Amazed

I am humbled by other people's vocations. They seem as if they would be impossible for me. Then i realise how God has prepared them, In each life is travail and suffering, and the urge to tell the world that Jesus is Lord is evident in my obscure existence the same as in all those marvellous people who had such incredible love for God, which empowered them to survive the worst the world can bring to bear.

My love for other people is also overflowing, and I need to love and to be another Christ in my own simple way. Then I see that we are all very great in our own way, the way shaped by Jesus, to move the immovable stones of the world, cold and hard hearts that will not be moved. 

But I see Him moving those stones. They are not heavy for Him at all, and the more we are like Him, the more we can do empowered by Him.

Thus we also see the necessity of complying with His Will for the sake of other souls.

People are wounded and deformed by life from an early age, and some becpme obnoxious to the point that people cannot tolerate them, and they do great harm by their blindness and selfishness, even though they do not see it. My life, like all other lives, contain a remedy that heals, but it must be applied gently and with the Lord's loving hands. It may take a long time, even most of their lives. Participating in God participates in His sorrows and His pains and woundedness; He takes on the wounds of the world that are

causing so much suffering, and if we participate in God, we participate in His sorrows, because He immerses Himself in our suffering in order to transform us. 

Do not underestimate yourself by judging your own value by looking at other people, but look at Jesus and ask what you should do. Then be ready to do what He asks. 

If you do this, life will contain its own tranquility given freely by the Lord.

Amazed

I am humbled by other people's vocations. They seem as if they would be impossible for me. Then i realise how God has prepared them, In each life is travail and suffering, and the urge to tell the world that Jesus is Lord is evident in my obscure existence the same as in all those marvellous people who had such incredible love for God, which empowered them to survive the worst the world can bring to bear.

My love for other people is also overflowing, and I need to love and to be another Christ in my own simple way. Then I see that we are all very great in our own way, the way shaped by Jesus, to move the immovable stones of the world, cold and hard hearts that will not be moved. 

But I see Him moving those stones. They are not heavy for Him at all, and the more we are like Him, the more we can do empowered by Him.

Thus we also see the necessity of complying with His Will for the sake of other souls.

People are wounded and deformed by life from an early age, and some becpme obnoxious to the point that people cannot tolerate them, and they do great harm by their blindness and selfishness, even though they do not see it. My life, like all other lives, contain a remedy that heals, but it must be applied gently and with the Lord's loving hands. It may take a long time, even most of their lives. Participating in God participates in His sorrows and His pains and woundedness; He takes on the wounds of the world that are

causing so much suffering, and if we participate in God, we participate in His sorrows, because He immerses Himself in our suffering in order to transform us. 

Do not underestimate yourself by judging your own value by looking at other people, but look at Jesus and ask what you should do. Then be ready to do what He asks. 

If you do this, life will contain its own tranquility given freely by the Lord.

Rest

New Camaldoli, Big Sur California

Daily Highlight

Dear Br. Michael,

Someone asked me how I started working with the children. I started in the US by purchasing a small travel trailer and then loading it up with clothes and shoes and medical supplies - six thousand pounds in all. I loaded the travel trailer on a cargo ship destined for Belize Central America. This was in October, of 2002 I traveled along with the trailer on the cargo ship and the trip took 7 days under some very rough seas. Arriving in southern Belize, I began distributing the clothing, shoes and medical supplies to some of the poorest of the poor people of the area. When finished, I used the travel trailer as my base camp as I began the building of the Mission of the Good Shepherd.

Why was it so important to care for these children? From the day that I arrived in Mango Creek, in southern Belize, I had been so shocked at the plight of some of the street children here. Some were sent out by their parents to beg for coins here and there. Some were sent out to sell whatever they could. Some had parents, but many had none. But all were children, dirty, undernourished, sickly, needing care and crying out for love and attention. It literally pained my heart not to be able to do anything for them. That is when I first decided to become a Missionary and that was over 20 years ago.

Having previously been a Doctor, I started out by giving medical care to these children, but it turned out that the problems of the children were not so much medical as nutritional, social and spiritual. Sick children would be cured, but two weeks later they were back again with the same symptoms. It became evident that any ministry to these children would have to be of a long term nature, covering not just physical, but also financial, spiritual and emotional problems.

But not all of Belize is poor. Just offshore of Belize there are many beautiful islands where many rich Americans come for vacation. Some come by cruise ship. Some fly in, but they never enter the mainland to see the plight of these children. And if they do get to enter the mainland, they are kept away from the real Belize by the people who run the Cruise Ships. These Americans vacation in luxury on these islands, never seeing the plight of some of the underprivileged children who suffer so greatly only a few miles away. Seeing underprivileged children only a few miles from where rich Americans were vacationing in luxury was even more tragic than if the country as a whole had been struggling to survive. Things have changed over the past 19 years and there are not as many of these poorest of the poor children as there were. And I would like to think that our Mission had a hand in changing some of that.

From the humble beginning of a travel trailer, through the Grace of God, and only through the Grace of God, we were able to build the Mission of the Good Shepherd. I say we because this is a partnership. I might be the one over here working with the children, but I could not be doing anything that I am doing without your help, and those like yourself, as partners back at home. By this partnership, and only by this partnership, is our Mission able to grow and to help the children. And I thank God every day for your part in this partnership.

Since most of these children don’t have parents who attend church, or who can teach them about God, bringing the children to God is the most important thing that we do. The Mission also has it’s our own Church for the children during the week and on Sunday, as well as a separate Prayer Chapel in which we pray for the needs of those around us and those who help and support our Mission. The children are taught to give back in the best way that they can, which is usually through praying for others.

Among the many other things that we have at our Mission is a playground located right next to our Church. We purposely put it there so that the children would mentally associated worshiping God with fun. Not just something that they have to do. And it’s working. At the Mission of the Good Shepherd we have a very strong spirit of religious observance and love for God and we strive to pass that along to the children.

Sometimes children seem so unimportant. At least they did when I lived back in the US. But now after working almost 20 years with these children over here in this 3rd world country, things are different. Every time I look at one of these little children, those who are considered so unimportant by most, I know that I am looking at the face of Jesus. I guess that’s what keeps me going as a Missionary against the odds that I must face. 

Please pray for our Mission and for me as I continue to work with these children who are considered unimportant by so many, but are so dear to Jesus. And please pray for me as I struggle with some of the daily hardships of being a Missionary in a 3rd world country. The hardships are nothing, however, compared to being allowed to work for God. I thank God every day for His allowing me to serve Him over here. I am so blessed to be allowed to work for Him. And so blessed to have you as a partner in this.

In the Service of the Good Shepherd,

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Post

Mission of the Good Shepherd

Mango Creek Independence Village

Stann Creek District

Belize, Central America

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS: This is not a request for donations. It’s just a little history of our Mission and the children. But as you already know, if you do get the urge to donate, simply send a check made out to the “Mission of the Good Shepherd” directly to our US address:

 

PS: Our new USA mailing address is:

Miranda Parkey, Church Secretary

Mission of the Good Shepherd

P.O. Box 1

Buckhorn, NM 88025

It is always good to put your all into anything you do. Yet, progress does not come of it's own, it is a product of all the actions of His Holy Will.

I remember another time when I encountered great peace, a tangible peace, a flowing of rest and happiness. It was at the retreat house of the New Camaldoli hermitage in California. 

The place is 1300 feet above the Pacific Ocean, and the retreat house has a beautiful view, and many secluded places to seek a truer solitude if you have come for refuge in it.

Above all else it is quiet there. No radios or Tv's. But once the din of civlization has diminished and faded away, there is an electric current that runs through you and stands you bolt upright, stunned.That terrible place is the one we have all dreaded for ages, when reality shows itself not to be what we all took for granted, but what is actually is. There is nothing to fear in it, the way people might obsess; " me? in total silence all day long without entertainment or human company? and nothing to do?"

It is not hard to pass through such a journey, but it has derailed more than one person who felt the urging of God to "come aside with me". The beginning of a realization of what solitude and silence consist of starts when you are in fact abandoned in solitude and silence and all doing resolves itself into being and somehow you touch God, and He touches you, and life changes in a more pure and intense presence.

After a while, all the little objects in a place dedicated to silence fall into their appointed places, not interrupting and not intruding, but only letting the current of that river of spiritual love carries you effortlessly down stream without a care in the world, not even worrying about the possibility of a high falls over which the silence falls to plunge into unknown depths and what they may contain.

God guides, leads, persuades and intervenes as necessary until you find out how effortless resting can be when it is the divine rest. It is easy to grow fond of that place, but do not get used to it, or worse still, expect it to be persistent so that you might become habitually expecting it, like an infant anticipatinf teaspoons of honey. That will lead out of the possibility of dreams, to the hard work waiting to get done, adjusting to nailed hands and feet, and wounds reopened by the thorns. Then you must push on and that may be all you have to go on. But if you persist, it has its effect and you no longer care. You cannot know HIs environment without experiencing HIm, even on the cross, hanging from pitiless wounds. You do not get used to it, the reaction against the pain is the same, but the spirit rises up not of its own accord but under the influence of His Holy Spirit, and then you begin to live and work and grow into the being you were meant to be.

Rest

New Camaldoli, Big Sur California

Daily Highlight

Dear Br. Michael,

Someone asked me how I started working with the children. I started in the US by purchasing a small travel trailer and then loading it up with clothes and shoes and medical supplies - six thousand pounds in all. I loaded the travel trailer on a cargo ship destined for Belize Central America. This was in October, of 2002 I traveled along with the trailer on the cargo ship and the trip took 7 days under some very rough seas. Arriving in southern Belize, I began distributing the clothing, shoes and medical supplies to some of the poorest of the poor people of the area. When finished, I used the travel trailer as my base camp as I began the building of the Mission of the Good Shepherd.

Why was it so important to care for these children? From the day that I arrived in Mango Creek, in southern Belize, I had been so shocked at the plight of some of the street children here. Some were sent out by their parents to beg for coins here and there. Some were sent out to sell whatever they could. Some had parents, but many had none. But all were children, dirty, undernourished, sickly, needing care and crying out for love and attention. It literally pained my heart not to be able to do anything for them. That is when I first decided to become a Missionary and that was over 20 years ago.

Having previously been a Doctor, I started out by giving medical care to these children, but it turned out that the problems of the children were not so much medical as nutritional, social and spiritual. Sick children would be cured, but two weeks later they were back again with the same symptoms. It became evident that any ministry to these children would have to be of a long term nature, covering not just physical, but also financial, spiritual and emotional problems.

But not all of Belize is poor. Just offshore of Belize there are many beautiful islands where many rich Americans come for vacation. Some come by cruise ship. Some fly in, but they never enter the mainland to see the plight of these children. And if they do get to enter the mainland, they are kept away from the real Belize by the people who run the Cruise Ships. These Americans vacation in luxury on these islands, never seeing the plight of some of the underprivileged children who suffer so greatly only a few miles away. Seeing underprivileged children only a few miles from where rich Americans were vacationing in luxury was even more tragic than if the country as a whole had been struggling to survive. Things have changed over the past 19 years and there are not as many of these poorest of the poor children as there were. And I would like to think that our Mission had a hand in changing some of that.

From the humble beginning of a travel trailer, through the Grace of God, and only through the Grace of God, we were able to build the Mission of the Good Shepherd. I say we because this is a partnership. I might be the one over here working with the children, but I could not be doing anything that I am doing without your help, and those like yourself, as partners back at home. By this partnership, and only by this partnership, is our Mission able to grow and to help the children. And I thank God every day for your part in this partnership.

Since most of these children don’t have parents who attend church, or who can teach them about God, bringing the children to God is the most important thing that we do. The Mission also has it’s our own Church for the children during the week and on Sunday, as well as a separate Prayer Chapel in which we pray for the needs of those around us and those who help and support our Mission. The children are taught to give back in the best way that they can, which is usually through praying for others.

Among the many other things that we have at our Mission is a playground located right next to our Church. We purposely put it there so that the children would mentally associated worshiping God with fun. Not just something that they have to do. And it’s working. At the Mission of the Good Shepherd we have a very strong spirit of religious observance and love for God and we strive to pass that along to the children.

Sometimes children seem so unimportant. At least they did when I lived back in the US. But now after working almost 20 years with these children over here in this 3rd world country, things are different. Every time I look at one of these little children, those who are considered so unimportant by most, I know that I am looking at the face of Jesus. I guess that’s what keeps me going as a Missionary against the odds that I must face. 

Please pray for our Mission and for me as I continue to work with these children who are considered unimportant by so many, but are so dear to Jesus. And please pray for me as I struggle with some of the daily hardships of being a Missionary in a 3rd world country. The hardships are nothing, however, compared to being allowed to work for God. I thank God every day for His allowing me to serve Him over here. I am so blessed to be allowed to work for Him. And so blessed to have you as a partner in this.

In the Service of the Good Shepherd,

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Post

Mission of the Good Shepherd

Mango Creek Independence Village

Stann Creek District

Belize, Central America

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS: This is not a request for donations. It’s just a little history of our Mission and the children. But as you already know, if you do get the urge to donate, simply send a check made out to the “Mission of the Good Shepherd” directly to our US address:

 

PS: Our new USA mailing address is:

Miranda Parkey, Church Secretary

Mission of the Good Shepherd

P.O. Box 1

Buckhorn, NM 88025

It is always good to put your all into anything you do. Yet, progress does not come of it's own, it is a product of all the actions of His Holy Will.

I remember another time when I encountered great peace, a tangible peace, a flowing of rest and happiness. It was at the retreat house of the New Camaldoli hermitage in California. 

The place is 1300 feet above the Pacific Ocean, and the retreat house has a beautiful view, and many secluded places to seek a truer solitude if you have come for refuge in it.

Above all else it is quiet there. No radios or Tv's. But once the din of civlization has diminished and faded away, there is an electric current that runs through you and stands you bolt upright, stunned.That terrible place is the one we have all dreaded for ages, when reality shows itself not to be what we all took for granted, but what is actually is. There is nothing to fear in it, the way people might obsess; " me? in total silence all day long without entertainment or human company? and nothing to do?"

It is not hard to pass through such a journey, but it has derailed more than one person who felt the urging of God to "come aside with me". The beginning of a realization of what solitude and silence consist of starts when you are in fact abandoned in solitude and silence and all doing resolves itself into being and somehow you touch God, and He touches you, and life changes in a more pure and intense presence.

After a while, all the little objects in a place dedicated to silence fall into their appointed places, not interrupting and not intruding, but only letting the current of that river of spiritual love carries you effortlessly down stream without a care in the world, not even worrying about the possibility of a high falls over which the silence falls to plunge into unknown depths and what they may contain.

God guides, leads, persuades and intervenes as necessary until you find out how effortless resting can be when it is the divine rest. It is easy to grow fond of that place, but do not get used to it, or worse still, expect it to be persistent so that you might become habitually expecting it, like an infant anticipatinf teaspoons of honey. That will lead out of the possibility of dreams, to the hard work waiting to get done, adjusting to nailed hands and feet, and wounds reopened by the thorns. Then you must push on and that may be all you have to go on. But if you persist, it has its effect and you no longer care. You cannot know HIs environment without experiencing HIm, even on the cross, hanging from pitiless wounds. You do not get used to it, the reaction against the pain is the same, but the spirit rises up not of its own accord but under the influence of His Holy Spirit, and then you begin to live and work and grow into the being you were meant to be.

Authority

 Saints of the Day
Martyrs of Uganda
Blessed Beatrice Bicchieri, Dominican

Gospel

Mk 11:27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

+

Human reasoning cannot surpass divine thinking in any way, at any time. The blindness of the people confronting Jesus is stupendous. Totally convinced of their righteousness, they were incapable of seeing a divine truth or recognizing the possibilities that are in God's Will.

Even at the moment He was questioned, standing in His Father's House, the Temple built with such labor and over such time was  crumbling like any pile of mud bricks, and though it was constructed of the heart of mountains, is was no better than mud, and He already saw it tumbling down.

Question me? Take a look around, whilst you can still breathe and be, for as this temple will be pulverised by the Romans, you shall be called to the Father to account for your life.

Perhaps saddest of all, they did not realize they were blind. At least the blind man of the Scriptures, whom Jesus cured of His blindness was born that way, and did not study and practice it for years to no avail, not once recognizing the Presence in their midst.

And we are very much like those questioners who only wanted to have Jesus in their power, and to prevent the coming of His Kingdom, so they might continue ruling and regurgitating their bitter feast upon other people in an attempt to bind them and silence them and prevent them from seeing and they might remain in power. They were already prepared for the furnace. By His passion did He silence objections and establish truth with the creation of a new reality for all men, in which the cross was no playground, but was a tower of blinding light that will silence all.

Do you long for rest and peace, and search in vain for spiritual nourishment, regretting your sins and apparently powerfless to cease? God will bring your trial to an end, He will not leave you orphans, but everyone will see His love and He will gather everyone in affection to His Heart around which cold souls will warm themselves. Weak souls will leap up in strength, and the powerless will summon souls to judgement with no fear of being disobeyed.

Conquerors will be shamed, unable to raise their finger to point, bereft of all they took, and the lives of those they killed will pronounce judgement from the Heart of God to dispose of them, and they will stand helpless in regret. While men could embrace each other as brothers, they will suffer realizing that they squandered a great fortune when others seized His offering and were saved out of despair and sorrow, to feast on Himself. With grace abounding so much, do not despair in darkness but open your eyes to see the light which streams so brilliant all around you, for you have arrived at the feet of God.

Authority

 Saints of the Day
Martyrs of Uganda
Blessed Beatrice Bicchieri, Dominican

Gospel

Mk 11:27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

+

Human reasoning cannot surpass divine thinking in any way, at any time. The blindness of the people confronting Jesus is stupendous. Totally convinced of their righteousness, they were incapable of seeing a divine truth or recognizing the possibilities that are in God's Will.

Even at the moment He was questioned, standing in His Father's House, the Temple built with such labor and over such time was  crumbling like any pile of mud bricks, and though it was constructed of the heart of mountains, is was no better than mud, and He already saw it tumbling down.

Question me? Take a look around, whilst you can still breathe and be, for as this temple will be pulverised by the Romans, you shall be called to the Father to account for your life.

Perhaps saddest of all, they did not realize they were blind. At least the blind man of the Scriptures, whom Jesus cured of His blindness was born that way, and did not study and practice it for years to no avail, not once recognizing the Presence in their midst.

And we are very much like those questioners who only wanted to have Jesus in their power, and to prevent the coming of His Kingdom, so they might continue ruling and regurgitating their bitter feast upon other people in an attempt to bind them and silence them and prevent them from seeing and they might remain in power. They were already prepared for the furnace. By His passion did He silence objections and establish truth with the creation of a new reality for all men, in which the cross was no playground, but was a tower of blinding light that will silence all.

Do you long for rest and peace, and search in vain for spiritual nourishment, regretting your sins and apparently powerfless to cease? God will bring your trial to an end, He will not leave you orphans, but everyone will see His love and He will gather everyone in affection to His Heart around which cold souls will warm themselves. Weak souls will leap up in strength, and the powerless will summon souls to judgement with no fear of being disobeyed.

Conquerors will be shamed, unable to raise their finger to point, bereft of all they took, and the lives of those they killed will pronounce judgement from the Heart of God to dispose of them, and they will stand helpless in regret. While men could embrace each other as brothers, they will suffer realizing that they squandered a great fortune when others seized His offering and were saved out of despair and sorrow, to feast on Himself. With grace abounding so much, do not despair in darkness but open your eyes to see the light which streams so brilliant all around you, for you have arrived at the feet of God.

Chipping

Day's Saints
Justin, Martyr
Blessed Ferdinand Ayala, Martyr

Gospel Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, ‘Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

+

If the blind man had done as others said, he would not have received his sight back. If 50,000 say they do not believe, should you throw in your lot with theirs? I hope you will not. I hope you will, rather, take courage and tell God immediately what you need and want and do not lose your faith like the others.

God often calls people to leave their comfortable world behind and do what is illogical, seems impossible and very difficult, but keep in mind the prize He offers you, and do as He says. Faith in God overcomes many obstacles in life, so that you receive what you desire and what you need.

If He sets you to work chipping away at a granite mountain, should you despair before you get started, or is it rather the time to get busy, and await what He will do for you? Life is difficult at times, and though He saves us from our imprudence and indifference, but giving up in the face of desapir is not the way to anything worthwhile in life, and in the next life, we must account for the life we lived. It is better to be able to say "I persevered, Lord" and to hear Him asnwer, "Yes, I remember helping you every step of the way."