Sunday Gospel Reflection

In Luke's Gospel for this Sunday we have Jesus reading the passage from Isaiah and then saying that this Scripture passage has been fulfilled in their hearing. Luke tells us. "And they all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"

That part is fine but then they hear that Jesus is not about to work wonders for them and they turn against him. They are filled with fury and drove him out of the town and were ready to hurl him from the brow of the hill. Luke tells us, "But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away."

I am reflecting on what the Heart of Jesus felt when the very people he had grown up with and played with and served in many ways, now reject him and wish to do him harm. How he must have felt this and he "went away."

We do not speak much about reparation now, but I think we need to make up to Jesus for the lack of love He receives from so many and for my own lack of love, forgetting that Jesus is always present to me and I so often absent from His loving Presence.

In honor of Mary

When I attended the Sacred Heart alumnae meeting and luncheon in Arizona last Saturday, one received her Child of Mary medal. We all recited this act of Consecration to Our Lady and I thought some of my readers would like to have it.

Holy Mary, Mother of God and Immaculate Virgin, filled with the desire of serving the Sacred Heart of your Divine Son better, and of loving Him as you loved Him, in the presence and under the guidance of the Church, I -----------, take you today as my Mother, my Queen and my Model. I consecrate to you, as a pledge of the most ardent love, my soul and my body, all that I am and all that I have. I confide myself to your motherly protection, with the firm determination to follow your inspirations and example. I will strive to live a truly Christian life, based on the principles of the Gospel, in a spirit of detachment, purity and submission. I promise to be in everything a true child of Holy Church, and under her guidance to devote myself generously to the work of redemption of His Divine Heart. Receive me, then, O Mary, ever Virgin, as your servant and child. Keep me faithful to this consecration. Help me to live truly as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ, and an apostle of His Sacred Heart. And do not abandon me at the hour of my death. Amen.

More about my Guided Imagery Retreat

In a guided imagery with music, you just let your imagination free to go wherever the music takes you.
I knew I had plenty of imagination but was not sure the music would activate it. I need not have worried because your guide is there to help you with a question. For instance, at one point I saw my parents. The guide asked me if they said anything to me. When I said, "No, but they both looked so well and were all dressed up." she asked me if I wanted to say something to my parents. I then thanked them for always being there for me. Then Our Lady came and she thanked me for holding the Infant Jesus in my prayer. And then I was with the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and I felt "at home".
In another imagery session, I followed a mermaid into the ocean and swam beside he until we came to what looked like a big rock; it was really a house prepared for me by Jesus so I can be with Him. I saw the rooms clearly and I felt an intimacy that has stayed with me. After the first days of retreat, I woke up one morning and  sensed Jesus sitting on the side of my bed and holding my hand. That was an intense feeling of being loved. I was the only Religious making the retreat and, from the sharing in the evenings that we did together, I realized that this kind of retreat is very freeing and deep. It is staying with me and I am so grateful now for the opportunity to have made this one after wanting to do this for years!

Joy gives me energy!

When we are joyful, it is easy to just feel that no task is too difficult. However, the energy for getting all we want done in a day, is not easy; joy helps, but we also need to protect our joy and admit our limitations. I think Jesus is also happy when we have the courage and common sense to admit that we are limited and to slow down and ask for help.

I am not letting "to do" lists bother me now. I do what I can and there is always tomorrow. We had a very holy and wise Religious at Kenwood when I was a novice. She loved to steal moments of prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. As she was the one in charge of the studies for the entire Province, others wondered how she found the time for the extra prayer. She told us, "I do not do today what can be done tomorrow." I have never been brave enough. or perhaps, I have not been trusting enough in the Heart of Christ, to adopt this idea of putting off what can be done tomorrow, but I admired her for this bit of wisdom. She also is the one that told us that charity is greater than any rule or regulation!

A year of Mercy is bound to be a year of joy!

When God forgives us, we are grateful and gratitude brings joy.
We all have known the joy of being forgiven. The best thing is that when we are sorry for our sins, God not only forgives them but also forgets them.
I think there are different kinds of joy. In the guided imagery retreat, at one moment I found myself in a meadow with a brook running through it. It was a singing brook. The stones in the water made the brook sing. Our Reverend Mother de Lescure, the Mother General when I entered, said that the stones are the difficulties we may have, but without the stones, the brook would not sing. She said that there was nothing able to take our joy away from us. I read that conference of hers when I was a young religious and have never forgotten it. So let us all be joyful and sing out our joy to the Lord. The Lord is merciful and kind - is that not reason for joy?

Home Again



I arrived home on the "red eye". I left Phoenix at 2:00 AM and arrived home about 9:30, Miami time as Suzanne had offered to meet me and she was delayed. My brother-in-law and my sister insisted on taking me to the airport last night so I had a about four hours to read in the airport before we were able to board. I am rather sleepy today but have done many things. The mail piles up when one is away.
My motto for this year is "Joyful Surrender" and I am finding it very fruitful. My sister gave me a book on Joy - all different ways of reflecting on joy. I suspect I will use these ways as titles for these days before Lent begins on February 10.
My retreat was very joyful and I keep hearing Jesus tell me that he just wants me to let Him love me. That gives me joy! I am grateful for this time away with Him, with friends and family. I also am glad to be home again!



God is so generous

I am finally able to connect again on my I-pad. When I visit my sister, there is a great deal to be done.
I went with her to pick up three at ate airport and then to the meeting of the Sacred Heart alums and then there was a luncheon. Betty had taken gifts for different people as she is President now of the group.. We were 36 and they are impressive and from schools from all over, but all have such good memories of the education they received from us.
I missed the Quad area meeting but hear is something I copied from one of the prayers sent me:

Quad Meeting Morning Prayer

Saturday, January 16, 2015 

New Orleans, LA

Presider:​The Lord be with you.

All:​​And with your spirit.

Presider:​Let us praise God for ordinary time.

All:​​And praise God for gathering us together.

A morning reflection from Teilhard de Chardin:

Do you now therefore, speaking through my lips, pronounce over this earthly travail your twofold efficacious word: the word without which all that our wisdom and our experience have built up must totter and crumble—the word through which all our most far-reaching speculations and our encounter with the universe are come together into a unity. Over every living thing which is to spring up, to grow, to flower, to ripen during this day say again the words: This is my Body. And over every death-force which waits in readiness to corrode, to wither, to cut down, speak again your commanding words which express the supreme mystery of faith: This is my Blood.    (Hymn of the Universe)​

Silence 

Reading 2: 

“When an almond tree became covered with blossoms in the heart of winter, all the trees around it began to jeer. 'What vanity,' they screamed, 'what insolence! Just think, it believes it can bring spring in this way!' The flowers of the almond tree blushed for shame. 'Forgive me, my sisters,' said the tree. 'I swear I did not want to blossom, but suddenly I felt a warm springtime breeze in my heart.” 
Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis

Short silent espacio

Leader: ​If God gave us only one day of life

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us only one fall or springtime

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us but one day of laughter

All: ​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us but one meal served in a secure home

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us only one friend to share the journey of life with

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us only one chance to thank our families, and heroes and

                             colleagues for their help along the way

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​But God has given us more than all these things.

All:​​And so we thank you, for life and time, for sun and storm, 

​​​for laughter and tears, for all that has made up the fabric of

                                 our lives. We praise you above all for your very self, poured

                                 out in the Heart of Christ, our Hope.  Amen.

Sing:     Taize antiphon  “Laude omnes gentes” (twice) 

Love transforms all

The name given to the group of new professed this time is "Love Transforms All". The devise is "you are the Center: the way, the truth, the life." I have been praying with this name and devise (motto) for some days. I do so want Jesus to always be the Center of my life. I love the song where we sing, "you are the center of my life; I will always serve you, I will always praise you, I will always love you" (hope I have remembered it correctly).
Since I have been in Arizona, my brother has shown tapes of last year's "Downton Abby" as I had not seen them. Today we look at this year's episodes. I am struck watching this secular program by how love transforms all.
Tomorrow I will meet my sister at her Church (my brother will drive me to Scottsdale) and join her for her hour of adoration there and then go home with her. We go to a country club for dinner with friends and then on Saturday, we have the meeting of the Sacred Heart alums followed by luncheon at the Phoenix Country Club. My sister is President of the Alumnae so we need to go early. I may not be writing a blog until I am home Tuesday.

A Brief Encounter

Joy is contagious. It is good to laugh, to share the hilarious things that happen to us when we look for them each day.
Oakwood had a poetry class last year when I was still in isolation. One, over ninety, sister Lorraine Lawrence, wrote an entire book of poems and I am copying here her "A Brief Encounter":

More powerful
Than a casual word
Is a smile on passing
A zing to the ego
To one's worth as a person
To the child of God
To the Jesus within
A union of spirits
Like singing in the rain
Enjoying life anew!
Given the circumstances, 
Smile at Jesus . . .

Make today a day of smiles!😊

Sun and Fun

Today I sat outside and thought about all those who are suffering from the cold. The sun in Arizona is warm even in winter.
I am still deepening my retreat by going back over the guided imagery exercises. I feel that Jesus is so present not only in me but in everyone. I am also feeling so grateful for the way God has taken care of me all my life. When I am grateful, I am joyful.
I am praying with the same phrase each day now from John's Gospel: "Remain in my love."
May we all remain in His love, trusting Jesus to care for us.

Gold Canyon thoughts

Here I am in Gold Canyon, Arizona, at the foot of Superstition Mountain. My brother and sister-in-law are so welcoming and I always sleep better here than anywhere else. Actually, I seem to sleep well anywhere, but their guest room seems especially conducive to deep, peaceful sleep.
I arrived last night and we are catching up with one another.
I had a long wait at the San Francisco airport and enjoyed watching the little children who were able to run around and work off some energy before boarding. There were also some babies and I just kept thinking of the Infant Jesus.
In prayer, Jesus invites me to go up the mountain with Him to pray. I am taking all my friends with me today in spirit.

"Do whatever He tells you"

I love the story of the wedding feast where Mary notices that there is a need and tells Jesus about it. She is confident that He will do something so tells the waiters to do whatever He tells them.
She says the same to me after seeing what I need. She is still taking care of the needs of our world.

How happy our new Professed must be today! When realize that Jesus is the Center of our life, we are full of joy.

Thought from my retreat.

Today passed so quickly and now I need to pack as I leave tomorrow. I will be happy to see my brother and my sister-in-law, but I am so glad it was possible to have this week after the retreat here. I have shared my entreat with many here, and I do want to share with you, but it will just be a little at a time. I was so struck at one moment by Jesus telling me not to look for Him for he was here with me always. "Just let me love you" was what I kept hearing.

One of our Religious who has done a marvelous ministry in promoting Christian Meditation and actually teaching it to grade school children, lent me a book by John Main, "The Gethsemani Talks" which I had never read as they were first published when I was still in Chile.
Here are a couple of thoughts from the Second Conference to the Trappists:
"In meditation we learn to pay attention to the personal presence of Jesus within us."

We are not to be thinking about God, but "we seek to be with God, to be with Jesus, to be with His Holy Spirit, not merely to think about them."  We actually experience the Presence of Jesus within us.

That certainly can happen in many ways. I had that same experience in my Guided Imagery retreat last week.
The retreat made me feel very loved. Jesus seemed to be telling me, "just let me love you."

My Guided Imagery Retreat

I  am supposed to be on vacation until I return to Miami on January 26th but I thought I could say something about the retreat which was a really good experience for me. Here is an idea of the schedule: we began on Saturday afternoon with a meeting of the nine retreatants and the three guides as our directors were called. I had a room in the main house looking right out on the ocean. The cook slept at the other end of the house. The others slept in a cabin that holds eight but the three guides slept across the street at Villa Maria del Mar, my sacred place where I have made retreats now for about 25 years.
We had Mass at 4:00 then, after dinner, we met with our guide. I had Sunday free until 3:00 when I saw my guide for direction every day and the last morning so that was 7 sessions of about a half hour. I also saw her Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 to 10:00 in the morning for the guided imagery exercise. One lies down under a blanket and the guide, after a relaxation exercise plays music and you let your imagination go wherever it pleases and you say out loud whatever is happening. The guide writes it all down and then, after the music stops, you have the opportunity to review with her.all that happened. She has written everything you said so helps you remember.n then you go and write it all down and also list the feelings, sensations, images...Then you reflect on this and talk to your guide about it again in the afternoon time. We had prayer at 5:15 each evening and sharing from 7:30 to 8:30. It was a lovely group and the other eight had all made this kind of retreat and many knew each other so the sharing was deep and rich.

New BookSeeking the One Whom We Love: How RSCJs PrayJan 12, 2016 by Kathleen Hughes RSCJ and Therese Fink Meyerhoff Paperback $22.00Prime Get it by Friday, Jan 15 FREE Shipping on orders over $35

We have a new book out that I am sure you will want to get. I it has many RSCJs describing the way they pray. I wrote my contribution so long ago that I do not remember what I said. Here it is on Amazon:

Seeking the One Whom We Love: How RSCJs Pray

Jan 12, 2016

by Kathleen Hughes RSCJ and Therese Fink Meyerhoff

Paperback

$22.00Prime

Get it by Friday, Jan 15

FREE Shipping on orders over $35

Baptism of Jesus

I tried to increase the size of the letters and was frustrated so then went to bed thinking I would be able to write on a computer today. I was busy and then I had a wonderful visit from my nephew and his wife this afternoon. It is a very long drive for them but they came at 1:30 and left only at 5:00 and it was so good to see them. I enjoyed their visit immensely. However, I will post about my retreat tomorrow as I need to be on a computer.

The Guided Imagery Retreat ended today

It was a wonderful week with lots of time for silence as well as three mornings with guided imagery and music, an evening prayer at 5:15 ( alas no priest for Mass and the Bishop frowns on Communion services by laity) and then a rich sharing each evening at 7:30. They only take nine retreatants and their are three guides or directors. You have spiritual direction each afternoon.

I will share some of my experience but not tonight. I am just letting God love me.

Stormy Sea

The ocean has been gray and rough all during the retreat and we have actually had thunderstorms and enough rain for a flood watch, I love the Gospel where Jesus makes his disciples get into the boat and set out to sea. He stays behind, dismisses the crowd and goes off alone to pray. A storm comes up on the lake and Jesus knows his friends are having a hard time out there. They must have been wet, cold, and exhausted and not happy that Jesus had sent them out without him. Then He comes to them.
This was not part of my retreat but I keep thinking of so many times when Jesus has sent me out and I am feeling helpless in the situation and He comes.
I am loving the retreat so please keep praying. It ends Saturday at noon but I will stay to clean up and go home later, hopefully not too late.

Interconnection and Interdependence

From the Pope's Message for world Day of Peace:

 There are many good reasons to believe in mankind’s capacity to act together in solidarity and, on the basis of our interconnection and interdependence, to demonstrate concern for the more vulnerable of our brothers and sisters and for the protection of the common good. This attitude of mutual responsibility is rooted in our fundamental vocation to fraternity and a life in common. Personal dignity and interpersonal relationships are what constitute us as human beings whom God willed to create in his own image and likeness. As creatures endowed with inalienable dignity, we are related to all our brothers and sisters, for whom we are responsible and with whom we act in solidarity. Lacking this relationship, we would be less human. We see, then, how indifference represents a menace to the human family.

I copied this from Richard Rohr

I believe vulnerable intimacy is the entrance into and the lynchpin between all human and divine love. It does not matter which comes first; it is just important that we pass through this gate of fear and find what lives inside us--and on the other side of the gate.

 

Intimate love is the true temple that we all desire. This longing seems to be hardwired into our beings in spite of our survival instincts. You have to want to love and to be loved very badly or you will never go to this strange temple and will never find your True Self. So God obliges and creates you in just that way, with a bottomless and endless need to be loved and to love. Today, the Feast of Epiphany, is symbolized and enacted by three important men who fell to their knees, finding themselves seduced by the vulnerability of God--sleeping in straw among the animals.

Let us adore the Infant Jesus

The responsorial psalm for today is "Lord, every nation on earth will adore You. This day was the Feast of the Epiphany that now is celebrated on Sunday but I am glad that the Liturgy is still reminding us of theDivine majesty of the Infant Jesus. It is a wonderful time to be in retreat and I am feeling your prayers. Jesus is very present in my room which overlooks the ocean. So far, it has been gray; we are actually having rain this week and rain is so needed here. It is also colder than Miami so I wear several layers to keep warm.

"God cares about mankind!"

I was lent a copy of Pope Francis' Message for the Celebration of the XLIX World Day of Peace on
January 1, 2016 and it begins: "God cares about mankind! God does not abandon us! The Pope continues saying that he wants to share this profound conviction.
He also wants to encourage us not to lose hope in our human ability to conquer evil and to combat resignation and indifference. He speaks of our capacity to a humble and compassionate heart, one capable of proclaiming and witnessing to mercy. There are many reasons to believe in mankind's solidarity and to rise above self-interest, apathy and indifference in the face of critical situations.
As I am in retreat, I thought to share a few ideas from the Message of the Pope.
He invites us to pray and work so that every Christian will have a humble and compassionate heart.

Hold the Infant Jesus and love Him

I keep going back to this paragraph of pope Francis in the last General Audience of 2015:

We discover, first of all, that children want our attention. They have to be at the centre — why? Because they are proud? No! Because they need to feel protected. It is important that we too place Jesus at the centre of our life and to know, even if it may seem paradoxical, that it is our responsibility to protect him. He wants to be in our embrace, he wants to be tended to and to be able to fix his gaze on ours. Additionally, make the Child Jesus smile in order to show him our love and our joy that he is in our midst. His smile is a sign of the love that gives us the assurance of being loved. Children, lastly, love to play. Playing with children, however, means abandoning our logic in order to enter theirs. If we want to have fun it is necessary to understand what they like, and not to be selfish and make them do the things that we like. It is a lesson for us. Before Jesus we are called to abandon our pretense of autonomy — and this is the crux of the matter: our pretense of autonomy — in order to instead accept the true form of liberty, which consists in knowing and serving whom we have before us. He, the Child, is the Son of God who comes to save us. He has come among us to show us the face of the Father abounding in love and mercy. Therefore, let us hold the Child Jesus tightly in our arms; let us place ourselves at his service. He is the font of love and serenity. It will be beautiful today, when we get home, to go to the nativity scene and kiss the Baby Jesus and say: “Jesus, I want to be humble like you, humble like God”, and to ask him for this grace.

Ephiphany

This is a feast to help us begin the new year. I am happy to know that I will be in the Guided Imagery retreat for this feast. I intend to leave all to follow the star Jesus shows me. I also want to just sit and hold the Infant Jesus and love Him and know He delights in loving me!

I am still at Oakwood celebrating the New Year with our Eldercare Community. I am rejoicing in the lovely Christmas decorations everywhere. When I go to retreat tomorrow, I will have them in my imagination for I am still celebrating Christmas.

My word or words for the New Year: Joyful surrender
Please pray for the retreat!

Prayer for New Year

Loving God, unseen Companion of our life, give us faith and eager expectancy as we begin this fresh stage of our journey. Take from us all fear of the unknown and teach us to wrest treasures from darkness and difficulties. As the days come and go, may we find that each one is laden with happy opportunities and enriching experiences; and when this year reaches its completion, may our best hopes be more than ever fulfilled. Amen.
Mother Stuart

Happy, holy New Year

i wish you a very Holy as well as Happy New Year. This is from Pope Francis' last general audience of 2015:

We discover, first of all, that children want our attention. They have to be at the centre — why? Because they are proud? No! Because they need to feel protected. It is important that we too place Jesus at the centre of our life and to know, even if it may seem paradoxical, that it is our responsibility to protect him. He wants to be in our embrace, he wants to be tended to and to be able to fix his gaze on ours. Additionally, make the Child Jesus smile in order to show him our love and our joy that he is in our midst. His smile is a sign of the love that gives us the assurance of being loved. Children, lastly, love to play. Playing with children, however, means abandoning our logic in order to enter theirs. If we want to have fun it is necessary to understand what they like, and not to be selfish and make them do the things that we like. It is a lesson for us. Before Jesus we are called to abandon our pretense of autonomy — and this is the crux of the matter: our pretense of autonomy — in order to instead accept the true form of liberty, which consists in knowing and serving whom we have before us. He, the Child, is the Son of God who comes to save us. He has come among us to show us the face of the Father abounding in love and mercy. Therefore, let us hold the Child Jesus tightly in our arms; let us place ourselves at his service. He is the font of love and serenity. It will be beautiful today, when we get home, to go to the nativity scene and kiss the Baby Jesus and say: “Jesus, I want to be humble like you, humble like God”, and to ask him for this grace.

Let us hold the Infant,November Him and ask for humility. Pray for my retreat which begins tomorrow.