Luke 8:2 (misunderstood)

* Welcome God every morning before your work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com). All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

Mary, called Magdalene... Luke 8:2

Living Faith snippets: "Hacking our way out of this underbrush of wild speculations, Mary may well have been a solid family and business woman, like many of the women in church on a Sunday morning. Seeing her that way makes her less a character in a melodrama, more a model for many of us today." by Kevin Perrotta

Sr. Francelle devotion: Read her devotion titled "You will seek Me and find Me when you search...‏‏" at http://sisterfrancelle.blogspot.com/. From the intro..."In 1975, while teaching psychology at Presentation College in Aberdeen, SD I was also involved in teaching a CCD [religion] class to high school students. I was impressed with a few young people, who seemed so excited about their faith. When I asked them how they got that way, they said because they attended Search [retreat] weekends. After Search found a home at Presentation, I coordinated over 100 Searches over a period of 20 years."

Pat nuggets:

* In 1988, I accepted Sr. M&M's invitation to attend Sr. Francelle's Search retreat program in Aberdeen, SD (see above)...which helped myself and several LIFE Devotions Group members grow close to Christ at a young age. Sr. Francelle, thank you for this gift! Let us pray for the Sioux Falls Search program starting in November...

* Mary Ellen Seibert shared the image for today (God smiling), which I received this morning. After adding the image, I realized the connection to today's faith quote (below). Coincidence...I think not!

ProLife news: http://www.lifenews.com/.

* 40 Days for Life campaign (24 Sep to 2 Nov): http://www.40daysforlife.com/. Please consider signing up to pray an hour in front your local abortion mill.

* "being HUMAN: 40 Days for Life II" (9 PM EST, Sun, 21 Sep, EWTN channel): "A brand-new world-premiere documentary about 40 Days for Life will be airing in 128 million homes around the world! Watch the two-minute preview video: http://www.40daysforlife.com/about.cfm. This episode is on how 40 Days for Life is renewing hope in communities across the nation." by Dave Bereit

Our Prayers: Abortion, chastity, our enemies/our troops, natural disasters, depression/ despair, dementia, cancer cure, prisoners, integrity of our leaders, Mike Castle (for grandson Isaac and his caregivers), strength to live the virtue of chastity, hurricane recovery, Kay Castle (for Nancy Wheeler recovering from chemotherapy), loss of loved ones, lack of faith.

Saint Feast Day (St. Januarius): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Januarius.

Faith Quote: Dani Pavelk shared: "Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Through Christ Our Lord,

Pat

Phil 4:13

* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml. Reflection on readings at http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” "If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him."

* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might lie as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa. Prayer to End Abortion. Ask Blessed Margaret of Castello for her prayers to end abortion.

* Evangelization: Let's make room for non-believers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.

Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!