Food For Thought

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

1 Peter 2:21

THE LORICA OF ST. PATRICK

Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was a unique servant of God who led thousands into Christianity. He was born in 387 and died in 493. Here is a small portion of St. Patrick's statement of devotion to Go.
I bind to myself today
God's power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates
injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

THOUGHT FOR LENT

God gave us life that we might be
born to His eternity.
God gave us prayer that we might know the way in which our souls should grow.
God gave us Christ that we might see invisible reality.

---Jeanne Birrell

STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN

Why should we observe Lent? We observe Lent because it causes us to STOP. Lent says, "Stop and rest awhile." Lent says, "Stop doing wrong." We observe Lent because it tells us to LOOK. Look inward for an honest self-examination. Look upward to see the cross of Christ with healing and love. Look forward to the hope of the Resurrection. We observe Lent because it tells us to LISTEN. Listen to the words of Christ. Listen to the voice of God. Listen to the winds of the Spirit of God. Stop, look and listen. These three words are important for our safety in travel, but they may also be helpful for our journey through the days of Lent.

You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news on September 11, 2001. Neither will I. I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say "Good-bye". I held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, "Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK... I am ready to go." I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children. I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he really wasn't coming home that night. I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to Me for help, for the very first time in her life. "I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!" I said. "Of course I will show you the way home - only believe in Me now." I was at the base of the building with the Priest ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He heard my voice and answered. I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer. I was with the crew as they were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the believers there, comforting and assuring them that their faith has saved them. I was in Texas, Kansas, London... I was everywhere. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news
. Did you sense Me?

I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew every name - though not all know Me. Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor. Some sought Me with their very last breath. Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the smoke and flames; "Come to Me... this way ... take my hand." Some had never heard my voice before. And a few chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
But, I was there.

I did not place you in the Tower that day. You may not know why, but I do. However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me? September 11, 2001 was not the end of the journey for you. But someday your journey will end. And I will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are "ready to go" ...I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.
Love, God
During the next few seconds, stop whatever you are doing, and take this opportunity. All you have to do is the following:

Simply say:

Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

... Have a blessed day.

A Very Wonderful and Special Country

What a country this is! To my way of thinking, there is nothing like it anywhere in the world. I have visited many beautiful lands, but upon returning to the United States, there is always the feeling that Almighty God carved out here a very wonderful and special country. ...

We need to recount the stories of the great souls America has produced and who produced America. We need to tell and retell these stories beginning with the Pilgrim Fathers. Bibles under their arms, setting forth in the little ships across a stormy sea, driven not by the winds that raged the Atlantic and caught the sails of their little boats, but by the mighty conviction that as sons of God no one could makes slaves of them. ...

Something within drove them across trackless wastes to an inhospitable shore, where unhampered by the autocracy of men, they could worship God in all the dignity of free men.

We, too, need that spirit of freedom in our hearts. We need to recover the cleanness and manhood and power and might of the United States in our minds. We must reemphasize morality, decency and honesty. We need more of God and more of Jesus Christ. Deeply rooted in the American tradition are the sovereignty of God and the sacredness of human personality. Upon these two pillars rests American freedom.

Norman Vincent Peale

From his sermon "I Pledge Allegiance"

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