"Beads of Joy" by RosaryManJim: 2nd Sunday of Lent

BEADS OF JOY 03-17-19

“2^nd Sunday of Lent”

Second Sunday of Lenten Season
My Friends,

Here we are at the Second Sunday in Lent. Today God in all His Glory is shown before Peter, James and John. What an absolutely magnificent exciting sight that must have been. Today's gospel is: Mark 9:2-10 (The Transfiguration of Jesus). Time for the three disciples to learn the most important part of this experience, “Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" v.7 Jesus must come first and foremost in our lives every single day. "The more we have denied ourselves during the day, the nearer we are each evening to the heart of our Lord." St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. That is so insightful and so in tune with today's gospel. We must stay alert and ready at all times to serve Him, honor Him and Worship Him. We like the disciples must not lose sight of Jesus; He must be our only God. No one and nothing else must be worshiped alongside Jesus. How do we give Jesus our love and devotion to Him?

Let's not be blinded by anything in this world. Our sins and our slight unbelief's can derail us and keep us further from God than we may even realize. You know yesterday morning (Saturday morning), on my way home from working Friday night I was listening to Adventures in Odyssey a long-time favorite kids’ program of mine, that I listen to faithfully, for the past 30+ years. I'm going to share a little about my experience personally because I do see a parallel here. The show’s title is: The Imagination Station; if you follow the show than this will make sense. Well today Kelly was in the Imagination Station and she got to witness Jesus being betrayed, condemned and then crucified. I won't give it all away, but her faith was always kind of on the fence. Yeah, she knows the stories and she knows who Jesus is, but her love for Him was never alive, it was never real to her. In this story today, she had the chance to really understand that Jesus' love for us was real; and that His death was real and that the love for Him that she has inside of her is now real.

My heart is very much entangled in always thinking about Jesus. This story if you allow yourself to listen to Kelly's words, her cries, her realization to what she was beginning to understand, you'd cry tears of joy for her like I did. I was driving and I couldn't stop crying. This experience changed her life forever; Jesus became a real man, a true God in her eyes and in her heart. It was very powerful, I highly recommend Adventures in Odyssey to everybody. My kids enjoyed it with me when it was on and we were all together. I am very open to many different outlets of learning and sharing of our Lord. When I first experienced Jesus in my life back in 1983, I was so hungry for His word, His teachings, anything I can get my hands on. Well through all that I was able to come across some really incredible teachers. To this day my hunger has never calmed down; I think I am hungrier now than I was 36 years ago. I listen to and read as much as I could find and that keeps me on track with my Lord.

I do my best to listen to as many Roman Catholic teachers that I can find like (Scott Hahn, Tim Gray, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Andrew Apostoli, Fr. John Trigilio, Fr. Larry Richards, Bishop Robert Barron and so many other EWTN teachers). But even with so many Roman Catholic teachers I still have found so many evangelical teachers that I am able to gain so much from. I stay on track with my Roman Catholic faith, I have learned through the years that once you are on track with your own denomination, all teaching fall in line with your own understanding, and you learn how to pick the crop, and get the best fruit off it at every teaching. Did that make sense? I will never be led astray. Like with Adventures in Odyssey, and Chuck Swindoll, just to name a few. I highly recommend adding Catholic teachers to your daily walk with our Lord. You will be enriched with these teachings in your life.

Today's Challenge: Take the time today to pick one or more Catholic teachers or a specific EWTN show that you'd like to begin learning from. Your life will be so filled with joy, you'll wish you had done this sooner, I promise you that. And if you don’t have time to sit in front of the TV, I know I don’t. Then go to the EWTN audio/video files online and look through them.

The Stations of the Cross
with Bishop Barron
(Excellent, great for Fridays!)

LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!

Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS

Today is Sunday: We pray the Glorious Mysteries:

The Glorious Mysteries

1. The Resurrection (Faith) –Mark 16:1-8
2. The Ascension (Hope) –Luke 24:50-53
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Love) –Acts 2:1-4
4. Assumption of Mary (Grace of a Happy Death) –Rev 12:1-6
5. Coronation of Mary (Mary’s intercession) –Judith 15:9-10

Glory and Honor and Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ!