Author: MPiccolo

Preach On and Often

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Matthew 28: 19-20

Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples; baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.

Ever have some good news that you can’t wait to share with someone? You remember that anxious and exciting feeling of anticipation as you told them, “I have something awesome to tell you!!” Well that’s how a lot of Christians feel too. As we learn more and more about our God and our savior Jesus Christ, we want to be able to share this information with others. Why? Because it’s helped us when we needed it. Because it’s great to know God!

Maybe you found hope in going to mass every Sunday. Maybe you attended a support group at your church. Maybe you found a great website or blog that shares inspirational scripture and it helped you through a difficult time. 🙂 Sometimes we need to share this news with others. You might hesitate because you aren’t sure if they want to hear it. Or maybe you’re fearful that they will reject your message as “hogwash” or hurt your feelings by telling you that they don’t believe in God.

Jesus wants us all to be his apostles. This doesn’t even mean we have to become great evangelists or professional speakers. You can share the message by just showing kindness to someone. Or by inviting them to come to mass with you. Let the other parishioners and the priest do the evangelizing for you. It really is easy to “preach” without sounding preachy. It’s in our actions and in our words but it’s also in the little things. Just showing someone kindness, giving a little gift to someone who is less fortunate, or simply sharing part of the written word on social media, or sending something nice to someone’s inbox (or the real mail too) is evangelizing. It’s a small but powerful way to share the Good News with others.

Fit in your Faith Today: Let the good news spread. Share part of your faith today in some form with someone today, either through the written word, or social media, or speaking to them, or showing them an act of kindness. Remember, don’t be selfish with your faith; share it with others!

Be Determined and Confident

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Joshua 1: 9

Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.

The words that were spoken to Joshua by the Lord in this passage were to encourage him to be confident that he could lead the Israelites to the promised land. Moses had just died and the people were still mourning his passing. Joshua was their newly appointed leader and this was the Lord’s “pep speech” to him.

We can take these words and make them our own. When we are being guided by the Lord to do something that maybe we feel we aren’t equipped to handle or maybe we feel we aren’t worthy, this passage can serve as our own pep speech. When we are lacking confidence in anything in life, so many words in the Bible can help us.

Put yourself in Joshua’s shoes. He probably felt a lot of pressure to live up to Moses’ reputation. He may have felt unworthy to take on this new role. But the Lord assured him that he would have his back. What a great encouragement to him this must have been and what a great confidence booster for us as well.

Fit in your Faith Today: Read the rest of the passage in the book of Joshua for even more uplifting words and pretend that God is speaking to you directly. Life is not easy, the road is always rough, but with God on our side, we can be strong and confident that we will be successful.

 

 

The Word is Alive

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John 1: 1-5, 9-14

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.

Merry Christmas to all the children of God on this most blessed day, the day our savior was born!

 

Fit in your Faith Today:  Be sure to spend some quiet time after the gifts have been unwrapped, after the last sip of egg nog, after the final goodbye to relatives. Spend time in quiet prayer in awe and wonderment at the true meaning of what this day signifies to all of us and to you.

God always and in everything

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St. Vincent Pallotti

Not the goods of the world, but God. Not riches, but God. Not honors, but God. Not distinction, but God. Not dignities, but God. Not advancement, but God. God always and in everything.

 

Do you worship things of this world? Do you idolize people who have higher honor than you? Do you think if you’re famous or successful, that it’s the key to happiness?

If you do, you’ve fallen for a trick. A scam. Because the things of this world are just that – things. You can’t take any promotions with you to heaven. You can’t take those fancy clothes or that expensive car or your house with you either. None of this stuff that we seem to worship here on earth matters.  Nope, in the end, what does matter is our love for each other and our love for God. That’s it.

Fit in your Faith Today:  Do you worship things? Do you find money as being something you can never quite seem to get enough of? Do you need to prioritize the important things in your life? Start with your relationship with God. Then consider your relationship with others. Is it suffering due to your obsession with material posessions or success in your life? Re-examine your priorities and put God first.

Worry Less, Pray More

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Philippians 4:6-7

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Are you a worrier? Would others describe you as someone who is always anxious and worrying about the problems in your life? I could be described as a worrier. But I kept hearing the same piece of advice being repeated to me over and over by various people: Give it to God.

At first you might scoff at it and think, “Give WHAT to God? My problems? How can that possibly help?” But the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. Worrying doesn’t really solve anything. What does? Well, praying about it can at least ease the tension. Once you speak the words of what is on your mind to God, even if you’re just praying out loud and not quite sure you think God is listening (He is) it really does help. You can actually feel the weight being lifted off your shoulders as someone else takes the burden.

A couple other key words in St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians above is THANK HIM. So many times we pray ASKING for God to provide us with something. The more important word we should remember when praying is to start off by giving thanks. Because no matter what is going on in your life, there’s someone out there who has an even bigger dilemma and it’s good to recognize that despite your current distress, someone else out there could use a prayer too. So Thank God for all you have and then ask him to take the burden off your shoulders. Ask Him for guidance to help you figure out what to do. Ask him to bring you peace and ease your mind of any anxiety.

Fit In Your Faith Today: Who or what are you currently worrying about? How can you ask God to bring you peace to your current situation?

Pray for Wisdom

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Proverbs 8: 9-12

My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge.

Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.

For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.

I, Wisdom, live together with good judgement. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.

Wisdom should affect every aspect of our lives, from beginning to end. We should always strive to increase our wisdom, always willing to learn something new about our faith, about relationships, about life. Under God’s direction and guidance, we can attain all kinds of wisdom and knowledge.

As for the value of wisdom, Proverbs teaches us it’s far valuable than gold or silver and jewels. Our goal should never be to increase our wealth. If we keep our eye on the prize of wisdom, we’ll be far happier with the results.

Money and fame and material possessions have temporary effects. They will only give us satisfaction that lasts a short while. It’s far better to have a wealth of knowledge, than a wealth of money.

Fit in Your Faith Today: What can you learn about God today? What is He trying to teach you and how can you share this new found wisdom with others?

The Lost Sheep In Your Life

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The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Luke 15: 1-7

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

 After reading this parable, we might consider ourselves to be the lost sheep. We might compare ourselves to that lost animal that wanders off the path that God has set for us, hoping to be found again.

But what if you are the shepherd and the lost sheep is one of your friends or family members? Maybe it’s someone you used to see at church but haven’t in a long time. Or maybe it’s a friend you used to be close with but they have started hanging out with a different crowd, one that you might not understand or get along with for one reason or another.

Consider that lost sheep in your life ask yourself how you can make a point to reach out to them and see what they are up to. Have you reached out to this person recently? If not, why? If you did, how did it go? Some of these lost sheep might not want to return “home.”  And there’s really nothing we can do about it right now. But one day they might want to come back and we should be there with open arms as God our Father would want us to be. He always welcomes back his lost sheep and we should too.

Fit in your Faith Today: Think about who is lost in your life and how you can make an active effort to bring them back home.

Putting on the Armor of God

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Ephesians 6:11-12

Put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.

The city of Ephesus, to which this letter was written to, was practicing what would be considered a “cult” practice of magic, new age, spells, etc. at this time.  They were trying to harness divine powers for their own control. Lots of spiritual warfare going on at this time. This was the home of St. Paul for awhile because it was at the heart of the battle of light and darkness.

Paul is trying to assure the Ephesians (and us in our present day) that the struggles in this world is not with the things that we see. We always want to blame people around us for our problems like politicians, world leaders, the government, anyone but ourselves. While there’s plenty of blame to go around, that’s not the end of the story. There are spiritual realities behind all these people and events that are bigger than we can actually see.

What is bigger? God. God is bigger than all of this. There is an unseen reality all around us. We have guardian angels who are protecting us and fighting these battles that we just can’t see. It can scary to think about this but it’s also comforting. The reality for us is that God is in control. We need to pray for the grace and the strength to do our part in this “battle.” As chaotic as the world might seem, we need to have confidence that God has won.

Fit in Your Faith Today: Recognize that just because what you read in the paper and see on the news looks like the world is chaotic and in turmoil, this battle has already been won. God is bigger than the chaos.

Chasing the Wind

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Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless – like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anymore.

The book of Ecclesiastes can be a depressing one as we read Solomon’s words on life. He was the wisest man in the world. Yet he lived a lot of his life away from God. So he wrote this book as a way to spare future generations the bitterness of learning through their own experience that life is meaningless apart from God.

Solomon summarized his many attempts at finding life’s meaning as “chasing the wind.”

In all our accomplishments, even the big ones, our good feelings are only temporary. We might get that promotion at work and that feels great. But then we have to work even harder to keep that job. Security and self-worth are found, not in these accomplishments, but far beyond them in the love of God. Think about what you consider worthwhile – where you place your time, energy, and money. Are you always on the lookout for what will make you happy? “Once I lose this weight, then I’ll be happy.”  “Once I get that job, then I’ll be content.”  “Once we can finally afford that new home, then our lives will be so much better.”

Really? Chances are, once all these things happen, you’ll find something else to shoot for and won’t be happy until that next goal is met. Don’t look back at your life and think that you, too were “chasing the wind.”  Above everything we should strive to know and love God. He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy.

Fit In Your Faith Today: Take a look at where you put the majority of your efforts and energy. Are you yearning to know God? Or are you chasing the wind and searching for things that will only provide temporary satisfaction?