Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

The Entrance Antiphon for this Sunday: "Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you, that your prophets be found true. Hear the prayers of your servant, and of your people Israel." Cf. Sirach 36:18

Collect: Look upon us, O God, Creator and ruler of all things, and, that we may feel the workings of your mercy, grant that we may serve you with all our heart.

First Reading is Isaiah 50: 5-9a

"The Lord God opens mh ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back....."

Responsorial Psalm: "I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living." 

Second Reading is from the Letter of Saint James 2:14-18

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?...."

Gospel is Mark 8: 27-35 "Jesus and his disciples set out for the village of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?' ....and then Jesus asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ."

There is much more to today's Gospel, but I am always stopped by the question that I believe Jesus keeps asking each of us today - "But you, who do you say that I am?"Today!

Powerful Prayers in Time of Crisis

 

Does it help to try to be peaceful on this anniversary that brings each of us such terrible memories? I am going to just look for a prayer from Jan Connell's book, Christ Through Mary: Powerful Prayers in a Time of Crisis. I have told you about the book and the thought of using some of the prayers on Saturdays and now I have Jan's permission to do so.

This is a prayer of St. Augustine found on p. 11"

O Blessed Mary, who can return to you sufficient thanks, or adequately celebrate your praises, for having by your consent succored a ruined world? 

What praise can human weakness offer to you, which by your means has found the port of salvation?

Holy Mary! succor the miserable, help the fainthearted, comfort the mournful, pray for the peo-ple, intercede for consecrated souls, pray for devoted souls and let everyone experience your intercession who celebrates you. Amen.

Refection needs clear, calm water

 We all need to take time to reflect on our lives, our decisions, our choices; we cannot do this well unless we are calm and our minds and hearts clear and prepared to listen to God. Discernment is a way of learning to listen to God. 

God gives us different calls

 I love this picture, but we need water so badly in California that I fear this little stream has dried up since I took the photo. The West needs water and the East has had too much and will get more, I think, as it is hurricane season still.

I thought that my reflection group in Miami would be meeting in person this year, but they will still meet on zoom and that is a joy for me as I enjoy being with them and find zoom a good way for me to communicate.

I am thinking of the grace of a vocation - any calling is a grace; it does not need to be to religious life. Some calls are clear: a person who has always desired to be a doctor or a nurse; the one who knows that she or he will find a way to paint or sculpture because the artistic temperamnent is strong from youth; then there are those who want only to get married and have a family - that is a vocation, too. I just do not know why we insist on talking about vocation only as a calling to religious life. I feel that whatever we are called to do is important and is our way of pleasing God who is the one who calls us.

God is faithful and continues to call us and we must continue to discern His calls. I think that being in a retirement community is a call for me to become more contemplative. I have more time for prayer and the silence and solitude, so helpful to contemplation, is possible just by staying in my room. I am aware that the many activities here are an aid for many, but I am limiting myself to a weekly book club meeting, the community reunion every Monday, and sometimes the Saturday afternoon movie. However, I do spend time reading and playing Words with Friends on my I-pad. I think writing this blog has been a grace for me and has made me more reflective. I need to wait for the Holy Spirit to inspire me. Today, I am just jotting down what has come into my head. It is not very inspiring!

The Nativity of Our Lady

 

Today we celebrate Our Lady's birthday. I chose the picture of Mater as I love Our Lady and like to think of her enjoying the fact that we have chosen a date for the entire Church to celebrate her birthday. I am thinking what gift would she like to have me offer her today?

We continue to be tested weekly. One of my friends who lives in a retirement home in Dallas has COVID and is on an ventilator so please pray for her. Her son wrote and requested prayers; she not only read my blog each day, but often sent me good feedback. I also pray for her husband who counts on her.

We had a beutiful sharing for one of our nuns this morning; her funeral will be on Thursday. We always share our memories of the person who has died and it is amazing to see how each has had a real influence on our community. Some will have stories from having lived with the person years ago. 

Creative Writing

 What do you see? Sometimes a stange picture is enough to awaken our imaginations. Our new Life Enrichment Director has begun a small writing group. Threre were only six of us present yesterday and only two of us had been present for the first session that spoke of writing our memoirs. Yesterday we heard of different ways to be creative in writing when we felt we could not write or were stuck. Then we were given ten minutes to write about a room - any room. Afterwards, we read what we had each written and I found that the best part of the exercise. Each one had chosen a different kind of room and it was fascinating to hear the different ways they approached describing their "room" - one had chosen the beach! I chose the living room in the large home we lived in from sixth grade to when I entered the Society of the Sacred Heart just after my 19th birthday. I loved that room and all the family gatherings. In ten minutes I did not finish my description but have been remembering how we were allowed to toast marshmellows in the fireplace, how the Christmas tree was always placed in front of the French doors, how the firplace was flanked by two built in bookcases; the one on the left was mine and the one on the right was my father's. 

Today I thought of how God was present in that living room with all of us. I think I am going to enjoy this creative writing. I suggest that you try it, too. I actually have an autobiography that I wrote because of the interest of my community but that was in 2003 so I guess I should be adding the important things I remember from these last years.

 Work is a blessing! It is also a gift to be able to take a holiday and rest from work. When I say work is a blessing, I am thinking of the ability to work, to earn a living; I cannot understand why we are refusing to insist that workers receive a living wage. We are supposed to be a wealthy country, but we cannot provide jobs with fair salaries for all those who seek work. Let us pray today for just wages for all. 

Labor Day is really a day of rest for so many and even the school children enjoy having a holiday so close to the start of classes. I remember when schools actually only began after Labor Day!

Many will be spending this holiday cleaning up after the hurricane and the storms. Let us pray for them also and for those who have lost their lives and for those who morn them.

Let us also think of Jesus working as a carpenter in Nazareth, having learned from Joseph. I had a great uncle who gave up his job to come back to St. Louis to be near me when I was still too little to remember. He kept his tools locked up and away from children, but he could do anything that was needed around the house or yard, fix bikes, wagons, and other toys. He came three times a week to help my mother by first caring for me, then for my sister, and finally for my brothers; he would arrive around three and stay until after dinner, helping with the dishes, listening to the radio with my father, and he was just a wonderful part of our family. He lived in a hotel but managed on his Spanish-American War pension. He was a holy man and utterly selfless. 

I am sure we all know many who do all kinds of work and work with joy. Let us pray for them, too, today!

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Today's Liturgy is very consoling. We begin in the Collect: O God,by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance."

The first reading is from the Book of Isaiah, 35: 4-7a and is worth praying over so I am going to copy it.

"Thus says the Lord: Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water."

The responsorial psalm is "Praise the Lord, my soul!

The first reading is from the Letter of James, 2: 1-5 and tells us to show no partiality and then asks: Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?"

The Gospel is Mark 7:31-37 where Jesus cures the deaf man.

Tomorrow is Labor Day, a holiday where we celebrate the gift of being able to work. Let us pray for all those who are still looking for work, for those who are discouraged because they have not been able to find work or to earn enough to care for their families. 

So much to pray for

 I am sure we are all finding that our list of people, places, and events to pray for is growing daily. I am following the fire that has advanced nearer to Lake Tahoe. I read that it may be years before the lake regains its lovely deep blue color because of the age and debris from the fire which is still only about 23% controlled. All the homes around south Tahoe have been evacuated.

I pray for the firefighters who are toiling day and night to control fires in different parts and states.

I pray for all those who have lost their homes in the earthquake in Hati, for all those who have died in the earthquake, hurricanes, and from Covid-19.

I pray for all the sick and suffering and for the caregivers, nurses and doctors.

I pray for those who have been left without power in and around New Orleans; having lived through many hurricanes in Miami, I know what it means to lose power for days in tropical weather. I have also lived through earthquakes in Chile without water and electricity. My own memories make my prayer deeper, I think. I also pray especially for my sister-in-law, Anita, who has been fighting leukemia and for my brother, John who has been  spending his days visiting Anita in the hospital.

I am sure each of you have many other intentions - other countries we need to pray for, in fact our own country and the entire world need our prayer. We must continue to pray for governments to work for climate change, ways to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, to help those places who do not have water, to welcome the thousands of refugees and aid them as it must be devastating to lose not only your home but also your country. I guess the list of what we need to pray for is much longer as I have not even mentioned the Church and I do pray daily for the Holy Father, the Bishops who need to act together and really begin synods in all the parishes. Some countries have begun to work for synodality but I have not heard what the Bishops in the United States are doing and it is September!

Well, I did not intend to write all this but I guess I am rather overwhelmed and glad that I can say to God, "Here is your world and it needs Your help" and then just keep asking knowing that God hears every prayer.

First Friday

 Time seems to disappear and we need to remind ourselves that we have all the time there is! We are expecting one of our Sisters to arrive today and complete the Westwood Community as we will be eight now, but we still have a guest room (very small room) here and there is space in Rosewood for guests. The problem is that we are not allowed yet to invite guests to stay. I think we may be having a visit from an  RSCJ in September and then we have another funeral on September 9th so we may be more open for that. It is better to be safe than sorry. 

Now, this morning I heard another bit of wisdom from the Dominican, Father Xavier. He said that recollection is about "having a sense of God's loving life and light" - the sunlight is always there but we do not always realize it. No matter what, dawn will come and God is in all. I cannot quote him exactly but the idea is that God is always with us and we can turn to Him.

I love First Friday and find that I often go back in memory to even childhood - I do not remember what we did to make First Friday special at the Academy of the Visitation, but my two years in 7th and 8th grade at our parrochial school are remembered because the day started with the entire school at Mass in the Church and then we had hot cocoa and doughnuts in the basement of the Church before going to class. When I was at the Academy of the Sacred Heart for my four years of high school, we had Mass in the morning and then a special Benediction in the afternoon. When I was in Chile, I taught the high school to sing in English, "When the battle rages fiercest..." and we had an honor guard and banner and processed into the Chapel. I think we did that when I was in high school but I made it a bit more in Chile. The students had to work to win the honor of wearing the red sashes and walking behind the banner of the Sacred Heart. (It is years since I have thought of this!)

Courageous Joy

 

I thought I was getting another picture but this laughing face turned up so maybe the Holy Spirit wanted me to add another book that I bought and have on my bookshelf but have not begun to read it. The title is Courageous Joy: Delight in God Through Every Season by Mary Carver and is "An (in)courage Bible Study published in 2021 by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It seems that there are other titles in this series: Courageous Simplicity; Couraageous Kindness, etc.

The contents have been arranged into six weeks and each has questions and room to answer them. Here are the titles for the six weeks: What is Joy?; Joy in the Lord; Joy in Who God Made You to Be; Joy in the Good Times; Joy in the Bad Times; Joy in Community.

I am saving this as I have much to read now, but I think I will enjoy working through this book later.

I think that we find joy when we are living in gratitude for all that we have been given. I do spend time thanking God for His many gifts each day; I hope you do the same. 

A thought to remember

 The Dominican priest, Father Xavier, celebrates Mass with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Yesterday he said that "the only place God cannot be without our permission is in our hearts." I have been thinking about that as I certainly want to be sure that God always has permission to enter my heart. As a Religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart, I often find myself in God's Heart. 

Today we begin a new month. Let us take time just to sit on the bench in this picture and contemplate the ocean. Sometimes we are so busy that we forget that we need time to just be. 

All of our nuns have left New Orleans. I feel sorry for those who have lost homes again and some have even lost their lives in the hurricane. Having lived through several big ones in Miami, I feel united to those who cannot leave and are living without power. I also am concerned that the children are going to miss several weeks of school. Let us pray for our world that has such need.