Bullseye Reflections

  SUICIDE OF A VETERAN Dedicated to Sean Leahy, my nephew   A Veteran             Strong, outer presence             Crumbling inside   Insights within             Moments of clarity             Authenticity with self and others             Is interior strength possible?   Constant, relentless             Visions, thoughts             Tearing at the insight             Breaking down strength within   Crumbling inside seeps outward             The strong outer presence begins to crumble   “You would be better off without me…”   Offering the ultimate sacrifice, The battle ends with gunfire.   Sara Fontana December 3, 2022    

  SARA FONTANA presents an ARMOR OF GOD Family Challenge.... Take up the Armor of God challenge in your family. Print out this blog and use it for Faith Conversations and discussion during the month.   Discuss one piece of armor du ring dinner and use the Faith Conversation questions & tips listed below to have a discussion on how you, your child and your family can put on and use that part of the armor of God. Watch the Armor of God YouTube video with your children https://youtu.be/KxBHEkEzT3M Armor of God Song by BearHug band Research has shown that families who make the time to have family dinners together and have Faith Conversations with their children raise up adults who stand strong in their faith. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to have faith conversations in your family centered on Ephesians 6:10-18 which gives us direction on putting on the full armor of God so that we can "take our stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not a

       St. Patrick used Celtic symbols like a Celtic knot to explain God’s love. In the same way Christians today can take secular love songs and use them to remind us of God’s love. I have done just that throughout my ministry with teens and families and even for myself personally. I have taken songs that are heard on secular radio stations and placed a Christian thought on the words of the song. That happened to me when I heard DON’T GIVE UP ON ME by Andrew Gramer.       Not soon after the Uvalde shooting a friend of mine sent me the YouTube video of Gramer singing the song with students. I cried as I watched it. I found a YouTube with the words of the song and watched that one and cried again as I imagined Jesus stepping into my great grief and sadness saying to me, and to all of us… No matter what this world will throw. It won’t shake me [Jesus] loose. I’ll reach my hands out in the dark and wait for yours to interlock. I’ll wait for you.   Jesus waits and invites us to reach out o

  On August 8, 1981 we exchanged our marriage vows at St. Edmonds Catholic Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. We asked Fr. Fred Reynolds, S.J., the main presider at our wedding, to choose the Gospel reading for the mass.  He chose St. Luke’s story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem and people laying palms before him.  He shared, in his homily, that that is a strange reading for a wedding, but not a Christian wedding where a man and woman stand before witnesses and die to themselves in order to be resurrected as a couple set apart for the service and worship of God.  Together they take up their cross of living out the Sacramental mystery. The Icon Fr. Fred gave us to commemorate our wedding is a constant reminder of that celebration and his words to us. Through the cross is new life and joy in marriage.  There have been temptations, distractions and incredibly hard times. We have gotten through these times by following Fr. Fred’s encouragement to recognize the mystical presence of Jesus in eac

A prayer chain. A chain that captures a person, persons or event in thoughts and words lifted to God. A prayer chain. Intended to surround a person, persons or event with intense love. A prayer chain. Pleading words that God's love be manifested in the world and true freedom be realized within the person, persons or event that the prayer chain captures.   DICHOTOMY