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Dear friend,
Thank you for your beautiful Christmas prayers. Thank you so much for being God’s instrument of blessing in my life by your valuable prayers.I assure you of my special prayers every day in the New Year 2016 during my Holy Masses. May the Holy Spirit of God continue to empower you and guide you in your life’s ministry and strengthen you in moments of your weakness and heal you from your illnesses. New Year day is the feast of Mary the Mother of God. Invite her and her son Jesus part of your family in the New Year so that you may experience daily miracles in your life. God bless you every day of the New Year. Fr. Tony ()
NEW YEAR’S DAY: LOOK BACK & LOOK FORWARD
Anecdote # 1)Deciding to jump:A boy asked his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hangs over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?"
The dad replied, "Two."
"No," the son replied. “Here is the question again: There are three frogs and one decides to jump, how many are left?"
The dad said, "Oh, I get the point! If one decided to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."
The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump."
Does that sound like our last year’s resolutions? Great inspiration and great resolutions, but often times we only decide, and months later we are still on the same limb of do-nothing.
# 2) Nothing but beautiful flowers: A certain king had two servants. To the first he said, "I want you to travel for six months through my kingdom and bring back a sample of every weed you can find." To the second servant the king said, "I want you to travel through my kingdom for six months and bring back a sample of every flower you can find."
Six months later, both servants stood before the king. To the first, the king asked, "Have you carried out my command?" The first servant answered, “I have, and I was amazed to find there were so many weeds in the kingdom. In fact, there is nothing but weeds in this kingdom!" To the king’s question the second servant also answered, "I have, and I am amazed how many beautiful flowers there are in the kingdom. In fact, there is nothing but beautiful flowers in this kingdom!"
These two servants each found what they were looking for. So do we. Are there no blessings in our life? Do we have no one who loves us, no beauty outside our window, no strength left in our body, no mind to guide us to new pleasures and opportunities, no faith to bear us up when circumstance weighs us down? Are we really without any resources for making 2008 a wonderful year?
Life Messages: William Barclay's threeways to make the New Year meaningful: a)Something to dream, b)Something to do, andc) Someone to love. “I have a dream,” said Martin Luther King. We should all have a noble plan of action (dream a nobledream)for every day in the New Year. It has been truly said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. We must notbe barren fig trees in God’s vineyard. Wemustbealways engaged, doing good to others. God must be the center of our love and it must be the realization of God’s presence which makes others lovable. Let us light a candle instead of blaming the darkness around us. Just as the moon borrows the sun’s light to illuminate the earth, wemust radiate the light of God within us. We need to remember the proverb: “Cherish your yesterdays; dream your tomorrows; but live your todays."
2) Make one resolution for the New Year and for all the years to come. We might resolve to say a short prayer every morning: "Good morning, Lord. Thank You for extending my life for one more day. Enable me to do your will, O God and anoint me with the power of your Holy Spirit." And, every evening, as the last thing before we go to sleep we could resolve to say: "Good night, Lord. Thank You for all Your blessings. Thank You for helping me to do Your will today and forgive me, Lord, for saying ‘No,’ to Your grace on several occasions today. Help me to do better tomorrow, and to say ‘Yes’ to Your love." We could resolve to go to sleep praying: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Have a Happy New Year, overflowing with the "Yes" to God our Father, to the Lord Jesus our Brother and “Yes” to the Holy Spirit our Advocate and our Guide to every good deed.
NEW YEAR AGENDA
1. As the New Year begins, we are reminded of the fact that we are one year closer to
a. The day of our death, or the day the Lord returns
b. That day when we shall stand before the Lord in judgment to hear either i) "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"( Mt 25:34), or ii) "Depart from Me, you cursed, to the everlasting fireprepared for the devil and his angels"( Mt 25:41).
2) It is time for an examination of conscience of our life in the past year
(A) Has our relationship with God and Christ improved?A close relationship with God depends upon good communication with Him by listening to Him in regular meditative reading of the Bible and by talking to Him in personal and family prayer.
(B) Has our relationship with our brothers and sisters improved?
1. Has our love for one another IN OUR family increased this year?
2. Are we any closer to one another than we were a year ago?
3. Do we even know who the new members of our parish family are?
(C) Has our relationship with those in our community improved?
1. As people of God, we have an important responsibility toward the people in the world -
a. To be a positive influence ("You are the salt of the earth")
b. To demonstrate a better way ("You are the light of the world")
2. Have we made any progress this year in developing meaningful relationships with other people in society -
a. So the light of Christ can be seen in our lives?
b. So the gospel of Christ can be communicated to them?
3. Or are we like most "neighbors" in this day and age...
a. Living next to each other, but not really knowing each other?
b. Forgetting or ignoring the lost art of "Southern hospitality"?
(D) Did I use my God-given time and talents for the good of others?
II. NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
A) Resolve to draw nearer to God and Christ
1. By having a daily reading program of God's living and abiding Word
2. By being diligent in prayer to recharge our spiritual batteries in order to do good
to others.
B) Resolve to draw closer to our brothers and sisters in our community.
1. By making it a point to learn every one's name, connecting each week acouple of names and faces until we learn them all -
2. By inviting a different person or family to our home each month.
3. Or by visiting a different person or family each month.
a. It might not always be convenient to have people in your home.
b. But you can arrange to visit them in their home (if you are alone, take someone
with you).
The Best New Year Gifts:
To your friend - loyalty;
To your enemy - forgiveness;
To your boss - service;
To a child - a good example;
To your parents - gratitude and devotion;
To your mate - love and faithfulness;
To all men and women - love;
To God - your life.
JOKE OF THE WEEK
1) Dad’s resolution: Last year when I called my parents to wish them a happy New Year, my dad answered the phone. "Well, Dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?" I asked him. "To make your mother as happy as I can all year," he answered proudly. Then mom got on, and I said, "What’s your resolution, Mom?" "To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution."
2) Someone once said…”I made 6 resolutions last year and I kept them all year long: they are in an envelope on the top of my file cabinet.”
3)Broken already: At the beginning of a new year, a high school principal decided to post his teachers’ new year’s resolutions on the bulletin board.
As the teachers gathered around the bulletin board, a great commotion ensued. One of the teachers was complaining. "Why weren’t my resolutions posted?" She was throwing such a temper tantrum that the principal hurried to his office to see if he had overlooked her resolutions.
Sure enough, he had mislaid them on his desk. As he read her resolutions he was astounded. This teacher’s first resolution was not to let little things upset her in the New Year.(Homily Outlines #268-c (2016) )
"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning. (T.S.Eliot, "Little Gidding")
"Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
Ring out the old and ring in the new,
Ring happy bells across the snow,
The year is going , let him go.
Ring out the false, ring in the new." (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
“Scriptural Homilies”Cycle C(No. 10by Fr. Tony:
Fr. Anthony Kadavil, St. John the BaptistChurch, POB 417, 12450 Hwy 188, Grand Bay, AL36541