Matthew 18:12

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

What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? Matthew 18:12

Living Faith snippets: "God shows his love by never giving up on us. This seems incredible, but since God is love, it is simply his nature to seek what is lost. Perhaps this is why Jesus so often tells us not to be afraid. No matter what we do, we can never do anything that will cause God to stop loving us." by Fr. Kenneth Grabner, C.S.C.

Rich's comments: I remember going on extremely long shopping trips with my mom when I was young. I would easily get bored following her around the large department store, and usually something would catch my eye that I thought was more interesting. The distraction would keep me from noticing that I was slowly moving further away from her, and before I knew it, I was lost. The distraction quickly faded and I was surrounded with panic and fear as I searched down every aisle of the store, desperate to find her. Just as I was contemplating how a 10 year old boy was going to make it on his own in the world, I heard a loud intercom voice "Would a little boy named Ricky please report to the front of the store, your mother is waiting for you." Sometimes we are not always lucky to have God call us over a loud speaker, but He is there waiting, longing for us to be reunited with Him. Once we remove ourselves from our worldly distractions, we can hear Him calling us home.

ProLife news: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ & http://www.priestsforlife.org/

* Let's pray for courage to communicate the ProLife message through Christ to those around us (John 14:6)...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16).

*NEW: "It is easy to be ProLife. It is much harder to be proactively ProLife" by Glen Flores, leader of ProLife Alliance at the University of Florida

Our Prayers: Prayer to End Abortion, chastity, our enemies, our troops, natural disasters, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, loss of loved ones, lack of faith, illnesses/injuries, John Peak (parent's health & his deployment), Liz Curry (friend Bill recovering from heart surgery), Kathy-jo Peterson (friend Dave with brain cancer), Rich Reich (Grandma with health problems), Pat Castle (neighbor Kathy Ayers having brain surgery today)

Feast Day (St. Juan Diego): http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=73

Faith Quotes: "Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence." by Pope John Paul II

Through Christ Our Lord,

Rich

Romans 12:12

* 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.'

* Fasting: Let's fast from things that takes our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, judgment, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* 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.

* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (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)!