I have for you today a prayer for the unborn, a prayer of spiritual adoption that was written by Venerable Fulton Sheen. I dearly hope that you will pray this and help the babies who are in danger.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn baby that I have spiritually adopted, who is in danger of abortion.

Taken from Life Teen Website

On February 28th, 1944 Nazi soldiers broke into the house of Corrie ten Boom and arrested her with her entire family for hid-ing Jews in their family home. The Nazis sent Corrie and her sister to Ravensbrück concentration camp where Corrie’s sister died. Corrie was released from the camp and made it a mission to travel the world speaking on God’s mercy and forgiveness in the face of hatred. One day after giving a talk, a man walked up to Corrie. She recognized him as one of the Nazi soldiers at Ravensbrück concentration camp. This man had treated Corrie as less than human. This man had let her sister die. This same man walked up to Corrie, looked her in the eyes and said… Will you forgive me?
Corrie was silent. Standing there she thought forgiveness is not an emotion… forgiveness is an act of the will, but she could not forgive him. He let her sister die. He had done such evil things! At that moment she prayed, “Jesus, help me!… I can lift my hand. I can do that much.” She lifted her hand and shook his. She said to this former Nazi soldier, “I forgive you, brother!… With all my heart!”

Estar con miedo significa estar temerosos de alguien o algo que represente peligro, que sin duda puede causar dolor o es una amenaza. Se trata de un presentimiento, o instinto humano.

El miedo es una realidad que todos tenemos que tratar en un momento u otro. De ninguna manera es una debilidad, pues aún las personas mas fuertes de carácter en algún momento experimentan temor en su vida.

El miedo o temor se convierte en un problema cuando le damos demasiada importancia, le damos mas énfasis al miedo, que a la fe que debemos profesar todos los cristianos.

I was recently at a Catholic conference and had a conversation with someone living in the thick of Hollywood culture. He was Catholic and spoke of how hard it was to live out his faith amid tremendous temptation and negativity toward religion. He spoke about how going to daily Mass helped to keep him centered and stay strong in his faith. He was a great witness to living out one’s faith in the face of disbelief.

One thing that he told me stood out above all the rest. He spoke of his engagement to his fiancé and how important it was to him that God was a major part of their relationship and their lives as individuals as well. He told me he said some-thing to her like, “If you don’t love Jesus more than you love me, this is never going to work.” What an amazing and truly moving witness!

The problem of evil is perplexing. If God is all-powerful and all-good, why doesn’t He stop bad things from happening? He must either not be all-powerful, or perhaps He’s not very good after all. Human beings have faced the possibility of evil since the very beginning of our existence. In granting us free will, God gives us the ability to make free choices. God does not force us into moral perfection. We are not forced to love Him or to love our neighbor. We must make the decision ourselves. This means, of course, that we have the ability to choose against love.

En el pasaje del Evangelio de hoy, Jesús sana a la hija de una mujer cananea. Ésta insiste a Jesús sobre la enfermedad de su hija, hasta que Jesús le concede el milagro de sanarla. Recordemos, que Dios envía a Jesús no sólo al pueblo judío, sino a todos los pueblos. La circunstancia del momento no es sólo cuestión de la fe tan grande de la mujer cananea, sino su situación de no ser del pueblo escogido. “Ese era el dilema”. Pues, al parecer aquella mujer no tenía derecho a la salvación. Pero, ella reconoce en Jesús al Mesías y no duda en insistir. Reflexionemos en el diálogo de la mujer y Jesús.

Por experiencia sabemos que dar un regalo siempre implica alguien que lo recibe. Dar y recibir está relacionado, están a la par, al dar se extienden los brazos y al recibir el regalo es lo mismo, implica una acción de movimiento. Cuando Jesús es el centro de nuestra vida, el dar y recibir no se queda ahí, tiene por compromiso principalmente la acción. Al recibir, por ejemplo, la gracia de Dios no es para uno mismo, hay que darla a los que nos rodean. En este Evangelio existe una regla a seguir para comprender el juego de palabras. Hay palabras claves en el mensaje para obtener la respuesta que nos ayude a perseverar en la vida cristiana.

No tengan miedo, dice Jesús tres veces en este Evangelio a sus apóstoles. A pesar de tanta dificultad y malos entendidos, el miedo debe dejarse a un lado y perseverar siempre, tratar de mantener la calma y la paz. Porque dice Jesús. "¿Acaso un par de pajaritos no se venden por unos centavos? Pero ni uno de ellos cae en tierra sin que lo permita vuestro Padre. En cuanto a ustedes, hasta sus cabellos están contados. ¿No valen ustedes más que muchos pajaritos? Por lo tanto, no tengan miedo". (Mateo 10:29-31). Jesús va delante de nosotros, solo nos invita a confiar en el amor incondicional de Dios. Él fue fiel al Padre hasta la muerte y lo sabemos muy bien.

El Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo es un signo de unidad y es un alimento salvífico. Muy diferente al pan que bajaba del cielo para alimentar a los hebreos por su paso en el desierto. Quien come el Cu erpo y la Sangre de Cristo vivirá para siempre. "Yo soy el pan vivo que ha bajado del cielo. El que coma de este pan vivirá para siempre". (Juan 6:51). Las lecturas de hoy invitan al creyente a despertar a este hermoso regalo de Jesús en la Eucaristía. Apreciar su presencia viva al recibirlo sabiendo que es el único medio indispensable de participación de lo divino. No cabe la menor duda, lo necesitamos para la jornada de fe.

Look around at our world. So much of what is happening today is due to the reluctance of folks to allow themselves to be stretched and brought to see what is really there. Many react to what life presents to them more with the lenses of ignorance than lenses of clarity. The Gospel carries great transformative value. With it, God corrects our vision and replaces our limitedsight with the fullness of his sight. God opens our eyes so that we can see that it is not about preserving what we have created but of living in the immensity and wonder of God’s kingdom.

We can easily get confused and misunderstand, not only about who we are but who God is. Even the disciples and the Samaritan woman at the well missed the point Jesus was trying to make. There is only one Person who can satisfy the deepest yearnings and longings of our hearts — Jesus the Messiah.

It is not the work of corporate America that will lead us to happiness or greatness but the work of the soul. We continue to resist acknowledging this and are happier in our world of misunderstanding and illusion. The life-giving water we truly need doesn't come from the source of a well but from the Source of Life. Only God can reveal the truth of our sinfulness, the superficiality of our pursuits, and the illusions we hold so dear. Only Jesus can save us from ourselves and give us what we really need. If only our heads can catch up with where our hearts know they n eed to be, then will we find real contentment and life!

Psychology has taught us a great deal about family dynamics and how we have come to be the person we find ourselves to be. We are comprised of such a mixed bag of blessings and obstacles with their graced moments and sinful ones.

Think back on the journey of your life and how the many different and varied choices that you made influenced the direction your life. If you didn’t go on that first date with your spouse, who would be beside you today? If you chose to be in one place rather than another, what would have happened to the course your life has taken?

We are on such a wonderful, exciting journey. What is most incredible and awesome is that we are not alone! God is with us. He inspires, heals, opens doors, and calls us every moment of our lives. The very life we have is due only to Him.

What weighs you down and keeps you trapped? Maybe you are trying to do too much and please too many people. It could be that your fragile self-image is always pushing you to prove yourself and find success. Anxiety and worry, ultimately due to a lack of faith, can quickly tempt you with despair. It could be that you are listening to too many voices and allowing all of the negativity that is present erode the genuine goodness in your heart and in all of God’s creation. Or maybe you struggle too much with fear. Perhaps so much so that you are far too preoccupied with your own agenda and goals and left with little psychological or spiritual room to consider and respond to the plight of your neighbor. Do anger, bitterness, stubbornness, and hatred have homes in your heart? How about greed, gluttony, pride, apathy, or lust?