LEAVES Website for September-October 2024 Issue
Excerpted from “Leaflets” column:
Dear LEAVES Family Members,
Greetings to all of you. I hope you had a most enjoyable summer. I don’t know if it’s the same with you, but I must admit that it was just too short! Yet, I am sure that many wonderful things happened during that time to all of you. Life is made up of such a variety of wonderful and uplifting stories!
Isn’t it amazing that in some way, we adjust to whatever comes up, even though it might be something that is very unusual for us. Yet we say we were never favored with miracles. But, believe it or not, we’ve all experienced them in some ways.
Of course, we may complain that it’s not like it used to be. However, sooner or later, we stop complaining and we start making the best of it or the worst, depending on our state of mind or where we stand in our spiritual life, even if it’s really unusual.
As time goes on, I realize that those seasons, vary from year to year. They are not all alike. We find surprises along the way. Some are most agreeable; others are difficult and sad. Yet, at the end of the day, we find an opening. The tunnel we were in is gone! And we haven’t lost all our feathers!
Then we wonder: “How did I manage to go through all that?” “I made it!” “What a relief!’’ The Lord certainly had a hand in this! “Thank you, Lord, for helping me to keep on going.”
We are often surprised that we made it and managed to go ahead. But, it’s so important to thank the Lord for helping us in some way. He really is walking with each one of us. He’s making us have a growing faith in Him.
St. Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 2:14) writes:
“Thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.”
No wonder we ask the Lord to help us make the best of all that we experience. Sometimes it’s most agreeable. Sometimes, it requires a lot of energy and perseverance.
Once we experience these blessings or trials, we realize we’ve made it somehow, with Him! And we can’t help but feel happy! The Lord’s help was certainly there. We didn’t do it alone.
Isn’t that really what the Lord means when He says:
“ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself’ ’’(Mark 12:30-31).
As we begin the month of September, to me it’s like going back to normal. We enjoyed a few months that took us away from our daily routines. This sort of helped us to adjust to a slightly different way of life. I think as kids, we had more fun in summer. We could go outdoors for picnics, take a swim in a pond or a nice little creek somewhere nearby.
We would go for a hike in the woods and enjoy the fresh smells of the various trees around us, the wild flowers, see the sudden presence of a rabbit, a few butterflies, a nice deer in a distance grazing on a patch of green grass under a tree and suddenly switching his ears toward us as he interrupted his meal to see whether we would be going in his direction or just passing by. Then he would continue to eat. “All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord.’’
We find so much natural beauty during these two months of September and October. All the leaves from the trees change their colors. The New England States, such as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, to name a few, are known for that. I am sure that a good number of you have made a trip to some of these states just to admire the great variety of colors during this time of the year.
I started checking the liturgical calendar and noticed the number of saints that are celebrated during these months of September and October. It’s amazing. I was thinking of giving you a list of all these saints for those two months, with a few words about their lives, but then, I had to give up as I would never have enough space to write about them in one issue.
Many of these saints are quite famous, such as the Apostles Matthew, Luke, Simon and Jude. Then there are the Guardian Angels, the three Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. We also have these well-known saints: Gregory the Great, John Chrysostom, Ss. Cosmos & Damian, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Jerome, St. Theresa, the Little Flower, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ss. John de Brébeuf & Isaac Jogues, and companions, along with many others. There are also some feasts of Our Blessed Mother, such as her birthday, Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of the Rosary.
I think that next year I will have to do something special in LEAVES about this. I’m sure the Holy Spirit could give me a hand. In the meantime, let us pray for one another.
May you all have a most agreeable fall season and make the best of all the gifts the Lord has given you to help our LEAVES family to grow in faith, hope, and love. I still remember, when I was a young boy, we would turn on the radio at night at 7:00 p.m. to say the Rosary together with Cardinal Leger from Montreal.
Before and after the Rosary, we always heard this special motto: “A family that prays together, stays together.” We did our very best to do just that every day. I think we could still do that today and our life might be more meaningful and Christ-like.
May the Lord bless you - Fr. Michael Sheehy, C.M.M.
World Mission Sunday
October 20, 2024
“Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet” Matthew 22:9
In his 2024 World Mission Sunday message, which celebrates missionaries and their work, Pope Francis reflects on the Gospel parable of the Wedding Banquet, where the king tells his servants “Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.” The invitation to the banquet is linked to the Eucharistic table, where believers share the Body and Blood of Christ, anticipating the final banquet. The Holy Father writes, Here it should be remembered that breaking our material bread with the hungry in the name of Christ is already a work of Christian mission. How much more so is the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, which is Christ himself, a work of mission par excellence, since the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church.
As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out: “We cannot keep to ourselves the love we celebrate in the Sacrament [of the Eucharist]. By its very nature, it asks to be communicated to everyone. What the world needs is the love of God, to encounter Christ and believe in him. For this reason the Eucharist is not only the source and summit of the life of the Church; it is also the source and summit of her mission: ‘An authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary Church’” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 84).
Excerpted from “Our Family Album”:
Our Lady and the Saints
Resolve the Impossible
This donation is in thanks for favors received and for those to come, through the intercession of Ss. Jude, Anthony and Rita, and most especially, Our Lady, Undoer of Knots.
Thank you for printing the prayer to Our Lady in the Jan-Feb issue of LEAVES. I prayed to her (and continue to do so) for help with a seemingly impossible situation and it was resolved most harmoniously.
We have received LEAVES magazine for a number of years and we continue to pray for all those who request help. With thanks – Donna K.
St. Anthony to the Rescue
I want to honor St. Anthony. I lost a receipt that I needed and I had looked everywhere! Twenty-four hours later, I found it on the lawn beside my car! It was laying there, on a breezy day, only a little affected by the wet grass, but never blew away.
The receipt must have fallen out of my pocket when I got out of the car. Why didn’t it blow away? Amazing!
Thank you, St. Anthony! – Name Withheld.
Prayers Needed
It is Good Friday and I feel so sad, so desolate, yet so hopeful of a miracle. I have some lumps in my lymph nodes, one of them is really hard and I am scared. I am all alone, just Medicare, but if it is the end then I won’t have anyone to help me or go with me to treatments if I need them. This area is now painful.
I am praying that whatever it is will be benign and not require surgery. I don’t have anyone to pray for me either. What family I have left don’t have their faith anymore. I pray that I can get my affairs (spiritual and other) in order, find a health care provider, and get into a hospice, if necessary.
I also pray that I can be a good patient and concentrate on my prayers. I get confused sometimes and can’t concentrate or even get so scared that I forget my prayers.
Please pray for me. I read LEAVES magazine all the time. Thank you – Marie A.
Excerpted from Blessed Engelmar Testimonies:
A Life of
Blessed Engelmar
There is now available a booklet of the life of Blessed Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. You may receive a free copy of it by sending a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Thanks to St. Francis, to God, Jesus, Mary, Martha, St. Joseph, all the Mariannhill Missionaries, nuns, the pope and St. Teresa. Thanks also to all the souls in purgatory, the Holy Spirit, our guardian angels, Ss. Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, Philomena, Jude, Ann, Anthony, and Bl. Engelmar. Please pray for America and Israel. Please pray for Carol, Rod, Loree, Cole, Madison, Kayla and Barb – Carol W.
Novena in Honor of
Abbot Francis Pfanner
Abbot Francis Pfanner founded Mariannhill Monastery, and 100 years ago its monks became the Congregation of Missionaries of Mariannhill. He was not only a great missionary, but also a holy man. The cause for his beatification has begun. We have available a novena in his honor and will send you a free copy of it when you send a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Prayer for All Needs
We beg you, Lord,
to help and defend us.
Deliver the oppressed.
Pity the insignificant.
Raise the fallen.
Show yourself to the needy.
Heal the sick.
Bring back those of your people who have gone astray.
Feed the hungry.
Lift up the weak.
Take off the prisoners’ chains.
May every nation come to know
that you alone are God,
that Jesus is your Child,
that we are your people, the sheep that you pasture. Amen.
[From Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers, USCCB]
St. Therese of Lisieux
Daily Offering to God
My God, I offer you all that I do today
for the intentions and the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I want to sanctify every beat of my heart,
my thoughts and my simplest works
by uniting them to His infinite merits.
I want to repair for my faults
by casting them into the furnace of His merciful love.
O my God!
I ask you for myself and for those dear to me
the grace to fulfill perfectly your holy will
and to accept for love of you
the joys and sorrows of this passing life.
so that one day we may be reunited in heaven for all eternity.
Amen.
[St. Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897, also called St. Therese of the Child Jesus or “The Little Flower” was a French Carmelite nun and is a Doctor of the Church. Feast: Oct. 1.]
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Lord, teach me to be generous,
Teach me to serve you as you deserve,
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds,
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labor and not to ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that I do your will.
Welcome Home
By Bernice Laux
I was seeking something,
something I knew not what,
so then I tried to find what
I earnestly had sought.
I know that only God
could fill the empty heart.
Our very being lies in Him,
from Him we should not part.
For all that mirrors life
from God is ever in His care.
Everything that man can be
You, my God, are present there.
In heart, soul and body
we long to be united
with the God we do not see,
and everything is righted.
Heaven is the only place
we can really call our home,
where God with outstretched arms
will say, “Dear ones, welcome home.”
Leaves
By Margaret Peterson
Deep within the greenest leaf
Color can be seen,
But it can’t be displayed until
It’s time to lose the green.
At last it’s time for each to glow;
Trees appear on fire.
There is no lack of beauty now;
The very woods inspire.
We are like the leaves we see;
We color as we grow
Brighter in our love for God
Who loves His children so.
Thank You, Jesus
By Margaret Chant
Thank you, dear Jesus,
For the gift you have given me.
Thank you for walking by my side.
You pick me up, dear Jesus,
When I stumble and fall.
You carry me, when I am not strong.
You give me strength, when I am weary.
You give me courage to go on.
Thank you, dear Jesus.
Thank you.
Words of Comfort
By Kathleen Fessler
I am a thief and now I pay
For all my sinful ways,
Hanging on a cross of shame
To end my evil days.
Jesus is right next to me,
Innocent of sin,
Hanging there in agony.
I dare to speak to Him.
“When entering your kingdom,
Remember me,” I pray.
He turns His head and answers,
“You’ll be there today.”
His words bring blessed comfort.
I feel like I am free,
When He gives His promise,
“You’ll be there with me!”
Faith
By Bernice Laux
So many things we do not know
As on life’s journey we must go.
Like little children in His care,
We trust! And know that He is there.
But oft we do not see His plan,
So dimly lit the mind of man.
Yet stand we must, yes, straight and tall,
To reach His hand held out to all.
Remember God is always near
And cares for us who linger here.
He answers every prayer, you’ll see!
His love is great for you and me.
This love: He chose to give it birth
For us, His children here on earth.
By giving us His Son divine
To die for sins both yours and mine.
Within His passion on the cross
Reflected there our pain and loss.
Yet every sorrow we must bear,
With God’s own Son’s it can’t compare.
Helping at Hospice
By Cindy J. Evans
I took my place behind the desk,
Settling in the familiar chair,
the feeling of peace I’d come to expect
was gently evident there.
As people passed, they seemed sad,
yet thankful for this place,
a cheery voice and fresh flowers
and a smiling, friendly face.
Some walked by the pond,
some sat in the chapel in prayer,
some people slept in the rooms,
you could see how much they care.
A chaplain walked by
and gave a little wave ...
one of the staff let me know
an ambulance was on the way.
I take it all in,
just blessed to be a part
of God’s love in action
and the outpouring of His heart.
Excerpted from “Leaflets” column:
Dear LEAVES Family Members,
Greetings to all of you. I hope you had a most enjoyable summer. I don’t know if it’s the same with you, but I must admit that it was just too short! Yet, I am sure that many wonderful things happened during that time to all of you. Life is made up of such a variety of wonderful and uplifting stories!
Isn’t it amazing that in some way, we adjust to whatever comes up, even though it might be something that is very unusual for us. Yet we say we were never favored with miracles. But, believe it or not, we’ve all experienced them in some ways.
Of course, we may complain that it’s not like it used to be. However, sooner or later, we stop complaining and we start making the best of it or the worst, depending on our state of mind or where we stand in our spiritual life, even if it’s really unusual.
As time goes on, I realize that those seasons, vary from year to year. They are not all alike. We find surprises along the way. Some are most agreeable; others are difficult and sad. Yet, at the end of the day, we find an opening. The tunnel we were in is gone! And we haven’t lost all our feathers!
Then we wonder: “How did I manage to go through all that?” “I made it!” “What a relief!’’ The Lord certainly had a hand in this! “Thank you, Lord, for helping me to keep on going.”
We are often surprised that we made it and managed to go ahead. But, it’s so important to thank the Lord for helping us in some way. He really is walking with each one of us. He’s making us have a growing faith in Him.
St. Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 2:14) writes:
“Thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.”
No wonder we ask the Lord to help us make the best of all that we experience. Sometimes it’s most agreeable. Sometimes, it requires a lot of energy and perseverance.
Once we experience these blessings or trials, we realize we’ve made it somehow, with Him! And we can’t help but feel happy! The Lord’s help was certainly there. We didn’t do it alone.
Isn’t that really what the Lord means when He says:
“ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself’ ’’(Mark 12:30-31).
As we begin the month of September, to me it’s like going back to normal. We enjoyed a few months that took us away from our daily routines. This sort of helped us to adjust to a slightly different way of life. I think as kids, we had more fun in summer. We could go outdoors for picnics, take a swim in a pond or a nice little creek somewhere nearby.
We would go for a hike in the woods and enjoy the fresh smells of the various trees around us, the wild flowers, see the sudden presence of a rabbit, a few butterflies, a nice deer in a distance grazing on a patch of green grass under a tree and suddenly switching his ears toward us as he interrupted his meal to see whether we would be going in his direction or just passing by. Then he would continue to eat. “All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord.’’
We find so much natural beauty during these two months of September and October. All the leaves from the trees change their colors. The New England States, such as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, to name a few, are known for that. I am sure that a good number of you have made a trip to some of these states just to admire the great variety of colors during this time of the year.
I started checking the liturgical calendar and noticed the number of saints that are celebrated during these months of September and October. It’s amazing. I was thinking of giving you a list of all these saints for those two months, with a few words about their lives, but then, I had to give up as I would never have enough space to write about them in one issue.
Many of these saints are quite famous, such as the Apostles Matthew, Luke, Simon and Jude. Then there are the Guardian Angels, the three Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. We also have these well-known saints: Gregory the Great, John Chrysostom, Ss. Cosmos & Damian, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Jerome, St. Theresa, the Little Flower, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ss. John de Brébeuf & Isaac Jogues, and companions, along with many others. There are also some feasts of Our Blessed Mother, such as her birthday, Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of the Rosary.
I think that next year I will have to do something special in LEAVES about this. I’m sure the Holy Spirit could give me a hand. In the meantime, let us pray for one another.
May you all have a most agreeable fall season and make the best of all the gifts the Lord has given you to help our LEAVES family to grow in faith, hope, and love. I still remember, when I was a young boy, we would turn on the radio at night at 7:00 p.m. to say the Rosary together with Cardinal Leger from Montreal.
Before and after the Rosary, we always heard this special motto: “A family that prays together, stays together.” We did our very best to do just that every day. I think we could still do that today and our life might be more meaningful and Christ-like.
May the Lord bless you - Fr. Michael Sheehy, C.M.M.
World Mission Sunday
October 20, 2024
“Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet” Matthew 22:9
In his 2024 World Mission Sunday message, which celebrates missionaries and their work, Pope Francis reflects on the Gospel parable of the Wedding Banquet, where the king tells his servants “Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.” The invitation to the banquet is linked to the Eucharistic table, where believers share the Body and Blood of Christ, anticipating the final banquet. The Holy Father writes, Here it should be remembered that breaking our material bread with the hungry in the name of Christ is already a work of Christian mission. How much more so is the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, which is Christ himself, a work of mission par excellence, since the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church.
As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out: “We cannot keep to ourselves the love we celebrate in the Sacrament [of the Eucharist]. By its very nature, it asks to be communicated to everyone. What the world needs is the love of God, to encounter Christ and believe in him. For this reason the Eucharist is not only the source and summit of the life of the Church; it is also the source and summit of her mission: ‘An authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary Church’” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 84).
Excerpted from “Our Family Album”:
Our Lady and the Saints
Resolve the Impossible
This donation is in thanks for favors received and for those to come, through the intercession of Ss. Jude, Anthony and Rita, and most especially, Our Lady, Undoer of Knots.
Thank you for printing the prayer to Our Lady in the Jan-Feb issue of LEAVES. I prayed to her (and continue to do so) for help with a seemingly impossible situation and it was resolved most harmoniously.
We have received LEAVES magazine for a number of years and we continue to pray for all those who request help. With thanks – Donna K.
St. Anthony to the Rescue
I want to honor St. Anthony. I lost a receipt that I needed and I had looked everywhere! Twenty-four hours later, I found it on the lawn beside my car! It was laying there, on a breezy day, only a little affected by the wet grass, but never blew away.
The receipt must have fallen out of my pocket when I got out of the car. Why didn’t it blow away? Amazing!
Thank you, St. Anthony! – Name Withheld.
Prayers Needed
It is Good Friday and I feel so sad, so desolate, yet so hopeful of a miracle. I have some lumps in my lymph nodes, one of them is really hard and I am scared. I am all alone, just Medicare, but if it is the end then I won’t have anyone to help me or go with me to treatments if I need them. This area is now painful.
I am praying that whatever it is will be benign and not require surgery. I don’t have anyone to pray for me either. What family I have left don’t have their faith anymore. I pray that I can get my affairs (spiritual and other) in order, find a health care provider, and get into a hospice, if necessary.
I also pray that I can be a good patient and concentrate on my prayers. I get confused sometimes and can’t concentrate or even get so scared that I forget my prayers.
Please pray for me. I read LEAVES magazine all the time. Thank you – Marie A.
Excerpted from Blessed Engelmar Testimonies:
A Life of
Blessed Engelmar
There is now available a booklet of the life of Blessed Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. You may receive a free copy of it by sending a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Thanks to St. Francis, to God, Jesus, Mary, Martha, St. Joseph, all the Mariannhill Missionaries, nuns, the pope and St. Teresa. Thanks also to all the souls in purgatory, the Holy Spirit, our guardian angels, Ss. Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, Philomena, Jude, Ann, Anthony, and Bl. Engelmar. Please pray for America and Israel. Please pray for Carol, Rod, Loree, Cole, Madison, Kayla and Barb – Carol W.
Novena in Honor of
Abbot Francis Pfanner
Abbot Francis Pfanner founded Mariannhill Monastery, and 100 years ago its monks became the Congregation of Missionaries of Mariannhill. He was not only a great missionary, but also a holy man. The cause for his beatification has begun. We have available a novena in his honor and will send you a free copy of it when you send a stamped (postage for one ounce), self-addressed envelope to us at: LEAVES, P.O. Box 87, Dearborn, MI 48121-0087.
Prayer for All Needs
We beg you, Lord,
to help and defend us.
Deliver the oppressed.
Pity the insignificant.
Raise the fallen.
Show yourself to the needy.
Heal the sick.
Bring back those of your people who have gone astray.
Feed the hungry.
Lift up the weak.
Take off the prisoners’ chains.
May every nation come to know
that you alone are God,
that Jesus is your Child,
that we are your people, the sheep that you pasture. Amen.
[From Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers, USCCB]
St. Therese of Lisieux
Daily Offering to God
My God, I offer you all that I do today
for the intentions and the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I want to sanctify every beat of my heart,
my thoughts and my simplest works
by uniting them to His infinite merits.
I want to repair for my faults
by casting them into the furnace of His merciful love.
O my God!
I ask you for myself and for those dear to me
the grace to fulfill perfectly your holy will
and to accept for love of you
the joys and sorrows of this passing life.
so that one day we may be reunited in heaven for all eternity.
Amen.
[St. Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897, also called St. Therese of the Child Jesus or “The Little Flower” was a French Carmelite nun and is a Doctor of the Church. Feast: Oct. 1.]
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Lord, teach me to be generous,
Teach me to serve you as you deserve,
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds,
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labor and not to ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that I do your will.
Welcome Home
By Bernice Laux
I was seeking something,
something I knew not what,
so then I tried to find what
I earnestly had sought.
I know that only God
could fill the empty heart.
Our very being lies in Him,
from Him we should not part.
For all that mirrors life
from God is ever in His care.
Everything that man can be
You, my God, are present there.
In heart, soul and body
we long to be united
with the God we do not see,
and everything is righted.
Heaven is the only place
we can really call our home,
where God with outstretched arms
will say, “Dear ones, welcome home.”
Leaves
By Margaret Peterson
Deep within the greenest leaf
Color can be seen,
But it can’t be displayed until
It’s time to lose the green.
At last it’s time for each to glow;
Trees appear on fire.
There is no lack of beauty now;
The very woods inspire.
We are like the leaves we see;
We color as we grow
Brighter in our love for God
Who loves His children so.
Thank You, Jesus
By Margaret Chant
Thank you, dear Jesus,
For the gift you have given me.
Thank you for walking by my side.
You pick me up, dear Jesus,
When I stumble and fall.
You carry me, when I am not strong.
You give me strength, when I am weary.
You give me courage to go on.
Thank you, dear Jesus.
Thank you.
Words of Comfort
By Kathleen Fessler
I am a thief and now I pay
For all my sinful ways,
Hanging on a cross of shame
To end my evil days.
Jesus is right next to me,
Innocent of sin,
Hanging there in agony.
I dare to speak to Him.
“When entering your kingdom,
Remember me,” I pray.
He turns His head and answers,
“You’ll be there today.”
His words bring blessed comfort.
I feel like I am free,
When He gives His promise,
“You’ll be there with me!”
Faith
By Bernice Laux
So many things we do not know
As on life’s journey we must go.
Like little children in His care,
We trust! And know that He is there.
But oft we do not see His plan,
So dimly lit the mind of man.
Yet stand we must, yes, straight and tall,
To reach His hand held out to all.
Remember God is always near
And cares for us who linger here.
He answers every prayer, you’ll see!
His love is great for you and me.
This love: He chose to give it birth
For us, His children here on earth.
By giving us His Son divine
To die for sins both yours and mine.
Within His passion on the cross
Reflected there our pain and loss.
Yet every sorrow we must bear,
With God’s own Son’s it can’t compare.
Helping at Hospice
By Cindy J. Evans
I took my place behind the desk,
Settling in the familiar chair,
the feeling of peace I’d come to expect
was gently evident there.
As people passed, they seemed sad,
yet thankful for this place,
a cheery voice and fresh flowers
and a smiling, friendly face.
Some walked by the pond,
some sat in the chapel in prayer,
some people slept in the rooms,
you could see how much they care.
A chaplain walked by
and gave a little wave ...
one of the staff let me know
an ambulance was on the way.
I take it all in,
just blessed to be a part
of God’s love in action
and the outpouring of His heart.