4/12/20 Through 4/18/20

4/12/20 Through 4/18/20

Easter Sunday

Risen now and glorified

Christ alive, the Crucified.

Death, your sting now gone for good

Praise the way you know you should.

Darkness gone, no more the night,

Christ alone becomes our light.

Flesh and blood is shown to be

What we will have eternally.

No Mass today this Easter morn.

The first since ever I was born.

The faithful told to stay away,

And in their homes to watch and pray.

Our leaders looking out for good,

Have they considered all they should?

If two or more are gathered here,

Then surely Christ is very near.

So don't be sad or get upset

To lose the Mass we all regret.

But Christ not bound by cross or grave

Is always there to heal and save.

Monday

The story's simple, plain, and true,

But those who follow still are few.

The lures and trappings of the day

Have caught their eyes and hold their sway.

Somehow they must encounter Him,

And learn against the tide to swim.

For broad the road of pleasure's day,

But joy is found the narrow way.

Our sins forgiven one and all,

But we must answer well His call.

And learn to love as well He showed,

With precious blood from wounds that flowed.

Tuesday

Encountering the risen Lord

Will bring each soul a great reward.

But first His voice must recognize,

And then look up with opened eyes.

He wants His brothers all to see

They too can learn to love like He, 

And bring the kingdom here below

That all on earth their God would know.

So do your part and tell your friends

The love of God, all love transcends.

Then maybe too they'll recognize

The face of Christ within your eyes.

Wednesday

Emmaus road of burning hearts

To man the gift of bread imparts

Our God and maker of all things,

The joy that our salvation brings.

Oh blessed path along the way

That heard explained what prophets say.

That carried pierced, yet gloried feet,

Announcing evil's sound defeat.

Be ever in my heart to stay

The wonder of that blessed day

When ere I heard His words anew

And knew my Savior through and through.

This road it's true, we all must find

where truth can penetrate the mind

To kindle fire within the heart

Then love and mercy to impart.

Thursday

It is here that the Word became flesh.

To this soul, has love come afresh.

Risen and seen in the daily routine,

His love woven into the mesh.

Does witness proclaim who you are?

Is Christ recognized from afar?

Does holiness show everywhere that you go,

Do you shine in the world like a star?

Our Savior is no longer dead.

He has risen, just as He said.

Death is now done, and the battle is won,

For Christ is our King and our head.

So tarry no more on the fence.

For Christ is your King and defence.

Proclaim it on high, You will no longer die,

He's forgiven your every offense.

Friday

A fire on the signal stone,

A Man upon the shore alone.

A fruitless night of labor past,

A meal prepared to break the fast.

Cast one more time upon the right

Though you've caught nothing through the night.

Then filled the nets, though tearing not,

One hundred fifty-three were caught.

One for each nation known to man

To share with all, the Father's plan.

To fish no more with nets of cord,

But fish for men, as per the Lord.

Saturday

How slow to see the Word is true

We can't deny the works they do.

A miracle has taken place,

Yet we refuse to see His face.

A face once beaten, bruised, defiled,

Now calling all, "Be reconciled."

These stupid sheep once scattered wide, 

Are now with mighty pow'r supplied.

We too could be if we obey,

And spread the word in all we say.

Announcing how the cross has saved

And freeing those to sin enslaved.

4/5/20 Through 4/11/20

4/5/20 Through 4/11/20

Sunday

In triumph loud You enter there,

Hosanna cries are everywhere.

Branches waved by children high,

The King of Kings is drawing nigh.

But jealousy is in the air

And evil plots are lurking there.

For thirty silver coins can buy

Betrayal by a wicked spy.

And even those He chose to lead

Denied Him in His greatest need.

As blows came down and scourges rent,

In hiding all His chosen went.

Alone and in the evil's hand

He offered as the Father planned,

A Lamb unblemished without sin

Whose blood would welcome sinners in.

Monday

What is Jesus worth to me?

Check down deep to look and see.

Would others know by looking here

I hold the Lord, to me, so dear?

What have I that shows my love

For One so precious from above?

What sacrifice that's truly hard,

Or costly aromatic nard?

Would all that come to know me see

The Spirit of the Lord in me?

Or just another common face

That knows not of His gift of grace?

Tuesday

So confident in all our ways

But righteousness no more than glaze.

A pottery that's cracked and flawed,

But one that's loved and sought by God.

How can glory come through dying?

Understanding, still I'm trying.

Self-absorbed and lost in me

I lose my sight and trust in Thee.

But in resurrection seeing

All Your truth and thus believing,

I can too, be self-abasing

In each trial I am facing.

Wednesday

Morning after morning

Your word has come to me.
My pen and lips adorning,
As it has set me free.

The truth is truth forever
The same for slave or free.
The choice is to but never,
Be parted far from Thee.

The way of life is dying,
And loving to the end.
Your word forthwith complying,
Though we not comprehend.

Make of me a pot You like
A soft and supple clay,
A vessel strong yet childlike,
And willing to obey.

Cease not to ever come to me
My manna for the day.
Let me beyond the trouble see,
And never You betray.

Thursday
Glorious this priesthood given
Glimpsing into midst of heaven.
Washing feet in chain unbroken,
Through the Mysteries awoken.

Bread and wine upon the altar,
Gospel and prophetic psalter,
Draw the curtain thus revealing,
God of love and tender healing.

Friday
Lord upon the cross forsaken
To this mystery awaken,
All those trapped in sin compelling,
All those still in darkness dwelling.

Spike and thorn now penetrating,
Word and action all berating,
One whose love was boundless given,
One whose blessed side was riven.

Hanging dead, the scene surreal,
But somehow, in the air could feel
That fear began to lose its hold,
As once before, the Dead foretold.

For two once fearful boldly came,
To bury Him who died in shame.
And treat with tenderness and care
The body of this Love so rare.

So fear then shifted to the side
Who worried yet the One who died
Could lift the people's sad and gloom,
And set a guard around the tomb.

Saturday
This day we wait in hope and shame,
Could this be why Messiah came?
To nail upon that fateful wood
All sin for just the sinner's good?

Three years we walked along His side
Our Master and our faithful guide,
But now the One we thought would save
Is dead, and lies in yonder grave.

A sickness in the heart afflicts
And sorrow for our sin convicts.
The Love so pure that once we knew
Was crucified for me and you.

Not much to do but pray this time
And try to out of sorrow climb.
To watch and wait, and hope and pray
We meet again another day.

3/29/20 Through 4/4/20

3/29/20 Through 4/4/20

Sunday

Rising from the dead may be

The only way for some to see

The glory of His majesty

Who conquers sin to set us free.

The constant yoke of slavery

May be for some, security

But Christ now bids, come forth and be

One dry-shod through the deepest sea.

Monday

So often I am quick to judge,

And fail to mercy see.

The Spirit then will often nudge,

And show them, just like me.

When will I learn to love discern

And treat them in the way

That heart would turn, not be so stern,

But fruitful in the fray?

Tuesday

A serpent sign with venom not

Would cure the one who'd bitten got.

So too the One of sin bereft

Would heal the soul by evil cleft.

As all those bitten. looked were healed,

So too those hooked by Love revealed.

Upon the pole and lifted high,

The Maker of the sinner nigh.

By death alone is sin atoned,

By victim, and by priest.

The two in One, by love enthroned,

With nails to save the least.

Wednesday

Why is it what is free has been

So highly priced for me?

Could it be my sordid sin

Is really slavery?

The sons of Abraham should know

The truth before their eyes,

And recognize their proper foe

In spite of his disguise.

If we but His disciples be

The truth would set us free

And eyes of former blindness see

Our end of slavery.

Thursday

Why this hatred for the Lord;

Contempt and jealousy outpoured?

So obvious the goodness there

But Pharisees are unaware.

Upturned by Him their empty ways

Of fasting much and empty praise.

In these their honor here below,

But lost, their chance of God to know.

The eye that sees is not so proud

A lowly one amidst the crowd.

A leper cured, returning then

To thank the Father's great Amen.

Rejected by the bulk of them,

One striving just to touch the hem.

A sinner blind, but shown to be

Perceiving more than those that see.

So open heart and mind to see 

How blest the lowly one can be

He humbles haughty and the proud,

But lifts the lowly from the crowd.

Friday

Would I be one to gather stones,

Or try to drive away?

Could I accept accusing tones

That show my sinful way?

It's easy looking back to say

Not one of them is me,

But humble in my prideful way,

The truth I come to see.

My sin the cause of many stripes,

A thorn or two as well.

In many ways I'm like the type

That's on their way to hell.

So how to change or turn around,

Then find the narrow way?

But listen to the whisper sound

And follow Him today.

Forgiveness one will ready find,

The guilt be washed away

If I but make the choice to mind,

And follow Him today.

Saturday

One to die for all the nation.

One to bring the world salvation.

One to take the place of all.

One to answer well the call.

One that's bloody, beaten, scourged.

One through love, the sinful purged.

One took the place of every man,

One sinless in the Father's plan.

One dead, but risen, glorified.

One by whom, debt satisfied.

One brought prisoners release.

One our loving Prince of Peace.

3/22/20 Through 3/28/20

3/22/20 Through 3/28/20

Sunday

When blinded to my sinfulness

My sin I never will confess.

I need the light of day to see

The darkness that envelops me.

He spit to make a paste of clay

Then smeared and said to wash away

With water from the sacred pool.

His simple efficacious tool.

Then all around was light of day.

The shroud of darkness washed away.

The Son of man revealed as He

Who heals and sets the captive free.

Monday

A new creation make of me

This sinner begs to be set free.

I want to see my slavery

As something past in history.

But fear that weakness will return,

For oh so long, I've tried to learn,

And many times have started well

To later on, my failures tell.

I offer Lord, imperfectly

My latest war on slavery

And beg that You create of me

One living in reality.

Reality of seeing through

The traps that Satan will construe.

Reality of seeing there

His hidden hook, or buried snare.

I'm powerless against these Lord

My weakened knees cannot afford

To face one devious as he.

I need the strength that comes from Thee.

My passions only magnify

My need for You to sanctify

My every moment of the day,

And learn to live a whole new way.

Tuesday

Let me stretch my roots to Thee

This desert heat is scorching me.

I need the waters of Your stream

To fill my heart, and soul redeem.

My branches brittle in the air

Of desert heat, and near despair,

But with Your waters cool and deep,

They bear abundant fruit to reap.

My leaves as medicine will grow

That healing graces men would know.

Each month a new fresh fruit You give

That hungry souls might feast and live.

Wednesday

So many chosen, shy away

But not the Virgin on that day.

The fiat that she gave so clear

Obliterated doubt and fear.

The heavens halted there above

To hear her selfless words of love.

"Let it be done as you have said"

Would cause the raising of the dead.

Conceive in me this very day

Such animation of this clay.

That God be praised in all I do,

And I reflect the face of You.

Thursday

In ninety days we gain a taste

Of forty wand'ring years.

We look to find our way in haste

And conquer all our fears.

But time amidst the desert sand

Is meant to build our trust

With manna every morning, and

Our faith in God, robust.

So we must not return to ways

Of slavery once free,

But find through sacrifice and praise

The joy we seek from Thee.

Friday

As yet the hour had not come

Despite the enmity of some.

He presses on to show the way

Until that darkest fateful day.

A failure shown to all that day.

"How dare He mock the way we pray?"

He held aloof from those thought wise,

And called us wolves in sheep's disguise.

Let's see how true this word of His,

And find out what true patience is.

When stripped and beaten, pierced and crowned,

We'll see if care for Him is found.

All blinded by their wickedness

They sought His proof of holiness,

And in the darkness thought they won,

As dead upon the cross He hung.

But three days hence the tide did turn

And ages since have come to learn

How empty are the evil ways,

And true His word for endless days.

Saturday

Let me not Your vengeance see,

Not even on my enemy.

For I wish none who act this way

Would face that awful, dreadful day.

When men like this You turn away,

"Be gone from Me!" They hear You say.

To never see Your humble face,

But live in permanent disgrace.

I shudder at so harsh a word

And pray that such is never heard

Among the members of my clan,

Or none since ever time began.

But You, we all must freely choose,

Or our eternal life will lose,

And find the avarice we sell

Becomes our everlasting hell.