"Be perfect as God is perfect"

You gotta be kidding..."be perfect"?  I like the translation: "be holy as God is holy."  Somehow, I think I can handle the being holy better than the being perfect.  Right for you too?

That is the Gospel for this Sunday...I'd like to hear the variety of homilies today!  I pray that they use being holy as the challenge vs being perfect.

"Turning the other cheek, going an extra mile, and loving our enemies"...quite the challenge.  Jesus does not mince words!   He wants us to "treat everyone, even our enemies and those who have hurt us, as God treats them: with compassion, mercy, and patience.  God treats them with compassion, mercy, and patience.  God wants us to pray for them and to wish them well."

Love like this "releases grace to the other person; it also releases God's grace upon us.  Recent psychological studies back this up, in fact.  They show that holding unforgiveness can lead to depression.  It can fill us with resentment, make us cynical, and even affect our physical health.  But people who practice forgiveness tend to be healthier and more at peace.  So the more we try to follow Jesus' teaching, the more we benefit as well."

I really liked this reflection from "The Word Among Us"....now to move from my liking to my doing!  All with the Lord's assistance.

Let's try it....imagine how we could change the world...just by changing ourselves!

Hope your week brings you PEACE.

Happy Valentine's Day......

I hope your Valentine's day was truly happy with lots of love shared!

I just came home from my "love sharing". 

I sponsored an afternoon of prayer and reflection for couples: RENEWING OUR LOVE.  I did not want presentations...just time for quiet reflection and prayer on a few questions I had prepared, looking at their past, their present and their future.  Each person spent quiet reflection time alone.  They then got together and shared the results of their reflection and responses to the questions.

During their last quiet time, they created their own vow formula by which they would renew their commitment to one another at our closing prayer.

Following our closing prayer, we shared valentine cookies and other goodies.

According to their feedback...it was a good experience.  We'll see what we think up for next valentine's day.

And right now....I am exhausted...but ...Praise the Lord for a good experience..........   

Feeling badly....

Yes, I am feeling badly, feeling guilty for my not keeping in touch via my blog.  My reasons, my excuses, are about the difficulties I have encountered with my eye surgery plus the insufficient hours in a day to accomplish all that piles up on your plate.  I do not wish either of these on you.

Here in Milwaukee we continue the cycle: snow, cold, snow, cold...but we have had no more un-
expected free days....darn!

Our staff and parish council had a day of reflection yesterday.  Wonderful experience!   I was pleased with the openness and willingness to "do whatever he says"!  Our day was centered around Matthew Kelly's message.

Have you heard of Matthew Kelly?  He is, at present, the "prophet".  I went to one of his presenta-tions and he IS, I believe, what the church, we, need right now.  Go to DynamicCatholic.com and you will be impressed with his message.  One draw to his site is the "freebies" and good ones, too.

Our parish has chosen to do the Kelly approach, so Christmas we gave out 1500 copies of his book: The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic" and during Lent we will read and discuss it via small groups.  He really has some great ideas to renew our Church....a result of some research he/his company did.

Help us pray that our parish will truly renew....meaning member by member.

I hope you like what you find at Dynamic Catholic.com....and it changes your life!

peace and all good....pace e bene....was St Francis of Assisi's greeting.