My Child, You're Not Alone

At times like these, it’s hard to find the right words to say

And I know that words alone won’t take the pain away
But, I know a man who sits high and looks low
And He is saying, “My child, you’re not alone.”

He is saying, “I love you and I am concerned about you
And all the pain and hurt that you are going through,”
He is saying, “Lean on me. I will be your comfort through this time
And although it’s dark now, the sun again will shine.

Even though it’s hard to see through tears that you now cry,
Just know that there will come a day when your tears He will dry
And though words alone won’t ease the pain that you now feel,
Just know that in time, your heart, He will heal.

I pray that God will give you peace and strength in your heart
As He holds you in his arms, and from you, He won’t depart
May you always be encouraged, may you ever hold on
And remember, “My child, you’re not alone.”

~ By Johnny V Chandler

The Size of Our Hearts

God puts us into this world with huge hearts. The human heart in itself, when not closed off by fear, wound, and paranoia, is the antithesis of pettiness. There’s nothing small about the human heart.

The early Church Fathers taught that each of us has two hearts, two souls.

In each person, they affirmed, there is a small, petty heart, a pusilla anima. This is the heart that we operate out of when we are not at our best. This is the heart within which we feel our wounds, are chronically irritated and angry, the heart within which we feel the unfairness of life, the heart within which we sense others as a threat, the heart within which we feel envy and bitterness, and the heart within which greed, lust, and selfishness break through.

But the Church Fathers taught that inside of each of us there was also another heart, a magna anima, a huge, deep, big, generous, and noble heart. This is the heart within which we feel empathy and compassion, where we are enflamed with noble ideals. This is the heart where we inchoately feel God’s presence in faith and hope and are able to move out to others in charity and forgiveness. Inside each of us, sadly often buried under suffocating wounds that keep if far from the surface, lies the heart of a saint, bursting to get out.

John of the Cross says the most effective way to move towards healing is not by focusing on the moral and spiritual areas within which we particularly struggle.

For him, we heal and grow and eventually “cauterize” our faults by fanning the flames of what is already virtuous, best, inside us. As we fan our virtues to full flame, those fires eventually burn out our selfishness and our wounds.

Our virtues, when fanned to full-flame, leave no room inside us for pettiness and small-heartedness.

Fanning what’s highest in us eventually moves us more and more towards living out of our big hearts rather than petty hearts.

~ Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Resentment

When anger has no outlet it can morph into resentment and carries the potential to cause great turmoil.

Anger, when channeled into the pursuit of change, can be a useful tool in our emotional palette. Anger is experienced by most people, some more than others. It is when anger has no outlet and morphs into resentment that it carries with it the potential to cause great turmoil. Allowing us to assign blame for the pain we are feeling, thereby easing it, resentment tends to smolder relentlessly just below the surface of our awareness, eroding our peace of mind. The target of our resentment grows ever more wicked in our minds and we rue the day we first encountered them. But resentment is merely another hue on the emotional palette and therefore within the realm of our conscious control. We can choose to let go of our resentment and to move on with our lives, no matter how painful the event that incited it.

Hanging onto resentment in our hearts does not serve us in any way. Successfully divesting ourselves of resentful feelings can be difficult, however, because doing so forces us to mentally and emotionally confront the original source of anger. When we cease assigning blame, we realize that our need to hold someone or something responsible for our feelings has harmed us. We thought we were coping with our hurt when in fact we were holding onto that hurt with a vice grip. To release resentment, we must shift our attention from those we resent back toward ourselves by thinking of our own needs. Performing a short ceremony can help you quell resentful feelings by giving tangible form to your emotions. You may want to write down your feelings and then burn the paper and close your ceremony by wishing them well. When you can find compassion in your heart, you know you are on your way to healing.

Free of resentment, we have much more energy and attention to devote to our personal development. We can fill the spaces it left behind with unconditional acceptance and joy. And, as a result of our subsequent freedom from resentment, blessings can once again enter our lives as the walls we built to contain our anger have been demolished.

~ By Madisyn Taylor

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Pope Francis established 1 September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, encouraging the Catholic community around the world to pray for our common home.

The day is inspired by Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls on "every person living on this planet" to care for our shared Earth.

Season of Creation

September 1, 2026 - October 4, 2026

This World Day of Prayer falls at the beginning of the Season of Creation, which runs until 4 October, the feast of St Francis of Assisi. This is an ecumenical season dedicated to prayer for the protection of creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles.

The theme that Pope Leo XIV has chosen for 2026 is

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares 

and their spears into pruning hooks”

(Is 2:4).

A Prayer

Lord,

Take my life and let me live serenely for today.
Open my mind to happy thoughts.
Take away my self-pity, I don’t want it.
Take away my ill will towards others.
Make it possible for me to feel joy, love, and compassion.
Help me to accept what is, 

     to hold my tongue, to do my daily task, and to let go with love.
Take away my worry about the future.
Make me realize that in Your hands everything will be provided.
Help me to understand that I have no control over anything but my own actions.
Make me know that today is precious and will soon be gone.
Help me to remember that all hatred and pain directed toward me 

     are the hatred and pain the other person is feeling toward himself.
Thank You for your willingness to accept my burden and lighten my load.

~~ By Unknown

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel, a continuation of Matthew 16 that we began last week, shows Peter falling out of grace before he had any time to settle in. Last Sunday we heard in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 11: 33 -36, that God’s judgments are “inscrutable” and God’s ways “unsearchable.” St. Paul asks: “who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor”? In today’s gospel, Jesus rebukes Peter because he is “thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Of course, none of us can think exactly like God, not even Peter

Last week Peter was the hero of the gospel. His confession of faith earned him a new name, Rock, the rock on which Jesus planned to build his church. This week Peter is still a rock; however, he is now a stumbling block, an “obstacle” to Jesus and his mission. Like Jeremiah in the first reading, Peter, who received Jesus’ blessing last week, now finds himself heaped with “derision and reproach.” Although Peter recognized Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he could not comprehend the reality of the cross. He was thinking in terms of a champion King, a triumphant Messiah, not a suffering servant. He did not understand that Jesus’ victory could only come through sacrifice, suffering, death and resurrection.

Jesus told the disciples repeatedly that there is a cost to discipleship. Just as he had to take up the cross and die in order to fulfill his mission, the disciples had to be willing to deny themselves and take up their crosses in order to follow him. They had to clear away their very human mental and physical stumbling blocks so they could carry on the mission of Jesus and build the Kingdom here. We have to do the same. Jesus reminds us that we will be held accountable, “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”

Father, help us to seek the values 

 that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. 

 In our desire for what you promise, 

 make us one in mind and heart. 

 Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

 Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

 God, forever and ever.

Amen

August 28 - Memorial of St. Augustine

Today, August 28, the Church honors St. Augustine. St. Augustine was born at the town of Thagaste (now Souk-Ahras in modern day Algeria) on November 13, 354 and grew to become one the most significant and influential thinkers in the history of the Catholic Church. His teachings were the foundation of Christian doctrine for a millennium.

The story of his life, up until his conversion, is written in the autobiographical Confessions, the most intimate and well-known glimpse into an individual's soul ever written, as well as a fascinating philosophical, theological, mystical, poetic and literary work.

Augustine, though being brought up in early childhood as a Christian, lived a dissolute life of revelry and sin, and soon drifted away from the Church - thinking that he wasn't necessarily leaving Christ, of whose name he acknowledges "I kept it in the recesses of my heart; and all that presented itself to me without that Divine name, though it might be elegant, well written, and even replete with truth, did not altogether carry me away" (Confessions, I, iv).

He went to study in Carthage and became well-known in the city for his brilliant mind and rhetorical skills and sought a career as an orator or lawyer. But he also discovered and fell in love with philosophy at the age of 19, a love he pursued with great vehemence.

He was attracted to Manichaeanism at this time, after its devotees had promised him that they had scientific answers to the mystery of nature, could disprove the Scriptures, and could explain the problem of evil. Augustine became a follower for nine years, learning all there was to learn in it before rejecting it as incoherent and fraudulent.

He went to Rome and then Milan in 386 where he met Saint Ambrose, the bishop and Doctor of the Church, whose sermons inspired him to look for the truth he had always sought in the faith he had rejected. He received baptism and soon after, his mother, Saint Monica, died with the knowledge that all she had hoped for in this world had been fulfilled.

He returned to Africa, to his hometown of Tagaste, "having now cast off from himself the cares of the world, he lived for God with those who accompanied him, in fasting, prayers, and good works, meditating on the law of the Lord by day and by night."

On a visit to Hippo he was proclaimed priest and then bishop against his will. He later accepted it as the will of God and spent the rest of his life as the pastor of the North African town, where he spent much time refuting the writings of heretics.

Augustine also wrote, The City of God, against the pagans who charged that the fall of the Roman empire, which was taking place at the hands of the Vandals, was due to the spread of Christianity.

On August 28, 430, as Hippo was under siege by the Vandals, Augustine died, at the age of 76. His legacy continues to deeply shape the face of the Church to this day.

{Catholic News Agency)