St. Anthony and the Child Jesus

  St. Anthony is popularly known as the patron saint of lost items.  I myself, have asked for his intercession many times.  But if we only asked St. Anthony to help us with lost articles, we would miss discovering all the love and knowledge he could share with us.  I have to admit St. Anthony is one of my favorite saints.  His outstanding preaching and sermons attracted the crowds as he demonstrated his great love of Christ and extensive knowledge of scripture.  He spoke with passion on conversion and repentance and was known as "the hammer of heretics" and "the miracle worker".  I will say more about this in a future writing because today I want to talk about St. Anthony as he is often portrayed--holding baby Jesus in his arms.

  St. Anthony is portrayed this way because it is said that while he was writing one of his sermons, a man saw a bright light coming from his closed door.  Curiously, the man peered through the keyhole and was astounded to see the light coming from the beautiful Christ child as St. Anthony played with Him! 
   I love this story.  I love imagining what Jesus must been like as a child.  Imagine little Jesus with His hand wrapped around your finger or His smile as you said hello.  Do you ever imagine yourself laughing and playing with Jesus?  Today let's take our cue from St. Anthony.  Let today's prayer time with Jesus be fun and spontaneous.  Think of something that would make both of you laugh and imagine Jesus laughing with you.  Spend a few minutes rediscovering your child-like joy for Christ!

-Susan

God Knows...

-Susan

Sunday thought from St. Augustine of Hippo

Jesus I Am Ready

  It's been pretty exciting having Pope Francis visit the United States.  Like many others, I wish I had been able to be at some of those events.  I have been fortunate to have celebrated masses with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.  There is definitely something very special about being in crowds of people so charged up about their faith and wishing to see the Vicar of Christ.  I wish we could all experience this enthusiasm more often.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if people brought that same attitude to mass each weekend?  Imagine everyone putting everything on hold so that they could celebrate mass.  Getting up extra early so they could get a good seat.  Listening attentively to the gospel message, homily and then actively discussing it’s meaning.  What if we all took “selfies” in front of the church so all are friends would know where we were and how important our faith is to us. What if we told others that our faith in Jesus Christ is very exciting-it’s life changing! 

  It has been such a blessing to have Pope Francis share his love of faith.  He is not just proclaiming the gospel, he is living it!  I hope his visit inspires all of us to do the same and to draw closer to Christ.  Let’s not view Pope Francis’ visit as just another important historical moment, instead let this be the moment in your history that changes YOU.  The moment you decided that passively knowing your faith wasn’t enough anymore, the moment you stepped into the light of Christ and said, “Jesus I am ready.  Actively use me to bring your words of love to those I meet and change the world around me!”

  Can I get an Amen?

-Susan

The Eyes of my Savior

Pope Francis' Influence on Youth - Guest Writer Theresa

    A common problem today's churches face is how to get their youth more involved.  When I ask my teenage peers why they aren't very interested/involved with the church more, I often get responses like church is boring or church is for old people. I completely disagree with them.  One reason I disagree is because of how much the church is growing and changing. A lot of this growth and change we owe to Pope Francis.

One of the most influential things Pope Francis has done is to get youth interested in their faith again. Pope Francis has done many things to interest today's youth such as taking selfies, making a twitter, and always making sure to make youth a priority.  He truly is an inspiration to youth all over the world because of his willingness to try and understand young people and how they see the world. One of my favorite Pope Francis quotes is;

"We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace."

As America prepares for the arrival of Pope Francis, I know there will be thousands of teens and young adults dying to see him (including me) because of the influence he has made on not only just youth but the whole world.

-Theresa

God Time

  The weekend is upon us and undoubtedly someone will ask, “So what did you do this weekend?”  The answers are as varied as the people we ask.  There are date nights, girls night out, guys night out, game night with the kids, movie night, etc, the list goes on and on.  Have you ever considered having “God’s night out” or a little one-on-one “God time”?  I would like to challenge everyone in the next week to make a date with God.  Go find a quiet spot to just be with God.  It could be in your own backyard, the park, walking on some trails, fishing on the lake or just sitting near a bonfire. Pack a light snack and then just hang with God.  And don’t worry about what to say.  Just sit very still and let God start the conversation.  And sometimes when we are with a close friend we don’t have to say anything at all.  Just being together can express more than words ever could.

-Susan