The Trinity

Today is the Feast of the Holy Trinity. It is usually the Feast of the Visitation, but the Sunday after Pentecost is always the Feast of the Trinity - we honor Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

to our experience: The Trinity is not just a dogma but an indwelling presence of three Persons who continually create, save, and sustain us and all of creation.

It is a mystery, but I remember preparing children for their First Holy Communion and asking: Is the Father God? Is the Son God? Is the Holy Spirit God? After their loud affirmations to these questions I would ask, "then are there three Gods?" and the children would respond with such faith, "Oh, no, there is only one God but three persons in one God." We have the gift of faith and so we believe even when we do not really understand.
I am having a delightful day as it is also my 84th birthday and, although we had a Liturgy here last night, we are going to a Mass in the parish and to a luncheon afterwards as part of the farewell celebrations in honor of Suzanne Cooke, the head of our school who will be beginning a new ministry to help all of our schools in the United States and Canada. We will miss her!

Trinity Sunday

Today is the eve of Trinity Sunday. Since I lived those very inspiring and transforming months at the Trinita dei Monti in Rome before my probation, I have felt close to the whole mystery of the Trinity. Here is what John Kavanaugh has to say about how we have a history of belief and development of this great mystery: 

We Christians, with our Jewish and Islamic brothers and sisters, encounter a God who speaks. But what particularly marks our faith is the way our God speaks and what is spoken.

In Jesus, we worship a God whose word is expressed in human flesh. And what is revealed is this: our God is a relational being, a personal reality. In God there is a mutuality of knowing and loving, of being known and being loved. As persons, with our own insatiable desire for knowledge and love, we are adopted into this interpersonal reality of God and called to share it with others.

“Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world.”

This commission to the apostles at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, although probably a later addition to the earliest texts, is a trinitarian formula, much like the Pauline references to “Spirit, Lord and God” in both letters to the Corinthians. It is found in doxologies from Justin to Saint Basil and represented in prayers and artifacts from the second to the fourth century. It would not emerge as a full-blown “one God in three Persons” trinitarian doctrine until the end of the fourth century. Devotions and eucharistic feasts would emerge in France and Italy during the eighth and ninth centuries. And Thomas Aquinas, in the thirteenth, gave it an exquisite theoretical expression. This was all before Rome approved a feast of the Trinity in 1331.

Dialoging with saints

 

Once I have started just talking to saints, it is easy. By saints, I am not talking just to canonized saints, but include many relatives and friends who have gone to God before me. I suppose others do this, too, but we do not often speak of it. Talking to Jesus, to Mary, to famous, canonized saints, is something Catholics take for granted, but how many of us also talk to parents or grandparents or just good friends who have died and we still need to talk to them?

What I think is helpful to me, now that I have started doing this, is to write out a dialogue. If we listen, we will hear whatever they have to say to us. Sometimes we just feel their presence. If we try having a conversation in writing, I think we are surprised to hear them conversing with us in words. Now, this does not always happen and sometimes I guess we invent the dialogue, but maybe this is a gift of the Holy Spirit for the time after Pentecost. At any rate, I invite you to try it. It is one way I am letting myself be surprised by God. Remember the three attitudes the Holy Father asked all to cultivate: hopefulness, letting God surprise us, and living in joy!

Our world is in such need of prayer; we are not taking care of it and we are certainly not keeping peace as there are small wars going on in many places. Again, we need to pray and also do what we can to take care of our planet. We all know this, but I often feel helpless. Reading the newspaper is not giving me much joy as we are made aware of all the bad things that are happening and how people are suffering in every part of the world.

I do pray for each continent but mostly I am just telling God to take care of all of us as we do not seem to be doing such a good job of taking care of his world.

I have been asking the Holy Spirit to help me to give love and joy to others. I mostly sit in silence and listen with my heart. I know God is present, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can establish the Kingdom of God in the world in proportion to our establishing it in ourselves. I do not know where I read that years ago, but I have never forgotten it.

Dialogue with St. Madeleine Sophie

Dialogue with St. Madeleine Sophie

Me: Happy Feast! It is good to celebrate the 200 years of our Constitutions and the 150 anniversary of your death. I remember what a good dialogue I had with you in Jette years ago; I also remember how you came to me when I needed you in Chile. I just need to have another conversation with you now.

MS: I am here; I like having “Little Words” with you and I suppose you are still trying to understand why you are alive? You are always spoiled by God, but this time God wanted you to stay alive.

Me: Yes, I am grateful but I am asking myself why and especially what is it that I am still to do for God?

MS: Well, you were going to write the life of Lucile Mathevon;  you are not only alive, but God helped you to regain your strength and gave you many graces while you were at Oakwood.

Me: I know and feel so grateful for the Presence of Jesus and Mary in my room during the time of isolation. I was also aware of my parents coming and just being there whenever the infection returned and I would have fever again. You came, and Philippine. Actually, the small room sometimes seemed full of the Communion of Saints. Still, it was sometimes hard to be there when I wanted to get out of my room and see my friends.

MS: What would you say those months of isolation were for you?

ME: I think it was like another “ Probation”;  it was a contemplative time and I know my relationship with Jesus deepened. I was more conscious of His Presence and we had an intimacy that gave me real joy.  I learned to know myself better – both the good and the bad and I also prayed a great deal with the Constitutions, the Chapter of 2008, and our new formation booklet.  As much as I longed to get rid of the infection and get out of isolation, I realized that it was a graced-time for me.  Each morning, Jesus  came in Holy Communion and I knew that all the community was praying for me.

MS; Yes, the prayers of others were winning graces for you. You wanted to be more contemplative and you had the time given to you. I am glad you are so grateful and kept your desire to give Jesus joy by choosing what pleases Him. That is what you are called to do and then you give joy to others.

ME: I love it when you tell me, “Be humble, be simple, and bring joy to others.”

MS: Keep on doing this as it pleases Jesus.

Me: What else do you want to tell me?

MS: You have a love for the Society and this pleases me. Now you must share that love with others. I want you to continue to deepen your relationship with each Person in the Blessed Trinity. That is something you have been inspired to do but often forget .  I also want you to continue to reach out to others.

Me. I will try. I sometimes feel I have nothing to give, but I have the grace of vocation and know that relationships are important as I am called to reveal God’s love. Thank you for being with me today in a real conversation!

Give us joy that never ends

Come, Holy Spirit, come. And from your celestial home, shed a ray of light divine. Come, Father of the poor. Come, source of all our store. Come within our hearts to shine. You, of comforters the best. You my soul’s most welcome guest. Sweet refreshment here below.

In our labor, rest most sweet;  Grateful coolness in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe. Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour your dew; wash the stains of guilt away. Bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray. Give us virtue’s sure reward. Give us your salvation, Lord. Give us joy that never ends. Amen! Alleluia!

—”Veni Sancte Spiritus,” traditional Pentecost hymn.

I remember praying for weeks over this Sequence one year in Chile.

Maybe tomorrow I will feel able to share my dialogue with St. Madeleine Sophie.

Feast of St. Madeleine Sophie

St. Madeleine Sophie founded the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800 and then, when elected Superior General a few years later, governed it until her death in 1865. She is loved by children of the Sacred Heart all over the world. Today is also the celebration of  Memorial Day in the United States and it is Pentecost Monday, a holiday in some European countries.

I think I am going to spend some time in dialogue with Sophie. She is a very wise, maternal woman and has always seemed to have taken a special interest in my vocation, especially when I was sent to Chile. I have had some good conversations with her and will plan to do the same today before going out to dinner with all the Religious of the Sacred Heart in the Miami area to celebrate.

The work of the Spirit

I have been reflecting in my own life on the work of the Holy Spirit. I am sure it began with my Baptism, but I was not yet a month old so only know that I became a child of God with the Holy Spirit present; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have loved me and watched over me ever since. Then came Confirmation; since it was the same day as my First Communion when I was six, I remember all the preparation for Holy Communion and very little of what the Sacrament of Confirmation meant except that I now had another name of a saint and a sponsor to help me and the Holy Spirit made me a "soldier of Christ."
As I may have shared before, it was a special grace at the Trinita in Rome that helped me to develop a real relationship with each person in the Blessed Trinity. It was then that I realized how often I was receiving nudges from the Holy Spirit. Actually, we always had prayed to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment and asked for wisdom, but I now had a more personal relationship with the Spirit.
This reflection is leading up to the fact that Pentecost is a great feast for the Spirit wants to descend upon us all in a special way; we just need to ask for this - and we need to be faithful to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. St. Madeleine Sophie, whose feast falls fittingly this year on Pentecost Monday, has said that she wanted only to be faithful to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.

Eve of Pentecost

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

In the Book of Isaiah 11:2-3, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are described. In the passage the gifts are considered ones that the Messiah would have possessed.

Wisdom helps us recognize the importance of others and the importance of keeping God central in our lives.

Understanding is the ability to comprehend the meaning of God's message.

Knowledge is the ability to think about and explore God's revelation, and also to recognize there are mysteries of faith beyond us.

Counsel is the ability to see the best way to follow God's plan when we have choices that relate to him.

Fortitude is the courage to do what one knows is right.

Piety helps us pray to God in true devotion.

Fear of the Lord is the feeling of amazement before God, who is all-present, and whose friendship we do not want to lose.

The fruit of the Spirit

There are some modern lists of the twelve fruits of the Spirit; all agree that there can be more than 12 - here are the ones I can remember from Paul's list: joy, peace, love, kindness, generosity, meekness, magnanimity, modesty, patience, long-suffering, benignity, and chastity.

Here is a better listing: The twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are charity (or love), joy, peace, patience, benignity (or kindness), goodness, longanimity (or long suffering), mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chastity

I had left out faith, continency, and put meekness instead of mildness and used both kindness and benignity (I thought this was not correct, but was trying to get at least 12 gifts).

Here is what Paul says in Galatians (note only nine mentioned here):

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Cross references:

1. Galatians 5:22 : Mt 7:16-20; Eph 5:9
2. Galatians 5:22 : Col 3:12-15
3. Galatians 5:22 : Mal 2:6
4. Galatians 5:23 : S Ac 24:25
5. Galatians 5:23 : ver 18

New International Version (NIV)

Come, Holy Spirit

As the Feast of Pentecost draws near, we invoke the Holy Spirit to come and enlighten us. We pray to experience the gifts and fruits of the Spirit. Which of the seven gifts attributed to the Holy Spirit do I need most at this time in my life? First, let me call the seven to mind: Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, Understanding, Counsel, Wisdom and I am missing one. Maybe that is the very one I need. It is Knowledge and comes before Understanding! Actually, in the list of the gifts as I learned them, Fear of the Lord is first and Wisdom is the highest; some begin with the highest and then Fear of the Lord becomes the seventh gift.

The seventh and final gift of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord, and perhaps no other gift of the Holy Spirit is so misunderstood. We think of fear and hope as opposites, but the fear of the Lord confirms the theological virtue of hope. This gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the desire not to offend God, as well as the certainty that God will supply us the grace that we need in order to keep from offending Him. Our desire not to offend God is more than simply a sense of duty; like piety, the fear of the Lord arises out of love. (copied from the Internet).

Saints are everywhere

When I was at Oakwood, someone told me that she never fails to read Robert Ellsberg's "All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses For Our Time"; I received it in the mail today and see that it is really not a new book as it won the 1998 Christopher Award. One of the tributes on the back cover is from Joan Chittister; she says, "This book should be in every home, on every shelf, in every library. It raises the standards of life."
It looks as if I shall be reading it each day as it is inspiring to see the many different kinds of saints or witnesses to Christ that have given us an example of how to follow Jesus in our daily lives. I guess we all have some living saints around us that also give us inspiration in the great adventure we are living. Saints are really everywhere when we are looking for them. Some are fat, some are thin; some brilliant, others rather dull, but all are in love with God and living to please God!

Joy, a gift of the Holy Spirit

Christian joy is not simply enjoyment, it isn’t fleeting lightheartedness”. Instead, “Christian joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit: it is having one’s heart ever joyful because the Lord has triumphed, the Lord reigns, the Lord is at the right hand of the Father, the Lord has looked at me and sent me and given me his grace and has made me a child of the Father”. This is what “Christian joy” really is.

A Christian, therefore, “lives in joy”. But, Francis asked, “where is this joy in the saddest moments,

in times of anguish? Let’s think about Jesus on the Cross: did He have joy? Eh, no! But yes, He had peace!”. Indeed, the Pope explained, “Joy, in the moment of anguish, of trial, becomes peace”. On the other hand, “lightheartedness in a moment of anguish becomes darkness, becomes troublesome”.

This is why “a Christian without joy isn’t Christian”. A “Christian who loses peace in trying times, in times of illness, of so many difficulties, is missing something”.

This is from the Pope' homily on May 15 - it makes one ask the Holy Spirit to let us all live in joy and peace!

Praying

Here is something that I like from Mary Oliver on prayer:

“Praying”

… a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.

I think this says a great deal about my own prayer now. I am so filled with gratitude that I just let that overflow into silence and try to listen to God as God speaks to my heart. I am making a real effort to listen to and act on the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus ascends into Heaven

We have a joyful Sunday liturgy. I suspect the Apostles were not so joyful as they stood there looking up and wishing that Jesus had not left them. They still did not understand. But, when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they realized that Jesus was still with them and they immediately went out to preach the good news and to baptize.

Now, we have received the Holy Spirit in Baptism and then, if that was not enough, we have the Sacrament of Confirmation which really makes us all called to go forth and spread the joy of the Gospel. I guess each of us has a special mission and we need to be aware of how the Holy Spirit is inspiring us to fulfill it!

Prayer of St. Thomas of Villanova

So much is going on in my life that I am just going to share a prayer of St. Thomas of Willanova:

I will love you, Lord, in every way and without setting limits to my love. You set no limits to what you have done for me; you have not measured out your gifts.
I will not measure out my love. I will love you, Lord, with all my strength, with all my powers, as much as I am able.
In you, Lord, have I hoped.

That is a good prayer. We could also listen to Jesus telling each one of us: I love you in every way without setting limits to my love. Jesus loves us with an infinite, unconditional love and let us thank for this love today. His Heart is open for us; he waits for us.

Newness, harmony, mission...

The Holy Spirit brings harmony into lives. Pope Francis speaks of the Spirit as being linked to three words: newness, harmony, and mission. Whenever God reveals Himself, He brings newness and wants our complete trust. Our God is a God of surprises and we need to let ourselves be surprised by God. The Holy Spirit also gives us the courage to strike our along new paths that God sets before us.
The Holy Spirit also brings about harmony and "having a sense of the Church is something fundamental for each Christian, every community, every movement. It is the Church that brings Christ to me, and me to Christ". (Pope Francis' homily, Pentecost, 2013).

The Holy Spirit also invites us, even impels us, to go forth to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is given to us to go out and spread the joy of the Gospel. We are to give God's love to all and the Spirit helps us with His gifts and fruits.

Ascension Thursday

Now we mostly celebrate the Ascension on Sunday. I still like the old tradition we had of going to the chapel just before noon and than singing "Beau Ciel"! I suspect that Jesus just said good-bye and disappeared after promising his disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit. Mark ends his Gospel with Jesus telling them to "Go out into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..."

Luke tells us in Acts that two men dressed in white garments came and asked the Apostles, "Men of Galilee, why are ou standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

I do not know what really happened at the moment of the Ascension but I know that Jesus is with His Father in Heaven and will come again. The Good News is that He is also here with us and has given us the Holy Spirit.

Taking time to pray

I am so grateful that we have a very strong formation in prayer and have kept sacred the hour of morning prayer; we also have been taught the importance of a daily examen, (made when we can now but it was 15 minutes in the middle of the day and another with night prayers so that we would be conscious of God's action in our day and our response). We had daily Mass and a wonderful half hour of quiet prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the afternoon. I still try for these times of prayer and I know that it is a grace for me to have always loved prayer and I get up knowing that the Lord is waiting for me to spend the first hour of the day with Him. It is good to be back to my usual routine; what is lacking is the rosary which I said each day for years and now seem to find turning to Mary in quiet prayer helps me more than using words.

I have been looking over some books to suggest to the Reflection Group for next year. One is Ronald Rolheiser's Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity.
I began the book before I became ill and here is a poem that I had marked and thought I would share:
The Difference (by Grace L. Naessens)

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish, I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me and grew heavier with each task;
Why doesn't God help me, I wondered; He answered, "You didn't ask."
I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak,
I wondered why God didn't show me--He said, "But you didn't seek."
I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys at the lock;
God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.

Bless every person I have met . . .

This is a picture I took of the little chapel I had arranged just before becoming ill. It is so nice to come home and find Jesus waiting for me there in the Blessed Sacrament. The room is really light, but the picture makes it seem dark. You can see our patio with just the tip of the deep end of the pool.

This morning I want to share with you a prayer found in one of Sister Hoffman's prayer books. She was the holy Religious of the Sacred Heart who had the room across the hall from me at Oakwood and who went peacefully to God while I was still in isolation.

Mighty God, Father of all:
Compassionate God, Mother of all
Bless every person I have met,
Every face I have seen,
Every voice I have heard,
Especially those most dear
Bless every city, town, and street
That I have ever known,
Every sight I have seen,
Every sound I have heard,
Every object I have touched.
In some mysterious way
these have all fashioned my life,
all that I am and have received.
Great God, bless the world.

Busy end of Academic year

Before I came home, I had made appointments for every day of the first week plus I plunged into community life again with the joy of cooking, entertaining guests, back to gym, and just trying to do too much. I think many of us try to do too much and we need to slow down and enjoy each day. I am taking my car in for a needed check up today and that will keep me home and I look forward to just being. I forgot how easily we can get caught up in so many things, and the end of an academic year is always a challenge for many. I at least am free from the correction of final papers and exams and pray for those who are struggling to make deadlines - both the students and the teachers!

I have just received some new books in the mail and can hardly wait to read them, but I am also reading three or four books now so I need again to tell myself to slow down; I have all the time there is, 24 hours a day, so just take one thing at a time. The nice thing is that the books will wait for me.

Since I began making a conscious effort to listen to the Holy Spirit these past few days, I seem to be getting many inspirations that are leading me to greater gratitude for each moment of life.

I am taking time to both talk things over with the Holy Spirit and listen to the Spirit as I need guidance in my daily choses. I am also praying for all my readers that all of us may be very connected to the Spirit and docile in following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. I assure you that I sit here each day and just ask the Spirit to inspire words that will be of some help to at least some today.
Come, Holy Spirit, and enkindle the fire of Divine Love in our hearts today!

Remain in my love...

This Sunday's Gospel has Jesus telling us some wonderful things:

We are to be his friends; we are to have his joy; we are chosen to bear fruit and we are to remain in his love. These are just a few of the things I remember from reading the Gospel and I think the Jesus really does want us to remain in His Love! He has chosen us and wants us to be filled with his Joy and we are his friends. When I think of how much we are loved, I am really joyful and grateful and want to go out and spread the Good News. We are loved, we are called, we are chosen, and we are asked to remain in God's love. That is good news!

Remember the Spirit!

This is a Chilean sunrise. I did a telephone interview to help a young man who was to do the interview for a history class. He wanted me to talk about Chile and the whole situation with Allende and then the take over that really was a dictatorship by the Junta - especially Pinochet. I had lots of stories, but it made me think of what a grace it was for me to have lived in Chile for almost twenty years! The people are so wonderful and have much to teach us.

Now, I am reading the third part of the Pope's book on The Church of Mercy and it is a good preparation for the Feast of Pentecost. He asks us if we pray every day to the Holy Spirit? I am going to try to do this.

We often forget that we are to have a real relationship with each person in the Blessed Trinity. I had that light many years ago, but I hope this May to prepare for the Feast of Pentecost by renewing my contact with the Holy Spirit! Let us all "remember the Spirit" who is our advocate, our consoler, our giver of gifts..." Let us ask for an increase in the way we receive and live the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

We are called and chosen...

Before I became ill and almost died last September, I had begun to read the book that is now claiming my attention again. It is "The Church of Mercy" by Pope Francis. I am finding that I have really underlined a great deal. My marker was on Chapter 10 and this is what I want to underline and share:

"An apostle is a person who has been given a mandate, sent to do something, and the apostles were chosen, called and sent out by Jesus to continue his work, that is, to pray --which is the primary job of an apostle--and, second, to proclaim the Gospel."

We need to ask ourselves, "Do we really pray for the salvation of the world? How do I proclaim the Gospel?

I am sure I will be sharing more of this book as I seem to resonate with the spirituality of Pope Francis who is leading by word and example.

Shepherd my sheep

This is a Chilean lamb and seems to have strayed away from the flock. I think we are all being called by Pope Francis to be real shepherds and go out and look for God's sheep, wherever they are to be found.

One of the practices customary in Sacred Heart schools during Advent, at least for the younger children, was to give each a lamb that was to finally advance to the crib at the stop of the steps or the end of the path up to the manger where the Infant Jesus would be found at Christmas. The little ones were faithful to keep whatever  was given them as a practice so that their lambs could advance each day. I think we are all sheep trying to get closer to Jesus by keeping His commandment to love one another. It does not need to be the season of Advent to try to advance each day!

Listening to Jesus

Listening to Jesus is not hard, but I need to tune myself out first. It is amazing how often I find myself talking to myself in my head. Perhaps others do this, too, but I need to be quiet to really listen to Jesus who is trying to talk to me. Actually, when I become quiet, I hear God speaking to me in so many ways and He does not even need words. Remember, silence is God's first language.

I used to think I needed to close my eyes and really enter into quiet prayer in order to listen to Jesus. Now, I find He keeps talking to me in everything around me. It is a grace and I may have mentioned it recently in a blog as I think I have just become more in tune with how God listens to my heart and lets me listen to his heart.

It is something like a married couple who have been together for so many years that they now are able to communicate without words.

The Great Reformer

By now you know how much Pope Francis has influenced me. The best biography that I have read is "The Great Reformer" but I also read all of his homilies, if and when I have time. I am still with the one I copied for readers about a week ago. It was all on our taking time to remember our first encounter with Jesus and looking to see how others have encountered Jesus in the Gospels. I have loved the idea of looking each day for encounters with Jesus in the people around me, in the Eucharist, in the unexpected surprises of each day.

I decided during this past month at Oakwood that I was living with saints. Our Religious are holy people. Now, having received two booklets from Chile which I am reading with great joy in Spanish, I realize that I was living with saints there, too. Unfortunately we do not always realize that we live with saints so I need to pray for that grace and hope that I am becoming holy, too. God is present in each of us and wants us to be holy but knows we are human and this is something of a struggle and that is what makes us holy!
I think this Pope is going to bring a new sense of holiness to the Church. More about his biography another day as I seem to have gone off on a tangent.

Following Jesus

Sometimes we find ourselves following Jesus on a beautiful path; flowers abound, the way seems clear, but then we seem to reach a bend and need courage to follow the path into the unknown. Has this ever happened to you? It calls for courage and trust to keep on a path that now seems faint, arid maybe or just plain difficult. This is where, as my great Uncle Jim would say, "When the going gets tough, only the tough keep going." The name given to my group who made final profession in 1960 was "Apostolic Courage" and it has often helped me to remember that. Now the Pope is calling us all to have apostolic courage and go forth and spread the Good News. I guess I try to do that in this blog. God loves each of us so much and wants us to just let Him love us. Believe that and you will be full of joy! Trust Him and your path will be easy and you will find flowers all along the way.

Silence of the heart

"Teach us that even as the wonder of the stars in heaven only reveals itself in the silence of the night, so the wonder of life reveals itself in the silence of the heart. In the silence of our heart we may see the scattered leaves of all the universe bound by love." From the BHAGAVAD GITA quoted in "Friends of Silence Vol. XXVIII, n 4 (April 2015)

I love to think how the wonder of my life reveals itself in the silence of my heart. 

I have been trying to do too much since I arrived home so I guess I will be posting short blogs this week as I have several appointments and want to do a real housecleaning after being away for seven months!

Be still and know that I am God!

A revolution of mercy

I have Walter Kasper's book on Mercy on my Kindle and I-pad; it is a great book, but I like to hold spiritual books in my hands. I buy the Kindle editions because they are usually much cheaper, but I think I will buy his newest book, "Pope Francis' Revolution of Tenderness and Love: Theological and Pastoral Perspectives."
Here is what Paulist Press has to say:
"Kasper describes Francis as a charismatic, confident leader completely convinced of the message of the Gospel. He "combines continuity with the great tradition of the Church with renewal and ever new surprises. This also includes a poor church for the poor. This is not a liberal program; it is a radical program. Radical because it touches on the root and is a revolution of tenderness and love...What the pope is proposing is the humble way devout people move continents and can move mountains(Mt 17,19,21). A little mercy-he says-can change the world. This is the Christian revolution...It is a revolution in the true sense of the word-originally, the return to the origin of the Gospel as a way forward, a revolution of mercy."

I am the vine, you are the branches...

Jesus tells us that we are united to Him as the branch is connected to the vine. We are to remain in Him and then we will bear fruit. Without Him we can do nothing. On the other hand, if we just remain in Him and His words remain in us, we are told that we can ask for whatever we want and it will be done for us. "By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

The second reading from the first Letter of John reminds us that "God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him."

Let us remain in His Love today and always! It is a grace to pray for, but Jesus waits for us to ask.

I try not to worry..

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I guess I did not worry enough to check to see if my reflection on not worrying was posted on my blog. I have really learned to trust the Heart of Jesus. Paul's "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" is good but I like to remember that Jesus told us, "Without Me you can do nothing" and so I trust and try never to worry!

The Month of May Begins Today

We begin the month that North Americans dedicate to Our Lady. May is Mary's month; we have her honored with May altars, May Crownings, and, as our Mother, she also has a role when we celebrate Mother's Day. The last day of May has always been a special feast of Mary. It was feasting her under the title of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace; then it was the Feast of the Queenship of Mary; after that, it became the Feast of the Visitation of Mary to  Elizabeth. It is also my birthday and I love having the Feast celebrated in my community with a Liturgy in her honor.
I am finally home but scheduled this blog before I left Oakwood so can only imagine how I feel - excited, grateful, full of joy, - more later on this when I have been home a few days.