It was a particularly tough football game, and nerves were on edge. The home team had been the victim of three or four close calls, and they were now trailing the visitors by a touchdown and a field goal. When the official called yet another close one in the visitors' favor, the home quarterback blew his top.

"How many times can you do this to us in a single game?"

he screamed. "You were wrong on the out-of-bounds call, you were wrong on that last holding call, and you failed to say anything about a late hit in the first quarter."

The official just stared. The quarterback seethed, but he tried to suppress language that might get him tossed out of the game. "What it comes down to," he bellowed, "is that YOU STINK!"

The official stared a few more seconds. Then he bent down, picked up the ball, paced off 15 yards, and put the ball down. He turned to face the steaming quarterback.

"And how do I smell from here?" he asked.

There are so many times when it is hard to "bite the tongue" and say nothing. The urge to say "something"

seems so overpowering that the words sometimes erupt before we have a chance to think them through.

Unfortunately, those words have consequences. The minor offenses result in 15-yard penalties. The more serious offenses result in years of regret and heartache, or perhaps broken relationships that take years to rebuild.

No wonder James had such strong words of praise concerning the person who is always able to control what he says (James 3:2).

"He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive." (Prov. 17:27-28)

May your words today be few, calm, and carefully thought out.

- Author Unknown

RAIN

Sunday, the Day of the Lord

Gracious God, with faith in the

Resurrection, I pray for (Name) and all

the faithful departed. With joy, I thank

you for what we shared in this life. With

hope I entrust them to your mercy.

Purify them and welcome them to your

Kingdom where they will see you face to

face. With blessed anticipation, I look

forward to the coming age, when, with

your grace, I shall see you and be united

with them again in paradise.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine on them.

May their souls and all the souls of all

the faithful departed, through the mercy

of God, rest in peace. Amen

The Power of Prayer   A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan...

While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.

Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time witnessed to him of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.

Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards." At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, 26 guards. "My five friends also saw them and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid, and left you alone."

At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day that this happened. The missionary told the church congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were -- he was to busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.

**This story is an incredible example of how the Spirit of the Lord moves in mysterious ways. If you ever feel such prodding, go along with it. Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell. THE POWER OF PRAYER -- as the above true story clearly illustrates, "with God all things are possible" and more importantly, how God hears and answers the prayers of the faithful. 

PSALM 12

As I reflected on my past encounters this week the mayhem in Macon, GA, and the mob demonstrations around the nation kept reverberating in my head. The following psalm caught my eye this day.

Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!

Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and insincere hearts.

May the Lord bring flattery to an end and silence their proud tongues.

They say, "We will lie to our hearts' content. Our lips are our own--who can stop us?"

The Lord replies, "I have seen violence done to the helpless and I have heard the groans of the poor.

Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do."

The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.

Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this generation, even thought the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.

The Wall Street protesters have spread to hundreds of cities, and they are doing more than exercising their right to assembly. In NY City alone, they have defaced property, defecated, and urinated causing the property owners to have to shut down the area for health reasons to be cleaned up, and because of violent threats the owners have promised the protesters they can return. These mob demonstrations are bordering on anarchy and although the freedom of assembly is our right these protesters are exceeding the limits of freedom of assembly.

Uplifting Things To Do Today

• • • • Smile at a stranger
      • Drop a coin where a child can find it
      • Learn something new and teach it to someone
      • Tell someone you love them
      • Hug someone
      • Forgive someone who has wronged you
      • Try saying "I'm sorry" when you ought to
      • Tell a child how great they are
      • Sing a song about Jesus to yourself
      • Keep a promise
      • Call someone just to say hello
      • Try listening more than talking
      • Stand up for what you believe in
      • Thank God for His beautiful Creation
      • Encourage someone who is feeling down
      • Cherish today as if it were your last one
      • Tell someone about Jesus

[ Author Unknown]

Today's verses are highlighted for easy reading.

Romans 8:18-25
"Creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God."

SUFFERING
Suffering finds itself in the Bible, mostly in Paul's writings: Rom 5.3, rejoice in our sufferings; 2Cor 1:5, suffering produces endurance; Col 1:24, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake; 1Peter 4:13, in so far as you share Christ's sufferings; 1Pet 5:1, a witness of the sufferings.

HOPE
Hope is a theological virtue which comes part and parcel with faith and is found almost exclusively in the New Testament writings. We read today in Romans that "in hope we are saved." The churches three theological gifts are: faith, hope and love.

GOSPEL – Luke 13:18-21
"When it was fully grown it bacame a large bush." The passage for today is short but ever meaningful. We hear Jesus's answer to the question: "What is the Kingdom of Heaven like?"
"To what can I compare it?"

A lay person's understanding is simple. It is like yeast that a woman adds to three measures of flour, until the batch of dough was leavened or raised. In the field it is like a mustard seed that a man planted in a garden and it grew to a full grown bush on which the birds of the sky dwelt on its branches.

The parables of the mustard seed (13:19) and the leaven (13:21) describe the growth of God's kingdom, which begins small and unnoticed but expands to santify the entire world (CCC 2660 below) Also see Matthew 13:32 and 13:33.

CHRISTIAN PRAYER – (CCC 2660)
Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the kingdom revealed to "little children," to the servants of Christ, to the poor of the Beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations; all forms of prayer can be leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom.

"You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world. Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible anger of God comes down upon all those who disobey him." (Ephesians 5:5-7)

When I was a child the nuns taught us the ten commandments by rote. Somewhere between the third and fourth grade I had managed to memorize these rules as I was supposed to do. At that age I used to think that #1, false gods before me, whatever they were, I didn't have any of those. And, as I reviewed the other nine. . . I disobeyed my parents from time to time, sure, . . . and I did steal some things from the $.05 and $.10 cent store once, but whatever all those other things we weren't supposed to do, I certainly didn't do any of them. I rarely missed church, so I was a happy camper. I followed the ten commandments!

When Paul wrote the letter above to the Ephesians he was believed to be in prison in Rome and scholars think that Paul was writing not only to the Ephesians, but to some of the other churches he had been teaching and preaching to in Galacia (now modern day Greece). The Greeks of that time were no strangers to idols, for they had myriad idols in their writings and also the statuary representing them in their modern cities. They even had a god of sex and a statue of it in a public place. Greece was teeming with trade, art, and material possessions just like our world of today.

But, back to my understanding of worshiping idols, and whatever those false gods before me were not supposed to be? I truly don't think I ever realized in my mind what that commandment really meant until I was around 62-63 years of age. For all of my life money was my number one goal; you know earn as much as you can, take care of your family, get a house, buy lots of neat things, cars, etc, etc. I think it is fair to say that I never once thought that I should put someone else ahead of myself; I had my priorities straight, my career, my financial success, my things, yes all of my things, my personal time, you know---when you work hard---you're certainly entitled to rest and do your own thing on Saturday and Sunday. I was successful and I was entitled. Those were my inalienable rights in the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

And now, 10-11 years later, I see things a whole lot differently. I see what Paul was talking to the Ephesians about from his prison cell. I see the secularized society that we live in now that is bombarded, 24/7, by media of every conceivable form: TV, Radio, Internet, Blackberry's, texting devices, I-Pads, I-Phones, email, Movies, U-Tubes, Newspapers, Magazines, Newsletters, Bulletins, Chain Mail, and the postman brings us free a daily supply of the latest deals on material gifts to fill our insatiable needs. It is no wonder that we find so little time to think about our Lord and Savior.

I am very thankful to Christ our Lord, who has shown me the light, through his grace and goodness, to learn to resist all of these material temptations, and reach out to others instead of putting myself first. This is not easy, and I must pray every day, and several times a day, to fight off the temptations of evil that we see and hear all around us.

The consequences of idolatry will lead to eternal damnation and whatever judgment God has in store for us. It is as simple as that.

I wrote this as part of a Disciple Bible study class assignment

Father please bless me for I have sinned!
I am sorry Lord...for I waited so long to recognize your spirit; yet, you have not punished me as greatly
as I have sinned. I have unjustly judged others; yet, through your grace I see your wisdom.
I am weak in faith; yet, you have taught me strength. Although I put materialism above all else; yet, you were generous to me despite my selfishness.
I blamed others for my mistakes; yet, you still give me more than I deserve. I sought knowledge in place of faith in you; yet, you still loved me as I struggled.
I sometimes usurped credit for the work of others; yet, you have led me back to the right path. I put my welfare ahead of others; yet, you have kept me sound. Yes Father, I have sinned over and over; yet, you make me feel stronger each time I place your will first. Thank you for all of the blessings you have bestowed upon me; yet, I know, only with your help can I do better.
Amen
Circa 2004.

I would like to propose to EVERY Viner, a day without racism!

I would love it if we could do that all over the world but I am not that popular so I can only reach so many people.

We will choose a day of the week where everyone who comments on articles will look at it with an open mind and not make any racist comment. Actually everyone will make an effort to look at things differently, without a preconception.

Yes, I am pretty sure it will not be as fun as when everyone is arguing and hating each other and making mean comments but why can’t we try just once? It’s just ONE day.

We can see if things would be any better than what is has been for the past, uh let’s see, forever…?!

"We all know that people are the same where ever you go

there is good and bad in everyone
we learn to live we learn to give each other what we need to survive together alive"

So who’s up for it?

The words of Saint Paul, David, Levi (Matthew), remind us and all future generations what they were taught in their time; first young Timothy in Galatia, the wayward Corinthians, the Kingdom of David in Psalms, and the Gospel of Luke, the physician, teaches us forgiveness throug …

Forsyth, Georgia – Reading Feeds the Brain, the Spirit & the Soul

Reference Information for the Book

• Name of Book: In An Instant
• Author Name: Lee & Bob Woodruff
• Publisher: Random House
• Year Released and/or ISBN Number: 2007 copyright, ISBN 978-1-4000- 6667-4, First Edition

Type of Book

• True story of tragedy, recovery, love and suffering told by a husband and wife, each in their own words

About the Writing

• In January 2006, the Woodruff's seemed to have it all---a happy marriage and four children. Lee was a public relations executive, and Bob has just been named co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight. Then, while Bob was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.

About the Authors

• Lee and Bob Woodruff live in Westchester County, New York, with their four children. Bob Woodruff was named co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight in December 2005. On January 29, 2006, while reporting on US and Iraqi security forces, Bob Woodruff was seriously injured by a roadside bomb that struck his vehicle near Taji, Iraq. Lee Woodruff is a public relations executive and freelance writer.

Some Quotes about the Book

• TOM BROKAW - "In an Instant is a book for our time. Bob abd Lee Woodruff give us a living, terrifying, and ultimately inspirational tale of the perils of war, the demands of networks journalism, and the strength of a great marriage. We're all the richer for their courage, their commitment to each other, and their willingness to share the many lesson of their ordeal.." DIANE SAWYER – "Bob and Lee have written a stunning book. It's the story of an anchor who has the curiosity of a cub reporter. It's also a passionate love story filled with hope for everyone who has ever wondered how you make through another day. This is the kind of book you give your friends for their amazement…and for their lives."

Why I Enjoyed Reading the Book

• From the very first word to the very last the authors poured out their heartfelt emotions in a harrowing time of struggle. Through Lee and Bob's writing you will experience what so many of the wounded and crippled in our armed forces have also experienced. You will also learn how exceptional the medical care and treatment for the war injured is being handled with our most modern technology and logistical coordination. Your emotions will soar and sink as Lee and Bob take you thorough the many gut wrenching feelings that this injury immersed them in, as they wrote, "In an Instant."

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

• The good of this book is in the fact that hundreds of people, friends, medical experts, loved ones and every other soul that this tragedy touched were on the sidelines cheering for their a successful outcome for this devastated family. The bad part of this saga is that nobody will ever know how these loved ones will be affected for the rest of their lives as a result of this war injury. This story has fear, the unknown, the unfathomable, the unimaginable, and the unpredictable, the last of which stretched the nerves of the loved ones to immeasurable lengths. This story will make you cry, hurt, and cheer from its beginning to its end.

Forsyth, GA - A Story of Faith, Hope, and Love -
By: KATHLEEN O'HARA, a psychotherapist and author of a A Grief Like No Other:
Surviving the Violent Death of Someone You Love (Avalon, 2006)
Find Her Here; re-published with permission of Kathleen O'Hara, U.S. Catholic.org, July edition.

Ten years ago, on Memorial Day of 1999, I received the call every parents dreads. It was from a detective in Steubenville, Ohio. He asked me if I knew where my son was. My son Aaron had just finished his sophomore year at Franciscan University and moved out of the dorms into a house nearby.

On Memorial Day the house was broken into, and Aaron and his roommate Brian were abducted, taken to the woods in nearby Pennsylvania, and shot by two young men who were on drugs. Our families and hundreds of people from all over the country gathered at the university for prayer and to search for Aaron and Brian for five terrible days.

On the first Friday of June, we found them under two wild white rose bushes.

The ensuing ten years have been a journey of grief. It is so hard to describe the unbearable pain that we felt as a family, that I felt as a mother whose beloved son was sacrificed to such violent evil.

However, we Catholic's know very well the sacrifice that one mother made for her son to save the world---Mary, our blessed mother. And, while I do not presume to be Mary, I have tried to follow her example in my life since the death of Aaron.

Patience, prayer, love, and faith have been the hallmarks of my journey---which is not to say that I did not grieve. I most certainly did. I felt extreme sorrow, guilt, anger, loneliness, despair. I am a psychotherapist and I knew that these feelings were a necessary part of the grief. Still I wondered if I would survive them. I did with the help of family, friends, support, therapy, and the one thing that helped most: my faith in God.

There were several things I realized through my grief. The first was the fact that God did not murder Aaron. I did become angry at God for allowing this to happen. But then I realized that it wasn't God who took my Aaron, it was two young men who did it. It is the evil in the world that kills the innocent, not God.

God does not stop bullets; God permits us through our free will to hurt each other. And God does bring good out of evil, or perhaps it is better to say that through God's grace we bring good out of evil. The words of Saint Paul came to me over and over again. "All things works together for the good, for those who love God."

It was hard to see how that would happen, but I knew it was true. God's ultimate will, which prevails over all things, is different from our perspective of God's will.

Second, faith is not a get-out-of-jail-free-card---it does not guarantee that bad things won't happen. We mistakenly think that if we do everything "right," God will protect us and keep us and our loved ones from suffering. Suffering is part of human life.

If God would permit his only son to suffer, how can we imagine that we are above that? Our faith is there to strengthen and support us, to help us realize that there are many things we cannot control. Yet we can be sure of one thing: God is with us, carrying us when the road seems too long and weary.

Third, there are no answers to certain questions. Why was my son murdered? I don't know and will never know until I am no longer in this life. Why my son? I don't know, but is my son any more precious than anyone else's son? When I die, all my questions will be answered. St. Paul tells us in Corinthians 13: "Now I can know only imperfectly; then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known."

The fourth and most important thing to consider is this: When we say the Hail Mary, we say, "now and at the hour of our death." This means that our faith is with us always---not simply in life but at the hour of our death. We are not abandoned in death. I believe that it is in death that God is most fully with us, and we know that because we are a people of faith, we will have eternal life. We know that death is the doorway through which we pass to be with God, the source of all life.

Many people ask: Where was God when our loved ones were murdered? Jesus, our Lord, was right there when Aaron was killed. To believe anything else would be to limit our God.

These realizations of my faith were the important anchors in the extraordinary grief I suffered after Aaron's death. God was with me during this long journey of grief that still continues today. He guided me across the dark ocean of despair.

Through God's guiding light, I learned three important principles that helped me and supported my faith.

The first is acceptance. I think of the magnificent Serenity Prayer. "God grant me the serenity to accept those things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." This has been my guiding prayer, yet it took years for me to accept Aaron's death. And, even sometimes today, I just want him to come through the door and say, "Hi, Mom, I'm back."

The second principle is forgiveness. This is a touchy subject. I recall that right after Aaron's death I received books from complete strangers on forgiveness. I was appalled. While I knew they meant well, I resented their insistence on immediate forgiveness before I had a chance to bury my son. Forgiveness takes some of us a long time---and I needed to work on my anger first before I could forgive.

The last principle is gratitude. How could I be grateful when someone murdered my son? The answer is that no matter what has been taken, there is always something left to be grateful for, even if it is only the dear memories I have of him.

Practicing these principles is not easy; but, slow steady perseverance has helped me move out of the deep ocean of grief and toward some kind of new life.

And what about that "new life?" What does it look like ten years later? Is there such a thing as a good life after such violence? The answer for me is yes.

Today I have a life that includes joy, but that is not to say that I don't think of Aaron every day, I do. I see him in the little things: the light, the flowers, the setting sun. I see him every time I go to Mass, with his boyish grin, usually arriving late, but always there, giving me the sign of peace.

Jesus was right there
when Aaron was killed.
To believe anything else
would be to limit our God.

I have not moved on. Aaron is still with me, not in the flesh but in the spirit. He is as real to me today as he was on the day he was born. It is a hard thing; perhaps the hardest thing, to accept is that my own son, my child, is not alive in the flesh---but I can still have a relationship with him.

Then again that is our faith, is it not? Life does not end when the body is destroyed by violence---neither does love.

I think the words from the Song of Solomon:
Set me like a seal on your heart
like a seal on your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
a love no torrent can drown.

Our love is as strong as death. It never dies---it continues into life eternal, and my faith tells me that one day I will see Aaron again. That is a faith I can believe in. --- Kathleen O'Hara.

Tonight, my deepest darkest wound was opened up, by someone who had no intention of hurting me. All because this person did not take the proper precautions to protect me from the pain I once felt. However this person is not the one to blame. This person is an innocent bystander. They inadvertently reminded me of the most painful situation I ever had to live through. I spent more than ten years putting this tragedy behind me, and in one word, they rehashed years of torment.

This all could have been avoided had this person kept in mind the feelings I had expressed to them in the past. Had this person used their filter, instead of speaking off the cuff, they would have remembered this pain. Yet, this particular person had nothing to do with the anguish in the first place. The anguish was caused by who I thought was another great friend. Someone that at one point, I thought I could trust.

None of this ever would have happened had both parties kept in mind that there are some things that you just don't say to another person. I guess what I am getting at is: Be careful what you say to people. There is honestly nothing that hurts more than words or actions from a confidant.

Forsyth, Georgia – Reading Feeds the Brain, the Spirit & the Soul

Reference Information for the Book

• Name of Book:The Many Faces of Mary, a Love Story
• Author Name: Bob & Penny Lord
• Publisher: Journeys of Faith
• Year Released and/or ISBN Number: 0-926143-19-0

Type of Book

• Non-Fiction: Track Mother Mary's Apparitions from the 16th century. Read how every one of her Apparitions was for a specific purpose. Except for Medjugorie, 1981, there are nine apparitions which the Church recognizes as absolutely authentic under the rigorous rules of scrutiny of the Catholic Church Hierarchy.

About the Writing

• The facts and stories in this book have been carefully documented by Bob and Penny Lord with their multiples visits to all of sites listed in this book of love for our Virgin Mother, Mary. For believers and non-believers alike the descriptions and testimony of the children that ultimately were the witnesses of these amazing appearances written about in this group of stories about Mary will penetrate the hearts of all who choose to explore the pages of this wonderful paperback.
  Miraculous Events : - Mary, my first love Guadalupe, 1531; - Mary saves America from annihilation. Paris, 1830; - Mary gives us the Miraculous Medal. La Salette, 1846; - Our Lady never ceased weeping. Lourdes, 1858; - Affirms dogma of Immaculate Conception. Pontmain, 1871; - Mary appears and ends war in Europe. Knock, 1879; - Her message more crucial now than ever. Fatima, 1917; - Mary prophesies World Wars. Beauraing, 1932; - Mary prepares us for WWII. Banneux, 1933; - She said "Whole nations will be annihilated."

About the Authors

• The prolog of this book was written by: Father Robert J. Fox, Youth Apostolate of Fatima and he quotes Pope John Paul II and Pope John VI, about the importance of Mary, the Mother of God, and her role in the church today. Bob and Penny Lord have devoted their life to serving our Lord as lay people who are recognized as devoted presenters of the lives of the saints in print and on E.W.T.N., the Eternal World Television Network, and they have been doing so through books, videos, CD's, DVD's and pilgrimages to many of the Holy Shrines of the world for several decades.

Some Quotes about the Book

• : "You need a box of tissues when you read it." "I couldn't put it down. I finished it in a day, then began again." "As a convert, I never knew Mary. I've met her in a special way. I'll never let her go." "You make Mother Mary touchable, someone I can turn to." Track Mother Mary's Approved Apparitions from the 16th through the 20th century. Read how every one of her Apparitions was for a specific purpose.

  Reader comments: Dear Bob and Penny:
  I just purchased the book, "The Many Faces of Mary, a love story." I can't begin to tell you how much I love this book. I checked it out at the library and I had to order my own copy. I want to read it over and over again. I want to keep it for my family and friends to read.
  I found out about the book on our awesome Catholic station, EWTN. I'm hooked on this television network.
  I consider you and all the wonderful people on EWTN my teachers. Since the Passion of the Christ movie I am yearning to learn as much as I can.
  I will buy all your books. They are such good and easy readings. My relationship with our Blessed Mother is so much closer than ever before because of your book.
  May God Bless you always and keep up the good work.
  Thanks for being two of my teachers.
  C. B. Longmont, CO

Why I Enjoyed Reading the Book

• From cover to cover each miracle, each apparition, will capture your head and heart. If an adult was to tell about the siting of Mary the Church would not even pay it the least attention. But, the vast majority of these appearances of the Virgin Mary were witnessed and verified by children that could not have understood the meaning of the words that they repeated as being those of the Mother of God to the hard core examiners of the Church. For those of no faith, weak faith, or strong faith it is impossible to ignore the corroborated testimony of these hundreds of people who witnessed Mother's many apparitions, as well as the thousands of miraculous cures that have come about through pilgrimages to these Holy Sites over the centuries.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

• One of the ways our Lady has shown her love for us has been through her visits to our planet, in the form of Apparitions. Read how every one of her apparitions was for a specific purpose, not for an individual, but for a nation, and sometimes the world.
  The excitement builds as the drama unfolds. She saved America from annihilation at Guadalupe. Listen to the powerful warning of Fatima, to the little shepherds, and the way the world has reacted to it. Discover through those she prepared us so gently, and lovingly, for World War II by her apparitions in Beauraing and Banneux. Learn about those Jesus, through Mary, has changed the course of world history. Journey in Faith with us to Lourdes, shrine of hope, of faith, of love and of healing.
  There is no ugly in this book; it is all about love and kindness.

Mully Children's Family (MCF) is a duly registered Christian Charitable Organization approved through gazette notice as a voluntary society, under the terms of the Children's Act 2001 (Cap 586, Laws of Kenya). MCF's functional Mission and Vision is to reach out, rescue, rehabilitate, protect, and care for the less fortunate and vulnerable children in the community. Each Year MCF becomes a home and a hope to street children, orphans, abandoned, abused, HIV & AIDS affected and infected, desperate and neglected children regardless of their religion, sex, colour or tribe, who have nowhere to call home and no one to care for them.

Junior and High School students from all around the Peace Country united for a rally with the following message: MAKE POVERTY HISTORY. The students marched through the city with signs, chanting "Make poverty history". The end point culminated with a rally at the local venue, the Crystal Centre, where keynote speaker Charles Mulli (found of Mully's Children's Family Charitable Foundation) and children from his orphanage gave their stories.

The students had an amazing time, singing and dancing.

Forsyth, GA - Day 57 – Non-violence SERVICE

"Come Be My Light" – Mother Teresa

Service is that tangible effort which reaches out to help others. It is no surprise that the people who speak out most about service are people who think it is food which feeds the engine of our spirit and soul. We find religious leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa of Calcutta who each in their own way were paragons of service. But the truth of the matter is that service begins with the mindset that you will begin by helping others as few as two or three hours a week or less.

It is now more than a decade since Mother Teresa's passing and the Church has named her as Blessed. This is the first stage in a long arduous process of becoming recognized by the Church as a Saint. During Mother's lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, she became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands, and thousands of others who would have been otherwise left by the wayside to whither and die. This nun's simple dedication to our Lord Jesus Christ and service to others spread around the world like an infection out of control. I choose Mother Teresa to talk about service because she came from simple and humble beginnings in Skopje, Macedonia, born in 1910.

While Mother's example is a once in a lifetime story of a very special servant of our Lord, her example will live on for centuries to come. One of the most unique aspects of service is that the personal reward of ones effort turns out to be,many fold, greater than whatever effort is put forth. The past six months have been difficult for many people in our country economically and the change of attitude when one is helping another can be just the anti-dote for reaching out... instead of digging inside of one self because of unfortunate circumstances.

The Way of Service Imitation – A Muse

Half of our Lord's teaching on earth was about treating your neighbor as yourself. It is after one makes their resolutions that the service battle begins. Not only will the devil temp me more, but I shall have to take misunderstandings, and even bad will, from neighbors who resent my change for the better. My worst enemy will be my own human nature. My imagination, my habits, my likes and dislikes, these will all play into my mind to abandon my beginnings. On such occasions I ought to get busy with some activity which will help me overcome, or least disregard my lower nature's rebelliousness. God will send me light and strength in due time if only I will persevere in my resolutions in the darkness of fears doubts and dislikes. Success will come to those who put others ahead of yourself and there will be no words to describe the rewards that will come to those who make service a part of their daily life.

"If I ever become a Saint---I will surely be one of 'darkness.' I will continually be absent from Heaven---to light the light of those in darkness on earth." --- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Forsyth, GA – A Prayer for Someone in Need Today

Pray for Someone Else Today

Two days ago a new friend of mine sent me an e-mail saying, "she was weeping about a situation and she thought of me." I went and read about this person. He is a disabled VET. I meditated about him a lot yesterday. Today in my prayers I am moved to ask anyone who is separated from our Lord for whatever reason to think and pray for someone else. This person can be read at this address.The following thoughts are dedicated to this "Veteran" in hope that he can find an inner peace within himself. He is tormented by his circumstances and tries to communicate it daily here on Newsvine's pages.

"The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me."

(Jn 5:31-47)

John's Gospel emphasizes who Jesus is – the Son of God – and this passage has many examples.
It can be difficult at times to balance the truth of Jesus' humanity and his divinity.
On the other hand he is like us in all things---except sin.
Another way, He is God---made flesh.
How is this possible? Truly human, truly God? The truth is we don't know. What we do know is that all four Gospels…and the other 23 books of the New Testament…and Christians across twenty centuries…testify and affirm this truth. It is simply a matter of faith.
It is not a truth we can simply take for granted…it deserves our attention…and our deepest thoughts.
Imagine, God became one of us, Jesus, who thousands met in the flesh. One of us who is our God.
Think about the implications for the human race.
For me and you.

Can you spend some quiet time with our Lord today and also do something for someone else?

Forsyth, Georgia – A Spiritual Plea to All

Over the past several days I have been encountering the evil that traps us all when we stop doing what our Lord commands us to do: "Hear O Israel! The Lord your God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. 2nd- it is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No, other commandment is greater than these." (Mk 12:29-31) In Hosea 14:2-10 we read this prophet urging God's people to look at his life and "never again will we call the idols we have made of our Lands, 'Our Gods'."

I want to list just a few of these evils that not only the US is facing but these evils that I am going to enumerate are symptomatic of our whole world and the absence of our Lord in it.

• The culture of death and destruction

The triple threat of greed, lust and pride are threatening our very survival by denying God's call to heed both the prophet Hosea in 715 B.C. and our Lord, Jesus Christ while he was on earth in Mark 12. We are making love of money, things, sexual pleasure, and pornography and many other evil deeds our Gods. Like Israel over two-thousand seven hundred years ago we are courting disaster by turning away from God.

• The clamor for destroying God's Church by calling for the Impeachment of the Pope by someone who calls himself a Catholic, a professor

Here we read from a PhD at a Mississippi University a call to impeach the Vicar of Christ. This well meaning professor chooses to demean Christ's shepherd on earth by telling all those who will listen that fornication, unification of churches, and not making women priests are causes to impeach a holy man who has devoted his life to our Lord, Jesus Christ and continues to put his life on the line everyday fighting for Christ.

• And, the growing secularism which trumpets our desire for pleasure and luxury without limits

Woven into this secularism is a thundering drum beat pushing for the removal of God from our daily lives. It begins in the courts, then in our public places, and in our schools until the secularists hope to have won the day and take our creator away from our physical consciousness. The sad part about this is the fact that so much money and time is spent by our courts and our legislators, which we the tax payers pay for, that could be otherwise spent on more productive issues. We need to spend time---not like the latest bills in Congress, several trillion dollars strong, unread by our elected and signed---improving: a long awaited health care reform, social security reform, corrupt banking and lending reform, irresponsible real estate lending, and solving the immigration inequities before we tie up the finest and brightest minds is our country finding new ways to remove God from our land and Constitution.

My plea to the people of our country is that whether you have a God or not, there is no reason to fear treating your neighbor as yourself, nor is there any reason to not honor the cultural norms absent any God which say: killing, stealing, lying, and harming others in any way is abominable behavior. Only the forces of evil are what prevent you and me from doing what is right and just. Now is the time for us to stand up and be counted as citizens, God's children, and the protectors of the children and grandchildren which are here now, and lastly all of those who will be born in the future. That task should be our aim and our destiny.

I am going to post several TAGS below which influenced me to write this plea for righteousness and for paying attention to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as well as fight for Him.

• Newsvine's own Emersontwain's article on patriotism
• My comment to her about her article
• The ranting professor's article about the Pope
• Progress on God's Work, 40 Day's for Life

I believe that we can disagree and still keep our politeness, even if we lose our "cool". But people have a tendency to insult those who have a different opinion than theirs. Why though?

Forsyth, Georgia – Day 43, Non-violence Challenge, UNIQUENESS

"As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others."

Robert H. Schuller quotes (American Reformed Church Minister, Entrepreneur and Author, b. b.1926)

Uniqueness is a quality that Science has reinforced over and over in several proven ways as early as the "fingerprint." And, in the last decade D.N.A. which proves, almost without a shadow of doubt, that each and every one of us is completely unique. Our eyes are also completely unique. Since each one is admittedly unique it presents us the opportunity to recognize every person as special and it leaves us the task of exploring the special qualities of every human.

Non-violent relationships are able to be built upon the uniqueness of each other. By being able to be open, knowledgeable and adaptable when interacting with others the differences come less into focus. If one focuses on the qualities that we agree upon ---the harmony of agreement becomes the overriding ingredient in the relationship.

If people are aggressive, compulsive, and obsessive in their approach to life and profession they are usually the ones that you find at the top of almost any successful business. Often times when too many of the latter type of people are forced to compete in the work place, they cause conflict. This is especially true in senior management of the large corporations. Corporate cultures which are heavily laden with the "aggressive, compulsive's" are not good at conflict resolution, but since senior hiring authorities identify more with aggressive, compulsive behavior as necessary ingredients for success and achievement, they usually get the position over an open, knowledgeable, adaptable individual.

When one compares these two unique set of traits in everyday relationships the best outcome for non-violent confrontation is for each one to make a conscious effort to make a regular practice of praising people for their obvious good qualities. This type of approach will foster a more positive thought process toward others. If one practices this action regularly you will quickly notice how people will look at you and treat you differently than in the past. If you try it, it can't hurt.

" It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities."

- Eric Hoffer

Well, I have been on the Vine for a couple of months now. I've made some nice vine friends and I am pretty sure some out there dislike me or the way I think. But just so you know, I don't care =]

While I have attention here,I want to move to remove fear.For without fear, it can be clearWe can start to persevere. In the dawn of our new day,We move the clouds, remove the gray.Then of course they'll come to day,We all want to live this way. As time goes, and we move on,We c …