Carpe Diem

Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace and is most often translated as "seize the day".  In that poem the concept is simple - take all that you can out of today because who knows if and what the future will hold.  Will any of us have a future?  And if we do, what sort of future might that be - filled with good things and joyful moments or perhaps something quite the opposite?


Life is interesting in that way - as it says in scripture - none of us knows the day or the hour.  How long do we have on this spaceship called Earth and where are we heading?  Will we live to our 80's or 90's or will our lives be cut much shorter than that?  We can do our best to stay alive for as long as we can - but we fool ourselves if we think we are really in control.  There are so many variables - most of which we cannot control.  


With that thought in mind - we need to remind ourselves to make our decisions without any major delays.  We need to act and do and live and experience all the goodness that exists in our world. We need to seek good opportunities with good friends now rather than later.  We need to grasp that which is here and now - to seize the day - while we still have the time.


God Bless
Deacon Dale 

John 10:10

Probably one of the most quoted verses is John 10:10 which summarized says "I came that you might have life and live it to the fullest".  Just what does that mean?  Does it say that we should all be millionaires and live in mansions and drive exotic cars?  I don't think so.


Having life and living life to the fullest are two different things.  All people have life - they move and breathe - they eat and play - they sleep and work.  That may be  existence, but it certainly is not living.  


Living life means experiencing everything that life holds for you - the sad as well as the glad, the traumatic as well as the ecstatic.  When you open yourself up to all that life contains, you realize  that living life is not just about being happy.  No - it is about joy.  Joy at being who you are, joy at what you have done and what you can do, joy at the possibilities of life if you dare to experience them, joy at finding true happiness.


To find true joy you must be wiling to make changes - to eliminate those things in your life that are holding you back.  Bad attitudes - bad habits - bad relationships - all have to be removed from your life.  It is not always easy to make these changes - but with a little faith and a lot of trust - all things are possible with God.  Go to your prayer closet - close the door against the demons of failure, mistrust, anger, loneliness - and open your mind and heart to Jesus who will heal you of these demons.  It may not happen overnight - but in God's time it will!


Ciao
Deacon Dale 

Foreign Language

The other day my daughter-in-law was sharing a story about my five year old grandson who was being driven home by his friend's mother.  On the way his buddy started singing a song in a foreign language.  After the song was finished his mother asked my grandson if anyone in his family spoke a foreign language.  There was a long pause - then my grandson said "well my Nana and Papa speak a lot of Jesus!"  He then proceeded to tell her all about Jesus from his birth to death.


When I heard this I was shocked since I am always trying to teach him some Spanish or Italian or Polish.  Then as I thought about it - I started thinking as a five year old and I had to agree with his opinion that maybe speaking about Jesus is like a foreign language.


How many people go through their entire lives never hearing the Gospel proclaimed to them?  Or maybe they hear part of the Gospel and never have it explained to them.  To me that would be equivalent to hearing a foreign language. 


The next time you feel moved to share the message of the Gospel - stop and assess what you are sharing.  Do not think that everything is clear and understandable.  Remember to pause thoughout your sharing and ask if you need to clarify what you are sharing - otherwise your listener may think that you are speaking a foreign language!


Deacon Dale 

A Miss is as Good as a Mile

"A miss is as good as a mile" is a common phrase that means a narrow miss is as good as a wide miss - they are both misses.  In simpler terms if you missed something - it does not matter how close you came or how far away you were - the end result is that you missed it!


How many times have we lamented the fact that an opportunity was right at hand but because of other things on our mind - we missed our "window" of opportunity.  Then to make matters worse, we go on and on about how close we were.  Or, on the other hand, we hear about somebody else who missed an opportunity that was not even available to us and we sit around and lament that we didn't even have that same opportunity - missed it by a mile (or a week or a life time).


"Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest".  Did you hear that when you were younger and understood the meaning and responded?  Or maybe you missed that.  Perhaps that is a phrase you just recently heard.  Do you lament that you missed it  and didn't make a decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour at an earlier age - or do you rejoice that you did eventually make that decision and now can say YES - Jesus is my Lord?


When we miss - we miss period.  But with Jesus - He never misses!


Deacon Dale 

Lost and Found

I have been helping some young men settle their father's estate and in the course of locating all his assets they were unable to find stock certificates that were quite valuable.  After many months of looking where they thought they should have been, they finally found them in a logical but illogical place.  It reminds me of the parable (Luke 15:8-10) of the woman who had 10 coins and lost one and diligently swept the house in search of it,


That is how Jesus is with us.  When we stray from the straight and narrow and wander off the path of life - we allow ourselves to get "lost".  We wander aimlessly wasting time in needless efforts and activities - all the time Jesus is waiting patiently for us to regain our focus.  Most of us do eventually realize that we have been walking the wrong path and return to Jesus on our own - some never do. The really great thing here is that while we are wandering and wasting precious time - Jesus is always there patiently waiting for us to realize that we are lost - waiting for us to be found.


Deacon Dale

Have A Large Day

Many years ago I worked for an employer who would say thank you to his customers as they finalized their transaction and then as they would turn to leave he would tell them to "have a large day".  It sounded a bit funny as most people would have said have a good day.  But this fellow never wished anyone a good day - always a large day.  In thinking about it now, I realize that he was not only wishing them a day of goodness but also a day filled with as much as they could put into it.


How many of us have good days but not large ones?  Maybe most of what we do - our work - our play - is good; but, do we fill our day to the fullness that we could?  Are there times that we do nothing when we could have done something?  Maybe make that phone call to the friend you promised to call, but never do.  Maybe start that special project you have had on your mind for ages, but seem to never have the time to start.  Maybe take the time to sit and relax in between appointments, just to smell the roses.  Maybe take a few minutes here and there to talk to God, to thank Him and give Him the praise that is due Him.


Most of us have very busy days and full days - but do we have large days?


Have a Large Day
Deacon Dale 

Scardy Cat

Are you are "scardy cat"?  This morning while I was walking our new puppy in the back acres, he stopped to take care of "business" when suddenly the neighbors's dog let out a loud bark.  Bene immediately stopped what he was doing and quickly ran back to me.  That got me thinking about how it is we become scared or learn to be scared of different things.  How is it that an 8 week old puppy knows to be afraid?  To my knowledge no one taught him to be afraid - so it must be an innate quality placed inside him and us by God.  Now there are many good reasons for us to have this natural "fear factor" working in our minds.  Preservation of life for ourselves and members of our pack or family is probably the best one.  We learn to fear that which may harm us.  We fear injury, hunger, emptiness and loneliness to mention a few.  So being a scardy cat - or fearing different things may be good for us - but - what about those things we fear or are afraid of that do not have a true "fear factor"?


Being afraid of flying - or trying a new food - or traveling to a different country - or doing numerous other things that we have never done before - why are we afraid?  Most of us cannot answer that question.  Perhaps it comes down to the fact that we lack trust - not in others - but in ourselves.  We do not trust that we can accept or deal with that which is unknown to us.  We fear the unknown for no good reason.  Our lack of knowledge creates a false fear and then, if we give in, causes us angst and worry.


Jesus says to us - do not be afraid - I am with you always.  Throughout our lives - Jesus has always been there.  At our conception and birth - as we were growing up - as we matured into adults - Jesus has always been there.  He has walked alongside us our entire life and has been with us as we experienced the good as well as the bad events in our life.  When we were the weakest, He was the strongest - always holding our hand, always sharing His strength with us.  


The next time we feel scared and afraid we need to pause and ask Jesus to give us the strength and knowledge to face that which we fear. With Jesus at our side - all things are possible!


God Bless
Deacon Dale 

Holy Hour

Last night I participated in a special Holy Hour for right to life.  It was our parish's way of responding to Roe v Wade and the resulting deaths of so many innocent babies.  It was inspiring  to be a part of this Holy Hour. There we were at 7:00 at night with five willing altar servers (who should have been home doing homework) cheerfully serving and assisting.  Total attendance was close to 100 people - not bad for a Monday night service.  Normally if a church holds a function immediately following the weekend - attendance is predictably low - but not last night.  The entire Hour was filled with prayer and psalms - time for silence and a brief homily.  It was very spiritual and in a way much different from ordinary Mass.  


I noticed  - the people in attendance noticed.  Here we were at an odd hour of the evening in prayer - asking God to bless our country, our civil leaders and those who make laws.  At one time we were a really great country - but today many will agree that we no longer hold that claim to fame.  Why have we experienced so much difficulty in our lives in the past years?  The financial crash that ruined so many lives - that cost so many jobs.  The high rate of unemployment.  The loose morals that are so easily accepted as "normal". A thought came to me as I sat there in silence - maybe we have lost favor with God and His blessings or lack of blessings because we have strayed so far from Christian values of 50 or 100 or 200 years ago.  Perhaps if we all repented - stopped doing or ignoring bad things and returned to God in prayer and action - He would once again bless this great country with prosperity - with a new richness of the land - improved economics - improved health - improved way of life.  Just maybe...


Deacon Dale

Called to Serve - Called to Love

In today's Gospel reading Jesus says "Come after me and I will make you fishers of men".  His early call was to Simon and Andrew, James and John - and today He calls each of us to follow Him - to stay with Him awhile - and see where He lives.  He asks us to open our hearts completely to Him - to learn His heart and plans for mankind.  He calls us to be lovers - lovers of God, lovers of our neighbors, lovers of our enemies - lovers of life.


He calls us to evangelize and spread His gospel message of acceptance and forgiveness, healing and redemption.  He calls us to cherise life and protect life from the womb to the grave and life beyond.  Sounds simple - but is it really?


In light of Roe vs Wade - have we loved enough? - long enough? - with our entire heart and being?  Or have we closed ours eyes and ears and allowed others to tell us what to do and what to believe?  Have we become complacent or do we speak loudly of our love, of God's love for all peoples in al stages of life?


Do we serve well and love well - or do we just get by?
Deacon Dale 

Zenit

The world seen from Rome is Zenit's tag line.  This is a Catholic news source reporting events from around the globe as viewed through the eye of Rome.  To get your own free subscription click their link in the first line and sign up.  It is a free service financed by donations - so if you feel they provide value in your life, feel free to give them some money.


I appreciate their daily emails with highlight that keep me informed about the Pope, the church happenings at the Vatican and other issues of interest.


It contains interesting discussions on many topics which I think you will like.


Feel free to bookmark and add to your reading list.
Deacon Dale