God's New Morning Message

Do you know what God's fresh, new morning message is to us? Whether the sun is shining brightly or whether it's pouring down rain? Whether the morning is bright or whether it's gray and overcast? His promise is the dawn itself... Every morning the Lord comes through wth His encouraging message, "We're still on speaking terms, you know! I'm here. I haven't moved.Let's go together today"...

Trust God to remember you. He won't forget your circumstances, He certainly won't forget your prayers... Trust Him, He remembers you.

Unity and Humility

Do you realize how closely unity and humility are tied together. One breeds the other; neither can exist without the other. They're like Siamese twins, perpetually connected. Personally, I have seen numerous occasions when pride won out (even though it was never called that) and harmony faded away... and I mean fast....

Contrary to the stuff you might read today, the words, fight and quarrel, are not apt descriptions of the way to get ahead. They won't ultimately glorify God. Friends are made not fighting and by refusing to quarrel.

Commit yourself to freeing others so they can grow and discover on their own. For a change, as much as is possible, walk away from an argument rather than inviting one. Become more of a peacemaker.

An Attitude of Humility

Humility is not how you dress, it is not the money you make, it is not where you live, it is not what you drive, it is not even how you look. We're never once commanded by God to "look" humble.

Humility is an attitude. It is an attitude from the heart. An attitude of the mind. It is knowing your proper place. Never looking down or talking down because someone may be of financial level less than yours. It is knowing your roles and fulfilling it for God's glory and praise.

The attitude Christ had, who emptied Himself of the voluntary and independent use of his divine attributes. There is no quality more God - like humility.

The place of higher exaltation, as we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a place of self emptying humility. It's not a phony-baloney style of fake piety. It's true humility of mind. It's putting the other first... It is being like Christ.

O Lord , Lead me in your righteousness...

God voice isn't all that difficult to hear. In fact, you almost have to be closing your eyes and stopping your ears to miss it. He sometimes shout through our pain, whisper to us while we're relaxing on vacation, occasionally. He sings to us in a song, and warns us through sixty-six book of His written Word. It's right there, ink on paper. Count on it-that book will never lead you astray.

In addition to His unfailing source of wisdom, He has given you wise counselors, friends, acquaintances, parents, teachers and mentors who have earned your love and respect through long years. Screen what you believe to be the will of God through their thoughts, their perpective. Does your conviction about the direction you'r headed grow, or are you seeing lots of red flags and caution signs? Before you undertake a major life direction change, be careful that it is God's voice, that it is God call you are hearing.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on thee, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.

O what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fill my soul when I pronounce thy sacred name, or even only think of thee. I thank God for having given thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely pronouncing thy name: let my love for thee prompt me ever to hail thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.

Missing Someone

I know it happens. Once in a while, I catch a whiff of someone's familiar cologne with whom I associate that scent. I find myself in this melacholic mood usually when I miss significant others in my life. A familar tune to you I am sure. Yet it almost brought tears to my eyes as I experienced a tug of war between the excited anticipation of seeing a long lost loved one and the sadness that crept in when I realized that It could not be possible to see her again.... I miss her!

It is such a normal thing to miss those we love. The one we love become so much part of our lives and our persons that when they are not there to share with us virtually anything or everythig, we feel the pinch so badly. Then matters worsen when we can't seem to get hold of ourselves and do something significant and worthwhile even just to buffer the pain a little and distract ourselves. No doubt, these are difficult moments. We cannot help but wish sometimes that our loved ones can stay by our side as long as often as possible.

It is indeed tempting to cry to our little corners and justify all this by saying that we are grieving or that we cannot help feeling this emptiness because of the one we miss is just too important to forget. The we keep wishing and praying that they come back to us or keep playing in our minds the wonderful memories of the past. Of course, if our wish could only be granted. If there were no reality other that that togetherness or union with our loved one. Imagine if this were so, there would be no more sadness or grieving in this world. We would all be with all those we love forever. But that is not reality. Perhaps, the yearning is foretaste of heaven. We can never really posses God while we are on earth. We have moments of great consolation when we feel His presence and love in those who love us but even that is not forever.

Our prayer then cannot be for God to keep our precious one with us always as it is even physically impossible. Our prayer ought to be so deep and so real that is has the power to go beyond time and space and any other physical or psychological limitations. Try and lift that person almost physically on both hands to God and offer that person up to him. Pray for that person. Pray that at that moment that person will experience your support , joy, peace and comfort and yes your love. Put yourself in complete abandon in the hands of God holding on to your loved one and watch God lifting both of you unto His bosom and then all three of you will be reunited.

Try turning to God who is the best healer, the best lover and the best father, who knows exactly the right balm or potion you need for a broken heart.

A journey of life

Life is a journey. Life is a long walk . Along this journey we can get hurt and confused. As we take steps in this long walk , we can get wounded or bruised by stumbling or we can get frustrated and disappointed by the antipathy of those who are walking the journey with us . No ,matter how bruised, wounded pain or frustrated we may be, we should keep on walking, one step at a time, no matter how weak and feeble our legs may feel. We should not allow the woundedness or brokeness of the journey to paralize us into inaction.. Keep on walking , one step at a time. The journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step. The destiny of the journey is reached only by those who are willing to walk without counting the cost, one step at a time unto eternity.

No matter how bruised or weakened we may feel , we have to keep a hospitable disposition, keep a friendly smile no matter how tired or confused you may be. Sometimes, on days when we feel lost and hurting, we are tempted to let all know that we are beset with problems. The way to get our hearts ready to love again and to serve again is to be friendly kind and gracious. Overcome evil by the power of good.

God takes care of you

Did you know that worry erases the promises of God from your mind? Jesus implies this when He says, "O men of little faith. Do not be anxious, then,saying, "What shall we eat?' or What shall we clothe ourselves (Mathew 6:31) The promise of God is that he will not allow his children to beg bread. He will care for our needs and that's the promise you can claim. He took care of our greatest need in Calvary, by giving us Christ,then He can be sure He will take care of everything else He considers important for us

An analysis: What do I admire in Domlawrenceosb?

I received a recent email from my friend domlawrenceosb telling me about the results of his midterm test in his course, History of Western Philosophy, and I just could not help but to marvel but on the other hand, frown at the terminologies he used in his answers from the 10 essay questions that he struggled to find the right answer.

And since I do not have any background in Philosophy as I graduated in teacher education program with major in Science, looking at the way he delineated the answers, I just sighed in awe. Maybe, he must have probably retained much of his intellectual intelligence. What am I trying to say here?

I admire domlawrenceosb because despite his chronological age (he is ten years older than me as I am only 42 yrs old now) and his present disposition, being away from the academe for nearly 12 years, oh boy! that was quite a long hibernation from his usual classroom routines in his Master’s degree in Theology which he failed to finish, still he has not lost his ground in facing the challenges of being in graduate studies.

As Science teacher, I know for a fact that at the age of 30, a human being’s brain shrinks and loses its neurons making him lose the ability to pick up new things in his environment and it is in such stage when the neurons continue to become dysfunctional brought about by a decreased level of neurotransmitters in the human brain, thereby making it very difficult to learn new things.

It is in this regard where I am totally amazed at how domlawrenceosb’s brain is doing with his age as I am resigned to the fact that his brain must have already experienced so much loss in its neurons at this point in his life. But look! He has violated the principles and facts and surpassed such stage in human life when at the age of 52, one can still perceive and pick up new ideas! It only shows that dom’s brain has not lost its neurons that much with the evidences that he has shown from the results of his midterm examinations and from his reaction and analysis papers.

Maybe, dom is an exceptional when it comes to scholastic or academic intelligence. He must have possessed a superior kind of such intelligence.

But on the other hand, dom’s emotional makeup has changed tremendously as what I have evaluated from his emails of pouring-out-of-his angst and sorrows as well as despair and distress.

I have noticed that he has evolved from being emotionally smart to a kind of emotion that overcomes his rational thinking. Seemingly, his passion has overwhelmed his reason, his rational thinking. I know for a fact that our rational mind- is the mode of comprehension that we are typically conscious of, more prominent in awareness and able to think, ponder and reflect rationally.

On the other hand, our emotional mind- is impulsive, powerful and very illogical and the more intense the feeling, the more dominant the emotion mind becomes-and the more ineffectual the rational mind. These two minds, the emotional and the rational, operate in tight harmony and for the most part, enterwining their very different ways of knowledge and reactions to the environment.

Ordinarily, there is a balance between emotional and rational minds, with emotion feeding into and informing the operations of the rational mind, and the rational mind refining the inputs of the emotions. These two minds are exquisitely coordinated: feelings are essential to thought and thought to feelings but when passions surge, the balance tips.- and it is the emotional mind that captures the upper hand, swamping away the rational mind.

Thus, has this truth applies and has something to do with dom's heightened emotional reactions to issues around him? Or is it just because of his chronological age? Whether the answer lies on the truth of an imbalance between his rational mind and emotional mind, only God knows.

Anyways, nobody is perfect as what they say. Whether Dom is intellectually superlative but his emotional mind and reaction on looking at things and situations are underway behind his intellectual capacity to achieve scholastically, I really do not mind because what I am into is the mystery of how, at his age, he still can manage to make use of his rational mind so effectively to keep his grounds up amidst the huge challenges of his graduate studies along the way.

Human brain is indeed a great mystery and so is domlawrenceosb.

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Mid-Term Exams
Brother Lawrence, OSB, Saint Meinrad School of Theology
Mr. Gill Ring
Professor

1. Anaximander’s ultimate stuff is wholly indeterminate. Why is his theory thought to be superior to that of Thales or Anaximenes? Why is it nevertheless insufficient?

Answer: Anaximander’s theory of indeterminacy was ultimate and superior to that of Thale’s water or Anaximenes’ air because their theories are too restricted while Anaximander’s indeterminacy maintained that the world’s stuff must be indefinite. However, his theory was insufficient because it created the problem of deriving the definite things of the world out of something which lacks all definiteness.

2. The Pythagoreans retain Anximander’s ultimate, but add another. What is this other and what, unlike the indeterminate, does it account for?

Amswer: The Pythagoreans retain Anaximander’s ultimate theory of the indeterminate but solved it’s problem of insufficiency by adding to the indeterminate a second principle, determinateness.

3. Heraclitus and Parmenides both insist that nothing can change and yet remain the same. How then can they differ so completely about the reality of change and of being?

Answer: Heraclitus denied the reality of being, and Parmenides denied the reality of change.


4. .What is the point of Zeno’s paradoxes, and what is presupposed by them?

Answer: The point of Zeno’s paradoxes which he formulated was to defend the view of Parmenides against the Pythagoreans. This view of Parmenides states that reality is one and unchanging. Zeno’s point relates to indirect or reductio ad absurdium argument, the proof of a proposition by showing that its contradictory is self-contradictory or absurd.

The presupposition behind Zeno’s paradoxes is that the infinite divisibility of spatial and temporal continua by reason must also be an infinite divisibility in reality. In addition, it says that since the infinite divisibility of time and space leads to the concept of infinitesimals, then there really must be infinitesimals which are spatially and temporarily extended.

On the other hand, since all space and time are infinitely divisible, then all space and time must consist of nonspatial, nontemporal infinitesimals. In short, there is really nothing spatial or temporal at all hence, really no change or motion at all. Thus, Zeno claims that change and multiplicity requires infinitesimals because extended continua are infinitely divisible in thought and what is divisible in thought is divisible in reality.

5. What properties did Melissus add to Parmenidean Being?

Answer: Melissus added two modifications to Parmenides’ theory of Being. He states that Being must be infinite, not finite as Parmenides claimed, and that Melissus reasoned out in his theory that it is infinite because if it were finite it would have to be bounded by something outside it, and in such case, there would be a being other than the universal being.

On the other hand, Being cannot be material, as Parmenides implies, because material beings are finite or bounded. Therefore, according to Melissus, Being must be infinite and immaterial.

6. Empedocles is the first to see the need for a third principle in addition to indeterminacy and determinateness. What is this principle and why is it needed?

Answer: In addition to indeterminacy and determinateness, Empedocles claims that the basic immutable beings that are qualitative-quantitative elements such as fire, air, water and earth and all their vicissitudes are determined by two agencies: love and hate. This principle of agency is needed because there is a difference between the determinate and the determining. The latter is the active determination of the indeterminate; the former is the determinate result of that active determination.

The Empediclean agencies oppose one another in four logical stages: the first is one in homogeneity, a fusion of all the roots by the agency of love or attraction. The second is one of gradual separation of the roots from each other by the agency of repulsion or hate and in this stage, occur the coming of distinct individual things into existence.

The third stage is one of complete heterogeneity in which the most complete separation of the roots from each other which will cause the individual things pass out of existence. And the final stage is one of a mingling of the roots with each other in order to bring individual things into existence once more. These 4 stages make an endless cycle of production and destruction as in birth and death and so on.

7. How does Anaxagoras differ from Empedocles as to the character of this principle? What is Democritus’ view of the principle?

Answer: Anaxagoras differ from Empedocles as to the character of his principle of agency in a sense that Empedocles’ roots are insufficiently elemental and general. According to Anaxagoras, these elements which he called as germs or seeds of all things are infinite and in varieties. He regarded these seeds as essentially qualitative rather than quantitative and in addition, he viewed them as pure qualities without any quantity at all and in some others, they seem to be quantitative infinitesimals and sometimes, they seem to have very small size and in addition to that, these seeds lack temporal beginning and end as well as lacking in internal change.

In short, Anaxagoras claims that the agency that determines and causes the motion of seeds is reason or mind. He was referring to the reason seeds as the finest of all that are distributed with the other seeds throughout all things and thus reason functions as a principle of unity and intelligibility. On the other hand, Democritus rejects this principle claiming that while things are infinitely divisible in thought, they are not infinitely divisible in reality.

For Democritus, they are purely quantitative atoms possessing motion as their intrinsic property and all things is the motion of these particles in empty space, because, for him, reality is both many and one, both changing and unchanging, though in different respects. Therefore, Democritus claims that the agency of motion and change is just the atom themselves and there is no distinct principle of agency because motion is inherent property of the atoms themselves.

8. Each of the Pluralists affirms multiplicity and change while saving as much as he can of Parmenidean unicity and changelessness. How?

Answer: Each of the Pluralists (Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and Democritus) affirms the principle of multiplicity and change by dealing on their nature which can be summarized to: all things that are made and its change into particular things must be absolutely universal and should be as unitary and simple as possible.

While the Pluralists assert the principle of multiplicity and change, their solution does not satisfy the demands of their reason because they have not really analyzed the concept of being in such a way as to avoid the arguments of the Eleatics. Each of them did not meet the argument of Parmenides. Their concept of being is merely ad hoc. For instance, Democritus failed to analyze the concept of nonbeing.

9. Neither the Heraclitians nor the Pluralists are regarded as having met the Eleatic case against multiplicity and change. Why?

Answer: The Heraclitians nor the Pluralists did not meet the Eleatic case against multiplicity and change because the Pluralists have solutions to the problem that did not satisfy the demands of the reason behind the problem. First and foremost, their claims contained conceptual difficulties that later, when noted by later philosophers, were tried to be removed.

First, the Pluralists failed to analyze the concept of being to contradict the arguments of the Eleatics about their point that there cannot be two beings-whether atoms, seeds or roots. Then, Democritus failed to analyze the concept of nonbeing or the void in order to counter attact the arguments of the Eleatics.

10. Does Parmenides solve the problem of change and/or the problem of the one and the many? How so or why not?

Answer: The problem was unsolved and unsettled. Parmenides’ argument that any second atom would be other than the first one and if the first one is real then the second one would have to be other than what is real, hence, to be unreal.

Therefore, it would appear that there cannot be two beings whether atoms, or seeds or roots. On the other hand the problem of change was unsolved because there are underlying issues that were not answered like: Does change require an identity of opposites as what Heraclitus said?

Is this notion of change self-contradictory as the Eleatics thought? In the end, these analytical questions would need to be answered in order to satisfy and solve the problem.

God is the One who can make happy ending

Sometimes we feel the discomfort of change. It is normal to be afraid of the unknown and to shun away from pain. It is normal to want to keep things the way they are , as we are used to them. Change is not equal to progress but definitely the road to progress entails change. And all changed entails some difficulty, pain and discomfort in varying degrees. Our disposition ought to be an openess and willingness to change.

Change is not only the priviledge of the young. Change is not only a gift that only the young can do. We can change no matter how we may become. We can still change for as long as we live.

Progress always involves changes, although not all changes is for the better. Some change for the worse. But no one ever made progress by stubbornly refusing change. Those who refuse to change end up broken up and breaking other people too.

This refusal to change could betray a certain amount of arrogance, a little hard headedness and a lot of pride which are not healthy for a spiritual life. Seek the help of Christ, and the light of the Spirit. This is where most of us fail. We are so good in many things. But we hardly talk to God before making decisions.

I wonder why so many of us find discomfort in kneeling down to ask God for Divine light. Many of us want to make a right decisions and want to effect earthshaking changes but we forget that it is only God who can make things possible. God who is unchanging is the only One who can bring our changes and make happy endings.

Depend on God's Power

What is the beautiful lesson we can learn from every child? The Lord says, we must imitate little children on their total dependence on their parents for survival. The childhood exemplified by the Sto. Nino teaches us that we must depend totally on God for power.

We flaunt a lot of power. We think ourselves powerful because we control computers, maintain cellular phones, hoards of atm's and foreign currency accounts. But they are not the source of power.. Even we have access to the so called "sources of power, we can still be powerless if we do not have Jesus Christ.

We should relate to God like children completely dependent on their parents, because God is the source of our power. Let us depend completely with our Father's will to discover beauty, fullness and power.

A Holy One!

For some people holiness means a life overflowing withn virtue and goodness. For some it is a place like a church or an air conditioned adoration chapel, For others it is kneeling down , closing their eyes and praying the rosary as slowly and fervently as possible. Others still regard holiness as the feeling they get after going to church.

Holiness is not a place, a mood or or a feeling. Holiness is an action word because it is to be discovered in love of neighbore. In other words, the surest way to be holy is to love and to serve. Holiness is not a matter of feeling , holiness is an action word. The holiness that expects to us is the service of the poor, or the under priviledge or the forgotten.

It is always good no matter how small your salary is, to set aside something for the poor.. No matter how big our salary has become, we must never forget part of the wage we receive, part of the blessing we receive should go to the poor. It is not only spiritual exercise, It carries with its promise that those who will give will received a hundredfold.

God has not forgotten us

Forgetfulness is associted with old age. But it is not limited to the elderly. even young once are forgetful every now and then.

Unfortunately , forgetting can do cost us money, waste our time and even hurt certained people concerned. It is unlikely that there is one among us who can say he has not forgotten anything.

But the good news is despite our forgetfulness, The Lord says "I will never forget you". Sometimes we feel we've been forgotten by God. Even Jesus Christ was subjected to this temptation when He said to God, "Why have you abandoned me?"

We may feel we have been forgotten. We may feel we have been taken for granted. We may feel what is important to us have been forgotten by our loved one. All this hurts.

But remember that even there are times that we feel that we have been forgotten by God. God is always after our welfare. Some of us when subjected to so many trials, can't help but ask the Lord what sins we have committed to deserve them. But during these times when you feel you have been forgotten, deserted by God, always remember that these is the time that God is closest to you.

What is an Indulgence? Does the Bible Teach Anything Abou It?

The Cathecism of the Catholic Church defines an indulgence as follows:

An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church....(1471)

Many saint suffer more than enough to satisfy God's justice. Jesus Christ didn't have any sins and yet suffered greatly. The Catholic Church gives "credit" for this suffering to person who have repented(just as prayer for another must be answered by god). The tranfer od merit through an indulgence is, then a profound acknoledgement of the communal and unified nature of the Mystical body of Christ(1 Cor 12:26). Hence indulgence can also be applied to the souls in purgatory.

Patience is a Grace

People do not need to be impatient. We all have the capacity to be good, to be understanding and to be patient. When people get annoyed, there is nobody to blame but the self. It is not the faulth of the trafficor the repeated mistakes of the house helpers. The problem is not outside . The problem is within you..The problem is yourself.

When those around us shows arrogance and hardness of heart, we respond to them by showing them more arrogance, more hatred, more violence, and more resentment. Does it improve the situation. No, it just gives us a little ego massage but the number of impatient person in the world would have increased because of us. If you cannot find patient and to be kind and to be gentle and then you will find others changing for the better because of the good seed you sowed.

We can learned again to be patient, by allowing the patient and kind people that we know, to teach us. The lives of the great men and women reminds us that we can that we can still make our lives sublime. If they can be a good and admirable in patience why can't I? Let us allow others to inspire us.

The best and most patient "Other" who can teach us to be patient is Jesus Himself. Patiernce is a grace. Patience is a gift from God that we can ask for, work for and harness. Perhaps one of the truly major reasons why we are impatient is that we have not fully appreciated the patient love of God.. How can God be so good? Is it that easy? Yes. indeed it is. God is quick to forgive and very slow to judge.

Our impatience with the shortcomings of those around us could be a reflection of our own failure to accept patiently and humbly our own limitations.

The root could be our pride. We we want to see progress immediately. Impatience could be selfishness nand pride in another form.

Anger

When somebody commits an offense against us, our first impulse is to punish the offender. Now there are two kinds of punishment. One type makes the person meting out the punishment feel better while the other kind makes the person being punished become better.

The point is not that we should not punish anybody at all cost, but that our punishment and rebukes should not be motivated merely by anger. They should not be occasion for ventilating anger. Our punishment ahold be motivated by love and concern for a brother or sister gone wrong. Our punishment should not be to make us feel better, but to make th offender be a better person

Thus we ask ouselves, " What kind of anger do I feel? Am I an impulsive person who flies into uncontrollable rage once I see something wrong? " It is always good to ask the Lord to make us patient. When we ask for patience let us implore the Lord to grant us the grace to correct, not simply to exprees our anger, but so that other people will become better as a result of our anger. Only through this will our anger become life giving. Then our anger becomes God's instrument for grace.

Forgive to attain Peace

We all have different fears. Some are afraid of their hidden secrets. Some are afraid of getting old. Some are afraid of being inexperienced, because of their youth.

The Lord tells us today, there is no need to be afraid. But peace is not given to us without any conditions. Peace is given to us along with two keys that will open its doors.

The first is forgiveness. Forgiveness, not only in asking forgiveness from God, but forgiveness in terms of forgiving other people. Those who are not ready to ask forgiveness from God will not have peace.And those who are not willing to give forgiveness to other people. They will always be bothered and they will grow even more bitter as they remember the sins of other people that they can't forgive.

The first key to peace, inner peace, is forgiveness.

The second key is sharing. People who think only of themselves will not have peace. People who get and get and get and do not give away will not have peace.

These 2 keys are important for us to attain that single, very important gift which we all need, which is peace.

Let us reflect together on that great mystery. We all have fears, secret fears.

Our Desire for Good

It is very difficult to tell people things they do not want to hear.This task becomes even more difficult if the people involved are our friends. When we tell our friends things they do not want to hear, they will not thanks us; they might not even want to talk to us anymore afterwards. However, there are times when we must be ready to tell people things which they do not wish to be hold to them.

However, there are many instances when we will be called to tell some people things that should be heard. This can happen when we are confronted with an abusive spouse, an unfair host, an irresponsible co-employee, an addictive child, an errant friend, and countless others. And faced with such situations we have no recourse but to be candid because of our concern for these people. If we do not care for them, we will not bother at all.

Let us therefore ask the Lord for the grace to possess the courage that will enable us to be open to our friends; to be hold enough to tell them things which they may not want to hear, but which they must know.

Let us pray for the wisdom to be able to impart to them the truth in a manner that will be marked with our love and our desire for good for them.

What do we as catholics believe about the relationship of faith and work?

Justification, according to Catholicism, actually wipes out sin, and provides a supernatural, renewing, infusion of grace. We believed that faith in Jesus Christ is not saving faith unless it bears fruits in good works. In this way, good works is necessary for sallvation, and sanctification is connected to justification.

Grace is defined in Catholicism as God's merciful aid, given to enable us to be more holy. It is an absolutely unmerited, free gifts of God, made possible through our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and his atoning death on the cross for us. When, therfore, Catholics speak of merit on the part of man, it must be understood in a secondary, derived sense.

The Bible and the Catholic church teach that God Rewards (grace enabled) good works, and that a person cannot saved himself by his own self originated works. Nor is anyone saved by the Blessed Virgin Mary or a pope or anyone else besides our Lord and Savior Jesus. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus how he could be saved (Lk 18:18-25), our Lord commanded him to perform "work" to sell all that he had. Jesus also rewards and grant salvation atleast partially according to works and act of charity.(Mt 16:27, 25:31-46 note conjunction "for" in 25:35)

Lord, Spare me from worries

Jesus, , my worries are too many, my anxieties much too great . I think my shoulders are too small for the crosses I have to carry. My heart is tooo small for the worries that engulf me.

Jesus, Your design for us is not a trouble-free life. Your design for us is not painless life. Your design for us is not a life without problems. You only promised us that You will be with us. Jesus, fulfill Your promise. Don't let our hearts be troubled. You promised us , do it right now, Jesus , set us free.

Liberate me from worries, liberate me fron anxieties . Lighten my burdens. Let me not troubled too much. I might lose my faith in You . Do not take away my troubles in my life, I might forget You when life becomes too easy. Jesus, I pray as well as for my brothers and sisters whose worries are greater than mine.. Sometimes Jesus, I think all the burdens are on me . But it is not true. When I looked at Your wounds on the cross and I look at the sufferings of the people around me. I am just embarassed I complain too much.

Jesus, in spite of the worries and the problems I have to carry , help me to think of others. Help me to serve others. Help me to love others. Help me to understand others, because when I do that for others, then I do that for You also.