What’s Up With Prayer

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MATTHEW 6:7-15

Friends, today’s Gospel asks us to do three things: pray, fast, and give alms. Let’s focus today on prayer. Studies show that prayer is a very common, very popular activity. Even those who profess no belief in God pray!

What is prayer, and how should we pray? Prayer is intimate communion and conversation with God. Judging from Jesus’ own life, prayer is something that we ought to do often, especially at key moments of our lives.

Well, how should we pray? What does it look like? You have to pray with faith, and according to Jesus’ model, you have to pray with forgiveness. The efficacy of prayer seems to depend on the reconciliation of differences.

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Create a JoyPowered Family

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Presenters offer ways to have a JoyPowered Family

By: Brigid Curtis Ayer

Carmel, IN—What is joy? It’s a simple question. It’s a goal people seek to achieve throughout most of their lives.

JoDee Curtis, founder of Purple Ink, and presenter of the JoyPowered Family, defined joy as everlasting happiness with God. Curtis offered ways to reach joy and have a JoyPowered Family during a Jan. 27, joint presentation with Denise McGonigal, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

“So many people are waiting for joy to just happen, to show up on their doorstep and ring the bell,” said Curtis.  “But joy isn’t a rare phenomenon that randomly appears out of thin air. Rather, it is a state of wellbeing we can choose for ourselves and our families daily.”

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The Only Life Worth Dying For

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“I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with all my heart.” —Psalm 138:1

The “radical newness” of the Christian life (see Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People, Pope St. John Paul II, 10) is sometimes buried under our sins and lukewarmness (see Rv 3:16). In our refusal to abandon ourselves totally to the Lord, we make Christianity a club, game, organization, or private avocation. However, life in Christ is not merely one option as a possible way of life. It is the only Way that is true, life-giving, loving, freeing, and victorious over death. To be a Christian is the most radical and exciting adventure that a human being can ever decide to go on.

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Need Rest? Try a 3-minute retreat here

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A 3-minute retreat? Never heard of it. Neither had I, but I love it and frequent it often.

If you are like me, it seems very hard to find time to just be. If we are to hear God, and take care of our one of a kind masterpiece that God created (us), we need to time to rest and drink in a good cup of coffee and all the Lord has to say.

My prayer time has changed over the years. At times it was very regimented, almost WAY too much. Other times, I have to admit it’s been a bit willy nilly. Other times it’s frankly been lame, or even seemingly non-existent.

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Overcoming Temptation

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Overcoming temptation. Well, that’s easier said than done. As we strive for victory during our Christian walk, I heard a great message which provides practical tips and Godly wisdom for success.

We all face temptations, but recognizing where they originate, and how to avoid or tackle them, I think will go a long way towards our happiness now and eternally.

Temptations versus Trials.

What’s the difference. The Greek word, peirasmos, is the same word for both temptation and trial, yet we know these words are different. Trial is a test of faith. Whereas, temptation whether from outside or within typically involves a temptation of the flesh.

As we read in the Catechism, “Temptation is an attraction, either from outside oneself or from within, to act contrary to right reason and the commandments of God. Jesus himself during his life on earth was tempted, put to the test, to manifest the opposition between himself and the devil and the triumph of his saving work over Satan (CCC 538).

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Speaking Truth in Today’s Culture

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LUKE 4:24-30

By: Bishop Robert Barron, Lenten Reflections

Friends, today’s Gospel develops a theme that is uncomfortable. It tells how the people of Nazareth rejected Jesus. Authentically religious people, authentically spiritual people, will almost always be opposed. The logic behind this is simple and unanswerable: we live in a world gone wrong, a world turned upside down; therefore, when someone comes speaking the truth to us, we will think that they are crazy and dangerous.

Think for just a moment what would happen to you if you consistently and publicly spoke the word of God to our culture. If you spoke out against abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, human trafficking, rampant materialism, and ideological secularism, what would happen to you? If you presented, in a full-throated way, the full range of Catholic social and moral and spiritual teaching, what would they do to you? Trust me, they would throw you in a version of Jeremiah’s cistern.

 

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Find Healing Through Forgiveness

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By: Brigid Curtis Ayer

Carmel — Forgiveness is something Christians are called to do. When Jesus was asked how often must a person forgive, his answer– “70 times seven.” Scripture scholars do not surmise the answer is 490, but rather that Jesus wants us to forgive a lot, or some suggest, infinitely.

But when a person is wounded by another, sometimes forgiveness doesn’t come easy said Eric Gudan, Ph.D. in Psychology, during a recent, presentation at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on the topic of Finding Healing Through Forgiveness.

As the presentation title suggests, when a person forgives, they are set free from the mental and physical toll that unforgiveness causes.  Gudan, a licensed clinical psychologist and health service provider at Integritas Psychological Services in Indianapolis, said that in therapy, the goal is to remove impediments to having authentic relationships.

Gudan provided a road map for the group to navigate forgiveness including a four-phase model. He said a large part of his work involves helping people forgive others and recover from the wounds they have incurred. Gudan offered a quote to reflect on from Pope Francis.

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Local artist creates Ark of the Covenant replica

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Carmel, IN–In the early 2000’s, Jonathan Chamblee was best known around Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish as the theological intellectual who directed the high school youth program, however he gained a new reputation as an accomplished metal artist with the unveiling of his work– a life size, brass-laid, replica of the Ark of the Covenant with monstrance on top.

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Start Out Small, Build Something Great

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Start small. That’s the message.

Bishop Robert Barron’s reflections frequently make me laugh. And I couldn’t resist re-posting another one of his great reflections. (See below italics.)

When we think of the mustard seed, and what it eventually becomes–a huge tree– it gives us an insight into God’s way of thinking.

We are so impatient as Americans. It’s no wonder we are impatient because we live in fast food, fast cash, quick text message, instagram culture. Everything is almost instantaneous, and in real time, FAST. But God doesn’t exactly work that way. And Bishop Barron has a really great insight as to why God has us start out small.

I hope you take the time to read this short reflection below by Bishop Barron.

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Praying for a Culture of Life

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On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the decision which made abortion legal in the United States, it’s important to reflect a bit on how many people are not with us today because they were — well, aborted.  Abortion is a, “choice” which involves a very brutal and harsh act of violence rendered against a voiceless and marginalized child. Is this America in 2018?

Every day I read a reflection on the Gospel for the Mass readings by Bishop Robert Barron. His topic today was on Roe v. Wade.  I don’t think we can underestimate the impact abortion has on people lives and our society. Below is Bishop Barron’s reflection on Roe v. Wade decision & the Gospel of Mark 3: 22-30.

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