MY MINISTRY AT THE LOCAL LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME

 

I have been volunteering to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation at our local St. Joseph Home operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, mostly on Mondays and for Special Celebrations, for several years now. Above is the cover of a collection of homilies I gave there in previous years and published on August 29, 2023. It is available online at amazonbooks.com. Multiple free copies were sent to all the other of their Homes for the Elderly here in the United States. 

Below is a hymn I sponsored, and co-wrote the lyrics with Tim Schoenbachler of Louisville, for the Feast of St. Jeanne Jugan (their foundress) on August 30, back in 2023. It was made available as a gift for special occasions at our local St. Joseph Home, as well as other Little Sisters Homes in the US and other English speaking countries. 

HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ANXIETY? HERE'S SOME SOUND ADVICE!

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-9

I would describe myself, in my early years, as an “anxious” person. To be “anxious” is to be “uneasy and apprehensive about something uncertain” or to be “worried.”  It’s all about that awful thing that might happen next.  Those of you who have lived with spouse abuse or lived with a raging alcoholic or drug addicted person know what I mean. Living in anxiety is a lot like living with a ticking time-bomb strapped to your leg – only day and night every day. It is living in dread, living on “pins and needles,” “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” waiting to “hit bottom” after falling. It is no way to live and only those who have been there understand what I am talking about.  

As a small child, anxiety was a simple passing experience – the terror of hiding under covers, wide-awake, after your older sister had told convincing ghost stories or during the height of a crashing, booming rainstorm.

As an older child, living with a person who had a propensity for fits of anger and rage that came from nowhere, our house was an emotional mine field, loaded with unseen triggers. You never knew if your next step would set off an explosion of cursing and name-calling – and worst of all, knowing that there was absolutely nothing you could do to prevent it. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from it. You had to stand and take it only to have it return later without warning. 

As a young man still in school, anxiety was about the fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of rejection, fear of being laughed at and bullied, fear of not having enough to live on and the fear that “this” was going to be “as good as it gets.”

As a young priest, anxiety was about being threatened by the Klan, being scorned in public by some Protestant ministers for being a Catholic and for being a liberal Catholic by fundamentalist Catholics, being stalked by a knife wielding schizophrenic for welcoming fallen-away marginal Catholics back to church, watching years of work and dreams crack and almost fall to the ground in front of me, sleeping with one eye open for years after having my home burglarized three times, being ashamed of being a priest and of maybe being falsely accused during wave after wave of bad news during the sexual abuse scandal and waiting for the results of a biopsy that might have been cancer. 

As an older priest, anxiety had to do with three major disappointments when one great assignment ended and my plans for what I expected to do next burned and crash on the launch pad. It was only then that I found out that the Plan B that God had in store actually turned out better than the Plan A that I wanted to happen. It was then that I realized that all my anxiety had been one big waste of time.  

"Have no anxiety at all. The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds." 

At 82, this may be the most anxiety free time of my life. Today, I know “peace,” the opposite of “anxiety.”  I have a safe place to live. I have enough saved to live comfortably and a little saved for the future. I have a few successes behind me and I have a variety of wonderful small jobs to wake up to every day. I feel accepted by myself and loved by most of those who know me. 

Most of all, I discovered the cure for “anxiety.” I am more at peace now. than I have ever been, because I have discovered the “good news” that Jesus came to bring. I have come to understand and know that I am loved by God, without condition, and in the end that everything is going to turn out OK, even if I may still have to face the challenges of old age, bad health and, God forbid, a painful death.  Yes, I have to admit that heading into 83, I have that feeling I used to get when I was walking across thin ice wondering when it would crack and I would suddenly find myself in a real crisis. However, because of the peace that God gives those who believe in his “good news,” I am confident that he will help me handle the rest of the way whatever comes my way because his way is always the better way!     

"Have no anxiety at all. The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds."

These words of Jesus were not only addressed to the terrified disciples, huddled together and cringing in fear, in that upper room after his crucifixion, as well as Paul to the anxious Philippians, these words are addressed to all of us today; whether you are a student worried about grades, finances or the fall-out of a bad choice made in the heat of passion; whether you are living in abusive relationship or an unsafe environment or with constant discrimination for being different; whether you are unemployed and in debt up to your ears or barely handling a chronic health problem; whether you are a single parent trying to make it on your own; whether you are religiously scrupulous and live in constant fear of a punishing God and can’t let go of it. Jesus addresses his words to you today. ‘Peace be with you! Calm down! It’s going to be OK! When all is said and done, things are going to turn out just fine. I am with you! Trust me with Plan B!’

Anxiety is worry about what might happen. Peace is the awareness that everything will be OK no matter what happens.  Trust in God is the only way to peace. Peace is God’s gift to us and it is based on the “good news” that we are loved and that great things await us – because God said so!

Let me end with one of my favorite prayers by Saint Francis de Sales. 

Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life;

rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise,

God, whose very own you are,

will lead you safely through all things;

and when you cannot stand it,

God will carry you in His arms.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;

the same understanding Father who cares for

you today will take care of you then and every day.

He will either shield you from suffering

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

 

"CHURCH CHAT" #48

5 Scriptures about Older People

1. “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.” (Psalm 71:9)

2. “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” (Psalm 71:18)

3. “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:32)

4. “Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)

5. “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding..” (Proverbs 3:13) 

 

 

 

CAN YOU BE TRUSTED? A FEW THINGS TO CONSIDER!

Trust is the foundation of any strong relationship. It provides the emotional safety needed to be vulnerable and communicate openly. When trust is actively cultivated through mutual respect, transparency, and reliable actions, it creates a secure bond that protects the partnership from doubt and disconnection. But when trust is broken, it is hard to rebuild. May these quotes about trustworthiness offer you insights, reminding you that reliance is the foundation of connection. They will also inspire you to communicate openly, heal after betrayal, and foster healthier bonds by replacing control with peace of mind.

1. “Trust is like blood pressure. It's silent, vital to good health, and if abused it can be deadly.” – Frank Sonnenberg

2. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway

3. “In the end, you have to choose whether or not to trust someone.” – Sophie Kinsella

4. “Consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them.” – Roy T. Bennett

5. “The glue that holds all relationships together–including the relationship between the leader and the led–is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” – Brian Tracy

6. “None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have faith.” – Paulo Coelho

7. “Trusting is hard. Knowing who to trust, even harder.” – Maria V. Snyder

8. “Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks.” – Isaac Watts

9. “Better to trust the man who is frequently in error than the one who is never in doubt.” – Eric Sevareid

10. “Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that reflection.” – Lady Gaga

11. “I would rather trust a woman's instinct than a man's reason.” – Stanley Baldwin

12. “The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams.” – Elizabeth Gilbert

13. “After all, what does being in love mean if you can't trust a person.” – Evelyn Waugh

14. “There's never a reason to trust someone. If there's a reason, then it's not trust.” – Gerald Morris

15. “Trust is built when someone is vulnerable and not taken advantage of.” – Bob Vanourek

16. “You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.” – Frank Crane

17. “The people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust.” – Abraham Lincoln

18. “To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” – George MacDonald

19. “Keep your promises and be consistent. Be the kind of person others can trust.” – Roy T. Bennett

20. "Truth starts with truth and ends with truth." - Santosh Kalwar

21. “Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.” – Warren Bennis

22. “Trust no friend without faults, and love a woman, but no angel.” – Doris Lessing

23. “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” – Thomas Paine

24. “Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly.” – George MacDonald

25. "Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair." - Amy Rees Anderson

26. “We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone else to get close enough to tell us we’re wrong. Someone we trust.” – David Levithan

27. “If you cannot trust yourself, you cannot even trust your mistrust of yourself, so that without this underlying trust in the whole system of nature you are simply paralyzed.” – Alan Watts

28. “I never trust people with no appetite. It's like they're always holding something back on you.” – Haruki Murakami

29. “You must trust and believe in people, or life becomes impossible.” – Anton Chekhov

30. “Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.” – Aesop

31. “How can you trust something that can end as suddenly as it begins?” – Nicola Yoon

32. “Wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

33. “Trust. It is like placing a blade in someone's hand and setting the very point to your heart.” – Cassandra Clare

34. “It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.” – Megan Whalen Turner

35. “It is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest, that holds human associations together.” – H. L. Mencken

36. “In this world, there was nothing scarier than trusting someone. But there was also nothing more rewarding.” – Brad Meltzer

37. “A man trusts another man when he sees enough of himself in him.” – Gregory David Roberts

38. “When mistrust comes in, loves goes out.” – Irish Proverb

39. “Trust is telling someone about the things that make you sleepless.” – Hillary Frank

40. “I don't trust easily, so when I tell you I trust you, don't make me regret it.” – L.J. Smith

41. “Trust is not an obsession, it's an extension of love. When we truly love someone, we give them our heart to hold in their hands. And when that love is returned, that very trust is balm to our souls.” – Julie Lessman

42. “Never trust he who trusts everyone.” – Carlos Ruiz Zafón

43. “That's how you know you really trust someone, I think; when you don't have to talk all the time to make sure they still like you or prove that you have interesting stuff to say.” – Sara Zarr

44. “Without trust, there can be no genuine peace. Neither in politics, nor in the quiet individuality of the heart and spirit.” – Timothy Zahn

45. “We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone, but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.” – Frank Crane

46. “Does trust have to be earned. Or is it simply a matter of faith?” – Nicholas Sparks

47. “Like some dogs: kick them once and they never trust you again, no matter how nice you are to them.” – Stephen King

48. “Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.” – Democritus

49. “Trust isn’t what we do; it is what results from what we do.” – Richard Fagerlin

50. “You cannot produce trust just like you cannot do humility. It either is or is not.” – Wm. Paul Young

51. “Without such trust and safety, social relationships tend to become strategic rather than cooperative, increasingly full of skepticism and even anxiety and fear about others intentions.” – Donald Rothberg

52. “The mind lives in doubt and the heart lives in trust. When you trust, suddenly you become centered.” – Osho

53. “Trust is like love. Both parties have to feel it before it really exists.” – Simon Sinek

54. “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” – Albert Einstein

55. “Don't trust people who tell you other people's secrets.” – Dan Howell

56. “If you have three people in your life that you can trust, you can consider yourself the luckiest person in the whole world.” – Selena Gomez

57. “Mistrust begets mistrust; trust begets accomplishment.” – Lao Tzu

58. “Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” – Seth Godin

59. “Don't trust people whose feelings change with time. Trust people whose feelings remain the same, even when the time changes.” – Ziad K. Abdelnour

60. “It's so important to reach out to people you trust, and who can give you honest feedback, and keep those people close to you. You don't want to surround yourself with enablers.” – Tim Gunn

61. “Trust is like a paper, once it's crumpled it can't be perfect again.” – Oscar Auliq-Ice

62. “Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

63. “The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.” – Stephen King

64. “For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.” – Bo Bennett

65. “It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.” – Samuel Johnson

66. “Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” – Stephen Covey

67. “Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet—thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing—consistently.” – Lance Secretan

68. “Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone.” – Publilius Syrus

69. “Trust opens up new and unimagined possibilities.” – Robert C. Solomon

70. “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” – Confucius

71. “I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.” – Harvey S. Firestone

72. “Trust is hard to come by. That's why my circle is small and tight. I'm kind of funny about making new friends.” – Eminem

73. “The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy.” – Thomas J. Watson

74. “Trust not too much to appearances.” – William Shakespeare

75. “If you seek trust, you must first be trustworthy.” – Anonymous

76. “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare

77. “If you want to be trusted, give trust.” – Stephen Covey

78. “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” – Warren Buffett

79. “I trust you is a better compliment than I love you.” – Anonymous

80. “I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

81. “Breaking someone's trust is like crumpling up a perfect piece of paper. You can smooth it over but it's never going to be the same again.” – Anonymous

82. “Your words and deeds must match if you expect people to trust in your leadership.” – Kevin Kruse

83. “A relationship without trust is like a car without gas.” – Anonymous

84. “Love cannot live where there is no trust.” – Edith Hamilton

85. “Trust is like glass. Once broken, it will never be the same again.” – Anonymous

86. “Only those you trust can betray you.” – Terry Goodkind

87. “That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets.” – Amy Tan

88. “Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved.” – Anonymous

89. “Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.” – Arthur Ashe

90. “Love meant jumping off a cliff and trusting that a certain person would be there to catch you.” – Jodi Picoult

91. “Rebuilding trust is a process of actions, not words. It requires consistency, transparency, and genuine remorse.” – Anonymous

92. “It is hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it.” – Nicole Richie

93. “A man without trustworthiness is unknown what can he do.” – Confucius

94. “To forgive is easy, to trust again is next to impossible.” – Anonymous

Share these Inspirational Quotes about Trust in a Relationship with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.

EDUCATE! SO CHILDREN DON'T HAVE TO EMIGRATE OR IMMIGRATE!

Immigrate: To come into another country to live permanently.

Emigrate: To leave one's country permanently to live in another.

Lately, there is a lot of mean and nasty talk about "immigrants" coming into this country. Yes, "immigrants" is the word for people seeking to come into our country. 

However, there is not a lot of compassionate talk about why "emigrants" are leaving their countries. Yes, emigrants is the word for people seeking to leave their own countries. 

I woke up one day and realized that there was basically nothing I could do about the immigration problem into our country, but feel bad about it! Then I realized that I maybe I could do something about the need of some of them to emigrate out of their own countries through education! I realized I could help Bishop Filbert Mhasi finish his school in Tanzania and, through education, help him solve his people's generational poverty, his people's Christian-Muslim conflict and his people's need to emigrate from out of their home country and immigrate into other countries! 

 

That day, I realized that, just because I could not help everybody, did not mean that I could not help at least a few people on the other side of the planet to escape poverty, escape religious conflict and escape the need to emigrate - all through education!  

Cardinal Polycarp Pengo Catholic Primary School

Tanzanian school kids giving a "thumbs up" sign on opening day 

July 30, 2026 

I am very proud of what a few of us were able to accomplish in helping Bishop Mhasi open his new Catholic primary school which had stalled a couple of years ago because they ran out of funds to bring it to completion. We were also able to send a huge suitcase of school supplies with Father John Judie when he went over there in late July. We have two more medium size suitcases of school supplies ready for him to take with him when he returns to Tanzania in January. 

On July 30, 2026, this new Catholic school opened with 25 students with the plan to reach 40 by October and 50 by January! It is my plan to see if I can help him open two more grades by building one more classroom building by the spring of 2027. 

There are a variety of ways to help - and important needs you can help with! If you are interested in discussing those needs and talk about small ways to help, just contact me at jrknott@bellsouth.net or follow my Encouraging Word blog posts at fatherknott.com 

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, MEAN WHAT YOU SAY

A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir,' but did not go.

Matthew 21:28-32 

The meaning of this parable is pretty clear - neither of these sons are much to brag about! One told his father that he wouldn't obey and then changed his mind and did obey. The other pretended to obey his father and then didn't!

This parable explains clearly why Jesus was always hanging out with riff-raff and ended up at odds with the religious establishment of his day. Those in the religious establishment pretended to say "yes" to God, but actually said "no." The riff-raff appeared to say "no" to God, but ended up saying "yes."

In the religious establishment of his day, Jesus had a terrible reputation! He talked so much about eating and drinking and accepted so many dinner invitations, even from public sinners and religious outcasts, that he earned the nicknames of “glutton,” “drunkard” and “friend of sinners!” As the gospels put it, the religious leaders were so shocked by the huge number of rejects and sinners who were hanging around Jesus that they “murmured” out loud, “This man welcomes sinners and even eats with them!” The religious establishment appeared to love God through external conformity, but in their hearts were as mean as snakes. They represented the son who said "yes, but didn't go into his father's vineyard. The rejects and sinners were the one who welcomed Jesus' teaching and followed him wherever he went! The religious outcasts represented the son who said he wouldn't go work in their father's vineyard, but ended up going!

This parable explains so much about why Jesus called religious leaders fakes, phonies and frauds. They were the ones who loved to parade around in all their religious regalia putting on airs about how religious they were, but underneath all of that they were rotten to the core, using and abusing people's trust and good will for their own benefit. These people represented the son who said he would go work in their father's vineyard, but ended up not going!

As a priest, I have always seen both of these two groups at work in the church. I am proud to report that I have always gravitated toward those who said they wouldn't go, but did go rather than those who said they would go, but didn't go. I have always trusted honest doubters more than convinced fanatics.

I have always been turned off by pietistic, arrogant, religious know-it-alls. They get on my nerves big time! On the other hand, I have always been attracted to the honest doubt of those who have serious problems with organized religion, especially those who have been hurt by the condemnation and rejection of religious conformists. I identify more with honest doubters than arrogant, sanctimonious super-convinced religious fanatics.

Just as in Jesus' day, there are two very common classes of religious people in the world. First, there are those whose profession is much better than their practice. They make great protestations of piety and fidelity. but their practice lags far behind. A few of them are very much wrapped up in today's so-called “Christian Nationalism” movement. They like to claim the high road of Christian morality, but "like wolves in sheep's clothing" they are more than willing to engage in some obviously un-Christian behaviors! It was about them that Gandhi famously said, "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Second, just as in Jesus' day, there are those who profess to have no interest in the Church and in religion, and yet, when it comes right down to it, they live more Christian lives than many professing Christians. They like to sound like tough hard-headed materialists, even agnostics, but sometimes they are found to be doing kindly and generous things, almost in secret. I have met many of them. I am friends with many of them. I have been amazed by many of them.

The key to really understanding this parable is that neither son was the kind of son to bring full joy to his father because both were unsatisfactory. The ideal son would be the one who accepted his father's orders with obedience and respect and who unquestioningly and fully carried them out. The ideal disciple is the one who both professes faith and "puts his money where his mouth is!" The ideal disciple is the one who, "if he were to be accused of being a Christian, there would be enough evidence to convict him."

The ideal disciple is the one in whom profession and practice meet and match! (repeat last line for emphasis). As Jesus said, “Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the ones who do the will of my Father who is in heaven."