Some More New Books

The more I look at the ocean, the more I desire my retreat which will be on the ocean this summer. In the meantime, I have received several new books and will add them here even if I have not yet read them. I have looked through each and think each has merit and would be helpful. The only book I am actually using at this moment if John Main's Essential Writings which is from the Modern Spiritual Masters Series and I am sure that I mentioned before but am finding it a book that leads me to prayer.
The new books are:
Pennington, Basil M., OCSO. "Psalms: A Spiritual Commentary." Skylight Publishing, 2008. (The hardcover was published by the Cistercial Abbey of Spencer, Inc. in 2006.)
Basil's translations and commentaries are helpful for anyone wanting to use the Psalms for prayer.
Wiederkehr, Macrina. "Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day." Sorin Books, 2008. I love Macrina's books and think this will be helpful for really uniting oneself to the Church's prayer of the Hours- it helps to be conscious of the Presence of God in our day.
Coutinho, Paul, S.J. How Big Is Your God? The Freedom to Experience the Divine. Loyola, 2007. Paul is an Indian Jesuit who is a delight to read and I look forward to enjoying this book. I was tempted to browse and liked all that I read, but want to really reflect and so read this book slowly.
I am involved in some "end of the academic year" events and so wish the days were longer to accomplish more. It is time to remind myself that each of us has 24 hours, all the time there is and it is up to us to use it wisely.

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,.

Arizona and Desert Simplicity

I loved the boat ride in Arizona on the lake between canyons and I loved the view of the mountains and the desert landscapes. It left me thinking about the virtue of simplicity. In the Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart we have this phrase that I find myself going back to often: "they must love and desire that simplicity which springs from the calmness of a soul who seeks and longs for nothing but her God, and who, without any thought of self or of her own interests, looks only to God whom alone she wishes to love and please in all things."

St. Madeleine Sophie had a real love for simplicity; so did, St. Julie Billiart, foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who said that a simple soul is sweet tempered, affectionate, and attentive to the wants of others. She has a great love of truth, real humility, and a charming manner. Such a soul is the beloved child of God who finds in her much delight."
Julie also said that a simple soul speaks to God with easy familiarity, as to her Father and her Spouse. Adoring God with profound humility, she tells God her faults just as she sees them. Then she listens while our Lord communicates himself to her."

I think the world would be a better place if all of us had the virtue of simplicity; we would live seeking only to please Jesus, without thought of self or self-interest.
The Arizona desert brought me to this reflection on simplicity and the Desert Fathers seem to be calling me to let go of all that is not God!

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?

Feast Day of St. Philip and St. James

I like to remember these two apostles as Philip was the one who at the Last Supper said, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." And Jesus answered him by asking, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?
Then Jesus continues to tell us that "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."

We know little of James who was known as James the Less probably to distinguish him from James, the brother of John. However, in the first reading from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians we know that Jesus appeared to James before the Ascension.
In fact, it is good to remember that Paul tells us that he appeared to "Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the Apostles. Last of all, as one born abnormally, he appeared to me." Paul is not the last to have received appearances as many people today continue to be overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus in their lives. Sometimes it is only the feeling of being in His presence and overwhelmed by love; sometimes they hear Jesus speaking to them; sometimes a few even see Jesus. The important thing is to believe that He is still with us and does make his presence felt in many ways today in our daily lives. As we celebrate the Ascension tomorrow, let us thank Jesus for his presence among us all through the centuries.

"Do not be afraid for I am with you."

These beautiful Arizona sunsets help me to realize the words Our Lord said to Paul in today's reading from Acts 18: "Do not be afraid. Go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you."

How often God says to us, "Don't be afraid." If we really realized that God is with us and is all-powerful and loves us unconditionally, we would not be afraid. What is there to fear when God is with us? Certainly, we should not fear to preach the Good News.

I keep thinking of two quotes that I read recently. "Joy is the echo of God's love in us" (Don Marmion) The other is "Let us live in joy so that all will see this life of God in us."
Joy leaves no room for fear. He is with us, alleluia, alleluia!

I apologized to St. Joseph for forgetting that his feast of St. Joseph, the Worker, was celebrated yesterday. We had a beautiful liturgy at the University as a farewell to our priest campus minister - I shall miss him and his excellent homilies. Yesterday he began with the story of a child asking her mother where she had come from - the mother told her that God had created a beautiful woman and man and then they had children and their children had more children and this wonderful world of God was soon full of beautiful people. The little girl went out to play and found her father later and asked the same question. He told her that she had come from some playful monkeys. The little daughter then returned to ask her mother if what Daddy had said was true. The Mother told her that he was speaking of his side of the family but that her side had come from the first beautiful woman and man.

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!

Home from beautiful Arizona

I had a wonderful vacation and it was good to be with family and everyone spoiled me so that I really felt so loved and welcome. However, I am glad to be home and will be back at the University tomorrow and back writing my daily blog reflection with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Today I will just share a little prayer that somehow had become a bookmark for me.
Gracious God, thank you for the gift of today.
Refresh me...Invite me...
To discover your presence in each person that I meet and every event encountered.
Teach me when to speak, when to listen, when to ponder and when to share.
In moments of challenge and decision attune my heart to the whisperings of your Wisdom.
As I undertake ordinary and unnoticed tasks, gift me with simple joy.
When my day goes well may I rejoice!
When it grows difficult surprise me with new possibilities.
When life is overwhelming call me to Sabbath moments to restore your peace and harmony.
May my living today reveal your goodness. Amen.

Arizona vacation is over!

Tomorrow I leave the house before five in the morning and will be flying home from Arizona to Florida with wonderful memories of these two weeks with my family. My brother and sister-in-law met me just two weeks ago in the evening and we went to one of their favorite restaurants and met my sister there for dinner. The next day was fairly quiet with time at the pool and driving around in my brother's new red convertible Corvette! On Thursday, we went to Sedona and stayed in the Sky Harbor Lodge with the most beautiful views imaginable from the balcony of our room (my sister went, too, and we shared this lovely large room with a fireplace.) Of course, we had the fireplace going until late the first night and it reminded me of so many family memories as my mother always loved a fire in the fireplace and the family would gather around and she even allowed us to toast marshmellows on winter nights. Living in Miami, we do not have a fireplace! The red rock mountains of Sedona are gorgeous and are all around - we went to the Holy Cross Chapel as one of our first stops. As both my sister and my brother had stayed in Sedona before, we returned to their favorite places and every meal seemed to be in a different, awesome spot. This blog will be too long to read if I tell you all the wonders of each day. I do need to mention going to St. Vincent de Paul Center in Phoenix where my nephew is in charge of fundraising among other things. He invented a very creative game last year and was repeating it for the public on a Saturday so we all went to "play" and it was quite an experience. You begin by being given a sheet that describes who you are. I was a homeless woman with a three year old son; because of having the baby, I was out of work and living in a shelter but had to find a job, childcare, money for transportation, etc. Actually, St. Vincent de Paul helps you with so many things so you start at one station and are passed on to another according to your needs. I was helped to see how to budget, what my needs were, where I could apply for a job, etc. I found the game to be such an education that I am hoping my nephew can market it for all St. Vincent de Paul groups in every parish. After that, we went to see where Blase and his wife live now and stayed there for dinner. I stayed with John and Anita in Gold Canyon until my sister came for dinner at the end of the week and I went to her home in Scottsdale. I suppose the most interesting things during this busy week were the boatride and then the Parish Renew retreat. Both are worth telling you about some day, but I want to get back to reflections and here is a tidbit from a talk that my sister gave. She spoke of three key words that are central to her love of the Eucharist:"Listen, love, trust." I suspect that these three words are central to every spirituality. I promise more when I am home!

Arizona, here I come

My sister has an Indian reservation behind her home and the sunsets are gorgeous; I think they are also spectacular at my brother's but his home faces a mountain and is almost in a desert although it is called Gold Canyon. I leave this afternoon on a direct flight of five hours to Phoenix where my brother and sister-in-law will pick me up. They had to put their dog to sleep yesterday as the dog had cancer, but it was a hard decision for them to make. I hope I can cheer them up!
For those who did not read yesterday's blog, I will be away from the computer and may not be posting my blog everyday during this time. I think it good to take the time off and will leave you with a quotation from Henri Nouwen about community that I think is worth reflecting on as we all belong to different communities and I was thanking for all the people in my life this morning who belong to my different and many communities.
"Community is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit, not built upon mutual compatibility, shared affection, or common interests but upon having received the same divine breath, having been given a heart set aflame by the same divine fire, and having been embraced by the same divine love."
John Main's Essential Writings is also giving me much to reflect upon and I will be sharing some of his one-liners on my return. I am looking forward to seeing my family and just spending time with them.

Athirst for the living God

"As the deer long for for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. Athirst is my soul for God, the living God..."

God gives us the desire for Him; the more we desire God, the more capacity we have to receive His Love. He longs to love us but we need to learn how to allow Him to love us.

I will be going out to Arizona tomorrow to visit my brother and sister-in law in Gold Canyon, go up to Sedona with them, my sister, and possibly my nephew and his wife,for a couple of days. Then I will be visiting my sister the next week in Scottsdale and making a retreat she is helping give the next week end at the nearby retreat house. I will only return on April 29.
I usually take a vacation from the computer when I go away, but this time I may try keeping my blog; it will not be everyday and I am sure the reflections will flow from what I am experiencing as well as my prayer.
This morning I thought about the Regina Coeli It is the prayer we say to Mary instead of the Angelus from Easter to Pentecost. In other words, it is a prayer for the Easter season. I was trying to say it in the car the other day and found that I was not sure of the exact wording so here it is, just in case any of you are in doubt about how to pray this ancient prayer:
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
The Son whom it was your privilege to bear, alleluia
Has risen as He said, alleluia.
Pray to God for us, alleluia
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
Let us pray
O God, You gave joy to the world
through the Resurrection of Your Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask You through the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother,
to bring us to the happiness of eternal life.
Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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."