Note to God

SUNDAY: December 23, 2007 4th Sunday of Advent 1st reading: Isaiah 7:10-14 Psalm 24:1-6 (with 7c & 10b) 2nd reading: Romans 1:1-7 Gospel reading: Matthew 1: 18-24 Application: Love is the theme of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. A good definition of love is in the name that we see in the first reading and again when the prophecy is fulfilled in the Gospel reading: Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." To have love is to have "God with us". To give love is to give God who is with us. Have you ever felt like you've run out of love to give? Well, that's quite impossible, because God who is love is always with us even when we give out more love than we think we're ready to give. We might get tired of loving someone who doesn't equally love us back. We might even reach the point of despising someone who repeatedly hurts us, which makes us feel like we've run out of love for that person. This is when we need to ask God for a supernatural ability to ...

SUNDAY: December 16, 2007 3rd Sunday of Advent 1st reading: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 2nd reading: James 5: 7-10, Gospel reading: Matthew 11: 2-11 _____________________________________________________________________________ Application: The Church brings John the Baptist, the man who prepared the people for Christ's public mission, before our minds today, as an example that we should follow, even if only from afar. John prepared himself for the task of welcoming and introducing Christ to others, by a life of self-mortification and penance. He told the people that the first essential for meeting Christ, and profiting by his coming, was that they should turn away from sin and give up any evil ways, which hitherto they had followed. He himself practiced what he preached and his preaching, therefore, bore fruit among many of his hearers. Four of the twelve Apostles became followers of Christ because of the Baptist's example and preaching. John is calling on us to...

The Real Meaning of Christmas What the Incarnation means for us by Steve Clark What is the true meaning of Christmas? Every year as the Christmas season comes around, we hear a great deal about the real meaning of Christmas. But it is not always clear just what that real meaning is. For some people, the true meaning of Christmas is the warmth and love of our families, a celebration of the home. For others, the real meaning of Christmas is love for other people – “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” And of course, many Christians think the true meaning of Christmas is that it is the birthday of Jesus. All these things, and especially the celebration of Jesus’ birth, have something to do with Christmas. But the full meaning of Christmas is something bigger – bigger than the love of our families or good will toward men, even bigger than remembering the birthday of Jesus. For when we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating one of the greatest truths of our faith – the incarnation. We ar...

SUNDAY: December 9, 2007 Second Sunday of Advent 1st reading: Isaiah 11:1-10 Psalm Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 2nd reading: Rom 15:4-9 Gospel reading: Matt 3:1-12 ——————————————————————————————————————————— Application: Peace is the theme of the Second Sunday of Advent. The first reading describes Christ, the Messiah who came from the line of Jesse, King David's father. It also describes how to obtain peace — a peace that sustains us even in the midst of sufferings and trials. It's the very nature of Jesus himself: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him"; have you felt the Holy Spirit "resting" on you lately? We experience true peace when we're in a restful relationship with God , i.e., when we're not struggling against him and his ways and his plans for us. Peace does not depend on finding an end to the struggles we have with people or with financial shortages or addictions or health problems, etc.. We can work hard to accomplish peace in any tr...

"I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world" John11:27-28

I've decided that to prepare for advent, i'm going to keep track of my personal reflections weekly online. kinda useful when u can easily look at the reflection questions and then think of the answers and type em out so u wont forget them. haha. so here it goes: Questions for Personal Reflection : What sacrifices could we offer this Advent ? Dearest father, i've decided to read the bible and complete the Gospel of John, and when i get the momentum, i'll read the rest of the New testaments. i really want to get to know you better, and what beter way can i get to know you by reading your life, journey and adventures. from where i've read, you are the wisest, most judicious and cleverest chap ever. you've always had hidden meanings behind everything u've said or done. and that's wat mystical about you and your enigmatic ways. i like it when u dumbfound scientists by your works, and spill them in-the-face tat not everything is explanatory and logical....and ...