Love it

I love tonight



6-1


Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

It's a Good Night

Well Good Evening Gentle Readers

Here is what’s going on......

The Sweet Potato is asleep, and looking like an angel.....

I made a wonderful Cheese Casserole, which Cindy Lou loved....

It was super tasty, I will put the recipe up tomorrow, I love it when cooking works out the way I want it to.....

And

My Montreal Canadians are beating Ottawa 4-1

Yeah I know it’s preseason but wow, everything is just coming up just right.....

I hope your night is just as good

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

Can You See

Luke 9:7-9

Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.

"And he tried to see him."

In our Gospel today, we read that Herod heard things that made him curious about Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus, to understand who he was. I couldn't help but ask myself upon reading these words, "Am I trying to see Jesus?"

When I was in third grade I struggled to see the chalkboard. My teacher realized this, contacted my mom, and I was taken to the eye doctor the next day. I will never forget walking home with my new glasses on and realizing that I was able to see so much more than before—like individual leaves on the trees! 

I didn't even know what I had been missing. My nearsightedness had caused me to miss things further than my arm’s length away. Looking through my glasses for the first time, my sight was changed, my perspective was renewed. The simple adjustment of getting new lenses enabled me to see what was already there.

Jesus is present to all of us, all the time, in many different ways, but it's easy to miss him with our spiritual nearsightedness. We can get caught up in the stress, mess, and busyness of our everyday life, so we need to constantly challenge ourselves to look past our own limited perspective. We can ask Jesus to renew our sight and give us eyes of faith that enable us to see him more clearly.

We also need to do our part and ask ourselves today and every day: Am I trying to see Jesus? Am I making time to know him through study, to meet him in prayer, and to serve him through serving others? Do I make him visibly present to other people through my actions?

Today when you are out and about look around, try to see where the Lord is and respond to his presence.

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

Go to The Poor You Will Find God

Good Evening Gentle Readers

This is one of my favourite Saints

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

St Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent de Paul was born to a poor peasant family in the French village of Pouy on April 24, 1581. His first formal education was provided by the Franciscans. He did so well, he was hired to tutor the children of a nearby wealthy family. He used the monies he earned teaching to continue his formal studies at the University of Toulose where he studied theology.

He was ordained in 1600 and remained in Toulose for a time. In 1605, while on a ship traveling from Marseilles to Narbone, he was captured, brought to Tunis and sold as a slave. Two years later he and his master managed to escape and both returned to France.

St. Vincent went to Avignon and later to Rome to continue his studies. While there he became a chaplain to the Count of Goigny and was placed in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. He became pastor of a small parish in Clichy for a short period of time, while also serving as a tutor and spiritual director.

From that point forward he spent his life preaching missions to and providing relief to the poor. He even established hospitals for them. This work became his passion. He later extended his concern and ministry to convicts. The need to evangelize and assist these souls was so great and the demands beyond his own ability to meet that he founded the Ladies of Charity, a lay institute of woman, to help, as well as a religious institute of priests - the Congregation of Priests of the Mission, commonly referred to now as the Vincentians.

This was at a time when there were not many priests in France and what priests there were, were neither well-formed nor faithful to their way of life. Vincent helped reform the clergy and the manner in which they were instructed and prepared for the priesthood. He did this first through the presentation of retreats and later by helping develop a precursor to our modern day seminaries. At one point his community was directing 53 upper level seminaries. His retreats, open to priests and laymen, were so well attended that it is said he infused a "Christian spirit among more than 20,000 persons in his last 23 years."

The Vincentians remain with us today with nearly 4,000 members in 86 countries. In addition to his order of Vincentian priests, St. Vincent cofounded the Daughters of Charity along with St. Louise de Marillac. There are more than 18,000 Daughters today serving the needs of the poor in 94 countries. He was eighty years old when he died in Paris on September 27, 1660.He had "become the symbol of the successful reform of the French Church". St. Vincent is sometimes referred to as "The Apostle of Charity" and "The Father of the Poor"

“Go to the poor you will find God”

St Vincent de Paul

Feels Like Home

Good Evening Gentle Reader

So I wanted to show Cindy Lou and the Sweet Potato the movie Michael with John Travolta. Its a fun, moving bit of work, light fare for a weeknight. So we are watching it and a song in the soundtrack strikes me. “Feels Like Home To Me” by Randy Newman, performed by Bonnie Raitt. The song reached out to me and I found myself thinking how much the lyrics reflected how I felt in that moment, my eyes welled up and I just sat here thinking how the Lord had made a home for me after being alone for so long. My little man walked over to me and I put him on my knee and sang the song to him, and to Cindy Lou, it was a magical moment and I wanted to capture it, hold it ......

So here it is in the blog...

Take Care and God Bless

Always try to find your way home....

Good Enough

Feels like home to me

Randy Newman

Something in your eyes, makes me want to lose myself,
Makes me want to lose myself, in your arms.
There's something in your voice, makes my heart beat fast.
Hope this feeling lasts, the rest of my life.
If you knew how lonely my life has been,
And how low I've felt so long.
If you knew how I wanted someone to come along,
And change my life the way you've done.

Feels like home to me, feels like home to me,
Feels like I'm on my way back where I come from.
Feels like home to me, feels like home to me,
Feels like I'm on my way back where I belong.

A window breaks down a long dark street,
And a siren wails over my head.
But I'm all right, 'cause I have you here with me.
And I can almost see through the dark there's light.
If you knew how much this moment means to me,
And how long I've waited for your touch.
If you knew how happy you are making me --
I've never thought I'd love anyone so much.

Feels like home to me, feels like home to me,
Feels like I'm on my way back where I come from.
Feels like home to me, feels like home to me,
Feels like I'm on my way back where I belong

Feels like I'm on my way back where I belong.

Get Beefy

Good Morning Gentle Readers

Well last night I went a little crazy and went to a classic meal for me and Cindy Lou. We had spent the day running around and doing this and that, which reminds me, thanks to the folks at K/W Surplus for the great computer speakers, they are just perfect and you can’t beat the price. Anyway last night I made Beef Bourguignon Good Enough Style.

Now don’t get me wrong Julia Child's recipe is far and away the best way to make this one but sometimes you just don't have the time or the energy to put that one together so a Good Enough substitute sometimes has to do....

Here is what you need.....

5 or 6 Big potatoes.

1 Bag of Baby Carrots

2 Onions, Spanish are the best for this but sometimes an onion is an onion

Rosemary

Garlic

Ground Pepper

Basil

As far as spices those are the minimums

A Bottle of Red Wine or a nice dry Merlot

( You don’t use to much of this so I just give the rest to Cindy Lou )

Beef, a good bit cubed, stewing beef will do in a pinch

Plain Bread crumbs

Three eggs

2 Bags of McCormick s Green pepper beef gravy

Take the potatoes and cut them into quarters and toss them in a pot of boiling water, add the baby carrots and let them cook for a while, not long enough to be done but mostly done. Drain them and put them aside.

Get your bread crumbs and toss them in a metal mixing bowl, add spices to taste, make sure you add a little extra garlic, it’s a nice touch

Take a tupper ware container and break the eggs into it, add a generous amount of pepper to taste and then dip your beef cubes in it, then roll them in the bread crumbs.

Fast fry the beef being careful to just let the outside cook, not much more than that.

In a casserole dish pour a cup and a half of the red wine, add the beef to it in a layer.

Add the potatoes and the carrots then chop your onions into large pieces and toss them on top.

Make the gravy and pour that over the top

Cover with some tinfoil and bake in a hot oven until everything is just done nicely

Serve with a butter drenched toasted baguette

I can tell you this is super tasty and it looks like you did a lot more work than you actually had to to to make it.....

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

First and Last

Matthew 20:1-16A

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 

“When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 

“When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’

“When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 

“But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

First and last

I like doing well, if fact I like doing really well and sometimes I get to thinking that because I do well that I should be rewarded with extra things. When I serve more of the customers than my co-workers, when I do more of the house work than Cindy Lou, that thinking comes into my head, but that's not how the Lord thinks. I want rewards not because its right but because I am showing off, its pride and nothing more.

I think that God loves us, and he loves us so much that he has changed the rules to suit his style, his topsy turvy style. The important people, the big wigs, are at that bottom of the list, the poor and he marginalized are at the top, the guy that shows up “better late than never” is just as loved as the stalwart who has always been there, and that’s a really good thing for me because at the end of the day, like a lot of us, I have trouble living up to God’s love.......

It’s ok with the Lord

He knows me, and he knows that I am trying to be

Good Enough

Take Care and God Bless

And Again

Good Morning Gentle Readers

Well I am doing it again....

It's a not my reflection...

But

This is very much my story too


Take Care and God Bless



Good Enough



Luke 8:4-15

When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, Jesus said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.”

Upon reading this Gospel, I was flooded with a number of thoughts and questions:

I want to be the good soil!

I hope I’m the good soil...

Am I the good soil?

Or am I more of a rock, or a trampled path, or a nest of thorns?

How am I receiving the seeds that God lays down in my life?

Can I be the good soil?

When I took some time to consider these questions, I knew the answers weren’t all good. Have I let the word of God lay fallow on the busy path of my life? Certainly. The many responsibilities of daily life can make it seem like there is just too much going on for me to spend time with God. Even when I am spending time with God at Mass, am I really, truly listening? With little ones in tow, my wife and I find it challenging to always pay full attention to God’s word at Mass.

Have I been distracted from my relationship with God by the “cares and riches and pleasures of life”? Absolutely. With a smartphone in my pocket nearly all the time, a DVR full of shows, and a host of other distractions, it’s very easy to tune out the word God is speaking to me.

In my roles as a husband and a father, I must model the expectation that Jesus sets for his followers in this Gospel. I must trim the thorns in my life. I must move the rocks from my path. I must endeavor to make myself good soil and set an example for my wife and children.

Good soil is well watered and tended on a regular basis. It bothers me when I don’t mow my lawn every week. It should bother me just the same when my spiritual field is too full of thorns and rocks.

I want to be the good soil. And I know I have some work to do to tend to my field. God will continue to place seeds in our lives. It is ours to ensure that we are prepared to receive those seeds.

Its a Not My Reflection

Its a Not My Refection

Good Morning Gentle Readers

Well I am off to work in a little bit but I really wanted to share this reflection with you before I get into the day. We are all called to walk the roads that Jesus walked, we might not see it but there it is. We in our day to day lives must all face the hardships and trails our Lord encountered and as we do we must learn to face them like he did, with love and compassion, that's the hard road, but it does take us to a place where we will find peace and joy....

And to my friend Lady Writer, it does get better

Luke 1-3:8

Jesus journeyed on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Several things struck me about the women who accompanied Jesus in this Gospel. 

Firstly, some of them are specifically named. I can imagine an early Christian turning to her friend and whispering, “I knew her!” This naming gives the women identities. They are no longer an abstract group accompanying Christ as he spreads the good news, but a collection of individuals, each with her own personality and story.

Secondly, the women are said to have “provided for him out of their resources.” Jesus is the one who is spreading the good news, but he is supported by his friends and followers. Without the women providing for him, I wonder if Jesus would have been able to dedicate as much time and energy to his mission. By using their gifts, they advance the ministry of Christ.

Thirdly, these women had been “cured of evil spirits and infirmities.” It is not the perfect soul whom Jesus asks to accompany him on his mission. Rather, it is the converted soul, the soul who has known the grace and mercy of God.

I find in this Gospel a call to allow myself to be known to Christ, to grow into a personal relationship with him and to allow myself to be named by him. I find the call to use my resources, my talents, and my time to support the spreading and living out of the Gospel. And finally, I find myself called, despite my sinfulness and my weakness, to seek forgiveness and to follow Jesus.

Open Letter

Open letter

Peace Comes from Love

 Our long, difficult summer in this country seems to continue without end.

Even as the violence of Charlottesville and its aftermath still weigh heavy on our hearts and minds, this past weekend we saw the outbreak of new violence and racial tensions in St. Louis.

We have come a long way in America – but we still have a long way to go.

We are still a nation divided by race in many ways. There are too many young black and Latino men dying in the streets or spending their best years behind bars. Too many of our neighborhoods in too many cities remain “lonely islands of poverty,” where people are perishing – just as they were a generation ago when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke those words.

Racial healing and reconciliation do not happen when we pass a law. Laws are important. Laws can correct injustices and signal moral intentions. But laws alone cannot change people’s hearts and minds.

Every day, we see evidence that racist thinking and racist practices continue to haunt American attitudes and policies. It is sad to say, but, too often, the “color of our skin” still matters more than the “content of our character,” to quote Rev. King again.

The other day, I received a letter from a good friend. He is a black Pentecostal minister. For more than 30 years, along with his courageous wife and children, he has been ministering and working with young people in gangs in inner-city Boston.

My friend was writing to remind me that next April will mark the 50th anniversary of Rev. King’s assassination. Hard to believe that 50 years has passed and we are still struggling for the same things he struggled for.

My friend’s letter was an appeal. He wants religious leaders to sign a statement affirming our continued commitment to Rev. King’s principles of nonviolence.

I signed the statement right away – joining some of the leading Catholic bishops in the United States.

Racial justice and reconciliation is an ongoing, urgent priority for the Church, and the bishops have a special task force devoted to promoting peace in our communities, and recently established a new ad hoc committee on racism. We understand that forming committees is not a “solution,” but a means to begin a conversation that will lead to solutions.

We face the same choice faced by Rev. King and the civil rights movement. The question is: How will we struggle against the injustices we see in our society, what means will we use?

I am worried about the easy resort to violence that we are seeing once again this summer, in cities all over the country.

Even the rhetoric we are hearing sometimes in some corners inside the Church – there is an anger, an almost personal bitterness against those who oppose us or disagree with us. I am worried that the “logic” of aggressive resistance leaves us with no alternatives to physical confrontation and violence.

We need to return once more and draw from the wisdom of Rev. King and others like him – Dorothy Day and Cesar Chavez – the spirit of peacemaking and the search for nonviolent solutions.

No one is born hating another group of people. Hate is something that is learned. And so it must be “unlearned.” That means we need to become teachers of love.

Love is the heart of Rev. King’s vision of nonviolence. We love – not because those who oppose us are “lovable” or even likable. We love those who oppose us – because God loves them. And by our love, we seek their understanding and conversion, not their humiliation and defeat.

Love does not mean forgetting or excusing injustice. Peace does not come by ignoring what divides us or pretending everything is OK. We are called to “make” peace – it is an action.

This is our Christian duty in these times when our society is so divided. To be healers and peacemakers, reconciling people to one another and to God.

By Archbishop José H. Gomez, LA California