O Christ Jesus, I acknowledge Thee King of the Universe. All that has been made has been created for Thee. Make full use of Thy rights over me.

I renew the promises I made in Baptism, when I renounced Satan and all his pomps and works, and I promise to live a good Christian life; and especially I undertake to help, to the extent of my means, to secure the triumph of the rights of God and of Thy Church.
 
Divine Heart of Jesus, I offer Thee my efforts to obtain that all hearts may acknowledge Thy Sacred Royalty, and that so the Kingdom of Thy peace may be established throughout the entire universe. Amen.

Jesus, King and Center of all hearts, through the advent of Thy kingdom, grant us peace.

Let eternal light shine on them, Lord,
as with Your saints in eternity,
because You are merciful.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them,
as with Your saints in eternity,
because You are merciful.
--
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
**** sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Requiem aeternum dona eis, Domine,
et Lux perpetua luceat eis,
**** Sanctus tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my every thought when far away.
You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.

Every moment You know where I am.

You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
You both proceed and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!

I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are both alike to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They are innumerable.
I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

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.

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."

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.

Body of Christ, save me,

Blood of Christ, fill me.

Water from the side of Christ, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

O good Jesus, hear me.

Within your wounds hide me.

Suffer me not to be separated from you.

From the malicious enemy defend me.

In the hour of my death call me.

And bid me come unto you.

That with your saints I may praise you.

For ever and ever.   Amen

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.

A Reflection in the Beatitudes

by unknown
presumed public domain

I came across this modern day 'Beatitudes' and thought that they would match up nicely with the original lesson taught to us by Our Lord during the Sermon on the Mount. The more detailed description of the 'blessed' is helpful I think, though the language is not as beautiful.

Matt. 5:1
When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
Matt. 5:2
He began to teach them, saying:

Matt. 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who are convinced of their basic dependency on God, whose lives are emptied of all that doesn't matter, those for whom the riches of this world just aren't that important. The kingdom of God is theirs.

Matt. 5:4
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matt. 5:5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are those who know that all they are is a gift from God, and so they can be content with their greatness and their smallness, knowing themselves and being true to themselves. For they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Matt. 5:6
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are those who wear compassion like a garment, those who have learned how to find themselves by losing themselves in another's sorrow. For they too shall be satisfied.

Matt. 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the merciful, those who remember how much has been forgiven them, and are able to extend this forgiveness into the lives of others. For they too shall receive God's mercy.

Matt. 5:8
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are those whose hearts are free and simple, those who have smashed all false images and are seeking honestly for truth. For they shall see God.

Matt. 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are the creators of peace, those who build roads that unite rather than walls that divide, those who bless the world with the healing power of their presence. For they shall be called sons and daughters of God.

Matt. 5:10
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those whose love has been tried, like gold, in the furnace and found to be precious, genuine and lasting, those who have lived their belief out loud, no matter what the cost or pain. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matt. 5:11
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.

Matt. 5:12
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Once upon a time, there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a scrooge. He was a kind and decent person, generous to his family, upright in all his dealings with other men. But he didn’t believe all that stuff about incarnation which churches proclaim at Christmas. And he was too honest to declare that he did.

"I am truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, who was a faithful churchgoer. "But I simply cannot understand this claim that God became man. It doesn’t make any sense to me." On Christmas Eve, his wife and children went to church for the midnight service. He declined to accompany them. "I’d feel like a hypocrite," he explained. "I’d much rather stay at home. But I’ll wait up for you."

Shortly after his family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window and watched the flurries getting heavier and heavier. "If we must have Christmas," he thought, "It’s nice to have a white one." He went back to his chair by the fireside and began to read his newspaper. A few minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. It was quickly followed by another, then another. He thought that someone must be throwing snowballs at his livingroom window.

When he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d had been caught in the storm, and in a desperate search for shelter had tried to fly through his window.

"I can’t let these poor creatures lie there and freeze," he thought. "But how can I help them?" Then he remembered the barn where the children’s pony was stabled. It would provide a warm shelter. He put on his coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light. But the birds didn’t come in. "Food will bring them in," he thought. So he hurried back to the house for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into the barn.

To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them in the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction -- except into the warm, lighted barn. "They find me a strange and terrifying creature," he said to himself. "And I can’t seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety...."

Just at that moment, the church bells began to ring. He stood silently for a while, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow. "Now I do understand," he whispered. "Now I see why you had to do it."