Lord

LORD is one of my favorite ways to address Jesus. Peter used the title when he said, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you! Although we use Lord as a title for Jesus, for the Jews in the Hebrew Scriptures, Lord refers to the one God, "Yahweh". They substituted the word Lord in most of our translations.
Eventually the title was applied to Jesus and one of the earliest professions of faith was simply "Jesus is Lord." I also love John calling out "It is the Lord!" when Jesus was on the shore and the disciples did not recognize him until they caught so many fish that the net was breaking.
The Little White Book ended with Pentecost, but it is a page in it that is causing today's reflection. It reminded me that when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth she says to Mary, "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord (Jesus) should come to me?" Elizabeth also says, "Blessed are you who believed that what has been spoken to you by the Lord (God, Yahweh) would be fulfilled." Then Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
Perhaps the reason that I love the word is that it is used for Jesus and speaks of his divinity and it is also used for God the Father. I know that when I say "Lord" I am speaking to Jesus but also including the Trinity by using this title. I always begin my journal with "Dearest Lord". Maybe it is good to reflect on the titles we use for Jesus as we move with the Spirit into this time after Pentecost.

Pentecost

This is really a great feast and an important one. I love the Liturgy of the day. The alternate opening prayer is:
Father of light, from whom every good gift comes,
send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind,
and by the flame of your wisdom open the horizons of our minds.
Loosen our tongues to sing your praise in words beyond the power of speech,
for without your Spirit man could never raise his voice in words of peace
or announce the truth that Jesus is Lord,
who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, on God for ever and ever. Amen.

I also love the Sequence, but will not copy it here as it is long. Still, it begins:
Come, Holy Spirit, come! which should be our mantra today and during the week as the Holy Spirit is so needed in our lives; indeed, the Sequence says that where the Holy Spirit is not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

May this year be one filled with the Spirit!

"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!

Playfulness and Joy

"Playfulness, like wonder, is one of the childlike qualities we tend to lose as we grow up." This quote from Albert Nolan is true, but it is a sad truth.
Joy and playfulness are also signs of the Holy Spirit. Saints are joyful and joy attracts others. John Maine says that "we learn to be joyful only because we have learned not to possess, not to want to possess."
I think joy also implies trust. I have the image of a laughing two-year old; I watched him last Sunday climbing up on a cement platform and then jumping off into the arms of his father. This was repeated over and over with the same cries of glee! The toddler was full of joy and so was the father who kept catching him.
"Joy is the echo of God's life in us!" That quote from Dom Marmion means much to me as I find it is true in my own life. Real joy comes from the Holy Spirit. Mother Stuart said that "Joy is the song of the spirit under the pressure of happiness." May the coming of the Holy Spirit this Pentecost fill us with both joy and playfulness!

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.

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!