Porter's Window

Mark Updated His Summer reading material! He wishes everyone a "Happy Summer!" and invites you to read some inspiring words. Please click here for the link!

5/12/11 "Memorial Day"
This is one of those holidays that you don't get to appreciate fully until you have been through it yourself in one way or another. I can remember growing up and hearing about our great uncles being in the First World War. I looked at them and thought so that is what makes them different. No different than any other man. Then my uncles were coming back from the Second World War. And I even saw them in their uniforms. Then I and my cousins were for a period of time in uniform. Then my nephews and my nieces' husbands were in the service. Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force uniforms. In all my family served all around the world. None of my family died in combat. But that is what this holiday is all about all of those persons who served in the military in order to defend this country of ours.

But most of all we like to remember, in case there is no one to remember them, all of those who died in combat. They gave their lives so that we could live ours in freedom.

This Memorial Day let us all spend some time in silence and prayer for those who died for us.

5/5/11 "Remembering Mom"
Happy Mother's Day! This is the month when we all remember our mothers. All of the caring that they gave to us over the years. So on mother's day May 8th give her a sign of our love and apppreciation.

It is also the month of Mary. The mother of Jesus and of all of us. She became our mother while standing at the foot of the cross. There she was carrying the burden of seeing her son on the cross and she is given the burden of caring for us too. It was her love that reached out then and now. Let's remember her in our prayers of thanks.

While we are talking about mothers let's not forget that God gave us Mother Earth. We should be taking care of her too. Not long ago I saw two people, one sitting in a car and the other standing there, while they talked and while the car was running. They stood there for about thirty minutes. That wasted gas ($5.00) and polluted the air. We have to be eco friendly and take care of our environment. That way she will be able to support us for many years to come.

5/5/11 "Easter"
We all know that post Easter we have several weeks of Sundays after Easter. This the church uses to mark the time after the Resurrection and the day that Jesus Ascends into heaven. This feast is called The Ascension. These feast focus on the resurrected Christ.

But after that the focus changes. It refects what the early christians experienced. The first major feast is that of Pentecost. It is THE major feast of the Holy Spirit who is the Paraclete whom Jesus promised and the Father sends. The role of the Holy Spirit is to guide the Church that Christ established and to be an inspiration to his followers, This is the era and the waiting for the second coming of Christ. The Holy Spirit is to preserve the church until the end of time.

The next sunday is the major feast of the Trinity. This is an ancient theological point that God is one, and that three persons abide in God. This is the christian theological point that says we have a triune God, three persons in one God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is this triune God that loves us so much that they made it possible for us to experience our salvation through the grace of God.

The next sunday is the third major feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. This feast reflects the Holy Eucharist which is Christ's presence here among us for the rest of time. In the Church's ministry it is to select men to be priests so that the Eucharistic presence is possible. They bring the presence of Christ to us through the celebration of the Eucharistic meal, the mass. Thus we are fed a sacramental meal that brings us the real body and blood of Christ.