Letter from Jesus about Christmas --

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8. 
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it: 

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them. 
3. Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up... It will be nice hearing from you again. 
 4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5 Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember

I LOVE YOU, Merry Christmas.....
JESUS

Acts of Mercy

1. Resist sarcasm; it is the antithesis of mercy: “Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth; keep watch, O Lord, at the door of my lips!” (Psalm 141:3).
2. 
   
3. Pare down possessions: share your things with the needy.
4.  
5. Call someone who you know is lonely, even if you understand why they’re lonely. Especially if you do.
6.  
7. Write a letter of forgiveness to someone. If you cannot send it, sprinkle it with holy water, ask Christ Jesus to have mercy on you both and then burn or bury it.
8. 
   
9. Learn to say this prayer: “Dear Lord, bless [annoying person’s name] and have mercy on me!”
10.  
11. Plan a mini pilgrimage to a local shrine; make an effort along the way to live the corporal work of mercy of “welcoming the stranger” as Christ.
12.  
13. Do something kind and helpful for someone who you don’t get along with, or who has wronged you.
14.  
15. Be mindful of your behavior online. Is that post designed to improve your image … and leave others feeling bad? Are you hammering people in order to serve your anger and humiliate others?
16.  
17. Have masses said for the living: friends and family members, even strangers you read/hear about, who are having a hard time.
18.  
19. Be generous enough to allow someone to help you; people need to feel needed.
20.  
21. If you didn’t mean to be a pain in the neck to someone, admit that you were and ask the person to forgive you.
22.  
23. Take a tip from Cardinal Timothy Dolan and carry around $5 Starbucks and McDonald’s gift cards for the homeless.
24.  
25. Take time in prayer to contemplate the good qualities of someone who is difficult for you. Do the same for each member of your family.
26.  
27. Send a card, flowers, gift or note to someone on the six-month anniversary of his or her loved one’s death. By then most people have stopped recognizing their grief.
28.  
29. Offer to babysit for a busy mom to go out and have a couple of hours to her self.
30.  
31. Make a meal (or buy a gift certificate) for a mom who’s just given birth or adopted a child, or for someone who’s just gone through a loss.
32.  
33. Hold. Your. Tongue.
34.  
35. Offer to run an errand (groceries, dry cleaning pick up, dog-walking) for a busy parent or homebound person.
36.  
37. If you can’t sit down beside a homeless person to talk for a while today, at least send a donation to a ministry that does do this (such as Christ in the City).
38.  
39. If you’re sharing a treat, take the smaller portion.
40.  
41. Memorize the 14 corporal and spiritual works of mercy and show your children what they mean.
42.  
43. Instead of losing patience with someone online (or in person), try to hear their fear. Ask God for what Solomon asked for: “an understanding heart.”
44.  
45. Offer to drive an elderly person to Mass.
46.  
47. Recall a time you were not given a benefit of a doubt, and extend one to someone else.
48.  
49. Put down the phone and really listen to someone else. With eye contact.
50.  
51. Have alternative drinks, other than water, for times when those who have been struggling with alcohol come to visit.
52. 
    
53. Take advantage of sales to buy small toothpastes, soaps, shampoos, socks and feminine products/toiletries; donate them to parish outreach, or make gift bags and have them ready to hand out where needed.
54.  
55. Read John Paul II’s “Dives in misericordia” bit-by-bit through the year.
56.  
57. Create a short end-of-day ritual to ask for (and extend) forgiveness with those you live with. “…do not let the sun set on your anger” (Eph 4:26).
58.  
59. Make a list of your “enemies.” Then, every day, say a prayer for them.
60.  
61. Make a point to smile, greet or make conversation with someone who is not in your everyday circle.
62.  
63. Give away something of yours (that you really like) to someone you know who would enjoy it.
64.  
65. Pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet as you are traveling to or from work.
66.  
67. When mercy for others is difficult, pray Cardinal Merry del Val’s Litany of Humility.
68.  
69. Make a gratitude journal for your spouse and jot down little things he or she does that you’re grateful for. Bite your tongue and go write in it (or at least read it) the next time you want to criticize in a moment of frustration.
70.  
71. Learn to make an Ignatian “Examen” every night. Remembering God’s mercy each night helps us to be merciful.
72. 
    
73. Respond to provocation with the respect you wish a person would show you.
74.  
75. Learn the Jesus Prayer and use it.
76.  
77. Take a few minutes during the week to stop at a church and sit before the Tabernacle, simply to be with Christ, the Merciful. If you cannot do that, meditate upon the crucifix.
78.  
79. Pray a novena for the good of someone you dislike.
80.  
81. Dig out your most attractive stationery and hand-write an actual letter to someone, as a means of demonstrating their importance to you.
82.  
83. Offer to read to someone who is feeling ill or is just feeling blue.
84.  
85. Ask the Holy Spirit to groan for you when you cannot bring yourself to pray for someone who has done you an injury.
86.  
87. Lead with a kind comment with friends as well as strangers.
88.  
89. When conversations devolve into “the dark joy” of gossip, help change the subject.
90.  
91. Can you play the piano, or any instrument? Can you recite poetry? Give free “concerts” to the forgotten people in nursing homes and assisted living centers.
92.  
93. Visit the graves of your ancestors, or visit a local cemetery and walk around praying a rosary for all the souls buried there
94. 
    
95. Go On Retreat. It’s a way to be merciful to yourself and also to the people around you, who know you need to go on retreat. If you cannot do that, at least try to make a day, or evening, of recollection.
96.  
97. Admit your jealousy, both to yourself and your confessor.
98.  
99. Offer to pray with someone, even someone you encounter on the street or public transport who looks like they could use it.
100.  
101. Keep holy cards, short prayers, or blessed medals handy and give them out to people you meet as you are inspired as a blessing to others.
102.  
103. Offer hospitality in your home to someone or a group of people you would normally never invite over.
104.  
105. With a few other people at your church, plan a party and invite all those from “the highways and byways” to come.
106.  
107. If someone you know seems to lack faith, share some of yours — tell him or her how Christ has changed your life.
108.  
109. Pay the parking or toll fee for the person behind you.
110.  
111. Give the much-maligned Pope Benedict XVI a fair reading sometime. You’ll be surprised.
112.  
113. Pray every day for the souls in Purgatory. Pray for your dead.

Gospel, Matthew 21:28-32

Gospel, Matthew 21:28-32

28 'What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, "My boy, go and work in the vineyard today."

29 He answered, "I will not go," but afterwards thought better of it and went.

30 The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, "Certainly, sir," but did not go.

31 Which of the two did the father's will?' They said, 'The first.' Jesus said to them, 'In truth I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom ofGod before you.

32 For John came to you, showing the way of uprightness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.

"Dark Horse" 3d Battalion, 5th Marines

Request for Prayer!

We are asking everyone to say a prayer for the "Dark Horse" 3d Battalion, 5th Marines and their families. 

Between 8 October 2010 and its April 2011 return home, the 3/5 lost 24 Marines while conducting Operation Enduring Freedom combat operations in Helmand province: 

• Sgt. Jason G. Amores, 29, of Lehigh Acres, Florida, died 20 January 2011
• Cpl. Tevan L. Nguyen, 21, of Hutto, Texas, died 28 December 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Kenneth A. Corzine, 23, of Bethalto, Illinois, died 24 December 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Jose L. Maldonado, 21, of Mathis, Texas, died 17 December 2010.
• Sgt. Jason D. Peto, 31, of Vancouver, Washington, died 7 December 2010.
• Cpl. Derek A. Wyatt, 25, of Akron, Ohio, died 6 December 2010.
• Pfc. Colton W. Rusk, 20, of Orange Grove, Texas, died 6 December 2010.
• Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate, 26, of Honolulu, Hawaii, died 2 December 2010.
• 1st Lt. William J. Donnelly IV, 27, of Picayune, Mississippi, died 25 November 2010.
• Lance Cpl. James B. Stack, 20, of Arlington Heights, Ill, died 10 November 2010.
• 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, of Tallahassee, Florida, died 9 November 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Randy R. Braggs, 21, of Sierra Vista, Arizona, died 6 November 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Brandon W. Pearson, 21, of Arvada, Colorado, died 4 November 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Matthew J. Broehm, 22, of Flagstaff, Arizona, died 4 November 2010.
• Sgt. Ian M. Tawney, 25, of Dallas, Oregon, died 16 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. James D. Boelk, 24, of Oceanside, California, died 15 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Joseph C. Lopez, 26, of Rosamond, California, died 14 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Alec E. Catherwood, 19, of Byron, Illinois, died 14 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Irvin M. Ceniceros, 21, of Clarksville, Arkansas, died 14 October 2010.
• Pfc. Victor A. Dew, 20, of Granite Bay, California, died 13 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Joseph E. Rodewald, 21, of Albany, Oregon, died 13 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. Phillip D. Vinnedge, 19, of Saint Charles, Mo, died 13 October 2010.
• Cpl. Justin J. Cain, 22, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, died 13 October 2010.
• Lance Cpl. John T. Sparks, 23, of Chicago, Illinois, died 8 October 2010.

Dark Horse Battalion was rotated back to the U.S. in April 2011. Its place in Afghanistan was taken by the1st Battalion,  5th Regiment, also from Camp Pendleton. 

Advent Today

Advent Today                                   

Today, the Advent season lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmastide, which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6. (Advent begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd each year.) 

Advent symbolizes the present situation of the church in these “last days” (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2), as God’s people wait for the return of Christ in glory to consummate his eternal kingdom. The church is in a similar situation to Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah. Israel looked back to God’s past gracious actions on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt in the Exodus, and on this basis they called for God once again to act for them. In the same way, the church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people. In this light, the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent season:

O come, O come, Emmanuel, 

And ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appears.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

While Israel would have sung the song in expectation of Christ’s first coming, the church now sings the song in commemoration of that first coming and in expectation of the second coming in the future.

MERCY MERCY MERCY

Works of Mercy

Corporal Works of Mercy

The Corporal Works of Mercy are these kind acts by which we help our neighbors with their material and physical needs.

1. feed the hungry
2. give drink to the thirsty
3. clothe the naked
4. shelter the homeless
5. visit the sick
6. visit the imprisoned
7. bury the dead

Spiritual Works of Mercy

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are acts of compassion, as listed below, by which we help our neighbors with their emotional and spiritual needs.

1. counsel the doubtful
2. instruct the ignorant
3. admonish sinners
4. comfort the afflicted
5. forgive offenses
6. bear wrongs patiently
7. pray for the living and the dead