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treatises on
love
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A
Soul at Peace is better able to focus on Love.
SEPTEMBER 26 Wednesday
John,
Chapter 3,
Verse 16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but might have eternal life.
A few years ago, I was assigned jury duty and while on
the way to the court I saw spray painted John
3:16 and I thought I know that
verse and said it in my head. That morning at court my group was not selected
for the morning session and we were released for lunch. I thought maybe today I
will skip lunch and go to the Basilica for Mass. I had for some time now been
very unhappy with my place of employment and thought perhaps the Lord will give
me some direction. The Basilica was the same church that Saint Pope John Paul
II said his Mass in Phoenix when he was there. To my surprise the Mass was a
memorial Mass for the anniversary of the death of Saint John Paul II and the
reading during the Mass was John 3:16. I said to myself recognizing the Holy
Spirit, “Speak Lord your servant is listening”. I thought well I am unhappy at
work and John Paul II was a great teacher perhaps I am to become a teacher
again. I immediately went over to the Diocese office to pursue a teaching job,
but the doors were locked. I thought ok Lord maybe not and started walking back
to the courthouse for the afternoon session. On the way my mind was filled with
questions about where the Lord is taking me when all of the sudden a bum walked
up to me and handed me a “Chick” publication. I opened it and the first verse I
seen was John 3:16. Ever since that day I still am looking for what the Lord
was trying to tell me that day. Perhaps it is simply. I love you. Love and be loved.
There’s
a story from the early days of America, discussing this near-mythical figure
that traveled the wilds of America spreading apple seeds everywhere he went. He
was known and lauded for his kind, generous ways, and the importance he placed
on the apples. To this day he is depicted in stories and song as the man who
made apples an American institution and is one of the most beloved characters
in its mythology and history. What many people don’t know is that Johnny
Appleseed was no mere legend, but was, in fact, a missionary known by the name
of John Chapman. Born in Leominster, Massachusetts in 1774. While the most
common display of the man who would be known as Johnny Appleseed is of him randomly
spreading apple seeds everywhere, the truth of his methods was a bit more
pragmatic. He travelled throughout Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois, and the lands that would become West Virginia planting nurseries. He
would fence them in and leave them in the care of a neighbor who would then
sell shares in the trees, and then come back every year or two to tend them.
His very first nursery was built on the bank of Brokenstraw Creek, south of
Warren Pennsylvania, but dozens more were to follow. His work wasn’t focused
just on apples, however. He had a deep and abiding love for animals of all
kinds, including insects. He may have been one of the first ethical vegetarians
and spent much of his life taking pains not to harm animals. One popular story
about him recounts his attitudes towards animals:
“One
cool autumnal night, while lying by his camp-fire in the woods, he observed
that the mosquitoes flew in the blaze and were burned. Johnny, who wore on his
head a tin utensil which answered both as a cap and a mush pot, filled it with
water and quenched the fire, and afterwards remarked, “God forbid that I should
build a fire for my comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His
creatures.””
How to celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day
Celebrating
Johnny Appleseed Day is best done by indulging yourself in the delicious fruit
that he helped to spread across the US. Whatever form you choose to have it in,
whether a fresh apple off a tree or a rich and flavorful apple pie, be sure to
take some time to appreciate the results of his efforts. You may also take a
day off of eating meat and be extra kind to animals on this day, in remembrance
of his efforts and his beliefs.
·
first,
let us look at Joseph in that situation where the seed of all his future
excellences began to develop—his father's tent. There, were laid, in his filial
piety and his true religion, the foundations of that noble and lofty character
which all nations and ages have delighted to contemplate. It is unquestionably
true and should ever be borne in mind by parents and children, that the rudiments of character are formed in
early life, and at home, and then and there those seeds of good or evil
are sown which bear in future years their appropriate fruits.
·
Joseph
was the favorite child of his father, this partiality, though unwisely
manifested, was grounded in part on Joseph's exemplary conduct, for he was a
most dutiful son, and one that feared God. At the same time, however, he was
the object of hatred and envy to his brethren.
·
With
the murderous conspiracy of Joseph's cruel and unnatural brothers you are well
acquainted. he was sold as a slave. Instead of cursing his lot, yielding to
sullen despondency, and making his master angry by hopeless misery—he
accommodated himself, by the aid of true religion, to his circumstances, and
applied all his faculties to serve his master, to secure his confidence, and
conciliate his kindness. And he was successful. You see how wise it is, instead
of giving up all for lost in unfavorable circumstances, and sinking into
absolute despair, to resolve, by God's blessing, to do all we can to improve
our condition. Learn, young men, to bear up with patience, fortitude and hope,
against adverse circumstances. Never despair. It was an old Greek proverb,
"We ascend, downwards." And in Bunyan's inimitable allegory, the
"Valley of Humiliation" lay in the direct road to exaltation. If by
any cause you are brought into a less favorable situation than you have been
accustomed to occupy, go diligently and cheerfully to work, and determine, by
God's grace, to make even this bitter experience subservient to your future
welfare. It may be necessary to prepare you for something higher and better.
Never abandon hope. The mainspring of exertion is broken when hope is gone.
·
Joseph's
conduct in the house of Potiphar was so exemplary for diligence and fidelity,
that it drew upon him, first of all, the favor of God—and next, the esteem of
man, for he was soon advanced to a high place of trust and honor in the
establishment of his master. The reason of Potiphar's conduct in thus promoting
his Hebrew slave is given by the historian in the following words—"He saw
that the Lord was with him, and the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his
hand." Here is one of the ten thousand instances which corroborate the
declaration of the apostle, that "Godliness has value for all things,
holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."
10. “And this is the
boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he
hears us.”-1 John 5:14
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
55. He has become so small — you see: a Child-so that you can approach
him with confidence.
Daily Devotions
·
Total Consecration
Day 15
Today is my grandson “Macky’s” birthday,
please pray for his intentions.
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