"Let It Reign": 10,000+ plays on YouTube "Anna Post Writing" - 100,000+ streams on Spotify; - Radio IMC Christian Songwriting 2020 - AVA Radio #1 Indie Music Song of the Year 2020 "Alive Again": Top 10 Adoration Radio "Love's in a Name": Platinum Auddy Songwriting Award "Do What He Tells You to Do": 2017 Radio Music Award "Peter the Rock" : Presented by Ambassador Raymond Flynn to John Paul II "Booze Blues Cruise" Nominated Best Rock Artist 2014 Artists in Music Awards
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Mark's Most Memorable Albums!
I was seven when the family went to Roseland Restaurant in Augusta, ME circa 1964. They used to have jukeboxes right in the booths where you could put in the tunes, and they would play throughout the restaurant. I don't know why my dad kept feeding me the quarters, but I played "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" about 13 times in a row! Soon the whole restaurant was looking over at our booth - I can't say that I blame them! I watched the Ed Sullivan show, listened to their other songs from that first album released in the US. As an addendum, later on that year, I walked into Woolworth's five-and-dime and bought my first single with my own money; it was "Hard Day's Night/I Should Have Known Better".
Pentecost Has COME!
A Reflection by Mark Lajoie
“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, ‘What are we to do, my brothers?’
Peter [said] to them, ‘Repent and be baptized,* every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
– Acts 2:37-38
“What are we to do?”, the crowd at Pentecost asked. How can we find peace, and be saved? We are all in this most crucial predicament.
In today’s
Gospel, the Risen Christ comes through the locked doors on Easter night, and
appears, in order to give to His Apostles the great Gift that solves
this dilemma for us all:
“Peace be
with you”, He said…
“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Why is this the Gospel
for Pentecost? This took place 50 days before the Birth of the Church in the Upper
Room. Why? Because Easter night is the moment the King gave the Apostles the
power to do what they did as His official representatives, as promised, on that
glorious day of Pentecost fifty days later. They received the Gift so we
all can receive the Gift. Because they are made Bishops and Shepherds in
persona Christi, we sheep can be fed and led in the power of grace.
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The first reading tells us the exquisite timing; because it was an
important Jewish feast, “there
were devout Jews from every nation under heaven”. This new and perfectly fulfilled ‘Davidic Kingdom’
was meant to bring perfect unity from total diversity, to bring that
long-desired peace and holiness through the Apostles. All those thousands Peter
and the Apostles baptized, all those to whom they gave the Sweet Bread of Life
that day, went back to every part of the world with the Good News. From Day One,
the Church is one, holy, Catholic (universal) and Apostolic, first given to
these Jews of all places, and then, to all Gentiles and to the ends of the
earth.
The message from this day is clear: You can find out
what to do! You can find holiness and be saved, wherever you are from or
whoever you are! What must we do? Repent and change our hearts! Be baptized! Listen
to the sure teaching passed down by Peter and the Apostles and recognize Christ
in the breaking of the Bread as the two disciples did in Emmaus! RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT in the Sacraments instituted by the King!
And, so, it has come to us the baptized today
through the Church. I can turn to Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; I can
go to Mass, I can pray and intercede with power, filled with grace, just like
that Mother of the Cenacle with whom I am now praying every day. It is a great
Gift, this Holy Spirit, in my daily life, in my heart of hearts.
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
their flesh
with its passions and desires. If we live in
the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.”
"’Let
anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.
As Scripture says:
‘Rivers of Living Water will flow from within
him who believes in me.’
He said this in
reference to the Spirit
that those who came to believe in him were to receive.”
Every one of us can “belong to Christ Jesus”, can be
that one who believes, so that he can receive THE Gift! the Gift of the Holy Spirit, which flows for us poor
sinners; it flows for those who are ready to give Him their entire hearts and lives!
It is a worthy and gracious exchange: we give him what little we have, and He
gives us Himself; He gives us Everything. Let us together receive this Gift in
Communion and Charity.
AMETUR COR JESU!
Loved be the Sacred
Heart of Jesus…Who gave us this Greatest Gift!
PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
O Lord Jesus Christ
Who, before ascending into Heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish
Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same
Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul the work of Your grace and
Your Love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable
things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the
Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the Light of Your Divine Truth,
the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and
gaining Heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and
that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation,
the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in
the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of
God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a
loving reverence toward God and may dread in any way to displease You. Mark me, dear Lord with the sign of Your true
disciples, and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.
Pentecost Playlist by LW on Spotify
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Pentecost is Coming!
Pentecost is Coming!
On Day One of the Church, three thousand received forgiveness through Baptism, the "breaking of the Bread", and the Gift of powerful prayer. Let us pray these next few days with the Apostles and Mary in the Cenacle, that, on Pentecost, we too may be filled to the fullest with grace!
Pentecost Playlist on RN
Pentecost Playlist on Spotify
Sunday, May 2, 2021
Looking at Videos!
Looking at Videos!
Peace & Love & JOY,
Mark LaJOIE! for Living Waters!