Heartprints of God – stacylsanchez.com
Life is for Living
Lord, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace
That where there is error, I may bring truth,
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith,
That where there is despair, I may bring hope,
That where there are shadows, I may bring light,
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,
To love than to be loved.
For it is by forgetting self that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,
And it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.
*This is the version of the St Francis Prayer that Mother Teresa prayed.
Picture: The River Lude in Lancaster
contemplativemonk.substack.com
Hope was There
The glorious moment when, not even death,
could hold Jesus in the tomb.
As the stone was rolled away and death lost its grip once and for all,
hope poured forth in glorious fashion.
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me,
though he may die, he shall live.” ~ John 11:25
Hope.
Sometimes, it gets tucked so far back
in a tomb so dark, we can’t see it.
Sometimes, it gets hidden behind
a stone so big, we lose sight of it.
Sometimes, it gets buried behind
a sorrow and grief so consuming and overwhelming,
we can’t feel it. But, it. is. there.
It is always there. And sometimes,
it is only one stone’s roll away.~
~Stacy L. Sanchez / Heartprints of God
The Rosary in a Year – Day 109 – The Gift of Wonder
St. Gregory Thaumaturgus means St. Gregory the “wonder worker,” Fr. Mark-Mary tells us. Leading us through a reading from St. Gregory, Fr. Mark-Mary directs us to meditate on the true wonder of the Annunciation. God has come to save his people, wanting them to experience forgiveness and freedom. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Annunciation and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheRosaryinaYear
Sermon Notes – April 13, 2025 – The Sound and Smell of Love
“The Sound and Smell of Love”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
April 12 – 13, 2025
Gospel: Luke 23:1-49
Holy Mother Church instructs her priests to proclaim a short sermon after reading the Passion. So, this will be short, but very good.
In the Passion, we see the frailty of human nature. Some say, “If we only had power, we could make everything right.” Pontius Pilate had absolute power as the Roman governor. He had a Roman legion of 12,000 soldiers at his command. So when the crowd began to rebel, on Pilate’s order, the soldiers could have killed everyone without any repercussions for him. They could have taken care of business, and nothing would have happened. But Pilate caved even though he had absolute power. Five days later, the Jews were calling for his crucifixion.
People say, “I love God.” Then why don’t you go to church? What about your sin? “Well, when I sin, I only hurt myself.” Really? Sin hurts a lot of people. I would like everyone to search for “Jesus Christ Superstar” on YouTube. It’s an old Broadway play, and in one part, there is the scourging of Jesus. Listen to the flogging of Jesus. How brutal it was. Listen to Pilate counting the 39 strokes. They couldn’t give him 40 because that would have been illegal.
If you read and listen to the Passion and meditate on it, you hear the story of love freely given, even though we didn’t deserve it. In “Jesus Christ Superstar,” there is a part on the soundtrack when our Lord is on the Cross, and if you listen carefully, you hear the drip, drip, drip of blood. Police officers, EMTs, and medical folks will tell you that blood has a smell. It has a copper smell that makes some people sick. But when we listen, and if we think about it, we can say that love has a smell. It is God’s love. I was thinking about that earlier this morning – the house I grew up in smelled like apple pie. Love has a smell, and it also has a sound. Listen to the track of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and listen to the drops of blood. It is love being poured out one drop at a time for us.
When you hear the Passion proclaimed, you hear the effects of our sin. All sin – mortal, venial, and material – is an alienation of God. Yet when you read the culmination of the Passion, you cannot deny one statement of fact – that God loves us. Look upon the Crucifix and know that God loves you. In the next-to-last words our Lord said in this life before He was resurrected and went to the Father to open the Gates of Heaven, was a prayer for us. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
How will you apply this message to your life? _________________________________________
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com, clicking on “Blog,” then “Categories,” and then “Sermon Notes.” On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.” Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.” Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church. Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.
Blessed of the Day – Blessed Savina Petrilli – April 18
The Rosary in a Year – Day 108 – Heights of Holiness
A Queen is set apart, but Mary, as Queen of Heaven and Earth is set apart so that as our mother she can draw us up to her son. When we are too little to reach the heights of holiness, she lifts us up, says Fr. Mark-Mary, reading from St. John Damascene. We ask Our Lady to help us echo her fiat and do the Father’s will. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Coronation of Mary and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheRosaryinaYear