JOY Alive in Our Hearts

The joy of conversion, Christian community, and the Catholic faith

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For the term "Fr. Bob Hilz".

Fr. Bob Hilz / Holy Spirit / Jesus / Joy / Pentecost / Renewal

Friar’s Corner: Power of God, the Holy Spirit

As we really pray this Sequence, not just read it, something amazing begins to increase in us. Jesus’ Light grows in intensity in us. We enter more deeply into the fountain of “living water,” Jesus promised to the women at the well in St. John 4:10: Jesus replied to the women and to us: “If you recognized God’s gift, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him instead, and He would have given you Living Water….the water I give shall become a fountain within the person leaping up to provide eternal life,” John 4:14. See also Ezekiel 47, Isaiah 55:1ff and Psalm 1. Aren’t these wonderful promises and blessings? Let us praise and thank God for all He has already given us. Scripture says, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you shall find.”

The Friar's Corner

Eucharist / Fr. Bob Hilz / Lent / Scriptures

Friars Corner: The New Testament Great Commandment

We Christians are storytellers. Each day at daily Mass Liturgy, we are reading stories about Jesus and his wonderful care for us. Daily at this time of year before Lent, we are reading from the early chapters of St. Mark. What was Jesus doing in the first part of his public life? Jesus got countless people’s attention by healing them. The stories and different and wonderful. The love and care for people was awesome. The early followers of Jesus were empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to go forth to the whole world to bring the good news of Jesus to all peoples in power. They weren’t perfect but God used them to spread the news.

The Friar's Corner

Catholic / Evangelization / Fr. Bob Hilz / Jesus / Joy / Living Your Faith / Scriptures

Friar’s Corner: Light up your life!

Have you found the light of your life? The light has been here and he is brighter than our earthly sun. He is the glorious, warm and loving light that sets you on fire without burning you. As you catch his fiery light you get lifted up and you want to jump for joy. Alleluia! It can happen if you long for it. Go to a good Pentecostal church where the people really “light up” and jump for joy. Catholics tend to be very quiet and reserve.

Catholic family / CatholicMom.com / Conversion / Fr. Bob Hilz / Holy Spirit / Jesus / Joy / Mary / NewEvangelizers.com / Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story

Got Joy? Latest posts 1-10-20

Latest posts: Cause of Our Joy: How Mary helps us share our story – I discovered Mary’s place in my life and in the Church quite late into my life-long conversion as a Catholic. I began paying attention to what I accepted in my head but never got to my heart, like the importance of Mary. NewEvangelizers: Butterflies at Wal-Mart? Her touch seemed to freeze us in time. I barely was aware of the noisy crowd as if the three of us were invisible to them. Friars Corner: Jesus wants to be our best friend and savior – May the Holy Spirit pierce your heart and mind in these first days of the New Year with great amazement for all that God does for us each day. May you spend a little time each may just loving the Trinity from the depths of your heart. Prayer Companion: Come, Holy Spirit – How do we acquire the Holy Spirit when we are alone, frustrated, and confused? A prayer that works anywhere, anytime: “Come, Holy Spirit!” This calms us and brings us into communion with God. The Gate of the Year – And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” Best of 2019: I wanted an Everyday Church – I wanted to be part of that original church, to be in close relationship with Jesus like those kneeling, receiving his body and blood as often as they could, to know about saints and martyrs who went before us in faith.

The Friar's Corner

Advent / Catholic / Eucharist / Fr. Bob Hilz / Holy Spirit / Jesus / Scriptures

Friar’s Corner: Rejoice, Jesus is always with us

I hope you had an exciting and joyful week getting to know Jesus better and wanting to follow him. We are three days away from another remembrance of the first coming to Earth of God’s Son to save and redirect the human race back to God. God had spoken to various key people during two thousand years of Jewish history since the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, yet the messages did not get through to humans clearly enough. So the Son of God had to come to earth himself, taking on our human nature except for the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve. He came to speak to us person-to-person and to thousands, as a human person, while he lived on earth for thirty-three years. Many Christians lose the significance of his first coming because this day has been so commercialized with Christmas presents. As faithful followers of Jesus, we celebrate Christmas, Jesus’ first coming, with some degree of joy.

The Friar's Corner

Advent / Catholic / Eucharist / Evangelization / Fr. Bob Hilz / Holy Spirit / Jesus / Joy / Sacraments / Scriptures

Friar’s Corner: Christ’s Mission is possible!

We are more than halfway through Advent. Our celebration and remembrance of Christ’s birth is only 10 days away. For me, my greatest joy is that Jesus is still with us. he did go back to heaven in his glorified body at the Ascension. For some, he is gone from us. That is “fake news.” For others, Jesus promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” Matthew 28:20c. He also told us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30. When we look at the facts in our four gospels and our nearly two thousand years of Catholic tradition, Jesus is still daily present in spiritual ways all over the world and his loving power flows through his sacraments and our prayer lives to us

The Friar's Corner

Advent / Catholic family / Fr. Bob Hilz / Heaven / Jesus

Friars Corner: Getting closer to Jesus

St Paul tells us, “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” Every day of our life is nearer to our personal judgment at the end of our life on earth. Advent gives us time to adjust our life schedule. It is “winter cleaning” not spring cleaning which is for Lent. In Matthew 24 we find similar words, in the days of Noah before the flood, we hear, “They (the people of Nineveh) did not know until the flood came and carried them all away…So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” So my brothers and sisters, hopefully, we will meet one day in heaven. This Advent let us look at our daily schedule of events and find a little more time to get closer to Jesus. He will bring you more joy and other wonderful gifts. Every day in prayer has its own gifts.

Got Joy?

Catholic family / Evangelization / Fr. Bob Hilz / Jesus / Joy / Nancy Ward / Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story

Got Joy? Latest posts 11-29-19

Our family tradition for Thanksgiving grace is sung to the tune of “Edelweiss” from the Sound of Music. The Von Trapp family at the festival performed the forbidden national anthem, Edelweiss, as they prepared to escape the country.
If you think the last thing you want to talk about at a Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas Eve gathering is evangelization, I’ve got good news for you! ‘Tis the season for evangelization!
Jesus is not dead and still in a tomb in Jerusalem. He is alive and gloriously reigning in heaven and in our lives if we are responding to his love for us