“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me”
(Portion from the poem by Emma Lazarus the New Colossus, which is graven on a tablet within the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty stands)
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“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
Matthew 25:34-36
Do you see any similarities in the passages before?
My heart has been grieving for a while hearing “God fearing people” spew so much hatred towards others, just because they are different. I don’t understand why we can’t see each other as people. Instead we keep the barriers of races, socio-economical backgrounds, and gender. Do you really think that God sees us that way? I think that if God wanted us to look all the same and have the same he would have made us all the same.
If we are created in God’s image, there’s something beautiful in each human being that’s inherited from God himself, then why are we the ones separating when God is all about unity?
We complaint about how some people benefit from our labor and are not the best stewards of those benefits; and that may be true. Don’t you believe in a God of justice that will judge those who don’t steward what has been trusted in them? Don’t you believe in a God of provision that will take care of YOUR needs, therefore who cares what your neighbor has?
We are complaining about helping the tired, feeding the hungry, giving room for the homeless, clothing the naked, helping the sick and visiting the prisoner. I stand on the Word of God that says in Matthew 25:45 “He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’
Don’t we want to hear “‘well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23) if we don’t do what is required, instead we will hear that God placed those people in our lives and directly or indirectly we didn’t do what we were to do and we will be held accountable for it.
Did we forget when we were there? When it was us being the poor, the rejected, the ones in need? By us I don’t necessarily mean us, but maybe our ancestors, and if the hand of God and I’m sure someone else’s help, you and I would not be here. It’s time to embrace the Heaven culture, where our differences just enrich us instead of divide us.
Be blessed.
I’ll be honest and say she was not the first in my mind, but this is a mother that deserves a lot of credit. Everyone remembers Eve just for what she did wrong. Granted, she messed it up for all of us, but Jesus fixed it so time to forgive and forget. She had to experience it all alone. There was no girlfriends to call when Adam was giving her a hard time or someone to show her the secrets of childrearing. To top it off she had to endure the murder of one of her children all by herself. She deserves some credit for the mother she was.
out of nowhere; and that when he makes a promise, he will come through no matter when it comes to fruition. I can only imagine this woman pregnant so late in her life and having to take care of a baby, running around with him. Not forgetting that after she gave her maid to Abraham to have a baby, the little brat had an attitude towards her. Too much drama for your later part of your life.
Hannah had begged for a child for years and promises God that if he gives her a son she will give him back to him. So God gives her a son and so she did. Can you imagine dealing with years of fertility problems and then giving your son up? 
from God in a time where adultery was punished with death. Mary didn’t belong to the “but social club” and she should have lead it. Yes, the club of us who every time God tells us that he wants us to do something we go but God… and I’m not saying she didn’t ask questions, but she did what she was asked. The “but social club” is for those who set up the excuse and don’t do. Then she had to give birth in a manger. No Pitocin, Lamaze; not even a clean room. For the first few years when a mother is enjoying her baby, she was running around like a fugitive trying to protect him from being killed.
I’m not talking about Mary’s mother and this one is not in the bible. I’m talking about my own mother. She did the best she could with what she had. She sacrificed her life as a single mother working really hard to give her children what she felt was the most important things: The fear and love for God and a good education. Although our worship has changed paths, she taught me that without God there’s nothing in life and that we are to be grateful for all our blessings. She taught me good work ethics and to pursue my dreams. She supported me through the rough patches and bragged about my accomplishments. She too deserves credit for all of them!
domestic abuse is letting go of the emotional grip and the psychological fear from their abusive situations. Physical wounds tend to heal, depending on the severity of them, but the invisible ones tend to run deep and last a long time.
the years of the locust. You’ll eat your fill of good food. You’ll be full of praises to your God, the God who has set you back on your heels in wonder” Joel 2:25. It may take days, months or years. It’s a journey and a process, and it will require support and healing. God has promised to heal us and take care of those who have hurt us in any way. Jeremiah 30:16 “‘Everyone who hurt you will be hurt; your enemies will end up as slaves. Your plunderers will be plundered; your looters will become loot. As for you, I’ll come with healing, curing the incurable, because they all gave up on you and dismissed you as hopeless—“. I love this passage because when you’re in an abuse situation that’s exactly how you feel, hopeless and alone. God tells you that he sees your pain and its there through it. He promises to heal you from it.
It is terrible that as a people we have to be watchful even with those who we have been conditioned to trust, namely men and women who claim to come in the name of God. Sex scandals have not been exclusive to the Catholic Church, many preachers and pastors have fallen short of the grace and those things have become public. It is always disappointing. I think part of the disappointment comes from forgetting these individuals are merely men and women. We have the tendency to elevate their position because of the part they play in our communities, social settings and the body of Christ. The reality is that yes, their responsibility is to lead and teach us about the Lord, but their humanity doesn’t leave with their calling. Actually, as Christians we need to pray harder for our leaders because their attacks and strongholds are often as large as their calling.
know that this is a requirement of the commitment they have made. If sex was the driving force then priests having relations with Nuns or other secular adults would be just as, if not more, prevalent. The truth is pedophilia, rape, and sexual abuse is not sexually driven. They are driven by a deeper disturbance; it’s about control and power more than the sex itself.
On the other hand, from my years in church and annual “Good Friday” movies, I never saw rabbits, bunnies, hens or eggs related to the cross of Jesus Christ. Where did this come from? I’ve asked around and nobody seems to have an answer. After much searching, my good friend Google finally led me to my answer, several articles and web pages about the traditions of Easter.
blooming of flowers in the spring time. There was an abundance of eggs during this time as eggs were not part of their diets during the Lenten season. The eggs were boiled for preservation purposes.
Naty Matos 