A New Week

 Since I am just living in my room, I need to remember which day of the week it is. Fortunately, I do keep a Journal and do write the day and date at the top of each page. I have been trying to establish an order of day. You would think that would be easy, but so far it has not been. I really miss going to the Chapel for afternoon prayer. However, I am having a good hour in the early afternoon now for prayer and can turn my hearing aids off so I hear nothing. A friend sent me a wonderful present: about 36 sharpened colored pencils and a Psalms Coloring Book by Jade Summer which she says is all the rage at the retirement center in Florida. I guess I am going to find it a contemplative exercise and I am sure that I will remember the phrase from the Psalm after coloring the entire page. This is going to last longer than the quarantine, but what a thoughtful gift. The first page has "Trust in his Holy name" so I am repeating this as I pray for all. Six of our nuns in India are in the hospital with this terrible virus. We are all going to be tested here.

Now, as we begin a new week, let me quote from an old favorite of mine that always helps me to pray: God's Passionate Desire...and Our Response by Bill Barry, SJ. who tells us in the Foreword that he is fascinated by the deep desire planted in each of us for union with God and, in connection with that, union with one another.

He quotes a prayer of St. Anselm that I often have used so will copy it here for you:

"Teach us to seek you, and reveal yourself to us as we seek; for unless you instruct us we cannot seek you, and unless you reveal yourself we cannot find you. Let us seek you in desiring you; let us desire you in seeking you. Let us find you in loving you; let us love you in finding you.