Reflecting

Waiting for Arise to start, Oct. 4, 2009, I watched something unfold in front of me that brought me to reflect on God's ways. I'm not telling you what it is. Read and figure it out yourself.

The scene is my son's cat bringing up a mouse from the garage. She's an indoor cat but she manages to find mice. Read Job 38: 41.

The mouse was still alive. Read Job 15: 22.

I reflected upon James 4: 14-15.

Amen.

Oh Ye of Little Faith

I want you to look at something closely. This is something I didn't see before and I was thinking maybe you haven't either.

Read Matt. 14:22-31.

This is the story of the disciples in a boat and they see Jesus walking on top of the water toward them. Peter gets out of the boat and tries to walk on the water, too.

That's it. Read that part again--Peter walking on the water.

What happened?

What did Jesus say about it? "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?"

I always thought that Jesus was speaking about Peter's faith in Jesus. But that can't be it.

Think about it.

Peter didn't doubt Jesus because Jesus wasn't sinking. Jesus' statement to Peter has nothing to do with Peter's faith in God.

It has to do with Peter's faith in himself.

Peter was sinking because he didn't think that he, Peter, could walk on water. He had no faith in himself.

If you trust that God has your best interest in His heart. If you place yourself in His hands, then let everything go and believe in yourself.

Notes

It's not to late to sign up. Call Joe De Palo or email him. 528-6609 or DEPALO@comcast.net

Monday night we leaders are going to be trained. That's Sept. 21, 2009. We're going to the new Archdiocesan Center in Braintree. If you'd like to come, you're welcome. We leave the Church, near the St. Vincent de Paul box, at 5:30 PM.

Sessions begin Oct. 4th.

Help us out by praying please.

Thanks and God bless.

Reasons to Sign On

Today's Sign Up Sunday. Here are some reasons for you to sign up:

+ To improve yourself

+ To improve relationships

+ To put your money where your mouth is

+ To learn how to recognize the voice of God

+ To meet other parishioners

+ To help others

+ To feel part of the parish

+ to be rejuvenated

+ To change yourself for the better

+ To learn how to pray better

+ To see if we're lying to you

+ The best for last: when you've experienced all the above you'll agree that you've grown spiritually.

Amen? Amen

Witness Sunday

Today is the Sunday before Sign Up Sunday. A participant from an Arise Session was to speak at each of our Masses and tell of their experience.

I was at the 7:00 PM, Saturday and my Witness rocked! She said it all. You'd think I paid her! Here is her testimony:

Good evening. My name is Carleen Delio and I am here to ask you to consider signing up for the Arise Program, next weekend. I participated in the Arise Program last year and I'm signing up again.

In all honesty I was a tad hesitant about committing for six weeks because I knew I would not be able to attend one session during that time period. No problem. The program is very flexible and not sequential, it is individualized and I had no trouble completing the lesson on my own. We met in small groups either during the day or at night, depending upon schedules, and I met people from all walks of life, in our parish, whom I had never seen before.

Another thing I wondered about was preparation and whether I would have the time to prepare adequately. I was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was to read the material; I actually enjoyed setting a little time aside each week because it made me take the time to think about God, read the Bible and relate the readings to my own life.

Even better was coming together as a group and talking about the lesson. The program made me realize that even though we adults are at various stages of faith development we have a common bond, our faith. So by coming together we learn from each other and benefit from others' view points.

I found Arise to be personally enriching and spiritually nourishing. For me it was an opportunity to share experiences of God working in our lives and to build community within our parish here at St. Mary's...I invite you to come and see!

Amen? Amen!

Sign Up Sunday

Arise will begin in October. Sign Up Sunday is Sept. 13, 2009. Arise is growing at each session.
You are called.

Read:

1Thes 5:24
Gal 1:6
Gal 5:7-8
1Cor 1:26
Matt 22:14
Matt 20:16
John 15:16

Don't you feel DRAWN to join Arise?

If you don't, you ain't human.

Trust

Who do you trust? Think about it. I bet you list those that you know best. Didn't you?

Well, if you're struggling to trust God, it may be because you don't really know Him.

How do we come to know God better?

Glad that you asked. Through the Arise Together in Christ Program. Sign ups are Sunday September 13, 2009.

As a sample of what we do, look up:

Psalm 27:1
Psalm 34:18
Psalm 100:5
Psalm 145:8

What does God have to do to get you to trust Him? Let go. Let God take care of you. He knows better and has the whole picture in mind, not just your little piece of it. Pray for trust.

I'll pray for you, too.