Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Chapel Schedule

Carmelite Chapel and Gift Shop at the Northshore Mall | Peabody | Massachusetts:

Daily Mass Schedule

Mon - Fri:
8:30 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m.

Sat:
8:30 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.


"Confessions
Mon - Fri: One half hour before every Mass

Sat:
8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
10:45 - 11:45 a.m.
2:45 - 3:45 p.m."

Preparing for the Feast


From Fr. Ron (taken from this week's buletin)

"The appearance of snow brings to mind the passage from Isaiah 1:18:
“Come now, and let us reason together”, says Yahweh. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow.” Yes, when we confess our sins, they are washed away and our souls become
as white as snow. This Advent Season is a time of preparing for the coming of the Lord in
a new way into our lives.

When we are expecting a guest, we prepare for their coming by cleaning up our house. One way
for us to prepare for Christmas is to go to confession and have our souls become as white as snow
to receive Jesus. The sacrament of reconciliation is a sacrament to receive the mercy of God.
When we receive that sacrament, our sins go on the cross of Jesus. It is there that He pays the
penalty of our sins and we are washed clean, not by soap and water, but by His blood.

Mary, in some of her apparitions, is requesting monthly confession. As our mother, she knows
what is spiritually good for us. Do a spiritual good for yourself this Advent and go to confession
and have your soul become as white as snow. Cards are available in the foyer to help you in examining
your conscience and in reciting the Act of Contrition. Next week, opportunities for confession
will be listed. If you are at the North Shore Mall, you can visit the Carmelite Chapel or in
Boston; St. Anthony’s Shrine. Both places schedule confession many times each day."


For those of us who may need a little extra help to get ourselves to Confession...may His mercy and grace be abundant.

Reminder

St Joseph Healing Mass Page

Healing Mass tonight at 7PM!

For the Anzalone Family

Could you please keep this family in your prayers. They are a local homeschooling family and the dad (Ted) was in an accident earlier this year. If you could please keep them covered in prayer...especially at 1PM today. Thank you.

Adoption Prayers

Stepping Out of the Boat

Please join me in praying for my friend Laura (link to her blog above)...as she journeys on the road to adopting. May she have some good news, very soon.

I can Only Imagine


I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

[Chorus]

I can only imagine [x2]

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you

we are fed

Intercessors Of The Lamb

When Mother Teresa of Calcutta was alive she came to the United States and said that out of all the countries in the world, America was the poorest of the poor. We are starving! Maybe it is because we are so busy talking that we are not listening, we are not receiving, we are not being fed in God’s presence. Jesus said, “Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for holiness (for My presence, for a relationship). You shall be satisfied!” One of the first things He did after the Resurrection was to feed His apostles after they had been fishing. They were out there fishing and, as usual, they caught nothing. We will not catch anything either. Jesus calls out to them; they did not recognize Him. He was in His resurrected form here. No one recognized Him. No one except John the contemplative. He knew the voice. He said, “It is the Lord!” Jesus called out, “Children, have you caught anything yet?” He said, “Cast your net on the right side.” That, for us, is the contemplative side, the receiving side. The left side, the left brain, is more the masculine part of us, where we are doing, speaking. The right brain is the receiving side. It is where we receive, where we are fed. Then we can go about the Father’s business in whatever He wants.

Excerpt from Mother Nadine’s, “Lord, Teach Us To Pray,” Springfield, MO, 2006


May we Feed on the Lord and then in turn be able to feed others in whatever way He wants. May this Christmas trully be a Feast!

“You Are My God”

The Feast

USCCB - (NAB) - December 5, 2007:
"Reading 1 Is 25:6-10a

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, The web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken."


Prayer for Today: May we partake of the Feast that the Lord has laid out before us...by receiving Him in the Eucharist and by daily reading of His Word.

Feeding on the Word

Universalis: Office of Readings
A sermon by St Bernard

Let the word of the Lord come to us
We know that the coming of the Lord is threefold: the third coming is between the other two and it is not visible in the way they are. At his first coming the Lord was seen on earth and lived among men, who saw him and hated him. At his last coming All flesh shall see the salvation of our God, and They shall look on him whom they have pierced. In the middle, the hidden coming, only the chosen see him, and they see him within themselves; and so their souls are saved. The first coming was in flesh and weakness, the middle coming is in spirit and power, and the final coming will be in glory and majesty.

This middle coming is like a road that leads from the first coming to the last. At the first, Christ was our redemption; at the last, he will become manifest as our life; but in this middle way he is our rest and our consolation.
If you think that I am inventing what I am saying about the middle coming, listen to the Lord himself: If anyone loves me, he will keep my words, and the Father will love him, and we shall come to him. Elsewhere I have read: Whoever fears the Lord does good things. – but I think that what was said about whoever loves him was more important: that whoever loves him will keep his words. Where are these words to be kept? In the heart certainly, as the Prophet says I have hidden your sayings in my heart so that I do not sin against you. Keep the word of God in that way: Blessed are those who keep it. Let it penetrate deep into the core of your soul and then flow out again in your feelings and the way you behave; because if you feed your soul well it will grow and rejoice. Do not forget to eat your bread, or your heart will dry up. Remember, and your soul will grow fat and sleek.

If you keep God’s word like this, there is no doubt that it will keep you, for the Son will come to you with the Father: the great Prophet will come, who will renew Jerusalem, and he is the one who makes all things new. For this is what this coming will do: just as we have been shaped in the earthly image, so will we be shaped in the heavenly image. Just as the old Adam was poured into the whole man and took possession of him, so in turn will our whole humanity be taken over by Christ, who created all things, has redeemed all things, and will glorify all things.