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The Good News: |
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"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his
paths."
Mk 1:3 |
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The
first part of the passage from Mark's story,
"Prepare the way of |
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the Lord," is the greatest "good news" that
we have ever received on earth. This
fulfills His promise from the beginning of
time to send us His Son who in turn gave His
life for our salvation. The second part
could easily humble the bravest of men, as
it did John the Baptist: "One mightier than
I is coming after me. I am not worthy to
stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals."
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For those of us who have children, this
"good news" is almost unthinkable – sending
our child knowing that he or she will die.
But God kept His Word. And yet there are
those of us who did not and still do not
receive him — "He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him" ( Jn.
1:11 ).
Why do we not receive Him?
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Continued below... |
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My Prayer Box
Newsletter |
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My Prayer Box newsletter is published weekly and contains the
readings for that Sunday. It has reflections, stories and
reader contributions, prayers and news relevant to living a
proud Catholic life.
The reader contributions include announcements, interesting
articles, pictures and greetings. We also solicit news
regarding activities and events your parishes that you might
useful for others.
The newsletter has over 1000 subscribers.
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According to Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M,
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"The causes for rejecting Christ and his
message, and his promise of everlasting
happiness are the same today as they were for
the Scribes and Pharisees of the first century
A.D.
It was their stubborn pride and
self-centeredness, the exaggerated sense of
their own dignity and perfection, which blinded
the eyes of their intellects. The result was
that they could not see their Messiah, their
Savior, in Christ: He had brought himself down
to the level of man, by assuming man's human
nature. The Son of God assumed our human nature
in order to live amongst us, to teach us how
valuable God made us. He did so in order to die
for us in that nature and to atone for all the
sins of the human race.
The same stubborn pride, that same exaggerated
sense of their own dignity, blinds the
intellects of many today who not only refuse to
accept Christ and his good tidings, but seem
impelled also to prevent others from accepting
him. The mad rush for earthly possessions and
pleasures, the casting-off of all reasonable
restraints and restrictions, which are so
necessary for human society to survive, the
rejection of all things spiritual in man's
make-up and life-purpose, the general incitement
to the animal instincts in man — all these, and
many more, are the evident signs of the
rejection of Christ which are so actively
propagated by many in our world now." (Emphasis
added)
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Why Is This Important
Pride – a most humanistic of traits, without
which we will wither at the gaze of anyone who
sees us different. Have you ever walked into a
room full of people who look or dress differently
from you? Without pride and self-confidence we
will not be able to hold our own.
Stubborn pride is pride brought to extreme.
Redundant as these terms are pride is insidious,
entrapping and seductive. Stubborn pride can
easily make ourselves believe that we are only
standing up for ourselves, even if somehow, in the
back of our minds a little voice is whispering,
"Come now, this is ridiculous."
Sense of dignity. And why shouldn’t we have a
great sense of dignity, after all we have pride
and self confidence? Again, taken to the extreme,
exaggerated sense of dignity turns into false
pride.
Taken together pride and a sense of dignity are
main ingredients of self-respect. Taken to the
extremes, these add up to our self-centeredness.
Why are we so self-centered?
Think about it. What is the one thing that we most
like to have? Control. We want to know exactly
where we are going. Thus the proliferation of
gadgets that give us the sense that indeed we
control where we are going and that we know
exactly where we are. We are so enamored with the
feeling of control that we extend that to all
aspects of our life, including, quite
destructively, the lives of those around us: Our
loved ones, our children and their future.
But there is one more element to this: Now that we
know the good news, could it be that the reason we
have not accepted God fully in our lives is the
fear of our not being worthy?
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Bringing the Message to Our Homes |
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Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan
challenges us to ask ourselves: |
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Am I for Christ or against
him?
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Am
I on the road to heaven or am I facing in the
opposite direction?
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How Christian is my daily conduct in my home,
and in my place of work and recreation?
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Do
I love God?
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Do
I appreciate all he has done for me by sending
his Son to raise me up, one day, to heaven?
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Do
I really have my own best interests at heart, by
striving always to be ready for Christ's second
coming when I breathe my last?
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How do we prepare the way of the Lord?
Live a life of devotion.
Love yourself as you love others, and you will
always do what is of God.
Above all, pray and be watchful.
Image IS NOT everything. Life is not a series of
sound bytes and there is no re-play button.
However, there is forgiveness, reconciliation and
growth that come with them.
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Apologetics |
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and the Saints |
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The Rosary |
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Traditional Prayers:
Discover the origin of your favorite prayer. We might
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