Reflections

"The truth is still the truth, even if nobody believes it, and a lie is still a lie, even if everybody believes it."     Bishop Fulton Sheen

"For kindness to a father will not be forgotten and against your sins it will be credited to you a house raised in justice to you."   Sirach Chapter 3

William J. Bernstein, neurologist, investment adviser, and author is fond of saying regarding the self-aggrandizement of financial planners - the reason "guru" is such a popular word is because "charlatan" is so hard to spell.

"Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav'n's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me."   Final verse, Abide With Me

"If you are bored with your life, go look for trouble - somebody's else's trouble and try and help. Serve others."   Father Alfonse Nazzaro   2/5/12

"Give alms from your possesions. Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, so that God's face will not be turned away from you. Give in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, do not be afraid to give alms even of that little. You will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity. For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps one from entering into Darkness. Almsgiving is a worthy offering in the sight of the Most High for all who practice it."   Tobit Chapter 4

"Moral issues are always terribly complex for someone without principles."
"When men cease to believe in God they do not thereafter believe in nothing; they believe in anything." 
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
Quotes of G. K. Chesterton

"You too, my last-minute friend, you who know not what you do. . . may we be granted to meet each other again, happy thieves, in paradise, should it please God, the Father of both of us."   Father Christian de Cherge, Trappist monk in Algeria, in a letter opened after his death at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists

God is not like you or me, willing to toss out what seems like a failure. God does not make junk.

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do;then the God of peace will be with you."
Letter to the Philippians   Chapter 4

"Make no mistake:God is not mocked"  Letter to the Galatians, Chapter 6

Reminder that all we have is simply being held in trust - from Job 1:21
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"

And from St. John Chrysostom:
"Violent storms encompass me on all sides. Though the sea roar and the waves rise high, they cannot overwhelm the ship of Jesus Christ. I fear not death, which is my gain; nor banishment, for the whole earth is the Lord's; nor the loss of things, for I came naked into this world, and I can carry nothing out of it."

"Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not 
some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a 
thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."
Pope Benedict XVI

"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Deut 6:4 The Shema is more than the well known "Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad." It is three parts and extensive; recall the Shema is the text rolled up and included in the doorpost Mezuzah noted in Jewish households and business places.