Monday Morning Connection:

Today is Monday, December 9, 2013
This is also the (moved) feast of the Immaculate Conception of The Virgin Mary.

Good Morning.

A thought for the day:
“Evil gets at us by appealing to legitimate drives within us .”

The Church’s 1st reading for today: Genesis chapter 3 verses 9-15

After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree,
the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself.”
Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”
The LORD God then asked the woman,
“Why did you do such a thing?”
The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals
and from all the wild creatures;
on your belly shall you crawl,
and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.”

The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

* * * *

As Adam and his sons, Cain and Abel, were walking one day, they passed the beautiful Garden of Eden. Just to pass by was an experience. Adam knew what was inside those beautiful gates -- the lush fruit, the gorgeous flowers -- it was a place of endless delight.

An angel with a flaming sword was guarding the gate. Adam said, "Boys, take a good look. That's where we lived before your mother and I ate us out of house and home."

In the words of Paul Harvey, "that's the rest of the story."

Adam and Eve’s behavior had repercussions not just for themselves but for their sons as well. You and I, our behaviors affect others too. As we journey toward Christmas, let us examine our lives, our actions, yes, our thoughts and words as well, that we might celebrate Christ with endless delight.


God bless,
Father Pat
ps… because of the problems with my internet service, for the time being I will be posting my morning connection also on my blog: www.fatherpatspage.blogspot.com