguing about what to watch on TV, who had the cutest
outfit, who got to sit where and with whom, where they
were going to eat lunch and they were totally unaware
that they were passing through beautiful countryside:
lakes, mountains, green fields and rivers. Some people
go through life and miss the best parts. The human race
started out on the wrong foot, looking for happiness in
the wrong place and we still do. The God who created
us and who knows us best of all is trying to tell us where
we will find it.

    This week we commemorate, as we do every year,
four chaplains who were on a ship that got torpedoed in
the Second World War. As the ship was going down,
they helped to hand out life jackets to the men on the
ship. When they came to the end of their supply, each
of them took off their own life jacket and gave it away.
They went down with the ship praying together and
encouraging each other. They are a beautiful example of
Jesus’ words, “greater love than this no one has, than
that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15, 13).
They are also a powerful example of hope in the
resurrection and the next life which St. Paul tells us
about today.

    When we’re young this life seems very long, but the
longer we live the more aware we become of how short
it is. There’s another life beyond this one. God wants us
to be with him, so he can share his happiness with us.
But we have to follow the way he’s shown us. Jesus would
not have bothered to come to us, to teach us, and to die
for us if it didn’t matter how we live our life. Too many
people in society today adopted a credit card mentality
in their spiritual life. You know the credit card
mentality: buy now and pay later. About their spiritual
life they say “I’m not going to worry about it until payoff
time.” I can say that for a variety of reasons that
usually doesn’t work. If we don’t live our faith now, it
may not be there to help us at the end of life.

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Statues


Sacred Heart of Jesus w/glass - 18	Our Lady-Guadalupe w/glass - 12	Limpias - 8

Immaculate Heart w/glass - 18	I Heart - Ivory w/glass - 18	Our Lady of Grace w/glass - 18

Our Lady-Mt. Carmel w/glass - 18	Our Lady of Lourdes w/glass - 18	Infant of Prague w/glass - 24

Sacred Heart of Jesus w/glass - 24	Sacred Heart -Blessing w/glass - 24	Sorrowful Mother w/glass - 24

I Heart - Ivory w/glass - 24	I Heart of Mary w/glass - 24	Our Lady of Lourdes w/glass - 24

Our Lady-Guadalupe w/glass - 28	Our Lady of Grace w/glass - 24	Our Lady-Mt. Carmel w/glass - 24

Fatima w/glass - 11	Pilgrim Virgin w/glass - 12	Pilgrim Virgin w/glass - 15

Fatima w/glass - 18	Pilgrim Virgin w/glass - 18	Pilgrim Virgin w/glass - 27

St. Padre Pio	St. Joseph	St. Therese

St. Francis	St. Anthony	St. Claire

Limpias	St. Jude	Divine Mercy

Holy Family	Angel	St. Philomena

Pieta - Marble	Pieta - Color	Holy Family

St. Anthony - 18	St. Francis - 18	St. Joseph - 18

St. Therese - 18	St. Rita - 18	St. Clare - 12

St. Rita - 12	St. Padre Pio - 12	Divine Mercy - 12

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	Size	Price	Quantity
Holy Family	24"	$180
Limpias	24"	$125
St. Anthony	24"	$125
St. Claire	24"	$125
St. Francis	24"	$125
St. Joseph	24"	$125
St. Jude	24"	$125
St. Padre Pio	24"	$125
St. Therese	24"	$125
Divine Mercy	22"	$125
Angel	22"	$100
St. Philomena	20"	$100
St. Philomena	16"	$65
St. Joseph	18"	$65
St. Francis	18"	$65
St. Anthony	18"	$65
St. Rita	18"	$65
St. Therese	18"	$65
Pieta - Color	15"	$75
Pieta - Marble	15"	$75
Holy Family	12"	$60
St. Padre Pio - standing	12"	$40
St. Padre Pio - sitting	8"	$50
St. Rita	12"	$40
Divine Mercy	12"	$40
St. Claire	12"	$40
Limpias	8"	$25
Our Lady of Guadalupe w/glass	28"	$500
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel w/glass	24"	$500
Immaculate Heart of Mary w/glass	24"	$500
Immaculate Heart - Ivory w/glass	24"	$500
Infant of Prague w/glass	24"	$500
Our Lady of Grace w/glass	24"	$500
Our Lady of Lourdes w/glass	24"	$500
Sacred Heart of Jesus w/glass	24"	$500
Sacred Heart -Blessing w/glass	24"	$500
Sorrowful Mother w/glass	24"	$500
Immaculate Heart of Mary w/glass	18"	$300
Immaculate Heart - Ivory w/glass	18"	$300
Sacred Heart of Jesus w/glass	18"	$300
Our Lady of Lourdes w/glass	18"	$300
Our Lady of Grace w/glass	18"	$300
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel w/glass	18"	$300
Our Lady of Guadalupe w/glass	12"	$200
Fatima w/glass	11"	$150
Fatima w/glass	18"	$250
Pilgrim Virgin w/glass	12"	$160
Pilgrim Virgin w/glass	15"	$200
Pilgrim Virgin w/glass	18"	$250
Pilgrim Virgin w/glass	27"	$450

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Guiding Light - Cycle A
The Word Alive in Our Hearts

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Focusing on the Word

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Guiding Light - Cycle C
Feed My Soul

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12 Newsletters
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Response to God's Love

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Messages given
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Tell My People
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The Pain and the Joy

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Synopsis of the Spiritual Life

Spirituality Handbook
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Authenticity

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In Imitation of Two Hearts

For those suffering or
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Light, Happiness and Peace

Journeying through traditional
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Medicine of Immortality

Prayers and Meditations - will assist the reader in growth toward a deeper understanding of the mystery of the Eucharist

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Ecce Fides - Pillar of Truth

Ideal for RCIA, Adult & Youth Bible Study, Homeschooling, Catholic
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Shepherds of Christ Newsletters
9 Newsletters
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So Deep Is the Love of His Heart

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Love God, Love One Another
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He Calls Us to Action

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July 31, 1994

Words of Jesus to Members of
Shepherds of Christ Associates:

"My beloved priest-companion, I intend to use the priestly newsletter, Shepherds of Christ, and the movement, Shepherds of Christ Associates, in a powerful way for the renewal of My Church and the world.

"I will use the newsletter and the chapters of Shepherds of Christ Associates as a powerful instrument for spreading devotion to My Heart and My Mother's Heart.

"I am calling many to become members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. To all of them I will give great blessings. I will use them as instruments to help bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of My Sacred Heart. I will give great graces to the members of Shepherds of Christ Associates. I will call them to be deeply united to My Heart and to Mary's Heart as I lead them ever closer to My Father in the Holy Spirit."

- Message from Jesus to Father Edward J. Carter, S.J., Founder, as given on July 31, 1994,
feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits)