"It is all about something God does"

"It is all about something God does" jumped out at me as I was reading this morning. This sentence seems to sum up for me not only my prayer, but my life. My life is not my own, but is something God does! It is the action of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes I do not pay much attention to the Holy Spirit. I guess that when I try to take charge, the Spirit causes me to feel uneasy, confused, irritable and unhappy. When I am trying to heed the promptings of the Spirit, I feel peace, joy, and love and even clarity. When feeling confused, pray to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment and you will know what to do.
Pentecost is the time to thank the Lord for the gift of the Spirit in our lives. It is a time to remember that my life "is all about something God does."
The primary reality is always something God does. God continues to pour out gifts upon us; let us be filled with gratitude for his gifts and for the Holy Spirit whose presence in our lives is not only the Gift of God, but the Spirit is also the Giver of Gifts. Come Holy Spirit and enlighten us; come and enkindle the fire of gratitude in our hearts as gratitude lies at the very heart of our relationship with God!

With a Grateful Heart

Dawn is so beautiful that I wonder why we do not get up to see the sunrise everyday!
We have four peacocks who seem to have adopted us and are either perched on our roof or striding around the backyard. We did not invite them and rather hope they will leave, but they are beautiful creatures and one understands the saying, "proud as a peacock", when one watches them!
Tonight we have our Reflection Group and will be sharing on Chapters 10-12 in Albert Nolan's Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom. Chapter 10 is called With a Grateful Heart. Here are a few thoughts I underlined in my book:
Jesus saw everything in terms of God's love...In practice this means that Jesus was conscious of everything in life as a gift from God, a blessing...He was deeply grateful for everything...Jesus had a grateful heart. His response to God's love was gratitude."
I ask the Lord to give me a heart full of gratitude so that I may recognize that everything is pure gift. Lord, may I respond with joy and gratitude! When I am grateful, I am also full of joy!
Today I am not only thanking God again for his gifts, but plan to write to thank others who have been a gift to me. It is a day for expressing gratitude, for letting the joy that real gratitude brings spring forth and for spreading this joy to others.

As you can see, I am still reliving the two weeks in Arizona and looking at the wonderful scenery. My pictures, taken with a disposable camera, turned out to be good and I will need to put them out for my community to see.
My reflection this morning was at the hospital; so many people there and what a large place it is and so full of staff running around and patients sitting patiently waiting for x-rays or other examinations. Then, I actually saw two accidents on my way home. Usually I am going or coming from the University when I see accidents on the highway; multiple car accidents as one runs into another who then hits someone else who hits another, etc. Today the accidents were not on the highway and one wonders how they happened. People are in such a rush. The cars were smashed badly so they must have been going faster than the speed limit. Between the hospital and the car accidents today I have been praying for some special intentions. A faculty member lost his mother; a secretary told me that her husband of over twenty years just left her and the children; the newspaper is full of the thousands of deaths because of the cyclone; the war continues, etc. Not very cheering news so let us give all to the Heart of Jesus and ask him to send forth his Spirit to renew the face of the earth,.

Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord

In the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus told his Apostles, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This was the farewell speech of Jesus for Luke tells us, "When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight."
They must have been awed. They just stood there looking at the sky. However, those last words of Jesus were recorded and are still a message for us today: You will receive power from the Holy Spirit; you will be my witnesses even to the ends of the earth.

By our vocation to follow Jesus, we also receive power from the Holy Spirit and are called to be witnesses wherever we are. All of us are to be ambassadors of Christ.
In the Parish Renew Retreat that I made last week end in Arizona, the prayer said often by all of us keeps echoing in my heart this week and I pass it on to all my readers:
I am a blessing! I am an ambassador of Christ!
The love of Jesus flows through me to others.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

How do I experience the power of the Holy Spirit in my life?

Ascension Thursday

A friend sent me this picture of the ocean and somehow it made me think of the joy that Jesus had in going to his Father. I am aware that Ascension Thursday is now celebrated in most of the dioceses on Sunday, but we had the tradition of gathering at noon on this day to sing "Beau Ciel" - I read in the little "White Book" that we no longer have the ritual of extinguishing the Paschal Candle after the Gospel is read. Since the Paschal Candle is a symbol of the presence of the risen Christ here on earth, this ritual "could give the impression that Christ is no longer present among us." So now the candle continues to burn as a signal that Christ is with us always, until the end of time. The Paschal Candle remains lit for the rest of the Easter season. It is lit throughout the entire year for funerals and baptisms!
Well, only 10 days until Pentecost and I am desiring this great Feast!

Good Shepherd Sunday

I love the image of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is our shepherd and we can say with the psalmist: "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want."
The verse before the Gospel is "I am the Good Shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep, and mine know me." He calls us each by name and he walks ahead of us and we follow him, because we recognize his voice.
The Gospel ends with one of the most tremendous truths told us by Jesus: "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."

Peter in the second reading for today tells us, "By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." We are like the black sheep above that has been sought and found and carried by the Lord. We return because he has the words of life and has come so that we may "have life and have it more abundantly."

Disciples on Way with Jesus walking with them

I love the story of Jesus walking with the two disciples who do not recognize him. Jesus drew near to them and just "walked with them" and asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?"
Cleopas,(the other disciple we do not know the name of but it could have been his wife) asks Jesus if he is the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know what has taken place. Jesus asks, "What sort of things?" He wants them to tell him so he can show them how the Scriptures have indicated what did come to pass. Then, when they reach their village, Jesus gave the impression that he was going on, but they urged him to stop saying, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."
So Jesus goes in with them to a simple Sunday night supper. They recognize him in the breaking of the bread. Then Jesus vanishes from their sight and they are filled with energy and retrace their steps the seven miles to Jerusalem to tell the others "what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread."
When we recognize Jesus in our daily life, we feel more energy; we want to spread the good news. Let us remember that we can always find Jesus in the Eucharist! He waits for us.

At Sea With God

I received Margaret Silf's latest book, At Sea With God last night and found myself reflecting on what it means to be At Sea with God. She asks us to think of what kind of a boat we are?
I do not know how to sail, but I am sure that I must be a sailboat. I depend on the wind of the Holy Spirit to carry me across the water. Really, I have not had time to read much, but here are the Chapter Headings:
The Boat; The Cargo and the Crew; Setting Sail; Navigating the High Seas; Perils of the Deep; Going Nowhere; and Dropping Anchor--Moving On. You could almost use your own imagination to fill in the Chapters! I did turn to the back (always consult the bibliography) and noticed the last sentences of the book. I liked them enough to quote them here: When we are ready to voyage beyond the horizon, it won't matter any more that the boat falls apart. We will have learned to trust the immensity of the ocean of God's love.
I am adding the book to the list I keep on the right side of this blog.

Easter Joy

Joy is the song of the spirit under the pressure of happiness, according to Mother Stuart. I like that definition and have always thought that Jesus must have been so full of joy that others flocked after him just because of his joy. I have a picture that someone gave me of a "laughing Jesus" and I think that in these days after his resurrection he must have done a lot of laughing.
Little children find joy in everything; the discovery of something new, the sight of a butterfly, a puddle of water, all can cause immediate joy and reaction. Jesus wants us to be childlike and I think that having a sense of joy and wonder as we go through life is one of his gifts to us. Let us discover this joy and wonder in all we contemplate today.

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Today, the eve of Pentecost, I am reflecting on and praying with the Sequence for the Liturgy of Pentecost and feel that I can do nothing better than share it here with you and let you choose your own favorite lines to reflect on today. I do not always like the traslation of the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, but this is what we have.

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 bosoms shine.

You, of comforters the best;
You, the 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.

O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

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.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess You, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend.

Give them virtue's sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia.

I think the Sequence may be what I will pray over for Pentecost and several days more.