Fishmail Insights

Friday

We muat 'pray the work,' be the souls of prayer right in the midst of the slums,
praying the work w/Jesus, for JEsus, to Jesus. Someone has promoted the
idea that our vocal prayer together is not prayer. I am sure that MAry and Jesus
prayed the psalms together often. Naturally, if we only say prayers, mindlessly,
we might not be praying. To pray the prayer means to be completly united to
Jesus in such a way as to allow him to pray in us, with us, for us, through us.

~ prayer should be taken in a serene silent place with few distractions... at least a place where you are able to open up your entire heart to God. i'm not saying its impossible... but praying while driving in a car... or while rushing to a class is seldom a righteous prayer because there is so much goin on in your mind that you're ending with just uttering words to yourself... than having a deep conversation with God. if you catch yourself praying... for the sake of offering words up to God... then stop yourself... pause... breathe... open youre heart start again and have a REAL conversation with God. prayer becomes jibberish when your heart and mind aren't focused to the lord

Thursday

Everything depends on how we love each other

~everything depends on how we love each other... how we love everyone... how we treat everyone as a brother and sister. it depends on whether u meet a less fortunate person on the street asking for money and you scoff at him and head to church the next day... that really annoying friend everyone has... (not me hopefully) love him as you love your brothers... for if you only choose to love your loved ones then you are not fulfilling the desires of Jesus... love those who are unlovable. if you love God... love everyone

Wednesday

Scripture says: "Make my joy complete by your unanimity, possessing the one
love, united in spirit and ideals. Never act out of rivalry or conceit; rather,
let all parties think humbly of others as superiors to themselves, each of you
looking to others' interests rather than to his
own.
Without this union of family spirit, the Society
could scarcely continue to exsist. Certainly it could not accomplish the task
for which it was founded. THe greatest assitance we can render our community is
the faithful observance of this law of charity which is also life of every
family. On the other hand, the greatest enemies of a community, of a family, are
those who by their uncharitableness stir up disunion.

~Jesus, Son of God, our Savior, our Holy Redeemer, came down to earth for us. he could have easily taken his position as king of kings and Lord of Lords as we were created in life to glorify his name. he could have come down for us to serve him... but he didn't he came down to serve us! what an incredulous example is this for us to follow in our lives... the most highest of high comes down... washes our feet, and dies for us, and tells us that we should go out and do the same... to serve others. i would believe that our society would become a perfect place if we all followed the walk of Jesus... turn our hearts humble as we see others as our superiors... serve them kindly with all your heart. if everyone on the world would follow that idealogy i do believe that heaven itself would be able to reign on earth...

Tuesday

My secret is simple-I pray.

~i used to call myself a catholic... a catholic that didn't pray... i believed that my prayers were useless and would go unanswered because... who am i to get my prayers answered... especially by a mighty God... i continued to worship the Lord in life at this point... at prayer meetings especially... but i rarely prayed. when hardships rolled into my religious life i wasn't able to hang on through it and i fell out of my faith for a while. when friends came to me and told me they'd pray for me... i scoffed at them "what would that do?" i sunk deeper and deeper into my situation until one day... i offered him my first heartfelt prayer... i didnt ask for things... i didnt complain... i just talked to him. i talked to him about my life and about where we've been... and then at that point i realized prayers are answered... not mines at the moment but my friends prayers for me. at my lowest i was brought back. now when difficulties roll into my life again, i pray and stand my ground and with the Lord by my side i last the storm with few scars.

Monday

When we think of the name of our society-The Missionaries of Charity-we
should feel a little remorse of conscience if our charity, both inside and
outside the community, is not what it should be. Our charity should be full of
humility, simplicty, openess, geneorsity, forgiveness, and thoughtfulness. In
general, we should improve our politeness, understanding, brotherly love,
maturity,. and our deep faith in one another.

~we are following a great calling in our life to be part of this church. but the job isnt easy... we can't just dilly dally about and manage to call ourselves catholics. we must get out there and work for our faith. it is also understandable that we aren't made perfect. in our life there is always room for growth, anyone and anyone who says that they have learned all there is and believes that there is no more room for growth needs to be proven wrong. you are never to high and might to grow... you are never too pure to serve others. we need to keep growing because the minute that one stops... we begin to die...

Sunday

May Mary be a mother to each of us, the cause of our joy. May we be Jesus to
her, the cause of her joy. No one has learned humility as Mary did. The handmaid
of the Lord was completely empty of self and God filled her with grace, with
himself. To be a handmaid means to be at someone's disposal, to be used
according to someone's wishes. It means to belong to someone without reserve,
with full trust and joy. Our Lady was a willing handmaid of the Lord.
Cheerfulness and joy were her strength.

~ IT was the willngness of Mary that made her so great. there was no hesitation on her part when the angel came down and told her what she was chosen to do. she accepted her task willingly and joyfully. Mary was a daughter of God who was obedient, and that made her great. in our lives we should always try to fulfill that same criteria with our superiors. as much as the tasks they give us seem hard... or unforfilling or just plain questionable... carry them out without hesitation and with joy in your heart because for all the hardships you go through, what glory will it be when you offer it up to the Lord

Saturday

The greatest offering we can make is that of a feverent heart. If you really
want to be a true co-worker of Christ, keep the rule of Society. We are
consecreated to him; Jesus has chosen us for himself. What joy is ours because
we are always in close contact with Christ in the distressing disguise of the
poor.

~I looked up the meaning of "fervent" in the dictionary and i came up with:. Showing strong or intense feeling. if you proclaim yourself as a worker of Christ... it's really a full time job... time off or lunch breaks are not handed out for this position. if you say you are going to love God and serve him, do it all the time... not just when you feel like it, even if things are going sucky. love and serve him because of the great things that has been done for you in your life and you wouldnt expect him to be there for you on mon through thursday and then suddenly forget about you over the weekend