“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”  (Mt. 1:20)

These were the words of an angel to Joseph in a dream explaining that Mary was pregnant not by any misdeed on her part, but by the Holy Spirit.  The birth of Jesus and our spiritual birth have a common element.  The source of both is the Holy Spirit. 

As we celebrate Christmas this week, let us remember the role of the Holy Spirit – how the creator of all that exists became one of us in the person of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, and how we too can personally experience the presence God through the same Holy Spirit. 

May the Holy Spirit enable us to continue to experience the presence of Jesus Christ more fully in all the circumstances of our lives. 

Dear Christ in Life and Work Readers,

I am excited to tell you about my new book, A Friendship that Transcends, Experiencing a Personal Relationship with Jesus that is now available at https://www.billdalgetty.com. Sixty-five stories illustrate passages from scripture and various experiences encountering God’s presence in all kinds of circumstances.  Here are just a few examples:

1. Praying with an employee planning to have an abortion
2. Experiencing God’s voice after a child is born with Down syndrome
3. Declining a career advancing promotion for family considerations
4. Experiencing physical healing of a child’s heart after the prayer of friends
5. Praying with people who are dying.
6. Seeking God’s will impacting decisions of a large multi-national company 

This book has received a Nihil Obstat from Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Arlington, Virginia Diocese as well as an endorsement from Bishop Peter Smith of the Portland, Oregon Diocese, and words of encouragement from Father Raniero Cardinal Cantalamessa of the Vatican. 

Father Jack Peterson, former Director of Youth Apostles of the Arlington Diocese, said, “While this book speaks from a Catholic perspective, it will appeal to all Christians because of Bill’s passion for inviting everyone to know and love Jesus with all their hearts.”

Thank you for considering. 

God bless you,

Bill Dalgetty

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  (Matthew 11:4-5)

These are the words of Jesus to the disciples of John the Baptist who asked Jesus on John’s behalf if Jesus is the one to come.  Both John’s disciples and Jesus are aware of the prophesy from Isaiah to which Jesus is referring.  As we celebrate the coming of Jesus’ birth and the fulfillment of these words of Jesus in his life and sometimes in ours, let us stop and consider what his coming really means to us.   

If we embrace Jesus and his coming, it means saying yes to a personal relationship with Jesus and experiencing his presence in this life and our life to come.  It means receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in Isaiah 11: 2-3 of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  St. Paul says that when we invite Jusus into our lives, we will experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23 of love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

While we may stumble from time to time, these blessings are available to us when we open the door of our life to Jesus and invite him in.  Angels declared Jesus’ coming to shepherds, representing the lowest and poorest of the Jewish population.  At the same time the Spirit of God led the wealthiest, kings from the East to search for the birth of Jesus. 

The angels appearing to the shepherds said that the good news they were proclaiming was for “all people,” not just the Jewish people but people of every race, creed and population – people from the East and people from the West.             

As we celebrate this Christmas season, let us extend a personal invitation to Jesus asking him to come into our lives.  If we are a practicing Christian, let us renew our invitation seeking to renew a relationship that may not have the intensity that it once had.  If we have never extended the invitation, let us do so now in the quiet of our hearts and spirit. 

Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20)

In today’s world if we had an important announcement, we would hold a press conference at a noteworthy location like the nation’s capital with various news reporters and TV networks beaming the message across the land, coupled with postings on all the internet social media.

God took an entirely different approach in announcing that he would become one of us in the person of his son, Jesus.  First, he speaks through the prophets in sometimes obscure ways hundreds of years in advance to people who could not possibly be alive when the event takes place. 

On the day of the grand event – the birth of his son, Jesus – he sends a group of angels not to the temple in Jerusalem to speak with the leaders of the Jewish faith, but to a group of obscure shepherds in the remote hills outside of the small village of Bethlehem.   While Luke reports that the shepherds made known the message they were given, and “all who heard it were amazed,” the number of people who heard this news from these unlikely heralds had to be minimal. 

Next, he uses John the Baptist, not to announce the birth of Jesus but to prepare people’s hearts for the coming of his public appearance.  Instead of John going to where the people were, he went out to the desert, and the people came to him.  Mark reports, “People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him.” (Mark 1:5) 

Think of how powerful the Spirit of God must have been working in John to cause people to make the strenuous journey, walking for two or more days over rugged roads from Jerusalem and other parts of Judea to the Jordan River!  Even the Pharisees and Sadducees made the trip.

God tells us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) We see a foretaste of the power of the Holy Spirit working in John the Baptist which he says Jesus will pass on to us. 

Come Lord Jesus!  Come Holy Spirit!

“Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

These were the words of the angel Gabriel in his appearance to Mary explaining how she could become pregnant with Jesus as a virgin, and how her cousin, Elizabeth, was already six months pregnant even in her old age with John the Baptist.

What a beautiful statement for us to remember when we are seeking God’s presence and action in our lives.  However extraordinary this occurrence may have been in the history of mankind, the words of Gabriel reflect a truth that nothing is impossible in furtherance of God’s will.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus makes a similar statement when healing a boy who was possessed by an evil spirit after the disciples were unable to do so.  The father of the boy pleaded with Jesus, “If you can do anything take pity on us and help us.”  Jesus said, “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  The father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”    

We can relate to the father of the boy because we do believe, but we also struggle with our unbelief.  Let us spend some additional time in prayer with the Lord this Christmas season, for “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  (Mark 9:23)   

Will you spend some extra time with the Lord this Christmas season?   

“Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

What an amazing promise by Jesus to the so-called good thief as they hung on the cross next to each other.  Tradition tells us the name of the good thief was Dismas.

Luke’s Gospel reports that the other thief on the cross had joined the crowd in hurling insults at Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah?  Save yourself and us.”  But Dismas rebuked him, saying, “Have you no fear of God…we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.  Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”  Jesus replied, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 

This statement confirms so many of Jesus’ other statements that we live on after our physical death and where will be is determined by our choice, as demonstrated by the actions of the two thieves.  As Bishop Fulton Sheen says in his book, Life of Christ, Dismas’ statement to Jesus “was the only word spoken to the Cross that was not a reproach.”  All other words spoken to Jesus by those present were challenging or mocking him.  It was also “the only word spoken to the Cross that received an answer, and it was the promise of Paradise to the thief that very day.”

This week we celebrate our national holiday of Thanksgiving.  In addition to all the usual things that we thank God for including life, family, friends, and wellbeing, let us remember Jesus’ promise to Dismas – the promise of life after this life with the creator of all that exists.

Will you be thanking God for the promise of paradise this Thanksgiving?

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” (John 4:1 – 42)

While traveling through Samaria, Jesus encountered a woman getting water at Jacob’s well.  Jews and Smaritans didn’t usually associate with one another, but Jesus surprised her by engaging in a conversation. As they talked, he mentioned that she had had several husbands.  She left her water jar, went back to town, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?”

The people in the town came out to listen to Jesus, and “many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the women’s testimony.”

This story is a great example of the importance of our personal testimonies in bringing people to Christ. 

This past Sunday, I was participating at our church in a video series entitled The Resuce Project conducted by Father John Ricardo, Ch 7 – Words are not enough – The Experience – ACTS XXIX. His talk and reflection were on the Holy Spirit.  Toward the end of his talk, he asked people to imagine that they were having a personal conversation with Jesus.  He said let the Holy Spirit convince you that the Father loves you for who you are.  He said the Holy Spirit is in you like heat is in hot water. Let him convince you that Jesus came to rescue you and love you.   

In a discussion that followed, I was prompted to share that I had responded to a similar suggestion by a priest several years earlier that resulted in my having a personal encounter with Jesus.  This encounter led to a turning point in my life and a complete change in my priorities.   

While I may never know the effect of my testimony, I think the Lord wants us to share our experiences with him as he prompts us to do so.    

Have you shared your experiences of the Lord with others?       

“You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3: 1 – 21)

Jesus is having a conversation with Nicodemus, a Jewish Pharisee, who came to Jesus seeking understanding about Jesus’ miracles.  Jesus tells him, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”  Nicodemus is thinking of physical birth and asks how a person can be born a second time.  Jesus is speaking of a spiritual birth, and responds, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit.” 

We do receive the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our baptism and the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, along with a reaffirmation of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation.  But we may also need to experience a personal encounter with Jesus and the release of the power of the Holy Spirit as an adult to fully experience the reality of our baptism – thus, being born again in the Spirit. 

I have shared in these pages before of an incident in my 30’s when I experienced a personal encounter with Jesus and the release of the power of the Holy Spirit at a renewal program conducted by some nuns in Scarsdale, New York.  In response to a priest’s prayer, I had asked Jesus to free me from a particular sin in my life and he did.  The nuns subsequently prayed for me to experience the release of the power of the Holy Spirit,  

From that point forward my priorities and focus changed from being very career oriented to being more family focused and seeking God’s will in the daily choices of life.  I am still very capable of messing up and do so quite often, but the Spirit always draws me back to God. 

It’s been forty-eight years since that October evening, and I have tried to share about God’s presence in a variety of circumstances involving family, children, grandchildren, work, friends, and all kinds of situations in these pages.  I praise God for that special moment that led to a life full of moments of experiencing God’s presence.

Have you accepted Jesus’ invitation to be spiritually born again?

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

I was on a retreat this past weekend where the theme was welcoming God into our deepest thoughts in order to let him work on us.  For this to happen we need to be still before the Lord as the psalm encourages.  While I start most days with a time of prayer, I often find myself doing prayer rather than spending time WITH the Lord. 

I read scripture or the mass readings for the day or the Liturgy of the Hours but neglect to ask the Lord if he has something to say to me?  I will ask him to bless my day and my family and whatever may be on the schedule.

But I tend to be a doer like Martha in the story in Luke 10:38 – 42 where Jesus was visiting the home of Martha and Mary.  Martha got upset because Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him and not helping with the preparations for a meal.  Jesus’ response was, “Martha, Martha, you are upset and worry about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

It is clear that Jesus places a high priority on our listening to him.  While he is in us through our baptism and we benefit from his presence, we benefit even more when we take time to actively listen to him.  Just as I am asking him right now to put thoughts in my mind to write this blog, we can ask him in our prayer time and throughout the day to guide us in whatever we are doing —  responding to a deadline at work, resolving a conflict with a family member, or reacting to a stranger asking for a handout on a street corner. 

Our thoughts can be a battleground.  Satan loves to distract us in our thoughts about personal needs and desires, but focusing on God’s presence in us can offset that self-focus and bring God’s presence into the circumstances of our lives.  As John says in his first letter, “for he who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world.” 1John 4:4)

Do you do prayer or spend time with the Lord, listening to him?

“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)

How much faith do we have to pray in the name of Jesus for our needs?  I have seen prayers in the name of Jesus heal a hole in the heart of our daughter, Emily; restore a vision loss in me from glaucoma; find wonderful Christian spouses for our four married children; and keep me alive from a diagnosis of an aggressive and advanced prostate cancer 19 years ago.

In the workplace, I have seen prayers in the name of Jesus turn a negative work environment into a positive one; enable a person to forgive a business partner who had defrauded him of thousands of dollars; and guide a prosecutor to lead a defendant he had prosecuted several times to surrender his life to Christ before he died.

In Acts 3, a cripple asks Peter and John for alms as they are entering the temple.  Peter responds, “Look at us…I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, walk.” Peter then takes his hand and lifts him up.  His feet and ankles instantly become strong, he jumps to his feet, and he begins walking, jumping, and praising God.

Jesus says when we pray in his name, we create an opportunity for him to bring glory to the Father.  Jesus wants to bring glory to the Father.  So, it isn’t just about praying for our needs, it is also about providing an opportunity for Jesus to bring glory to the Father.  This was not something that was meant only for the early Church. These words apply to us today as well.  Pray for something in the name of Jesus today so that he may bring glory to the Father. 

How much faith do you have in the name of Jesus?