Can We Do This?

What a great day! It is the feast of John the Evangelist. John’s passion for the Lord is what I call “all in”. He gave his whole self to the Lord Jesus.

In the First Reading, John mentions fellowship twice. Looking up the Greek term for fellowship, we find the word koinonia. That word evoked a flashback to many years ago, a young adult group called the same. Several of our children met regularly with this group. The group was tight knit and were good friends. They did a lot of things together including attending retreats. Some weddings came from that group including one of our daughters. Why is that important? Because, it shows we are social people. We don’t do well when we isolate ourselves from other people. We learn from each other, the good and the not so good. If we have a good friend or two we can hold each other accountable. Now, before you try that, remember we are living in a time when no one likes to be told what to do. It takes a lot of love for this to work between friends. Better to deliver the message as a suggestion than as a command.

I have a feeling that John in today’s reading was pretty good at that. Perhaps you have discovered in your spiritual walk that the closer you get to God, the clearer your idea of who God is becomes. In that “awakening” you find that He whispers words to you that have great meaning. I believe that the older disciples noticed things about John that helped them grow in their love for God even though he was much younger. Remember, John was one of the three who were picked to be with Jesus in some very important times like: The Transfiguration and the Agony in the Garden. Did his brothers notice that? Of course, they did. I wonder what they thought when they saw John lay his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper?

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have koinonia (fellowship). In my last fifty years of ministry I have seen people that isolate themselves get into some very serious emotional distress.

Perhaps you have noticed that John never says his name in his writings. He says, “the other disciple” or “the one that Jesus loved”. An act of great humility.

Commentaries have said that it does not mean that Jesus loved John more than the others (you would have to ask Jesus about that). But, John was the one that was “all in” and opened his heart wide open to receive God’s love the most.

Can We Do That?

Enjoy Your Merry Christmas Season!  

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Are You and I Vigilant?

If you are a regular churchgoer, by now you have noticed the readings are rather dark this time of year. By that, I mean Scripture is speaking to us about End Times. The church asks us to meditate on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Luke is telling us to be vigilant. That is not a word we are used to hearing on a regular basis.

It reminded me of a book that was passed around in our circle of friends about 35 to 40 years ago. I think it was called “Purgatory”. A French priest wrote it and also wrote one on Hell. I got up to page 19 and could go no further. I just couldn’t handle it. It was so condemning! I didn’t know if I could actually get to heaven. The book is mostly private revelation which we are not bound to believe. But, it sure got to me. It seemed like a lot of people were going to purgatory for very minor offenses!

It took me a few years before I could pick it up again and finish the book. Those minor offenses changed with time into ones that I might have been venial sins, but now they bothered me. To enter the Pearly Gates, one must be free of sin. Now, most of us have friends from many different denominations and we find that there are many ideas of what being sin-free means. For some, a simple declaration of faith gives a person a one way ticket straight to heaven. For us Catholics, we believe that we have been saved through baptism, we are being saved now, and we will be saved when Jesus takes us to our eternal home. I am sure you can see the difference.

Remember what Paul said, “I work on my salvation with fear and trembling”. I believe Paul was using the word “work” as to work on not sinning. This ties in with us being vigilant. One way to do that is to guard our senses. All three of our daughters were missionaries for a while and in their faith formation were taught to “guard their senses”. Then they taught it to me. It was and is a great gift. Which of the senses causes you to sin? Eyes, ears, touch smells, etc.? Give it a name and it will be easier to overcome. And guess what? The Lord will help you! Be vigilant!

Have a Blessed Advent.

Serving With Joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Is The Gate Too Narrow?

In Romans 8: 26-30, Saint Paul, reminds us that the Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. When was the last time we thought of that? Paul has no problem telling us about his weaknesses over and over. Somehow, over the centuries, a person sharing his or her weaknesses has been lost. We are now in a time when we are looking for something to brag about. God always works through humility, not pride. Just ask Paul, his humility did not start until he was knocked off his “horse” by Jesus. Paul had to ask him who he was. And when he began to know him, Paul’s life changed radically! He was, as I like to say, All In. He gave his life totally to God.

Now, let us ask ourselves, Are we all in? Have we given ourselves totally to God? It’s a pretty difficult task. Well, I guess my next question would be, are you or am I really trying to live in God’s will? Something to ponder.

Today’s Gospel, Luke 13:22-30, is in our faces. Someone asked Jesus if only a few people would be saved. Jesus tells him (us) to enter through the narrow gate. Jesus even adds that the gate will be locked, and when those who are not strong (in their faith) ask for entrance they will hear the response, “I do not know you”! Those are horrific words! Why would he say that? Perhaps we are going through the motions, but our hearts are divided. Only a small portion of our hearts are saved for the Lord. 

Remember, he is a jealous God and wants us all in. I know, I know, easier said than done. But, we need to start somewhere. You and I know where to start, on our knees. We need to spend more time in prayer. Then He will lead us where he wants us to be! What a wonderful place!

Serving with joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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The Least Among You

Today is my bride and I’s fifty-second anniversary! How is that possible? Because of her, we have raised eight children and I just recently baptized our 30th grandchild. What a joy!

Today in the Gospel of Luke he says, “the one who is the least among you all is the one who is the greatest”. That scripture doesn’t seem to fit in the ways of this world today. I was taught that a successful person was one that made a lot of money. I was “encouraged” to go to college to be a petroleum engineer. After my first semester in an engineering curriculum, I bowed out. Our professor told us that we all would be on a drafting board for at least five years! That did it. I went into secondary education. Somehow after student teaching, I got into the business world.

I got a job working for the branch of a large corporation. They were distributors of hydraulics and pneumatics. My drive to make it was still there with me. At this point in my life my wife and I had two children. I was climbing the corporate ladder and working a lot of hours. One evening I came home and for “some reason” came in the back door. Our two boys were by their mother in the kitchen. I opened the door, and they both went and hid behind their mother. Why? Because, they really didn’t know who I was! I went to work before they got up in the morning and came home after they were in bed. I was shocked and it broke my heart. That was the day I burned the corporate ladder! I’m glad there was a child in today’s gospel because the behavior of our two boys that day caused me to make a major life change. 

Being the least isn’t always easy. It needs love, sacrifice, humility, meekness, etc., and thick skin to say the least. Above all, it needs lots of faith! So, what is the payback? For me, the joys and sorrows of our large family (47) could not be purchased at any price. Oh yes, we had to go without some of the finer things in life, but the Lord has always provided for our needs. I seem to remember reading, “you cannot serve both God and mammon” (money). Sound familiar?

Serving With Joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Who Is Blameless?

       In today’s letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells us in the last line “to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father  at the coming of our lord Jesus with all his holy ones.” What does the word blameless mean to you? To me it means purity. When is the last time you heard a person in conversation use the word pure or purity? It just does not seem to be a word we use anymore. Dare I say it is because of a change in our culture? There are many areas of life where this change might have come from. If a generation is 40 years, then I have lived about two of them. The Lord touched me at four years old in the basement of a Free Methodist church in 1949. I have tried all my life, since then, to be obedient to God’s voice. Guess what? I don’t always do that! God in his mercy has never left me. 
       The change in our culture occurred in a very short time. The increase in technology has certainly contributed to it. How? 10-year-olds are carrying smartphones. They have access to the same filth that adults do. Violence in games seems to be addictive. Mortal Kombat was a big hit when it first came out a few years ago. Now there are some that make it look like Frogger. (Slight exaggeration.)  Some would say it doesn’t affect our children. Don’t believe that. I know a guy that lost his job because he couldn’t put down the controller and he played games all night. Then he was late for work every morning. It happened too many times. And he was fired. So, how do we guard ourselves and protect purity for ourselves and our children? Answer, by being intentional. And monitoring our children and ourselves. And making sure they are not watching inappropriate videos, etc. I have a daughter that does not allow their children to get on YouTube. It has a way of drawing one into other videos that may not be appropriate.
        Did you ever wonder what purity looks like? It’s easy, just pick up a baby and hold him or her in your left arm and then look lovingly at their face. This child is holy, pure, and innocent, it is the closest we get to seeing God. I believe the birth of my sister helped me in this area. She was born 12 years after me in 1957. When I turned 16 I got a car. And took her everywhere. She told me a while back that I took her and my girlfriend to the drive-in movie. No brother ever does that. At first I didn’t remember doing it. But I guess I did. It was the I was the only 16 year old guy in Ludington driving around with his little sister sitting next to him in his 1954 Buick. We are very close to this day.
       If today is the day you want to work on your purity, the answer is simple, ask God for the grace to do so. You can pray with great confidence that it will be answered! Why? Because He desires it more that you do! There is a condition. You must receive it and then put it into action. God will not force it upon you. You will become a new person!
      Serving with Joy!

Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Sts. Joachim and Anne, Parents of Mary, Friends Who Love You

I was thinking today how wonderful it would have been to live next door to Saints Joachim and Anne, listening to each other’s stories, crying and laughing with them. It would have been a great blessing. But wait! We kind of had that with our next door neighbors of 21 years. When they moved in next to us, the wife was having their second son and eventually had a daughter. Along the same path, we had five boys and three girls. It was life changing for my wife. And for me. My wife and our neighbor became soul mates and loved each other dearly. If you have friends that love you for who you are, you have a great treasure.

We now live hundreds of miles apart but still keep in contact. We missed those days. But they all prepared us for being better Christians later in life. We have done things that we never thought we would do. God is good! So, what am I trying to say?? The people we hang out with have a major impact on our own spiritual life. Some of you have a great support system. It could be members of your family or extended family, or friends from church or neighbors. 

If you say that those are not the kind of friends you have, but would like to; I would think that being involved in your Church would be a great start. Currently all our friends are from the three parishes that I am a Deacon in. All these parishes have different personalities, but we all have common goals.

Anne and Joachim remind me of the Holy Family. They had to be pretty holy to birth a daughter like our Blessed Mother. Ann Catherine Emerick said that when our Blessed Mother was brought to the temple, Joachim wept copious tears. Perhaps tonight you can meditate on that event, bringing Mary to the temple to be raised and educated there. If it sounds like a radical quest by the Lord, it’s probably true.

Serving with joy.

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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I Will Come

In today’s Gospel, we hear those very familiar words of the Centurion. In the previous Gospel, Jesus had just come down from the mountain. After preaching and teaching, he was healing people right and left. It didn’t matter what the afflictions were, Jesus healed them. Then, in today’s Gospel, people were pushing up to him from all sides, wanting his attention and help. Then something very strange happens. A Centurion comes up to him (a Centurion is a very important Roman soldier in charge of 100 men). He said to Jesus, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” Those that were there must have been astounded that a Roman soldier, let alone a centurion, a nonbeliever, would come to Jesus for help! In those times a servant was a kind of lowlife. And here was a soldier asking Jesus to help him. And what was Jesus’ answer?  “I will come and heal him”. The Centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed”. Do those words sound familiar? 

Imagine a man of great power humbling himself before Jesus. I was in the business world for 40 plus years. And never saw that kind of humility. With a man of great authority and power, it was usually the opposite. Jesus was touched by this man’s faith! This is an example of Jesus not being present for the healing. The servant was healed by long distance. This event was so profound that the Church fathers incorporated it in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! 

For me, the keyword in this event is faith. Remember the time Jesus was passing through Nazareth? He cured very few people there, because there was so little faith. He also told us that if we had the faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is a like a pepper speck. When I first saw it my heart sank. Is this me, I thought? Try looking at a speck of pepper and ask yourself, is my faith greater than this? The Centurion had no church, no sacraments, no devotions or Eucharist to come close to God. Yet he was close, very, very close.

Serving With Joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Want To Be First?

I really wanted to talk about Sirach today. He beseeches the Lord to pour out his grace and blessings upon all his servants. In a way, this is our daily prayer. As you know, his mercy is everlasting! 

In the Gospel of Mark today, we read, “taking them aside again”….. he tells them what, in detail, will happen to him.” After all that, the two brothers, James and John beg Jesus to let them have a high spot in heaven. Jesus replied by asking them if they can go through what he will go through. They answered, “We can!” Yeah, right! It would take some time for the disciples to truly understand what he was really saying.  In our human nature, many desire to be held in high esteem, to be number one, to be admired, and to portray that perfect person. That is a pretty tall order! Having the best clothes, the newest car, a bigger house, the finest watches… this is not what it’s all cracked up to be!

The greatest man alive, Jesus Christ, did not model those things of pride. No, he came as a servant, a suffering servant. Who are those today that model that same behavior? The first ones that come to mind are grandmothers. Most grandmothers are in constant motion helping their daughters and daughters in-law with their children and grandchildren with babysitting and house chores, and during the covid Pandemic, with homeschooling! Some young mothers and fathers were blindsided when all of a sudden their home became a school. Big shock!

I know one grandmother that drove 70 miles round trip two times a week to help their struggling daughters. Sometimes the modeling of Jesus Christ is as close as our own families or extended families. As we hear the voices of James and John today, do we hear ourselves? Probably, but still today the Lord speaks to us the same way. He loves us so much that he pulls us to himself. And calls us to servanthood. If you haven’t read Matthew 25 for a while, read it again. And find yourself in it!

Serving with joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Human or Spiritual?

I really enjoy Eastertime. It is really brought to life when we read the Acts of the Apostles every day! It also brings to life what they did and what we should be doing. A couple of verses before today’s readings in Acts people would bring their sick and lay them in the street hoping that at least Peter’s shadow would fall upon them and they would be healed (and they were). Folks, is that great or what? 

It is no wonder then that the Sadducees  became jealous of those involved and threw them in prison. We know that the Lord had a different plan for them. That day, an Angel let them out. They went to the temple and did exactly what they were told to do, preach the Good News. 

Have you or I ever failed to do what God has asked us to do? For me, I would have to say yes. There are two ways to solve a problem like this: humanly or spiritually. We are confronted every day with a myriad of problems, some big and some small. But we need to make decisions on every one of them. I am reminded of a time a few years ago. A coworker came into my office and was perplexed as to what color to paint his house. He and his wife had gone through many color chips and just couldn’t agree on a color. I asked him if he had prayed about it. “What?!” he said. “God doesn’t give a rip about what color my house is!” “Not true”, I said. “He does care. He cares about everything.” He replied with something like, “Whatever!” then threw his hands up in the air and walked out. I never did hear how that turned out. 

I entered the business world knowing nothing about the business world. It was very stressful to say the least. Little by little I learned that saying a short prayer before jumping in on something really made a difference. 

We have hundreds of thoughts going through our minds every day. We have plenty of opportunities to ask the Lord what would be most pleasing to him. Let us remember the apostles. The world told them to stop…and God told them to go! You may say, well, they had an Angel to help them! So do you. Your Guardian Angel. Put him to work! He will help you to do the right thing. 

Serving with joy! 

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Basketball Evangelization

Is anyone old enough to remember the guy that traveled from pro basketball and pro football games around the country for many years with his favorite sign: John 3:16? One thing he did was to raise awareness of that Bible verse. People around the country talked about him a lot. And most of the conversation was not very complimentary. Anyone that speaks openly about God or Jesus Christ is looked at as it’s being way outside the box. I am speaking here about conversations with friends and family members, not about giving talks at places of invite. 

I am sure you remember Saint John Paul II’s words on the “new evangelization”. I believe that he knew how much it was needed around the world. We can write all sorts of books on the subject but, are we as Catholics really evangelizing? The man at the basketball / football games was doing what he felt he was supposed to do, promote John 3:16. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” I applaud the man who had the guts to promote his God. To promote John 3:16. He was a fool for the Lord. When I heard people talk about him he was looked upon as some kind of Jesus freak. I heard that term for the first time back in the 60’s. It was about the same time the phrase God is dead was born. Also, about the same time that Madalyn Murray singlehandedly convinced the Supreme Court that there could no longer be prayer in public schools. How is that possible?? I was in the 6th grade in 1956 and Miss Mary Ewing read Bible passages to us almost every day! It was wonderful. 

The Church gives us this time of Lent to make sacrifices and to pray more to clear our minds on the state of our spiritual lives. Pray about it. The Lord will tell you what He wishes you to do. Let’s be in eternity together!

Serving with joy! 

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Does Jesus Hold Back?

What a wonderful way to start the day by remembering Angela Merici. She was a very special lady that lived in the 16th century. She was born in Italy and was orphaned at an early age and was sent to live with her uncle. When she turned 20, she moved back to her hometown of Desenzeno where she gathered her first group of girls and taught them the Catechism. Angela was the first woman to do such a thing. Later she founded a group of virgins called the Company of Saint Ursula in 1536. Why is this important? Because, one of my daughters, the one that is in charge of this blog site, attended an Ursuline college in Owensboro, KY. Instead of catechizing girls, she and her husband are forming their four little boys to be saints. 

Angela Merici must have read today’s Gospel since she was passionate about teaching the girls the Good News and the teachings of the Church. She also believed that the person receiving catechesis should be shown interest, gentleness, and persuasiveness rather than force. She believed that the home is the best place to learn about God and the Church. She also believed that if the country was not doing well, then the family was not doing well. Wow, how true!

Jesus admits that he holds back the mysteries of God from those who do not follow him. How best to follow him than to be taught at a young age the Word of God in Bible stories and teachings of the Church? What about us adults? Is just going to church on Sunday enough to receive some answers about the mysteries of God?  I feel The Lord is asking for more, much more. This last year has been clouded by what we have been asked to do because of COVID-19. We have discovered that being cooped up for months has not been good for our spiritual, mental and physical health. I have been surprised at how much it has affected me. I am a social kind of guy. Not seeing my friends and neighbors on a regular basis has had a negative effect on me. It seems to have stolen some of my joy. It made me realize that my real joy comes from the Lord. I wish I would have done a better job at filling that non-social time with more prayer to deepen my love and relationship with the Lord. I am attempting to do that now. 

Now, back to children.  I have always been amazed by how children are like sponges, eager to hear about Jesus.  If you have young children and have been negligent in reading books to them, try this: grab a book written for children that has a Bible story in it. You will have to multitask for this. Read this story slowly and with some emotion and try to catch glimpses of the child’s face as you are reading. You will be amazed at what you see in that child’s face. You will receive a great gift and so will the child. 

Also, today is my wife’s birthday. If you can, please lift up a prayer for her, she will love the grace!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Did You Dream?

“The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.”

Have you heard that Pope Francis declared this new Liturgical Year to be The Year of Saint Joseph? It’s true. A few months ago, my wife and I did the 33 days of consecration to Saint Joseph, modeled after the 33 days of consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The book on Saint Joseph is filled with unheard of stories by unheard of saints. It was exciting reading.

Do you remember Promise Keepers? It fired up thousands of men across the country to take a bolder stance for the Lord in their families and communities. The Catholic version was called Saint Joseph Covenant Keepers. Several men met at my house for about two years. Both movements started in the early 90’s. Together, we read quite a bit about Saint Joseph. Some call him the forgotten saint.  Someone prophesied that he would make himself well-known during the end times.

Today’s Gospel talks about Saint Joseph and his dreams. I guess we all have dreams, but how many of us dream that God is directing us what to do? And if he did, would we really believe it? As my wife will attest, my most frequent dreams have to do with being back in college. It is usually something along the lines of:  I forgot to study for a test, I could not remember my locker combination, and many, many more. (There were no dreams about partying!) Before college I would dream about a blimp hovering over my backyard in Ludington. Please do not try to analyze these. I already know the reason for the first one and I do not want to know the second one.

Take some time to put yourself into Saint Joseph’s sandals. First of all, to be a chosen partner of the Holy Family means he was a very faithful man! ( I can hardly wait to meet him!)  Being the holy man that he was, he was directed by the Holy Spirit to do what the Lord asked of him. And he obeyed. Pretty simple, right? Yes, but perhaps not so much for us sometimes. Feeling the Lord’s presence and “hearing” his voice is a wonderful gift. Sometimes it is still a challenge to discern what to do. It could be a mini test. The Lord desires a little more of our time spent with him, in a quiet place, just you and him, placing yourself in his love and mercy. In those moments he comes through and your face begins to glow, and your lips form a smile. You have been greatly blessed!

Now take that blessing and apply it to Advent. Now, turn the word dreaming into the word contemplating and reflect on what the Lord has done for you in his great love and mercy. Next week, we will relive the incredible gift that God the Father gave us through his Son. This was and is the greatest gift in the universe. Jesus was sent to earth as a baby, but he knew that he was sent here to save us. Remember, he saved us yesterday, he is saving us today, and he will save us tomorrow.  We do need saving. So, in this beautiful season let us prepare ourselves for His coming on Christmas, and His second coming as well. “Oh, that’s great and terrible day.”

Serve with joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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