😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  At this point in my life, something that I haven’t done and honestly have no real desire to do, is run or even walk a marathon.  I realize people do marathons for different reasons and they can even be therapeutic, but it seems like a whole lot of hours, very early mornings, pain, and a good possibly of injury, for an event that is really just a blink compared to all the time you spend training.  I can only imagine someone crossing the FINISH line of their first marathon, in pain and tired, yet invigorated and on an adrenaline high, with their arms in the air victoriously…”It is finished!”  Can you feel the relief?

This past week, I read a booklet titled The Mockery & Majesty of the Cross, which is excerpted from Bill Crowder’s book, For This He Came.  I would highly suggest that you read this booklet also.  Here are a couple points that really struck me. 

‘Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”  And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30).

“IT IS FINISHED!”  In the Greek, it is “tetelestai”: “It is completed”; “I have done it!”  Matthew 27:50 says that Jesus’ last words were cried with a loud voice – it’s a victory shout!’

I have never thought of those words, “IT IS FINISHED!”, as a victory shout coming from Christ’s broken body, hanging at the point of lifelessness on the cross.

‘Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.”  Having said this, He breathed His last (Luke 23:46).

Christ retains regal composure here.  He had become the ransom for suffering and death – all “for the joy set before Him” (HEB. 12:2).  All that remained was for Him to finalize it all by dying.  Yet even here, He was in control.

At the outset of the crucifixion, Jesus turned to His Father in seeking pardon for sinful people.  At the instant the sins of the world were placed on Him, he cried, “My God!” with the derelict cry of abandonment.  Once the deed was done, He again cried, “Father!”  Mission accomplished.  Relationship restored!’

Like preparing for a marathon, Jesus put in a whole lot of hours, suffering pain and injuries, to cross our threshold between a sinful life and eternal salvation.  Your salvation journey is a marathon.  Oh, look at that…I am running/walking a marathon after all.  But sometime I feel I’m crawling or not even moving at all.  I’m so thankful and blessed that God is patient with me and never stops working on me.

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.

#BillCrower – The Mockery & Majesty of the Cross

#Crowder – Still

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Are you choosing to live a life of silence?  Our entire day is a living prayer to God.  Are you choosing to pray well and consistently?  Are you choosing to pray out loud or silently?  Other than during Mass, the majority of my years have been ruled by fear of what others would think of me, if I prayed or spoke of the Lord or my faith in public.  That fear can be very crippling.  What I have learned is that the more belief and confidence I have in the Lord and my faith, the more it’s at the forefront of my mind and the more I’m willing to vocalize it.  “I believed, therefore I spoke.”  Your deep-seated faith conviction is a catalyst to spoken prayer and praise for our Lord, which radiates the Lord in reflective ways. 

2 Corinthians 4:13-18

‘Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we too believe and therefore speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in His presence.  Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.

Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.’

Fight!  Fight!  Fight Satan’s lies.  Through Christ, there is no fear. 

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.

#JonReddick&WeTheKingdom – No Fear

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Two of the many things that I appreciate about the Catholic faith are stated in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” 

1) Apostolic.  Through the succession of each Pope, the Catholic faith and catholic church has a direct apostolic line through Peter to Christ.  Which brings me to my second point.

2) Catholic.  Lower case “c”, catholic means universal.  Yes, I believe in a catholic/universal church. 

So, what does that mean to me?  That means whether I’m in my hometown,  at work, visiting family in North Carolina or Michigan, or on vacation in Australia, any given day of the week, I can walk into a Catholic Church for Mass and I will experience the same Old and New Testament readings, the same Psalm, the same Gospel reading, and the same true Christ (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) available for me to adore and receive.  Mass is prayed 364 days of the year (365 during a leap year) within the Catholic Church.  The one day a year that Mass is not prayed, is Good Friday. 

So, why is this important to me?  It’s important to me that no matter where I am, I can physically be in Christ’s presence and I can physically receive Christ’s presence in me.  When we receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist, you and I become Christ’s living tabernacles.  When I go on vacation, I don’t have to be on vacation from the true presence of Christ. 

When you head out for vacation this summer, don’t be on vacation from Christ.  Make sure to visit masstimes.org to find a church and Mass times.    

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 – He Sees You

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Prayer is not a task to be done.  It’s a relationship to be had.  Consistency in prayer and growing your relationship with the Lord in good times is just as important as reaching out to Him in challenging times.  If you only seek the Lord in challenging times or maybe only reach out to Him in the good times, because you don’t want Him to see you in your mess, then you are only experiencing one part of a relationship with the Lord.  It’s through a consistent relationship with the Lord, that we can experience all aspects of Him.  You just might be surprised at what you will experience with Him, when you invite Him into your whole life. 

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.

#TobyMac – Nothin’ Sweeter

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  On January 1^st, I sent messages to select individuals asking them what one thing or prayer I could pray for them during 2025.  Can you believe we are almost half way into 2025 already? 

One day last week, while praying these prayers, one by one, I started to realize that I could see pieces of me in every one of those prayers I’ve been praying for others.  It made me realize that I need a lot of prayer and help, so I started adding myself into each of those prayers.  What makes this interesting to me is that the people these prayers are for, are from different aspects of my life, and just like those prayers, each of these people help form me, to become who I am. 

Circling back around to what I spoke with you about last week, I went to my first work Mass last Thursday.  Turned out that I was the only person, in person for that Mass.  When I walked into the chapel, Father pointed me to the missalettes and told me to grab one, then he began Mass.  Things were moving right along until we came to the first reading and Father told me to read.  “Oh crap!”, I thought to myself.  I don’t read well and try to avoid reading aloud at all costs.  Being that I was the only one there, I really didn’t have much choice, but to read.  Needless to say, I survived.  That was the first time I attended a Mass without anyone else in the congregation.  It was interesting to have my own personal Mass.  Maybe one of these days, you will also have the privilege to experience that.

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.

#TaurenWells – Let The Church Sing

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Yes, my first week and a half in the office have been a challenge health wise, with the mold and crud from the A/C system, but God can and will work any situation for His good.  I noticed that throughout the facility, a morning announcement is made that a Catholic Service aka Mass will be held at noon and for those that can’t go in person, it can be viewed on our intranet system.  One of the items I’ve been struggling with since going to the office for work, is that the hour before work used to be part of my prayer time, but that has shifted to driving and walking on the work campus.  I haven’t worked my way into a new comfortable prayer routine yet, but God is like…”Here Shell, the best prayer routine is one spent with Me and receiving Me.  Come be with me at Mass.”  🎤 drop!

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.

#BenFuller – If I Got Jesus

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  After 3 years and 7 months of working from my quiet, peaceful home, Monday I returned to working in an office space of which I am at workstation 37 of 42.  There are no walls, cubicles, or even dividers between the desks, just one big open area.  I can’t recall ever working in an environment quiet like this.  To say the least, it’s going to take some getting use to.  That plus some other work stuff that happened Monday made me pretty grumpy.  I got home after work, ate some pizza real quick, then a couple friends and I headed to a memorial Mass for Pope Francis, which was being presided by our new Archbishop.

I keep pretty quiet during the 35 minute car ride, still grumpy and pondering the events of the day.  We settled into a crowded pew, squeezed one more friend into our crowded pew, and prepared ourself for Mass.  Then the choir and congregation started singing the prelude.

‘I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest;

Lay down O weary one.  Lay down your head up-on my breast.”

I came to Jesus as I was, So weary, worn and sad.

I found in Him a resting place, And He has made me glad.’

We then went into the processional hymn.

“O God beyond all praising, we worship you today

And sing the love amazing that songs cannot repay;

For we can only wonder at every gift you send,

At blessings without number and mercies without end;

We lift our hearts before You and wait upon Your word,

We honor and adore You, our great and mighty Lord.”

Then we sang Psalm 23.

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want…”

After the Gospel, Matthew 25:31-46, during his homily, Archbishop Casey shared with us some of his experiences from his life changing Camino pilgrimage.  This really caught my attention and lifted my spirits, being that we will be making our Camino pilgrimage this year.

After his homily, I told myself, “I know this evening and Mass was planned as a memorial to Pope Francis, but I know it was planned for me.”  I know that sounds pretty selfish, but God was really talking to me throughout the entire Mass.  He knew I needed to be there to hear what He had to say to me.  He calmed my spirit, but I still had trouble sleeping, which was all my fault.  He kept telling me to let go, but I continued to replay some events of the work day in my head.

We can be our own worse enemy.  Peace comes from and through God and its peace that He desires for us. 

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.

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  I hope you’re keeping that Easter spirit alive.  I have a question for you.  What’s the difference between a gray day and a sunny day?  Answer:  Which side of the clouds you’re on. 

I took this sunrise picture on Monday.  It was incredible to see the dramatic difference in the sky.  Study it for a moment.  Look at the difference between the top portions of the trees and the lower portions.  This picture really captures the two sides of how we can view life, our circumstances, and those we encounter along the road.  What will you focus on and how will that direct your attitude and actions?  What you choose to focus on and how you react is your choice. 

Take a moment to speak with God, then silently listen, before you make those choices.  You’ll be glad you did.

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.

#SidewalkProphets – Father, Let It Be

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Happy Easter!  I’m sure I say this every year, the 3 hour Easter Vigil Mass is my favorite Mass of the year.  In reality, I think it’s the combination of the Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil experiences that brings such passion to the Easter Vigil Mass.  It is the joy in the celebration that shines above all else.  For me, the overarching experience during this past Holy Week was by far God’s peace in my life.  I’m not sure how to explain it to you, but I pray you also experience the peace I did. 

Thank You Lord for your sacrifice for my salvation!  My words seem so inadequate, but please know they come from my heart.  I know I can never thank You enough, so I pray that my praise, prayers, and actions show you what You truly mean to me.  Amen! 

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.

#MattMaher – Praise the Giver

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Do you believe in miracles?  I do.  Brian and I had the pleasure of taking a weeklong road trip to Colorado for our nephew’s wedding.  We enjoyed our time with family and even got to build a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle together.  We also visited with a friend that moved from Ohio to Colorado about 9 months ago. 

On Friday, 04/11/2025 Brian, our friends, and I visited the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, CO.  We visited the museum, in which we read about the spring.  Here is the information about the spring from the website listed below.

‘The only water on this property was in a small pond next to the spring house.  All of the water needed for drinking and cooking had to be brought up to the summer camp from the stream at the bottom of Mt. Vernon Canyon.  In September 1912, the sisters complained to Mother Cabrini that they were dying of thirst and there was no water to be had.  She answered, “Lift that rock over there and start to dig.  You will find water fresh enough to drink and clean enough to wash.”  The spring, which is housed in an 8,000 gallon tank, has never stopped running.  Many pilgrims, through their faith, believe the water has brought healing and peace to their lives.’

There were spigots and cups for visitors to be able to drink water from the spring.  The four of us took a cup and drank from the spring.  Next to the spring was a rosary garden walking path.  I hadn’t prayed my rosary yet that day, so I decided that, that would be the perfect time and place.  It was Friday, so I began praying the Sorrowful Mysteries.  I closed my eyes as I prayed each prayer.  So, a little history about me closing my eyes when I pray.  This doesn’t happen all of the time, but sometimes when I close my eyes to pray, I see visions of different colors, which tells me who is with me as I’m praying.  As I was praying this rosary, I saw images of blue, which tells me that Mother Mary was with me.  I also saw images of green, which I have learned is an indication of peace for me.  Okay, a little more history about me.  For some years now and as noted in my medical record, I have had an eye situation in which I see black floating dots.  Okay, back to the rosary I was praying.  As I stepped on the stone for the Forth Sorrowful Mystery, Jesus carries the cross, I prayed, “I adore You o Christ and I praise You, because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.”  I then started praying, “Our Father, who art in” and that’s when it happened.  I literally saw two black floating dots disappear from my vision.  I paused praying, opened my eyes, closed them, and opened them again.  The black floating dots were gone.  I once again closed my eyes and with a smile on my face, I resumed praying the rosary.  By the way, the black floating dots are still gone.

Today is Wednesday of Holy Week, which means Easter Sunday is almost here.  Christ’s resurrection is the greatest miracle of all, which means your salvation and my salvation are indeed miracles.  So, I ask you again, do you believe in miracles? 

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.

#MotherCabriniShrine

https://mothercabrinishrine.org/