Now I Begin...

I cannot put off writing the book that is waiting any longer. Here is what is getting me going today: (I hope Megan does not mind me copying this to share with my readers, but I did find it helpful.)

Facing the Demons of Inaction

Megan, selected from Experience Life
March 10, 2012


SIDEBAR:
Get Going!
If you’re ready to end your habit of procrastination, here are the next four steps:
1. Identify an important, beneficial project or task about which you have been procrastinating.
2. What’s the next step you need to take? Name it, even if it’s just a small task like making a phone call.
3. Noting and accepting any uncomfortable feelings that come up, decide to take action anyway. When are you going to do this thing? Identify a specific day and time. You’ve just made an appointment with yourself.

And now the fun part …
4. Accompanied by trepidation, fear, doubts, indecision, shyness, anxiety or any other demon that happens to show up DO IT. Enjoy the experimental feeling of doing it even in the face of your other feelings.

No question about it: Taking action isn’t always pleasant. But in many ways, it is exhilarating, particularly when it is difficult!

Plus, look at the payoff over the course of a lifetime: a lot more accomplished and a lot less suffering, fretting and regret.

Feeling overwhelmed and underpowered? Do something anyway. As Joan Baez once said, “Action is the antidote to despair.”

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/facing-the-demons-of-inaction.html#ixzz1opehQygJ

Sunday Rest

I remember when Sunday was really a day of leisure; now people do all their grocery shopping, washing, numerous errands and do not realize that we now do not take off one day a week to spend more time with God, ourselves, and others. I think that Jesus pushing out the animals and moneychangers from the Temple patio has something to tell us today.
I read a quote from Abraham Lincoln that I liked: "Tis better to keep silence and be thought a fool, than to speak and leave no doubt about it." I am trying to remember this from memory and may not have it just perfect, but I am thinking I need to keep silence and just let God be God today.
We are now getting up in the dark and eating supper with the sun still in the sky.
Have you gone out these days to look at Venus and Jupiter? Both planets are very visible and beautiful and a source of awe and wonder!

Books of the Bible Game found

Today I am just posting the fifteen books found in the little game I posted two days ago - one reader wrote immediately that she had found nine but was still looking; another sent me this list that I thought others might want to have as it lists the fifteen books in the order they are to be found.

1. Mark
2. Luke
3. Kings
4. Acts
5. Revelation
6. James
7. Ruth
8. Numbers
9. Job
10. Amos
11. Esther
12. Judges
13. Titus
14. Lamentations
15. Hebrews
...in that order, reading left to right.

That was fun!

Sorry that this is all I have time for today!

Women Religious really are Prophets !!

I am reading Sandra Schneiders Prophets In Their Own Country: Women Religious Bearing Witness to the Gospel in a Troubled Church. Orbis, 2011. Most of what she says in the book has been published in articles in the National Catholic Reporter and I am just enjoying having these in book form as Sandra gives such a positive view of religious life and our role today as we are living a new form of religious life, but one very much like the life that Jesus lived and would live today.
Actually, the book is very refreshing and makes so much sense; it also makes me grateful for my vocation.

Life goes on and we can choose to live peacefully

I was thinking today that it is always in my power to live at peace with God, myself, others, and the world. This is possible because at the center of each of us God abides and God allows us to still the turmoil by sinking into His Love and that gives such peace. Of course, we also work to have peaceful relationships with everyone and it is not always easy but is possible. I guess peace is a fruit of the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and world and we can so easily ignore the Holy Spirit. However, that is why we take time to listen to the quiet voice who leads us to peace. If I sit and look at a picture that is peaceful, I can feel deeper peace seeping into me. Try it!

Here is a game we played at the Mardi Gras party and I thought you would enjoy. You are to find the fifteen books of the Bible in the short note below. It is not difficult but does make you think.

In these remarks are hidden the names of fifteen books of the Bible. It is a real lulu! Kept me looking so hard for facts I missed the revelations. I was in a jam especially since the names were not capitalized. The truth will come to numbers of our readers. To others it will be a real job. For all it will be a most fascinating search. Yes, there will be some easy to spot; others, hard to judge. So we admit it usually results in loud lamentations when we can’t find them. One Lady said she brews coffee while she puzzles over it.

Stormy Weather

I can no longer remember the words to the song, "Stormy Weather" but I know I liked it. My mother used to hold me up to the window during storms when I was little to show me how beautiful the sky could be even in a storm. Later I found out that she did this so I would not be afraid of storms as that was one of her great childhood fears.

When I read the news I feel that our world is under a siege of stormy weather.
The JPIC booklet that I mentioned before (Journey from Lent to Pentecost) reminds me that "Suffering, our own and that of others in our Earth-community, leads us to the foot of the Cross where the pierced Heart of Jesus opens out being to the depths of God and to the anguish of humankind."

How am I being moved with compassion? What am I doing today to help others?

From the Chapter of 2000 we have this powerful statement: "We are convinced that our lives, given in love, are the strongest expression of our spirituality."

Alone with God

Here is a quote from Thomas Merton sent to me by one of my friends; he is very generous in sharing quotes, poems, and prayers that he thinks I would like so I am sharing this quote with you:

Thomas Merton wrote, “As soon as a man or a woman is fully disposed to be alone with God, they are alone with God no matter where they may be. At that moment they see that though they seem to be in the middle of their journey, they have already arrived at the end. For the life of grace on earth is the beginning of the life of glory. Although they are travelers in time, they have opened their eyes for a moment, in eternity.”

It reminds me of being out on the sleeping porch as a child during a great storm with lots of thunder and lightning and feeling that I was there alone with God. I thought the sky beautiful and had no fear and the rain was cooling the air. I think it was an afternoon storm and I had gone out on the porch to read but found God in an unforgettable way. My eyes were opened to both His greatness and His nearness as I felt surrounded by His tender love. After that experience I remember cherishing times when I was alone with God.

My Own Psalm

You may remember that when researching different kinds of prayer I mentioned that one could write one's own psalm and that I was going to do this. I finally did it at the conclusion of my afternoon prayer and it just flowed out of me so I am going to share it here. I love the refrain:
Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

I rejoice even in my weakness
God is my strength and always with me.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

Let us sing with joy His praises
Let us give thanks for all His gifts.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

He loves me and provides all I need
He watches over me to keep me from harm.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

With God at my side I do not fear
He calls me His beloved, loved unconditionally.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

My home is deep in His Heart
I dwell immersed in His Love.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

From His Heart I draw out love
To spread it far and wide.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!

His compassion flows through me
He desires we live in unity.

Let us sing with joy, shout our glee!
The Lord loves both you and me!


I see, in typing this, that I could make many changes but wanted to share it as it was written as I think it was under the influence of the Spirit and does express what I was feeling and that is what the Psalms do!

In the meantime, we need to pray that the big issues of immigration reform, the whole question of poverty in our own country and the world where people are without food and shelter, the environmental issues, and the need for peace in our world do not get neglected in the fight for religious liberty that is being waged by so many because of the contraceptive services in health care that are against the respect for life, but no one is fighting to get rid of the death penalty with the same intensity. These are the issues I am taking to prayer and trying to learn more about some of the injustices that are taking place in my own city. I suspect you will continue to hear more about this from me as the Society of the Sacred Heart's Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation international commission has all of us on a Journey from Lent to Pentecost with a booklet full of reflection questions. I like the booklet as it is also making us reflect more on the words of our own Constitutions.

The Transfiguation of Jesus

Jesus invites his three more intimate friends, Peter, James and John, to go up the mountain with him; Luke tells us that Jesus took them up to pray. While Jesus is praying, He is transfigured before them. This Gospel is always the second Sunday of Lent. We need to see Jesus transfigured in prayer and to hear the voice of God the Father saying, "Listen to Him." We, too, are to go apart in Lent to pray and be transfigured by listening. We have these weeks to concentrate on hearing God's voice and trusting God as Abraham did.

Don't forget that you can look at the Concord Pastor's blog linked on the right side of this blog and click on the Bible and find several short but excellent commentaries for the Sunday readings. Since I also have several places listed under prayer resources where you can follow the liturgical readings, I have stopped commenting on them except when the Spirit inspires me to share an experience of them. The Transfiguration has been a favorite reading ever since I began a eight day retreat with it once in Chile and really felt as if I were on the mountain with Jesus.

Here is a verse I read yesterday and thought I could share as it is true that when moving forward into the light we cannot see, but looking back we see so many grace-filled moments of light.

We travelers, walking to the sun, can’t see
Ahead, but looking back the very light
That blinded us shows us the way we came,
Along which blessings now appear, risen
As if from sightlessness to sight, and we,
By blessing brightly lit, keep going toward
That blessed light that yet to us is dark.
—Wendell Berry

"We commit ourselves to following Christ..."

In our Constitutions we read

6.
We commit ourselves to follow Christ
by consecrating our lives
through the profession of the vows of obedience,
poverty and chastity.
Rooted in Him through contemplation
we wish to be women who create communion.
By the witness of our love and apostolic dedication,
by sharing the life of our peoples
whose cultures are rich and varied,
our communities throughout the world
help to further communion in Christ.



We are all called to commit ourselves to follow Christ. Maybe everyone is not called to consecrating their lives by religious vows, but I do think that we are all called to create communion. I am blessed by my vocation to share the life of others from different cultures and different parts of the world. One of the greatest graces of my life was to spend twenty years as a missionary in South America and it has marked me for life. I try to keep up with some of my friends from there and have others in Spain, Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland and hope to renew friendships with several of the Canadian Province. Keeping up relationships takes time and trouble, but I feel called to do this even more as so many of my friends (those still living) are suffering and more isolated. People appreciate getting a card just to let them know that you are thinking of them and praying for them.
It could be a good thing to do this Lent - just think of some of your friends who perhaps do not do e-mail and would love to hear from you and sit down and pick up a pen and write. It is one way to create communion. I am also trying to be encouraging and giving more feedback to my friends as I know how much it means to get good feedback. I think this is a way to help us further communion in Christ.

Another book that I am reading is by Edward L. Beck, a Catholic priest who is a member of the Passionist Community and who wrote God Underneath and now has written Soul Provider: Spiritual Steps to Limitless Love - not new but good for me for Lent as it is an easy to read modern version of the St. James Climacus' The Ladder of Divine Ascent, a classic in the History of Christian Spirituality and still read each Lent in Eastern monasteries!
Beck takes each of the thirty steps and makes them come alive with real life stories. I am only on step six, but it is a delightful book I am enjoying so I mention it here. I am not yet listing it on the side of the blog as I need to read it first! I taught the classic online!

"God is selfless love..."

I just learned from Silvana that today is
Women's World Day of Prayer today - the theme is Let Justice Prevail. Let's be united prayerfully with praying women all around the world
http://www.worlddayofprayer.net/ - this is worth looking at today!

Continuing to share something of the Chapter on "The Inner Universe" from
The Emergent Christ by Ilia Delio, O.S.F. as this is the chapter I keep praying over these days:
"God is selfless love poured out by the power of the Spirit as dynamic newness of love desiring a beloved--to make whole, to unify, to evolve toward an infinite depth of love. God acts in creation as God is in Godself--dynamic love.It is out of this love that we are and continue to be created."

A bit later she writes that "Jesus' death on the cross is the most authentic statement of created life--it speaks to us of the wild love of God, the drama of evolution, and the trust that is needed if a new future is to be realized. The illogical cross is the logic of God. It is the logic of self-involvement that requires a self-emptying, a space within oneself for new life to be born."

Praying these quotes with #4 of our Constitutions that I quoted in a blog a few days ago, is helping me to enter into the "Mystery of the open side of Jesus" and to realize that in my daily Eucharist I am drawn into the gift of Jesus to His Father for the life of the world.

"The Emergent Christ"

The book that I have been reading for some time now and find to be really transforming is Ilia Delio's The Emergent Christ with the subtitle "Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe".
She also wrote Christ in Evolution and I have not read that. The Emergent Christ is her latest book (Orbis, 2011) and Ilia Delio, O.S.F. is a senior fellow in science and religion at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University.

You may remember that I spoke of this book some time ago - months ago- in some blogs and said that the first chapter was quite dense and I was happy to have a Glossary in the back of the book; actually, I have not found this an easy book to read and I am finishing it for the second time and still trying to digest all the new ideas that are presented. Maybe some of the ideas are not that new, but the language is different but worth the struggle to grasp her content as it is causing a transformation in my own way of looking at life and the world and my part in it.

Today I am only going to give a quote from what I read yesterday on prayer. It is in the 8th Chapter, "The Inner Universe" (there are only nine chapters). Delio quotes from Bonaventure's Soul's Journey into God and then has this to say:
"Bonaventure begins with prayer as the key to relationship with God. Prayer is the expression of intimacy with God; it shapes who I am and what I become. Prayer unfolds the inner universe in which I am created and which I create. It is the most direct line of communication to my interior reality in which every denial of that reality is a diminishment of myself. Prayer, therefore, requires an honest encounter with God. When I fail in this honesty, I diminish myself because I fail to allow the fullness of God's Spirit to move within me and thus I fail to come to my authentic self in God."

Now, that says a great deal to me but it is difficult to grasp and so this is one of the quotes I keep praying over and thought I would share with you today. I am also adding the book to my list of spiritual reading. I have more books to add, but the truth is that I have not finished some of them but will begin to talk about them. Spiritual reading nourishes the soul.
I had a directee who always wanted to have a good book for Lent and he would spend Good Friday reading to make sure he finished the book chosen each Lent.