| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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September 20, 2015
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September 21st Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
Sidney Rosary
Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015
6:20 p.m.
Please tune in
Pray for special intentions.
Pray for Dan & Melanie, Jimmy,
Fr. Joe, Sonny & family, Blue Book 16.
Please pray for funds & grace.
Blue Book 15 Available
Introductory Price $5.00 plus postage
September 20, 2015
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20
Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us
and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our sins against the Law,
and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.Let us see if what he says is true,
and test him to see what sort of end he will have.
For if the upright man is God’s son, God will help him
and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture,
and thus explore this gentleness of his
and put his patience to the test.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death
since God will rescue him—or so he claims.’
Psalm 54: 3-7
Arrogant men are attacking me,
bullies hounding me to death,
no room in their thoughts for God. PauseBut now God is coming to my help,
the Lord, among those who sustain me.
May their wickedness recoil on those who lie in wait for me.
Yahweh, in your constancy destroy them.How gladly will I offer you sacrifice,
and praise your name, for it is good,
for it has rescued me from all my troubles,
and my eye has feasted on my enemies.
James 3: 16 - 4: 3
Wherever there are jealousy and ambition, there are also disharmony and wickedness of every kind; whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it is also peaceable, kindly and considerate; it is full of mercy and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it. The peace sown by peacemakers brings a harvest of justice.
Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive; when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.
Mark 9: 30-37
After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.' But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
Who is the greatest?
They came to Capernaum, and when he got into the house he asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the road?' They said nothing, because on the road they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.' He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 20, 2009
INTRODUCTION –
(Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37) In 333 BC, Alexander the Great conquered everything between Egypt and India. For a little over 250 years, the Greeks controlled all of the Middle East including the Holy Land. The Greek rulers decided all nations under their rule should accept Greek culture and religion. The Jews were being forced to give up their belief in Yahweh, the one God they had served (not always faithfully) for 1500 years. Those who did not submit were persecuted or killed. Some of the Jews converted to Greek ways and pagan worship and some stayed faithful to Yahweh. The Jews who turned to paganism speak in today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom. They plot against the faithful Jew, sarcastically refer to him or her as “the just one” and ridicule traditional faith in God. The first reading connects with the gospel in that Jesus who is truly the “just one” predicts the suffering he will have to face for remaining faithful to God’s work.HOMILY –
The first thing that strikes me about today’s gospel is the stark contrast between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was trying to prepare them for the sufferings he would endure (this was the second time he raised the topic) and they were preoccupied with which of them was the greatest. They just did not understand what Jesus was trying to tell them, and St. Mark tells us, “they were afraid to question him.”Jesus had a lot of big egos in his group. With that attitude they wouldn’t make very good disciples, so he had to have a little talk with them. It is easy to imagine that as Jesus is talking with them, there a few children were close by. Jesus motioned to one child to come to him and, putting his arms around the child, Jesus demonstrated the kind of attitude he expected of his followers. In that society children were greatly loved, but they had no social status. They depended totally on the goodwill of their elders. If his disciples were to learn from Jesus and imitate him, they would not be worried about who would be most important in the kingdom; they would become more like Jesus in their thinking. Jesus’ attitude was that of service. “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Jesus himself came “not to be served but to serve” as he would tell them later. (Mk 10:45)
Jesus is not asking us to adopt the attitude that we are not worth anything or that we have no importance. When Jesus said we should love our neighbor as ourselves, he implies that we should love ourselves – otherwise we won’t be very good at loving anyone else. As a matter of fact, each of us is of infinite worth because Jesus shed his blood for us, so much does he love us. If all we do is put ourselves down, this will not make us holy, it will just make us depressed. The Christian spirit is a spirit of joy, not depression. We could say that what Jesus was trying to impress on his disciples was not that they think less of themselves, rather that they think of themselves less. This is an attitude that will help us be more sensitive to the needs of others.
In writing this, I was thinking of Jesus and his service to us. His service to us begins, of course, with creation – with loving us and willing us into being. As we say in the creed: “through him all things were made.” Then he, the infinite Son of God, took on our human nature in the womb of Mary. As Paul said, he emptied himself and took on the form of a slave. He spent his public ministry teaching, healing, casting out demons and accepting rejection and abuse for his work of service. He met with hostility from the powers that be and even a gruesome death rather than abandon his work of service. His work of service continues to this day by his presence with us, especially his presence in the Eucharist as he gives us his body and his blood to be our food and source of eternal life.
You’ve probably all heard this story before about the man who died and went to heaven. He was amazed when he got there to find people he never expected to find. He commented to God: “I never expected to find some of these people here and, by the way, why is everyone so quiet?” God said, “they didn’t expect to see you here.” Most of us will probably be greatly surprised when we get to heaven and see who is there and who enjoys a more exalted position. We may see the local schoolteacher or fireman or cleaning lady or secretary enjoying a higher rank and greater happiness than kings or generals or millionaires or famous entertainers.
We praise and thank God for all he has done for us. Let us pray we might learn from his example of generous kindness and service to us. Amen.
Special
$10.00 plus shipping
Blue Book 15
One of the following DVD
Picture of Our Lady of Clearwater 4X 6
Prayer Brochure
Give the gift that keeps giving.
6 different Blue Books for $30.00 including postage
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Books available in limited supply for this sale.
The more you use the Blue Books and
become one with Jesus – more
intimate with Jesus –
the more your lives are a blessing and
everything you do in life can help
to bring down great grace for the world
because of your being so
one with Jesus.
Guiding Light Homily Book Series
Fr. Joe’s Books
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4 for $20 plus postage of $5.95
These books can be given to:
1) All Priests
2) Good for Music Ministers
3) Good for DRE's
4)
Good for Deacons
5) Good
for Principals of Schools
6) Good for Teachers
7)
Good for Mom and Dads
Given March 21, 2014
R. Pray for These Things
1) Pray for the Pope & hierarchy to help us start prayer chapters.
2) Pray for Dan, Sally Jo, Richard, Carol, Margaret, Sue,
Jack, Jean, Amanda, Matthew, Special intentions.
3) Pray for the priests, the Church and the world!
4) Pray for the spread of prayer chapters,
also for the spread of priests doing prayer chapters.
5) Pray for the spread of Blue Books.
6) People going to Florida and China.
7) Vocations to all 7 categories.
8) Pray for spread of Consecration and Rosary.
9) Pray for pope helping us.
10) Pray for Jeff - sales & health. Pray for Nick.
11) Blue Book 16 and cover and all involved.
For our Publisher and all involved
12) All intentions on my list, Jerry's list.
13) Priests getting Fr. Joe's book.
14) Pray for Fr. Joe's new book, cover & funds for printing & postage.
15) Donors and members and their families.
16) Healing of the Family tree.
17) Dan & Melanie, Catherine & mom, Gary, Mary Jo,
Jim & statues, Fr. Ken, Monsignor, Kerry, Tom & wife.
18) All who asked us to pray for them.
19) All we promised to pray for.
20) Rita, John, Doris, Sheila, Jerry, Regina, Sanja,
Betty, Sophie, Lisa, Eileen, Fr. Mike, Louie, Laverne,
2 Dons, Mary Ellen, Fr. Joe, all priests helping us,
Ed, Jimmy, Steve, a special couple, Rosie & all involved.
21) 2 babies and moms.
22) Funds and insurance.
23) Jerry's garage.
24) In thanksgiving for gifts, graces, & blessings received.
25) Spread the Blood of Jesus on all of us here.
26) Consecrate all hearts.
27) Cast the devil out of all of us here and all in Movement.
The Wedding Rosary
Crystal Image Rosary
$40 plus shipping
Original Image Rosary
8mm glass beads
in a matching gift box$40 plus shipping
In Spanish with the Imprimatur
Also we are ready to print
5000 copies of the
Parents and Children's Rosary Book
in SPANISH.
Can you help with a donation?
Give the gift that counts.
Give to your priests Fr. Carter's Books plus postage.
Tell My People $5.00
Response to God's Love $8.00
Response in Christ $8.00
Old Mass Books with the Imprimatur
$2.00 plus postage
New Mass Book with Imprimatur
$8.00 plus postage
New Parents & Children's Book with the Imprimatur
$8.00 plus postage
Fr. Joe's Cycle A – Steadfast to the Sun – Starts in Advent
$5.00 plus postage
Give the gift that keeps on giving!
Give to your priest.
Fr. Carter's Priestly Newsletters Book II
$6.00 plus postage
Get a canvas print of Mary's image
with a sliver of glass and a little
bottle of Jesus and Mary water.
The glass will be fixed behind the
back of the picture.
$200.00 plus postage
Shepherds of Christ Ministries
P.O. Box 627 China, Indiana 47250
Telephone: (toll free) 1-888-211-3041 or (812) 273-8405
FAX: (812) 273-3182
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