I know my sheep, and mine know me....

“……the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:3



We had packed the motor home early that day; we were looking forward to the trip. Lake Tahoe was our destination, where our children would be participating in a soccer tournament.

My husband wanted to leave at midnight. His plan was to beat the heat of the Mojave Desert and arrive at our campsite early, making the most of the time allotted to us.

As he drove through the night we slept soundly until the motor home came to a complete stop and a small voice from a child in the back yelled, “Are we there yet ?” Dawn was breaking and the fog on the road was so thick that the taillights on the car in front of us were barely visible. “No”, my husband said, “We aren’t there yet, but we aren’t moving either”.

Just then, we started to hear the sound of bells jingling softly in the distant. Our curiosity was peaking as the sound grew closer and the fog began to lift.

To our sheer delight, we saw what looked like hundreds of sheep coming toward us. They were being lead by a single shepherd to a pasture across the highway. It was amazing how this one man could guide all these sheep so effortlessly  across the road, but he did.

Today we celebrate the Good Shepherd. May we take the time to pray for the shepherds in our church, as well as for an increase in vocations.

O Jesus,

I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;

for your unfaithful and tepid priests;

for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields.

for your tempted priests;

for your lonely and desolate priests;

For your young priests;

for your dying priests;

for the souls of your priests in Purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:

the priest who baptized me;

the priests who absolved me from my sins;

the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;

the priests who taught and instructed me;

all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way

(especially …).

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,

and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

Amen    St. Therese of Lisieux

Remebering Fatima

May 13, 1917

"I have come to exhort the faithful to change their lives, to avoid grieving Our Lord by sin; to pray the Rosary.”  Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima asked the children if the would pray and make sacrifice for sinners, to which they said "Yes". This was the beginning of a new life for them, for their sole purpose in life was to pray and make sacrifices for sinners. As young as they were, they would even give their lunches to the sheep as a sacrifice and other acts of mortification.

Application~ What sacrifice am I willing to make for Our Lord? How long has it been since I have offered a family rosary for the souls of others?

Prayer:   

Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.  Amen.

Citation: Our Lady of Fatima, Cultural Catholic

Say "Yes" to The Father With The Heart....

God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. (John 3)


Thick clouds gathered round the moon that night and an eerie stillness filled the air. As he knelt to pray, tightness grew within his chest, his breathing became labored and his heart began to race. He knew what lied ahead of him and his anxiety was growing stronger. His perspiration turned to blood and slowly ran down his cheeks as he accepted his chalice of suffering. Freely he said, “Father, let it be done to me according to Your Word”. With an infinite love, he suffered that we might be saved.

Like a criminal he was bound and brought before the court. Innocent though he was, he was condemned, tied to a post and scourged mercilessly. All of this he offered up to free us from the wickedness of sin.


And just as evil always seems to feed in an angry crowd, their contempt for him increased as they crowned him with thorns, slapped, spat upon him and mocked him. He suffered for our redemption.

Force to carry the weight of the heavy cross; he walked the long road of Calvary. Weak as he was, he fell three times. Knees shaking almost uncontrollably, he struggled to push himself up and continued on to what lied ahead. He knew what was at stake a little further down the road. His ‘yes’ for our salvation sustained him.

He accepted the crucifixion and death of the cross for us as he surrendered his spirit to the Father. All this he did that we would turn from our sin, from all that we are bound to here on this earth and that we too, may be resurrected to a new life.



“Dear children; God the Father is sending me to show you the way of salvation, because He, my children, desires to save you and not to condemn you. That is why I, as a mother, am gathering you around me, because with my motherly love I desire to help you to be free of the dirtiness of the past and to begin to live anew and differently. I am calling you to resurrect in my Son. Along with confession of sins renounce everything that has distanced you from my Son and that has made your life empty and unsuccessful. Say 'yes' to the Father with the heart and set out on the way of salvation to which He is calling you through the Holy Spirit. Thank you. I am especially praying for the shepherds (priests), for God to help them to be alongside you with a fullness of heart." BVM, Medjugorje, May 02, 2011 Message to Mirjana