ICEMANforChrist: Saturday, March 28, 2020

This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 8). This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Isaiah, Chapter 29, verse 13-14

¹³ The Lord said: Since this people draws near with words only and honors me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me, And fear of me has become mere precept of human teaching, ¹⁴Therefore I will again deal with this people in surprising and wondrous fashion: The wisdom of the wise shall perish, the prudence of the prudent shall vanish.

This verse deals with spiritual blindness and perversity of the Israeli Leaders. The Israelis failed to apply the standards of God’s covenant in their military and political plans. They failed to pray and offer to God their concerns and because of their unbelief they merely made a show of their piety. They rejected the advice of their prophet’s. Nothing ever changes. The key to living a life fearlessly is to have our hearts close to God’s. When we do this we will soon discover that the mind is designed to implement your heart’s desire. Is your heart at peace? What are the desires of your heart? What should the desires of our hearts be? The old Baltimore catechism states that our purpose and our desires should be to know, love and serve the Lord.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1718 The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it: We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated. How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you. God alone satisfies.

When our desires are not on God, we become spiritually ill. Christ implemented the sacrament of reconciliation to heal our hearts. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis recently commented that without daily prayer, regular participation in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, daily contact with God’s Word, and a “spirituality translated into charity,” we may die spiritually. Pope Francis went on to list 15 spiritual “sicknesses” that are “more usual” in “our life”. The 15 include not being self-critical and thinking oneself indispensable, “Martha-ism” (excessive Martha-like busyness), hardheartedness, excessive planning, failing to work with others, “spiritual Alzheimer’s” (forgetting one’s spiritual journey), and rivalry and vainglory. Other spiritual sicknesses, the Pope added, include existential “schizophrenia” (living a double life that is “often dissolute”), gossip, careerism and flattering superiors, indifference to others, a severe “funeral face” (rather than self-deprecating good humor), the “disease of closed circles,” and “worldly profit, exhibitionism” (through “calumniating, defaming, and discrediting others,” even in the media “in the name of justice and transparency”). These temptations, he continued, are a danger to every Christian and every community.[1]

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent[2]

Prayer. MAY our devotion be made fruitful by Thy grace, we beseech Thee, O Lord, for the fasts we have undertaken will become profitable to us only if they are pleasing to Thy mercy.

EPISTLE. Isaias xlix. 8-15.

Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed : that thou mightest say to them that are bound : Come forth : and to them that are in darkness : Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for He that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters He shall give them drink. And I will make all My mountains a way, and My paths shall be exalted. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth; ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy on His poor ones. And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee, saith the Lord Almighty.

GOSPEL. John viii. 12-20.

At that time: Jesus spoke to the multitudes of the Jews, saying I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said to Him: Thou givest testimony of Thy self: Thy testimony is not true. Jesus answered, and said to them: Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go: but you know not whence I come, or whither I go. You judge according to the flesh: I judge not any man. And if I do judge, My judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. And in your law it is written, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that give testimony of Myself: and the Father that sent Me, giveth testimony of Me. They said therefore to Him: Where is Thy Father? Jesus answered: Neither Me do you know, nor My Father: if you did know Me, perhaps you would know My Father also. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, teaching in the temple: and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.

Something on A Stick Day[3]

No, we are not talking about mops or brooms (although we are very thankful for them, of course!) but Something on A Stick Day is all about celebrating foods we love to eat – that just happen to come on a stick! Who doesn’t love relaxed finger food that you can pick up by the stick and eat? So, whether it’s a toffee apple, camp-fire sausage, cheese cubes on a toothpick, ice cream bar, lollipop or other lovely treats, feel free to indulge in them on this day! Or why not try the favorite American food on a stick if you can – the famous corn dog? What about planning an entire meal of a starter, main course and dessert all on sticks? Easy, informal, and fun – and very little cleaning up to do afterwards! What a great theme for a dinner party to have on Something on a Stick Day!

Shaslik[4]

Is a traditional seasoned grilled meat on a stick for the Feast of St. Bart. While stationed in Belgium many years ago with my young daughter Nicole there were none of the American fast food places in close vicinity, but there were frites stands. Nicole loved Belgium frites, which are “French Fries” with an attitude. We used to joke that someday we will open our own Frite stand and on the placard we would proudly proclaim the name of our stand, “DICK AND NIC’S FRITES AND SHASLIKS”.