Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Merry Christmas!!! Last Sunday was the feast of the Holy Family and Father's homily really blessed me. He shared about the Holy Family and all about their life and their vocation. He also shared that we are called to be like them. Even though Mary couldn't sin, Joseph had an angel come and speak to him in a dream when he needed to do something, and Jesus is God, we still can take them as an example.
They had to live a life that was holy, they also had to live as a family and work as one. This is something that all of us go through and live with every day. So what could be a better example than the example that God himself set for us? They journeyed together, lived together and went through hard times together much like many of our families do. They are the perfect people ask for prayers!
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us.
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
God Is With Us
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am pleased to share that our Christmas play was a wonderful success! I was so blessed by it and was so blessed to participate in the most beautiful story ever.
The first line of the play is "Some stories are so powerful that they can never be told enough, this is one of those stories." This statement is so true and I am super excited to celebrate the festivity of it soon!
The Lord really opened my eyes to all that Mary and Joseph must have experienced and the beautiful day that it was. I wish you all the best of Christmases! Remember to keep Christ in Christmas, I am praying for all of you especially during this wonderful season! God Bless.
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
I am pleased to share that our Christmas play was a wonderful success! I was so blessed by it and was so blessed to participate in the most beautiful story ever.
The first line of the play is "Some stories are so powerful that they can never be told enough, this is one of those stories." This statement is so true and I am super excited to celebrate the festivity of it soon!
The Lord really opened my eyes to all that Mary and Joseph must have experienced and the beautiful day that it was. I wish you all the best of Christmases! Remember to keep Christ in Christmas, I am praying for all of you especially during this wonderful season! God Bless.
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Theres no time like Christmas
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Christmas... presents, tree, shopping, food, family, fun, friends, lights. These are all words that pop into my head when I think of the joyful December 25th that rolls areound but once a year. It is so easy to get caught up in the shopping, wrapping and decorating that it also becomes easy to forget about the most important aspect. When Santa Claus can cloud your mind and seep into the media and creches and nativity scenes slowly evaportate. Can it be that the reason for Christmas gets pushed to the back burner?
God, looked down with love on the world, smiled and sent us his son to save us so that we could rejoice in eternity with him someday!!! WOW! What a fantastic occurance, what a beautiful truth and gift! Instead of worrying about what to give to whom and what you might receive we can meditate on the most beautiful gift ever given.
I am in a Christmas play named "God with us" God is with us, he was brought to Earth, laid in a manger and redeemed the world! This Christmas and every Christmas is a time to remember and rejoice in that, to put things in perspective and rejoice and share with our loved ones. The thought of it still makes me giddy like a five year old.Joy To The World!!!!!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Christmas... presents, tree, shopping, food, family, fun, friends, lights. These are all words that pop into my head when I think of the joyful December 25th that rolls areound but once a year. It is so easy to get caught up in the shopping, wrapping and decorating that it also becomes easy to forget about the most important aspect. When Santa Claus can cloud your mind and seep into the media and creches and nativity scenes slowly evaportate. Can it be that the reason for Christmas gets pushed to the back burner?
God, looked down with love on the world, smiled and sent us his son to save us so that we could rejoice in eternity with him someday!!! WOW! What a fantastic occurance, what a beautiful truth and gift! Instead of worrying about what to give to whom and what you might receive we can meditate on the most beautiful gift ever given.
I am in a Christmas play named "God with us" God is with us, he was brought to Earth, laid in a manger and redeemed the world! This Christmas and every Christmas is a time to remember and rejoice in that, to put things in perspective and rejoice and share with our loved ones. The thought of it still makes me giddy like a five year old.Joy To The World!!!!!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Yours is the kingdom of God
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today in mass I had a really blessed experience. The closing song was "rejoice and be glad for yours is the kingdom of God." I was singing, and I must admit, I wasn't very wholehearted. A man was in the front row, I could see his face and it took my breath away. He was smiling and had the most beautiful expression on his face and I could tell that he understood the words. I could tell that he believed all that he was singing. It opened my eyes to the meaning behind the song, yours is the kingdom of God. The beauty and the wonder behind those words, that we can be a part of the kingdom of God! It is so simple but it really blessed me and made me think about the words that we sing and the meaning that is behind them. God bless!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Today in mass I had a really blessed experience. The closing song was "rejoice and be glad for yours is the kingdom of God." I was singing, and I must admit, I wasn't very wholehearted. A man was in the front row, I could see his face and it took my breath away. He was smiling and had the most beautiful expression on his face and I could tell that he understood the words. I could tell that he believed all that he was singing. It opened my eyes to the meaning behind the song, yours is the kingdom of God. The beauty and the wonder behind those words, that we can be a part of the kingdom of God! It is so simple but it really blessed me and made me think about the words that we sing and the meaning that is behind them. God bless!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Monday, December 6, 2010
Donor's Dinner
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
Last night was FMC's annual donor's dinner. We invite all of the people who have donated or supported FMC in the last year and we gather for food and presentations on all that has been going on this last year. I was so blessed to see all that God has done in FMC just in a year it reminds me that this is genuinely one of the greatest missions of the church and that I am abundantly blessed to be a part of it. I was blessed to sell some rosary bags and gather some money for WYD this august. I was also reminded that FMC is more than a company and more than a community we really are all family and what a huge blessing it is to find that!
During vigil mass on Saturday I started thinking about how much I missed Mexico, how much I missed missions in general. I kept on thinking about how much I wanted to be there and to be serving God through foreign missions. I really felt God touch my heart and say that "This is your mission right now Alyse, this is what I have called you to." I "knew" that but I was glad to be reminded. Again after all of the presentations at the donor's dinner my heart started crying out for missions and yearning to go to the ends of the earth. Once more I was reminded that my mission is here, for now, and I need to support God's mission through my prayers and through my service. I am going to try and look into mission work here in our new city and hope to do my best while I am here. Not to use this time for waiting but to use this time for genuine service to the Lord. I also would like to share that I will be speaking at a confirmation retreat! I am super excited/nervous about that but I hope that I can be a missionary witness to all of those in the confirmation class. Please start praying for me for that even though it isn't until January. Please keep me in your prayers as I keep you in mine. God bless!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Last night was FMC's annual donor's dinner. We invite all of the people who have donated or supported FMC in the last year and we gather for food and presentations on all that has been going on this last year. I was so blessed to see all that God has done in FMC just in a year it reminds me that this is genuinely one of the greatest missions of the church and that I am abundantly blessed to be a part of it. I was blessed to sell some rosary bags and gather some money for WYD this august. I was also reminded that FMC is more than a company and more than a community we really are all family and what a huge blessing it is to find that!
During vigil mass on Saturday I started thinking about how much I missed Mexico, how much I missed missions in general. I kept on thinking about how much I wanted to be there and to be serving God through foreign missions. I really felt God touch my heart and say that "This is your mission right now Alyse, this is what I have called you to." I "knew" that but I was glad to be reminded. Again after all of the presentations at the donor's dinner my heart started crying out for missions and yearning to go to the ends of the earth. Once more I was reminded that my mission is here, for now, and I need to support God's mission through my prayers and through my service. I am going to try and look into mission work here in our new city and hope to do my best while I am here. Not to use this time for waiting but to use this time for genuine service to the Lord. I also would like to share that I will be speaking at a confirmation retreat! I am super excited/nervous about that but I hope that I can be a missionary witness to all of those in the confirmation class. Please start praying for me for that even though it isn't until January. Please keep me in your prayers as I keep you in mine. God bless!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Friday, December 3, 2010
Temptations
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I have been thinking a lot lately about temptation and about how easy it is for the devil to get at us with it. Temptation is so powerful and harmful that it is the way that Satan chose to try to trick Jesus into falling. What actually sparked this topic is that a while ago I was sitting with a bag of rice cakes next to me. I love them, they are really delicious, anyhow as I ate I realized that I am having supper later. Instead of stopping I continued to munch slowly because the bag was sitting right there. Unlike sin, rice cakes aren't evil but still as it sits there it makes you fall. If there is one way to ensure that you will fall into sin it is to surround yourself with temptation. An easy way to stay away from sin is to make a conscious effort to pluck out the temptation in your life. One thing that always reminds me of how serious it is is in the Bible where it says "If your eye causes you to sin pluck it out", that is really serious. I guess that is it, but it just has been on my heart a lot lately. God bless!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
I have been thinking a lot lately about temptation and about how easy it is for the devil to get at us with it. Temptation is so powerful and harmful that it is the way that Satan chose to try to trick Jesus into falling. What actually sparked this topic is that a while ago I was sitting with a bag of rice cakes next to me. I love them, they are really delicious, anyhow as I ate I realized that I am having supper later. Instead of stopping I continued to munch slowly because the bag was sitting right there. Unlike sin, rice cakes aren't evil but still as it sits there it makes you fall. If there is one way to ensure that you will fall into sin it is to surround yourself with temptation. An easy way to stay away from sin is to make a conscious effort to pluck out the temptation in your life. One thing that always reminds me of how serious it is is in the Bible where it says "If your eye causes you to sin pluck it out", that is really serious. I guess that is it, but it just has been on my heart a lot lately. God bless!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
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