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What to say when you are
caught sleeping at work! |
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5. |
"They told me at the Blood Bank this might
happen." |
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4. |
"This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved
about in the Time Management course you sent
me to." |
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3. |
"Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout.
You probably got here just in time."
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2. |
"Did you ever notice sound coming out of these
keyboards when you put
your ear down real close?" |
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AND THE NUMBER ONE BEST THING TO SAY IF YOU
GET CAUGHT SLEEPING AT YOUR DESK: |
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1. |
Raise your head slowly and say, "...in Jesus'
name, Amen." |
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CHRISTIAN LIFE IS
FOUNDED ON MOVEMENT
FROM DEATH TO LIFE |
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VATICAN CITY, 17
FEB 2008 (VIS)
- At midday today, Benedict XVI appeared at the
window of his study to pray the Angelus with
pilgrims gathered below in St. Peter's Square.
In his remarks, the Pope mentioned last week's
Gospel reading on the temptation of Christ in the
desert and this week's concerning the
Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. "On the one hand",
he said, "we see Jesus fully as a man Who shares
even our temptations; on the other, we contemplate
the Son of God Who deifies our humanity".
"We could say", the Holy Father continued, "that
these two Sundays act as pillars" supporting the
entire edifice of Lent "and, indeed, the entire
structure of Christian life, which essentially
consists in the Paschal movement from death to
life.
"The mountain - Mount Tabor like Mount Sinai - is
the place of closeness to God, elevated above
everyday life. ... It is the place of prayer. ...
The Transfiguration is an event of prayer. In
praying, Jesus is immersed in God, ... with His
own human will He adheres to the will of love of
the Father, and thus He is infused with light and
the truth of His being is visibly revealed".
This "leads our thoughts to Baptism, to the white
dress worn by the neophyte. Those who are reborn
in Baptism are bedecked in light, in anticipation
of heavenly life".
"This is the crucial point", Pope Benedict
insisted. "The Transfiguration is an anticipation
of the Resurrection, but this presupposes death.
Jesus shows the Apostles His glory that they might
have the strength to witness the scandal of the
cross, and understand that we have to pass though
many tribulations in order to reach the Kingdom of
God". ANG/EASTER/...
VIS 080218 (300) |
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VATICAN CITY, 14
FEB 2008 (VIS)
- The Holy See Press Office released the following
communiqué: |
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"This evening in
the cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, Cardinal Jose
Saraiva Martins C.M.F., president of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided at
a Mass marking the third anniversary of the death
of Sister Lucia dos Santos. Following the ceremony
he announced that the Holy Father Benedict XVI,
benevolently accepting a request presented by
Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra and shared
by many bishops and faithful throughout the world,
has waived the five-year waiting period
established by canonical norms (art. 9 of "Normae
servandae") and granted that, just three years
after the death of Sister Lucia (known to the
world as one of the three seers of Fatima), the
diocesan stage of the cause for her beatification
may begin". OP/BEATIFICATION SISTER LUCIA/SARAIVA
VIS 080214 (150) |
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Third
Sunday of Lent |
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This is from the
St. Vincent de Paul website, on the Gospel
of
John,
Jn 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42. |
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Reflection: |
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Thirst is a metaphor for conversion. It captures
the dynamic of encountering Christ, hearing his
voice, seeing our lives for what they are, and
then turning to Christ who is the source of our
thirst. Christ is the “gift of God” who gives us
the “living water” of his own preaching, dying,
and rising. All we need do is drink deeply and we,
too, will never thirst again. It is then that we
will be able to say with Jesus, “My food is to do
the will of the one who sent me and to finish his
work.”
Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities, Year A, 2008 ,
p.72,
by C.PP.S. Joyce Ann Zimmerman (Author), Thomas A.
Greisen (Author), S.N.D. de N. Kathleen Harmon
(Author), M.S. Thomas L. Leclerc (Author) |
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Vincentian Meditation:
“A sure way for a Christian to grow rapidly in
holiness is a conscientious effort to carry out
God’s will in all circumstances….Each one should
show a great eagerness in that sort of openness to
God’s will which Christ and the saints developed
so carefully.” -St. Vincent de Paul -
Praying with Vincent de Paul (Companions for the Journey) ,
2004, by Thomas McKenna (Author) |
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References:
Praying With Frederic Ozanam (Companions for the Journey Series)
- Paperback, by Ronald Cm Ramson (Author)
Praying With Louise De Marillac (Companions for the Journey Series)
by Audrey Gibson (Author), Kieran Kneaves (Author)
Praying with Vincent de Paul (Companions for the Journey),
2004, by Thomas McKenna (Author)
Seasons in Spirituality: Reflections on Vincentian Spirituality in Today's World ,
1997, by Robert P. Maloney
Deep Down Things: Selected Writing,
1995, by Richard McCullen
Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities, Year A, 2008,
by C.PP.S. Joyce Ann Zimmerman (Author), Thomas A.
Greisen (Author), S.N.D. de N. Kathleen Harmon
(Author), M.S. Thomas L. Leclerc (Author)
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Third
Sunday of Lent
And he was transfigured before them; his face
shone like the sun and his clothes became
white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah
appeared to them, conversing with him. Matt
17:2-3 |
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February 24,
2008
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First Reading From the Book of Genesis: |
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Ex 17:3-7 |
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In those days, in their
thirst for water, the people grumbled against
Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave
Egypt?
Was
it just to have us die here of thirst with our
children and our livestock?”
So
Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What shall I do with this people? a little more
and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered Moses,
“Go over there in front of the people, along with
some of the elders of Israel, holding in your
hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck
the river.
I
will be standing there in front of you on the rock
in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow
from it for the people to drink.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of
Israel. The place was called Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled there and tested
the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?” |
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Responsorial From the Book of Psalms:
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Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 |
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R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your
hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your
hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he
guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your
hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your
hearts.
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Second Reading from the Letter to the
Romans |
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Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
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Brothers and sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith to
this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope
of the glory of God.
And hope does not disappoint, because the love of
God has been poured out into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at
the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a
just person, though perhaps for a good person one
might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us in that while we
were still sinners Christ died for us. |
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Reading From
the Gospel of Matthew:
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Jn 4:5-42 or 4:5-15,
19b-26, 39a, 40-42 |
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Jesus came to a
town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of
land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was
there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down
there at the well. It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples
had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan
woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman,
for a drink?”
—For Jews use
nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered
and said to her, |
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|
| |
“If you knew
the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give
me a drink, ‘you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water.”
The woman said
to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the
cistern is deep; where then can you get this
living water? Are you greater than our father
Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it
himself with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered
and said to her, |
| |
“Everyone who
drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will
never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
|
| |
The woman said to
him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be
thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw
water.”
Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered
and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered
her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a
husband.’
For you have had five husbands, and the one you
have now is not your husband. What you have said
is true.”
The woman said
to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you
people say that the place to worship is in
Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her, |
| |
“Believe me,
woman, the hour is coming when you will worship
the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem.
You people
worship what you do not understand; we worship
what we understand, because salvation is from
the Jews.
But the hour
is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers
will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and
indeed the Father seeks such people to worship
him.
God is Spirit,
and those who worship him must worship in Spirit
and truth.”
|
| |
The woman said to
him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called
the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us
everything.”
Jesus said to her, |
| |
“I am he, the
one speaking with you.”
At that moment
his disciples returned, and were amazed that he
was talking with a woman, but still no one said,
“What are you looking for?” or “Why are you
talking with her?”
The woman left
her water jar and went into the town and said to
the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have
done. Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of
the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the
disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to
them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples
said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to
them, |
| |
“My food is to
do the will of the one who sent me and to finish
his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the
harvest will be here’?
I tell you,
look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment and
gathering crops for eternal life, so that the
sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the
saying is verified that ‘One sows and another
reaps.’
I sent you to
reap what you have not worked for; others have
done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of
their work.”
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Many of the
Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans
came to him, they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began
to believe in him because of his word, and they
said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word; for we
have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is
truly the savior of the world.” |
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or |
|
| |
Jesus came to a
town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of
land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from
his journey, sat down there at the well. It was
about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples
had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan
woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman,
for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with
Samaritans.—
Jesus answered
and said to her, |
| |
“If you knew
the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give
me a drink, ‘you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water.”
|
| |
The woman said to
him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the
cistern is deep; where then can you get this
living water? Are you greater than our father
Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it
himself with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and
said to her, |
| |
“Everyone who
drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will
never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
|
| |
The woman said to
him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be
thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.
“I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors
worshiped on this mountain; but you people say
that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her, |
| |
“Believe me,
woman, the hour is coming when you will worship
the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem.
You people
worship what you do not understand; we worship
what we understand, because salvation is from
the Jews.
But the hour
is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers
will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and
indeed the Father seeks such people to worship
him.
God is Spirit,
and those who worship him must worship in Spirit
and truth.”
|
| |
The woman said to
him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called
the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us
everything.”
Jesus said to her, |
| |
“I am he, the
one who is speaking with you.”
|
| |
Many of the
Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
When the Samaritans
came to him, they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began
to believe in him because of his word, and they
said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word; for we
have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is
truly the savior of the world.” |
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References |
|
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Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature
Repair Manual
by Dennis Prager.
In this unique blend of self-help and moral
philosophy, talk-radio host Dennis Prager
asserts that we're actually obligated to be
happy, because it makes us better people. |
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|
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Praying With Frederic Ozanam (Companions for the Journey Series)
- Paperback, by Ronald Cm Ramson (Author) |
|
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|
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Praying With Louise De Marillac (Companions for the Journey Series)
by Audrey Gibson (Author), Kieran Kneaves
(Author) |
|
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|
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Praying with Vincent de Paul (Companions for the
Journey)
2004, by Thomas McKenna
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The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force ....
.... (Paperback)
by
Rodney Stark (Author)
From the Publisher
"... this account of Christianity's remarkable
growth within the Roman Empire |
|
is
already the subject of much fanfare. "Anyone who
has puzzled over Christianity's rise to
dominance... must read it," ...
Read
the first page. |
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Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and
Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities, Year A, 2008 (Paperback) by C.PP.S. Joyce Ann
Zimmerman (Author), Thomas A. Greisen (Author),
S.N.D. de N. Kathleen Harmon (Author), M.S.
Thomas L. Leclerc (Author) |
|
"Perfect for home use or to prepare for weekly
liturgy . . . It includes help for the
celebration, ideas for catechesis on the
particular event, and ways to understand the
readings more deeply. Finally, it includes
sample questions from which priests, deacons,
lay groups, ministers and others can jump off
into deeper discussion." |
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Straight Answers, Answers to 100 Questions about
the Catholic Faith
by Ph.D Rev. William P.
Saunders (Author)
Review by:
Reverend William G. Curlin Bishop of Charlotte
Straight Answers offers Catholics a simple and
direct response to the many questions concerning
the Catholic Church. It spells out profound
truths in very |
|
simple language for all who seek a better
understanding of their Faith. I highly recommend
it for Catholics, both young and old. |
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The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way
From Amazon:
After years of spiritual study and reflection,
inspirational speaker and |
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bestselling
author Wayne Dyer has emerged a highly esteemed
teacher. His current message about tapping into
the power of intention may sound like good old
positive thinking: just stay focused on what you
want, rather than focusing on the lack of having
what you want. But the teaching here goes deeper
than just controlling thoughts (although he does
acknowledge that thought control is a
surprisingly challenging and significant
endeavor).
This book might
help readers land a better job, but it's more
relevant for those who are ready to detach from
an ego-driven life filled with quick fixes of
happiness and step into a more authentic,
joyful, and spiritually fulfilling life. His
core teachings speak to tapping into a universal
source of energy that can also be called the
"power of intention." |
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The Chariot of Israel: Exploits of the Prophet of Elijah
THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL: When Elijah was caught up
to heaven, his disciple Elisha cried out, "the
chariot of Israel, and its horsemen." Elisha was
referring not to the chariot but to the prophet.
This study of Elijah’s life will captivate you
as it walks you through a pivotal period in
Israel’s history, and illustrative maps will
give you a better picture of the physical
geography of this ancient land. |
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Read more about the Liturgical Year |
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The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Pueblo
Books)
by Thomas J. Talley (Author) The Rev. Dr.
Thomas J. Talley, Professor of Liturgics
at the General Theological Seminary in New
York, is one of the leading liturgists in
the country. He gives us a fresh
examination of the complex history of the
Liturgical Year. |
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The Cultural World of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday, Cycle C. (Bestseller! the Cultural World of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday)
by John J. Pilch (Author)
Reader
Review: The book by Pilch provides
those who not only fill the pulpits across
this country but also all interested in
the cultural world in which Jesus lived
with a lot of pertinent information that
sheds light on a lot of areas that have
been "muddled" in the past. Yes, I highly
recommend this book. - James Mauldin |
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Learn more and read the Old Testament. |
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Preaching from the Old Testament
by Elizabeth Achtemeier (Author) Reader
Review: The author of these
thirty-two short chapters begins and ends
with the assumption that problems we
experience with the Old Testament are our
problem, not the Bible's. This
subordinating of the Bible reader to the
well-weathered book he holds in his hand
opens doors, not to forced harmonisations
of problematic passages, but to fresh
reappraisal of difficult texts on their
own terms. -
David A. Baer |
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The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch (The Navarre Bible: Old Testament)
This volume helps you make the first five
books of the Old Testament a vital part of
your spiritual reading and practical
growth in the Christian life. It contains
the full English and Latin texts of these
books, along with extensive and faithfully
Catholic commentaries. Like other volumes
in the world-renowned Navarre Bible
series, these commentaries draw on Church
documents, the exegesis of Fathers
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and Doctors of the Church, and the works of contemporary
spiritual writers — particularly St. Josemaría
Escrivá, who initiated the Navarre Bible
project. |
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This
volume of commentary on the New English Bible text of the First Book of Kings
follows the pattern of the now well-established series on the Old and New
Testaments. The main divisions of the text are those provided by the New English
Bible itself, but these are further subdivided for the purposes of the
commentary, which is printed in short sections following the relevant portion of
the text.
