Count Your Blessings

This year, at our parish Penance service during Advent, our pastor, who can tend to move things along rather quickly sometimes (oops, did I just say that out loud?), gave the people in attendance a “group penance” rather than individual penance for everyone. It’s a bit unorthodox but still meaningful. Instead of the traditional “2 Our Fathers” or “4 Hail Mary’s”, instead he simply asked us to look at our hands and for each finger, count our blessings. In a way, this is brilliant. Instead of focusing on our sorrow for our sins, it allowed us to turn our attention to all the good things God gives us each and every day.

Expectations VS. Hope

Do you expect things from certain people? 

If you answered “no” to that question, then you probably haven’t thought it all the way through. Please continue reading. I believe that, depending on the circumstances we all expect things from other people. For example, when you go to a restaurant, you probably expect to be treated well by the host, waiters and/or waitresses, right? You expect the waiter or waitress to give you good service, to be polite, friendly and NOT screw up your order. In return for all that, they’re probably expecting a decent tip from you. 

BE EXTRAORDINARY!

Recently at Mass, one of our Priests made a referance to a video you may have seen that’s been around for a while about Empathy. If you haven’t seen it, take a look at it because it has a very powerful message. In the video, we see ordinary people, just like the ones we pass by every day. What makes the video so powerful is that we also get something more. We get insight into a major event that is happening at that moment in these everyday lives. For example, maybe someone you passed by at the grocery store just lost their job, or maybe someone’s teenage daughter is pregnant, or maybe someone’s car broke down and can’t afford to fix it, or maybe someone’s family member struggling with depression.

The Secret To Obtaining Super Powers

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to the strongest person in the world? When I was a kid, there was a Disney movie called “The Strongest Man In The World” and I remember getting such a kick out of that. It’s about a regular guy whodiscovers a new chemical that when mixed with a cereal seems to give anyone temporary superhuman strength. This brings up an interesting topic, which is not just super strength, but super powers. I’m sure at some point most of us have sat around with friends discussing the question, “If you could have any super power, which one would it be?” A fun conversation, but not very realistic. Or is it? What if you really could have super powers? Let’s explore this possibility a little.