If you woke up this morning with more health than illness,

-

If you hold someone's hand or even touch them on the shoulder,

you are blessed because you can offer God's healing touch.

-

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that can not read anything at all.

-

You are so blessed in ways you may never even know.

-

Blessings To You!

  "You Are So Blessed" , Poem author unknown.

This is a transcript of Fr Angelo Geiger's April 2, 2007 AirMaria.com video homily.

INTRODUCTION:

Fr. Angelo Geiger shows how to Stand Fast in Holy week when the culture around us is not so holy. Using the example of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, celebrated yesterday on Palm Sunday, where the crowds went from shouting “Hosanna” to “Crucify him” he points out that we should expect this kind of treatment ourselves and thus not be surprised when every Lent our culture comes out with things like Discovery Channel’s “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” Gay Marriage initiatives in Connecticut, the blasphemous chocolate Jesus in New York. Come learn to stand fast with Fr. Angelo as he describes how Jesus stood fast for us on Calvary.

TRANSCRIPT:

---BEGIN---

Greetings from the Tower of Leponto; this is Standing Fast, the weekly commentary on Catholic life in the public square.

Well, here we are at the beginning of Holy Week. Yesterday on Palm Sunday, we had the privilege of all participating in the reading of the Gospel. We stood in the shoes of those who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as King on Sunday, and then scream for his death on Good Friday, from "Hosanna", "Son of David" to "Crucify him, crucify him".

This is very iconic of our situation in the world. We praise the Lord. We want to be his followers, but very often we fail. Especially when it comes to standing up, standing fast in the public square and proclaiming our faith in Jesus Christ. We live in a world in which our faith is often rejected and ridiculed. There are places in the world today not far away where the Catholic faith is being criminalized such as in Canada where you cannot speak out against same-sex marriage. We don't want to be fair weather friends of our Lord. This is something we have to remember, our Lord stood up in the public square to defend us. He stood up for the truth. That's ultimately what he died for. When he was arrested, and brought before the Sanhedrin, he said to Caiaphus, "I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple where all the Jews meet, and in secret I have spoken nothing."

He spoke the truth to everyone. He loved everyone and he desired the salvation of all, even his enemies. He counted that fidelity to this own word even in the face of opposition as an act of love. He loved his enemies. He laid down his life also for his enemies, that they might have life. So, our profession of the faith in the public square, our fidelity to Christ out in the open is something that we do out of love.

We are all sinners. We all have a need of repentance. If we are Christians, Catholics, if we embrace the faith, we have done that as a result of grace. We are still in need of repentance and we have to be humble. Part of our humility, part of our recognition of God's Kingship in our life is to recognize that whether or not we measure up to the faith we are still obliged to bear witness to it in the public.

Every Lent we have to endure travesties in the media. This year *(2007) we have the Lost Tomb of Jesus, the chocolate Jesus. Right now, here in Connecticut we are battling same-sex marriage. Just last week, the week before Holy Week, they had a public hearing. In the public hearing, people who where trying to defend traditional marriage were being attacked for their faith, being accused of being bigots and of hating homosexuals. There is a very real chance here in Connecticut, and elsewhere in the United States, that there will be legal consequences for defending the faith, for speaking the truth. Right now in Catholic hospitals here in Connecticut, the legislature is trying to force Catholic hospitals to administer plan B. If same-sex marriage is legalized here in Connecticut, there may also be a chance that public recognition will have to be given to these unions. Medical benefits given in Catholic institutions to same-sex couples, et cetera.

We have to remember what our Lord has done for us as we enter more fully into Holy Week and into the mystery of our Lord's Passion, death and resurrection that we will celebrate in the most solemn way during the Easter Triduum. We have to remember how our Lord stood up for us, how he stood fast in the face of opposition. He went up to the top of the mountain, the top of Jerusalem, really the top of the world, and he was raised on a cross before all to see. He proclaimed the truth and it cost him his life. He is the new Adam. The old Adam let his wife fall into sin and was a coward. He cowered before the serpent and sinned himself. Our Lord, on the other hand, stood up between his Bride, the Church personified in the Blessed Mother, and between her and the devil, He laid down his life to present to himself, as St Paul tells us in the letter to the Hebrews, "a bride that is holy and immaculate".

We can look to our Blessed Lady, who is our mother, and remember she stood at the foot of the cross. She stood fast and watched her son crucified, murdered before her very eyes and did it out of obedience to the Lord with an act of faith. Hoping beyond all hope that he would be raised from the dead, which of course he was.

So it is our Easter faith, our Easter hope that should help us to stand fast in the public forum. If we don?t know what to do sometimes, if we don't know how to defend our faith against frivolous attacks such as the Lost Tomb of Jesus, then we need to educate ourselves; we need to find out the truth. We need to learn to defend it. Our Lord is our King. Our Lady is our Queen. They deserve for us to recognize them also in public as they recognized us in public. They stood at the top of the world and offered themselves for us to save us from our sins and to bring us into heaven.

So, let us prepare for Easter, let us prepare for the Easter Triduum, and remember the grace that is ours. The Easter faith, our Easter hope is that we are ultimately victorious. The victory is ours already, now already now, because of what our Lord has done for us and because we are baptized in the death and resurrection of the Lord, because we share in the Eucharist which is Christ crucified and resurrected. Let us remember that this Easter, this Holy Week and always. So, until next time, stand fast and farewell.

Transcript of Sandy's video, "There is Hope in the Cross of Christ"

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."  - Luke 9:23

"When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."  - Romans 8:15-18

"...as you share in the sufferings you also share in the encouragement."  - 2 Cor 1:7 (NAB)

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,"  - 2 Cor 4:16-17

"...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us."  - Romans 5:3-5

"For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."  - Romans 8:24-25

"Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."  - Romans 12:12

Prayer to suffer in union with Jesus; "For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, ... that I may gain Christ ... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ... if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."  - Phil 3:8, 10-11

Dear Lord I am suffering right now. It's hard Jesus. I feel like I'm on the fringe of life.

O Father I would like to be released from this suffering. I prayed for healing according to Your will.

However, if You will that I suffer for a season, then I offer this suffering in union with Jesus my crucified Lord who willingly endured such suffering for me.

O Lord Jesus, I want to grow closer to you and that means taking up my cross each day and following you. Even so, thank you that your yoke is easy and your burden is light.

You help me to bear this suffering Lord, and in doing so You draw me closer to Yourself and to Your Sacred Heart.

For Love of You I unite my pains with yours and offer them to Your Father and mine.

I ask only the grace to grow in love and to bear this cross with heroism and grace all the way to the resurrection.

Thank You Jesus!

Amen.

"The everlasting God has, in His wisdom, foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost Heart.  This Cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His Divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you.  He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God."  - St. Francis de Sales

"They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31

"Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. ... he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." - Rev 21:3-5

"I am the Lord, your healer." - Ex 15:26

"Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." - Josh 1:9

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." - Rom 15:13

Please send this to all your friends and family. You never know if they, or someone they know might be suffering.

All Glory & Honor to God Peace & Love in Christ.

Sandy

(Sandy is a member of an outside online community group. ~ Tony) 

Transcript of November 18, 2007 Video of Fr Robert J Carr's Homily,

"To whom are you loyal?"

Back in the time of Jesus he looks at the structures around him, including the temple, and he warns that there will come a time when none of this will exist. 

What is he saying to his Apostles? 

He's saying very simply this, it doesn't matter how strong it appears, put no hope in those things that are not of God because even though they may appear to be strong and powerful they will eventually collapse.  He was saying this to people who did not know that within forty years everything they had come to hold dear would collapse. 

The apostles were looking at Jesus politically.  They saw him as the new Messiah who would actually run the Romans out of Israel.  The Pharisees saw him exactly the same way, except they realized he didn't have the power to do that. 

So, in that light they decided that they would sacrifice Jesus to keep at bay the anger of the Romans.  No difference than sacrificing a virgin into a volcano to save people from the anger of the volcano.  It was that primitive even though it appeared less so.

We look at that in light of who we are as Catholics because Jesus is making that statement today. 

Yesterday on *Deutsche Welle Radio,  Deutsche Welle announced that they had found, according to a new book, that at the time the election happened the Nazis were elected that around 85% of Catholics said no to the Nazis, and they suffered for it.  Many priests were considered very courageous for their comments against the Nazis and against their anti-Semitism and suffered greatly as did the Catholic Community.

You may know that the largest community outside the Jewish community in the holocaust was in fact the Catholics. 

We look at that in the light of that statement that Jesus made.  Because Jesus clearly said, make your choice where your loyalties are, and the Catholics at that time made their choice where their loyalties are. 

Now we are saying to the Catholics of this time, make your choice where your loyalties are.  Are you loyal to the Kingdom of God or are you going to look at your loyalties elsewhere.  That's the decicision that being given to us every day. 

Where are your loyalties?

It's important to us to open ourselves to where the Lord is taking us.  We also have to look at that in the context of people who say they are loyal to the Kingdom of God who have done terribly evil things in all religious communities and we have to say, that's not being loyal.  Maybe we have to start asking ourselves as a community, where is God taking us and in what new ways is he calling us to spread his love to others in ways that lead us to be the light that shines in darkness.

God bless you.

Fr. Robert J. Carr

Pastor

St Benedict Parish

Sommerville, MA  USA

stbenedictsommerville.com

* The DW report cited in this homily can be heard at

 http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2920787,00.html

THANK YOU espie333 for transcribing this video.

Thanks to espie for taking the time to transcribe the speech by Lia in the video "12 year-old speaks out on the issue of abortions."   ~ Tony

"What if I told you that right now someone was choosing whether you were going to live or die.  What if I told you that this choice wasn't based on what you could or couldn't do, what you had done in the past or what you would do in the future.  And what if I told you that you could do nothing about it.

Fellow students and teachers, thousands of children are right now in that very situation.  Someone is choosing, without even knowing them, whether they are going to live or die.  That someone is their mother and that choice is abortion.

Every day a hundred and fifteen thousand children are dying through abortion:  a hundred and fifteen thousand.  That means that five thousand children will die every hour.  All those lives gone, all that potential gone, and all that hope in the future gone.

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking.  O', it's not really killing, after all a fetus isn't a child, right?  Why do we think that just because a fetus can't talk like we do that it isn't a human being, yet?  The word fetus comes from the Latin word meaning 'young one' or 'young child'.  Some babies are born only after five months, is this baby not human?  We would never say that, yet abortions are performed on five-month-old fetuses all the time.  Or, do we only call them humans if they are wanted.  No, fetuses are definitely human, knit together in their mother's womb by the wonderful Creator who knows them all by name.

Some people might say that since abortion is legal now, that it doesn't matter, that's its not our business.  But if an action is unjust, it needs to be illegal and it has to be our business.  And this particular law has a huge impact upon our society.  In 1997, over one million abortions took place just in the U.S.  And just last year, over forty two million abortions happened worldwide.  I'd say that's a huge impact.

I know that some people say that a woman has a right to abort, after all her life is dramatically impacted by having a baby.  But I'm asking you to think about the child's rights that are never given to it.  No matter what rights the mother has, it doesn't mean we can deny the rights of the fetus.  Talking about mother's choice, the mother had a right not to have unprotected sex in the first place.

We must remember that with our rights and our choices come responsibilities, and we can't take someone else's rights away to avoid our responsibilities.  At this point I imagine an age-old question arises, what if the mother didn't choose to have sex.  What if she was raped?  But lets look at the facts. For the U. S., as an example, only one percent of all American abortions are hard case categories.  This includes rape, incest and the life of the mother being in danger.  One percent, that hardly justifies the disturbing volume of abortions that happens these days.

And who is to say that abortion is the easy way out?  I don't think people understand the effects of abortions on a woman.  I don't have time to list all the negative after effects, but here are a few examples of the physical affects.  Seventeen percent of women who had abortions had complications in their subsequent pregnancies.  Some may not even be able to give birth at all.  They are also at a greater risk of developing breast cancer if they have an abortion.  Perhaps the worst affects are the emotional ones.  Women who had an abortion tend to have more mood disorders substantial enough to provoke them enough to harm themselves.  In addition, women who've had an abortion are five times more likely to have problems with drug and alcohol abuse.  Abortion leaves a woman feeling lost and uncertain about their future.  Almost one third of all women who have had an abortion are dissatisfied with their decision.  It certainly is not the cure all that people think it is.

I read a story on the Focus on the Family website, it was about a girl who had had an abortion.  She writes:  "I had an abortion at the age of seventeen and it was the worst thing that I ever did.  I would never recommend it to anyone because it comes back to haunt you. When I tried having children, I lost three. Something happened to my cervix when I had the abortion."  Sharon Osborne.  Hers is just one of the many heart wrenching stories that nobody tells these days.  And those same ones are the ones that we need to hear about.

Thank you for taking time to think about the issue of abortion, to think about the unborn and to thing about the effects of abortion on the mother.  If you walk away with anything after this speech, walk away with the words of Horton.  You know him, the elephant who risked his life to save that little speck.  Remember him and his famous quote, "Even though you cannot see them or hear them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small."

Thank you."

• I can not say "Our" if my faith has no room for others and their needs.

• I can not say "Father" if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily living.

• I can not say "who art in heaven" if all my interests and pursuits are in earthly things.

• I can not say "hallowed be thy name" if I do not have honor, glory and trust in HIM all the way.

• I can not say "they kingdom come" if I am unwilling to have HIS kingdom grow in my heart, my home, my school, my church, my country and all the world.

• I can not say "thy will be done" if I am unwilling or resentful of having it done in my life.

• I can not say "on earth as it is in heaven" unless I am truly ready to give myself to HIS service here and now.

• I can not say "give us this day our daily bread" without expending honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my family, friends and neighbors.

• I can not say "and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone or if I gossip.

• I can not say "and lead us not into temptation" if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted.

• I can not say say "but deliver us from evil" if I am not prepared to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapon of HIS word and prayer.

• I can not say "For thine is the kingdom" if I can not follow the Ten Commandments.

• I can not say "thine is the power" if I fear what my neighbors and freinds may say and do.

• I can not say "thine is the glory" if I am seeking my own glory first.

• I can not say "for ever and ever" if I am more concerned about each day's happenings than about HIS presence here in my life.

• I can not say "Amen" unless I honeslty say, "Cost what it may, this is my prayer."

AUTHOR UNKOWN

Dear friend,

This week I turn 36.

It's hard to believe. How time flies. January 22, 1973 seems like so long ago. I'm the oldest in my family. It’s a pretty big family, but I'll explain that later.

If you're a boomer, you probably don't think much of my generation -- Gen X. But that's because we're a threat to you! My generation is changing the world! Just think of all that has happened in the world these past 36 years...

The end of Vietnam. Watergate. Jimmy Carter. Actually, I don't remember much from the 70s, since I was just entering elementary school when Ronald Reagan became president.

I loved the 80s. That's when I grew up, but I had no idea just how much the world was changing.

Then, the Berlin Wall fell. I'll never forget that day in November, 1989. I was 16 and on top of the world. I can remember my history teacher telling me that the world would never be the same. He was right.

Then, something even more dramatic developed. The Internet. If you want to understand me and my generation, then go online. When I was in college, a few of my friends saw it coming. We helped start a revolution online. And don't believe it when they say the Internet bubble has burst. The only thing that has burst is the old way of doing business.

Now, I'm working on my third business startup -- all by the time I reached 36. Not bad, eh? I got married eleven years ago, and our first child was born eight years ago. A new generation has begun...

Except for one problem.

You see, I wasn't actually born on January 22, 1973. In fact, I wasn't born at all.

I never was given the chance to take even that first breath - never mind then the millions of breaths that would have followed over these 36 years.

Not a single breath.

That's because of something else that happened on January 22, 1973.

Seven Supreme Court justices made a decision that would dramatically affect my life - and the lives of over 49.9 million others who would never take a breath.

That's my family. And it's growing every day. In fact, in the next 24 hours the family of abortion victims will grow by dozens more than the number of people who died when the Trade Center buildings collapsed.

The cleanup from 9/11 took a long time and finally was considered finished. But the clean up from 1/22/73 keeps going on and on!

And to think it was all based on a lie. Jane "Roe" of Roe v. Wade was lied to. And so were you - if you believed even for a moment that the mass of tissue wasn't a human life.

That mass of tissue was I!

My goal here isn't to make you feel guilty. Rather, think of me - or what could have been me - the next time the topic of abortion comes up.

Think of me graduating from high school and going to college. Think of me getting married and having children. Think of me celebrating my birthday with family and friends.

Think of me turning 36.

--Anonymous

January 1

God, thank you for a new year. May everyone in our family be willing to begin anew with a clean slate. We know that you are always ready to forgive us. Help us to be willing to forgive ourselves and to forgive one another.

As we begin a new year, remind us of our truest values and our deepest desires. Help us to live in the goodness that comes from doing what you want us to do. Help us to put aside anxiety about the future and the past, so that we might live in peace with you now, one day at a time.