St Michael's News Connection - Week of January 26th

Fishers of Men

In the Gospel this week Jesus asks us to walk with him and become fishers of men.

“Some people might think: “I have no particular preparation, how can I go and proclaim the Gospel?”  My dear friend, your fear is not so very different from that of Jeremiah, as we have just heard in the reading when he was called by God to be a prophet.  “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
God says the same thing to you as he said to Jeremiah: “Be not afraid…for I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1:6,8).  He is with us!                                                  
Reflection: What do you fear when you think about proclaiming the Gospel?  Ask God to be with you and find someone to help equip you for the task.”

                                    Pope Francis homily, World Youth Day, Closing Mass, July 28, 2013

                                   Through The Year With Pope Francis, Daily Reflections

-Cheryl Kreifeldt

St Michael's News Connection - Week of January 19th

An Active Response to God’s Invitation

Invitations are ordinarily thought as a way of asking courteously. In the context of social invitations, an RSVP is a request for a response from the invited. (The letters come from a French phrase meaning "please respond.”) Upon receiving such an invitation, we are expected to reply as a courtesy. In our busy world we are often remiss in responding, presuming that if we don’t respond, the host will just naturally assume that we are declining the invitation.  We often fail to think that the host might worry that we didn’t receive the invitation.

I spent some time reflecting the other day on how well (or how poorly) I respond to invitations from God.  This enticed me to look at the Latin root of the word invitation. Doing so gave me a more dynamic view of the word, particularly with respect to my relationship with God.

The original definition of the Latin root can mean any of the following: to go directly toward, to go after, to chase, or to hunt. With these phrases in mind, I began to envision Gad coming directly toward me, God going after me, God chasing me God hunting me - with His boundless love.

I ordinarily don’t think of God chasing me or hunting me.  Yet when I imagined Him doing so, I projected on God the type of human response I would have if I cared about having someone so much at an event that I chased after him/her, but could not get any response.

Daily, God invites us to His love and mercy. How will we respond?

 Actively? Through

Renewal, Reconciliation…
                        Service, Simplicity…

                                                Values, Virtues…

                                                            Prayer, Proclamation…?

Or do we dare risk not responding, thereby passively declining God’s invitation?

Jim Gase

Office of Social Ministries and Development

Finding God in Our Lives - My Encounter at the Women's Retreat

God gives us the full capacity to see and experience His goodness in our lives every day.  Faith can be shaken but not taken. We need to have courage to live the life God has willed for us. 

In life we encounter the ups and downs of everyday life situations? 

When we encounter the loss, the fear, the uncertainty and the despair we need to ask ourselves 2 questions:

1. What is the worst that can happen?
2. What is the best that can happen? 

Don't act quickly, take time, find the courage. We need to look outside of our own suffering and find strength in others. Take action to shape the future and have trust in God. Focus on what we can control. Trust on our own goodness it comes from God. Love unconditionally and continue to be a role model. God's command is to Love!

We need to ask Jesus "what do you want of me" and then be brave. You have the gift of yourself! The gift to love one another as yourself. The gift of learning to love unconditionally is our peace. (Pope Francis wants us to become Missionary Disciples).

If you have done all that you can do, God will do the rest. Remember God is in charge.  

How has God prepared us? Every person we meet, every experience is our preparation for what is ahead. Look into the interior of our souls and find Jesus. Our souls will find rest in the peace and tranquility of Our Lord Jesus. How can we be like the Good Samaritan? 

Live the Faith 

Smile 

Be Real 

Defy Expectations 

Know the Faith 

Share your Faith 

Have a Backbone

Love

Pray

St Michael's News Connection - Week of January 12th

St. Michael's News Connection - Week of January 5th

The Epiphany of the Lord

On January 5^th we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord.  What does it all mean?

Epiphany originally celebrated four different events, in the following order of importance: the Baptism of the Lord; Christ's first miracle, the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana; the Nativity of Christ; and the visitation of the Wise Men or Magi. Each of these is a revelation of God to man: At Christ's Baptism, the Holy Spirit descends and the voice of God the Father is heard, declaring that Jesus is His Son; at the wedding in Cana, the miracle reveals Christ's divinity; at the Nativity, the angels bear witness to Christ, and the shepherds, representing the people of Israel, bow down before Him; and at the visitation of the Magi, Christ's divinity is revealed to the Gentiles—the other nations of the earth.

-Kelli Salceda