Author: purposejoyandpositives

PURPOSE, JOY AND POSITIVES is a blog created to promote thoughts and ideas about gaining clearer PURPOSE in our lives, JOY in who we are and what we do, and sustaining POSITIVES. We are all on the journey called 'life' which has many paths for each of us. Sometimes, the path is clearer with PURPOSE and more JOY filled than others. Often, there will be crossroads........again we must chose. May our choices be about a fulfilling PURPOSE, JOY in the simple and profound, and abundant POSITIVES to sustain us on the journey. PJP

Continuing Lent: Week 3

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The Sunday reading (Cycle A ) to start our Week 3 of Lent is the story about the Samaritan woman who encounters Jesus at the well, who offered her “Living Water” to nourish her soul. It is a symbol of perfect love and total acceptance that Jesus offers to her and to each of us every day of our lives. Just as we need nutritious food for healthy bodies, we need the love, acceptance, forgiveness and mercy from Our Lord. This comes through prayer and communication with Our Lord, daily conversation.

The other optional reading for Week 3 of Lent is the story of the fig tree, which is not producing any good fruit. Should it be cut down? No, instead the gardener in the story asks to be responsible for the tree for one year, using good fertilizer, so that hopefully it will bear good fruit. Just like the fig tree, we need to be fertilized with prayer and daily conversation with Our Lord to ‘fertilize’ our souls in order to produce good fruits/actions and service to others. This is a great season to continue to use this time wisely to grow our faith and care for our spiritual being.

Ideas for growth: Journaling each day as part of our prayer time as a way of conversing with Our Lord and planning fruitful actions that we can do each day.

PJP

Lent Continues: Week 1 and Week 2

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As we move forward on our Lenten journey of 40 days, we are reminded that the first full week of Lent is about the desert, where Jesus spent 40 days in prayer, fasting and being tempted by the devil. It represents a place of renewal and strength, especially for our interior lives. A place to sort through our own personal desert; we all have experienced it at one time or another in our lives. Through prayer and fasting, we can re-order what is important in our lives, give a high priority to our spiritual being, and where we can do a better job in particular areas of our life. Spiritual growth in our desert happens when we do the work: deepening our conversations with Our Lord, being honest about our failings and making a concerted effort to do better in word and deed.

Week 2 is about the mountain. Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him up to the high mountain to pray (Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-10, Luke 9:28-36). While praying, Jesus is Transfigured by a blinding light and God the Father’s voice is heard to say “This is my Son, my Chosen One: listen to him.” Jesus wants his disciples to know WHO he really is in preparation for His death to come. The mountain is the symbol for where human meets God, the temporal and the eternal. What we can take away from this according to the Catholic Catechism is this: “The aim of the Transfiguration was to strengthen the apostles’ faith in anticipation of His Passion: the ascent onto the high mountain prepares for the ascent to Calvary. Christ, Head of the Church manifests what his body contains and radiates in the sacraments: ‘the hope of glory’ [CCC 568].

More to come for Week 3 coming up. Happy Lent.

PJP

THE SEASON of LENT

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March 5, 2025

Today begins one of the holiest seasons for Christians…..LENT. It begins with “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. (Genesis 3:19)

One idea is that this is our reminder that life is short; one day our earthly life will end and we will be called before OUR LORD for judgement as to how we have lived our lives. It’s a call to turn away from our failings and brokenness; a call to open our souls completely to OUR LORD and follow his ways; a call for renewed prayer and penances.

Last Sunday, our pastor at our parish, Father John Tap, talked about judgement day. I will paraphrase his comments:

‘OUR LORD will say to each of us, yes, of course I know you broke commandments X,Y, Z. But fold your arms in a big basket. Now tell me all the good you did for others that is in that basket. That is what I want you to give me and tell me about’. WOW!! Was my reaction and I have not stopped thinking about this all week. What is in my basket? How much time will I have to intentionally fill it with good for others?

Thank you Father John for this wonderful reminder about what’s really important. May we all do our best to fill our baskets with great good ……..doing so with purpose, joy and positively.

PJP

Merry Christmas Day

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”For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Just as we have prepared our home and our family for this day, so too we have prepared our hearts in the waiting with prayer and doing small acts of kindness toward others. Our Savior is born. Now the day is here and the wait is over. The darkness of the night has been filled with the wonderful everlasting Light who will guide us through our journey and help us to make straight our path. We resolve to continue prayer, kindness toward others and peace where we can build it.

The picture is of our creche at my parish. I was filled with Joy as I was able to be as lay minister of the Eucharist at the Christmas morning Mass. That for me is Christmas.

Merry Christmas Blessings to all.

PJP


Advent: Fourth Week

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Today, December 24, we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent so we light the fourth and last purple candle. This candle represents love and is also called the Angel’s candle. This candle is a symbol of the angel messengers who came to bring glad tidings of our Lord’s nearing presence. Mary, the mother of Jesus, will bring forth our Savior, who will model for us throughout His life love. His love for us is present in everything, even to the point that He gave His life for our sins, so that we could be saved.

This year the fourth Sunday of Advent also falls on Christmas Eve, the very night in which our Savior will be born in a stable. He did not come as a rich prince or a powerful warrior; no He humbled himself and came to us as a small quiet baby, born in a stable in the tiny town of Bethlehem. Yet, He is the powerful King of Kings. What a gift we have received! Let us include thanksgiving in our prayers this day for the miracle that changed the entire course of the world.

May you experience the love of Jesus within your heart, within your family, within your home and within your community.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas!

PJP

ADVENT : Third Week

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Sunday, December 17th, was the third week of Advent and we light the third candle, the rose/pink candle which is the often referred to as the Shepherd’s candle. It is also Gaudete (derived from the Latin word (gaudium) Sunday, which means JOY. We are nearing the end of Advent and we reflect this week on REJOICING because we are closing in on the day of the birth of Jesus.

Of course, we are all looking forward to our family and friend’s Christmas celebrations and all the traditions we hold dear. There is also great JOY in recalling the birth of Jesus on the first Christmas. We must be patient for the next few days in anticipation of this great day.

I recently listened to a podcast by Matthew Kelly, Dynamic Catholic, who defined being patient like this: “ It is the knowing what to do while we are waiting for God to answer our prayers”. I like this definition as it truly is about what we do while we wait. Do we become impatient and give up the cause or do we stay the course and wait with patience until God sends the answer our prayers? Patience indeed is not easy, especially in today’s culture which pushes for immediate gratification in all arenas of life. However, I submit to you that patience in continuing to pray is a better answer to the waiting. (I say this as a reminder to myself as well).

The next Sunday will be the fourth Sunday of Advent and it is also Christmas Eve. We will indeed Rejoice on this final day of our Advent season.

Blessings,

PJP

Advent: Second Week

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The second purple candle is lit on the second Sunday of Advent, December 10. This candle is symbolic for Peace: the Bethlehem Candle. This represents the “fulfillment of the Davidic Line of the House of David, in which the Messiah would be born and rule in Peace” (Fr. Ray Guthrie, St. Francis de Sales bulletin).

In the Gospel this week, we find the story of John the Baptist who comes to prepare the way of the Lord. He is the forerunner of Jesus, who is coming to us soon. This was John’s mission, to evangelize, call for repentance and to prepare us. His call is urgent to pay close attention and await prayerfully for His coming.

The angels declared “Peace on earth” at the time of Jesus birth. That peace can be with us every minute of everyday; we have only to pray and accept it. Take a moment each day to slow your thoughts and your doing and find ‘peace’. For this season is really about ‘being rather than doing’.

Peace to you,

PJP

Purpose, Joy and Positives

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Hello from a long time ago,

Indeed, it has been a long time since I posted on this blog. All I can say is that LIFE happened, over and over and over again. Things just continued to pile up and the list of must do’s got longer…….looks like I did not heed my own advice and prioritize! My apologies.

For each new year, over the past 4 years, I have shared with you my WORD of the year, instead of making resolutions. I started with Trust, Grace, and Nowness (look back at previous January/February posts since 2019). This year my word is HOPE. My first inspiration for the word choice was through a women’s group I belong to online that the Prayer Pledge for January centered on HOPE. Then it seemed that every other email I received within the first few months of the year had some discussion of HOPE. I felt that I was being led to chose this word for a purpose. And so here we are.

As we all know, there are moments of darkness, bone tired weariness, discouragement and down right helplessness in parts of our journey. That is life: we can not escape those moments, for it is in those moments that we gain insight and learn how to move forward. We can not wish those moments away, for it is in those moments that we find little miracles of silver linings we never would have experienced had it not been for dark moments. We should not ignore those moments of clouds on the journey, for it is in those moments we will be renewed and readjust our future path….the path that was truly meant for us….our True Purpose intended only for us.

It is much easier to have HOPE when things are going well in our lives and certainly much more challenging to HOPE when we hit the rough patches. Those are the moments we must flood our brain with positive thoughts, words, readings, images and people…..yes and people! Given this multitude of positiveness everyday, there becomes space in our hearts and minds for HOPE once again.

Here are some great quotes from great people on HOPE:

” ’ For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ’plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ “ — Jeremiah 29:11.

“The one who as hope lives differently” — Pope Benedict XVI.

“To hope in Him is to rest in His heart in patience amidst trials and tribulations”—Fulton Sheen.

As we move into the month of February, may your hearts be filled not only with love but with great HOPE.

PJP

PURPOSE, JOY AND POSITIVES

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TABLE OF LIFE:

“Time decides who you meet in life, your heart decides who you want in your life, and your behavior decides who stays in your life”  (Ziad K. Abdelnour).

As I move quickly to the close of another year of life and embrace the new year, I have been  reflecting on this quote I read a few years ago.  It is so true isn’t it? Timing of meeting people, friends, partners or acquaintances is just that….timing.  Although, I personally believe that you don’t meet anyone by accident. I believe people are placed in our lives for a PURPOSE….maybe we will or maybe we won’t ever really know that PURPOSE while here on earth. That part is mostly  irrelevant.

After we meet people, yes, the heart does help you decide who will sit at the table of your life. We ask ourselves: How do I feel about who this person is and how they present themselves? What is our connection? Is this person a POSITIVE in my life? Are we complimentary to each other as friends, partners or acquaintances?

Life goes on with our chosen people in life, but our behavior shapes the relationships. Behavior eventually determines who remains at our table of life. Over and over again, I find this to be true.  If someone’s behavior is less than kind, selfish in nature, with undermining PURPOSE, we would do well to rethink if this person should remain in our lives. Certainly, if someone’s behavior is hurting us emotionally or physically, then we must detach and say good-bye, no matter what the immediate cost may be. The long-term benefit will be greater JOY in our lives and a much more enjoyable meal.

These ideas I share today certainly are not necessarily easy to do, but worth a good long thought. May we carefully invite those to our table of life to serve the common good of all.

PURPOSE, JOY AND POSITIVES

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BY PJP

MORE GRATITUDE BEGETS GOOD ATTITUDE:

This such an important part of starting a day that will leave you feeling satisfied and content at the end of that day. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gratitude as simply, yet as complex, as ”the state of being grateful”. Okay, is that an emotion? no. Is it a feeling? not really. I think of it as a ‘way of being’ that is a conscious choice each day as we put our feet to the floor.

Some mantras to encourage gratitude:

I choose to remember the blessing of waking up to a new day filled with opportunities to create a better-version- of myself (Matthew Kelly’s original term).

I choose to live in the moment of today and nurture it as if it was my first and my last.

I choose to pay attention to those around me and provide encouragement and compassion.

I choose to forgive and to be humble.

I choose to appreciate my family and friends and to serve where needed with a smile.

I choose to honor this day, myself, my past, present and open my heart to the future.

Developing a strong gratitude awareness practice can take time and like any other new habit you wish to acquire, you have to CHOSE it and do it everyday, until it becomes a natural part of you. The benefits of more gratitude are stated in many different articles and they include physical, psychological and social benefits. I will end with a quote from Harvard Health Publishing:

“Expressing gratitude helps people feel positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

With gratitude to my readers,

PJP