MEMORIAL DAY

 

This weekend we remember, with deep gratitude,  the service given to us by our veterans and all of our current men and women serving our country and the world in the military;  let us pray for all of them and their families and other loved ones.  

 

In gratitude to Fr. Austin Fleming who posted this on his blogsite:

 

To the Soldier, To the Veteran

These things I do not know:
   The sound of a bullet.
   The power of a blast.
   The blood of a comrade.
   The depth of your wound.
   The terror at midnight.
   The dread at dawn.
   Your fear or your pain.

These things I know:
   The sound of your honor.
   The power of your courage.
   The blood of your wound.
   The depth of your strength.
   The terror that binds you.
   The dread that remains.
   Your dignity and your valor.

For these things we pray:
   The sound of your laughter.
   The power of your voice.
   The blood of your yearning.
   The depth of your healing.
   The joy that frees you.
   The hope that remains.
   Your wholeness and your love.

- by Alden Solovy at ToBendLight

 

TRUSTING GOD TO ANSWER

TRUSTING GOD TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS

 

Is prayer perhaps the most practical application of faith and trust in God?   A good case can be made for this.  Where else or how else other than in prayer do we show so thoroughly that our final trust is in God and not in ourselves or anything of the visible world?  The kind of prayer about which the Gospels speak is more concerned with this trust in God than with guaranteeing us some particular good.   Jesus says that the reason we can trust to receive what we need from God is not that he, Jesus, assists our petition, but that the Father loves us.   Why wouldn't God give us the good we need?   Implicit in the teaching of Jesus on prayer is this:   God loves us and, therefore, desires what is for our good; the Father knows better than we do what is for our good.   Trusting prayer without too much insistence on a specific outcome is what we gradually learn.  Strong, absolute statements about how we need only ask the Father and God will give us that for which we ask are rooted in trusting confidence in God, a confidence eventually leading us to quit trying to tell God what we need.   God loves us, cares for us, and has done so much for us -- why not make known our needs and then simply trust God?   If that is not our practice now,  it seems at least to be the ideal for which we strive, as our prayer life deepens. 

 

(This reflection is by Fr. Don Talafous, OSB and appears in his HOMILIES FOR WEEKDAYS - YEAR 1  for the Saturday of the 6th Week of Easter.)

 

 

PRAYERFUL REFLECTION ON TODAY

 

TODAY IS A SPECIAL DAY

 

(This reflection is by Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D., and appeared as the daily meditation for May 16, 2015 in the daily devotional,  LIVING  FAITH.)

 

Today is a special day -- even though it may be an "ordinary" day for most of us.   What makes today so special even if it isn't a birthday, anniversary or some other significant event?   It is special because, in the entire history of the universe,  there has never been another day just like today.   In your own lifetime, too, there has never been a day like today either.  What's more, there will never be another day exactly like today again.  Today is the day to which all your preceding days have been leading up to.  And today is the day from which the rest of your life will flow.   If you were aware of how precious this day is,  you certainly would not waste it, nor would you be able to restrain your joy and gratitude.

 

The great British writer G. K. Chesterton wrote this poem at the end of an ordinary day:   "Here dies another day during which I have had eyes, ears, hands and the great world around me;  and with tomorrow begins another.  Why am I allowed two?"