😎🐫🎤 Hi All. Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  This week I finished reading The True Meaning of Christmas by Michael Patrick Barber.  This book breaks down familiar Christmas carols, giving them new meaning, by presenting Biblical history and language of the time.  I want to share with you a portion of “Away In A Manger”, regarding

Luke 2:1-6

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled.  This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.  And Joseph too

went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.  While they were there, the time came for her to have her child…”

Michael Patrick Barber shares with us, “What Luke’s presentation highlights is this: the powers that be think they are calling the shots, but God’s plan will ultimately be accomplished.  Jesus is born in the king’s hometown, as is fitting.  The pagan emperor issues his decrees for his purposes.  Unbeknownst to him, however, God uses them to make sure the Messiah is born in the right place.  In other words, even if the world does not know it, the Lord is the real King.”

We don’t have to look very far or hard to find things that we don’t understand or agree with why they are being done.  These things may not make sense to me or you, but nevertheless, they still happen.  I, as I’m sure you have also, experienced this a time or two, or more in 2025.  We may have found ourselves asking, “Why?”  Sometimes we see God’s work shining through faster than others, but it’s all about perspective.  What I think God should be doing is different than what you think God should be doing, and God could have a very different take on it than both of us.

God has a masterful way of turning our doings into His glory.  It would certainly be a lot easier if I would just listen to Him and do as He guides me, but sometimes our best lessons learned are the ones in which we failed to some degree.  But then again, if we learn from our failures, is it truly a failure?  I experienced that last week at work.  I actually thanked my supervisor for not jumping in to correct me, but letting me fall a bit, so that I could gain better perspective. 

Where/How are you seeing and experiencing God working His glory in the midst of our human control?  Praise God and thank Him that your heart and eyes are open to Him.  Keep seeking Him and He will continue to open your eyes.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#MichaelPatrickBarber – The True Meaning of Christmas

#NatKingCole – Away In A Manger

😎🐫🎤 Hi All. Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Prepare…Prepare!!!  Wait…What?!  It’s December!  You bet your sweet Advent it is.  It’s time to even more so prepare.  Not the shopping.  Not the food or decorations.  Make moments of peace for yourself in this busy time, to prepare your mind, heart, and spirit for the nativity of Christ.  I find a dark room, with just the Christmas lights on, the perfect silent and peaceful setting to contemplate and prepare.   

Above all, this Advent season, I pray that you truly experience Christ’s presence and peace.  May His abundance overflow through you, bringing His peace and joy to others.  Amen!  Happy Advent!

This week’s music selection is 1 hour and 22 minutes of instrumental music to help provide you moments of peace for contemplation and preparation.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#DanMusselman – Christmas & Hymns Instrumental Worship

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  We are on the eve of Thanksgiving, my favorite time to gather with family.  Yes, it’s also my favorite time of year to really reflect on all that I am thankful for.  Thanksgiving morning, Brian and I like to start reflecting on our blessings by praying the Mass.  I truly am in awe of the details that God puts into every single moment of our lives.  He cares so much for you and me.  He loves us beyond measure, which is why there is no way we will every be able to realize and count every blessing He bestows upon us.  Every detail He puts into every blessing, is in and of itself a blessing.  Why, why does He take that much time to work through all the details for me, for you?  It comes down to one thing…LOVE!  I know, we can’t even come close to fathoming His love, which is why we so easily disregard it or maybe it’s that we don’t even recognize it.

I encourage you to take some time, really look at the details of your life, your year, your week, your day, this moment.  How can you see God’s love, where you didn’t see it before?  Keep looking…He wants to reveal even more of His love for you, to you.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#SephSchlueter – Counting My Blessings

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  What’s in a name?  My parents chose my names and then I got to add to that when I chose my Confirmation saint.  I was 13 years old when I chose my Confirmation saint.  I can say with 100% confidence that, when I chose my saint, I didn’t know the full weight of my choice.  As I recall, I wanted a saint that sounded kind of cool and the name flowed nicely with the rest of my name.  Although I prefer being called Shelly, my given name is Michelle Ann and my Confirmation name is Helen.  Part of my morning prayers is praying for the assistance of my patron saints, to guide me through what life has in store for me that day.

St. Michael, he is the warrior part of me.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.  Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.  May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls.  Amen.

St. Anne, she is the mature, wise, protector part of me.

Oh God, You bestowed on St. Anne such grace that she was found worthy to become the mother of Mary, who brought forth Your only begotten Son.  Grant that we may be helped by her intercession.  Amen.

St. Helen, she is the part of me that is searching for what God wants to offer me and how to best use what He is offering me, to serve Him and His salvation plan for all His children.

Holy and blessed St. Helen, with the anguish and devotion with which you sought the Cross of Christ, I plead that you give me God’s grace to suffer in patience the labors of this life, so that through them and through your intercession and protection, I will be able to see and carry the cross, which God has placed upon me, so that I can serve Him in this life and enjoy His Glory ever after.  Amen.

I thank God for the many saints He has placed in my life to guide, assist, and protect me, as I journey back to Him.  Amen!

Have you thought about your name?  Do you pray for guidance and assistance from your patron saints?

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#NatalieLayne – All Joy

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  After Mass Friday morning, I visited with Christ for an hour in Adoration.  I caught myself a few times focusing on the Tabernacle, instead of Christ’s presence in the Monstrance.  “Come on Shell, focus.”  I thought, “How true is this.  So often we look right past Christ, while seeking for what we think we desire.”  But that void we seem to be constantly trying to fill, is just our desire to truly know Christ and be filled to overflowing with Him. 

By the way, that’s great news!  “Why is that great news?”, you ask.  Because knowing that the only One we truly desire is Christ, makes life easier to actually see Him in all things and all people.  Easier to experience Him in action.  Easier to carry Him forth and offer Him to others.  This is great news!  Thank You Lord!!!

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#PhilWickham – So So Good

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  I see bits of me in both the Pharisee and the tax collector mentioned in Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke 18:9-14. 

‘He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’  But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’  I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”’

We live in a world, in which it’s common practice to be formulating a “one up” response to a conversation, instead of actually listening to what is being said.  We seem to be constantly trying to look better than or out do what the other person has done.  We get caught in the comparison game.  What we should be asking ourselves is, “Is this person or that person the standard by which I should be living my life or comparing myself to?”

It’s a real challenge to be humble, while boasting about yourself.  In humility, we place God as our standard to live by, not our neighbor, coworker, friends, or family.  As Matthew Kelly put it in his book Holy Moments, “You were made in the image of God.  Act Accordingly.”  When we stop the comparison game, we are free to live as and be exactly the person God intended us to be.  The door is open for you to humbly take a step closer to God. 

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#MeganWoods – The Truth

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Brian and I are taking part in a program call The Rescue Project.  Fr. John Riccardo, Executive Director of Acts XXIX hosts this video series, which focuses on four aspects, Created, Captured, Rescued, and Response.  We’ve made it through the Created and Captured portions and are working our way through the Rescue.  Fr. Riccardo presents some things in ways I had never really thought of before and they make you stop to think.  I would say, the most interesting take away I had from episode 5 was the concept of the crucified Christ as an ambush predator.  I know, it sounds kind of strange. 

Something else mentioned in episode 5 is kind of a no brainer, but I never really thought about it.  Christ was born of Mary, as true flesh and blood, fully human and fully God.  Christ had to die in order to defeat death, so that we could have the opportunity to have eternal life with them in heaven.  But the thing is, God can’t die.  He had to become one like us, flesh, in the image of God, so that He could die for us.

We still have four more episodes to work through the Rescue and Response aspects of this program.  I’m looking forward to more take aways and aha moments, to help me better understand all that God has really done for me and you.  I’ve included a link to The Rescue Project below.  I would suggest not binge watching this program.  Give yourself some days between the episodes, to allow yourself to soak it up and ponder what your taking in. 

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#ForKingAndCountry – For God Is With Us

#TheRescueProject – https://watch.actsxxix.org/therescueproject

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Sunday’s Gospel was Luke 17:11-19, Christ’s encounter with healing 10 lepers.  From a distance, the 10 unclean, in a loud voice asked Christ to have pity on them, to heal them.  He didn’t say, “Let me think about that.”  Or, “Why should I have pity on you?”  Or, “What have you done for Me lately?”  Christ’s response was, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  The 10 then began their journey to see the priest, so the priests could see that they were healed and proclaim them as clean.

On Saturday, as I was working through my examination of conscience, that was like me calling to Christ in a loud voice, “Have pity on me!”  He guided me to show myself to the priest.  Sunday morning before Mass, I participated in the sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation.  By humbly presenting myself and my sins, Father, through the power and authority of Christ, prayed an absolution of my sins over me.  I was declared CLEAN!  That truly is a moment of joy and thanksgiving.  Jesus didn’t ask me, “Why should I have pity on you?”  Or, “What have you done for Me lately?”  He didn’t say, “Let me think about that.”  He welcomed me into His loving embrace.  Yes, He already knows that I will in fact sin again, but that doesn’t stop Him from loving me and offering all He has to me.  And YOU!

The leper that was healed and returned to thank Christ, was a Samaritan.  There is no mention of where the other nine where from.  We read multiple places in the Bible, that God wasn’t there just for the Jews.  The woman at the well.   Saul/Paul.  Healing the Roman soldier’s son.  God created every single one of us and He wants to continue that relationship with each and every one of us.  God’s story is embedded in you and you are His living testimony.  Don’t hide your story.  Your story is meant to be lived, shared, and told.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#Terrian – Testimony

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Last Friday, Brian and I, and a couple friends had the opportunity to be part of the filming for the upcoming Dynamic Catholic program, “People of the Eucharist”.  Matthew Kelly told us before the Mass, that the program was going to dive into 52 moments of the Mass.  There will be one moment for each week of the year, providing the Biblical basis for each moment.  I take a book with me to Mass and journal, so I was interested when he mentioned that they will have Mass journals that have each of the 52 moments of the Mass. 

It can be very easy to fall into a routine with things we do on a regular basis, including the Mass.  There are certainly parts of the Mass, that I don’t know the origins of or may have known at one time, but have forgotten.  I’m really interested in this program to expand my knowledge of my faith and be able to live my faith better. 

I just finished reading Matthew Kelly’s book, Holy Moments, for the second time.  The first time I finished reading it was in October 2022, so it’s been 3 years and it was time for that reminder.  One of the quotes from Holy Moments is from Albert Einstein, “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.”  We have to be open to new approaches and a change in thinking, if we are going to progress and become better versions of ourselves. 

I believe the upcoming People of the Eucharist program will provide us with the perfect opportunity and materials to support new approaches and a change in thinking in our faith journeys, which, should flow into our everyday lives, interactions, and journeys.  Our faith should not be a separate part of our lives, but all encompassing.  It can be scarry living your faith out loud.  We are all human and we all sin.  Not that we want to sin, but we do.  When I live my faith out loud in my daily life and sin, it makes it that much easier for people to say I’m a hypocrite.  Every single one of us is a work in progress.  Grace is key…God’s grace.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

# DynamicCatholic – People of the Eucharist

#HolyMoments – Mathew Kelly

#TaurenWells&GaryLeVox – Until Grace

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  While on our Spain trip, we had a couple days before and after our time on the Camino to be a tourist.  I enjoyed seeing some sights, learning new things, and especially hanging out with Brian and getting to know our new friends, but I realized rather quickly, I’m not crazy about doing touristy things.  I’m not one that likes to shop and it’s challenging to hear God in all the noise and time schedule hustle.  I was ready and looking forward to our hike. 

Over all, we did pretty well, but our more experienced bodies…(That sounds better than older bodies, right?)…were feeling pain and discomfort in places we’ve never felt before.  Going uphill hurt.  Going downhill hurt.  One of our new friends put it this way…I love flat ground.  It’s my friend.

As our fabulous guide instructed us each evening, in preparation for our next day’s adventure, “Walkie, walkie.  Up and down.  Up and down.  Up and down….”  She wasn’t kidding.  It’s very possible that I’m not remembering this completely correct, but it sure seemed like each day started with a decent uphill leg.  It’s a good thing the weather was in the 50’s and 60’s.  Hitting those hills, it didn’t take long for our bodies to heat up. 

As I reflect on this journey, I’ve come to realize this wasn’t just a long walk I took.  This Camino is a reflection of my entire life.  The many ups and downs, with limited flats.  Passing others and being passed.  Water closet breaks, meal breaks, and first aid stops.  Accepting and receiving help.  Offering help.  Being an individual.  Being with family.  Building friendships.  Being part of the Camino community and part of the much larger Catholic community.  Walking and talking with random people and groups along the trail.  Brief encounters and journeying for short and longer seasons.  Reminiscing on the past, creating memories in the moment, and planning for the future.  Getting that last hug in, before parting ways.  Knowing the destination you are living for and walking toward and experiencing the incredible joy of arriving and seeing your family and friends there cheering you on.

About 30 minutes or so into our Camino Day 3 hike, one of our new friends and fellow pilgrims had health issues and ended up being hospitalized.  We didn’t see her for 4 days.  When we finally saw her again, she was standing in the square, in front of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, our final Camino destination.  I was so excited to see her and gave her a big hug!  Seriously, that is what I want my final destination reception to be with Christ.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

If the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that you and He may also bless others.  Click subscribe to receive your message every Wednesday via email.

#PatrickMayberry – Lead on Good Shepherd