Your Pastoral Coach

Prayer for the New Year

Happy New Year to all my friends and readers of Your Pastoral Coach!
Thanks for your friendship and counsel!

Prayer for the New Year

Heavenly Father,
you assist all things,
and you search for the best guide
for human hearts.
Make us responsive
in this time of grieve and disintegration.
May this new year be for all of us
a year of edification and sanctification,
of interior life and reparation,
a year of great return
and of great pardon.

May your grace enkindle in all people
a love for the many unfortunate ones
whom poverty and misery reduce
to a condition of life
that is unworthy of human beings.
Arouse in the hearts
of those who call you Father
a hunger and thirst for social justice
and for fraternal charity
in deed and in truth.

O Lord,
grant peace in our days:
peace to our souls,
peace to our families,
peace to our country,
and peace among nations.

Pope Pius XII

Technorati Tags: Catholic, Prayer, New Year

Gospel Reflection for Sunday, January 1, 2006

This is my Scripture reflection for the readings of Sunday, January 1, 2005, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother Of God. For many people New Year's day is a time to reflect on the year that is almost past and to formulate plans, filled with hope, for the new year. Plans that incorporate what we learned and what we gleamed from reflecting what went on in our lives. Throughout the year, pretty much on a daily basis, we experience God and signs of God's will for us. They may not be as dramatic as what Mary experienced, but the hand of God can be seen in our lives. If we are watching...

Are There Spiritual Benefits in Suffering?

There is something about Catholicism and suffering that I have not found in other Christian denominations. It has something to do with thinking that when we accept the difficult and even painful things in life, such as sickness, when we accept them with humility and prayer, we can offer them in union with Christ for the salvation of our souls and of the world. We join in the passion and redeeming suffering of Christ for the expiation of sins. Many saints would even go out of their way to create this situation that would cause them mortification.

The Pope Challenges The World With Truth

Early indications are that "truth" is going to be a theme for Pope Benedict XVI. I'm looking forward to challenging encyclicals and homilies from such an intellectually gifted man. Yet, some truths challenge, not because of their complexity, but because of their simplicity and authority with which they are told and lived. "Pope: God sees embryos as ‘complete’ humans" was the headline of MSNBC and many papers and blogs. The shock! The nerve! How can the pope say this? By the way, the quotations marks around complete are not the pope's. I have been thinking about this since yesterday. Why is this news?

A Christian Garden

One of my hobbies is growing a vegetable garden. With this cold weather all I can do is dream about it. This caught my eye. It's from My Catholic Reflections.

For Green Thumbs
Received this as an email today and thought it worth sharing.

For the Garden of Your Daily Living

Plant three rows of peas:
1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash:
1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:
1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

No garden is without turnips:
1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

To finish our garden we must have thyme:
1. Time for each other
2. Time for family
3. Time for friends

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There is much in your garden because you reap what you sow.

Technorati Tags: Spirituality

God Does Not Ask A Great Deal of Us

"God does not ask a great deal of us: a brief remembrance from time to time, a brief act of adoration, occasionally to ask him for his grace or offer him your sufferings, at other times to thank him for the graces he has given you and is giving you. In the midst of your work find consolation in him as often as possible. During your meals and conversations, occasionally lift up your heart to Him; the least little remembrance of him will always be most agreeable."

Brother Lawerence, The Practice of the Presence of God

Sounds simple, right? Let's keep praying that we can live a life of continuous prayer and living in the presence of God...

Technorati Tags: Living in the presence of God, Mindfulness

Sara Update

When we first met with the Neurologist she was concerned with the likelihood of permanent damage due to the intensity and duration of the seizures. They performed the MRI today and it showed no brain damage! Thank you God and thank you all for your prayers! I still feel something is not totally right with her thinking and behavior, but she has so many medicines that they may be affecting her. For the most part, it looks like she is doing great. They moved her out of ICU today. She may be home in the next 1-2 days. Thanks for all your support!

Technorati Tags: Gratitude, Health

Praying Angels, Please Pray for Gayla

This is a request for all wonderful praying angels that prayed for Sara to now pray for Gayla from Journey of the Heart, who is coping with MANY health issues of many loved ones at the same time. Her mother, who is in the hospital and who suffers from scleroderma, has "something" in both lungs, not sure yet if it is cancer. She also needs surgery to remove the gall bladder. Gayla's husband who suffers from chronic pain just had a pump for morphine surgically put in. They spent all night long on December 23rd and into December 24th in the hospital with fears that he was leaking spinal fluid. In addition, two close friends are dealing with breast cancer. Then her brother is experiencing chest pains and is going to see a cardiologist. Please pray for Gayla and all her loved ones!

"O my God, behold your sick children before you. Heed Gayla's special request, that which she feels is most important for her and her loved ones. May you, my Lord, entrust to her heart and her loved ones' hearts these words: "The health of the soul, too, is vital." Lord, may your will be done in Gayla and her loved ones; if you choose their healing, may they be cured; if you choose another blessing, may they bear their cross with love. I also pray to you for all who intercede for Gayla. Purify our hearts that we may worthily convey your holy mercy.

Protect your child Gayla, relieve the pain in her heart and that of her loved ones, that your will may be done in them, and that your presence and love may be revealed through them. We put our trust completely in you most merciful Lord." (Medjugorje Day by Day)

Technorati Tags: Health, Prayer

What is necessary to have a "Merry" Christmas?

On Christmas eve we left the hospital after spending 35 of the last 38 hours there. We were going home to rest, shower, and go to midnight mass. As we were leaving some relatives said "Merry Christmas!" Have you ever dropped a rock in an empty well? That is the sound this wish made in my heart. How can it be merry? We'll spend it in the hospital and at that time we did not know Sara's fate. We won't even open presents...

A Merry Christmas Indeed

Well, we had a good and merry Christmas day indeed. Thanks to your prayers, praying candles, rosaries, mass offerings, and God's healing grace Sara improved yesterday. Her brain activity calmed down, they removed the sedatives, and she slowly gained consciousness. She still had the ventilator and other tubes through her mouth. She could recognize friends and relatives, she could give a big smile when we asked, she would sort of laugh at jokes, she could wiggle her left or right toes when we asked, and squeeze hands when we asked. She seem to fully comprehend everything. Today they will remove the tubes. Since there was the fear of brain damage, these little things meant a lot. We now need to see how she talks, how her coordination is, and if mental things like memory were affected. One step at a time. This is definitely excellent progress. We are so thankful to God and to all of you for your support. During all these hours at the hospital I knew I could count on this wonderful community of loving people. It is so good to count on each other. This has been an eye opening experience for me on the healing power of the blogosphere.

I'm not sure we will ever know exactly how she got this. It may come from many viruses like the cold sore one, urinary track infection, stomach virus, those carried by mosquitos, etc. In rare cases like this the virus leaves those affected organs and find its way to the spinal fluid and brain. What she has had is inflammation of the brain due to the infection. It is fatal, so she has done well. God blessed us in that there was a friend in her apartment when the seizures happened and he could call 911. Otherwise we would have found her too late.

Sara is 19, she has her full time job, car, her own apartment, her bills, etc. But she was beginning to have too many problems that come from trying to grow up too fast like boyfriend issues, too much debt already, etc. In my book, life only gives you blessings and opportunities. If she makes it (and it looks like she will) this will be a wonderful opportunity to slow down and re-assess her life, her priorities, and how she may find both joy and peace in her life. She will see how we depend on God for everything. Nothing is guaranteed. We may be strong and wise one day, and in the ICU the next. This may be a blessing for her after all.

Again, thanks for your love, your support, and your prayers. I'm saving all comments and links so that she can see how many people cared for her and prayed. I hope to be there for you as you were there for us. I'm staying home a little longer today to do dishes, care for our pets, and do laundry. Then off to our second home, St. Vincent Hospital...

God bless you all!

Update: my wife just called from the hospital and said she is talking. In whispers, but she can talk!

Technorati Tags: Gratitude