"Above All" by Michael W. Smith

Above all powers above all kings
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man
You were here before the world began

Above all kindgoms above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasure of the earth
There's no way to measure what You're worth

Crucified laid behind a stone
You lived to die rejected and alone
Like a rose trampled on the ground
You took the fall and thought of me
Above all

"Blind" by Third Day

Each and every single day
I was throwing life away with questions
Searching for a better way
Always looking in the wrong direction

My heart I could not trust
Cause it lies to me too much
And my mind just couldn't
Understand it all

How could I have been so blind to not see you
The more that I look the more I find
You've led me to the truth
That I am nothing if I'm without you
You opened my eyes and helped me to find
How could I have been so blind

I have fallen once again
Evidently made the wrong decision
Stumbling in the dark
Now I need you here to be my vision

My heart I cannot trust
Cause it lies to me too much
And my mind just cannot
Understand it all

You took my heart and you changed it
With your words of life
You took my eyes and you opened them
And gave me sight

Walk On by 4Him

The wind blows hard
The climb is slow
Shadows are dark
I stumble on these stones
But my Lord, You are near
I will not fear

I chose to take this road called faith
I will walk on
I trust that You will lead me through
I will walk on

No end in view
At times I feel alone and the signs are few
But at least they all say home,
And You my Lord, You're the hope I hold
Strength of my soul

Because of love
There was an awful hill You climbed
And because of love I'll live my faith
One step at a time

The course is set
Life's hard but yet
We will walk on
Around each bend, until the end
We will walk on

We chose to take this road called faith
We will walk on
We trust that You will lead me through
We will walk on

We Will Walk On
We Will Walk On

"Lord Bid Me To Come To You On The Water", and He said, " Come"

Peter said, "Lord, bid me to come to you on the water", and He said, "Come." Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. (Matthew 14:28-30)

Notice three things:

1. It takes more than one step to get there. This was not a little two person rowing boat, where you could hop over the side. It was a ship. To get to Jesus, you had to climb down, keep walking and keep your eyes fixed on Him. In other words, Persevere!!!!

2. Nobody walks through fluctuation. One moment you are walking, the next you are sinking. You're having an attack of the "What-if's." What if I get too far from the boat and I can't make it to the shore? What if the illness comes back? Or the money doesn't come through? Or my child doesn't come home? Or I haven't prayed hard enough? Faith means : Standing on the stuff you used to sink in, and declaring, "I'm going from talking about the Presence of God, to walking in the Provision of God."

3. God's power is for people who are going down. Anybody will invest in a company whose stock's going up; only God will invest in one that's going down! That's the power of God. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." (Isaiah 40:29)

If you feel you are sinking today, cry out to Jesus; He'll be there for you! Cause He says: "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Are You Gonna Make It To Confession?

Two men talked about salvation over drinks. "I'm making my Confession on my death bed like the Good Thief." His buddy replied, "There were two thieves on the cross. One guy didn't make it to confession. What makes you think you're not going to be that second guy?" The other fellow put down his Budweiser.

Student devils were being dispatched to the earth to finish their training. Satan interviewed them. To the first: "How will you operate?" Said he: "I will instruct people God does not exist." The Devil shook his head: "Most know our Enemy exists." The next said: "I will argue Hell does not exist." Satan was annoyed: "After millions of abortions, people know Hell exists." The last said: "I will tell all they have plenty of time." Satan beamed: "Good woman. Do that and you'll bring people down here by the billions. Why can't these male devils be as clever as you.?"

Most delight in telling ourselves that we have time to set the record straight with God. Yet, if you want to hear God laugh, tell Him about your plans for tomorrow. The most dangerous words in any language is the word "tomorrow." Write your plans then in pencil. Give God the eraser. If we put off a rapprochement with God, we have bought the advice of the third apprentice devil.

On September 11, 2001, 3000 people intended to return to their homes from the World Trade Center in New York City. None of them made it.

The Great Wall of China was built to keep the enemy out. They got in. How? They bribed the gatekeepers. Piece of cake. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. God writes the last word.

In 2007, 560 people lost their lives in an earthquake that came without warning in Peru.

Jesus warns us six times in the Gospels that we do not know what day or hour He is coming for us.

St. Paul advises us: "Realize what time it is. It is high time to be awakened from sleep. Your salvation is nearer than when you believed."

Like many illustrious people who followed him, St Paul was alarmed by intimations of mortality. A 17th century poet spoke of "time's winged chariot hurrying near." The genius John Keats guessed his life would close before his pen had gleaned his teeming brain. He was correct. He died at 26. Robert Louis Stevenson trembled "lest I hear the sunset gun too soon." He too was prescient. He died at 44.

The prophet Isaiah invites us "to go up to the mountains of the Lord...that He may teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths."

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is but a promissory note. Today is the only reality. Live then as though each day is your last and someday you'll be right. You learn how to die if you learn how to live.

Remember Mohandas Gandhi's advice. He practiced what he preached. "You don't have to be an angel to be a saint. Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves."

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Plan then as if Jesus' return were years away but live as if it were this afternoon.

If you are wondering what areas of your life you should improve, check it out with St Paul. He ticks off such pastimes as heavy drinking, sexual misconduct, arguing, and jealousy for openers. You can take it from there. The Apostle to the Gentiles obviously spent many long Saturday afternoons in the confessional box in Rome. As we go to Confession in our parish, we might carry with us advice that salvation is not measured by perspiration but by readiness.

Hurry!! This might be your last Confession.

All Men Are Called To Holiness

If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The Lord's command seems difficult and painful: that anyone who wishes to follow him must deny himself. But his command is not really difficult or painful, since he himself helps us to do what he commands. For the verse of the psalm addressed to him was truly spoken: Because of the words of you lips I have abided by hard ways. True also are his own words: My yoke is mild and my burden is light. For love makes easy whatever is difficult in his commands.

What does it mean, let him take up his own cross? It means he must endure many things that are painful; that is the way he must follow me. When he begins to follow me in my life and my teachings, many will contradict him, try to stop him, or dissuade him, even those who wall themselves Christ's disciples. It was they who walked with Christ that tried to stop the blind men from calling out to him. So if you wish to follow Christ, you will take these threats of flattery or any kind of obstacle and fashion them into the cross; you must endure it, carry it, and not give way under it. And so in this world that is the Church, a world of the good, the reconciled, and the saved, or rather, those destined for salvation, but already saved by hope, as it is written, by hope we are saved, in this world of the Church, which completely follows Christ, he has said to everyone: If anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself.

This is not a command for virgins to obey and brides to ignore, for widows and not for married women, for monks and not for married men, or for the clergy and not for the laity. No, the whole Church, the entire body, all the members in their distinct and varied functions, must follow Christ. She who is totally unique, the dove, the spouse who was redeemed and dowered by the blood of her bridegroom, is to follow him. There is a place in the Church for the chastity of the virgin, for the continence of the widow, and for the modesty of the married. Indeed, all her members have their place, and this is where they are to follow Christ, in their function and in their way of life. They must deny themselves, that is, they must not presume on their own strength. They must take up their cross by enduring in the world for Christ's sake whatever pain the world brings.

Let them love him who alone can neither deceive nor be deceived, who alone will not fail them. Let them love him because his promises are true. Faith sometimes falters because he does not reward us immediately. But hold out, be steadfast, endure, bear the delay, and you have carried the cross.

---St.Augustine of Hippo, Bishop

Christ, the model of brotherly love

The perfection of brotherly love lies in the love of one’s enemies. We can find no greater inspiration for this than grateful remembrance of the wonderful patience of Christ. He who is more fair than all the sons of men offered his fair face to be spat upon by sinful men; he allowed those eyes that rule the universe to be blindfolded by wicked men; he bared his back to the scourges; he submitted that head which strikes terror in principalities and powers to the sharpness of the thorns; he gave himself up to be mocked and reviled, and at the end endured the cross, the nails, the lance, the gall, the vinegar, remaining always gentle, meek and full of peace.

In short, he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearers he kept silent, and did not open his mouth.

Who could listen to that wonderful prayer, so full of warmth, of love, of unshakeable serenity – Father, forgive them – and hesitate to embrace his enemies with overflowing love? Father, he says, forgive them. Is any gentleness, any love, lacking in this prayer?

Yet he put into it something more. It was not enough to pray for them: he wanted also to make excuses for them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They are great sinners, yes, but they have little judgement; therefore, Father, forgive them. They are nailing me to the cross, but they do not know who it is that they are nailing to the cross: if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; therefore, Father, forgive them. They think it is a lawbreaker, an impostor claiming to be God, a seducer of the people. I have hidden my face from them, and they do not recognise my glory; therefore, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

If someone wishes to love himself he must not allow himself to be corrupted by indulging his sinful nature. If he wishes to resist the promptings of his sinful nature he must enlarge the whole horizon of his love to contemplate the loving gentleness of the humanity of the Lord. Further, if he wishes to savour the joy of brotherly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love.

But if he wishes to prevent this fire of divine love from growing cold because of injuries received, let him keep the eyes of his soul always fixed on the serene patience of his beloved Lord and Saviour

--From the Mirror of Love by Saint Aelred, abbot

Disturb Us Lord!

Disturb us, Lord,

When we are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord,

When with the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord,

To dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

--Sir Francis Drake

Daily Chores To Welcome The Lord

Monday - Wash DayLord, help me wash away all my selfishness and vanity so I may serve you with perfect humility through the week ahead.

Tuesday - Ironing Day
Dear Lord, help me iron out all the wrinkles of prejudice I have collected through the years so that I may see the beauty in others.

Wednesday - Mending Day
O God, help me mend my ways so I will not set a bad example for others.

Thursday - Cleaning Day
Lord Jesus, help me to dust out all the many faults I have been hiding in the secret corners of my heart.

Friday - Shopping Day
O God, give me the grace to shop wisely so I may purchase eternal happiness for myself and all others in need of love.

Saturday - Cooking Day
Help me, my Savior, to brew a big kettle of brotherly love and serve it with the clean, sweet bread of human kindness.

Sunday - The Lord's Day
O God, I have prepared my house for you. Please come into my heart as my honored guest so I may spend the day and the rest of my life in your presence.

Lent - What To Give Up

"Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps." (Luke 9:23)

Reflection.
WHAT TO GIVE UP . . .
Give up complaining. . . . . . . .focus on gratitude.
Give up pessimism. . . . . . . . . become an optimist.
Give up harsh judgments . . .think kindly thoughts.
Give up worry. . . . . . . . . . . . . trust Divine Providence.
Give up discouragement. . . . .be full of hope.
Give up bitterness. . . . . . . . . . turn to forgiveness.
Give up hatred. . . . . . . . . . . . . return good for evil.
Give up negativism . . . . . . . . .be positive.
Give up anger. . . . . . . . . . . . . .be more patient.
Give up pettiness. . . . . . . . . . .become mature.
Give up gloom. . . . . . . . . . . . . .enjoy the beauty that is all around you.
Give up jealousy. . . . . . . . . . . .pray for trust.
Give up gossiping. . . . . . . . . . .control your tongue.
Give up sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . turn to virtue.
Give up giving up. . . . . . . . . . . hang in there!

Lenten Action.
Think of a person with whom you have a strained relationship and make some gesture toward improving that relationship.

Prayer:
Direct our actions, Lord, by your holy inspiration and carry them forward by your gracious help, that all our works may begin in you and by you be happily ended.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.
Amen.

-Source Ewtn

More Lenten Resources

The Man We All Ought To Know!!!

Jesus – the man we all ought to know

His story is the classic of classics.
His message, when presented as intended, remains today as offensive as it did in the 1st century.

He could squeeze infinity into a single sentence.
He asked the impossible, did the incredible, and loved the unlovable.

He spent thirty years preparing for the most effective three years of public life ever lived.
He spoke to relatively small crowds throughout His life. Yet, He has changed the world more than any one person.

Two billion people follow Him today.

His preaching is aimed for the heart, not the head.

Through the centuries, we have given Him countless titles. Yet, He never asked for one.

The Scriptures alone give Him 256 different names.
The most common title applied to Him is Teacher. He is called that 30 times in the Gospels.

More was written about Him in the last twenty years of the 20th century than in the previous nineteen centuries.

If He had not lived, we would not be able to invent Him.

No one who genuinely meets Him ever stays the same.

Napoleon wrote He is a being by Himself. The emperor searched history to find someone similar to Him but could not.

He lived out an ideal for masculine fulfillment that still eludes most men. Three times He cried publicly. He did not hide His fears or hesitate to ask for help. He never tried to hide His loneliness or His dependence on other people. How many men would make themselves so vulnerable?

He involved Himself in the problems of any person who crossed His path.

Not once did He turn down a direct request for help.

He truly was a man for others.

He is pictured in many images from king of kings, lord of lords, gentle rabbi, compassionate friend, man of sorrows, philosopher, teacher, saviour.

He was a fun person to be around because the Gospels reveal people constantly invited Him to eat with them.

His words were short, precise, terrible, and full of refreshment.

Unlike Confucius who searched for truth, He said, "I Am The Truth."

He never met a disease He couldn't cure, a birth defect He couldn't reverse, or demon He couldn't exorcise. Yet, He was a most reluctant miracle worker. The Gospels record but thirty- five miracles.

Though He could walk on the waters, He did so but once.

We treat much of His message as allegory and metaphor, but He would disagree with us. The only words we take literally are "Hoc est enim corpus meum." (This is my Body)

Judas was not the last person to betray Him, merely the most famous.

He left no home or belongings that could be enshrined in a museum. We would know nothing about Him except for the traces He left in us. That was His design.

Ever since the Ascension, He has sought other bodies in which to resume the life He lived on earth.

As we are, He was. As He is, we must become. He came to make bad people good and good people kind.

Since we cannot give to Him directly, He has delegated the poor to be the receivers of our generosity. They are His ambassadors.

We meditate on Him. Then we go out into alleys and look for Him in disguise.

It is extraordinary that our belief rests on a Man whose message was rejected, whose love was spurned, who was condemned as a criminal and executed.

He came not to solve the problem of pain but teach us how to endure it.

He is God's yes to all God's promises.

He died to save us. He lives to keep us.

There has never been a better storyteller than He.

If the life and death of Socrates are those of a philosopher, His life and death are those of a God.

It's remarkable that He who lived out his life 2000 years ago should have such a remarkable effect on our lives.