Links & Stuff

WHERE DO YOU PRAY BEST? Three preachers sat discussing the best positions for prayer while a telephone repairman worked nearby.  “Kneeling is definitely best,” said one.  “No,” another contended.  “I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven.”  “You're both wrong,” the third insisted.  “The most effective prayer position is lying prostrate, face down on the floor.”  The repairman could contain himself no longer.  “Hey, fellas,” he interrupted, “you want to know what I found was the best position for prayer?  It was when I was hanging upside down from a telephone pole!”           ROSARY FOR PEACE   The Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary is recited in Church on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:30 a.m., prior to the beginning of the 12:05 p.m. Mass.  Please join us!!          HOSPICE VOLUNTEER TRAINING Hospice and Palliative Care of Connecticut VNA will be offering a three-week training program beginning in January for volunteers interested in working with hospice patients.  Volunteers perform various duties depending on their abilities and interests.  For more info, please call Darise Datzenko (735-6664, ext 509).          COUNSELING SERVICES AVAILABLE   Many people cannot afford the cost of counseling or have difficult finding an agency to help.  If you or someone you know is struggling with serious issues, please contact Catholic Family Services (372-4301, ext 351, or send email to www.ccfc.ct.org).          CATHOLIC NETWORKING GROUP The Catholic Networking Group is for Catholics in Connecticut in their 20s, 30s and 40s, married or single, who want to participate in spiritual, social and volunteer activities.  For more info, please call Callista Gould at 637-3731 or email callista@intertechmedia.com.   St. Joseph VIRTUS Info Childrens Liturgy Click on the item above to display more info.           TEARING DOWN  Earthquakes and famines occur every day somewhere in the world, all which affect hundreds of thousands of people.  There are songs about peace, love and kindness but our earth seems to exhibit an alarming absence of God; that is, unless we understand how God brings about His purposes and rule in the affairs of men.  He tears down what man has built so that He might build a new foundation based on His rule.  Have you been going through a time of tearing down?  Does your family or marriage seem to be falling apart or perhaps it is your health or your business?  Yes, it may be an attack of Satan, but it may also be an act of God.  Don't be discouraged when terrible events occur, because God will rebuild your life on a foundation that the storms of life cannot destroy.           CONNECTICUT CATHOLIC CONFERENCE    Please visit the Conference’s website (www.ctcatholic.org), which has been updated to keep Connecticut Catholics informed and educated on current issues of concern.  Available through the website is registration to receive informative emails and action alerts related to pending State/Federal legislation, info on how to contact elected officials, and links to other web sites.           SPOONER HOUSE FOOD BANK  The Spooner House and the Valley Food-bank are continually in need of food to replenish what is given to the homeless and hungry on a daily basis.  While out shopping, please pick up a few non-perishable items which may be brought directly to the Spooner House (119 Caroline Street, Derby) or left in the rear of our Church in the box marked “Spooner House.”

          

  A CLOCK 

 There are special moments in people’s lives when time has significant meaning such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and holy days.  The tick of the clock echoes the passage of time reminding us that life on earth is a passage and each moment is an opportunity.

 In our culture, people never seem to have enough time to do and experience all they would like.  Yet, some who live alone find they have too much time.  The paradox is that when we have little time, this is what we need to give away the most--by sharing it with those who have too much time in their loneliness.  Jesus taught us to give away our time and when we do, we discover having it in a new and happier way because sharing time mean being together.  Being together brings union--communion.  Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

 A CROSS

Some signs are more full of meaning for us than others.  For some people, a Cross is simply a sin of contradiction--a sign of two beams going in opposite directions, a meeting place of opposites.  For Christians, a Cross is a sign of contradiction for different reasons.  It is a sign of pain and opposites.  By placing His body over that sign, Jesus put in front of us His loving presence and called us to imitate Him by giving our lives to the job of getting rid of contradictions that cause pain.  On the other hand, crosses are composed of the vertical and the horizontal.  The first is a heaven-to-earth direction reminding us of God’s love for us.  The other is the east-west direction recalling the fact we can stretch out our arms to embrace all the peoples of the world.  Jesus, on the Cross, brought God and humanity together.  So, besides signs of contradiction, crosses are signs of unity.  Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

A CURTAIN

How easy it is to put a curtain up on a window and then forget about it.  We open and close curtains in an automatic way, rarely stopping to reflect on what curtains do.  It reveals and it hides.  It covers and it uncovers.  A curtain can remind us of ourselves.  We open up at time, close up at other times.  Usually, we open up when we feel comfortable and trusting, and we close up when we want to be protected from being hurt.

What makes us like open curtains?  Trust and love.  Closed curtains?  Mistrust, fear, suspicion.  Curtains can teach us a great deal about what kind of people we really are.  Mostly closed?  Mostly open?  Suspicious and unloving?  Trusting and loving?  A closed curtain prevents the sun from shining in.  Do we keep others from us by being closed?  Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

A CHIRP

 A small but happy sound is the chirp of a bird.  It reminds us that God created little birds for our enjoyment and delight.  The chirp of a bird is a signal of life being lived according to the plan of God.  Jesus reminded us that birds neither sow nor reap but our heavenly Father cares for them.  Birds respond to the laws of nature for their species.  They fly freely from place to place unencumbered by unnecessary baggage and somehow trust that necessary food and shelter will be provided for them.  Birds teach us to trust, to be free, to conform to nature’s laws, and to give glory to God with little chirps of gratitude for life.  The chirp of a bird is a small sound with a larger meaning that can help bring us closer to Jesus who told us to “consider the birds of the air…”

 Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

A FEATHER

 

 Jesus told us the weak things of this world will confound the strong.  That is just one of His many allusions to the truth in paradoxes.  When we hold a little feather in our hands, we can think about this truth.  A feather is so light it makes no impression on an ordinary scale, yet a feather has power that none of us has.  Feathers are necessary for the freedom of flight, for warmth and protection.  Birds without feathers are finally helpless and die.

 A tiny little feather is a small creation but is absolutely essential and very powerful when it fulfills its purpose of creation.  When we feel small and insignificant in the huge crowds of humanity, we can meditate on a little feather and realize we too have power to confound the so-called strong who foster war and injustice.  Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

A LAMP

 Lamps and lights are so taken for granted in our culture we forget the real importance they have in places where they are scarce and darkness surrounds people.  A lamp sheds its light as a sign of order in the chaos of darkness, warmth in the cold of night’s black, a presence toward which life moves to discover where it is.  Jesus called himself the Light of the World.  He also told us to let our lights shine for others and not to hide our lamps under a bushel.  When we look at a lamp, we see how valuable it becomes when it is available in the dark.  We ignore it during the day.

 In our times, many people live in the darkness of depression, insecurity, despair and they are in great need of someone to show them the way out of their darkness.  We are asked to be the lamp that lights their way by reflecting the bright light of Christ.  Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

AN EYE

 Some parts of our bodies seem more mysterious then others.  We can study the eye and learn how it works, what makes it healthy or ill.  We can help the eye to see better with glasses and magnifying lenses.  But we find it difficult to comprehend the real mystery of seeing.  Our eyes bring the outside world in to us and our eyes often mirror our inside world out to others.  What do people see when they look into our eyes?  Does the eye become the camera of our minds?  Can people see, by looking into our eyes, if we share the vision of Jesus?  Do they see mercy, love, forgiveness, kindness?  Or do they see hardness, judgment, cynicism, meanness?  Or do they see both?  Jesus told us to take the “beam out of our own eyes” before we judge the splinter in the eyes of our neighbor.  If we did this, what vision would we have of the world.?  Reprinted with permission from “Little Things Mean A Lot” by Marie McIntyre; all rights reserved, © 1985.

        

 A LEAF

 In quite moments, we take time to see what we miss when we are in a hurry.  When we pause to look at the leaves of a tree, we can see them as symbols of life’s seasons.  A leaf is born in a tender young bud, full of hope and potential.  It springs into fullness and shines in full-veined greenness during the warm and bright summer.  We could say that “high noon” for a leaf’s life is when it is in the presence of the most light and warmth.  As fall approaches, it begins to dry up and curl into lifelessness.  But before it dies, a leaf changes into many colors, manifesting a richness that was hidden even in “high noon.”  A leaf reminds us that life is growing, maturing and dying.  Life is constant change.  Each period of life has its own beauty and gift but one period must ultimately replace the other.  Life’s seasons are sequential, not simultaneous.

        

A MIRROR

Isn’t it amazing that the one person we live with 24 hours a day is the person we really do not know very much at all?  When we look in a mirror, we see reflected back at us the person that other people look at and recognize, but the reflection we see does not tell us how they perceive us.  The mirror reflects what appears on the surface, not hidden reality beneath.  It is an interesting experience to hold a conversation with that image of ourselves in the mirror and ask such questions as:  Who are you?  What are your values?  Your ambitions?  Your hopes?  Who is your God?  A mirror can help us to confront ourselves and reveal to ourselves who we really are.  Mirror, mirror, on the wall - who is this “me” under all?