JANUARY REJUVENATION

    

JANUARY  2019. . . A new beginning.

Always a good thing.

Fresh insights, renewed energy and a ‘forward’ outlook on life seem to be the prominent mode of thought as we begin a new year.

Yet, the clock simply ticked one minute past midnight.

How can one minute change one’s paradigm of thought so drastically?

Once in awhile we all need a reboot, a fresh start.

It might as well be every 365 days.

So, Happy NEW Year!!!

I look forward to body and soul rejuvenation in new ways this year.

For starters, I review a tradition we learned when we moved to Pennsylvania.

Good old Pennsylvania Dutch, those whose ancestors came from Germany and retained many of the old traditions.

They know how to stretch what they have and find JOY in doing so.

Especially for the Amish and Mennonite farmers in Pennsylvania, the family supply of pork was raised in their pig stable where the piglets were often fed with table scraps from the household wastes. 

Hogs are an indicative part of the PA Dutch (German) diet, including fresh or smoked sausage. However, a frugal family never wastes anything, including their prized crocks of sauerkraut! 

So on New Year's Day, it is not surprising that a frugal or wise Dutch family would eat the last remaining kraut that had been fermenting from the previous season. 

So it became a Pennsylvania tradition that all would eat pork and sauerkraut to bring him good luck in the ensuing New Year.  They subscribed to the adage 'Waste Not, Want Not!”

     Whether or not one has any German genes in them, families, church groups and entire communities join together for this infamous meal each New Year’s day. 

It most certainly is fun to join others for the annual New Year's Day feast which includes pork and sauerkraut.

January 1, 2019

After the Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph and told him that the Child’s name should be called Jesus, meaning “God Saves.” 

According to Jewish law, on the 8th day after his birth a male child was to be circumcised, receive his name, and become a full member of God’s covenant people. 

According to the old Roman liturgical calendar, the circumcision of Jesus was celebrated on January 1st, eight days after Christmas, the same day that He was given His name.

Jesus’ name is symbolized by the monogram “IHS,” (sometimes called a Christogram), which is the first three letters of the Greek spelling of Jesus’ name.

January 2 - "For I have learned to be content with whatever I have.   I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all

circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
  Philippians 4:11-13

1-3  "Be patient, because the weaknesses of the body are given to us in this world by God for the salvation of the soul. So they are of great merit when they are borne patiently.” St. Francis of Assisi

1-4  At the end of the day of our earthly life, we have to answer to our Maker whether we have been employed about our own work or about His, whether we have even made an effort to find out what He would have us do. 

A life that is inspired by such a motive is sure to be a success, for of this we may be absolutely certain: that each of us can fulfill in our life that for which we were created. We cannot be sure that we have the gifts needed for any other purpose ... For God, in creating us, equipped us for the work for which He created us. We have every gift of nature and of grace, of mind and body that is needed for this work.”  Fr. Basil Maturin, Spiritual Guidelines for Souls Seeking God.

1-5 “The Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

“. . .  for consider Him who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself so that you may NOT GROW WEARY AND LOSE HEART”  Hebrews 12:3 

“I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit.  John 15:5 

“. . . You did not choose Me but I chose you . . .”  John 15:16

1-6  Epiphany - A star leads the starry eyed to the star that broke through the darkness - Jesus Christ

Epiphany is one of the oldest Christian feasts and one of the most important. Historically, Epiphany celebrated four things: Jesus' nativity, the Magi's visit to Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Jesus' baptism, and Jesus' first miracle at the wedding feast of Cana. 

Each biblical event is a theophany, or epiphany, a special manifestation of Jesus Christ to mankind.

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the Glory of the Lord has risen about you!”    “. . . They will bring Gold and Frankincense and will bear Good News of

the praises of the Lord.” Isaiah 60:6

Ps. 72:11 “. . . and let all kings bow down before Him, all nations serve Him.”

Matthew 2   “We [Magi] saw a star in the east and have come to worship Him. . . and the star . . .  went on before them and stood over the place where the child was. . . . After coming into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and fell to the ground and worshipped Him . . . and presented Him with gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.”

1-7   "The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord, they flourish in the courts of our God.”  Psalm 92:12-14

1-8  "Let each of us accept the truth of the following statement and try to make it our most fundamental principle: Christ's teaching will never let us down, while worldly wisdom always will. Christ Himself said that this sort of wisdom was like a house with nothing but sand as its foundation, while His own was like a building with solid rock as its foundation.”   St. Vincent de Paul

1-9 "If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.

But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”  James 1:5-8 

1-10  “O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your Son to the peoples of the earth:  Lead us , who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen”    Book of Common Prayer page 420

1-11  "Your Lord is seated at the Father’s right hand in heaven. How then is the bread His body? And the chalice, or rather its content, how is it His Blood? These elements are called Sacraments, because in them one thing is perceived by the sense and another thing by the mind. What is seen has a bodily appearance; what the mind perceives produces spiritual fruit. You hear the words, ‘The Body of Christ’, and you answer ‘Amen.’”    Augustine, 

Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  John 6:51

1-12   "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16

"There is nothing to be dreaded in human ills except sin—not poverty, or disease, or insult, or ill treatment, or dishonor, or death, which people call the worst of evils. To those who love spiritual wisdom, these things are only the names of disasters, names that have no substance. No, the true disaster is to offend God, to do anything that displeases him.”   John Chrysostom

         
        1-13  Baptism of our Lord:  
“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. And while He was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my one dear Son; in you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22

1-14 “Trials, tribulation, anguish, anxiety are permitted by the very One Who gives peace.”  Fulton Sheen

"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and

not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”   Isaiah 40:31

1-15  "We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life. We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.”   Elizabeth Ann Seton

1-16 God is more anxious to bestow his blessings on us than we are to receive them.  St. Augustine

“Tell me, I’ll forget, Show me, I’ll remember. Involve me. I’ll understand.” Chinese Proverb

  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

1-17   “Strive to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it.”  John of the Cross

1-18  “Invisible in his own nature God, in Christ Jesus, became visible to us. Beyond our grasp, he chose to come within our grasp. Existing before time began, he began to exist at a moment in time.”   Leo the Great

1-19   "The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks

in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience, and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. 
Actions speak louder than words . . . it is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions. 

But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.  Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! ... We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit give us the gift of speech. 
Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfillment, insofar as he infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. “   Anthony of Padua, Witness of the Saints 

1-20   “For by the Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we are all made to drink of ONE Spirit. 1 Cor.12:13

“Jesus said, ‘ Fill them [6 stone water pots, 20-30 gallons each] with water”. . . John 2:6  [One command from Jesus and vessels for the purification rite were filled with water.  When  poured, they drank the best wine of the wedding feast at Cana. This was the first sign of the divinity of Jesus, the Christ.]

1-21  “In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.”  St. John of the Cross

1-22  Repentance  (Greek: Metanoia) means ‘change of mind.”   

Scripturally, we understand repentance as turning from sin and turning toward God.  It’s an attitude adjustment that brings about a radical life change.  

Others will see it . . . like new fruit on an old vine.  That’s why John tells the crowds that they must show by their deeds that true ‘turning to God’ is within them.  “Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance . . .”. Luke 3:8

James  2:17-18 “So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works.”       

1-23  "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know 1 how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who

searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”  Romans 8:26-27

“The endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light.” St. John of the Cross

1-24 "Our Lord never intended that we should merely learn by heart the Our Father [Lord’s Prayer] and recite it day and night. No doubt it is very beautiful and very simple, and can be meant quite easily by anyone who cares to use it. But that is not the purpose (although it is one purpose) of His gift of it to us. 

         He evidently desires that we should take it to pieces, study its composition, and make it the model of our conversation with Him and the Father. … I must study it carefully, petition by petition, noting the distinct meaning of the words, the arrangement of the order, and the gradual development of the ideas of fatherhood, and so forth. ... Indeed, this prayer is little else than a series of remarks made by a child to his Father. 

         The very want of connection between each petition, the staccato notes that mark off phrase from phrase, seem to suggest that it should be said very slowly,      pausing      after        each     group     of     notes    to let their meaning and harmony echo to the base of the soul.”   Bede Jarrett

1-25   “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29

1-26  "We have difficulty understanding this, just as a blind man has difficulty understanding color, but our difficulty doesn’t alter this fact: God’s omnipotence and omniscience respects our freedom. 
       In the core of our being we remain free to accept or reject God’s action in our lives—and to accept or reject it more or less intensely. God wants us to accept him with all our ‘heart, soul, mind, and strength’—in other words, as intensely as possible. But he also knows that we are

burdened with selfishness and beset by the devil, so it will take a great effort on our part to correspond to his grace. … 
      Every time our conscience nudges us to refrain from sharing or tolerating that little bit of gossip, every time we feel a tug in our hearts to say a prayer or give a little more effort, every time we detect an opportunity to do a hidden act of kindness to someone in need, we are faced with an opportunity to please the Lord by putting our faith in his will.”  Fr. John Bartunek , The Better Part

1-27 When it is time for me to leave [the Eucharist], I have to tear myself away from his sacred presence.   St. Anthony Claret

1-28  "That which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did and suffered for all men, He did and suffered for each one in particular; and He would not have thought it too much to do if it had been a question of saving only a single soul. 

      The salvation of a soul is, then, the price of the blood of God, the price of the death of God, the price of the greatest sacrifice that God, clothed in our human nature,

could possibly make! This is incomprehensible! ... It proves that the dignity of a soul is beyond understanding—for God to abase Himself, for God to annihilate Himself, for God to sacrifice Himself, only to save that soul and make it happy forever!  Fr. Jean Nicholas Grou   The Spiritual Life

1-29 “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”  Winston Churchill 

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  John 14:27

1-30  “Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.” St. John of the Cross

1-31  “One should not say that it is impossible to reach a virtuous life; but one should say that it is not easy. Nor do those who have reached it find it easy to maintain.”  St. Anthony of the Desert