Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXXXVI

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXXXII

Obama quoted from this passage in his inauguration speech while referring to the Bush administration. When you think about it, it's a pretty hardcore "dis" on Bush.

1 Corinthians 13:11,12

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXXX

There is yet another 6 inches of snow to deal with this morning. It's days like this that make me question why I don't live in a warmer climate.

Psalm 147:16

He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.

Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXXIV

Psalm 95; 2:

Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday LXXIII

Frequent readers know I am pursuing a Master's Degree in Education. I signed up for the final test today!

Exodus 4:12

Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday LXVII

With the Red Sox back in the post season, I get a bit nostalgic for this BYBS post originally published for Blog Your Blessings Sunday III here on the Hot Dog Truck. This is a true story:



Since I am a baseball fan and Red Sox fan, I decided to REPOST this TRUE STORY for Blog Your Blessings Sunday.

Originally titled "How a Red Sox Fan got Religion" , it was published on this blog in February 2007 (when NOBODY read my blog) as a farewell to Keith Foulke. Enjoy.

Since today is Sunday, I spent about an hour and a half at church this morning; 1 hour for Mass and a half hour munching bagels and sipping coffee in the church basement afterwards. Like many Catholics, I was at one point in my life reluctant to go to Church-I viewed it as a chore or obligation. That all changed on October 17, 2004. You see on October 16, 2004 the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox in game three of the American League Championship Series. Actually, they destroyed them 19 to 8 (and the game wasn't as close as the score indicates). There was no joy in Red Sox Nation on Sunday October 17, 2004. The general mood was one of despair and resignation to the fact that our Sox were breaking our hearts once again. My then 10 year old son kept asking me on the way to church that morning if it was at all possible for the Sox to come back and win it-my answer was yes, it's possible but not probable. I suggested we all pray extra hard for the Red Sox.

I don't know if I was especially reflective or morose, but the Gospel that morning was from Exodus 17 Water From The Rock:

Exodus 17:8-13

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."
So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

Father G. read the Gospel and proceeded with his usual interpretations. He noted that in order for the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites, Moses needed to keep his arms raised to preserve victory. Persistence is what allowed Moses to keep his arms raised. He needed to be persistent in the face of his weariness and he required assistance to maintain his persistence. He likened this to being a faithful Catholic in modern times: we need to be persistent in our faith, even when things may appear hopeless around us. I leaned over to my son and whispered in his ear "that's a lot like being a Red Sox fan." We said our silent prayers and mine most definitely included a prayer for the Red Sox. I even threw some extra money into the collection basket that morning.

We all know that God is a Red Sox Fan and what happened in the improbable week and a half after that: Dave Roberts' steal, Big Papi, Johnny (Jesus) Damon, The Bloody Sock, and "swing and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke, he has it, he underhands to first and the Boston Red Sox are World Champions!" We'll miss you Keith-we couldn't have done it without you and you should have been MVP of the 2004 World Series. I don't care what you did after that night on October 27 of 2004. In your own way, you gave this Sox fan a shot of religion.

Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXIV

Today I woke up for the first time in my new bed! Our friends gave us their Tempurpedic King Size mattress (they got a new bed). This is going to be great for my back. Thanks Ellen and Jerry!

Psalm 4: 8

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday XLXX

Today was the last day of Church Choir for my kids until the fall:

Exodus 32:18

"It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear."

Blog Your Blessing Sunday XLXIX

Ecclesiastes 1:15


What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday XLXVIII

Matthew 15:11

It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday XLXVII

1 Corinthians 2: 15

The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment

Oh, if it were that easy!

Blog Your Blessings Sunday XLXVI

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I am late with this post this week as I was busy cooking Sunday dinner for my mom, grandmother and wife!

Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Blog Your Blessing Sunday XLXV

I recently wrote of a true life "good Samaritan" who helped out the Hotdogman. Here is the parable of the Good Samaritan:

Luke 10: 30-36

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

Blog Your Blessings Sunday XLXI

John 20: 26,27

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Blog Your Blessings Sunday XLX: Happy Easter

John 20: 11-16

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;

and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.

And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Teacher!"

Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"

Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her.



And on a lighter note, for those with children, a slice of life:

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.'"

Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus."

HAPPY EASTER

Blog Your Blessing Sunday XLVII

Sorry I missed BYB Sunday last week. I was traveling most of the day and just didn't get a chance to get a post up!

This passage always reminds me of Spring for some reason.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.



It's almost TIME FOR HOTDOGS! I can't wait to get back out there with my NEW TRUCK!