A man was sleeping at night in his house when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do and showed him a large rock in front of his house. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s mind such as: “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure, these thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. “Why kill myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort, and that will be good enough.” And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.  “Lord,” he said, “I have laboured long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?” To this the Lord responded compassionately… (more…)

You perhaps recall the story of the blacksmith who gave his heart to God. Though conscientious in his living, still he was not prospering materially. In fact, it seems that from the time of his conversion more trouble, affliction and loss were sustained than ever before. Everything seemed to be going wrong. One day a friend who was not a Catholic stopped at the little gorge to talk to him. Sympathizing with him in some of his trials, the friend said “It seems strange to me that so much affliction should pass over you just at the time when you have become an sincere Catholic. Of course, I don’t want to weaken your faith in God or anything like that. But here you are, with God’s help and guidance, and yet things seem to be getting steadily worse. I can’t help wondering why it is.” The blacksmith did not answer immediately, and it was evident that he had thought the same question before. But finally, he said… (more…)

A young, newly-ordained priest was walking with an older, more seasoned parish priest in the garden one day and feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was inquiring of the older man. The parish priest walked up to a rosebush and handed the young priest a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals. He looked in disbelief at the older priest and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know God’s will for his life and for his ministry. Because of his high respect for the older priest, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact… It wasn’t long before he realized that it was impossible to do so. Noticing the young priest’s inability to unfold the rosebud while keeping it intact, the older priest began to tell him the following poem… (more…)

He sits by himself at a table for two. The uniformed waiter returns to his side and asks, “Would you like to go ahead and order, sir?” The man has, after all, been waiting since seven o’clock–almost half an hour. “No, thank you,” the man smiles. “I’ll wait for her a while longer. How about some more coffee?” “Certainly, sir.” The man sits, his clear blue eyes gazing straight through the flowered centrepiece. He fingers his napkin, allowing the sounds of light chatter, tinkling silverware, and mellow music to fill his mind. He is dressed in sport coat and tie. His dark brown hair is neatly combed, but one stray lock insists on dropping to his forehead. He is dressed up enough to make a companion feel important, respected, loved. Yet he is not so formal as to make one uncomfortable. It seems that he has taken every precaution to make others feel at ease with him. Still, he sits alone. The waiter returns to fill the man’s coffee cup. “Is there anything else I can get for you, sir?” “No, thank you.” The waiter remains standing at the table. Something tugs at his curiosity. “I don’t mean to pry, but…” His voice trails off. This line of conversation could jeopardize his tip. “Go ahead,” the man encourages. His is strong, yet sensitive, inviting conversation. (more…)

Once upon a time, Satan was having a car boot sale. There, standing in little groups were all of his bright, shiny trinkets. Here were tools that make it easy to tear others down for use as stepping stones. And over there were some lenses for magnifying ones own importance, which, if you looked through them the other way, you could also use to belittle others, or even one’s self. Against the wall was the usual assortment of gardening implements guaranteed to help your pride grow by leaps and bounds: the rake of scorn, the shovel of jealousy for digging a pit for your neighbour, the tools of gossip and backbiting, of selfishness and apathy. All of these were pleasing to the eye and came complete with fabulous promises and guarantees of prosperity. Prices, of course, were steep; but not to worry! Free credit was extended to one and all. “Take it home, use it, and you won’t have to pay until later!” old Satan cried, as he hawked his wares. Business was brisk. One visitor, as he browsed, noticed two well worn, and very plain tools standing in one corner – practically unnoticed. Not being nearly as tempting as the other items, he found it curious that these two tools had price tags higher than any other. When he asked why, Satan just laughed and said, “Well, that’s because I use them so much. If they weren’t so plain looking, people might see them for what they were.” Satan pointed to the two tools, saying, “You see, that one’s Doubt and that one’s Discouragement — and those will work when nothing else will – believe me!”

Forty-two years ago, two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon. But what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it. “I’m talking

about the fact that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he wrote about it in Guideposts magazine. And a few years ago I had the  privilege of meeting him myself. I asked him about it and he confirmed the story to me, and I wrote about in my book “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)”. Buzz Aldrin took Communion with him out of the Earth’s orbit and on to the surface of the moon. He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement: “This is the LM pilot. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”  He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion. Here is his own account of what happened: (more…)

A little boy wanted to meet God.  He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato crisps and a six-pack of lemonade and started his journey. When he had gone about three streets, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to  him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his lemonade when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him some crisps. He gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. His smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a lemonade. Again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted!  They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. He gave him his biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I had lunch with God.”  But before his mother could respond, he added, “You know what?  He’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!” Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied “I ate potato crisps in the park with God.”  However, before his son responded, he added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.” Too often we under-estimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a  lifetime! Embrace all equally! Have lunch with God… and bring crisps.