Blessed Mother Teresa - "All glory and honor are His. We must let Jesus use us as He sees fit."On January 15, 2006, I asked for prayers for Fr. McKenna. Here is an update I got today:
"Thank you sooo much for all your prayers for Reverend Emeritus Father Jim McKenna. He is still taking the chemotherapy and radiation to the brain and he is managing with his condition We get a weekly update and he thanks everyone for their prayers and asks that we continue to pray for him. Don't stop! He needs and deserves all he can get. He has a very strong faith and he is very happy to know that you are all praying for him. I sent him a mass card and let him know that he is being supported by all our prayer warriors around the world through the internet. This pleased him very much. Thanks again for all your time and efforts. Will keep you informed."
Please keep praying
Today the Church remembers, the longest reigning pope after St. Peter, Blessed Pope Pius IX. He lived from 1792 to February 7, 1878. Pope Pius IX was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti as the son of Italian nobles. He was elected Pope on June 16, 1846, and he took the name Pius IX.What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food: And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit? So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without works; and I will shew thee, by works, my faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou, that faith did co-operate with his works; and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, saying: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him to justice, and he was called the friend of God. Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only? And in like manner also Rahab the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers, and sending them out another way?
For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead.
Jesus said: "I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness." If his light illuminates us, not only will it illuminate every situation, even the most tragic, but in addition we too, as He always said, will be light. The tenuous light of a candle illuminates a house, an extinguished lamp leaves everything in darkness. May he shine in us with his Word, with his spirit, with the sap of his saints. May our life be the wax that is consumed willingly.
I do have to beg you all for your prayers for my niece, Emily. She is an exceptional 12 year old girl who has cystic fibrosis. My brother just let us know that her lung functioning has not been good and she is going in for special treatment the week of 2/20, if hospital space is available.
Please, please storm heaven for this little girl that there will be a turnaround in her lung functioning. And pray for a miracle that a cure can be found for CF for Em, her sister Liz and everyone with this illness. With all the research the CF Foundation does, a breakthrough for CF would very likely benefit patients with many genetic illnesses. The CF Foundation does not do embryonic stem cell research. May God reward them for not harming innocents in their search for a cure.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Sharon
