JOY Alive in Our Hearts

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

Tagged: Christmas

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.

CatholicMom.com / Fr. Bob Hilz / Giveaways / Jesus / Joy / Nancy Ward / Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story

Got Joy? Latest posts 12-27-19

Enjoy six posts on JoyAlive.net that launched the Christmas season we are celebrating. A letter home from my Father on Christmas Eve from Germany in 1944; Catholicmom.com: Something wonderful is about to happen recalls how, as a young mom far away from home, I almost missed experiencing the spirit of Christmas; Friar’s Corner: Rejoice! Jesus is always with us; Last Buy One, Gift One Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story of the year; Don’t miss the great blessing of Christmas like the Innkeeper at Bethlehem; Friar’s Corner: Christ’s Mission is possible! We are Jesus’ friends, ambassadors and evangelists, sent to bring God’s good news into the world.

Pfc John Franklin Cook, 1945

Joy

Featured Favorite: Christmas 1944 in Germany

Merry Christmas Darling! And to all my three daughters a happy one. I thought of all of you through the long Xmas eve night and just had to dig out this scrap of paper and say it to you even though it will be late getting there. I’m sitting in the uncovered part of my hole and the sun is shining on the snow. “White Christmas” is a nice song but not for outdoor living. We argued yesterday about whether it was Christmas Eve or not and finally found out that it was. One person has said, “Merry Christmas” to me so far and I guess that’s all I’ll hear of it, but plenty goes on in my mind and I know that you will understand my longing to be with you at this time. Just before dawn, I said a prayer for all the war’s sorrowful people, that their sorrows would be lessened, and that this mad killing would come to an end – and could go no further, not even a prayer for you and me.

Advent / Catholic family / CatholicMom.com / Jesus / Joy / Nancy Ward / Scriptures

CatholicMom: Something Wonderful is About to Happen

Something wonderful is about to happen to you. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. Are you ready for His joyful coming? Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. (Luke 12:35) He wants to give you something amazing, and He’s trying to get your attention. With all the secular signs of Christmas in the streets and malls and on the Internet, it’s refreshing to walk into a church and see the purple banners and the Advent candles surrounded by a wreath of greenery. Do you sense the coming of something magnificent?

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.

Advent / Catholic family / Jesus / Joy

Don’t miss the great blessing of Christmas

Jesus was born in a stable because there was no room or him in the inn. The innkeeper didn’t know that the Son of God was coming to him. He wasn’t prepared and missed a great blessing. If the innkeeper had known what we know, how differently he might have acted. The Scriptures would have acknowledged him as a participant in this great event. The gospel might read, “Jesus was born in an inn in Bethlehem, far from his home, attended by the innkeeper and the innkeeper’s wife.” Pilgrimages would bring the faithful to this famous inn instead of to the cave.

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

Books / Catholic / Evangelization / Giveaways / Joy / Nancy Ward / Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story

Buy One, Gift One free for Christmas!

For a limited time, get in on this amazing deal! Purchase Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies paperback and get the Kindle version free December 2-5.

Just click on the Amazon sales link below and buy the paperback. Order the book for yourself or send it to a close friend or loved one.

When you receive your notice that Amazon has shipped the book, forward that email to nancyhcward@verizon.net. Include the name and email address of the person you want to receive a redemption link that can be redeemed for the Kindle version. For each paperback book you buy, you will receive a redemption link for the free Kindle version. Limit 5 books.