“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Do you really trust God? Do you really believe that God will provide all that you need? Faith is a challenge for everyone at times. Putting our trust in God, in everything we do, in good times and in bad, means that God’s plan for our lives may be quite different than what we planned.

When one door closes, another one opens. Trust in God, His plan is always better.

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field...He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.” (Matthew 13 ;24, 37-38)

As children of God, we are all “good seeds.” We are blessed by God with the potential to accomplish much good in the world. We fulfill God’s plan when we spend time in prayer everyday, use our skills to help others, and share our financial gifts to help build God’s kingdom on earth. Through our example of gratitude and generosity we sow “good seeds” on earth and ultimately help each other get to Heaven!

“The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word but then the cares of the world and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit.” (Matthew 13:22)

Does the lure of riches and material goods choke God out of your life? Are you so caught up in earthly activities that you have no time for God? Gratitude and generosity are virtues that we should strive to do on a daily basis. Every decision we make either takes us one step closer to God or one step further away. What we receive at Mass every Sunday should be shared with others all the other days of the week as well.

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)

To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit you must open your heart and invite Him in! Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts, words, and actions every day! Be grateful for all the gifts God has given you!

Regardless of our individual circumstances, God has given all of us many blessings. What we do with those gifts is our gift back to God! By generously sharing everything we have and everything we are, we become more “God-centered” and less “self-centered” and our lives truly reflect God’s light, love, and mercy.

The Easter season is almost over. This season is always a tougher one for us Catholics. We get Advent and Lent: preparation. We are on board with Christmas, mainly because we like to keep up our decorations until someone tells us the exact day we must take them down. But Easter as a season is a bit more difficult to observe. The rest of the world has moved on. There are no Easter eggs left in store windows and all those religious movies on television have given way to reruns or season-ending episodes. It just feels like Easter anywhere ... except in the Church.

Missouri is known as the "Show Me" state. There seems to be differing points of view as to how this motto came into existence, but today it is said to speak of a people who operate with common sense and are not easily fooled by slick-talking or show.

We would be prudent to adopt such a disposition ourselves. To be this way is not really like St. Thomas in the Gospel when he doubts what he clearly sees right in front of him. It is more about holding ourselves to a standard explained in another motto: "Say what you mean and mean what you say."