"Give us Thyself"

Mother Stuart said that " give us Thyself" is the best prayer we can pray, sand "we give ourselves to Thee" no better offering. for we do not know what to ask and what to offer. Leave it to Him, but remember that we must, and we mean to give all for all.

Lent is a time to be with Jesus in His heart suffering as we see each day the way people are treating each other, the killing, the cruelty, the indifference that is so widespread today.

Joyous Thoughts

This morning I heard that I could go to our retirement home, Oakwood, on June 4, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I know that my community is happy to have a definite date set for my departure as they also want to be able to leave in early June and seemed to think I needed to be the first to go. I am trying to keep only joyous thoughts about this move. It is such an opportunity and I know I will love being there, once I get there.

Now, I am also entering into Lent more deeply with meditation on the suffering of Jesus. I think one of the saddest lines in the Gospel is when we are told that all his disciples "left him and fled." All abandoned Jesus and left Him alone. They were afraid and ran away. How did Jesus feel at that moment?

The way to do much in a short time

Mother Stuart says: "The way to do much in a short time is to love much. People will do great things if they are stirred with enthusiasm and love."

I know that love makes all things easy. However, I find that at my age, love needs to give me energy. I used to have a hidden reservoir of energy that I could call upon. Now, that seems to have vanished and I must humbly accept my limitations.

Perhaps these very limitations have made the interior life so thrilling and exciting. One has only to let the Spirit lead and the inner life reveals such treasures.

March Madness

Now, I know that March Madness refers to college basketball, but I think I have been experiencing a bit of March madness in these days when I am packing books, giving books, trying to sort through much of what I have to send to the Archives, etc. The effort to do all this has created a bit of chaos. I am very neat and hate to see disorder, but now we are going to be living with disorder unless we find a place to store boxes. The realtor may insist on our getting things out of the way in order to show the house. I am trying to be resigned and accept that we need to start now to pack, but I know it is hard for me to live with disorder and we still have three months before we leave! Please pray!

Again I resort to Mother Stuart for inspiration:

"It is always here and now; there is always the present moment to do the very best we can and the future depends on the ways these moments are spent."

Praying for children

Our newspaper in Miami makes me very aware of how many children are being, shot, neglected, and abused. Last week a mother left her healthy two-year old in a dumpster. Fortunately, she was seen and the child is now being cared for in another home. The picture of this smiling little girl makes me pray more for all children. It is so important that they experience happiness and feel safe. All the refugees lack so much and how hard it is for the parents to see the suffering of their children.

I am trying to give away books - maybe close to 2,000 or more books that I seem to have collected - then there are the community books. We have a bookcase in the Chapel with more spiritual books and then we have a ceiling to floor built in bookcase at the end of the corridor that is full of lighter reading: novels and mysteries and biographies. I did not realize that we had so many books in this house! I had about 22 shelves full in my room and last Saturday, with the wonderful help of a 6th grader from Carrollton, I cleared about 14 of them in one morning. I have plans to give most of them away by Friday to friends, and to the Carrollton library, and to the prison.

Another Parable of Joy

One of my favorite images is that of Jesus going to look for a lost sheep. I think he told the story to remind us how much joy there is when what has been lost is found. Jesus never abandons us but keeps going after the lost sheep with such love and patience.

Pope Francis would have us all out looking for the lost sheep. By our prayer, love, and concern, we can help bring others back to the fold.

When I have nothing to say, I turn to Mother Stuart.  She said:

"May God's presence be ever your living joy and the central fact in your life, from which will flow patience, calmness, and an unquenchable joy."
This is the second time I am using this quote as I think it so helpful to pray for this for ourselves and for others.

Another to reflect on is, "Above all remember that you are the cherished object of our Lord's most tender love. May He convince you of this."

Fourth Sunday of Lent

This Sunday is a moment of joy and thus we have pink vestments and the opening antiphon for the Mass is "Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast."

The psalm response is: "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord."

The last verse in Sunday's Psalm is

"Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your face may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him."

Then we have the Gospel of the Father who has two sons. The prodigal returns and that is a reason to rejoice.

Let us hope that we have all returned to the Father and have asked forgiveness so that God rejoices today, with only two weeks of Lent left to repent, if we find ourselves more like the resentful older son.

Intimacy

I read this from Richard Rohr and want to pass it on:

The deepest understanding of human personhood is that we are a sounding through from Another Source. If you are afraid of intimate interface, you will never allow this or know its softening power. You will stop the process before it even begins and never know how it works its transformation on the heart, mind, and body. If human eyes are too threatening for you, start with a stone, work up to plants and trees, animals will be easier, and probably only then are you ready for humans, and finally for the divine gaze.

He does admit that some of us start with the "divine gaze" and work down.

The Gospel for today is the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Both went to the temple to pray. But it is the poor tax collector who stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." He is the one whose prayer was pleasing to God. As Jesus reminds us: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Lord, help me to be humble! I guess the Lord replied at once and this was published by mistake on March 1st!

First Friday

I wrote a First Friday blog and it vanished! I suppose the Holy Spirit wanted something different. I am now thinking of the passage where Jesus tells us that we must love our neighbor as yourself. Think what that would mean if we really did this at all times. But Jesus asks more of us, I think, when he asks us to love one another as I have loved you. Now, that is really calling for us to love unconditionally and to love without limits. This would be impossible except for the fact that we are able to love with the love of Jesus who is in each of us. Now, it is something we need to do and therefore we have the grace to do it.

What helps me is what my mother always said, "Love others and they will love you." Then, when people love you, it is easy to love them. I also connect this to what John of the Cross said: "Put love where there is no love and you will find love."

God made us all unique

Sometimes I forget that each of us is unique and we need to take this into account. I marvel that each snowflake is different. Why do I not stand in awe when I realize that each person is different?

Mother Stuart says: "Don't compare your state of mind to that of others, it never helps. You must go the way that suits you, and they must go the way that suits them."

Am I allowing each person in my life this same freedom? I find myself being critical because I think others should be acting the way I was taught - this is not good and so I delight in thinking of the uniqueness of each of us. I am working on never judging and letting each be who he or she is and being in awe of the Creator who loves the uniqueness of each creature.

I read in a comic strip the other morning three things about prayer for us all to remember: we say, "help me", "thank you", and sometimes just "Hi" - I think the hello part is important and the rest follows from the relationship established.

Jesus teaches us to pray

The Apostles ask Jesus to teach them to pray. He does so by saying, "When you pray. say, "Father". As Wendy Beckett points out, Jesus does not give them a talk on prayer or tell them what they should do before prayer, or talk about conditions or stages, etc. but just tells them to begin by saying, "Father"  - she goes on to ask if we really want to pray. If we do, then we will as we have only to ask: for Jesus told us:
"whatsoever you ask the Father, he will grant it to you."

Maybe we have become so used to methods and different types of prayer being taught to us that we have forgotten that prayer is just an expression of a relationship - a very real relationship that we have with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I now am adding the entire political situation in our country to my most fervent prayer - I have been praying, but now it seems to be that only a miracle is going to get things right - we need a good President but also a Congress that will work together for the common good of the people. Lord, come and help us!

What I wrote for March 5 was published yesterday - this is good for my humility and patience! Once it goes, I cannot edit.

Prayer is Simple

One of my favorite writings on prayer is from Wendy Beckett. She speaks of the essential act of prayer: "it is to stand unprotected before God. What will God do? He will take possession of us. That He should do this is the whole purpose of life."

Prayer is concerned not with me but with God.

If we want to pray, if we want God to take possession of us, then we are praying!

I find that the "joyful surrender" that I am trying to live this year is a great help to that "standing unprotected before God". It is letting God be God and do with us what He wants.