anecdotes for preachers

Little girl on a plane

2011-08-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and
he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker
if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book,
replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

" Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is
no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?"
as he smiled smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me
ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same
stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns
out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks
about it and says,
"Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss
why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

Think you are having a bad day?

2011-07-29T22:23:00.001-07:00

Think you are having a bad day?

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned-out section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with scuba tanks on his back, flippers, and face mask.

A postmortem test revealed that the man died not from burns, but from massive internal injuries. Dental records provided a positive identification. Investigators then set about to determine how a fully clothed diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire.
It was revealed that on the day of the fire, the man went diving off the coast, some 20 miles from the forest. The fire fighters, seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, had called in a fleet of helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the ocean and emptied at the site of the forest fire.
You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next, he was doing the breast stroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air.

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. but keep reading....

Still think you 're having a bad day?

A man was working on his motorcycle on the patio, his wife nearby in the kitchen. While racing the engine, the motorcycle accidentally slipped into gear. The man, still holding onto the handlebars, was dragged along as it burst through the glass patio doors.
His wife, hearing the crash, ran in the room to find her husband cut and bleeding, the motorcycle, and the shattered patio door. She called for an ambulance and, because the house sat on a fairly large hill, went down the several flights of stairs to meet the paramedics and escort them to her husband.
While the attendants were loading her husband, the wife managed to right the motorcycle and push it outside. She also quickly blotted up the spilled gasoline with some paper towels and tossed them into the toilet.
After being treated and released, the man returned home, looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his motorcycle. He went into the bathroom and consoled himself with a cigarette while attending to his business.
About to stand, he flipped the butt between his legs.
The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her husband screaming. Finding him lying on the bathroom floor with his trousers blown away and burns on his buttocks, legs and groin, she once again phoned for an ambulance. The same paramedic crew was dispatched.
As the paramedics carried the man down the stairs to the ambulance they asked the wife how he had come to burn himself. She told them. They started laughing so hard, one slipped, the stretcher dumping the husband out. He fell down the remaining stairs, breaking his arm.

Still having a bad day?Just remember, it could be worse...
The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were being released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later, in full view, a killer whale ate them both..

Still think you are having a bad day?
A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen shaking frantically, almost in a dancing frenzy, with some kind of wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood, breaking his arm in two places. Up to that moment, he had been happily listening to his Walkman.

STILL think you 're having a bad day?
Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn , Germany .
Suddenly, all two thousand pigs broke loose and escaped through a broken fence, stampeding madly. The two hapless protesters were trampled to death.

What?! STILL having a bad day??

Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with 'return to sender' stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.
There now, feeling better?

Responsible Motherhood

2011-07-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mother-of-six-priests-and-four-religious-sisters-mourned-in-india/

Kolkata, India, Jul 21, 2011 / 04:36 pm (CNA).- Elizabeth Anikuzhikattil, a Catholic mother whose 15 children included five priests, a bishop, and four religious sisters, died at the age of 94 on July 14.

“We mourn the death of a holy mother,” said Fr. Augustine Kootala, a family friend, in an interview with India's Bosco Information Service.

Elizabeth Anikuzhikattil and her husband Luke, who died in 2006, raised eight boys and seven girls. Four of her daughters became religious sisters. Two joined the Sacred Heart Sisters in Kerala, one is a Salesian Sister, and another is a Franciscan Missionary of Mary.

Six of her sons have become priests, with the oldest going on to become the current bishop of the Diocese of Idukki in southern India.

“Don Bosco's promise of heaven for her is surely fulfilled,” said Archbishop Dominic Jala of the Diocese of Shillong. St. Don Bosco taught that a priest is the single greatest blessing to a family, and those who give their sons to the Church as priests will blessed for generations.

One of Anikuzhikattil's sons, Fr. Jose Anikuzhikattil, remembered his mother's perseverance in raising 15 children during the “frontier days” of a settlement in Idukki. The family moved to Idukki in 1949 with the first agricultural migrants to the area.

Fr. Anikuzhikattil said the family lived in a large tree house and frequently had to face wild elephants and other animals in the jungle who were displeased with the human intrusion.

His mother took care of one of her youngest sons when he was bedridden for 15 years, due to the paralyzing effects of an autoimmune disorder known as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

“My mother looked after him single-handedly for 15 years without even a single bed sore on him,” said Fr. Jose.

Elizabeth Anikuzhikattil was buried at Holy Family Parish near Munnar, India on July 18.

300 kms of railway

2011-07-12T02:56:00.000-07:00

During their campaign to sabotage the French-controlled Vietnamese railway network, Viet Minh guerrillas built their own 300 km railway out of tracks stolen from the main line.

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Indochina

Every second counts

2011-07-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Missed it by that much: Marathoner loses $27K by one second
By Maggie Hendricks
sports.yahoo.com

Time is money, and in the case of Kenyan marathoner Nicholas Manza Kamakaya, one second cost him $27,000.

At the Gold Coast Marathon in Queensland, Australia, Kamakaya won his first marathon, finishing in 2:10:01, earning him $10,000. The marathon offered a $27,000 bonus for a time of 2:10 or under, meaning that if Kamakaya had taken just one second less, he would have nearly tripled his payday.

He is capable of running a sub-2:10, as his record is 2:08:49, set at the Beijing Marathon, but he claimed he didn't mind.

"I'm just happy. For me it's so nice [to win]," said Manza. "It's very special for me because it's my first time in Australia and I'm happy because I've run the course record."

Kudos to him for having a good attitude. Considering he took second place at Beijing and Los Angeles, and sixth at Rome, getting his first win must be sweet.

But one second costing him $27,000? Ouch. Here's hoping that with every second that passes by he continues to focus on the 10-grand he did win, and not dwell on the money he lost out on.

The Price for Tardiness

2011-06-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

Retirement Dinner
(Note: here is something a priest should never do.)

A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the
parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to
make the presentation and give a little speech at the dinner.

He was delayed, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they
waited.

"I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here.
I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who
entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set; and, when
questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money
from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss's
wife, taken illegal drugs, and gave VD to his sister. I was appalled. But as the
days went on I knew that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed,
come to a fine parish full of good and loving people."

Just as the priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of apologies
at being late. He immediately began to make the presentation and gave his talk.
"I'll never forget the first day our parish priest arrived," said the
politician. "In fact, I had the honor of being the first one to go to him in
confession."

Moral: DON'T EVER BE LATE

It takes a thief ...

2011-06-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman. He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the police officer's credibility .....

Q: 'Officer --- did you see my client fleeing the scene?'

A: 'No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away.'

Q: 'Officer -- who provided this description?'

A: 'The officer who responded to the scene.'

Q: 'A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?'

A: 'Yes, sir. With my life.'

Q: 'With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?'

A: 'Yes sir, we do!'

Q: 'And do you have a locker in the room?'

A: 'Yes, sir, ... I do.'

Q: 'And do you have a lock on your locker?'

A: 'Yes, sir.'

Q: 'Now, ... why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?'

A: 'You see, sir -- we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room.'

The courtroom EXPLODED with laughter, and a prompt recess was called. The officer on the stand has been nominated for this year's 'Best Comeback' line -- and we think he'll win.

(Received in the e-mail)

HE'S NOT HEAVY

2011-05-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

(Source: International Business Times: http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/141897/20110505/chinese-teenager-carries-friend-on-back-for-eight-years-photo.htm)

In Hebei, China, a teenager named Lui Shi Ching, 16 years old, has carried his friend to school daily for the last 8 years. His friend Lu Shao has a congenital disorder which makes it difficult for him to walk.

Eight years ago on a rainy day, Lu shao was stuck at school when his mom didn't come to pick him up. Lui Shi Ching, who was smaller than Lu Shao, decided to help and carried him home. Since then, he has carried Lu shao to and from school and even to restrooms.

Lui shi ching said in an interview: "How did I carry him when he's so heavy? I was happy helping him out and it's been 8 years already."

Lui Shi Ching didn't brag about his good deeds too much; his parents didn't even find out until 4 years after he first helped out his friend.

Lu Shao mentioned in his diary that Lui Shi Ching's help has lifted a dark cloud in his life and let sunshine into it.

Kissing Lepers One By One

2011-05-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

"Silent Witness to a Life of Devotion" (South China Morning Post, May-2-2011)

It was May 4, 1984, and Pope, John Paul II was visiting Sorok Island off South Korea, a former leper colony where several hundred people with the disfiguring disease were receiving care.
Arturo Mari was there, as he was on all the pontiff's trips, a silent witness to almost every papal audience, mass, vocation and dinner party.

As the pope's personal photographer, Mari had nearly unrestricted access to John Paul's 27 year papacy, and his verdict as the pontiff's beatification approaches is unwavering: he was a living saint.

The protocol that day in 1984 called for John Paul to enter the pavilion where the patients were gathered, give a brief speech on the meaning of suffering, then leave. But after surveying the scene, John Paul brushed aside a cardinal who tried to speed him along and set to work.
"He touched them with his hands, caressed them, kissed each one," Mari, 71, recalled. "Eight hundred lepers, one by one, one by one!"

"I can guarantee you he was a living saint, because everything I could see with my eyes, hear with my ears, you cannot believe that this man could do so much."

When the Pope drives Someone around

2011-04-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

(Got this in the e-mail)

After getting all of Pope Benedict's luggage loaded into the limo, (and he doesn't travel light), the driver notices the Pope is still standing on the curb.

'Excuse me, Your Holiness,' says the driver, 'Would you please take your seat so we can leave?'

'Well, to tell you the truth,' says the Pope, 'they never let me drive at the Vatican when I was a cardinal, and I'd really like to drive today.'

'I'm sorry, Your Holiness, but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! What if something should happen?' protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning..

'Who's going to tell?' says the Pope with a smile.

Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 205 kms.. (Remember, the Pope is German..)

'Please slow down, Your Holiness!' pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens.

'Oh, dear God, I'm going to lose my license -- and my job!' moans the driver.

The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio.

'I need to talk to the Chief,' he says to the dispatcher.

The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going 155 kph.

'So bust him,' says the Chief.

'I don't think we want to do that, he's really important,' said the cop.

The Chief exclaimed,' All the more reason!'

'No, I mean really important,' said the cop with a bit of persistence.

The Chief then asked, 'Who do you have there, the mayor?'
Cop: 'Bigger.'

Chief: ' A senator?'
Cop: 'Bigger.'

Chief: 'The Prime Minister?'
Cop: 'Bigger.'

'Well,' said the Chief, 'who is it?'

Cop: 'I think it's God!'

The Chief is even more puzzled and curious, 'What makes you think it's God?'

Cop: 'His chauffeur is the Pope!'

Gold, common sense, and fur: A Christmas story

2010-12-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

By Linda C. Stafford
http://www.catholicdigest.com/articles/food_fun/humor/2010/01-13/gold-common-sense-and-fur-a-christmas-story
(From the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christian Kids by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, edited by Amy Newmark. Copyright 2008 by Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC.

My husband and I had been happily (most of the time) married for five years, but hadn’t been able to have children. I was doing some serious praying about it and promised God that if He would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart, and raise it with his word as my guide. Soon after, we were blessed with a son. The next year we were blessed with another son. The following year, yet another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, “If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella.”

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all 23 frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.
In spite of changing over 25,000 diapers, never eating a hot meal, and never sleeping for more than 30 minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn’t keep my promise to be a perfect mother — I didn’t even come close — I did keep my promise to raise them in the word of God. Though I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to “wash up” Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his “last wife.”

My proudest moment came during the children’s Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds, and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine. My 5-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, “We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,” but he was nervous and said, “The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes.”

My 4-year-old “Mary” said, “That’s not ‘wrinkled clothes,’ silly. That’s dirty, rotten clothes.” A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing.

I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, “Mama, Mama.” Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up, and held it tightly as the wise men arrived. My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger, and announced, “We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense, and fur.”

The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. “I’ve never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one,” the pastor laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. “For the rest of my life, I’ll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense, and fur.”

“My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing,” I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin. CD

Do people mistake you for Jesus

2010-11-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

By Georgy
http://www.turnbacktogod.com/do-people-mistake-you-for-jesus/

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner.

In their rush, with tickets and brief-cases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.

All but one. He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping, and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $20 for the damage we did. Are you okay?”

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister….” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.

She continued, “Are you Jesus?”

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?”

————————————-

Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.

THE VALUE OF A QUARTER

2010-11-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

[From my e-mail inbox.]

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston , Texas . Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.' Then he thought, 'Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet.'

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, 'Here,you gave me too much change ...'

The driver, with a smile, replied, 'Aren't you the new preacher in town?'

'Yes' he replied.

'Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday.'

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, 'Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter.'

Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read. This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians, and will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself 'Christian.'

Watch your thoughts ; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
W atch your actions; they become habits..
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

THE ANT AND THE CONTACT LENS

2010-11-15T03:57:00.000-08:00

THE ANT AND THE CONTACT LENS

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. Here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. So here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly cross the face of the rock, carrying it! Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

At the risk of being accused of being fatalistic, I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will." "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

--Josh and Karen Zarandona

EVERYONE HERE IS GOING TO DIE!

2010-10-31T03:25:00.000-07:00

"From a Sermon by the Reb, 2000

...A minister was visiting a country church, and he began his sermons with a stirring reminder:

"Everyone in this parish is going to die!"

The minister looked around. He noticed a man in the front pew, smiling broadly.

"Why are you so amused?" he asked.

"I'm not from this parish," the man said. "I'm just visiting my sister for the weekend.

--Mitch Albom, "Have a Little Faith," p 231

KEEPING THE OUTSIDE WORLD AT BAY

2010-10-31T03:22:00.000-07:00

"Meanwhile, the Reb puttered from room to room in quiet contemplation. Having survived the Great Depression and two world wars, he was no longer thrown by headline events. He kept the outside world at bay by keeping the inside world at hand. He prayed. He chatted with God."

--Mitch Albom, "Have a Little Faith," p 223

HOUSE vs HOME

2010-10-31T03:18:00.000-07:00

"From a Sermon by the Reb, 1981

'A military chaplain told me the following story:

A soldier's little girl, whose father was being moved to a distant post, was sitting at the airport among her family's meager belongings.

The girl was sleepy. She leaned against the packs and duffel bags.

A lady came by, stopped, and patted her on the head.

"Poor child," she said, "you haven't got a home."

The child looked up in surprise.

"But we do have a home," she said. "We just don't have a house to put it in."'"

--Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith, p 111

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

2010-09-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

--received in the e-mail 24 Sept 2010

SETTING THE EXAMPLE

2010-08-12T03:26:00.001-07:00

An old man was forced to move in with his son's family. But he could not eat at the dinner table without making a mess. Annoyed, the son had his father eat alone at a separate table.

A few days later, the son observed his own children playing house with two tables. "Why two tables?" he asked his kids. "One is for my family," his little girl explained. "The other is for you when you're old." That evening, the son returned his father to the family table, grateful to have him there.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge, and this old story holds at least two timeless lessons: one about honoring our parents and one about the examples we set . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=469&WID=456&T=H&SID=12675

Wages and Roses

2010-06-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Kohler, Wisconsin, is known for its luxury hotels, upscale restaurants, gardens, art museums, and a stunning lakeside golf course. How interesting, then, that this village was built for immigrant workers at the Kohler Company, known for its innovative bath fixtures.

Walter J. Kohler believed his workers deserved "not only wages but roses as well." He built them homes, a school, and a meeting hall. And with the designers of New York’s Central Park, he added beautiful gardens. One of the nation’s first planned communities remains one of its finest.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Walter Kohler didn’t stop at safe working conditions and adequate wages. He knew that souls also need beauty. All three contribute to the high calling of our daily work.

"Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers,
even though they are strangers to you." 3 John 1:5

-- Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=444&WID=450&T=H&SID=12675

The girl in the picture: Kim Phuc forgives

2010-06-09T01:47:00.001-07:00

"If there was one photograph that captured the horrific nature of the Vietnam war, one photograph that tore at our collective conscience, it was the picture of a nine year old girl, running naked down a road, screaming in agony from the jellied gasoline coating her body and burning through skin and muscle down the bone. Her village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam was napalmed that day on June 8, 1972, and the little girl took a direct hit. It would take many years, and 17 operations to save her life."

Most of us live out our lives in relative obscurity. When we have hurt another, when we have failed, when we have grievously wounded it is kept in a small closed circle. But imagine if the thing you most regret were to be splashed across the front page of every newspaper in the world. Imagine if that one dread moment became the thing that defined you. John Plummer doesn’t need to imagine. It happened to him.

John Plummer is a Methodist pastor living in a quiet town in Virginia . He visits the elderly, prays for the sick and preaches every Sunday. But this is not what defines him. Or at least, what once did.

John Plummer is also the pilot that, during the Vietnam War, organized the Napalm raid on the village of Trang Bang in 1972. And what he did was forever immortalized by the award-winning photograph of one of its victims, a nine-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc.

John was haunted by the photo of the naked burning child, terrified and running, her arms stretched out, her flesh afire. He had done that to her. For twenty- four years he looked for her, trying everything he could just so that he could tell her that he had not meant this dreadful thing. It was more than wanting. It was a need that ate away at him until he lost his wife and his health and his hope.

His friends reached out to help him. They reminded him that he had tried to make sure that as many innocent people as possible had been removed from the area. He had done it for a greater good. None of these things meant anything. Her face condemned him. There was no peace for a man like him.

And then it happened. One of those amazing moments that non-believers speak of as coincidence and those who know the Father know as His merciful grace. It was Veterans Day, 1996. John, along with a group of fellow pilots, had traveled to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington , D.C. Officially they were there to honor those who had given their lives. But each man knew that every year they went hoping for a measure of freedom from the guilt that haunted them.

The crowd gathered at the memorial hushed as a small woman took the stage and spoke into the microphone and said "I am Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the girl made famous by a photograph after suffering a Napalm attack by American forces"

John froze. He could not take it in. For twenty- four years he had longed for her and she was now so near. Her voice continued “I am not bitter, even though the burns I suffered even to this day cause me pain. I long ago forgave the one who bombed our village"

John was beside himself, yelling, pushing his way through the crowd. Security surrounded him but he persisted. "I am the one!" he shouted "I am the man who did this to you!" She came down from the stage, the only one who could free him and he fell into her arms. For every time he sobbed out “I am so sorry" her voice rose to cover his. "It is OK. I have forgiven you".

Phan invited John to meet her at her hotel later that evening. Sitting side by side she once again assured him of her forgiveness. In her grace she had set him free. In one encounter she had ended twenty four years of anguish for a man who had longed for release.

CORRECT CRAFT

2010-05-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Walter C. Meloon founded the Correct Craft boat company in the 1920s. His goal was to build the “best world-class towboats for the glory of God.”

During World War II, General Eisenhower asked Correct Craft to build 400 boats in fifteen days, for crossing the Rhine River. Working around the clock six days a week (not on Sundays), Correct Craft got the job done—and gave God the glory.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Until 2008, Correct Craft was the oldest family-run boat company in the world. Former president and CEO Walter N. Meloon once said, “My job is to protect the investment of the stockholders, but . . . whatever I do is for the glory of God.” That’s the high calling of our daily work.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=455&WID=443&T=H&SID=12675

Hitchhiker

2010-04-27T20:58:00.001-07:00

One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him.

Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others. Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole. "

--http://www.basketballsbest.com/motivate.htm

Plain ice cream and the tip

2010-04-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it. "Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired. By now, more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient.

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

--http://www.basketballsbest.com/motivate.htm

SOCRATES' TRIPLE FILTER TEST

2010-03-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high
esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said,
"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd
like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my
friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're
going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure
that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or
not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what
you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him,
but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though,
because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you
want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither
true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

--http://iranscope.ghandchi.com/Fun/socrates.htm

Bach -- "To God's Glory Alone"

2010-03-25T23:57:00.001-07:00

Johann Sebastian Bach—choirmaster and composer—wrote dozens of cantatas. Each one wove music and mood to present that Sunday’s biblical text for his mostly illiterate congregation. At the bottom of each hand-written page, Bach signed three letters: “SDG”—Soli Deo Gloria. Latin for “To God’s glory alone.”

Bach’s cantatas rang out his devotion to God and his desire to serve God in his music . . . in his work.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. While we may never write choral music to last the ages, we daily compose our lives. In classrooms, offices, shops, homes . . . we can inscribe each page with “SDG”—to God’s glory alone . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=448&WID=436&T=H&SID=12675

Loving those who cannot love in return

2010-03-25T23:49:00.001-07:00

In 2008, Faith High School played football against Gainesville State School, a juvenile detention center team with no fans. Until that night.

Faith High put 200 fans in Gainesville’s bleachers, made a banner for players to crash through, and even supplied cheerleaders. For the first time, Gainesville players heard a crowd cheer for them—by name! Faith High won, but Gainesville had its best game of the season—and doused its coach in Gatorade.

After the game, both teams gathered mid-field to pray. A Gainesville player asked to lead. He said, “Lord, I don’t know how this happened. I never would’ve known so many people in the world cared about us.”

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Here’s to encouraging everyone—in the high calling of our daily work.

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:12-14)

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=447&WID=435&T=H&SID=12675

Story of the Scanner

2010-03-12T16:16:00.001-08:00

Last December, I met two Vietnamese Nuns at Saint Ignatius Church after a 7:00 a.m. Mass. They had come to Singapore to study English and were residing with a married couple from the parish.

I had just replaced my scanner because I needed one that could print in colour and make copies as well. My old scanner was as good as new, so I wasn’t about to dump it in the rubbish bin.

I asked a friend if she knew of a charitable organization in Singapore who could use a scanner. Her reply was that scanners now were so affordable and that they came with all the latest trimmings too. No one in Singapore would want a “simple” scanner.

I mentioned my scanner to the two Vietnamese Sisters and asked if they had need of it. The Sisters looked at each other in amazement. I wondered why. Then one of them excitedly said: “Oh this is an answer to our prayers! Do you know how far I have to ride on my little scooter to get something scanned? Fifty kilometres!! The scanner has now found a home in Vietnam with the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.

And guess what? When cleaning the scanner before packing it up, I discovered it had a coloured printer and could copy as well. I did not need to buy a new scanner. “Oh happy fault!” It was meant to be. Now the Sisters can print in colour and copy too.

-- Jacquie Webb

The Window Through Which We Look

2010-03-04T23:19:00.000-08:00

A young couple moves into a new neighbourhood.

The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others
Depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some."

--http://www.scribd.com/doc/23929612/A-Young-Couple-Moves-Into-a-New-Neighborhood

SMALL CHANGE

2010-02-06T22:37:00.001-08:00

In 2003, Hong Kong had an outbreak of SARS—a severe and sometimes deadly form of viral pneumonia. No doubt you read about it. So what saved Hong Kong’s health? One dramatic step made the most difference—hand washing. Soap and water under a faucet. And what did all that hand-washing accomplish?

Not only was the SARS outbreak contained—other cases of respiratory illnesses, including the flu, dropped sharply.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge, and my point isn’t good hygiene—though I encourage that too. My point is the multiple benefits of one new discipline. Consider your habits and routines: what small change would make a large difference for you—in the high calling of our daily work?

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:3)

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=441&WID=429&T=H&SID=12675

Proofreading is a dying art, wouldn't you say?

2010-01-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible! They put in a correction the next day.
I just couldn't help but sending this along. Too funny.
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
Really? Ya think?
—————————————————————————-
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!
———————————————————–
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!
—————————————————————
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing, lazy so-and-so's!
——————————————————
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!
———————————————————-
War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!
—————————————————————-
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!
———————————————————————–
Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!
—————————————————————-
Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!
————————————————————————
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?
———————————————————-
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!
———————————————-
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!
———————————————–
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!
————————————————-
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?
****************************************
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
***************************************************
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
*******************************************
And the winner is...
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right?
***************************************************
Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (maybe even a chuckle). We all need a good laugh, at least once a day!

--http://www.bloggersbase.com/humor/proof-reading--a-dying-art/

Kids Are Quick

2010-01-15T05:04:00.001-08:00

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America .
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________
TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
(I Love this kid)
____________________________________________
TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________
TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________
TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.'
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'
________________________________
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
______________________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE: No, sir. It's the same dog..
___________________________________
TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher
__________________________________

Bad Moods Happen

2010-01-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

Donna got up on the wrong side of the bed—and she let people know it. She snapped at her husband for singing. She snapped at her assistant over a memo. She snapped at her colleagues just because.

What finally snapped Donna out of her snit? A voice on the radio. As she was changing stations, she heard a line from the Psalms: "This is the day the Lord has made . . ."

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Bad moods happen. What we do with them—and what we do to others—is our decision. However you woke up today, this is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice! . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalm 118:24)

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=437&WID=424&T=H&SID=12675

WORK AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT

2009-12-25T22:21:00.001-08:00

My friend Dave Williamson discovered something about God in a hotel Christmas display. In the lobby, he saw an enormous nativity scene. It had the typical holy family with the animals, shepherds, kings, and angels.

But this nativity was bigger. The baker and his wife were also there—and a basket weaver and a grocer and a hunter and the mayor and other workers—all of them bringing the gifts of their trades. What they produced during the week, they offered in honor of Christ.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. This Christmas, we too can offer our work, our family, our leisure, and our everyday lives in honor of Christ. Whatever we produce is a gift to God . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. (Rom. 12:1-2, MSG)

(Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=456&WID=422&T=H&SID=12675)

WRONG NUMBER

2009-12-25T03:09:00.001-08:00

One evening, Stumpy shows his wife their latest telephone
bill. "Martha, you just have to cut down on your calls.
This bill is for over $300 and that's a very high cost
for just 1 month."

"You're right, darling," Martha says, "I promise to do my
best to curtail my calls."

"Thanks," says Stumpy. Stumpy starts to monitor the calls
on a daily basis and is pleased to see that Martha is keeping
to her promise. But then gradually, as he thought would
happen, he sees the daily elapsed time start to increase
again. Then one evening, as Martha dials a number and
makes another call, Stumpy decides to discuss the situation
with her when she puts down the phone, whenever that will
be. Fifteen minutes later, Martha puts down the phone.

"What a surprise," says Stumpy sarcastically, "how come
such a short call?"

"Oh, it was a wrong number, darling." she says.

HOW MYSTERIOUS HIS WAYS!

2009-12-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician:

I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd. , and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the quickie mart building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if
she was okay.

When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.

At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.

I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying 'I don't want my kids to see me crying,' so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, 'And you were praying?' That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, 'He heard you, and He sent me.'

I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.

She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan. 1, and finally in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.

So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.

I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, 'So, are you like an angel or something?'

This definitely made me cry. I said, 'Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people.'

It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.

Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...

Psalms 55:22 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.'

TEXAS BEER JOINT SUES A CHURCH.....

2009-12-17T18:43:00.000-08:00

In a small Texas town, ( Mt. Vernon ) Drummond's bar began construction on a
new building to increase their business.

The local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers.

Work progressed right up till the week before opening when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground.

The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means.

The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise in its reply to the court.

As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, 'I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not.'

SUCCESSFUL DEAD ENDS

2009-12-08T23:32:00.000-08:00

If you pay attention to business failures, you may start to perceive what some call “dead ends onto right paths.” Here are a few Harvey McKay gave in his classic business book:

1) Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper. For what? For lack of ideas.

2) MGM’s memo after Fred Astaire’s screen test said: Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.

3) Beethoven’s violin teacher declared him hopeless as a composer.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. If that list of dead ends doesn’t encourage you, have someone check your pulse. Failures do not a career UN-make. On the contrary: A dead end is your signal to make a RIGHT turn . . . into the high calling of our daily work.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:26)

--Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=387

POPE ALSO HAS TO LEARN PATIENCE

2009-10-16T00:58:00.000-07:00

You see my hand, it is free of the plaster cast but it is still a bit lazy: I shall have to remain for a while at the school of patience, but we are making progress!

--Pope Benedict XVI, 23 August 2009, while recovering from wrist fracture

CEBU CITY INMATES SKIP MEAL TO HELP MANILA FLOOD VICTIMS

2009-10-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Dale G. Israel, Reporter
Cebu Daily News
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20090930-227640/Mandaue_inmates_skip_meal_to_help_Manila_flood_victims
2 October 2009

Even prisoners in Mandaue City are going out of their way to help flood victims of Metro Manila.

More than 600 inmates volunteered to forego one meal today and donate their rations.
The skipped meal will translate to four sacks of rice and several canned goods.
The idea started with the jail’s 45-member staff, who decided to skip in-house birthday celebrations for October and donate the budget to typhoon victims, said Supt. Simeon Dolojo, the jail warden and an October celebrant.

Then leaders of inmates followed the cue and agreed to skip one meal today.

“Mas grabe ang nahitabo nga kalisod sa Manila kaysa sa amoa, mao nga mas maayong muhatag mi (The difficulties happening in Manila are far worse than ours here, so it would be better for us to give),” said Pepito Togade, 36, leader of inmates in the Annex Building of the city jail.

The mayores or section leaders – Cherry Mendoza, 39, of the Female Dormitory, and Willy Loberanes, 49, of the Solid Building section – spread the word, and the whole prison population eventually agreed.

Lobaranes said the inmates wanted to return the favor to the public when the jail received help during an outbreak of the Influenza A subtype H1N1 virus among the prisoners.

“We received a lot of help when H1N1 struck us. This is our way of giving back,” Loberanes said in Cebuano.

Most inmates in the city jail are male, with 54 women in the Female Dormitory.

“I salute our inmates for their good gesture,“ said Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes. “For me, this will create ripples of joy and kindness. In good times and in bad times, we are all brothers and sisters.”

Also, the Mandaue City government is donating P1 million for relief efforts in Manila.

During the City Council’s regular session yesterday, a resolution was passed authorizing Cortes to tap P1 million from the city’s calamity funds as a donation to Manila.

The donation will be coursed to the Office of the President through the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

“I was touched when the warden called me up. It was a beautiful project,” said Chief Supt. Doris Dorigo, director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Central Visayas (BJMP-7), in Tagalog.

“We can see how difficult it is for them, yet still they were quick to help.”
Dorigo visited the jail yesterday to award some jail personnel.

Inspired by the inmates’ action, Dorigo said she would require all BJMP-7 personnel to skip one meal every seven days so that the resources could be donated to flood victims.

Church as Model of a Global Institution

2009-09-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things that most attracted me to the Catholic Church was her universal nature. If you are a Catholic, you can go anywhere in the world and take part in Mass in all the countries. I have been to Mass in Kigali, in Beijing, in Singapore.

I remember when we went to Mass in Tokyo. I went incognito, in a very low key, but at the end of the celebration a woman invited the many visitors to stand up and introduce themselves. So I stood up and said, "I'm Tony from London." Which was quite a surprise!

Well, the sense that wherever you are in the world you are in communion with others is truly formidable. It is something that fascinates me. The universal Church is herself the model of a global institution.

--Tony Blair, in an interview by Giulia Galeotti of L'Osservatore Romano, 16 Sept 2009

At heaven's door

2009-09-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

A famous professor of surgery died and went to heaven. At the pearly gate he was asked by the gatekeeper: "Have you ever committed a sin you truly regret?"

"Yes, the professor answered. "When I was a young candidate at the hospital of Saint Lucas, we played soccer against at team from the Community Hospital, and I scored a goal, which was off side. But the referee did not see it so, and the goal won us the match. I regret that now."

"Well," said the gatekeeper, that is a very minor sin. You may enter."

"Thank you very much, Saint Peter," the professor answered.

"I'm not Saint Peter," said the gatekeeper. "He is having his lunchbreak. I am Saint Lucas."

--Jonathan Dolhenty, Radical Academy, http://radicalacademy.com/monthly_ezine.htm

A Child's Version of the Bible

2009-08-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing
but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, "The Lord thy God
is one," but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God
said, "Give me a light!" and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they
weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam
and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven
from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though,
because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he
was Abel. Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for
Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but
one of his kids was kind of a ham. Noah built a large boat and put
his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to
join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous
than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in
exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a
really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton
Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the
evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These
plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. God fed
the Israel Lights everyday with manicotti.

Then He gave them His top ten Commandments. These include don't lie,
cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's bottom (the Bible uses a
bad word for bottom that I'm not supposed to say. But my Dad uses it
sometimes when he talks about the President). Oh, yeah, I just thought
of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to
use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell
over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a
slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and
500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound
very wise to me. After Solomon, there were a bunch of major league prophets.
One of them was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then
barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't
know much about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of
the New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had
been born in a barn, too, because my mom is always saying to me,
"Close the door! Were you born in a barn" It would be nice to be
able to say, "Yes mom, don't you remember, I was?"

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the
Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The
worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a
terrible vegetable after him. Jesus was a great man. He healed many
leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the
Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the
Pilot. Pilot didn't stickup for Jesus. He just washed his hands
instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He
went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His
return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

(http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion-philosophy/176570-childs-version-bible.html)

AN UNDIVIDED LIFE

2009-06-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

Remember your cafeteria trays in elementary school? The large rectangle was for your main dish. The milk carton had its square. The silverware went in the long, skinny trench. Every serving had its place.

We tend to serve up life that way: church, work, home—all in separate compartments. But it doesn't work. We were made to be whole.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus how to have eternal life, Jesus told him to obey the commandments and to sell his possessions. But his possessions were his compartmentalized idolatry! What Jesus told the young man, he's still telling us. Our faith doesn't fit into one compartment. It fills the whole tray . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)

(Howard Butt, Jr. http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=407&WID=392&T=H&SID=12675)

Just like breathing

2009-06-11T20:01:00.001-07:00

A boy was watching a holy man praying on the banks of a river. When he had completed his prayer, the boy went over and asked him, "Will you teach me to pray?"

The man studied the boy's face carefully. Then he gripped the boy's head in his hands, and plunged it forcefully into the water! The boy struggled frantically, trying to free himself to breathe. When the man finally released his hold, the little boy gasped for breath, then asked, "What did you do that for?"

The holy man said, "I just gave you your first lesson."

The boy asked, "What do you mean?"

The holy man replied, "When you long to pray as much as you wanted to breathe, only then will I be able to teach you to pray."

(God's Little Devotional Book for Couples, p 45)

The Deaf Wife

2009-06-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought
she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called
the family doctor to discuss the problem.

The doctor told him there was a simple informal test the husband could perform
to give the doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

"Here's what you do," said the doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her,
and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go
to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife was in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the
den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens."
Then in a normal tone he asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?" No response.

So the husband moves closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and
repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Still no response.

Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and
asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again he gets no response.

So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey,what's for
dinner?" Again there is no response.

So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

"Ralph, for the FIFTH time, it's CHICKEN!"

Short quips from Ezine (May 2009)

2009-05-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT

A Little Wisdom: Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's looking.

A Little Quip: Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

A Little Proverb: If at first you don't succeed, give up, no use being a damn fool.

A Little Question: I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges?

A Little Reflection: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

A Little One-Liner: Never chase after a man or a train - another one will always come along.

A Little Admission: "Between two evils, I always like to take the one I've never tried before." -- Mae West.

A Little Observation: Technology is dominated by two types of people: Those who understand what they do not manage. Those who manage what they do not understand.

A Little Warning: "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -- Edward Abbey.

A Little Quote: "Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought -- particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things." -- Woody Allen.

A Little Legal Shmegal: Get the facts first -- you can distort them later!

A Little Bumper Sticker: Born Free. . . . .Taxed to Death.

The Woodpecker

2009-05-19T19:33:00.001-07:00

A woodpecker can peck 20 times a second. A second. And if you think that little jackhammer gives you a headache, think of his cranial strain. But no . . . a woodpecker's skull has extra air pockets to cushion his brain.

Even nature teaches us a workplace truth: when God gives us work, he equips us to do it.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. At the start of my career, I knew how I wanted God to use me. But my way gave me headaches. If I could go back now and tell my younger self an important truth about work—I'd point to the woodpecker and say: when it's right, he'll give you what you need . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need , you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8)

(Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=403&WID=388&T=H&SID=12675)

Lessons in leadership

2009-05-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

By 430 B.C., the Jerusalem city wall had lain in ruins for decades. Now the Jews began to rebuild. Why not before? Lack of courage . . . no strong leader. Then Nehemiah appeared. He longed to serve and was put in charge. And stirring courage revived a community.

The Jews' enemies scoffed. Building materials were mostly rubble. But Nehemiah was tenacious. He treated workers well and protected them from abuse. He helped the poor. And he was a great man of prayer.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Let me point you to the book of Nehemiah. You'll find a great study on effective servant leadership—our model for the high calling of our daily work.

Our LORD, I am praying for your servants--those you rescued by your great strength and mighty power. Please answer my prayer and the prayer of your other servants who gladly honor your name. (Neh. 1:5-6)

(Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=401&WID=386&T=H&SID=12675)

Short quips from Ezine (April 2009)

2009-05-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT

A Little Wisdom: "The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical, to demand the credentials of all statements that claim to be facts." -- Bergan Evans

A Little Advice: "To find a friend one must close one eye -- to keep him, two." -- Norman Douglas

A Little Quip: "If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons." -- James Thurber

A Little Proverb: "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." -- Alfred Adler

A Little Question: "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" -- Mark Twain

A Little Reflection: "He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." -- Abraham Lincoln

A Little One-Liner: "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." -- Oscar Wilde

A Little Admission: "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." -- Mark Twain

A Little Observation: "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." -- Oscar Wilde

A Little Warning: "If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." -- Catherine Aird

A Little Quote: "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." -- Winston Churchill

A Little Politics: "I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons." -- Will Rogers

(http://radicalacademy.com/monthly_ezine.htm)

Links to John Paul II anecdotes and articles

2009-04-25T02:46:00.001-07:00

LIFE, WRITINGS, CAUSE, MULTIMEDIA, THE SEE OF PETER (courtesy of EWTN)

BIOGRAPHY (courtesy of http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/etc/bio.html)

BIOGRAPHY (courtesy of the Office for the Cause of Beatification and Canonisation of the Vicariate of Rome: http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/Beatificazione/)

KITCHEN POPE, WARRIOR POPE by Paul Johnson (TIME MAGAZINE http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982044,00.html)

LIVES OF THE POPE by John Elson (TIME MAGAZINE http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982047,00.html)

MAN OF THE SPIRIT by Paul Gray (TIME MAGAZINE http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982043,00.html)

MORE ANECDOTES (courtesy of http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/etc/anecdotes.html)

TRIBUTE (TIME MAGAZINE http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050411/)

Holiness attracts the young

2009-04-25T02:45:00.001-07:00

"If anything seemed clear in 1978, it was that young people around the world, and particularly in the West, simply weren't interested in what Catholicism had to offer. That wasn't clear to Karol Wojtyla, however. He had been a pied piper for the young for thirty years when he assumed the papacy; the young people he had first met when they were students in Stalinist-era Poland and he was a newly ordained university chaplain ... were not different from the young people of the late 20th century, he was convinced. The yearnings, aspirations, fears, and muddles of adolescence and young adulthood remained the same. He had always thought of this as a privileged period of life, a time when a genuine human personality begins to be formed; he thought the Church should be present to young lives at those crucial moments of maturation and vocational discernment; the questions 'Who am I?' and 'What am I supposed to be?' were God-touched, and the Church should be engaged with those raising such fundamental questions of identity and purpose. The traditional managers of Popes ... told him not to waste his time, that it was impossible. He disagreed, and by launching the World Youth Days that drew millions of young men and women from all over the world for an encounter with Christ, each other, and the Pope, he created one of the signature innovations of his Pontificate.

'His magnetism for the young didn't fade with time, and the question was raised time and again: How did he do it? The world-weary, the cynical, or those who simply couldn't imagine any other answer chalked it up to the celebrity-fascination of the young. But as the years went on and the Pope got older, slower, more bent, and more difficult to understand, he certainly didn't seem like any other celebrity on offer. The truth lay elsewhere. John Paul II remained immensely attractive to young people, until the day he died, for two reasons. He was a man of transparent integrity, which is itself compelling for young men and women who have acute noses for hypocrisy. John Paul never asked a young person to do anything he hadn't done, or to struggle with any spiritual dilemma with which he hadn't wrestled; young people understood that, and appreciated it. Then there was his challenge. He knews, from his work with students in Poland, that adolescence and young adulthood are naturally times to dream large dreams, including dreams of the heroic and dramatic. That was the challenge he laid out in World Youth Days in Rome, Buenos Aires, Compostela, Czestochowa, Denver, Manila, Paris, and Toronto: never settle for less than the spiritual and moral grandeur of which, with God's grace, you're capable. Don't sell yourself short. You will fail. That's no reason to lower the bar of expectation. Get up, dust yourself off, seek forgiveness and reconciliation--and try again. That's the drama of the spiritual life. Live it."

(George Weigel, God's Choice, pp 71-73)

Karol and the youth

2009-04-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

"I would preach to them, speak with them, climb mountains with them, and sing with them around the fire. I frequently celebrate Mass for them in the open air."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 100).

Work and rest

2009-04-25T02:42:00.001-07:00

"We left at nine in the morning, in Father Jozef's car, so that the Swiss Guards wouldn't get suspicious," wrote Dziwisz, referring to Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, who is today the papal nuncio, or representative of the Vatican, in Poland.

As the vehicle left the pope's residence at Castel Gandolfo, another Polish priest in the passenger seat "pretended to read a newspaper in order to hide the Holy Father," who was sitting in the back of the car with Dziwisz.

Once they reached the ski resort of Ovindoli, the pope acted "like just another ordinary skier," wrote Dziwisz.

"He was dressed like everyone else: ski suit, hat, goggles. He stood in the queue just like everyone else, although for security reasons one of us stood in front of him and another behind him.

"He took the lifts with a ski pass. It seemed unbelievable that nobody recognized him. But then who would have thought that the pope could go skiing just like that?"

(From the book of Card. Stanislaw Dsiwizs, A Life With Carol)

Learning to rest

2009-04-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

"When I preached the retreat in the Vatican, it was to Paul VI and his collaborators. During the preparatory phase, there had been a problem. At the beginning of February 1976, I was telephoned by Monsignor Wladyslaw Rubin, who told me that the Pontiff would like me to preach the retreat in March. I had barely three weeks to prepare my texts and translate them. The title that I late gave to those meditations was: 'Sign of Contradiction'. This had not been proposed to me, but it emerged at the end as a kind of synthesis of what I had wanted to say. ...

"I remember the days dedicated to preparing the talks, twenty of them, which I had to choose and put together all by myself. In order to find the necessary peace and quiet, I went to stay with the Gray Ursulines at Jaszczurowka. Until noon I wrote the meditations, then in the afternoon I went skiing, and in the evening I continued writing."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 174-175)

Karol Wojtyla and work

2009-04-25T02:40:00.002-07:00

After World War II, before the Soviet occupation of Poland, "Karol volunteered to clear up the old seminary buildings where the SS had had its barracks and prison, and where latterly the roof had fallen in and the largely French inmates burnt furniture to warm themselves. There were three latrines heaped with frozen excrement. He rolled up his sleeves, seized a shovel and addressed himself to the Augean task, chopping it up and carting it away. He had to breathe through the mouth to stop vomiting--hardly a symbolic way to celebrate victory and liberty, but not bad for a future successor to St Peter."

(O'Connor, Garry. Universal Father. A Life of Pope John Paul II. London: Bloomsbury, 2005, p 100)

Work and education

2009-04-25T02:40:00.001-07:00

"'No doubt I owe much to one single year's study at Poland's most ancient university, but I am not afraid to say that the following four years, in a working-class environment, were for me a blessing sent by Providence. The experience that I acquired in that period of my life was priceless. I have often said that I considered it possibly more valuable than a doctorate, which does not mean that I have a poor opinion of university degrees!'"

(John Paul II, in André Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 15)

Sacerdos et victima

2009-04-25T02:36:00.000-07:00

"Among the invocations dear to him was one that comes from the "Litanie di Gesù Cristo Sacerdote e Vittima" that he chose to place at the end of his book, Gift and Mystery, published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the Priesthood. (cf. pp. 113-116): "Iesu, Pontifex qui tradidisti temetipsum Deo oblationem et hostiam - Jesus, High Priest who gave yourself to God as offering and victim, have mercy on us".

"How frequently did he repeat this invocation! It expresses clearly the profoundly priestly character of his whole life. He never made a mystery of his desire to become increasingly one with Christ the Priest through the Eucharistic Sacrifice, a source of tireless apostolic dedication."

(Benedict XVI, Homily, Mass in Anniversary of Pope John Paul II's Death, 3 April 2006)

Shepherd and Cross

2009-04-25T02:35:00.000-07:00

"The Holy Father was a priest to the last, for he offered his life to God for his flock and for the entire human family, in a daily self-oblation for the service of the Church, especially amid the sufferings of his final months. And in this way he became one with Christ, the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep."

(Card. Joseph Ratzinger, Homily, Funeral of Pope John Paul II)

Archbishop Wojtyla and the chapel

2009-04-25T02:32:00.000-07:00

"The chapel is in front of the stairs on the first floor. Its walls are covered with faux marble of ivory colour. ... The archbishop always begins his day in this chapel on his kneeler at 5:30 in the morning as the first trams wake up the neighbourhood with their metallic screech.

"Archbishop Wojtyla is a man of prayer. Everyday, he spends many hours before dawn in the chapel prayoing as a way of preparing for the day ahead. At 7 am, he celebrates the Eucharist with some sisters and co-workers. At 8 am, he returns to the archbishop's palace for breakfast (fresh cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and milk) prepared by the sisters. As soon as he is done with breakfast, he goes back to the chapel. On the left side of the altar is a specially designed lectern with a folding wooden shelf. It is located near a char and a kneeler. A radiator and a lamp are placed nearby. Arranged this way, he is able to kneel and meditate, or sit to read and write. To make sure that he is not disturbed or distracted, he locks the door of the chapel. Immersed in silence before the Blessed Sacrament, he writes his homilies, pastoral letters and episcopal communiqués. At 11 am, the archbishop leaves the chapl and goes to his office.

"The door of Archbishop Wojtyla's office is open to all. He receives whoever comes. To see him, one has to stand in line,w hich lasts typically for more than two hours. Every parishioner of Krakow knows that there is no need for an appointment if one desires to see the archbishop for counsel regarding personal problems.

"At 1:30 pm, the line of people ends. The archbishop then goes to lunch, usually inviting the last person in line to share the meal with him. After mealtime, he takes a ten-minute nap in an armchair in order to avoid falling into deep sleep. Then, after a quick review of the questions and problems of the day with his chancellor, he goes for a short walk. As soon as he gets back, he begins the daily marathon that consists of parochial visits and sacramental celebrations in the four corners of his archdiocese. ...

"Often the archbishop is invited to dinner and usually returns late to his private apartment on the first floor of the palace. The apartment has a small entrance that leads to a study and a tiny bedroom. The modest furnishings include a single bed, on which a worn out woolen quilt and a pillow with folkloric designs rest; a plastic lamp by the headboard where the light switch is; a bedside table, on which a rosary, a thermos and a glass lie. Near the bed, on the wooden floor, is a pair of black shoes and old slippers. An image of the Blessed Mother and a Polish winter landscape adorn the walls of the room. ...

"After 11 in the evening, life seems to stop at number 3, Franciszkanska Street. The corridors are deserted; the grand staircase is silent. Only a light filters trough the slits of the doors of the chapel; the archbishop is praying."

(Bernard Lecomte, John Paul II. Gallimard: 2006)

Man of prayer

2009-04-25T02:30:00.001-07:00

"The Holy Father, kneeling in prayer, looked huge. The cape on his wide shoulders called to mind a snow-covered landscape and I wondered how it had been possible to get a mountain into such a small space. (Since the attempted assassination of 13 May 1981 the snow will have melted to reveal the bare rock.) I had before me a block of prayer. After Mass, said quite meticulously and with the stately pace of an orbiting planet, twenty minutes were devoted to the thanksgiving, a practice almost obsolete elsewhere, during which John Paul II remained kneeling on his prie-Dieu, the arm-rest of which is the size of a lectern. He prays, I had almost said as he breathes, and yet his prayer is action."

(André Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 32)

Prayer on his lips

2009-04-25T02:29:00.000-07:00

"[W]hen John Paul II exclaims at a public appearance, 'Praised be Jesus Christ', the phrase ceases to be a sort of a ritual banality and immediately becomes the enunciation of a discovery. This ability to give fresh life to words is the gift of poets, of great mystics and, naturally, of the apostles of Christ, who are the appointed reresentatives of the Word."

(André Frossard, Be Not Afraid!, p 9)

John Paul II's devotion to the angels

2009-04-25T02:28:00.001-07:00

"I have a special devotion to my Guardian Angel. Probably like all children, during my childhood I would often pray: 'Angel of God, my guardian, be always with me...always stand ready to help me, guard my soul and my body...' My Guardian Angel knows what I am doing. My faith in him, in his protective presence, continues to grow deeper and deeper. Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael--these are the archangels I frequently invoke during prayer."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 26).

Prostrated in prayer

2009-04-25T02:26:00.002-07:00

After he was informed that he had been named bishop, he [Karol Wojtyla] went to pray in the convent of the Ursuline Sisters on Wislana Street (Warsaw). He asked to go to the chapel. One nun relates: "When he did not emerge for some time, they looked in on him. He lay prostrate on the ground. The sister stepped back, filled with respect. 'He must have an important matter, perhaps he's a penitent.' After another while, the sister looked into the chapel again. The priest still lay prostrate. But the hour was late. The sister went up to him and shyly asked: 'Perhaps Father would be so kind to come to supper?' The stranger responded: 'My train to Krakow isn't until after midnight... I have much to discuss with the Lord. Do not disturb me.'"

(O'Connor, p 138)

His father's quiet example

2009-04-25T02:26:00.001-07:00

"I had not yet made my First Communion when I lost my mother: I was barely nine years old. So I do not have a clear awareness of her contribution which must have been great, to my religious training... Day after day I was able to observe the austere way in which [my father] lived... Sometimes I would wake up during the night and find my father on his knees, just as I would always see him kneeling in the parish church."

(John Paul II, Gift and Mystery, p 20)

Personality of John Paul II

2009-04-25T02:25:00.001-07:00

MARGARET WARNER: Did the regime in Poland who knew him, of course, as priest Karol Wojtyla, did they know when he became pope that that was trouble?

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: They certainly knew. I can even tell you an anecdote which I think illustrates that, but I have to warn you it's slightly off-color, I hope that's permissible, but it's true. It's an authentic story. The communist writers in the city of Krakow - the communist writers -- were having a party cell meeting, and a secret police colonel was giving an oration on subversion. And he really referred to Karol Wojtyla, the name of the pope, as being the source of this subversion.

MARGARET WARNER: Before he was pope.

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: Before he was pope. He wasn't pope yet. When all of a sudden, the lady who presides over the buffet-- I assume probably an alcoholic buffet-- bursts into the courtroom and screams loudly "Wojtyla has just been elected pope." The colonel comes to a dead stop. Sitting next to him on the podium was the first party secretary and the second party for the region. The first party secretary was so stunned that he forgot that the microphone was on. He turns to the second party secretary where the colonel is silent and says to him loudly, "My God, my God, from now on we'll have to kiss his ass;" whereupon, the second secretary turns to him and equally loudly says, but in a whimper, "Only... only if he lets us." That tells you how the communist regime felt and immediately recognized that they were now dealing with a formidable force.

(From http://www.jknirp.com/zbig.htm)

Pray for us at the hour of our death

2009-04-25T02:24:00.001-07:00

"On the evening of the First Sunday of Lent, John Paul began his annual week-long retreat, along with the senior members of the Roman Curia .... That same day, ninety-seven-year-old Sister Lucia dos Santos, last surviving child-seer of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima in 1917, died in her Portuguese convent in Coimbra. John Paul sent Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., the archbishop of Genoa, as a special envoy to her February 15 funeral. There, Cardinal Bertone read a message from the Pope, in which John Paul said that he liked 'to think that it was the Blessed Virgin, the same one whom Sister Lucia saw at Fatima so many years ago, who welcomed her on her pious departure from earth to Heaven.' Many would soon think similar thoughts of another spiritual voyager."

(George Weigel, God's Choice, pp 23-24)

John Paul II and the Morenita

2009-04-25T02:23:00.001-07:00

"These pilgrimages to Jasna Gora may have given birth to my desire to begin my pilgrim journeys as Pope by visiting a Marian shrine. This desire led me to make my first apostolic journey to Mexico, at the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The love that the Mexicans and the people of Latin America in general have for Our Lady of Guadalupe--a love expressed spontaneously and emotionally, but intensely and profoundly--is very similar to the Polish Marian devotion that shaped my own spirituality. They affectionately call Mary La Virgen Morenita, which can be freely translated as 'the Black Madonna'. There is a popular Mexican song about the love of a young man for a young lady, which the people address to Our Lady. Those melodious words linger in my ears:

Conocí a una linda Morenita ... y la quise mucho.
Por las tardes iba yo enamorado y cariñoso a verla.
Al contemplar sus ojos, mi pasión crecía.
Ay Morena, morenita mía, no te olvidaré.
Hay un Amor muy grande que existe entre los dos, entre los dos...

I met a beautiful dark-skinned woman and came to like her very much.
Evenings--full of love and affection--I would walk to see her.
When I looked into her eyes, my love grew.
O dark-skinned woman, my dark-skinned woman, I will not forget you.
There is a great love between us, between us ...

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 55)

Joy in the wake of John Paul II

2009-04-25T02:21:00.001-07:00

(During the Pope's wake, in Rome.) "Yet the crowds were not somber or melancholy. The streets around the Vatican were filled with a sense of gratitude for a Christian life well-lived, and a sense of faith that the man to whom milliions had come to bid farewell was, indeed, in 'the house of the Father'."

(George Weigel, God's Choice, p 168)

Laughing at one's weakness

2009-04-25T02:19:00.002-07:00

"He had long treated his infirmities with the medicine of humour. Asked how we felt in 1994, shortly after the hip-replacement surgery, he shot back, wryly, "Neck down, not so good."

(Weigel, God's Choice, p 14)

Keeping up with John Paul II

2009-04-25T02:19:00.001-07:00

"John Paul set a pace of physical activity during the first fourteen years of his pontificate that often left those around him gasping in the dust. (He could, and did, tease others about their stamina, or lack thereof. When the papal plane crossed the international date line on its circumnavigation of the globe, during a grueling two-week pilgrimage to the Philippines, Guam, Japan, and Alaska in February 1981, the Pope, mischief in his eyes, cracked to an exhaustsed papal entourage and press corps, "Now we must decide what tod o with the extra day we've been given.")

(Weigel, God's Choice, pp 9-10)

John Paul II's sense of humour

2009-04-25T02:18:00.001-07:00

Interview with Jon Voight (http://www.beliefnet.com/story/179/story_17988_1.html)

Humour and simplicity

2009-04-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes at lunch with bishops, he will joke about his popular appeal," says Paul Cardinal Poupard. "He will say, 'That's the charisma of Peter.'" Yet intimates also say he is insistent that his role as Pope not be confused with his own person. He doesn't use the papal we but always says, "I think," "I believe," "I wonder." He is a good listener who asks questions and puts people at ease, says a senior Vatican official. "After five minutes you forget you're talking to the Pope. It is like friends talking over coffee." Though he devotes much of his attention to weighty subjects, there are also lighter moments. "He likes to tell stories, anecdotes, jokes," says this official. "He has a good sense of humor."

(http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/19/time/mcgeary.html)

A fatherly scolding

2009-04-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

When he [Karol Wojtyla] was 10 or 12, he was a choirboy. But his father noticed he was not so diligent. One day, his dad told him, "You are not being a goood choirboy. You don't pray to the Holy Spirit enough. You ought to pray to him." And his father taught Karol a prayer which he said he hadn't forgotten.

(Frossard, Portrait, p74; quoted in O'Connor, p 17)

Bishop Wojtyla and the Blessed Sacrament

2009-04-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

"Every bishop enjoys the privilege of maintaining a chapel in his own home, so close that he can reach out and touch it, but this privilege also brings with it great responsibility. The reason for having a chapel so close is so that everything in the bishop's life--his teaching, his decisions, his pastoral care--might begin from the feet of Christ, concealed in the Blessed Sacrament.

"I witnessed firsthand the habitual practice of Cardinal Adam Sapieha in this regard. In his homily at Cardinal Sapieha's funeral, Cardinal Wyszynski said: 'One aspect of this man's life, one among many others, has caused me to reflect. At the end of a long and exhausting working day during the meetings of the Episcopal Conference, the rest of us were all tired and would hurry back home. He, however, seemingly indefatigable, would go to his cold chapel and stay there in the presence of God until late at night. For how long? I don't know. I never heard the footsteps of the Cardinal coming back from the chapel, while I was workiing late nights at the archbishop's residence. One thing I do know: at his advanced age he was entitled to some rest. I think the Cardinal needed to conclude his daily labours with the golden lock of sleep and instead he closed them with the diamond of prayer. This was truly a man of prayer!'

"I tried to imitate his unparalleled example by not only praying in the house chapel but also sitting, writing my books there. That's where I wrote Person and Action, among others. I have always been convinced that the chapel is a place of special inspiration. What a great privilege to be able to live and work in the shadow of His Presence, such a powerfully magnetic Presence! ...

"It is not always necessary to enter physically into the chapel in order to enter spiritually into the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. I have always sensed that Christ was the real owner of my episcopal residence, and that we bishops were just short-term tenants. That's how it was in Franciszkanska Street for almost twenty years, and that's how it is here in the Vatican."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 145-147)

Mass during the camping trips

2009-04-25T02:13:00.002-07:00

"On such [canoeing] trips I always brought a cassock and a complete set of vestments so that I could celebrate Mass."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 8)

John Paul II -- man from Galilee

2009-04-25T02:13:00.001-07:00

"We had learnt that he came from Poland. My impression was rather that he had left his nets on the shore of a lake and that he came straight from Galilee, on the heels of the apostle Peter. I had never felt so close to the Gospel. For the words 'Be not afraid' were doubtless addressed to a world in which man fears man, fears life as much as, if not more than, death, fears the savage forces he holds prisoner, fears everything, nothing and sometimes even his own fear; but they were also, or might have been, the exhortation of a disciple in the dawn of Christianity to his brothers called to bear witness, and while the new Pope spoke, the memory of Nero's circus on which St Peter's is built rose again from beneath the marble."

(Andre Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 7)

Shepherd looking for the lost sheep

2009-04-25T02:10:00.000-07:00

(This is what Scott Hahn told us at a recent conference in Denver on Confession.)

A priest was in Rome and had a scheduled audience with Pope John Paul II. The meeting was scheduled for late afternoon and having some time on his hands, he went to a nearby church to pray. There were some steep steps leading up to the church and as he climbed the steps he noticed a number of beggars sitting on the steps. This isn’t unusual because there are a lot of beggars in Rome. As he passed, a man looked familiar, but he continued on into the church and prayed. While praying it dawned on him who the beggar he saw was – it was a former classmate from the seminary who had been ordained a priest with him. Shocked by this knowledge, he returned to the steps and found the fellow and said, “Are you Father Jim.”

“Yes,” replied the beggar.

“What has happened that you are in this condition now?”

“None of your business – so bug off and leave me alone.”

It was almost time, so he left and went to Vatican.

As the audience progressed, the Pope’s secretary gave each participant a rosary and each person was allowed to approach the Holy Father for his blessing. Most people were just blessed without speaking to the Holy Father. When it came his turn, he said to Pope John Paul, “Holy Father, I just had a shock. I encountered a former classmate who was ordained with me, now sitting as a beggar on the steps of St. Mary’s here in Rome. Will you please pray for him?” The Holy Father nodded and the priest moved on. Before he left the audience, he was approached by the Pope’s secretary who gave him two tickets to have dinner with the Holy Father that night at Vatican. He told the priest to bring his friend with him.

The priest hurried back to St. Mary’s and found his friend was still there. He approached him and said, “Jim, we’ve been invited to dine with the Pope tonight.”
Jim answered angrily, “Are you crazy? I’m a beggar – look at me – I’m dirty and haven’t a decent garment to wear – bug off!”

“Listen,” said the priest. “You’ve got to go with me. You are my ticket to this dinner! My hotel room is across the street. I’ll take you there and you can shower and shave and some of my clothes will fit you – you’ll be fine.”

He almost dragged the poor beggar to the hotel room. He got him all cleaned up and they returned to Vatican for dinner.

They were ushered into a room with a long table. The Holy Father was at the head of the table. After three courses of delicious food, the Pope’s secretary approached Father Jim and asked him to step into the hall. He then left with the secretary.

Some time later, people asked, “When will they return for the dinner?”

“This Pope, we never know him,” replied Pope’s secretary.

After dinner, the priest asked Father Jim, “What went on there and what happened?” With tears in his eyes, Father Jim said, “Well, the secretary took me into the hall with the Pope.

The Holy Father said to me, ‘Father Jim, will you hear my confession.’

I exclaimed, ‘Holy Father, I’m just a beggar!’

‘So am I,’ replied the Holy Father.

‘But’, I replied, ‘I’m not a priest in good standing.’

The Holy Father answered, ‘Once a priest, always a priest.’

“Pope John Paul II knelt down and I heard his confession. When he had received absolution, I knelt before him and asked him to hear my confession too, which he did.
Then the Pope had reinstated my priestly faculties and assigned me to St. Mary’s parish where my ministry would be to the beggars there.” Father Jim said.

(From the e-mail)

Bishop Wojtyla visits the seminary

2009-04-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

"When I was the bishop of Krakow, I showed a special interest in following vocations. At the end of June, I would ask how many applicants there were for the following year. Leter, once they had been admitted, I would meet each one individually, ask about his family, and together we would try to discern his vocation. I would invite seminarians for morning Mass in my chapel and then offer them breakfast. This was an excellent way to get to know them. I joined them for dinner on Christmas Eve at the seminary or I invited the seminarians to join me in Franciszkanska Street. They didn't return to their families for the big feasts, so I wanted somehow to compensate them for this sacrifice. All these things I was able to do when I was in Krakow. In Rome it is more difficult because there are so many seminaries. Nonetheless, I have personally visited all of them, and when I've had the opportunity, I have invited the rectors to the Vatican."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp ??)

Visiting parishes

2009-04-25T02:08:00.000-07:00

"My pastoral visitations were rather long.... I worked out my own model for carrying out this pastoral responsibility. ... I worked out a particular pattern. The visitation always began with a welcome ceremony.... Then they took me to the church where I gave an address in order to establish a rapport with the people. The next day I first heard confessions for an hour or two, depending on the circumstances.

"Then I celebrated Mass and visited homes, especially the homes of sick people."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 74-75)

The example of a father

2009-04-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

"'My father was admirable and almost all the memories of my childhood and adolescence are connected with him. The violence of the blows which had struck him had opened up immense spiritual depths in him; his grief found its outlet in prayer. The mere fact of seeing him on his knees had a decisive influence on my early years. He was so hard on himself that he had no need to be hard on his son; his example alone was sufficient to inculcate discipline and a sense of duty.'"

(John Paul II, in André Frossard, Be Not Afraid!, p 14)

Fruits of generosity

2009-04-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

"Leaving the academic world, leaving this challenging engagement with young people, leaving the great intellectual endeavour of striving to understand and interpret the mystery of that creature which is man and of communicating to today’s world the Christian interpretation of our being – all this must have seemed to him like losing his very self, losing what had become the very human identity of this young priest.

"Follow me – Karol Wojtyła accepted the appointment, for he heard in the Church’s call the voice of Christ. And then he realized how true are the Lord’s words: "Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it" (Lk 17:33).

"Our Pope – and we all know this – never wanted to make his own life secure, to keep it for himself; he wanted to give of himself unreservedly, to the very last moment, for Christ and thus also for us.

"And thus he came to experience how everything which he had given over into the Lord’s hands came back to him in a new way. His love of words, of poetry, of literature, became an essential part of his pastoral mission and gave new vitality, new urgency, new attractiveness to the preaching of the Gospel, even when it is a sign of contradiction."

(Card. Joseph Ratzinger, Homily, Funeral of Pope John Paul II)

Always learning

2009-04-25T01:58:00.001-07:00

"I draw great profit from meeting bishops: I could say in all simplicity that from them I learn about the Church. I need to do this constantly, because I am always learning new things."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 161-162)

Books John Paul II read

2009-04-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

"I know how hard it is to find time for everything. Yet this experience has also taught me the great need a bishop has for recollection and study. He has to have a profound theological formation, constantly updated, and a wide-ranging interest in thought and culture. These are treasures that all thinking people share. For this reason I would like to say something about the importance of reading in my life as a bishop.

"This has always been a dilemma for me: What am I to read? I have always tried to choose what was most essential. So much has been published and not everything is valuable and useful. It is important to know how to choose and to consult others about what is worth reading."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 93-94)

Miracle through John Paul II

2009-04-25T01:55:00.000-07:00

"Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina, had left his rectory and the television coverage of the Pope's death to go over to his church and hear Saturday afternoon confessions. Some time later, he called a friend and reported that he'd just had 'the most remarkable three hours of my priesthood'. Six people who hadn't been to confession in between thirty and forty years had come to St Mary's to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. After welcoming them home, Father Newman asked each penitent why they had picked that moment to return. In each case, it was the death of the Pope. As Father Newman put it, 'it's only been four hourse since he died, and the grace is already pouring out."

(George Weigel, God's Choice, pp 155-156)

John Paul II in Paris traffic

2009-04-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

"I remember being held up at one of the gates of Paris about that time with some fifty other drivers. It turned out that the Pope was to pass this way. We all got out of our cars, and he finally appeared from a tunnel; the inside light of his car was on and we caught a glimpse of him in his great red cloak. He gave us a friendly wave, there were cheers and everyone quietly got back behind the steering wheel. It was the first time that I had seen Parisian motorists caught in a fifteen-minute traffic jam without losing their tempers. If there is any question of beatifying John Paul II in days to come, I hope that this miracle will be put on the file."

(André Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 44)

John Paul II's faith

2009-04-25T01:53:00.000-07:00

"It was faith, of course, that was at the root of this total offering of himself. In the Second Reading that we have just heard, St Peter too uses the image of the gold tested by fire and applies it to faith (cf. I Pt 1: 7). In fact, in life's difficulties it is especially the quality of the faith of each one of us that is tried and tested: its firmness, its purity, its consistency with life. Well, the late Pontiff, whom God had endowed with multiple human and spiritual gifts, in passing through the crucible of apostolic labours and sickness, appeared more and more as a "rock" of faith.

"To those who had the opportunity to be close to him, that firm and forthright faith was almost tangible. If it impressed the circle of his collaborators, it did not fail during his long Pontificate to spread its beneficial influence throughout the Church in a crescendo that reached its highest point in the last months and days of his life.

"It was a convinced, strong and authentic faith - free of the fears and compromises that have infected the hearts of so many people -, thanks partly to his many Apostolic Pilgrimages in every part of the world, and especially thanks to that last "journey", his agony and his death."

(Benedict XVI, Homily, Mass in the Anniversary of the Pope John Paul II's Death, 3 April 2006)

John Paul II's Via Crucis

2009-04-25T01:52:00.000-07:00

(After the Pope returned from the Gemelli on 13 March 2005 after another stay). "Hanna Suchocka, the Polish ambassador to the Holy See and a former Polish primer ministers ... said to a friend, after the Lenten stational Mass at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, 'He is living his via crucis.'"

(George Weigel, God's Choice, p 28)

Adventures of Fr Karol Wojtyla

2009-04-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

"Over beaten path in the snow. But snow will cling to your cassock, then it will thaw out indoors, and freeze again outside, forming a heavy bell round your legs, which gets heavier and heavier... By evening, you could hardly drag your legs, but you have to go on, because you know that people wait for you, that they wait all year long for this meeting..."

(Malinksi, Pope John Paul II, p 249)

Facing suffering

2009-04-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

"When I was young sick people used to intimidate me. [They] bore in their bodies a dread mystery." (Frossard, Portrait, p 20) "I remember that at the beginning the sick intimidated me. I needed a lot of courage to stand before a sick person and enter, so to speak, into his physical and spiritual pain, not to betray discomfort, and to show at least a little loving compassion. Only later did I begin to grasp the profound meaning of the mystery of human suffering."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 75)

The pectoral cross--cross on the breast

2009-04-25T01:49:00.001-07:00

[Quoting Cardinal Wyszynski on words pronounced on 11 May 1946, the day before the future Cardinal was ordained bishop] "Being a bishop has something of the Cross about it, which is why the Church places the Cross on the bishop's breast. On the Cross, we have to die to ourselves; without this there cannot be the fullness of the priesthood. To take up one's Cross is not easy, even if it made of gold and studded with jewels."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 189)

Losing loved ones

2009-04-25T01:48:00.001-07:00

"'At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved and even the ones that I might have loved, such as the big sister who had died, so I was told, six years before my birth. I was not old enough to make my first communion when I lost my mother, who did not have the happiness of seeing the day to which she looked forward as a great day. She wanted two sons, one a doctor and the other a priest; my brother was a doctor and, in spite of everything, I have become a priest.'"

(André Frossard, Be Not Afraid!, 13)

Quick reponse to the call

2009-04-25T01:46:00.002-07:00

"The year is 1958. I'm on a train traveling toward Olsztyn with my group of canoeists. We are beginning the vacation schedule that we have been following since 1953: part of the vacation we are to spend in the mountains, most often in the Bieszczady mountains, and part on the lakes in the Masuria region. Our destination is the Lyna river. That's why--it is July--we are on the train bound for Olsztyn. I say to the so-called admiral--as far as I can remember at that time it was Zdzislaw Heydel: 'Zdzislaw, I'm going to have to leave the canoe because I have been summoned by the Primate [...Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski] and I must go to see him."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 7)

Prayer and calling

2009-04-25T01:46:00.001-07:00

"In October 1978 Cardinal Wojtyła once again heard the voice of the Lord. Once more there took place that dialogue with Peter reported in the Gospel of this Mass: "Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my sheep!" To the Lord’s question, "Karol, do you love me?," the Archbishop of Krakow answered from the depths of his heart: "Lord you know everything; you know that I love you." The love of Christ was the dominant force in the life of our beloved Holy Father. Anyone who ever saw him pray, who ever heard him preach, knows that."

(Card. Joseph Ratzinger, Homily, Funeral for Pope John Paul II)

Prayer and the call

2009-04-25T01:45:00.001-07:00

"At the conclusion of this audience [informing him that he would become auxiliary bishop of Krakow at 38], of such great importance for my life, I realised that I could not return immediately to my canoeing friends: first I had to go to Krakow to inform Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak, my Ordinary. While waiting for the night train to Krakow, I spent many hours in prayer at the chapel of the Ursuline Sisters in Warsaw on Wislana Street. ...

"The next day I went to see Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak at 3 Franciszkanska Street and handed him a letter from the Cardinal Primate. ...

"When I said to the Archbishop that I would like to return to Masuria to join my friends who were canoeing on the Lyna River, he answered: 'I don't think that would be appropriate.'

"Somewhat troubled by this reply, I went to the Church of the Franciscans and prayed the Way of the Cross. ... Then I went back to Archbishop Baziak renewing my request. I said, 'I appreciate your concern, Excellency, but I would still ask you to allow me to return to Masuria.'

"This time he answered: 'Yes, yes, by all means. But I ask you, please,' he added with a smile, 'come back in time for the consecration.'

"So that very evening I again boarded the train for Olsztyn."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 9-11)

Surprise at the conclave

2009-04-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

"'I think that the conclave's vote that day surprised many people besides me! But what God commands, which may seem humanly impossible, he gives us the means to carry out. That is the secret of every vocation. Every vocation changes our plans, disclosing a new one, and it is astonishing to see how much inner help God gives us, how he tunes us in to a new 'wave length', how he prepares us to enter into this new plan and to make it our own by simply seeing it as the Father's will and accepting it. And all this whatever our weakness and out attachment to our personal views.'"

(André Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 25)

Calling to the priesthood

2009-04-25T01:43:00.000-07:00

'Towards the end of my years at the lycée the people around me thought that I would choose the priesthood. As for me, I did not give it a thought. I was quite sure that I would remain a layman. Committed to be sure, determined without any dount to participate in the life of the Church; but a priest, certainly not.'

"He quotes the epistle to the Hebrews: 'One does not take the honour upon himself!' (Heb 5:4). In this domain, one does not choose; one is chosen....

'After my father's death, which occurred in February 1941, I gradually became aware of my true path. I was working at the factory and devoting myself, as far as the terrors of the occupation allowed, to my taste for literature and drama. My priestly vocation took shape in the midst of all that, like an innfer fact of unquestionable and absolute clarity. The following year, in the autumn, I knew that I was called. I could see clearly what I had to give up and the goal that I had to attain,'without looking back'. I would be a priest.'"

(André Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 15)

Irena Sendler

2009-04-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena.

During WWII, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive ' ... She KNEW what the Nazis' plans were for the Jews, (being German).

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids'/infants' noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept it in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.

After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most of course had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.

Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

GOD BLESS HER. May she rest in Peace.

(Received in the e-mail.)

Always on candid camera

2009-04-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

During election years, the 24-hour news cycle is bad news for me. I want to keep up with everything. As for the candidates: they can never let their guard down.

Besides public speeches, a candidate's every statement, every gesture, every response is open season for reporters. Someone's always there with a pencil, a camera, a tape recorder. Wow! What if our every word was fodder for world headlines? "Today's top story: In Big Presentation, Joe Smith Fudges on Numbers."

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. In the Bible, Jesus tells us that one day, every word spoken in darkness will be heard from the rooftops. That's a news broadcast worth keeping in mind . . . in the high calling of our daily work.

What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. (Luke 12:3)

(Howard Butt Jr, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=399&WID=384&T=H&SID=12675)

Tap on the shoulder

2009-04-18T03:46:00.001-07:00

A passenger in a taxi tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him something.. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window..

For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, then the driver said, "Please, don't ever do that again. You scared the living daylights out of me!!"

The passenger, who was also frightened, apologized and said he didn't realize that a tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much.

To which the driver replied, "I'm sorry, it's really not your fault at all. Today is my first day driving a cab. I have been driving a hearse for the last 25 years."