Be encouraged!

A nice woman approached me at the vigil I posted here last, and gave me a card with this paragraph on it. She had seen me going around snapping pictures, and for whatever reason, felt she needed to share this with me.

It is nice to receive encouragement.

I was watching this video-




--and Mr. D'Souza shared an Indian saying at about 13:25--"After crossing the mountains -- more mountains." He was talking about how it is easy for conservatives to grow weary.

Galatians 6:9 says this-

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

In my very humble opinion, Barack Obama would not be president today if people had not "given up" to the media blitz for Obama, if the faithful Christians of America had done their own homework, rather than letting themselves be led by headlines and weak pastoral statements about "conscience" fromt he American Bishops. (for those of us who are Catholic). There are plenty now who are taking a much clearer stance.

"You need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."-Bishop Thomas Paprocki

 Now, folks, we have no excuse. Let's not be lazy. Don't simply " hope for the best." Don't be taken in by the Obama-Media. Don't let polls discourage you. Consider that there may be some who would try to dishearten conservative voters with smears against Gov. Romney. I think he will do well in the debates, but even if he doesn't, or (this is likely) that you and I think he does well, but the media proclaims him as losing--don't be swayed. Remember your children and grandchildren, who may have to live under whatever the Unconcerned-about-Reelection-Obama dishes out. (shudder.)

Unborn babies cannot do anything unless we rise up to help them. Re-electing this man is tantamount to a death sentence for untold numbers of the unborn. It is an invitation to an even more rapid decline of the values that helped shape America. Before anyone feels the need to react to these statements, no, I don't expect abortions to stop on a dime on January 22, 2013. Or that Roe v Wade will overturn immediately. But I DO know that Obamacare will go, which will spark businesses and restore religious freedom to those opposed to the mandate. Oh, and relieve many American doctors. Maybe even the March for Life on January 25, 2013, will actually be acknowledged. Maybe even the number topping a quarter of a million marchers will even be reported accurately. Hey, a girl can dream!

"It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion." -- Pope Benedict XVI



Glenn beck held a telephone conference on Tuesday night (Sept. 25), explicitly for Catholics. He urged us to get on our knees for our country. There is a recording of the half-hour call on the net somewhere, but I couldn't remember where I saw it, and couldn't locate it today. I usually am kind of freaked out by him, but I am glad I tuned in.


So, friends, I encourage you! Do not give up! Let's fight the good fight every day, wherever our footsteps take us. Everything belongs to God. Let's live in the times we are born, as people that recognize that and are willing to live as His children, acknowledging Him in all we do and say.

~God Bless You~

+JMJ+

Kelly

Advent-- He comes toward us

 Well, friends, this is my first posting with my new computer. What a blessing! It does whatever I ask it to do! A novel idea.

 I am in the midst of doing two things as this Advent gets underway. One is our parish's annual novena for the Immaculate Conception. Simultaneously, I am reading and praying through the Total Consecration to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort. I am so thankful, firstly, to God and the Church for providing these devotions, and to Father Check and our parish, for nurturing our devotion by promoting these practices. I know I would not have the impetus on my own steam, if not guided and given the structures to follow. 

  I am humbled and chastened daily. Something I need, but all this is done so gently and lovingly that I only come away blessed and at peace, not at all saddened or disappointed in myself. That's the way I believe, one really knows the hand of God; that whenever we become aware of a measure of our own sin, it is delivered with such a tender, encouraging hand, that we can only respond in gratitude. It is then we know we have been given the grace to change things in ourselves that, under other circumstances, we would find impossible. We know He deserves all the credit for these moments.

 In my search for joy, peace, courage, wisdom, strength, and charity, I cherish the moments that my Lord reaches through my small attempts to grow an inch in holiness and assist me by removing even the smallest of motes from my eye that I couldn't remove myself. Don't get me wrong! I need lots more than a mote removed. But I am thankful for the mote. 

I am looking forward to this Christmas, as I always am, but because of this time I got to spend in a bit of preparation, I can carry the peace and joy through to regular life, and hopefully, to others.

This is a song my husband and I are busily trying to recruit a few "extras" to do this Christmas. :) It sets just the perfect tone for getting ready for His coming. At one of our novenas, Father Kelley went into his teaching mode (which I rather like :) and taught us that the word Advent  means "He comes toward." what a beautiful image, to think of Him always moving toward us. Father explained that only in Christianity, do we have a God that comes to us. In all other religions, it is the people who seek after Him. What a blessing to know that our God is always seeking after us.

What Sweeter Music
What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!
Dark and dull night, fly hence away,
And give the honor to this day,
That sees December turned to May.
Why does the chilling winter’s morn
Smile, like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly-shorn,
Thus, on the sudden? Come and see
The cause, why things thus fragrant be:
‘Tis He is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and luster, public mirth,
To heaven, and the under-earth.
We see him come, and know him ours,
Who, with his sunshine and his showers,
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.
The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome him. The nobler part
Of all the house here, is the heart.
Which we will give him; and bequeath
This holly, and this ivy wreath,
To do him honour, who’s our King,
And Lord of all this revelling.
What sweeter music can we bring,
Than a carol for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
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