He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Sorry about not posting the past couple of days.  I wanted to share this morning about a few lessons learned over the holiday weekend and thru last night…

1. You are the Lord my God.  I will love you with all my heart, with all my being, with all my strength; I will place no false Gods before you.  With the Labor Day holiday being celebrated on Monday, we held (1) Mass at St. Mary Magdalen, where normally we would have a minimum of (3) – 8 AM, Noon and 5:30 PM.  I always hold out the hope that the church will be bursting at the seams on a holiday Mass (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day) but we never seem to fill the seats.  I will continue to pray that one day this will happen – I can think of no better way to celebrate a National Holiday than to start that day thanking the One who made this Country possible.
2. I will not take the name of the Lord, my God, in vain.  It is amazing how one single wrong turn can flop that commitment upside down.  Just last night, after a very frustrating evening (car battery died sitting in STMM parking lot, car battery jumped, battery died again sitting in Blu parking lot, battery bought – along with tool to loosen the battery terminals, wrong size tool so back to the store to buy another one and not paying attention to exit, realized it was a one way street – going the opposite direction of where I needed to go.  BAM – frustration took over and I hit the steering wheel, shouting one obscenity which was quickly followed by the start of what I committed to God I wouldn’t do.  Yelled the first word of the obscenity but then stopped myself short and didn’t complete it.  Was feeling proud of myself that I didn’t really say it, but then the Holy Spirit kicked the following words into my head…in my thoughts and in my words, what I have done and what I have failed to do.  So I learned one must always be on guard not to use the Lord’s name in vain.
3. I will honor my mother and father.  My sister Janice’ and her husband Brett spent the weekend in their happy place.  They hitched up the portable condo and headed to Branson, MO.  That means I had the pleasure of spending Thursday evening thru Monday afternoon alone with my Mom.  We got to talk about a lot of things, reminisce about the past, walk the mean streets of O’Fallon together, went to a party on  Sunday and had lunch with my Dad’s brother (Fr.) Bob on Monday.  I cherish those moments with her – the conversation, sitting out on the front porch with her, sitting in the family room watching old episodes of Matlock and Murder She Wrote, watching Cardinal baseball games and had the pleasure of taking her to a couple of Masses.  I thank God for each moment spent with her.  She is a beautiful woman who loves her family and friends.
4. I will not covet my neighbor’s house nor any of his possessions.  This was a tough one…my sister’s pantry is stocked way better than mine – she even has cans of cream of shrimp soup – I didn’t even know they made cream of shrimp soup!  In all seriousness, Janice’ and Brett have sacrificed a lot doing what they’ve done for my (late) father and mother.  They personify the 4th commandment.  Spending that time with my mother this past weekend made me realize how much they love her.

Those are just a few thoughts I wanted to share with all of you this morning.  I hope your holiday weekend was blessed and refreshing.  I also hope you took time to thank our God for the many blessings He provides for us.

Do something great for our Lord today – try not to hit your steering wheel in frustration – my hand still hurts from doing that last night.

God’s will, not mine, be done.

Be not afraid; just have faith.

Jesus, I trust in You.

He must increase; I must decrease.