WHY TODAY MATTERS?
"Today is not just any ordinary day. Today is a day that matters. Today you will have the choice to make a difference in your life and those around you. Today you will have the choice to smile rather than frown, be grateful rather than selfish, lift up rather than put down, accept rather than reject and love rather than hate. Today you will have the choice of seeking hope for the future or remain in the hopelessness of the past. Today you have the choice to laugh or cry. Both will make you feel better. Today you will have the undivided attention of the King of the Universe. At that time you can ask Him anything you want. You can ask for help, plead for a friend or just enjoy His presence. It all depends on you. Whichever you choose, today matters. Make the choice to make it a day worth living. And don't forget, tomorrow is another day."

       GOD NEVER TAKES BACK HIS GIFTS

Is a beautiful message if you thought that God has forgotten you or taken your fortune away, the truth is that he has not. Every person  has his own share of happiness and troubles . If God has a plan for you it is not wise to impose our own plans on him. If your own wishes seem not to bear fruit here and now it does not mean  that God's plans for you will not bear fruit at his own time. Be patient and trust in God because he never takes back his gifts or revoke his choice.

            OUR UNDESRANDING IS DIFFERENT:
I wrote recently about the need to keep the church free of unnecessary noise. Apart from being a building the church symbolises God's presence among us. Church architects designed the buildings with high spires to remind people around of God's house in their midst.   Prayer sanctifies a place where it is offered and it sanctifies time when it is offered. That is why the time we are assembled for prayer is a sacred time. It is the duty of each one of us to make it a holy encounter with God.
The baptised are also sacred and living temples of God. It necessary that we become living stones making God's spiritual dwelling here on earth.
Catholics understand the church building different from other Christian denominations. 
 

For Catholics a church building is a "house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble and where God and Him alone is worshipped. This makes it imperative for Catholics to keep the church building  in good appearance and cleanness.

It is natural for Catholic churches to be more ornate and magnificent than protestant churches. A protestant church building exists primarily for  people to pray and worship in, but for Catholics the church exists  primarily to house and glorify God in the Eucharist. It is not man's house  but God's house. That is why great cathedrals are so heavenly.

                WHEN DID YOU LAST HELP YOUR 
                                PRIEST?
In the early church the apostles were involved in a lot of things including the distribution of food among the people. We learn from Jn. 6:1-13, Lk. 13-17 Jesus telling the apostles to find food for the people. On several occasions he asked them to collect the left-overs. As the number of the disciples grew the apostles also discovered their true mission, namely that it was not in the taking care of the temporal needs of the community, but in prayer  and to the preaching of the word.

"It would not be  right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food, you brothers  must select from among yourselves seven men......we will hand over this duty to them  and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word."

The work of the priest is not administration and office clerical work but prayer and preaching of the Word of God. If they are to fulfil this task, parishioners must have the will to volunteer services in order to free priest. Well the question comes: When did you last help your priest so that he could have more time for prayer and for preaching the Word of God?