“What do you remember most about your mom?” I asked.

“The way she did the dishes,” she replied. “”She used a wash rag, not a sponge. She took her time doing them like she was giving us a bath.”

I was in a card store trying to find a card for my wife. I don’t like to just stand there looking. I like to talk to the people who are trying desperately to find just the right words.

I thought it was a great time to ask what they remembered. It also helped them to find the right card.

“What about you? What one thing do you think of when you think of her?” I asked the woman to my right.

“The way she folded her clothes. It was never one, two, three. If she was folding an under shirt it was the same as folding a work shirt. Every crease in every fold meant something to her,” she replied.

Another woman nearby joined in.

“My mom ironed the bed linens. The details she insisted on were such that you would think she was giving tours through the house,” she said laughing.

Within minutes each of them had selected the “perfect” card.

“Thanks. That helped me find the right one.”

“Me, too!”

“I hate buying cards…this was easy, thanks!”

————————————————————————————————

So, what was it that made it so easy?

The little things.

When it comes to love, we don’t think about the big accomplishments, we tend to focus on the details. The way they walk, talk, smile, cook, laugh or sing is suddenly more important than anything else.

Think for a moment about someone you love. What comes to mind?

See, we create an image of that love by painting a picture of them. All the little things remembered are like single strokes of a brush.

For me? Cup cakes. My mom made the best cup cakes. Nothing fancy, just chocolate with butter icing. The cake was moist and the icing thick. Always the first ones to go at the school bake sales.

If you are a mom by giving birth, adopting or by marriage. If you have no human children but furry babies. If you are blessed to still have your mom or if she is now blessing heaven with her presence…

I wish for you this weekend, days filled with little things to remember and big love to give. I have to bake some cup cakes!!!

- – - written by Bob Perks

For out of the overflow of his heart the mouth speaks. -  Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45

Oops!  The minute the words were out of my mouth I regretted saying them.  I thought, “I can’t believe I said that!” Next thought, “I wish I could take that back.”  But once words are spoken , they’re out there. No chance of taking them back.

Words are powerful.  In olden days, when a king spoke a decree, there was no rescinding it even if it meant terrible consequences. In Proverbs 18 we read, “The tongue has the power of life and death.”

One of the things I continue to struggle with is my speech.  Many times I have resolved to think before I speak.  “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin.” (Psalms 39)  “The tongue is a small part of the body, but …consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” (James 3)

I have asked the Lord to “Set a guard over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.”(Psalm 141)  That was written by none other than King David.  Bottom line, though, here’s the deal.  My tongue only says what is already fixed in my heart.  So the problem  doesn’t really lie in my mouth, but in my heart.

I have ‘decisioned and purposed’ to clean-up and purify my heart. That won’t happen overnite.  It will be an ongoing process.  That’s OK; we’re all  a work in  progress.  It will also require divine help.  Like the beautiful song says, “Change my heart, oh God..”

- – - written by Sally I. Kennedy

Solemnity of Christ The King

We celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, on the fourth sunday of November, every year. On this day, the Scripture readings remind us about what sort of Kingdom Jesus came to establish.

The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man’s thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist. The feast is intended to proclaim in a striking and effective manner Christ’s royalty over individuals, families, society, governments, and nations.

——————————————————–

Today’s Mass establishes the titles for Christ’s royalty over men:

1) Christ is God, the Creator of the universe and hence wields a supreme power over all things; “All things were created by Him”;

2) Christ is our Redeemer, He purchased us by His precious Blood, and made us His property and possession;

3) Christ is Head of the Church, “holding in all things the primacy”;

4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as His special possession and dominion.

——————————————————–

Today’s Mass also describes the qualities of Christ’s kingdom.

This kingdom is:

1) supreme, extending not only to all people but also to their princes and kings;

2) universal, extending to all nations and to all places;

3) eternal, for “The Lord shall sit a King forever”;

4) spiritual, Christ’s “kingdom is not of this world”.

Lets hail our king and praise Him in every way we can. Amen.