Posted on 11/09/2006 6:49:58 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum
Praying for your friend, Gretchen.
Don't get lost again!
God be merciful unto us, and bless us;
And cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
That thy way may be known upon earth,
Thy saving health among all nations.
Let the people praise thee, O God;
let all the people praise thee.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy:
For thou shalt judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
Let the people praise thee, O God;
Let all the people praise thee.
Then shall the earth yield her increase;
And God, even our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth
Shall fear him. (Ps.67)
We Love You, our Awesome Lord, Lifting our Hearts in Praise to our King. Glory to You, our Master of Grace; with Thanksgiving, we Magnify Your Name. Our Loving Lord, we Pray for Healing for your Cherished Lambs. Touch 'Dita and LaVerne with the Power of Jesus; Comfort their Hearts, and Lift their Afflictions Away. Be Pleased, Your Grace, to Blanket them in Your Wonderous Love. May Blessing Fall from Heaven Like a Gentle Spring Rain. O God our Savior, Grant them Your Mercies, our Shepherd, we Pray.
We Adore You, our Sovereign God, Singing the Praise of His Highness our King. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be Exalted Forevermore, amen.
Prayers!
Prayers for you too!
O Lord,
who offered up
in pain and sorrow
your own life's blood
that we might live,
remember this day
all who grieve,
who suffer,
who will die,
and have mercy on them all.
May we who love you
be willing tools
in your hands,
tools of your mercy
wherever you might call us.
Transform us,
O Fountain of Mercy,
that we become
your hands to heal,
your voice to comfort,
your feet to seek out
those in need,
This day and always,
Amen.
It was no clean thing, this --
no easy walk into that dark night,
no staged and calm event
filled with memorable sound bites
and photo op moments,
soldiers in their dress uniforms
and dignitaries in their solemn regalia.
No clean thing, this --
filled instead with the sweat of pain
and the taste of blood,
the dust of the road,
the tears of grief,
the reality of betrayal,
the weight of sin.
No calm thing, this,
filled instead with noise:
the noise of mockery, bitter and undeserved,
punctuated with spittle and blows.
the noise of pain:
the slap of the flagellum against bare skin,
the sound of hammers driving spikes into wood
through human flesh,
cries ripped unbidden from the depths of the gut,
as flesh protested the hot sudden agony
that would not go away.
The noise of expediency: "Crucify him yourselves."
No easy walk this,
rushed through the crowded streets
beneath a crushing weight,
stripped of everything that matters most to man,
standing naked in the light of day
bruised and bloody and battered,
with nothing left to give
except the acceptance of pain,
except the final acts of love,
surrender
death.
Help me see, O Jesus,
beyond the pretty pictures
and sound bites
and images that we dress you up in,
to the reality of how God descended to death,
the dirty, miserable realness of it,
of man's willingness to be inhuman,
and you did this knowing how dark we can be,
and how unloving we can be,
and how we cling to the dark in spite of your light,
and you still chose to go.
BTTT
BTTT
O my Jesus,
when the darkness touches our lives with screaming reality,
shattering the moment of comfort that you let us wrap ourselves in,
the spun-sugar illusions of our own strength,
and we realize how fragile,
how delicate
how precious
that which you give us really is,
help us remember to run into your arms,
so you can carry us like the children we are.
O Lord,
After the wounding happens,
and our heart aches with the need to strike out at that which hurt us,
Man or tool,
Wind, or sea or fire or flood,
even when there is nothing left to hurt except our own wounded hearts,
teach us to accept what you have given us,
the way you accepted the Father's will so long ago,
forgiving even as they killed you,
saving us,
showing us the way.
O Lord,
wrap yourself around us then,
when the darkness is too deep
and the anger too red for us to see,
and the pain blinds us even to your rocking us in our grief,
and bring us at last back into your light.
Amen
BTTT
Psa 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
Psa 144:12 May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;
Psa 144:13 may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
Psa 144:14 may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
Psa 144:15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!
Psa 146:5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
OH FATHER in Heaven, thank you for the opportunity to hear your Word publicly proclaimed in respect and Belief.
What a Blessing it is to be with those whose God is the LORD.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/p/t/pttlomys.htm
Praise thou the Lord, O my soul, now praise Him,
His praise continue until death;
While I the pathways of earth am treading
God shall be praised with every breath.
My soul and body He did give,
And waits my praise from morn till eve.
O praise the Lord, O praise the Lord!
Happy, yea, happy are they forever,
Whose help the God of Jacob is,
Who hath created the earth and heaven,
The sea and all that therein is.
Let all the world His praises sing,
Who life and health to all doth bring.
O praise the Lord, O praise the Lord!
If there are any who are oppressèd,
He worketh justice in the tide;
Food for the hungry, forlorn, distressed,
The Lord in season doth provide;
Those bound in chains He maketh free,
His lovingkindness they shall see,
O praise the Lord, O praise the Lord!
Praise, O ye people, the Name most glorious
Of Him Who reigns Almighty King.
Let all unite in one holy chorus
To God our hymns of joy to bring.
O Zion, with the heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
O praise the Lord, O praise the Lord!
BTTT
Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Psa 116:2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
"Our holiest dispositions need careful watching. In the house of the Lord, Tobiah gained a lodging, in the very chamber "where aforetime they laid the meat offerings and the frankincense." Spiritual pride will find a hidingplace in our devotions, unbelief will lurk amid our self-examination, and anger will conceal itself under the skirts of our zeal. In seasons of the highest spiritual enjoyment, it behoves us to exercise double vigilance against our great enemy, who so often transforms himself into an angel of light. The sweet flowers blooming in our window attract the buzzing bees, and so do our sweet graces draw the notice of the enemy to us. Thieves waylay men known to have full purses, and pirates watch for loaded galleons."
--Charles Spurgeon, "Out with Tobiah", July 1867, Sword and Trowel.
Oh Father, how many times have we been obedient and seen you victorious, only to turn and be surprised by temptation or weakness.
Let us now learn to be vigilant ever, and so not fall into sin.
Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
Amen to that one!
Between the midnight rationales of those who reach out in hate
Shedding blood on the streets in God's holy name,
And those who count religion as the source of pain and disgrace
And see life on this Earth as just a meaningless game,
There is a place between, a balance point, a shelter Heaven touched,
Sanctified by Love and death, the reason why You came.
Let me stand here beneath Your cross, O Lord,
And know that Your ways are Yours, and the worlds' ways are not the same.
Between the easy answer that self is the measure of all,
And the anger that lets uninvolved and innocent persons die
As offerings to hate that say "I'm stronger than you,"
Self and self-righteous indignation the echoing battlecry,
The unborn, sacrificed for convenience, the inconvenient killed on the way,
The unwanted dying in isolation, unmourned wherever they lie
Let me stand here beneath Your cross, Lord,
And see in Your light the reasons why you chose to die.
Let me stand here beneath Your cross, Lord,
A sanctuary made in such a hard and painful way
God walking as man beneath the Sun He made,
God dying, tortured and abused, to take our sins away
The one saving point in the realm of darkness,
The one sure dawning of Heaven's perfect day
Let me stand here beneath Your cross, Lord,
Be it ever in my sight, my hope, my life, O Lord I pray.
Amen, Knitting.
Mercy, mercy and more mercy.
Our priest urged us gently today to live this week in humility, to see the palm branch as Christ's victory over our pride and other waywardness.
Hopefully others will know Him through our kindness.
Thank you very much for praying for LaVerne. From what her friend, 6eth, has told me, she has had a terri6ly difficult life and doesn't have much in the way of loving support or help.
Father, please comfort LaVerne and dispel all the forces of darkness that creep in against her life and oppose her healing. I ask You to speak and 6reathe life into her, and hope. Pour grace on her 6ody to heal and to stop getting sicker. Jesus, surround her with Your protection and love. Lord, send Your Holy Spirit to minister to her in healing and encouragement. Give her doctors wisdom. Lord, move people to help her, to drive her here and there, to get to her doctor appointments and treatments. Drive 6ack everything that hinders her living daily in Your presence in health. In Jesus' Name. Thank You.
(((Kitty Mittens))), (((bperiwinkle7))), what can I say? Life is not without trials, but we always return to His sweetness and His rest.
The Psalms of David are a great help,
and a way to sing His praises
So richly deserved.
And yes, I am feeling better than I did yesterday, praise God; I was able to attend Mass for Palm Sunday.
Thank you, friends, for your tenderness.
It is the little touches that add up the most...saying the kind word, smiling at the lonely, helping someone know they are not alone that really let us show Christ's light in a daily way.
I read a quote today that says a lot: Mercy glorifies the one who receives it. Do-gooding glorifies the one who originates it.
When we do these things out of mercy, following Jesus, because we love Jesus, we aren't looking to toot our own horns. We are reaching out because of love. If we get into the do-gooding frame of mind, it's cause we want to look good, and that takes a big, noteworthy gesture.
Acting out of love, even if it seems tiny is worth so much more than doing a huge thing because it makes us look good. And we all have that within our means.
God is so good, to let such little things matter so much!
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