Dear Friend,

The Holy Spirit's distinctive role is to fulfill what we may call a floodlight ministry in relation to the Lord Jesus.

I remember walking to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris one winter evening to preach on the words, "He will glorify me" (John 16:14). Seeing the building floodlit as I turned a corner I realized that this was exactly the illustration my message needed.

Dear Friend,

I hope this week's "pastor's Pen" will give you a laugh. A man has been lost and walking in the desert for about five days. One hot day - actually, they’re all hot - he comes to the home of a community of Irish missionary priests. Tired and weak, he crawls up to the house and collapses on the doorstep. One of the priests takes him in and the community nurses him back to health. Feeling better, the man asks for directions to the nearest town. The Superior of the house tells him the directions, and offers to lend him his horse to make it.

Dear Friend,

We need to possess an enduring love. Endurance: the power to withstand hardship or stress, to keep on going despite all setbacks.

I recently heard of a Catholic woman who, after having four children, started running then entered marathons. This year, she is running the London Marathon, but before she does, she will run four other marathons each day before the London Marathon.

Dear Friend,

I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the loving God, who was born of the promise to a virgin named Mary.

I believe in the love Mary gave her son, that caused her to follow him in his ministry and stand by his cross as he died.

Dear Friend,

Healing takes time, patience and determination to persevere through the long process of healing. It’s not easy, but it is the reality of the healing process.

A good friend recently told me his own experience with the healing process of his right knee. About two years ago he had a total right knee replacement.

Dear Friend,

We need to possess an enduring love. Endurance: the power to withstand hardship or stress, to keep on going despite all setbacks.

I recently heard of a Catholic woman who, after having four children, started running and then entered marathons. This year, she is running the London Marathon, but before she does, she will run four other marathons each day before the London Marathon.

Dear Friend,

Walter Sangster began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, and his throat would soon become unable to swallow.

Dear Friend,

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen used to tell that on one occasion he was preaching on the importance of confession of sin and, wherever possible, of restitution for wrong done to others. Afterward a young man named Patrick came up to him and said: "Archbishop, you have put me in a sad fix. I have wronged another and am ashamed to confess it or try to put it right. I am a boat builder, and the man I work for is an unbeliever. I have talked to him often about his need of Christ and have urged him to come and hear you preach, but he scoffs and ridicules it all.

Dear Friend,

Of all the classical Spiritual Disciplines, Christian Stewardship of Time Talent and Treasure is the most conductive to the growth of humility.

When we set out on a consciously chosen course of action that accents the good of others and is for the most part a hidden work, a deep change occurs in our interior spirit.

Dear Friend,

Jesus calls us to be people who live in present tense. An average person’s anxiety is focused on:
40% things that will never happen
30% things about the past that can’t be changed
12% things about criticism by others, mostly untrue 10% about health, which gets worse with stress
8% about real problems that will be faced

God promised peace to those on whom His favor rests. God has not promised skies always blue, Flower strewn pathways all our lives through; God has not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God has not promised we shall not know toil and temptation, trouble and woe; He has not told us we shall not bear many a burden, many a care.

Every branch that bears fruit must be pruned to bear much more fruit. A friend of mine has a fruit tree that has been living for a number of years. Every winter the cold weather and heavy breeze kills more than half of the branches and leaves. If he does not prune the dead, it will spread and kill the whole tree. Therefore, he must prune what is wilted to save the rest of the tree. In turn, the tree grows bigger, stronger, and bears more fruit than before. The fruit doesn’t only multiply, but they are much more pleasing in their flavor.

Dear Friend,

Three things in life that, once gone, never come back:
1. Time
2. Words
3. Opportunity

Three things in life that can destroy a person:
1. Anger
2. Pride
3. Unforgiveness