BEADS OF JOY 02-02-18
“According To Your Word”
©2018 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
My Friends,
Today’s Gospel: Luke 2:22-40 (Presentation In The Temple)
“And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”
Reflection:
How do you know when God’s presence is in your life? or How do you really know this is what God wanted you to do? Sometimes we need to really follow that gut feeling inside us, leading us, showing us, telling us what to do; because sometimes it is the Holy Spirit leading us. I say sometimes because through discernment and prayer we need to be certain. You know since Travis has been helping me downsize our home, with all our giving we have been receiving. It is so amazing how much, I really feel the Lord’s presence throughout all of this. He is truly the guiding force showing me the way to a freer more focused life, that will allow me to be more focused on Him.
Let’s start from the beginning of Chrissy’s
things or anything she is connected to; these items are thee single most difficult
to give away and part with or sell. You read the story I told you about giving
Chrissy’s medical equipment to the St Gabriel’s Monastery; that was amazing, I
wrote that in a previous blog, a couple of days ago. Well, next I sold our formal
dining room table. This table was huge, it had 2-18” leaf’s, and I sold it for
half of what I really wanted, because Travis said it sounded like the people
were really nice and they really wanted it. So, I threw in all the table pads,
table clothes, place settings, etc. Chrissy had bought so much for this table. And
yes, they were an amazingly nice couple and when they came in, they asked if we
were moving, we’re not; then they
asked if my wife wanted me to sell the table, and that started a short version
of the Chrissy Story. They literally stared and listened. They told us how big
their family was and how much they wanted a huge table. They just moved to Pennsylvania
from Maine. The husband was born and raised in Brooklyn, me in Staten Island,
we laughed, we were both Boro-Boys.
That’s an old term for guys born in the 5-Boros of NYC. Then we packed their
truck and we were saying Thank you and Goodbye, the wife held my arm and said, “What is your wife’s name?” I said, “Christine” she then said, “I promise you at our first meal, we will
remember Christine at this beautiful table.” Holy Cow, I teared up, she didn’t
have to say that, but she did, it felt so good, it so blessed, such a healing.
No folks, I am not done, keep the
tissues nearby. Yesterday, …see this is why my faith is literally on fire and I
live everyday for my Lord with such excitement. Yesterday, as we continued cleaning,
I remembered that my dear long-time friend Jackie Damian asked that if I am giving
away anything animal related to give it to her; she sells them at her yard
sales and all the proceeds go to the Pike
County Humane Society for the animal shelter. So, I continued cleaning as usual
and I came across some Hello Kitty serving plates. Hmmm, I wonder. So, I text
Jackie a question with a picture of it. She immediately said YES and asked how
much Hello Kitty stuff we had, I thought, well Chrissy used to collect it. So,
Travis and I searched through Chrissy’s stuff in the den and we found almost
two boxes of Hello Kitty stuff, so I sent Jackie pictures. She was thrilled and
touched base with the Humane Society. She told me they are having a huge Tricky
Tray at the end of August (Wow- Chrissy’s
birthday is August 21st), Jackie said, they can make at least 3
baskets with all this stuff. So, Jackie said, let me ask Mary first. I didn’t
know who Mary was, there are a lot Mary’s in Milford. And I know almost every single
person in Milford. Well, when I learned it was Mary Cervati and she learned
this was all Chrissy’s stuff, the whole day became an amazing blessing. We’ve
known Mary for many many many years. Mary is going to personally make the baskets
“In Memory of Christine Dacey” who donated her collection to help the
Humane Society. Plus, Chrissy has a huge Beanie Baby Collection that they
will do the same for. Yesterday was a truly amazing, blessed day. I can’t say
it enough.
Pondering these thoughts today: Let us look back to those questions for just a moment: How do you know when
God’s presence is in your life? or How do you really know this is what God wanted
you to do? Well, I think it has a lot to do with fully trusting in the Lord;
but I seriously believe you need a well balanced spiritual life to know that
you know. What I mean by that is everyday we need to pray, spent time in God’s
Word and share or speak to someone (in
person or online) about our faith and love for Jesus, which is basically
sharing our story. I believe if you do that every single day to the best of
your ability, you will see more clearly the hand of God in your life. It’s not
that you can’t see His hand otherwise, I just believe there is more clarity. That’s
me speaking from my own experience. We still have more cleaning and downsizing
to go, I am sure there will be more amazing experiences with our Lord’s hand at
work in our lives to share.
LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
Today is Friday: We pray the Sorrowful Mysteries:
The Sorrowful Mysteries
1. Agony on the Garden (Sorrow for sin) –Matt 26:36-46
2. Scourging at the Pillar (Purity) –Mark 15:1-16
3. Crowning with Thorns (Moral Courage) –Matt 27:27-31
4. Carrying of the Cross (Patience) –Mark 15:20-22
5. The Crucifixion (Perseverance) –Luke 23:33-46
Thank you Lord for loving us so much…
Rosary Man Jim’s Sorrowful Reflection: http://beads-of-joy-blog.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-sorrowful-mysteries_11.html
FRIDAY’S
I share this meditation I wrote back in 2010. Here I share my own personal insight and experience, as I journey with our Lady from station to station.
Many Franciscan groups around the world use this for their own group gathering while they meditate the Stations with our Lady. http://beads-of-joy-blog.blogspot.com/2010/03/marys-way-of-cross.html It is unique and emotionally very moving as you move from station to station… From my heart to yours.
