Dear to Christ members of the OCPM family… I had the great honor and blessing to Chrismate two men in prison yesterday. The men were filled with such incredible joy. Things worked out perfectly to hear both of their confessions before the service. They also received Holy Communion. It was truly holy ground. Please pray […]
I confess to you, the reader, that I have played the “fool” in my own life. I remember as if it were yesterday, coming home from college for Christmas. My mom was cooking breakfast and mentioned something about God to me. I responded: “Mom, I no longer believe in God.” I thought we would embark […]
Saint Paul prayed that the Lord Jesus Christ “would grant you (us), according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and […]
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So, he arose and followed Him. (Matthew 5:16) And there you have it. The Holy Apostle Matthew has just described his own conversion to Christ. There is no doubt a whole lot more […]
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls […]
And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as […]
“God has placed a power in man’s soul. But it is up to him how he channels it —- for good or for evil. If we imagine the good as a garden full of flowers, trees and plants and the evil as weeds and thorns and the power as water, then what can happen is […]
It can be easy to trust in the Lord when everything seems to be going well, but difficult times can and do come to every life. We may be praying for ourselves or for someone we love dearly, but when those prayers are not answered in our timing, it can be easy to become upset […]
Happy New Church Year, which began on September 1st. A couple of challenges for us in this new year came from a most unlikely source. On a recent airplane trip, I listened to that classic book, Alice in Wonderland. I was reminded again of some spiritual concepts within it. Please join me in this journey […]
“Lord how many times must we forgive someone when they sin against us, seven times?” Jesus answers that question in Matthew 18 with “Not seven, but seven times seventy!” So, we should forgive someone 490 times? The “literalist” will start keeping an accurate record, so that when 490 times of forgiving someone is reached, we […]