Choose to live
a better life
a better life
Choose not to live
a bitter life
a bitter life
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
An Act of Confidence in God by St. Claude de la Colombiere
My God, I’m so persuaded that You watch over all who hope in You and nothing can be lacking to those who await from You all things, that I have determined to live from now on without any concern, letting go and giving You all of my anxieties.
I will sleep and rest in peace because You, O Lord, and only You, have secured my hope.
Men can deprive me of possessions and reputation; illnesses can take away my strength and means to serve You; I myself can lose Your grace because of sin; but I will not lose my hope; I will conserve it until the last instant of my life and all the efforts from demons trying to take it away from me will be useless.
I will sleep and rest in peace.
May others expect happiness in their richness and talents; some may lean on the innocence of their lives, or the rigor of their penitence, or above all on the amount of their good works, or the fervor of their prayers.
As for myself Lord, all my confidence is my confidence itself.
Because You Lord, only You have secured my hope.
No one has been deceived by this confidence.
No one who has waited in the Lord has been frustrated in their confidence.
Therefore, I am sure that I will be eternally happy because I firmly hope to be; and because You, Oh, My God, are in Whom I expect all.
In You I hope Lord, and never will I be confused.
I know very well … too well that I am fragile and inconstant, I know well the power of temptations against the most firm virtue; I have seen the stars fall from heaven and columns from the firmament; but none of this can frighten me.
As long as I maintain firm my hope, I will be conserved from all calamities; and I am sure to hope always, because I hope the same in this unchanging hope.
In conclusion, I am sure that I cannot hope in excess in You and that I will receive all that I would have hoped for in You.
Therefore, I know You will sustain me on the most rapid and slippery slopes, that You will strengthen me against the assaults and make my weakness triumph over the most tremendous enemies.
I hope You will always love me and I will love you without interruption; to take once and for all my hope as far as it can reach.
I hope in You and only in You! Oh, My Creator! In time and for all eternity.
Amen.
Introduction To Theology of the Body Seminar in San Antonio, Texas
In this presentation, you will learn:
- What it means to be created male and female in God’s image.
- How to find and live out authentic happiness
- How God’s mystery is revealed through the body and spousal love
Presented by: Jake and Ramie Samour, and Steve Pokorny
Saturday, March 17, 2012
St. Vincent De Paul
4222 SW Loop 410
San Antonio, TX 78227
Register Online
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Pastoral Center
2718 W. Woodlawn Ave.
San Antonio, TX 78228
Register Online
Saturday, November 10, 2012
St. Anthony de Padua
102 Lorenz Road
San Antonio, TX 78209
Register Online
The Justice Mini-Series in San Antonio, Texas
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Awakening the Dreamer
From 7.00 to 9.00 p.m.
At the Mexican American Catholic College
3115 West Ashby Place, San Antonio, TX 78228
Thursday, March 29, 2012 A Journey to Social Justice
From 7.00 to 9.00 p.m.
At Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Hall
1321 El Paso St., San Antonio, TX 78207
Friday, March 30, 2012 Lenten Walk for Justice
From 5.30 to 7.00 p.m.
Haven for Hope
1 Haven for Hope Way, San Antonio, TX 78207
+Click here for more information.
March 23 -24, 2012: Human Dignity at the End of Life in San Antonio, Texas
Access: Human Dignity at the End of Life
Presented by HLI America, Assumption Seminary,
& CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health SystemFeaturing: Archbishop García-Siller, STD
Janet Smith, PhD
Janet Smith, PhD
Grattan Brown, STD
Joseph Capizzi, PhD
John Travaline, MD
Thursday, February 16, 2012
IMMEDIATE ACTION from Father Frank Pavone, National Director Priests for Life
Join the National Prayer Campaign for the reversal of the HHS Mandate – February 16-24. See www.prayercampaign.org
Read and share the “talking points” so you can become well versed on this issue and spread the word to others. Find them on www.priestsforlife.org/hhsmandate/index.aspx.
The Nationwide rallies for Religious Freedom, which Priests for Life is helping to organize and which will take place across the country on March 23 (seewww.standupforreligiousfreedom.com).
Read and share the “talking points” so you can become well versed on this issue and spread the word to others. Find them on www.priestsforlife.org/hhsmandate/index.aspx.
The Nationwide rallies for Religious Freedom, which Priests for Life is helping to organize and which will take place across the country on March 23 (seewww.standupforreligiousfreedom.com).
Members of the Coalition to Stop the HHS Mandate
- Pro-Life Action League—Chicago, Illinois
- Citizens for a Pro-Life Sociey—Detroit, Michigan
- Priests for Life—New York, New York
- Human Life Alliance—Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Pro-Life Action Ministries—St. Paul, Minnesota
- CEC for Life—Birmingham, Alabama
- Life Coalition International—Orlando, Florida
- Pray for Germantown—Germantown, Maryland
- Defend Life—Baltimore, Maryland
- Pro-Life Texas—Dallas, Texas
- Operation Rescue—Wichita, Kansas
- Stand True—Dayton, Ohio
- Pro-Life Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Created Equal—Columbus, Ohio
- Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust—Los Angeles, California
- Christian Defense Coalition—Washington DC
- Students for Life of America—Washington DC
- West Coast Walk for Life—SanFrancisco
- National Black Pro-Life Coalition
- Concerned Women for America
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Bible In 50 Words
This mini-movie is a unique look at the greatest story ever told. In 50 words, this poem reminds us that at the most basic level, God has been there from beginning to end. Poem by Dana Livesay.
Afterwords: May we see Jesus . . . .
May we see Jesus:
in the poorest of the poor
and the richest of the rich;
and the richest of the rich;
in the lowest ranking
and in the highest ranking;
and in the highest ranking;
in the lowly and miserable
and in the high and mighty;
and in the high and mighty;
in the must pitiable
and in the most prideful;
and in the most prideful;
in the powerless
and in the powerful;
and in the powerful;
in the lowest of the failures
and in the highest of the successful;
and in the highest of the successful;
in the dregs of society
and in the darlings of the social class;
and in the darlings of the social class;
in the most out of control
and in those with the most control;
and in those with the most control;
in the humble
and in the haughty;
and in the haughty;
in those in prisons
and in those in palaces
and in those in palaces
February 16-24, 2012: Prayer for Reversal of HHS Mandate
Lord God,
You are the Author of Life and Freedom.
In your Spirit, we have the freedom of the children of God,
And in your Name, we promote the freedom of all
To seek, embrace, and live the truth of your Word.
In that freedom, Lord, we your people stand with Life
And reject whatever destroys life
Or distorts the meaning of human sexuality.
In that freedom, Lord, we your people live our lives
In a way that advances your Kingdom of Life,
And we refuse to cooperate in what is evil.
At this moment, therefore,
when our government has decided
To force us to cooperate in evil,
We pray for the grace to be faithful to you
And to oppose the unjust laws and mandates
That have been imposed upon us and our institutions.
To force us to cooperate in evil,
We pray for the grace to be faithful to you
And to oppose the unjust laws and mandates
That have been imposed upon us and our institutions.
We pray for the conversion of those in civil authority
Who fail to appreciate the demands of conscience.
We pray for the complete reversal of all policies
That permit the destruction of life
Or coerce the cooperation of your people
In practices that are wrong.
Bring us to a Culture of Life.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Access:
Prayer for Reversal of HHS Mandate
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Knights of Columbus sponsoring Our Lady of Guadalupe Prayer Program
The pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe
was at the Knights of Columbus Hall
in Del Rio, Texas
During the Bible Study class
on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
everyone received
Afterwords: Twenty (20) Things to Learn about LOVE
1) Love is not just sweet and sentimental; True love is suffering and sacrifice.
2) Learn to speak the language of love and you will be understood throughout the world.
3) Thoughtful little gestures and expressions of love often bring the biggest smiles.
4) Love is not just saying it; true love is truly sacrificing it.
5) The Lord loves the least, the last and the lost.
6) May we learn to love ourselves in a healthy way and embrace who we are at this moment in time.
7) Speak boldly and bluntly with “tough love” and speak brilliantly and beautifully with “touch love”.
8) The Lord's Love liberates
9) Make contact with God and be receptive to His nourishing love, encouragement and hope.
10) Christ is not simply a thought or an idea; Christ is a real person who loves us and wants to be our best friend.
11) Life is lived and loves are loved.
12) Let the Lord be the Light and the Love of our Life.
13) Pray always with the love and power of the Holy Spirit.
14) May we request from Our Redeemer that He reveal to us His Life and His Love.
15) Tension is a time of trial, trouble or transition when a circumstance or situation doesn’t fit our concept of goodness, truth, beauty or love.
16) Love turns a lion into a lamb.
17) God is not out to control us, rather God is out to convert us with His Love
18) God’s Love brings out the lamb in every lion and God’s Love brings out the lion in every lamb
19) Love God more - Learn more about God - Live more for God
20) Learn to love God in order to learn to love ourselves and to learn to love others.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
February 14, 2012: Knights of Columbus Bible Study Lesson Two - From Sabbath to Flood
Lesson Two: From Sabbath to Flood – 14 Feb 2012
Prayer: Psalm 136
Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26-2:3; Gen. 9:8-17
Lesson Objective: To learn in general detail the six major covenants in the Bible
Lesson Outline: How to read Genesis
1. We have to read Genesis on its own terms – which are religious, not scientific or historical in the modern, secular, rationalistic sense of the terms. Genesis wasn’t written to be God’s assigned textbook for science class or anthropology.
Scripture gives us religious history, religious truth, and it conveys that truth and history to us through symbols and figures and different literary styles.
2. Love story of God and Humanity – The point of the first three chapters of Genesis is to show us that creation was a deliberate, purposeful act of love by God. The world didn’t just happen. God wanted the world – not because God was lonely, not because there was anything God lacked or needed. God created the world because God is love (1 Jn. 4:16). And love is creative, self-giving and life-giving. God made the world as a pure gift of God’s love. The world is made to be a temple where God will dwell with the descendants of the man and women, the crown jewel, of God’s creation.
3. The world is made to be the site where God will live in communion with the people God created. That’s what the seventh day, the Sabbath, means (Gen. 2:1-3).
4. The Seventh day marks the completion of God’s work on His dwelling, and this is the day He makes a convent with the people he created. As we said in our last lesson, covenant is the way that God makes His people a family. On the Seventh day, God made Adam and Eve part of His family
Outline for this lesson:
1. Creating a Covenant of Love
a. The Love story of God and Humanity
b. The Wedding in the Garden
c. The Child-Like Image of Man and Woman
2. A New Creation, A New Covenant
a. Falling towards the Flood
b. Beginning with the Rain
c. The story of two names
February 7, 2012: Knights of Columbus Bible Study Notes Summary of Lesson One
Knights of Columbus Bible Study
“Come and See…” (Jn. 1: 46)
Study Notes – summary of Lesson One (7 Feb 12)
A. Last week’s summary – What is a covenant?
1. Covenant comes from the Latin “Convenire” (to come together” or “to agree”)
2. What is the difference between covenants and contracts?
Contracts involve promises
-The “word” you each pledge to the other is you name. And you each sign your name on the contract as a “sign” that you’ll uphold your end of the bargain or keep your promise
Covenants involve oaths
-Covenants elevate and upgrade your promise. Not only do you give your word, you also swear an oath, invoke a higher authority – you call God in as your witness.
Think of the oath we’re most familiar with, the oath you swear before taking the witness stand in a courtroom: “I promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”
Contractsexchange property
-contracts involve you promising to pay a certain sum of money and the person you’re contracting with to deliver you a certain product or service.
Covenantsexchange persons
-When people enter into a covenant, they say “I am yours and you are mine.” In a contract, you exchange something you have –a skill, a piece of property, money. In a covenant you exchange your very being, you give your very self to another person.
B. The Meaning of Covenant in the Bible
-The first question we must ask is: What is God doing in making the covenants we find in the Bible? God is forging sacred kinship bonds. God is saying to his people, “I will be their God and they shall be my people…I will be a Father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me” (see 2 Corinthians 6:16).
-The story line and the drama of the Bible all plays out against this backdrop of divine family-making.
-The Bible begins with God’s covenant with Adam and Eve. By the final pages of the Bible, we see that the New Covenant God made in Jesus has embraced the entire world.
-Remember all those details of the Bible that seemed so hard to figure out- the laws and commandments, the ritual rules; the oaths that God swears to His people and his people swear to him; the historical episodes of sin and betrayal and repentance and forgiveness: the punishments and deliverance; the psalms and wisdom teachings, the prophecies of a new and final covenant redemption?
-They all make sense when you understand them as part of God’s divine plan to make all men and women into His sons and daughters through the covenants, which is all summed up in the New Covenant, where God send us “a Spirit of adoption, through which we can cry, Abba, Father!” (See Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5).
C. The Character of the Bible Covenants
-Special characteristics of each of these covenants. As we move through our exploration of the Biblical covenants try to learn and remember the five special features:
1. The covenant mediator (the person God makes the covenant with) and his covenant role (whom the mediator represents);
2. The blessings promise in the covenant;
3. The conditions (or curses) of the covenant;
4. The “sign”by which the covenant will be celebrated and remembered.
5. The “form”that God’s family has as a result of the covenant.
-When you enter into a contract, say, to buy a house, you make a promise to the seller, along the lines of “I give you my word that I will pay you this amount of money for your house.” The seller, in turn, makes a promise: “I give you my word that if you pay me the sum we have agreed upon, I will turn over to you the deed of my house.”
Afterwords: God's Time - Talent - Treasure
Timing is everything – God’s Timing
Talent is everything – God’s Talent
Treasure is everything – God’s Treasure
I Go To The Rock - Whitney Houston
Lyrics:
Where do I go?
When there's nobody else to turn to
Who do I talk to?
When nobody wants to listen
Who do I lean on? Oh
When there is no foundation stable
I go to the rock
I know he is able, I go to the rock
[Chorus:]
I go to the rock of my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain
And the mountain he stands by me
When the Earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ the solid rock I stand
When I need a shelter I go to the rock
Where do I go, where do I go
When the storms of life are threatening
Who do I turn to when those winds of sorrow blow
And is there a refuge in the time of tribulation
Go to the rock, I know he is able
I go to the rock[Repeat Chorus (2X)]
I go the rock when I need a friend
I can go to the rock
I go to the rock when I need a shelter
You can go to the rock
You can go to the rock
You can go to the rock
I can go
I go to the rock
I can go to the rockI can go to the rock
I can go, I can go to the rock
I can go when I need some shelter
When I need a friend
I can goAnd when the Earth around me is sinking sand
On Christ the solid rock I stand I can stand
When I need a friend
I go to the rock
I can go to the rock
Hey hey hey oh yeah
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