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Prayer for Grace for our Country

Dear Father united to Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally made present, celebrated around the world, in the Holy Spirit. We offer up all we do united to the Mass. We unite in one mind and one heart as members of the mystical body of Christ, with Christ our head in the pure and holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, through the powerful intercession of Mary with all the angels and saints and souls in purgatory, and we beg for the saving grace, for our country, the United States. Please help us. We further pray for unity to always do the will of God in love. We spread the Blood of Jesus on the leaders and people of the United States and cast the devil into hell. We consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart and all our dioceses, and beg for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God help us. We pray for our families, the priests, the Church and the world. In the Name of Jesus please hear us, we pray. We pray for our president and leaders. We pray that we are united as one nation under God to work together in love as God wants.

May 26, 2019

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29

Then some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, 'Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.' This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the question with the apostles and elders.

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose delegates from among themselves to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them: 'The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of gentile birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that some people coming from here, but acting without any authority from ourselves, have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds; and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with our well-beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have committed their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written. It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to impose on you any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from illicit marriages. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.'

Psalm 67: 2-3, 5, 6, 8

Then the earth will acknowledge your ways,
and all nations your power to save.

Let the nations praise you,
God, let all the nations praise you.

Let the nations praise you, God,
let all the nations praise you.

The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God has blessed us.

the earth rocked, Pause
the heavens pelted down rain at the presence of God,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Revelation 21: 10-14, 22-23

In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God. It had all the glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. Its wall was of a great height and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

I could not see any temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple, and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God, and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.

John 14: 23-29

Jesus replied:

Anyone who loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him
and make a home in him.
Anyone who does not love me
    does not keep my words.
And the word that you hear
     is not my own:
it is the word of the Father who sent me.
I have said these things to you
while still with you;
but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you,
my own peace I give you,
a peace which the world cannot give,
    this is my gift to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled
    or afraid.
You heard me say:
I am going away and shall return.
If you loved me you would be glad
    that I am going to the Father,
for the Father is greater than I.
I have told you this now,
    before it happens,
so that when it does happen
    you may believe.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

April 30/May 1, 2016

INTRODUCTION – (Acts 15, 1-2.22-29; Rev. 21, 10-14.22-23; John 14, 23-29) After Jesus had ascended into heaven, Jesus’ followers did not see themselves as part of a new religion. They continued to follow their Jewish laws, customs, rituals and traditions. However, when Gentiles started to believe in Jesus, there were problems. Many Jews, especially those who lived around Jerusalem, accepted Jesus as their savior and messiah but they also insisted that Gentiles had to adopt Jewish laws and customs if they wanted to be a follower of Jesus. So when our first reading speaks of circumcision, it’s really talking about all the rules and customs the Jews were bound to follow - dietary laws, feast days, etc. This conflict arose especially in Antioch, in Syria, because it had a large population made up of both Jews and Gentiles. To solve the problem as to what should be demanded of Gentile believers in Jesus, the leaders of the Church at Antioch, including Paul and Barnabas, went to Jerusalem to meet with some of the other Apostles. Paul insisted that we are saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection and the Jewish traditions and laws, other than moral and ethical laws like the Ten Commandments, were no longer required for salvation. With support from St. Peter, Paul’s views were accepted by the group. Their decision, which pretty much makes up today’s first reading, was sent back to Antioch along with Barsabbas and Silas from the Jerusalem community, who would verify this decision. You can see what an important decision this was if you consider that it is very likely that Gentiles would have rejected Christianity if circumcision and other Jewish laws and traditions were required of them. For example, bacon, ham and pork chops would be forbidden as well as shrimp and clams and crabs. I’m sure there would not be two billion believers in Jesus in today’s world; maybe two hundred thousand. Most of us would probably still be worshipping Zeus, Pluto, Apollo, Dionysus and Aphrodite. Notice how the Apostles introduced their decision: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit, and ours too…” That the Church is being guided by the Holy Spirit, has always been the belief of the Church whenever the bishops gather in council together with the Holy Father.

HOMILY – A holy rabbi spent a considerable amount of time every day praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. One day Sam, a curious neighbor who was in charge of a souvenir booth near the Wailing Wall, approached the rabbi and asked him: “Rabbi Aaron, what do you pray for every day?” The Rabbi answered, “I pray for world peace: I pray for a cure for cancer; I pray for clean air and water all over the world; I pray that all little children grow up healthy and happy.” Sam asked, “Do you feel like your prayers are being answered?” The old Rabbi answered: “I feel like I’m talking to a wall.”

    Sometimes we all feel that way. I am convinced that even when we pray and don’t get what we ask for, the Lord will bless us in some way and that the way he blesses us will be better than the special favor we may have asked. No prayer is ever wasted. Sometimes when I preach a homily I ask myself: “did what I had to say help anyone? Or was I talking to a wall?”

    Anyway, let’s try to understand today’s gospel. It is short, but the ideas are many. Jesus is at the Last Supper and he is trying to prepare his faithful followers for everything that is about to happen. They are all feeling good after their Paschal Meal and a few glasses of wine, but before they are in bed that night, their whole world will have changed. Jesus has a lot he wants to say, and he has little time to say it.

    Today’s gospel begins with a teaching on love – the main ethical teaching of his ministry. The important idea he wants them to remember about love is that, contrary to our culture, love is not simply a matter of warm, fuzzy feelings. Love involves sacrifice, sacrificing our will to the will of Jesus which is ultimately the will of God the Father. Sometimes it’s easy to do and sometimes it’s hard, but it will always bring us blessings. The first blessing it brings us is God’s presence in our life. This is especially true when we receive Communion. Jesus tells us if we love him and keep his word, he and his Father will love us and will make their home within us.

    Another blessing Jesus gives us, if we love him, is the Holy Spirit who will teach us. The Spirit is not going to show up with a big book of questions and answers as from a text book. The Holy Spirit will help us understand what Jesus has taught us and will help us understand better the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection and its meaning in our lives. Also the Spirit will teach us how Jesus would have us live in a very complex world two thousand years after the time when Jesus lived. Society and life were much simpler when Jesus lived. Today life is more complicated and the Spirit will help us deal with its complexity. We heard how the Spirit guided the Church in our first reading as it struggled to understand how Gentiles were supposed to fit in with Jesus’ teachings. After the apostles concluded how to handle the situation, they knew they had been helped by the Spirit and they introduced their decision with the words: “it is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…”

    With this special presence of God in our hearts and with the light of the Holy Spirit, Jesus can guarantee his disciples and apostles peace. It is not a kind of worldly peace where people aren’t fighting. It is an inner peace based on our love for God and for each other.

    During this resurrection season, we see how Jesus remained with his community, especially in the Eucharist on the first day of each week. He guided them and blessed them even as he was no longer with them visibly. We saw in the second reading where all this is going - a picture of the future that fills us with hope even in the anxieties of this world. The heavenly Jerusalem, permeated by God’s glory, will be our eternal protection and our joy. Amen.

^{^{Given

October 29, 2016



R.
Please spread blessed holy water

(You can also mix Jesus and Mary water

with your blessed Holy Water if you have it.)

in your yard, around your house,

in the state you live in.


    And ask God to bless your state


Ask God to bless the United States

Pray all prayers through the intercession of

Our Lady of CLEAR – WATER.

Ask the Lady of CLEAR - WATER

to help with the blessed water.

Mary has appeared to me for 22 years,

in Ohio and Florida.}}