Not Just for Meals

The Catholic prayer before meals goes like this:

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

While it is a beautiful prayer, I feel like it is greatly under used.

If you look at it closely you notice that it first asks God to bless us.  Who can't use that on a regular basis?

Secondly it asks Him to bless the gifts we are to receive from Him.  This is not always food!

I had the opportunity to go to Mass with my mom and dad the other day.  While we were in the car I said, "Josh is taking his final Calculus 3 exam right now."

The first words out of my dad's mouth were the grace prayers.  He laughed when he realized what he said but then we talked about it.  He prayed for us, including Josh, to be blessed and he asked God to bless the gifts he was anticipating getting, namely for Josh to do well on his exam.

We decided it was the perfect prayer for the moment.

It's perfect for other moments, too.  Give it a try.

A Riddle

Heard this riddle in a homily so I don't claim it as my own.

What are the only man-made things in Heaven?

Let's see:

There are angels.  Nope.

There are Saints.  Nope.

There is " such a great cloud of witnesses".  (Hebrews 12:1)   Nope.

So, what are the only man-made things in Heaven?

The wounds of Christ. 

For all eternity, we will be able to see the wounds that brought us to our Heavenly home.  Thank you, Jesus.

Our Salvation

God Knows

One day, a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling very overwhelmed with lots of different issues with people and things going on in the house.

After Mass, I took the opportunity to stay for a bit and spend a little time before the Blessed Sacrament.

Then I went up to the St. Joseph cove and prayed there.

Momma Mary's cove was next.

As I was fervently praying, pouring my troubles out, looking for answers,  the organist began to practice a song for the funeral that was going to take place that morning.

What song did he play?

Be Not Afraid.  

Of course I started crying.  God was hearing me and He chose such a beautiful way to show me.

Quite frankly, I don't remember all of the things I was praying about, but I'm sure several of the issues have been resolved.   I just know that as soon as that song started, I stopped worrying.  God was going to help me through, as He always does.

It was just a gentle reminder for me to keep trusting Him.