tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9971586431913349692024-03-18T23:41:55.028-04:00An Encouraging WordRev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.comBlogger1818125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-67963746976319326302024-03-17T09:00:00.054-04:002024-03-17T09:00:00.153-04:00WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE END IS NOT REALLY THE END<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhq0KJYzq2S_RlmiSSD_nl-KqwmKx4y-U0kJUadt8yWw3gAx8S0cieiir_17FCK7_AedsLNykZnKSlKH017VB1wjIvpFnrUa8D56iuff_WRNtb73G2sTMnoicbTtK2j4Yjvz30gEWV2pxRaTtZTtsI1s95Atpt6VHSQpChFkUI2XVLxQqC-wrd_4n2FHNM" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhq0KJYzq2S_RlmiSSD_nl-KqwmKx4y-U0kJUadt8yWw3gAx8S0cieiir_17FCK7_AedsLNykZnKSlKH017VB1wjIvpFnrUa8D56iuff_WRNtb73G2sTMnoicbTtK2j4Yjvz30gEWV2pxRaTtZTtsI1s95Atpt6VHSQpChFkUI2XVLxQqC-wrd_4n2FHNM=w597-h336" width="597" /></a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">“Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">John 11:40</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Jesus had a large circle of friends, both men and women. On the fifth
Sunday of Lent, we get an inside glimpse at three of those friends: Martha, her
sister Mary and their brother Lazarus from the little town of Bethany, on the
outskirts of Jerusalem. It was that special place in the life of Jesus where he
and his disciples could stop in, get some rest, enjoy a good meal and then go
on their way! If you pay attention to the details of John’s gospel story about
Martha, Mary and Lazarus, you soon realize just how close Jesus was to these
people. This is a story about intimate friends, affectionate friends.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">First, we know that this Mary was the Mary who kissed Jesus’ feet in
public, washing them with her tears, drying them with her hair, and rubbing
them with perfumed oil. (When was the last time anybody kissed your feet? You
must be pretty close to do that, not to mention doing it in public!) Read down
the text and you see that John underlines, again and again, just how intimate
these people were with Jesus. Here’s what it says: “Lord, the one you love is
sick.” “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus very much.” “See how much
he loved him!” They are even so close that one of these women can “chew him
out” and get away with it: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would never
have died!” And finally, seeing Mary weep, we are told that “Jesus began to
weep,” too.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">One usually thinks of this story as the “raising of Lazarus,” but Jesus’
raising of Lazarus actually occupies a very small part of this story. Of the
forty-four verses that constitute this story, only seven of them take place at
Lazarus’ tomb. The miracle of the raising of Lazarus is the climax of this
story; it is not the center. This is a dialogue between Jesus and the two women
about the power of God’s love in our lives</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In his gospel, John’s stories always have two levels: one on the surface
which is true and another below the surface which is truer still. This intimate
story is meant to reveal to us not only the depth of <i>their</i> friendship,
but also how intimate is God’s relationship with <i>us</i>! The pain of <i>this</i>
family is the pain of God for <i>all</i> his people. By listening in to the
dialogue, we are also taught what they were taught: the truth about the depth
of God’s love for us, about God’s willingness to give us new life, and about
God’s power over our worst enemy – death.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(1) We are taught about the depths of God’s love for us. One of the
biggest challenges I have faced as a priest is to convince people of God’s
unconditional love for them. Why is it that so many of us have been trained by
people who have dismissed these intimate stories of God’s love and have combed
through the Scriptures, piecing together condemning, judging, and damning
messages that they turn into a religion? Why did they, and why do we, find
those negative messages more believable? I have received more letters
questioning my “too lenient notions of God’s love” than any other critical
letters since I became a priest. Jesus revealed the “true God,” not that “false
mean god” that people have created since Adam and Eve. Even in that story, God
says to Adam and Eve, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11). In
other words, “Who told you that you were bad, separated from me, and defective?
I certainly didn’t!” Jesus came to talk us out of that mean God that we keep
creating in our own minds. I can’t imagine trying to live my religion without
being in love with God! I can’t imagine practicing a religion based on fear and
dread!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(2) By listening in on the conversation between Jesus, Martha and Mary,
we are taught also about God’s willingness to give us new life. This eternal
life is on both sides of death. Death does not have the last word. Eternal life
is not just some promise for the future; it is available to us right now. We
are in it, as we speak! Through Jesus and in Jesus, those of us who are “dead
on our feet” can be resurrected now. We can be “born again.” We can act boldly
on our own behalf to live purposeful lives, to help others, and to claim the
powers that lie dormant within us. One of my favorite old movies is <i>Harold
and Maude</i>. This is Maude’s message to Harold throughout the movie: “Oh, how
the world dearly loves a cage! There are a lot of people who enjoy being dead.”
Jesus came, not just to bring a wonderful life after we are dead, but one
starting right now!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(3) And, as this gospel teaches us, God has power over our worst enemy –
death. We live in a death-denying culture. Some of our expensive funeral
practices would leave outsiders with the impression that we believe that we are
going to come up with a cure for death someday! That makes about as much sense
as leaving the runway lights on for Amelia Earhart. We don’t even know how to
die. Modern medical technology, as wonderful as it is, robs us of the spiritual
experience of “letting go” of this part of our life. Through Jesus and in
Jesus, we are able to see in death that “life is changed, not ended.” I feel
sorry for those who are conscious at death’s door without this faith.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Over the years, I have had the awesome privilege of talking to some very
conscious people getting ready to die: especially those with AIDS and with
cancer. Some were not pious people, but most were deeply spiritual. Some were
able to tell me that they accepted their approaching deaths and they wanted to
“do it well.” Some were extremely thankful for the “eternal life” they had
already started to experience in this world. Some looked with “joyful hope” for
the “eternal life” ahead of them. You know, if you’re facing death, it doesn’t
get any better than that! I hope I can do half as well. I pray for the ability
to be conscious, filled with gratitude and ready to go when the time comes!
Yes, I want to be conscious! I want to choose to let go and leap into that
great unknown, knowing that I will land in the arms of God!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The message to you in today’s gospel is this: God loves you very, very
much. He wants you to enjoy the eternal life that you can start to experience
right now, and he wants you to know that death does not have the last word. You
can enjoy “eternal life” forever – yes, starting right now!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">
</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-33985288917938962152024-03-16T05:00:00.002-04:002024-03-16T05:00:00.135-04:00USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #11<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCucauhF3CIYE2VunYh67kFC22ssPsQEluXaWzhnjoFRr4G08cybm_dFxOJwBGfrCaObDHOwkzG7kCbjcTlIKKP0RU1lPz4QWETevfpPvTsB_DugBaeR_-poHeVLgI-XEpg8x_9u39chy1E7Ab1VS_CfPGVM1xgD1eidm-X4u61i3lm5vDFOzMYz1_nZg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="464" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCucauhF3CIYE2VunYh67kFC22ssPsQEluXaWzhnjoFRr4G08cybm_dFxOJwBGfrCaObDHOwkzG7kCbjcTlIKKP0RU1lPz4QWETevfpPvTsB_DugBaeR_-poHeVLgI-XEpg8x_9u39chy1E7Ab1VS_CfPGVM1xgD1eidm-X4u61i3lm5vDFOzMYz1_nZg=w599-h426" width="599" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-84862386718211980832024-03-14T05:00:00.338-04:002024-03-14T05:00:00.134-04:00"CLEANING HOUSE" <p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhuUsxzBt34obn8-q0s61VQVeenrV6xvY1pBZhD9ZNQ38ds1yhUXXclSn-MuBjuu1jPErKfcWkNWy6a6YpXeG3R4t7Q882l1_OZ2Y81vCN3h2jpdvvnS8Nnt8AlxwDxiSoIVVfbnKRKGO6sylmSZNFYGfoc9Y0KU4XbwtnFRsgwS90lQOpZUP6w-dbEHg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhuUsxzBt34obn8-q0s61VQVeenrV6xvY1pBZhD9ZNQ38ds1yhUXXclSn-MuBjuu1jPErKfcWkNWy6a6YpXeG3R4t7Q882l1_OZ2Y81vCN3h2jpdvvnS8Nnt8AlxwDxiSoIVVfbnKRKGO6sylmSZNFYGfoc9Y0KU4XbwtnFRsgwS90lQOpZUP6w-dbEHg=w637-h358" width="637" /></a></span></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>John 2:13-25</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Like many people I know, I have a tendency to hold onto
things until one day I become a slave of my own "stuff." Now that I am
retired, I realized that I have too much stuff in my living space and that I
have outlived much of its usefulness - clothes, books, files, pictures,
nick-nacks, tools, appliances, dishes, picture frames and you-name it! Finally,
a day comes when you know you need to "go through it" and
"separate the wheat from the chaff" so to speak, but you just can't
get motivated. It was then that Marie Kondo's little book, <i>The Life-Changing
Magic of Tidying Up,</i> fell into my lap at the beginning of December from God-knows-where?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The first insight that came into focus, as I read the book,
was the realization that decluttering would make my life richer, not poorer.
Once the clutter is gone, my personal space would be a whole lot easier to
clean - meaning less work! The second insight that came into focus was the
realization finding what I truly need would be a whole lot easier to find -
meaning less wasted time. The third insight that came into focus was the
realization that I did not need to own things like 30 pairs of black pants of
various waist sizes, 50 outdated old text books and manuals from high school, college and
former jobs that I used to have, 150 file folders from the 150 priest retreats
I did in 10 countries when I had most of the truly important information in my
computer. Then there is the 15 years of weekly clippings of my column in <i>The
Record</i> in albums when I have all of them in three fat books. Does one
person really need three Crock Pots of various sizes? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I don't need to belabor the point by listing all of the
other categories of clutter that I had in my condo and garage - things like
outdated spices in kitchen drawers, outdated pill bottles in the bathroom and
duplicate tools and broken things of all sorts that I never got around to
fixing in the garage! I won't mention things like the six boxes of old
pictures that I reduced to two that I had not looked at since I took them years
ago - many in duplicate and triplicate. I reduced two three-drawer file
cabinets full of paper down to one and got rid of the other file cabinet! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Reading the book is what motivated me to roll up my sleeves
and dig in all during December! Once I got started, I was on a roll! In less
than two weeks, between <i>Good Will</i>, the <i>Second Hand Store</i> at St.
Thomas More Parish, the condo recycle bins and the dumpster, I have filled no
less than three full pick-up truck loads, two recycle bins and probably half a
dumpster. I find myself now going through the house actually looking for useless
accumulated things to get rid of that I might have missed! It was like getting
to your goal in a weight-loss program. I felt great! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">The Church has
attempted to do the same. In a moment of great humility, something rare for our
church at that time, the bishops of Vatican II admitted that the church is
“<i>semper reformanda</i>” — “<i>always in need of reform</i>.” The human side of the church,
just as all human organizations, has a tendency to fall into sin and decay and
must be called back to fidelity, over and over again, as it moves through
history. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">In the above
reading, which depicts a dramatic and public gesture of outrage, Jesus’ anger
boils over. It is very important to remember that the anger of Jesus was not
directed at people who sinned or failed in all their everyday ways. His anger
was directed at those who controlled religion and used it to abuse simple
people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">He had pity and
compassion on the outcasts, the sick and sinner, but he was outraged at what
had happened at the hands of their leaders to the religion he loved. In some of
the most blunt words from the mouth of Jesus ever recorded, he called them
“snakes, fakes and frauds.” He called the places of worship “whitewashed tombs
… all clean and pretty on the outside, but filled with stench and rot on the
inside.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">It is important to
note that Jesus was not against organized religion, but what these people had
done to organized religion. As this Gospel story tells us, he did not come to
tear down the temple; he simply came to clean house. The temple had become a marketplace,
and they were making a profit in every corner of it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">It is sad that
many people never see beyond the packaging when it comes to religion. They see
only the earthenware jar and never the treasure it holds. The purpose of
religion is to serve, not be served. The goal of healthy organized religion is
the personal transformation of people, not the using of people to serve it! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">It is also sad
that many people naively assume that organized religion is evil simply because
it has gotten off track here and there in history. Jesus was clear that he did
not come to destroy organized religion but to lead it back to its original
purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">Without organized religion, we would not have
the sacred Scriptures, we would be split into millions of personal opinions and
small little cults, and we would not have a way to offer support to other
believers around the world. Yes, the church may need a good “house cleaning”
every now and then, but the organization of the church is always needed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">As Kenneth
Woodward has pointed out, for the last 30 or 40 years people have operated out
of a romantic notion that all the ills of the church reside with the
institution — so that if only we could reform it, we ourselves would be better
Christians. The truth quite often is the other way around. The institution will
get better when each one of us is reformed and transformed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><br /></span></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-74101024932962445732024-03-12T05:00:00.320-04:002024-03-12T05:00:00.131-04:00BE STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE A STAND AGAINST PRESENT TRENDS<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYTi7MzG6cKNnVuB092NNznDxehJmCDkU1Tcp7F7k7atwt7bYGSQyz5jyMl3PhdMQZq6hpCvkitqdxxCme-ShCqFB2MTWVVCjK_BNAu12o5vrwFFnh9sy8Jf7X61C3srw1CgroStTj3ezqyyr_CocABiMQXX51jjGhP23FQPDYBEHc4RLT-W__VcTP9KM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="612" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYTi7MzG6cKNnVuB092NNznDxehJmCDkU1Tcp7F7k7atwt7bYGSQyz5jyMl3PhdMQZq6hpCvkitqdxxCme-ShCqFB2MTWVVCjK_BNAu12o5vrwFFnh9sy8Jf7X61C3srw1CgroStTj3ezqyyr_CocABiMQXX51jjGhP23FQPDYBEHc4RLT-W__VcTP9KM=w576-h383" width="576" /></a></div><br /></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>There was a time when bucking the trends was looked upon as pitiful and in desperate need of rejection and even punishment. </span><span>With our culture going downhill faster than a wagon load of fat kids, </span><span>I, for one, believe it is past time to reverse that tend! I believe that we need more people who are willing, on a personal level, to deliberately buck some of the present trends. We need more courageous thinking adults with a set of principles that they are willing to live by and even being ready to take some heat to defend. We need principled people who are willing to change themselves to fit the truth rather than more people twisting the truth and manipulating reality to fit the latest cultural trends. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>In short, we need principled people willing to be counter-cultural! We need more individuals who don't wait till enough people agree with them or even join them! We need more individuals willing to go it alone, if necessary! We need more individuals willing to set an example for even the few to follow, rather than following the example of the herd! We need more individuals who are willing to be the change they wish to see! We need people who are willing to die, if necessary, for truth, honesty, respect, communal values and eternal principles - even if they have to go it alone! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I write this, I cannot help but recall the powerful words of President Theodore Roosevelt. His words describe the type of people we need more of today to save our culture, not the mean and nasty "cultural warriors" who make the news every evening these days, people who are not solid and principled themselves, but want a dictator to be strong for them and make others fall in line to be more like themselves! We need real heroes, not angry, loud, personally weak losers and anarchists with no real morals or sound principles. People filled with anger, resentment and hatred are leading us over a cliff like a bunch of proverbial lemmings! </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is the challenge, outlined by President Theodore Roosevelt, that we really need. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stephen Covey spoke eloquently of the power of a quality individual to effect change for the better when he wrote, "The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Alexis de Tocqueville may have said it even better, about the need for strong individuals, than I can when he said, “It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great; I wish that they would try a little more to make great men; that they would set less value on the work and more upon the workman; that they would never forget that a nation cannot long remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak; and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised to make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled citizens.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">It seems to me that our country, our parishes, our communities and our families will get stronger one principled person at a time or, without a significant number of such principled persons, those groups will self-destruct as communities! There are no short-cuts or quick fixes! No one can save us from us, but us! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8Z6EsXfvLXaxuhQgKfZV80UKJzVW0dFcU0Lqfa4gS8qjywJWwwghqUXyNF55h2t7-m43R3z-NKyeaqAjV7De0I8ZNu-634FToPbfw8w9MuyMwU585mYB6pWUm4l8L3wBXCyd7ix6lyuzgKRiI8Dt8-yB3o-jFEiRay65_SbDBEt8IrGWdJ_XzvHIttew" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2430" data-original-width="2430" height="551" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8Z6EsXfvLXaxuhQgKfZV80UKJzVW0dFcU0Lqfa4gS8qjywJWwwghqUXyNF55h2t7-m43R3z-NKyeaqAjV7De0I8ZNu-634FToPbfw8w9MuyMwU585mYB6pWUm4l8L3wBXCyd7ix6lyuzgKRiI8Dt8-yB3o-jFEiRay65_SbDBEt8IrGWdJ_XzvHIttew=w551-h551" width="551" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-53545367119659990932024-03-10T09:00:00.056-04:002024-03-10T09:00:00.128-04:00THOSE WHO CAN'T SEE AND THOSE WHO JUST WON'T SEE <p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOELMcUdisCzVBwE1NI7EBHvuVvbcQBkdYi6AaZwBucCpkw2zzCVMkIqB9iD4SjSqfhsEfWra5-m0Ty305CyNMsln17IMZB8fGpTDphpR8_fDeVz6TWHHwy1xoJhg2q9iRQAxG1rXaDHtsuOKh3_UkV3lchyWYEYduiFeCm1nYvxRLmM0pKHtAS0pEAzA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOELMcUdisCzVBwE1NI7EBHvuVvbcQBkdYi6AaZwBucCpkw2zzCVMkIqB9iD4SjSqfhsEfWra5-m0Ty305CyNMsln17IMZB8fGpTDphpR8_fDeVz6TWHHwy1xoJhg2q9iRQAxG1rXaDHtsuOKh3_UkV3lchyWYEYduiFeCm1nYvxRLmM0pKHtAS0pEAzA=w540-h540" width="540" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">So far, we have been to the desert, the mountain and the
well. Today, Jesus invites us to admit that we either can’t see or won’t see
and invites us to go to the eye-doctor to have our eyes “checked.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">Tyler Perry is a successful African-American playwright,
actor and screenwriter. Perry attributes his success to what he calls
“spiritual progress,” especially the “spiritual progress” that resulted in
making peace with his own father. One of his profound insights was around
learning that “parents do what they know how.” He finally realized that he
could not change his history with his father, but he could change the way he
wanted to remember it! “My life changed,” he said, “once things changed in me!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">I, too, had to learn how resentment can keep you stuck and
how you can free yourself by going to an “eye doctor” and have your eyes
opened. The ability to see in a new way is like being let out of prison, having
your chains and throwing off a heavy load of stinking garbage. Like Tyler Perry, it was only when
I chose to “see my past in a new way” that I was no longer a victim of it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">We cannot do anything about our pasts, but we can choose
whether we want to be victims of it. Once I began to understand that my own
father “did what he knew how,” I was able to move from anger to compassion. I
constantly thank God that I was able to bury all that resentment, even before I
buried him!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">“Seeing in a new way” is exactly the conclusion Jesus came
to in his search for clarity during his forty days in the desert. Coming out of
the desert, he began to preach “conversion.” That conversion is summed up in
the Greek word “<i>metanoia</i>.” “<i>Metanoiete</i>” means “you, change the
way you see!” Change the way you look at things and heaven will open up to you.
Once things change in you, things around you will look very different.” The
devil tried to get Jesus to change things. Jesus resisted that temptation. Instead,
Jesus called for an internal change <i>within</i> people, believing that if
people would change inside, things outside them would also change. A new life
begins with having your eyes opened!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">Today we have a wonderful story about a bunch of blind
people: one who can’t see and others who won’t see. All of them need Jesus in
order to be able to “see.” In this wonderful story, Jesus uses the occasion of
healing physical blindness to tell us something about the healing of spiritual
blindness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">The man born blind, not only regains his physical sight,
but step-by-step he begins to see Jesus in a new way. At first, he says he
tells people he doesn’t know who this Jesus is who healed him. As the story
unfolds, he calls Jesus a “prophet” and finally “Lord.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">The Pharisees and his parents can see physically, but they
are spiritually blind and refuse “to see in a new way.” The Pharisees are
blinded by their own rigid religious structures. They can’t see the beauty of
this great healing, a blind man getting his sight. All they can see is that
this healing took place on the Sabbath day and healing was illegal on the
Sabbath. The parents are blinded by their fear of being ostracized by
neighbors, friends and organized religion if they admitted to this healing. They
conveniently choose not to know and not to see. “Ask him,” they say, “he is old
enough to speak for himself.” Both Pharisees and parents are afraid of “seeing
in a new way” because it would mean their cozy little routines would be
disrupted. It was convenient for them not to see and so remain stuck in their
chosen blindness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">I am amazed when I talk to “stuck” people. I believe that
most people who are stuck are basically people who are blinded by “the way they
see,” by their inability to “see in a new way.” They whine and cry and wait to
be rescued, but they cannot change their minds and look at their situations
from a new angle. They can’t “let go” of their old way of thinking and seeing,
and so remain stuck in their blindness. They are like the monkeys I read about
several years ago. To catch these monkeys for the zoo, people would cut a hole
in a tree, just small enough for a monkey to his hand into. Then they fill it
with peanuts. When the monkey sticks his hand into the hole and grabs the
peanuts, he cannot pull his hand back out. Instead of letting go of the
peanuts, they howl and cry till someone comes and hauls them off to the zoo.
All they had to do was to let go of their grip on the peanuts. People are a lot
like that! They cannot let go of the way they see things and so remain trapped,
whining and crying all the while.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">Some people simply cannot “let go” of the way they see
things. They clutch at beliefs like: life ought to be fair, parents ought to be
perfect, spouses should not let each other down, the church ought to be
perfect, things ought to make sense and people ought to respect you, love you
and meet your needs. And, of course, when life isn’t fair, when parents and
churches aren’t perfect, when spouses let them down, when things don’t make
sense and when people do not meet their needs, they fall apart and remain stuck
in their belief that if they just don’t like it enough, it will go away. All
they would have to do to free themselves is to “let go” of their old beliefs
and “see things in a new way.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">Jesus was right, “If you were physically blind, there is no
sin in that, but when you <i>choose</i> to be blind, your sin remains, you keep
your own suffering going.” Tyler Perry is right, too, when he says, “My life
changed once things changed in me.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">What about you? What situations do you need to “look at” in
a new way? What people do you need to “look at” in a new way? Is the way you
have been “looking at” these situations and people still causing you pain? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">Maybe
it's an old relationship that didn't work out, someone who did something to
hurt you in the past, a business partner who stole from you, a relative who
cheated you, a change in the church you didn't like or a child or sibling who disappointed you! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">If so,
ask God for healing! Ask God for a new set of eyes! Once things change in you,
life around you will change for the better for you! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;">Sometimes,
all you have to do is to "let go" of those "peanuts" you
are holding onto by "choosing to change the way you look at the grip you
have on them!"</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br /></div><br /><p></p><div><br /></div>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-80643357033520977252024-03-09T08:30:00.000-05:002024-03-09T10:16:35.231-05:00USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #10<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgO9JtI22HHkrAkF3ISU0DWYZe3kuCeEDODtBihKLha1nJZnQxjA_TFmGAXhBKlqA9lX2S_Kcr438udCU45TTJJh6pBabqiBmxdmBVdXxNsZTANh2QVo3YC7zZRzFEEIjbVvMC01XI3gZRmP8J8jK5i5Vs5Ea3-GY20jSeSaDzqT5VznbmcneMJWQWyONE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="220" height="575" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgO9JtI22HHkrAkF3ISU0DWYZe3kuCeEDODtBihKLha1nJZnQxjA_TFmGAXhBKlqA9lX2S_Kcr438udCU45TTJJh6pBabqiBmxdmBVdXxNsZTANh2QVo3YC7zZRzFEEIjbVvMC01XI3gZRmP8J8jK5i5Vs5Ea3-GY20jSeSaDzqT5VznbmcneMJWQWyONE=w575-h575" width="575" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-75342261470990832682024-03-07T05:00:00.168-05:002024-03-07T05:00:00.134-05:00GOD GIVES US INGREDIENTS, BUT WE MUST BAKE OUR OWN CAKE<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVss5Ej6dcMfxwYOIWkLEDcByT2Ai7SNHmYXUnos2f8pStswVX4xj-rFmnW1Cr1N5itF6SHxW30FHizgzYj-RpVuZtsc2q7yCqR5MG23lT6MmcShDqvNBlYlKk8uQ7sqP1XdZjG7QlNeriymwPA-lzWVLcgRJBxk9At7J8G5Wn8hKiZmnuD31S2RNKvXA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVss5Ej6dcMfxwYOIWkLEDcByT2Ai7SNHmYXUnos2f8pStswVX4xj-rFmnW1Cr1N5itF6SHxW30FHizgzYj-RpVuZtsc2q7yCqR5MG23lT6MmcShDqvNBlYlKk8uQ7sqP1XdZjG7QlNeriymwPA-lzWVLcgRJBxk9At7J8G5Wn8hKiZmnuD31S2RNKvXA=w589-h442" width="589" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhR02ggVoG5eblqdD1ewmEvNR8HXXZ6WUKWQazz6hVEOmsneHNLh4oyojnEeH2E4i60g_he-vjmQ_XZAzZfMAB233NSD6PGrWwfHpqt3SEttI8IyRL43TIgIc7b2vk3cHx7GDRriirccZ7l_XPCEIUBKhkZo-J2oc0X2AZ2cxGLA5qYqNk9DaTLYjtjZdg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhR02ggVoG5eblqdD1ewmEvNR8HXXZ6WUKWQazz6hVEOmsneHNLh4oyojnEeH2E4i60g_he-vjmQ_XZAzZfMAB233NSD6PGrWwfHpqt3SEttI8IyRL43TIgIc7b2vk3cHx7GDRriirccZ7l_XPCEIUBKhkZo-J2oc0X2AZ2cxGLA5qYqNk9DaTLYjtjZdg=w588-h588" width="588" /></a></div></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few weeks ago, I made a statement in my Sunday homily on the Feast of the Epiphany. I could hear the congregation suck in a little air when they heard it! I assumed they realized that it hit the nail on the head. They do that when they tell me I have hit the nail on the head! That made me go home and do some more thinking about what I had just said. Here are the very words. "If we do not like who we are today, it is probably the result of hundreds and hundreds of small lazy or cowardly choices made over many years."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">What was on my mind was the belief that we live in a society made up of more and more so-called "victims." "Victims" are unhappy people who blame their unhappiness on others, be it their parents, the government, the church, the culture we live in, and especially anyone more successful than they are!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why do people behave this way? There are some benefits to adapting to a victimhood mindset.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Being accountable for your life means you’re in the driver’s seat. You take responsibility. That can be scary to someone who has a victim mentality. You would have to admit life isn’t just the result of the actions of others. Taking responsibility bursts the protective bubble of victimhood.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some people’s problems continue because of the secondary benefits. Sympathy, attention, and access to medication or funds are common examples of secondary gain. Someone with a victim mentality might not even realize they are getting these benefits, and often feel truly distressed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">People with a victim mentality, especially when it comes from past trauma, unconsciously seek validation and help from others. They play the “poor me” card consistently. This can generate sympathy and help from others.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Projecting blame on others is a key part of the victim mentality. It’s a way to avoid being truly vulnerable and taking risks.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In comparing the paranoid protector of his status and power, King Herod, to the Magi who risked everything in their spiritual quest, I referred to a book I wrote a few years ago entitled <i>BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to Do Hard Things for Your Own Good.</i> This book is a very personal, autobiographical book that traces decisions I have made since I was six years old that have led me to where I am today. The thread throughout the book goes something like this. When I gave into fear, I withered as a person. When I stepped out in courage, I grew as a person. Many of the decisions I wrote about revolve around the decisions I made that led to the new places I have been, the decisions I made that propelled me forward and the decisions I have made one after another that have brought me to this day. I wrote it as a personal whole-life review, but I also wrote it as a way to teach others about the benefits of facing down fear and embracing opportunities for personal growth and change. I wanted to teach what I had learned - God gives us some amazing ingredients, but we must make our own cake! We have to create the life we want and give up whining and blaming. It's a truth I believe in and it's a truth I try to teach! How else can we explain the fact that some great people have overcome some enormous obstacles on reach an unbelievable level of success, while some of the most talented and materially blessed people have ended up sad failures in life. Victimhood, I believe, is ultimately the result of laziness and cowardice in most cases. The life we want is not a matter of luck, it's about the effort we put into building it! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZ3mH-2kXnHShDPzzG8d-Ul8cJuxE9D6jKmXttia6KmGmQJ-UJWh3q0QfKsOpT3B_PRoVB0GboiVin1p2gm7zA47oj_e4xOuzJGLdrLknvw-yTis_o4MiVio42i0-OZYM8hoK__Ag1l4DkmP0Jg-kYX3KiK3l9q1-sKc6zZTw75hVbYqeyOIgXUJ2tEtA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="720" height="455" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZ3mH-2kXnHShDPzzG8d-Ul8cJuxE9D6jKmXttia6KmGmQJ-UJWh3q0QfKsOpT3B_PRoVB0GboiVin1p2gm7zA47oj_e4xOuzJGLdrLknvw-yTis_o4MiVio42i0-OZYM8hoK__Ag1l4DkmP0Jg-kYX3KiK3l9q1-sKc6zZTw75hVbYqeyOIgXUJ2tEtA=w633-h455" width="633" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFROfYgi7SPxAoZznrArQD72Uwu5lyYQfg7w3skGNJIARLdjftf5PtHfVcgf92qDtnkJgpBQwWn1gmj8G7f6lELNG6E-CCvN1DHdFqywYUldkgk54RxQFkm-pLM0u4oGZwd58LKimC9bL4DOub_czdsmeZz6p7O_wtQhOKdu6QJBd5yptwFMEy-HvkHrw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1620" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFROfYgi7SPxAoZznrArQD72Uwu5lyYQfg7w3skGNJIARLdjftf5PtHfVcgf92qDtnkJgpBQwWn1gmj8G7f6lELNG6E-CCvN1DHdFqywYUldkgk54RxQFkm-pLM0u4oGZwd58LKimC9bL4DOub_czdsmeZz6p7O_wtQhOKdu6QJBd5yptwFMEy-HvkHrw=w635-h357" width="635" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiph_orD3VBdahwlnSbdXyiYLTx_QqFMZTg9FDxcZsg-qXOc8COPvlnLki6JUXjMPheuylnB5DLyH5mpN2XXiZvuKugrDa6N7lCLx5y0_D9w7uOMm2TBoXBikWErp9QUSkll7FCBfhkDe958U6N5hQYPjG8SPZfwUAh2s81AONW4W8ExLUe7A6Zgi42G-4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1637" data-original-width="1959" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiph_orD3VBdahwlnSbdXyiYLTx_QqFMZTg9FDxcZsg-qXOc8COPvlnLki6JUXjMPheuylnB5DLyH5mpN2XXiZvuKugrDa6N7lCLx5y0_D9w7uOMm2TBoXBikWErp9QUSkll7FCBfhkDe958U6N5hQYPjG8SPZfwUAh2s81AONW4W8ExLUe7A6Zgi42G-4" width="287" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-79553292661261291622024-03-05T05:00:00.359-05:002024-03-06T15:01:35.790-05:00HONORING THE ELDERLY<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxrLIBKJzs5v4n1f_UzIIa1eNbonX9nHGlxdU1UDoY3sIti8UhKAx9GOGTBfi8h3yPudE5EzLT7-P4DAh30pkWp5c4sz38vx5IeK1QXyJDDg3KL9x0PZBYpQaUzdR0wGAV0R5PLjmxLgvKiDC1CVw8RCXFaQYXbXFiKPhuySUhi7dY-L7ft9yPO0jUoqM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="868" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxrLIBKJzs5v4n1f_UzIIa1eNbonX9nHGlxdU1UDoY3sIti8UhKAx9GOGTBfi8h3yPudE5EzLT7-P4DAh30pkWp5c4sz38vx5IeK1QXyJDDg3KL9x0PZBYpQaUzdR0wGAV0R5PLjmxLgvKiDC1CVw8RCXFaQYXbXFiKPhuySUhi7dY-L7ft9yPO0jUoqM=w600-h391" width="600" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Take care of your father (and mother) when (they) are old; grieve (them) not as long as (they) live. Even if (their) minds fail, be considerate of (them); kindness to a father (and mother) will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt of your sins. </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Sirach 3:2-6,12-14</i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The good news is that we are living longer and longer. The bad news is that, in many ways, it is becoming harder and harder to die at home of a natural death. The extension of lifespans has created a booming nursing home industry, a booming legal business of end-of-life and medical surrogate lawyers and complicated machines that can keep us suspended between life and death for years, if that is required! In some states and countries, it is now legal for sick persons to end their own lives through "assisted suicide" (aka "medical aid in dying." That is so scary when I think about where that is going in the future! Thankfully, however, there are also "assisted living" programs offering hospice or palliative care that help the dying be comfortable until death comes naturally. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Being a hospital chaplain is not as easy as it used to be either! I have two memories of being called to the hospital when someone was dying. The first was when my presence was resented by the hospital staff. The second was when I was appreciated by the hospital staff. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I was a Deacon, I was assigned to a Catholic Hospital here in Louisville. I was called to anoint a man who was dying. When I got to the room, I waited outside until the staff told me is was OK to come in. One of the good Sisters, in an attempt to help me get set up for the anointing. plowed right past me right into the room, past the nurses and the doctors who were working on the patient, pushing her cart with candles, crucifix and oil, calling out in a loud voice, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" I forget exactly what the doctor yelled to her about her cart, but it wasn't nice! I was happy I had the good sense to stay out of the room until I was invited in! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I was a young priest, I was called to the hospital to anoint a young man who had been in a terrible accident. He was terribly swollen and had wires, tubes and equipment attached to him to keep him alive artificially even though he had been brain dead for quite a while. The doctors could not turn off the machines unless the family agreed for fear of being sued, along with the hospital. I realized right then and there it would be my job to help the family make the decision to turn off the machines and let him go! After talking to them a while, I helped them make that decision, making sure that everyone one of them was in agreement. We prayed for a while together. I laid the pix with the Blessed Sacrament on his chest over his heart as they turned off the machines. Within a few minutes it was over. His body was no longer being tortured because they couldn't bring themselves to let him go. He was at peace and so were they! One of the doctors came out as I was leaving to thank me for the ministry I had just offered the family - something that he himself could not do under those circumstances. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is hard to die these days because of the maze of new medical treatments and the jungle of legal health care issues. My first suggestion is to be sure you and your family members have a LIVING WILL DIRECTIVE and a LIMITED HEALTH CARE POWER OF ATTORNEY so that your survivors will know what you want in such situations. My second suggestion is call your pastor and ask for the Anointing of the Sick at the beginning of your illness if possible. Don't wait till the last minute and then try to find a priest for the "Last Rites" after the patient is unconscious! Many hospitals no longer have priest chaplains on call and the number of available priests is shrinking every year. My third suggestion is to talk to somebody in the family, even if you are a young adult in good health, about what you want if you are in an accident and as far as a funeral - even if it is just a few little instructions they can remember. If you are an older person, you might even want to pre-plan your funeral so that your family will know what you want and how you want it done. It will help them tremendously. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before all that, while your parents are alive and doing reasonably well, there is much you can do for them and much you owe them. Visit them! Call them! Remember their birthdays, anniversaries and other special days like Mothers Day and Fathers Day. Speak to them with respect even if they become tedious and demanding. Do whatever is possible and legal to protect them from criminal online predators and the risks of driving if it is no longer feasible for them. That will also protect others from the harm they can inflict in an automobile accident. Help them, or find someone who can, navigate the complicated legal paper work and medical appointments that are almost all done online these days! Most importantly, talk to them! Talk to them and try to honor as many of their wishes as possible rather than ramming things down their throats because it would be easier for you! Last of all, pray with them once in a while! Help them get to church! Go with them! Make it a family day for them when possible! Take them to breakfast afterwards even if it is only once a month! Take turns with your siblings if necessary! Your presence and attention will bring them great comfort! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In closing, let me say this. You owe them a lot and the care and attention you show them will bring God's abundant blessings and forgiveness to you in the process! Your honor and respect for them will be "<i style="text-align: center;">firmly planted against the debt of your sins," </i><span style="text-align: center;">as the reading at the top puts it! </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-18774860554420333402024-03-03T09:00:00.065-05:002024-03-03T09:00:00.270-05:00WE ARE SO THIRSTY THESE DAYS! <p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiY6ms792sPHc4NeUAZfPc-WLQtn8Re8ucRjLVGRC00c5CvHARgxt7F92AvAu_gN35JoeV3XwbeMMlmR3aLS3KSkjdUGpiiOyal0UYoGSOypXMpnl77dVT5iVq-H4kqE26waR-mgRhiO451f8PKYexQblXapXcdtTwzq3fYS5d0l9KZ36S-htl2mG13UWo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="612" height="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiY6ms792sPHc4NeUAZfPc-WLQtn8Re8ucRjLVGRC00c5CvHARgxt7F92AvAu_gN35JoeV3XwbeMMlmR3aLS3KSkjdUGpiiOyal0UYoGSOypXMpnl77dVT5iVq-H4kqE26waR-mgRhiO451f8PKYexQblXapXcdtTwzq3fYS5d0l9KZ36S-htl2mG13UWo=w600-h449" width="600" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">John 4:14</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">On the first Sunday of Lent, Jesus invited us to conversion of life by
going to the desert. The desert is a place devoid of distractions, a place to
gain insight into ourselves. On the second Sunday of Lent, Jesus invited us to go up the
mountain with him. Mountains are places where we can go to gain perspective,
to get the "big picture." From a mountaintop one can see into the distance –
where they have been, where they are now and where they are headed. On this third Sunday
of Lent, Jesus invites us to go to the well, a place one goes to quench one’s
thirst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In many ways, people today are thirsty, restless and looking for meaning.
The Prophet Haggai, about 520 years before Christ, described our culture quite
well when he wrote, “You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have
eaten, but have not been satisfied; you have drunk, but not been exhilarated;
have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; and you have earned wages for a
bag with holes in it.” We “have it all” on one hand and yet we are still not
satisfied on the other. We are constantly “craving” for more!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It has been suggested that our consumer culture has spawned a new climate
of thirstiness and restlessness. The experts call it ‘churn,’ using the word to
describe our short attention span and our ‘what’s next’ attitude. This
restlessness is seen in a consuming lust for endless distractions and
amusements. This restlessness is being fed, some believe, by the
overstimulation and excessive exposure to violent movies, fast-paced videos,
computers and cell-phones, loud hard-wired music and over-scheduling. All these
together exacerbate agitation, restlessness and hyperactivity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">What the world seems to be craving right now is what Jesus called “rest
for one’s soul.” He said on one occasion, “Come to me, all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Jesus offers “rest” to those who are “worn out” in their search for “meaning.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In this gospel, we meet a wonderful woman who is an example of all that!
Jesus meets this woman at a well. She is tired - tired to the bone. She is
physically tired - tired of being thirsty and having to constantly draw water
and carry it long distances. She lived a half mile away and the well was over
100 feet deep. She was emotionally tired - tired of trying to find satisfying
relationships in her life. She had been “looking for love in all the wrong
places,” as the country song goes. She had been married five times. She was
tired of being discriminated against by others. Jews hated Samaritans like her
and women in general were considered socially inferior. She was spiritually
tired – tired of a burdensome religion that was not really satisfying. At the well,
she meets Jesus and pours out her heart to him and he, in turn, gives her
“living water” and “rest for her soul” in the form of respect, acceptance and
love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Fellow seekers, all of us are like this woman in some degree. We all have
a void in our lives that we try to fill. Some of us strive frantically our
whole lives to fill that void by gaining material things, gaining stature,
gaining status, gaining fame, finding the perfect relationship and on and on.
The fact of the matter is we will never fill that void with “things or stuff”
because that void was put there for a specific purpose. We have a built-in
missing piece – a missing piece given to us by God himself.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">What is the purpose of that void? What is that missing piece? It is the
place where God belongs! Only God can fill that hole. Saint Augustine of Hippo
described it best when he said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our
hearts are restless until they rest in you!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It’s as if we are all running around with a hole in our souls that we are
desperately trying to fill. The truth of the matter is that only God can fill
it, and yet we try our best to fill it with unsatisfying distractions,
amusements, relationships and material things. Lent is a time to stop by the
“well” for “living waters” and find “rest” in God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The best meditation for this gospel could be Francis Thompson’s famous
poem “The Hound of Heaven” where God is pictured as a hound pursuing us
throughout our lives that we are trying to run away from! “I fled Him, down the
nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him,
down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from
Him…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I have always loved the words of Celie in the movie “<i>The Color Purple.</i>”
Celie feels that there is a great big a hole in her life. She is more than a
bit aggravated by the feeling of God’s absence in her life – what she refers to
as God “just sitting up there glorifying in being deef.” She speaks for many
people today when she says, “It ain’t easy trying to do without God. Even if
you know he ain’t there trying to do without him is a strain.” Those who
experience the strain of trying to “do without God” will no doubt feel a hole
in their souls, a hunger and thirst that nothing seems to satisfy. Yes! Lent is
good time to re-connect with God after "trying to do without him.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So far this Lent, Jesus has taken us to the desert, to the mountain and
to the well so that he might lead us to conversion of life, a life that is full
and satisfying, a life that includes him!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"> </span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-68846935168740754332024-03-02T05:00:00.007-05:002024-03-02T05:00:00.284-05:00USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #9<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIl2BiHAuq66QR8hbHklcHmohAHpimt9ngoqYINsE1hxqw9rfp85aUDeJzqSzFKalNaDhPoo-frnyg51AKN5UQBh3XZKotxtfD4cYC8XuTdAlRRKgJuBdfrR43SFBMFwQYjOOT7W5WkGHxjc_0GYYM4dw52F6PahuiM1W5ITY-BZWf8ofMTnHh8PnkLGg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="895" height="532" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIl2BiHAuq66QR8hbHklcHmohAHpimt9ngoqYINsE1hxqw9rfp85aUDeJzqSzFKalNaDhPoo-frnyg51AKN5UQBh3XZKotxtfD4cYC8XuTdAlRRKgJuBdfrR43SFBMFwQYjOOT7W5WkGHxjc_0GYYM4dw52F6PahuiM1W5ITY-BZWf8ofMTnHh8PnkLGg=w547-h532" width="547" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-66250290088712082492024-02-29T05:00:00.017-05:002024-02-29T05:00:00.132-05:00WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No one has ever been able to explain why bad things happen to good people. However, this shortened passage from the Book of Job has always helped me to at least put the bad things that happen to me in perspective and to learn something from the bad things that happen to me and those around me. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When "bad things" happen to me, I try to remember at least two things: (1) Compared to what others have to go through, all I have most of the time are aggravations, while others have real problems. Realizing that, I try my best not to complain. (2) Compared to what others have to go through, I have had it good for many years while others have suffered for many years with permanent severe health issues, grinding poverty and a constant fear so intense that they have never had a chance to enjoy even one full day of peace, success and happiness. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Read this little story and remember it the next time you go through a time of trial. Remember two things: (1) The more you have been "on top" in life, the more your having to experience the "bottom" will probably cause you to complain bitterly and even blame the same God you never thanked when things were going so well for you. Above all, ask yourself, "Is this a <i>real problem</i> or is this a <i>mere aggravation</i>? (2) Try to remember how good you have had it compared to so many others in this world and stay faithful like Job, the man of God, who was able to put his "bad experiences" in perspective and learn something about yourself and others from those experiences. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">A </span><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-size: x-large;">READING</span></st1:city><span style="font-size: x-large;"> FROM THE BOOK OF JOB</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4q2ngwylBrdB413F47pebq_C3GLpcr4RO409qJJKQ6scF0wStzqXv3S2_8C-SzjI5cuDR6_dilwsZt4awsGcZVhnqMgKVrP9S3PgbWdN9PBRS36kFjjmu57AGnLwytR247ycBixg51Z5Ix1ys5ekBett0B5mg9AwpsprBbe6Ivi1mBss46C6GrCnlIrQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="480" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4q2ngwylBrdB413F47pebq_C3GLpcr4RO409qJJKQ6scF0wStzqXv3S2_8C-SzjI5cuDR6_dilwsZt4awsGcZVhnqMgKVrP9S3PgbWdN9PBRS36kFjjmu57AGnLwytR247ycBixg51Z5Ix1ys5ekBett0B5mg9AwpsprBbe6Ivi1mBss46C6GrCnlIrQ=w588-h331" width="588" /></a></div></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">land</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Uz</st1:placename></st1:place>
there was a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided
evil.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Seven sons and three daughters
were born to him; and he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five
hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-donkeys and a very large household, so
that he was greater than anyone in the East.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">His sons used t take turns giving
feasts, sending invitations to their three sisters to eat and drink with them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">And when each feast had run its
course, Job would send for them and sanctify them, rising early and offering
sacrifices for every one of them. For Job said, “it may be that my children
have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did this habitually.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">One day, when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also cam among them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Lord said to Satan, “Where
have you been?” The Satan answered the Lord and said, “Roaming the earth and
patrolling it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Lord said to Satan, “Have you
noticed my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him, blameless and
upright, fearing God and avoiding evil.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Satan answered the Lord and
said, “Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing?” Have you not surrounded him
and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the
work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now put forth your hand and touch all
that he has, and surely he will curse you to your face.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Lord said to Satan, “Very
well, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on him.” So Satan
went forth from the presence of the Lord.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">One day, while his sons and
daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, a
messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing
beside them, and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid. They put the servants
to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was still speaking when
another came and said, “God’s fire has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep
and the servants and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was still speaking when
another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, seized the camels,
carried them off, put the servants to the sword; I alone have escaped to tell
you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was still speaking when
another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine
in the house of their eldest brother, and suddenly a great wind came from
across the desert and smashed the four corners of the house. It fell upon the
young people and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Satan then went forth and smote
Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then his wife said to him, “Are
you still holding to your innocence? Curse God and die.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">But Job said to her, “Are even
you going to speak like a crazy woman? <span style="color: red;">We accept good things from God; should
we not accept bad things?”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Through all this, Job said
nothing sinful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">WORD OF THE LORD <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-54439160070327920932024-02-27T05:00:00.186-05:002024-02-27T05:00:00.242-05:00SO LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://media0.giphy.com/media/d3mlmtNPoxNrt4Bi/200.gif?cid=790b76110hl1skb3ib21z47cmvoybqwf5w8y0l054dvnp0ex&rid=200.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="302" height="362" src="https://media0.giphy.com/media/d3mlmtNPoxNrt4Bi/200.gif?cid=790b76110hl1skb3ib21z47cmvoybqwf5w8y0l054dvnp0ex&rid=200.gif" width="548" /></a> </div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_Vh8fD9dpxuVY0bM828b1WJp1tu4y7DMf52yzxk8BevkPMxRFcxu-bz0NMVkjnq1T0T2t17_Je4Tgr5RTc1VvuIm5eYnv9YXX90W6-DUH4OpNF08DvA8CKtHxROJSPZqHQpcNoRtoLmiKlo8mPJu-7FXDbePNzSGLf3c2fmh7YsSjgaHT9eNIS2ytNJ0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="569" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_Vh8fD9dpxuVY0bM828b1WJp1tu4y7DMf52yzxk8BevkPMxRFcxu-bz0NMVkjnq1T0T2t17_Je4Tgr5RTc1VvuIm5eYnv9YXX90W6-DUH4OpNF08DvA8CKtHxROJSPZqHQpcNoRtoLmiKlo8mPJu-7FXDbePNzSGLf3c2fmh7YsSjgaHT9eNIS2ytNJ0=w569-h569" width="569" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjN_WyAGoNoqewNPRDCzj7kENCGZ5ETDFk85LHtWqQHiC_tUtDFtRsI7t2AwoXk8cDDiFhvBbZSn2hEoFKJWcgkX9ffLBqIaWc5a0YHsYDRB7WajcbU8xSekQBuAtBmYd0Cx2t3IcuPjJedpBtrR8XfgloApmpipMJ03mC1xnxkhtwOKXk0wVxmn9HodCU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1600" height="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjN_WyAGoNoqewNPRDCzj7kENCGZ5ETDFk85LHtWqQHiC_tUtDFtRsI7t2AwoXk8cDDiFhvBbZSn2hEoFKJWcgkX9ffLBqIaWc5a0YHsYDRB7WajcbU8xSekQBuAtBmYd0Cx2t3IcuPjJedpBtrR8XfgloApmpipMJ03mC1xnxkhtwOKXk0wVxmn9HodCU=w436-h544" width="436" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I don't know about you, but I am tired of winter! The older I get, the more I tire of winter! No wonder so many old people move to Florida. The only thing bad about moving to Florida is that they miss the intensity of the anticipation of spring. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">This year, I am feeling an anticipation that I haven't felt for a long time - maybe a time when I didn't travel much and lived in a house. Back them I had flower pots on the front porch and back deck, bananas trees close to the fence and flowering trees near the back door. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Back when I was traveling a lot, I never had live plants in my house because I did not want to bother people to come over and water them when I was gone. I settled for fake flowers and plastic plants. For the last couple of years, since retiring, I did buy three ferns for the deck. I realize now that that was a lazy half-way effort - maybe because I had given away my large empty flower pots. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">This year I am finding myself making plans now for a renewed spring season around here! Even though I live in a condo where the grass is mowed for us, I am thinking about getting some more big pots for the deck and planting some real plants - definitely flowers and maybe even a few herbs. Even though I have given up cigars, I think I might enjoy sitting out more in the evenings this year if I had some real plants to admire and water! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I will turn 80 this spring. This year, because of a new year's resolution to pay more attention to my health, I have also promised myself that I would get out and walk liked I used to! I have a nice sidewalk on Eastern Parkway right in front of my house that goes for blocks and blocks both way! I also have St. Michael's and St. Louis's Cemeteries a short walk from my door. Both are beautiful and interesting places to walk. I used to enjoy walking there just a few years back. With new ear buds and free music on my I-Phone, it makes all the sights and sounds even more enjoyable over the sound of traffic. This spring it is good time to begin all that walking again! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Since I have been told by several close friends that I need to work less and enjoy life more, I have decided to cook more often for friends. Cooking is something I enjoy doing! I plan on visiting more of my family members down in Meade County, especially the homes of some nieces and nephews that I have never been in! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I have written and talked a lot about the necessity of re-inventing oneself. Hopefully, this is the spring I will take my own advice and re-invent myself by doing less and resist the temptation to take on another huge building project. I need to understand that re-inventing oneself at my age could include giving up the drive to "save the world" and start "savoring the world!" I need to admit that what worked so well in the past may not work so well going forward. I need to admit that I have proven myself, but now it's time to approve of myself! Re-inventing myself this time includes making plans to give this new insight a try! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0_VcDTgtHY-INJiK6oLIsjiWG5SYOfY0Uj5pUh1D90OyUzDKJOA6PbxJ0CWE9YIjK4qqUQwdpKgnMqysNOH3owMxwCF2nxbIu63CR4k6NyLtrmKxyfl3DIawZfn7uBu4qOpj98GvTYrFZI00R6W1KDtzNGnoDyxn6_z3u74frlaric6B_tK25Jfg6R_U" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0_VcDTgtHY-INJiK6oLIsjiWG5SYOfY0Uj5pUh1D90OyUzDKJOA6PbxJ0CWE9YIjK4qqUQwdpKgnMqysNOH3owMxwCF2nxbIu63CR4k6NyLtrmKxyfl3DIawZfn7uBu4qOpj98GvTYrFZI00R6W1KDtzNGnoDyxn6_z3u74frlaric6B_tK25Jfg6R_U=w571-h321" width="571" /></a></div><br /> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-1060663368415061002024-02-25T09:00:00.015-05:002024-02-25T09:00:00.488-05:00PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3bDeFmoyqFXUEFKQptd0yEVBnK7_hsd2CmOSgO_4hfRK_dZcdXwfk1Aubrj5yZT0rI9e31xXlECIWDGq9OzCljRdMXKRdxY1DM100dP3WCBuwp1-0CIv7hiZE1FXDyAqiruOEVPqxxKZ4evJ6y421PcofSJPTfhKUm-X4Q5EAkb__MtaOmlIArQKA--k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1536" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3bDeFmoyqFXUEFKQptd0yEVBnK7_hsd2CmOSgO_4hfRK_dZcdXwfk1Aubrj5yZT0rI9e31xXlECIWDGq9OzCljRdMXKRdxY1DM100dP3WCBuwp1-0CIv7hiZE1FXDyAqiruOEVPqxxKZ4evJ6y421PcofSJPTfhKUm-X4Q5EAkb__MtaOmlIArQKA--k=w594-h395" width="594" /></a><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p align="center" class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Jesus
took Peter, James and John and led them up a high</span></i></span><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">mountain
apart by themselves.</span></i></span><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Mark 9:2</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What a difference twenty years make! Depressed by the sexual abuse
scandal that erupted in our country and feeling unsupported in my work as a
Vocation Director, about this time of the year back in 2004, I found myself at
an all-time low. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;">You can't imagine what it was like to be a Vocation Director
during the height of a clergy sexual abuse scandal! </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">News about the scandal was so bad that I asked
for some time off to get way and to regain my balance. I needed to pull myself
together and get some clarity about what to do next. I spent the whole month of
February that year, alone, in a small cottage, on a deserted beach, in northern
Florida. I probably spoke to one person that whole month. I probably ran into
less than five people on that cold and windy beach during my extended time
away. I loved it and I would love to do it again someday – the next time
without a scandal! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I came home with the clarity I was looking for. I went from having
one of the worst years of my life, to one of the best years of my life. Even
though things had gotten worse before they got better, I came home able to
handle the constant drip of bad news much better. It even prepared me to handle
the next round of bad news when I retired six years ago. I even went from that
bad news to six very good years before the next round of bad news. I guess, in
time, you can get used to the "bottom falling out" every few years if
you take the time to go off for a while to reflect and pray for God's guidance
as you wait for another "golden age" to manifest itself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Three weeks ago, we read about Jesus getting up early, before
dawn, and going off to a quiet place to reflect on his life and to ask for
direction for the day ahead. That was followed by many trips to quiet places
during his ministry - to seek clarity from God about what he was supposed to do
next. Last week, we followed him into the desert for that forty-day retreat he
made before he started his ministry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, we fast-forward to the end of Jesus’ life to the time
before his final entry into Jerusalem for his crucifixion, death and
resurrection. Today we remember him taking his closest companions on a
mountaintop retreat to prepare them for what was about to happen when they got
to Jerusalem. At this point in his ministry, Jesus could read the
handwriting on the wall and it spelled “suffering” in big letters. This time he
went to the mountain to get final clarity on whether embracing the impending
suffering was really the right thing to do. The question to which Jesus wanted
an answer, was not “what do I want to do” or “what do people want me to do,”
but “what does God want me to do?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just as a desert is a good place for <i>introspection</i>, a
mountain is a good place for <i>perspective</i>. In a desert, there is nothing
to distract you. You are forced to look within. On a mountain, you can see in
all directions at once. On a mountain where one can see in all directions,
Jesus got a glimpse of the past, the present, the future and how they all fit
together heading into his last days. On a mountain, Jesus was able to see the
connections between where he came from, where he was presently and where he was
going. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(1) Jesus saw his connection to his past. Israel’s two great
heroes appeared to him and talked with him: Moses and Elijah. They told Jesus
that indeed he was the one they had dreamed of centuries ago<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and had foretold would someday come to save
the world. They told Jesus that he was indeed on the right path and that he <i>should</i>
indeed proceed onward. If <i>their </i>word was not enough, from a cloud God
repeats the words that he had spoken to Jesus at his baptism, “This is my
beloved Son. Listen to him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(2) Jesus saw his connection to his future. The words used in the
gospel today to describe Jesus’ clothes becoming “white as light” are the same
words used of his clothes at the resurrection. His “white as light” clothing,
gave him a glimpse of the glory to come. It helped him get a sneak preview of
his victory on the other side of the suffering he was about to endure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(3) Jesus saw his connection to his present, where he was on his
final journey. He tells his disciples, flattened with fear, that there was
nothing to be afraid of, even though they had to go down from the mountain and
go through the suffering ahead of them. Their tremendous mountaintop experience
was meant to help them go through what was about to happen. In fact, this is
where we get the expression “peak experience.” I am sure many of you are
familiar with the expression “peak experience.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A “peak experience” is one of those intense spiritual experiences that
people, like good old St. Peter, try to hold onto or repeat again and again,
but simply cannot because they are unrepeatable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are simply “glimpses of glory” and
“sneak previews” of heaven itself. They are not meant to be permanent. “Peak
experiences” are meant to be memorable experiences that help us get through
hard times.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Going off to the desert, going off to the mountains, going off to
the beach, going off to the woods or simply going off to a quiet room to listen
to yourself think, to listen to your heart of hearts, to listen to God, is an
absolute necessity for those who would follow Jesus. The place is not
important, but the listening is! If you listen with your heart, you will get
the clarity you need, no matter what questions you need to answer or what
problems you need to face. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder so many in our culture seems to be so confused! Our
world is so crammed with noise that we cannot hear ourselves think. Surely, you
have realized that there is no such thing any more as a quiet dinner in a nice
restaurant. In the summer, cars with their windows rolled down and monster
speakers blaring, cruise our streets day and night. There are few places left
where you can escape constant noise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder our culture seems so confused! Our ears are being
blasted with constant noise from cell phones, earphones and an over-saturation
of electronic stimulation. No wonder our culture seems so confused! We consult
our horoscopes and seek out expensive advice gurus, but we don’t take the time
to just be quiet and to listen to ourselves. We are driven to fill the quiet,
to kill the quiet and to run from the quiet, as if the quiet were our worst
enemy. The truth of the matter is that it is in the quiet that we can get our
bearings, clarity is given to us and a sense of who we are and where we are
going is shown to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My friends, the message today is simple: make friends with the
quiet. In silence, everything falls into perspective, the path becomes clear
and where we need to go becomes obvious. To stay on the right path, we have to
go to the quiet often, regularly and routinely, just as Jesus had to do! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That can happen when you are all alone in a deer stand in the
woods, on a walk by yourself in the park, on a visit to the Blessed Sacrament
in an empty church or just driving down the road by yourself with the radio
off! Lent is a time to simply shut up and listen! Doing that has always worked
for me in times of confusion and doubt and it will work for you - if you give
it a chance! I learned a long time ago that, when people come to me when they
are confused about what to do next, all I have to do is get them to talk. I
don't have to give them an answer. Most of the time, they already know the
answer. They have just never been quiet enough to hear it! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most of the time, the solution to many of our problems are found
in simply listening to that small whispering voice within our hearts. It is
there that we hear what God wants us to do! We probably already know
the answer we are looking for, but we just haven't been able to hear it above
all the static and noise outside of us! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Friends, instead of all that “giving up candy bars for Lent”
stuff, it would probably do us more good just to take a few minutes every day
to withdraw to a quiet place. That’s what Jesus would do! I think we would be
surprised by what we would learn if you'd just shut up for a while, cut out all
the external static and just be quiet and listen to ourselves think! Reflect for a moment on where you came from, where you are now and where you are headed! It will be helpful to put things in perspective! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With what’s left of Lent, I challenge you to find some time and
find your place of peace and quiet. I think you will learn that that’s where
you can hear clearly what you already know down deep!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-90937891015418713702024-02-24T05:00:00.010-05:002024-02-25T08:34:02.208-05:00USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #8<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidq5NgEtWSoOnVam07EGk0uGWUwgR2QU6DAjEYOAy6H0KBzUgGzTYbnUQgvZsRc6OJHvbWpZJcOSgMR7ScLZazjb8XPcHCfZYBIQ141oH0fcNXGYJmMRj7ru5jDoVmJeMF4A1qveE3FhD_4_63sN7GSk1DXxgYFB5snfMm6r3xPQqVXg4TSng_E7YVGRQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidq5NgEtWSoOnVam07EGk0uGWUwgR2QU6DAjEYOAy6H0KBzUgGzTYbnUQgvZsRc6OJHvbWpZJcOSgMR7ScLZazjb8XPcHCfZYBIQ141oH0fcNXGYJmMRj7ru5jDoVmJeMF4A1qveE3FhD_4_63sN7GSk1DXxgYFB5snfMm6r3xPQqVXg4TSng_E7YVGRQ=w672-h378" width="672" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br /><br /></div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-49990895484533898432024-02-22T05:00:00.100-05:002024-02-22T05:00:00.377-05:00LIVING BY CHOICE, NOT BY CHANCE<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYf4njxX-i34DNmgggiBq3_nPWwZkxwCoEQ0ffLGbd5HYDZwgD7aqdysZzf2pmQwU8uuelnx965I-b1EBRtE1GafBzFrMwiOzJoP7d-hXCIXYKM9RUSWZhOoxulT3CiE1o9BiCwIARQP-cBNH7QV49Qn2t4cdAtS65UIQd70MwdAytQahFQLfu-k8pnyw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="470" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYf4njxX-i34DNmgggiBq3_nPWwZkxwCoEQ0ffLGbd5HYDZwgD7aqdysZzf2pmQwU8uuelnx965I-b1EBRtE1GafBzFrMwiOzJoP7d-hXCIXYKM9RUSWZhOoxulT3CiE1o9BiCwIARQP-cBNH7QV49Qn2t4cdAtS65UIQd70MwdAytQahFQLfu-k8pnyw=w608-h337" width="608" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">I grew up hearing many versions of "life is something that happens to you and all you can do is to make the most of it." I rejected that so called "wisdom" a long time ago when I realized that it was a perfect set-up for becoming a victim and for blaming others and the circumstances around you for the life you experience and don't like. Until I become totally powerless because of old age or disease, I plan to do all in my power to build the life I want. Today, I want to share some of the wisdom I have picked up from others, much smarter than I am, who have inspired me in the hopes it may inspire you as well. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigGUnIA2fxFSMeXq1vhnPk8DDAmevA3LmQ_4ZZ-mXUr7YOmju3MibKhTrWqr2Rni9IHiSKuMY3X_8qoGtR8mjRXbwa-HMfjq4MKnuMqp_G6DoJF_s7BOuZVGYIGL60zGZSajBJBaSEb0blLgLz3LRZnie2BkLL6wlQNoK-Kiw1T7Fr-LVWrizPCfY6lkU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1000" height="529" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigGUnIA2fxFSMeXq1vhnPk8DDAmevA3LmQ_4ZZ-mXUr7YOmju3MibKhTrWqr2Rni9IHiSKuMY3X_8qoGtR8mjRXbwa-HMfjq4MKnuMqp_G6DoJF_s7BOuZVGYIGL60zGZSajBJBaSEb0blLgLz3LRZnie2BkLL6wlQNoK-Kiw1T7Fr-LVWrizPCfY6lkU=w581-h529" width="581" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-BgUpxYFj9QaaFsgYpQETFFtHgqRxg1xcbmpYsJJq2dqZpxEx7ulbYnSi1DdnhqXXKQ--aOAlhoYn6I1TMpqRgOYrAQuR-rwt7NPCIGuWXJ1kJI2JhAnDlI9sdL7cylD2IIYJZcKYJt-AsGDtLFMQC_kdDuFw2jQ4urPbk4FNBzU-_uacSduTXlnrqks" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="500" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-BgUpxYFj9QaaFsgYpQETFFtHgqRxg1xcbmpYsJJq2dqZpxEx7ulbYnSi1DdnhqXXKQ--aOAlhoYn6I1TMpqRgOYrAQuR-rwt7NPCIGuWXJ1kJI2JhAnDlI9sdL7cylD2IIYJZcKYJt-AsGDtLFMQC_kdDuFw2jQ4urPbk4FNBzU-_uacSduTXlnrqks=w582-h372" width="582" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEIXtX02k_nBePKFaZynb61DXZ5yE1rCtXGo32FxxQIXF_WBhI-55--qGuiS2lcE3GJ61IgENhXgGeN1atzCqZv7w05bPiAkvyLYs0k0wJ-7C-GSNNtfH0TvoSFlfOIwdLtgNs5P9VSCZj9rYw7h8AchKfYAd2V2PPY1fWGntVyStxJme3wnJoCkBWYcw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="236" height="1175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEIXtX02k_nBePKFaZynb61DXZ5yE1rCtXGo32FxxQIXF_WBhI-55--qGuiS2lcE3GJ61IgENhXgGeN1atzCqZv7w05bPiAkvyLYs0k0wJ-7C-GSNNtfH0TvoSFlfOIwdLtgNs5P9VSCZj9rYw7h8AchKfYAd2V2PPY1fWGntVyStxJme3wnJoCkBWYcw=w588-h1175" width="588" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQb9xKtFmT_BKYpsyt47PoMSwERzNLBBO31ELLI9qH3Iwm12VJk-AXANmMChYfnz7MDsZkgGt-5jWDAc1c6Zg8Z8HGJvvHKkIW_YnsVyBT2GRW9UpLuEjeAZNpG1ps1Haa7QXj5R6I1bR4q2FRY5o35NkSCUPvGiiBP9YRBIX1XZqsaTDkprhYJsLBpfQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="540" height="721" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQb9xKtFmT_BKYpsyt47PoMSwERzNLBBO31ELLI9qH3Iwm12VJk-AXANmMChYfnz7MDsZkgGt-5jWDAc1c6Zg8Z8HGJvvHKkIW_YnsVyBT2GRW9UpLuEjeAZNpG1ps1Haa7QXj5R6I1bR4q2FRY5o35NkSCUPvGiiBP9YRBIX1XZqsaTDkprhYJsLBpfQ=w588-h721" width="588" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXLT8FI50URXPoTy_ZgeFpTs-LTxG9G-_VURHjRR9otJFjsc27TwAja1fFo2vP4AOAYAXJFAIWqFD3-bxOJ1uUdQixtfD-xlg2iORhPufxVPdNVdrQcvwCYOSP3vXf-gn0WbstkwSgt8fZAqTpgrtKcXueg__dJcEk6mBsIE_A39ph7a69iDSUUbMjYO0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="1080" height="573" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXLT8FI50URXPoTy_ZgeFpTs-LTxG9G-_VURHjRR9otJFjsc27TwAja1fFo2vP4AOAYAXJFAIWqFD3-bxOJ1uUdQixtfD-xlg2iORhPufxVPdNVdrQcvwCYOSP3vXf-gn0WbstkwSgt8fZAqTpgrtKcXueg__dJcEk6mBsIE_A39ph7a69iDSUUbMjYO0=w584-h573" width="584" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh09eJ3JeSAeVLG8DWnFfwQNC0R9fCKUAv9sy1KcebeCIYN61XxE54AfMzho-WMXVcBzWAGTNy-CW3WnF2WMJOvkZgX7EYQUC8jUW0XVuHiiD4rMruutedgvngAOsSqK44SQVuAnvhzwpM3BQdfVia-gWl0rwQM5JWtME4GkGDVXvVk_URZ7QDLk4PurkY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="620" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh09eJ3JeSAeVLG8DWnFfwQNC0R9fCKUAv9sy1KcebeCIYN61XxE54AfMzho-WMXVcBzWAGTNy-CW3WnF2WMJOvkZgX7EYQUC8jUW0XVuHiiD4rMruutedgvngAOsSqK44SQVuAnvhzwpM3BQdfVia-gWl0rwQM5JWtME4GkGDVXvVk_URZ7QDLk4PurkY=w583-h322" width="583" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTJe4cXHV8h-pLXclGCgFNiPkc7EIkepd_uXlSiw41DiXPnoTzerbwEckzgs4NhfHK9qDy-nCpthuQli8KMcsNUR0QtV7NtVPxuoTY-rfLykflGkYom930xkpzXT1SpuHAK9vjT0-_8jRXfWBun0EDoxdX0NvLmTXcFM9qMz9P4f8nr_NLggHkDmUMdh0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="736" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTJe4cXHV8h-pLXclGCgFNiPkc7EIkepd_uXlSiw41DiXPnoTzerbwEckzgs4NhfHK9qDy-nCpthuQli8KMcsNUR0QtV7NtVPxuoTY-rfLykflGkYom930xkpzXT1SpuHAK9vjT0-_8jRXfWBun0EDoxdX0NvLmTXcFM9qMz9P4f8nr_NLggHkDmUMdh0=w591-h425" width="591" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7ftOmvhg8zjeRnZBvxu2TaSNapUEWFfNBSctCoCziLgsZZftZ7XjN3YGoDfnyeOjSWnpZhlvtyqMk2PamO5DiPucRv5Rw0FR7V0e7fwUa0c4qMuJnp2Jr_dpB-DXUkZ068VnlT6BlTtd22NGm1jCJx9YASTK5MouvYmUIFfkOZjXV7UK4PMNDJInspa0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="441" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7ftOmvhg8zjeRnZBvxu2TaSNapUEWFfNBSctCoCziLgsZZftZ7XjN3YGoDfnyeOjSWnpZhlvtyqMk2PamO5DiPucRv5Rw0FR7V0e7fwUa0c4qMuJnp2Jr_dpB-DXUkZ068VnlT6BlTtd22NGm1jCJx9YASTK5MouvYmUIFfkOZjXV7UK4PMNDJInspa0=w600-h448" width="600" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-2654579746515132332024-02-20T05:00:00.075-05:002024-02-22T07:29:39.367-05:00REMEMBERING MY YEARS AT BELLARMINE UNIVERSITY<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">All during December of last year, when I was heavily involved in cleaning out the surplus that had built up in my condo since I moved in back in 2005, I came across this copy of a framed poster that now hangs in the Campus Ministry Office of Bellarmine University here in Louisville. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I retired from there in 2016, I was the longest serving priest campus minister in it's history. I served most of those years with Ms. Melanie Prejean Sullivan. Our ministry was inter-faith because the student body was inter-faith. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">This poster was hung in my honor in the newly dedicated Campus Ministry Ministry Office August 10, 2016. As I look back almost eight years later, finding it stored away in a closet, I was reminded once again what an honor it was to preach there most Sunday nights, preach most Baccalaureate Masses and pray at most graduations and many special services throughout those many years. To have some of my words memorialized in the Campus Ministry Office like that was certainly icing on the cake! I am so grateful for that experience. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEga5GwwYFLqkcqYCa_ogLd5Mao2mRaQ6K7QNomDPZfI9IP9zBc1B1AFFSe_HbK_0UIMDdLWM6PZpsAgOPYbzy-F9DsM39Rt4Y5x_M0Cf1u5NxmykPqhqdAQYDbquTgAMw8Do7vO_5PhMD0hyHX7vPxWcWVeS6o0_5uAyKXgSPHPVtTEYaO1Ng7xcPCKMdQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="725" height="811" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEga5GwwYFLqkcqYCa_ogLd5Mao2mRaQ6K7QNomDPZfI9IP9zBc1B1AFFSe_HbK_0UIMDdLWM6PZpsAgOPYbzy-F9DsM39Rt4Y5x_M0Cf1u5NxmykPqhqdAQYDbquTgAMw8Do7vO_5PhMD0hyHX7vPxWcWVeS6o0_5uAyKXgSPHPVtTEYaO1Ng7xcPCKMdQ=w645-h811" width="645" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-73933063578857289402024-02-18T09:00:00.045-05:002024-02-18T09:00:00.164-05:00RESISTING TEMPTATION CLARIFIES OUR MINDS AND HEARTS <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG81qTPc-xk-lPb_t_7VDAstz_sD0MG-AMokP_9dlvQROf--7ZYlG1jZ-euf8OLWTHksT916VTomN53mIQYXoVtL5zpyLVsZ7SFMvVpWAcZb5Zn_tzL2ApfW-2UimeV5Z0kNmD9iJdzsaTGoYFIs_7P50cgLhOHDc3ZVeW9hrGZJpEzCdZgj8ta9VDAWU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2100" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG81qTPc-xk-lPb_t_7VDAstz_sD0MG-AMokP_9dlvQROf--7ZYlG1jZ-euf8OLWTHksT916VTomN53mIQYXoVtL5zpyLVsZ7SFMvVpWAcZb5Zn_tzL2ApfW-2UimeV5Z0kNmD9iJdzsaTGoYFIs_7P50cgLhOHDc3ZVeW9hrGZJpEzCdZgj8ta9VDAWU=w598-h428" width="598" /></a><br /></p><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert where he remained for forty days being
tempted by Satan. Afterwards, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news
from God, saying “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in his good
news!” <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Mark
1:12-15</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">We
are reading from the gospel of Mark this year – the earliest and shortest of
all four gospels. It is characteristic of Mark to get right to the point and
not waste words on details. We see that in today’s gospel. He does not tell us <i>what</i>
the temptations were that Jesus faced over his forty-day retreat in the desert.
We have to read the Gospels of Matthew and Luke for those! The same Spirit that
had just descended on Jesus so dramatically at his Baptism, we are now told
drove Jesus out into the wilderness for a time of testing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">I’ll
get into the temptations that Jesus faced shortly, but first I want to talk a
little about why a time of testing was so important for Jesus - and for all of
us for that matter! If you think about it, temptations are not sent to us to
make us fall, but to strengthen our minds, hearts and souls! They are sent not
for our ruin, but for our good. They are meant to be tests from which we emerge
stronger than we were before!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">Take
the case of a young football player who has been doing well in a second level
league and showing real signs of promise. What will the coach do? He will
certainly not send him down to a third level league where he will sail through games
and never break a sweat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, he will
send him out to play for a first level team where he will be tested as never
before and have a chance to prove himself. That is what temptations are meant
to do – to toughen us up so we can emerge stronger for the fight. As an added
touch, Mark says Jesus was surrounded both by wild beasts and angels during his
time of testing. This is a way to say that his temptation battle was fierce,
but he had God’s help as a defense!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">Jesus
was driven by the Spirit into the desert to sort things out, to separate the wheat
from the chaff and to “discern” what direction God had for his upcoming
ministry as well as to strengthen his resolve to follow God’s will going
forward. The word “discern” means to “cut apart.” Considering his options,
Jesus had to “cut apart” what was God’s will and what wasn’t!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">So,
what were his options going into ministry? Mark doesn’t tell us, but when we go
to Matthew and Luke, we know that his adversary presented three attractive
options: magic solutions, dramatic stunts and alignment with political power.
Jesus rejected them all and came out of his discernment saying the solution is <i>metanoia
</i>– an internal change of the way we see and the way we look at things! Too
bad the translation uses the word “repent.” It really means a “radical change
of perspective.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">For
the “magic solution,” Satan suggested that Jesus could turn rocks into bread.
That would have attracted a ton of followers because that part of the world was
full of rocks and drastic shortages of bread! As tempting as that was, Jesus
rejected it. He knew that we didn’t need “rocks turned into bread magically.”
He knew there was enough bread in the world already. What was needed was a
radical change in the way we share the bread we already have!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">For
the “dramatic stunts solution,” Satan suggested that Jesus might jump from a
tall building and be rescued by angels before he hit the ground. That certainly
would have attracted a ton of followers because people have always liked to see
something out-of-the-ordinary, things strange and exotic. As tempting as that
sounded, Jesus rejected it. He knew that with the right eye sight, they could already
see that wonders were happening all around them every day!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">For
the “alignment with political power solution,” Satan suggested that Jesus
either try to become a king or align himself to political power to accomplish
his mission by making people be good! As tempting as that sounded, Jesus
rejected it. He knew that people<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had
to be <i>inspired</i> to do the right thing, not <i>forced</i> to do the right
thing – conversion, not coercion, was Jesus’ suggested solution! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">Sadly,
all three of these temptations are alive and well today in our churches and among
spiritual seekers of many stripes. We want “the magic,” “the miracles” and “the
mighty” to fix things for us, rather than using the power we already have
within ourselves by changing the how we see and what we choose! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The temptation
that saddens me most is the third temptation – the temptation to “align oneself
to political power” as a way to fix us rather than inspire people to go through
personal conversions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No where is this
more obvious to me is the spiritual leadership failure of some of our American
bishops. Unable to influence people to choose truth and goodness, they have
aligned themselves with political power to make people be good whether they
want to or not by enacting more laws </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">enforcing conservative Catholic and
right-wing Christian moral teachings.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I might agree with most of their moral
stands but I totally reject their <i>methods</i> for gaining acceptance of
those stands. Jesus rejected <i>potestas </i>(the power of force) and promoted <i>auctoritas</i>
(the power of persuasion).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In the process, sadly, many of our church leaders are
now losing what little moral authority they once had for short-term gains. It's
frustrating to watch!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Temptations have two things in common. They will either make you a stronger person if resisted or they will be your downfall if given into! Every temptation requires “discernment,” the ability to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, the ability to separate what is truly good from what simply looks good at the moment! It is impossible to escape the assault of temptation, but we have to be very careful about falling for offers that only look good! Two old sayings come to mind! “All that glitters is not gold!” “There is always free cheese in a mousetrap!"</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcixAXnVlOK-PWU_Zf6PMWdKJjb7WSw4MqmWSuKK02jDwJfA9QHxA9s3L8vKP7-1ssZaKlMjx3AM-7uS1vGQNAk4jEvMZhDBWzv1ExA3mi9sYY9u9Jzd8IpGs9N7-dnxNsEuIxfM00ArTF_9Jp1S2qtXiUaqk2sLUF8yWc2xvQFG1vG94-vhBtGXuu5XI/s1280/temptation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="1280" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcixAXnVlOK-PWU_Zf6PMWdKJjb7WSw4MqmWSuKK02jDwJfA9QHxA9s3L8vKP7-1ssZaKlMjx3AM-7uS1vGQNAk4jEvMZhDBWzv1ExA3mi9sYY9u9Jzd8IpGs9N7-dnxNsEuIxfM00ArTF_9Jp1S2qtXiUaqk2sLUF8yWc2xvQFG1vG94-vhBtGXuu5XI/w609-h295/temptation.jpg" width="609" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-51302863427115573852024-02-17T05:00:00.051-05:002024-02-20T10:33:16.741-05:00USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #7<p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgR45XpH9kYZuhWE5UWULrX-Y8oBxfFIWEb1WFmx3LrOq1O5fGVvC-ga9NHcska0404txU9RrpWmeiScl9Qz8T9j0AK-2dY3rt8y9V84uRDsH8TgUbJcdXEyPw33VdHcZlj_Yqu2CjyV08jtanrcnWrALk1Vf4G3wzNRZLN_p-N5pvZe2TiJIoi5vher4A" style="font-size: large; font-weight: 700; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1920" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgR45XpH9kYZuhWE5UWULrX-Y8oBxfFIWEb1WFmx3LrOq1O5fGVvC-ga9NHcska0404txU9RrpWmeiScl9Qz8T9j0AK-2dY3rt8y9V84uRDsH8TgUbJcdXEyPw33VdHcZlj_Yqu2CjyV08jtanrcnWrALk1Vf4G3wzNRZLN_p-N5pvZe2TiJIoi5vher4A=w586-h271" width="586" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">ARE YOU TOO SCARED TO REALLY LIVE? </span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: "poets electra", Georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-style: italic; text-align: left;">George Gray</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: "poets electra", Georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">by</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: "poets electra", Georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Edgar Lee Masters</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: "poets electra", Georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1868-1950 </span></span></div><div class="poem-actions poem-actions--vertical" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; flex-grow: 1; font-family: "founders grotesk", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "segoe ui", Roboto, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif, "apple color emoji", "segoe ui emoji", "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; left: -3rem; margin-bottom: 2.4rem; position: absolute; width: 33px;"><ul class="poem-actions__list d-flex flex-wrap" data-enable-add-to-anthology="true" data-social-share-orientation="vertical" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="poem-actions__list-item pr-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding-right: 0.6rem; position: relative; text-align: left;"><a data-original-title="Share on Facebook" data-placement="right" data-tooltip="true" href="https://facebook.com/sharer.php?t=George%20Gray&u=https%3A//poets.org/poem/george-gray" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007ab3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title=""><img alt="Share on Facebook" class="poem-actions__icon" src="https://poets.org/themes/custom/stanza/assets/images/optimized/social/facebook.svg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 6px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a></li><li class="poem-actions__list-item pr-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding-right: 0.6rem; position: relative; text-align: left;"><br /></li></ul></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--field_author" itemprop="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; font-family: "founders grotesk", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "segoe ui", Roboto, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif, "apple color emoji", "segoe ui emoji", "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px;"><div class="field__content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div about="/poet/edgar-lee-masters" data-byline-author="" role="article" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--black); display: flex; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4;"><div data-byline-author-info="" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-left: 15px;"><div class="field field--field_dod" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 5px; text-align: center;"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="field field--body" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; font-family: "poets electra", Georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 1.1rem; line-height: 1.5; padding-top: 1.25rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem; text-indent: -32px;">I have studied many times</span></div><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">The marble which was chiseled for me--</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">In truth it pictures not my destination</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;"> but my life.</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">And now I know that we must lift the sail</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;"> and catch the winds of destiny</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Wherever they drive the boat.</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">But life without meaning is the torture</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;"> of restlessness and vague desire--</span></div></span><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.</span></div></span><p></p></div><div class="field field--field_credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.56;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; font-family: "founders grotesk", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "segoe ui", Roboto, "helvetica neue", Arial, sans-serif, "apple color emoji", "segoe ui emoji", "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 0.8rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">This poem is in the public domain.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; font-size: 0.8rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover." – Mark Twain</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; font-size: 0.8rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></p></div></div>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-70936306246705411382024-02-16T05:00:00.011-05:002024-02-16T14:15:41.901-05:00WHAT NOT TO DO FOR LENT<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjh1sZuOo9xrU1lz11qb5Ej1g-fr2Y7r_geNMXuJ_FG3js5LVL_Pv6jNJS51C-hhYD8SXYNCfrkE0yTrxU44kJn2eOonRUpOZiblAuR2w9XPzeCKRnSjxpGbb6xTESyNzmlHPij6foMWaZVjOoCVaDvtewMIyi1T0hZ9NG16nrejEHL3EH_5dpEZXvr5rk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="420" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjh1sZuOo9xrU1lz11qb5Ej1g-fr2Y7r_geNMXuJ_FG3js5LVL_Pv6jNJS51C-hhYD8SXYNCfrkE0yTrxU44kJn2eOonRUpOZiblAuR2w9XPzeCKRnSjxpGbb6xTESyNzmlHPij6foMWaZVjOoCVaDvtewMIyi1T0hZ9NG16nrejEHL3EH_5dpEZXvr5rk=w598-h419" width="598" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-34784240403032830312024-02-15T05:00:00.219-05:002024-02-15T05:00:00.147-05:00A SIGN OF THE TIMES?<p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">SPEAKING OF THE PRIEST SHORTAGE </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This bulletin announcement may say it all!</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxs-_hlM-89yJab8hyJWwceu3-jW7PzXYkSNEQ8yrwcbxFgH7v-ZbFWIkKuv35foJuG0XK06MCUM5aKtecQ7gsOqKGFmCI9oW7rS6PozPWu7q6Nyo8oh06pdvFQaw6p_PhBESH45_nmg8va7wXpaauKy-URqkanKh8xjZxbv7u0Ts0DDV6_F9CeHrKTTM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="712" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxs-_hlM-89yJab8hyJWwceu3-jW7PzXYkSNEQ8yrwcbxFgH7v-ZbFWIkKuv35foJuG0XK06MCUM5aKtecQ7gsOqKGFmCI9oW7rS6PozPWu7q6Nyo8oh06pdvFQaw6p_PhBESH45_nmg8va7wXpaauKy-URqkanKh8xjZxbv7u0Ts0DDV6_F9CeHrKTTM=w598-h476" width="598" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-24485376443790030872024-02-14T05:00:00.017-05:002024-02-18T07:41:48.682-05:00WHAT'S ASH WEDNESDAY ALL ABOUT?<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiodfpI7qqeUId9SNg6clhUgLZUhEMP2aGUmwFxPr3uC1Gy8SzD2sbBULFgefBmchkj83wnYf0U_ybHd78JYY2I5phmqHoRea2ewu0eDx2eeoIxgz45gr596eQEdO7h0G0oRZcb-mrJGMaHmBHAWYzlkwHey9hOA9XaZ8rVbU2wLTcYKuWxsCDr54kV2DA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiodfpI7qqeUId9SNg6clhUgLZUhEMP2aGUmwFxPr3uC1Gy8SzD2sbBULFgefBmchkj83wnYf0U_ybHd78JYY2I5phmqHoRea2ewu0eDx2eeoIxgz45gr596eQEdO7h0G0oRZcb-mrJGMaHmBHAWYzlkwHey9hOA9XaZ8rVbU2wLTcYKuWxsCDr54kV2DA=w597-h336" width="597" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Return to me with your whole heart, says the Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Joel 2:12</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">When
I was a kid growing up in Meade County, I used to come to Louisville with my
Day a few times a week to pick up supplies for his building material business.
We always took Dixie Highway, the mother of all road sign highways! After
hundreds of trips and millions of signs, the <i>only</i> one I can remember
today, fifty years later, is a huge sign around Waverly Hills. In huge letters,
it demanded that its readers “Get right with God!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“Get
right with God!” Students, that is pretty much what this season of Lent is all
about! It’s a sacred forty days when we get back on our spiritual paths by
reconsidering how far we have strayed from the path and making a u-turn. It’s a
time to “get right with God.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Jesus
told us that we are to “love God with our whole hearts, souls and minds and our
neighbor as ourselves.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the
gold standard, the staring point and the measure of our faith. And so, during
Lent, we break that one commandment down and focus on its three components
during Lent. We focus on prayer – our relationship to God. We focus on fasting
– our relationship to our own appetites. We focus on giving alms – our care and
love for others, especially on our suffering poor brothers and sisters. So Lent,
really, is about getting back to basics and making the important things
important.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">At
the very beginning of this holy season, Jesus warns us not to play silly little
mind games. (1) “When you pray,” he says, “don’t draw attention to yourself. Do
it quietly. Make it something between you and God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, if you resolve to pray more
during this holy season, don’t announce it to everyone that you are
going to go to church say the rosary, don’t kneel in the quad in some
dramatic public display for all to see, don’t brag to all your friends that you
<i>have </i>to go to Mass today because it is your Lenten resolution. No!
Keep it between yourself and God. Just slip away quietly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">(2)
“When you fast,” Jesus says, “don’t wear it on your sleeve for everyone to know
about! Do it quietly. Make it something between you and God.” In other words,
if you resolve to give up beer or chocolate, don’t tell anybody about it. Don’t
go wringing your hands letting everybody know about it by
complaining about how you are suffering from the tragic loss and how heroic you
are for doing it. When you skip a meal or turn down a trip to buy a beer, try not
to let <i>anybody</i> know about it. And by the way, the money you save by
doing this is NOT to be kept, but given away. Neither is fasting about losing a
few pounds for spring break either!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">(3)
“When you give alms,” Jesus says, “don’t make a public announcement about your
gift or brag about how generous you are.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Make anonymous contributions to food pantries, charitable organizations,
alternative spring break programs or your parish. Don’t even write a check to
use as a tax deduction or ask for a plaque to be dedicated in your honor. Try
to be as anonymous as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make it
a pure gift.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The
whole gospel today is not only about doing good things, but also doing them for
the right reason. We do not pray, fast and give alms to gain sympathy or praise
from others. We do not pray to be noticed and admired. We do not fast to save
money or to lose weight. We fast so that we can experience how much we abuse
food and so that we are able to give alms to those who are hungry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In
short, Lent is not about externals, but about an internal shift. It’s about
“getting right with God, ourselves and our neighbors.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is better <i>not </i>to come up and
receive ashes if you are not committed to “getting right with God” in a quiet,
private, you-and-God kind of way! God can see right through your hypocrisy and
fake religiosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t waste your time
playing games with God and those around you. The goal here is a serious <i>internal
</i>change, getting you heart “right with God.” <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span><p></p><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-36272389033900752942024-02-13T05:00:00.036-05:002024-02-13T10:26:17.044-05:00GET YOUR ASHES TOMORROW: A MENU AND A SUGGESTION<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNxKtzSrMIne3jK_-fpDcv7yo7wUSHEDhgBOuLu3n4bC_tmCte5khrsb3WXKAMgvzxIrgfavOhwwN9Y6Vng-p9n7UgIahgxGD6z5TuoiTirdYktAWUS6-KZcwfkYnmYlFf5AkexjmZcBZa1uiYPPuMNi46aP31M9gWESCBA3JHlOnUZfL-9NLYXmHRRqg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1030" data-original-width="1280" height="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNxKtzSrMIne3jK_-fpDcv7yo7wUSHEDhgBOuLu3n4bC_tmCte5khrsb3WXKAMgvzxIrgfavOhwwN9Y6Vng-p9n7UgIahgxGD6z5TuoiTirdYktAWUS6-KZcwfkYnmYlFf5AkexjmZcBZa1uiYPPuMNi46aP31M9gWESCBA3JHlOnUZfL-9NLYXmHRRqg=w570-h459" width="570" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnkuF7kGLVgQrWjDKg9LU2GYmcmTzi52FzMCXbULJiI1KavcVKlLunMkt2qo6EMw5VPFkT2E60jNQe9SDQVpbdO9BsNSaTbiSFrAx9rVDloug_lOzcwh4I-grdWYS_6NfNOx0xpWrotr9btjelXJIASevG-3HSZS9ntqZhxKrYYKKZzKxE451vyj6j2Ns/s595/FLYNN.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="185" data-original-width="595" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnkuF7kGLVgQrWjDKg9LU2GYmcmTzi52FzMCXbULJiI1KavcVKlLunMkt2qo6EMw5VPFkT2E60jNQe9SDQVpbdO9BsNSaTbiSFrAx9rVDloug_lOzcwh4I-grdWYS_6NfNOx0xpWrotr9btjelXJIASevG-3HSZS9ntqZhxKrYYKKZzKxE451vyj6j2Ns/w614-h190/FLYNN.png" width="614" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">To sign up for Father Jim Flynn's daily Lenten Reflections on <i>Laudato Si</i> ask him to be included:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">jflynn502@aol.com </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-91418419366477501852024-02-11T09:00:00.077-05:002024-02-13T13:49:50.210-05:00SIMPLE COMPASSION DONE INTENTIONALLY DOES SO MUCH GOOD<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXlxC9A2PVCStJLb7nPIGwnOMrroEe3BoAcs7cHPab62Cl71xlqoB7fOwEjdLOguyYLC0F1aL0siNAN6e3dbLCjoyx3sgw0icslWXNA-zjdTPxfgV-Rzi6k9hyM_R5DlVqATPjwY4UY0ZlrXv-l6nR7Nkj2dzlzkRRUQFhvxP1L_fZ7indoq6A1f8XLgo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="700" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXlxC9A2PVCStJLb7nPIGwnOMrroEe3BoAcs7cHPab62Cl71xlqoB7fOwEjdLOguyYLC0F1aL0siNAN6e3dbLCjoyx3sgw0icslWXNA-zjdTPxfgV-Rzi6k9hyM_R5DlVqATPjwY4UY0ZlrXv-l6nR7Nkj2dzlzkRRUQFhvxP1L_fZ7indoq6A1f8XLgo=w577-h494" width="577" /></a></p><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean!”</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">him, and said to him, “I will do it. Be made clean.”</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">The leprosy left him immediately.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Mark 1:40-45</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">The
very last thing I wanted to talk about today was leprosy, but to understand the
amazing radical compassion of Jesus, and try to imitate it even somewhat,
you have to know how awful leprosy was at the time of Jesus and what a risk
Jesus took not only by <i>speaking</i> to this man, but reaching out his hand
and actually <i>touching</i> him!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">At
the time of Jesus, there was no disease regarded with more terror and pity than
leprosy. No other disease reduced a human being for so many years to such a
hideous wreck. The infected area loses all sensation. Often you did not know you had it till you
burned or scalded yourself without feeling any pain. Your body becomes
discolored with patches and blisters. The muscles waste away, the
tendons contract until your hands become like claws. Then there is an
ulceration of the feet, hands and fingers until a whole hand or foot may
drop off. All of this happened to your
body over a period of twenty to thirty years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">As
you were enduring this terrible disease, you were ostracized from the community
to suffer alone sometimes living in cemeteries. You had to wear ripped clothes, go bare-headed and wear a covering over your mouth. If you saw anyone coming, you were
required to call out “Unclean! Unclean!’ so people could run. Back in that day,
probably most cruel of all, was the belief that such a sick person was being
punished by God for some sin he had committed! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">Many of the Jewish practice were carried into the Middle Ages. A priest, wearing a stole and carrying a
crucifix, led a leper into the church and read the burial rites over him while
he was still alive. The leper was required to wear all black, live in a leper house
and was not allowed into a church service. He could however watch from outside
through a “leper squint,” a narrow slit in the walls. A leper not only suffered
physically, but also suffered from being socially and religiously shunned. It
is into such a situation that Jesus is confronted by a leper. Here is what the
text today says. Pay attention to every word. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean!”</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Him, and said to him, “I will do it. Be made clean.”</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>The leprosy left him immediately.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18pt; text-align: left;">Even
though, by law, the leper was not allowed to speak to Jesus, Jesus did not
drive him away. What Jesus did was absolutely amazing in that culture. It says
that Jesus (a) “was moved with pity,” (b) “spoke to him,” (3) “reached out and
touched him” and (4) “healed him.”</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">I
tried very hard to think of situations today that even come close to the
situation of this leper and Jesus that we can compare it to in our experience
if we can ever hope to imitate Jesus’ radical compassion. The closest I could
come up with was the way we treated AIDS when it came onto the scene. I think I
was the first priest in Louisville who was willing to do a funeral for a
Catholic who had died of AIDS. At the request of family members, I remember
trying to persuade over the phone another Catholic man dying of AIDS in
Tennessee that his disease was not a punishment from God and that God loved him
without condition and he would soon be with him in heaven!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">Other
than that, I could not come up with much from my personal experience, but I thought
of a few situations that come close. I am talking about nursing home workers
who daily touch, wipe, bathe, feed, clean up after and rub the wrinkled and
sagging bodies of the sick and elderly in our nursing homes around this city. I
volunteer at the St. Joseph Home for the Aged, operated by the Little Sisters
of the Poor, but I only see the residents when they are cleaned up and dressed
and riding around in wheel chairs! I do not see, smell, feel or touch what they
have to touch behind the scenes. I know that many of those workers do not <i>choose</i>
to do that work. That <i>have</i> to do it to make a living! I cannot take
their places. I could not do what they do. I cannot pay them more. But what I
can do is to give them the respect, honor and the affirmation they deserve.
When I speak to the residents being pushed around in wheel chairs, I always
make a concerted effort to speak to the workers pushing them, thank them, pat
them on the hand and ask them how they are doing!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">What
can we all do to imitate the amazing radical compassion of Jesus for the leper
in today’s gospel? I spent some time trying to come up with a list of
opportunities. Hopefully you can come up with some more if I just invite you to
be aware in the days and weeks ahead. We cannot fix most of the situations I
will mention, but we can at least extend compassion, sympathy and encouragement
which cost us nothing if it comes from a Jesus-like heart!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">The
world has become a mean place. It’s almost as if people have been given
permission to be as nasty and mean as they can be to people they don’t like or
people who threaten them just by being different: the homeless, refugees, the
mentally and physically handicapped, the addicted, the obese and the poor in
general. In the group we might add others
that we tend to treat with less dignity because of the work they do: fast food
workers, sanitation workers, public transportation drivers, janitors and
housekeepers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">Not
all of us could reach out and touch a leper like Jesus, but all of us can treat
others who are discriminated against, constantly put down and taken for granted with respect. We have the power to make a hurting someone's day. Sometimes, all it takes is something as little as some focused attention like
eye contact, asking their names, wishing them a good day or even a pat or a
wink when appropriate. Look for opportunities to do just that! When I was
writing my column in The Record, called <i>An Encouraging Word</i>, I intentionally
looked for people to affirm who never expected it, never got noticed or never have
been affirmed for anything! I trained myself to look for goodness to affirm behind
their often off-putting exterior. It was a sort of spiritual magic. I called it
“blessing people.” “Blessing people” is not about waving crosses over them, it
was about looking beneath their externals and see the “child of God” hidden
there and giving it a spiritual hug! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p></div><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-15383749030822462172024-02-10T05:00:00.007-05:002024-02-10T05:00:00.140-05:00USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #6<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMgLCRtWyLVSMaNYHElNBWqPvZHa_IxXs4CTyn4KRyh8qgxcjd2fjZpdn4-Q_yC5E-XXV7CBYVE9dSQDb49sNSzEpMVp5k6bdZu0ndvpyEF8y6XVsAlqiotlZOc7FlaBBYtE8KNiFasEWshayyTCaSCxmzO6oO67CumxPTLmYT3W4si7nnCQF70RJCR-g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMgLCRtWyLVSMaNYHElNBWqPvZHa_IxXs4CTyn4KRyh8qgxcjd2fjZpdn4-Q_yC5E-XXV7CBYVE9dSQDb49sNSzEpMVp5k6bdZu0ndvpyEF8y6XVsAlqiotlZOc7FlaBBYtE8KNiFasEWshayyTCaSCxmzO6oO67CumxPTLmYT3W4si7nnCQF70RJCR-g=w646-h339" width="646" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br /><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997158643191334969.post-91039314074208267342024-02-07T05:00:00.004-05:002024-02-08T14:08:45.906-05:00A REALLY GOOD LENTEN SUGGESTION AND EARLY VALENTINE GIFT <p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lent starts next week on Valentine's Day! As we all know, the three disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. There are always places where your financial sacrifices (alms) are needed, but I have one suggestion for you where 100% of it will go to help Sister Nyra Anne, an older Carmelite nun, who is trying to take care of 21 orphans (some severely handicapped) with a small staff down in the poor Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDzlh1bBsnWN_aVgxmq6zrIk-nQY1QKCPchwqOshSvUYHpwQDqsET3ljIkWof1IIYRdfsdQtpRH2NEYsnEg5ikulsrg1gD-NjUP5IOyX-Rb8y0z5s-3BY0-yk3T9ONS4tZsXx-Vye_D7oC7Ek9PhIEiIt6jIaAYw7k1rLcaQzs_8ipgtpEuVd9CNGyt60" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="933" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDzlh1bBsnWN_aVgxmq6zrIk-nQY1QKCPchwqOshSvUYHpwQDqsET3ljIkWof1IIYRdfsdQtpRH2NEYsnEg5ikulsrg1gD-NjUP5IOyX-Rb8y0z5s-3BY0-yk3T9ONS4tZsXx-Vye_D7oC7Ek9PhIEiIt6jIaAYw7k1rLcaQzs_8ipgtpEuVd9CNGyt60" width="246" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Sister Nyra Anne Pajotte, O. Carm. administrator of St. Benedict Home for Children. Photo taken 8 years ago. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNpYLSxxBBxhO-hhZXxU1iDfoiuIuIEbjwpofIVleVkU449iHjETXMCR16q3ykNupVVp45OKibz_5SdwG1ra0uBSavogm9pg1X9pusIFRdSaNTObu89T2THPrVLd51AL-3p7n48k-Cf6D0FeTXyQ7IGzPJ2PioGx2xGbrOuYtcHNKrVMZNeASAHBgZlm4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="640" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNpYLSxxBBxhO-hhZXxU1iDfoiuIuIEbjwpofIVleVkU449iHjETXMCR16q3ykNupVVp45OKibz_5SdwG1ra0uBSavogm9pg1X9pusIFRdSaNTObu89T2THPrVLd51AL-3p7n48k-Cf6D0FeTXyQ7IGzPJ2PioGx2xGbrOuYtcHNKrVMZNeASAHBgZlm4=w654-h427" width="654" /></a></div>A few of the 21 orphans with Sister Nyra Anne, two staff persons, Father Tom Clark of Bardstown, Ky and myself on one of my 12 visits to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqIyLHzHwtnBWc-r2zgxMq87_SS7NiwTlMCSiI4WqITZHXX3Ea4tb4cB7-3j1-Qsoh6edAGcgB2eKMf6NPBeFu4jk02DsowM-bF2LSZPWQxlALgMeOwN8dtxzNDzbURjuFw_qwAsD59XmfWRZF0Oq88LIfsdv0OYiQEjKnEqgNBJnIYFy-J2w53Ox4c00" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="528" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqIyLHzHwtnBWc-r2zgxMq87_SS7NiwTlMCSiI4WqITZHXX3Ea4tb4cB7-3j1-Qsoh6edAGcgB2eKMf6NPBeFu4jk02DsowM-bF2LSZPWQxlALgMeOwN8dtxzNDzbURjuFw_qwAsD59XmfWRZF0Oq88LIfsdv0OYiQEjKnEqgNBJnIYFy-J2w53Ox4c00=w349-h317" width="349" /></a></div>Me holding one of the orphans at St. Benedict Home for Children<br /><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The attractive part of this suggestion is that I know Sister Nyra Anne personally and I have met many of her orphans personally. I made twelve trips down there until I had to quit because of COVID and when their volcano erupted about three years ago. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the past, we have sent food, toys and school supplies. What is needed now are some funds to help pay those hired to help Sister Nyra Anne take care of 21 orphans on a 24 hour-a-day schedule. <span style="color: red;">Believe it or not, the present minimum wage rate down there in US dollars is <b>$12.00 per day</b> or <b>$237.83 per month</b>! </span>She has been struggling at that, but now the government is thinking about officially raising the minimum wage to <span style="color: red;">$285.39 a month</span> which is still very low and needed, but this will create more of a burden on St. Benedict's Home for Children that she is heroically operating in her old age beyond retirement. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you are looking for a place to send your alms this Lent, a place you can trust where it will be stretched as far as possible, this is the place! The cheapest and easiest way to get it there without paying Western Union transfer and Eastern Caribbean monetary exchange fees is to <span style="color: red;">write your check to:</span> <span style="color: red;">St. Bartholomew Church SVG Mission Fund</span> and send it to me. I will then take it to a local <i>Truist Bank</i> for deposit into the St. Bartholomew SVG Mission Fund account. I have a book of their deposit slips here. <span style="color: red;">Do not write the checks to me</span>, but to St. Bartholomew Church SVG Mission Fund. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">St. Bartholomew Church in Miramar, Florida, allows US donors to pass US tax deductible gifts to the Diocese of Kingstown in St. Vincent through their US account. Once the deposit is made, I will notify Sister Nyra Anne that your donation is on its way to her. Once the deposit clears, the diocese down there will then give her your donation. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> FOR U.S. TAX DEDUCTIONS WRITE THE CHECKS TO;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>St. Bartholomew Church SVG Mission Fund</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">FOR DEPOSIT SEND THE CHECKS TO ME</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Rev Ronald Knott</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>1271 Parkway Gardens Court #106</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Louisville, Kentucky 40217 </i></span></div><span style="color: red;"><br /> </span><p></p>Rev. J. Ronald Knotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16895850426805399538noreply@blogger.com0