A prayer for you today

 I am taking a few of the verses from the adapted version of Psalm 132 from Nan Merrill. We used this as a reading in the opening prayer of the Busy Person's Retreat and I am just copying part:

"Enter into silence, into the Heart of Truth

for herein lies the Great Mystery

where life is ever unfolding....

May the peace of the Spirit bless you and lead you on life's journey.

Be not afraid of the Silence for Wisdom's voice is heard there!

Enter into the Holy Temple of your soul,

converse with the Beloved in sweet communion.

Blessings of the Great Silence be with you

as you help to rebuild the heart of the World with love!"

Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

 What a wonderful feast day, often called the feast of the impossible! And today Pope Francis is consecrating the entire world, but especially Russia and the Ukraine to Our Lady. We pray that she will make the fighting stop before more are killed and a country is destroyed. I pray especially for the refugees who have had to flee and who do not know if husbands, fathers, and other relatives have survived. I cannot imagine what they are suffering, and it is even worse for those who have stayed behind. Let us pray today that our prayers will stop this fighting.

I did not write yesterday as I have been caught up in the Busy Person's Retreat and having zooms and visits with my three retreatants. It has been a joy to be with each and we finish with a final prayer this afternoon. Here at Oakwood, we will also be having Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament all afternoon to pray for peace.

Guided Imagery Sharing

 Last Saturday I had a Guided Imagery. It is a short one, but we are able to share with one other and then with the group and we will be together again next Saturday to share again after a week of praying with our images. My GIM was very simple and left me valuing silence. I found the music loud and it reminded me of a cold and windy day, and I looked for shelter. I found the same cabin I had been in during a powerful experience during the GIM retreat in January. It seemed to beckon me to come in and when I reached the door, my Wisdom Figure opened it and says, "Come in; I have been expecting you." There is a lovely fire in the fireplace and I sit on the couch in front of it and feel God's love. The flames speak to me of the love of the Heart of Jesus. But, I am loving the silence. My wisdom figure is now sitting next to me on the couch but not speaking. I feel that I am just to let the silence invade me. That is all I am supposed to do. I find I love the silence; it delights me; it gives me joy! Then I see the silent Joseph standing near but just to the left of the fireplace. It is his feast day. He looks on me with love, but says nothing. His presence deepens my sense of peace.

That is all I had time to write before we were called back to share, but I have many images to think about during this week and even dialogue with some of them, but the silence was impressive!

Busy Person's Retreat

 Yesterday I thought I had scheduled ahead for my blog, but I had not. I just did not look as it was a busy day with three long zooms. We also began the Busy Person's Retreat and it is all by zoom this year. I love being able to help others with their prayer during these days of retreat. In fact, I love being able to do this by zoom. 

If any of my readers want to know more about the Busy Person's Retreat, please just ask. We begin with prayer on Monday, individual visits the next three days and then a closing prayer session on Friday. The individual visits are what are most helpful as many have not had a spiritual companion or director. My role is just to listen to my retreatant and also to the Holy Spirit. 

Tomorrow I will share my guided imagery experience from last Saturday's zoom, or at least I hope to do this. It is a busy week full of many zooms.

Third Sunday of Lent

 The Gospel tells us about the fig tree used in a parable the did not bear fruit for three years. The owner was telling the gardener to cut it down, but he said, "Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down." 

Now, I have a really good story about a fig tree. I went to Coquimbo in the poorest region of Chile with a desert climate. The only tree in the community backyard was a fig tree. It had not yielded any fruit in previous years so the community thought it was miraculous that it suddenly bore fruit abundantly the first year I arrived. Since we were really poor and the five of us were living on the salary of what one workman would earn when I arrived, those figs were a gift from heaven. 

To just tell you the readings for this Sunday as some might want to look at them at home, the first reading is from the Book of Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15 and is about the burning bush and God speaking to Moses and telling him that he had come down to rescue the people from the Egyptians. Then God tells Moses that "I am who am."

Responsorial Psalm: "The Lord is kind and merciful."

The second reading is from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12

Gospel is from Luke: 13: 1-9

Sometimes the Gospel is that of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well.  John 4: 5-42

Feast of St. Joseph

 Please pray for my guided imagery experience today and I will share it next week, 

 Prayer of Pope Francis to St. Joseph

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To you God entrusted his only Son;

in you Mary placed her trust;

with you Christ became a man.

Blessed Joseph, to us too,

Show yourself a father

and guide us in the path of life.

Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage,

and defend us from every evil. Amen. 

The mystery of the stars

 

I am having some good thoughts about the stars ever since I found myself floating around them in a guided imagery. This Saturday, I will be having another guided imagery experience by zoom. It is also the Feast of St. Joseph. I admire Joseph so much and feel that he is very present to us. He is the silent one. I think of my Dad. He was always there for us and worked hard to provide for all of us. He never complained. He would get up early on Sundays to go to Mass and then come home to fix wonderful Sunday breakfasts for the rest of the family. Until my brothers were born, we always went to Mass together, but this was during the war and we were now living a short walk from the Church. 

Besides praying for peace and for the plight of the thousands of refugees in all parts of our world, I am praying for the process of the synod. Everyone of us needs to participate and make our voices heard. 

Besides preparing for the Synod of Bishops in 2023, we are all caught up in "synodality".  Pope Francis said that a synodal Church is a listening Church "know that listening is more than feeling. It is a mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn." Synodality provides opportunities to listen to the Holy Spirit and the People of God in order to discern together how to live our spiritual journey to follow Jesus Christ. I do hope everyone is involved and that the Bishops are listening to the people. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Enjoy the day! Our Provincial is here and we have a new Community Director so we are celebrating with a party this afternoon.

Posting Late This Wednesday

 

I just found this picture and love it. The lighthouse overlooks Lake Superior and is not active now, but I love lighthouses and my imagination usually invents a story about the keeper of the light, etc. 

Now, I know we are all praying for peace. Offering my Lenten resolutions for peace is helping me to keep them. I also found a great bargain watch that not only gives you the time, date, tracks your steps, tell you how many calories you have burned, gives you your temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen, and is able to do other things, but I really only wanted it to help me exercise. I found it on Amazon for $18.99 with free shipping and so I got it with a Valentine Day gift certificate and love it. One cannot buy lunch out here for that amount of money, so I am happy with my purchase. It is the cheapest fitness tracker but seems to be working perfectly so far. I did take it off last night and had to get out of bed twice and it started flashing and there does not seem to be a way to turn it off or put it to sleep so I just put it in a drawer, and it was fine this morning. I think I need to charge it about once a week.

Sorry I am late posting today. We are decorating for St. Patrick's and will have corn beef, potatoes, and cabbage with carrots for dinner tomorrow. That is very Irish, but we are also having German potato salad! Our chefs are wonderful.

Part of our History

 I have been reading Grave on the Prairie: Seven Religious of the Sacred Heart and Saint Mary's Mission to the Potawatomi by Maureen J. Chicoine, RSCJ. Maureen is now one of the community here at Oakwood and is really good at doing research. I am enjoying the book, but trying to read it quickly as many others want to read it here.

I am praying with the Gospel of last Sunday where Jesus took his three friends up the mountain to pray. I think Jesus is still inviting each of us to go apart and pray with Him. You can just be there with Him in silence or you can also talk to Him about all your concerns. I just like the idea of thinking that Jesus invites me to go up the mountain with Him. We get a brief glimpse of Jesus transfigured and then hear God telling us that this is His chosen Son and telling us to listen to Him. Try praying with this Gospel. Or just go anywhere with Jesus and sit at His feet in silence.

Monday of the Second Week of Lent

 To me it seems that I have been in Lent longer than a week. However, I am just beginning to keep my three resolutions. What I have discovered is that I want to welcome each moment but find that I am thinking about other things. I need to practice mindfulness.

The Gospel for today's liturgy is from Luke: 6:36-38. It is very short, but powerful and so I am copying it for reflection today.

"Jesus said to his disciples: "Be merciful, just as your father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."

I suspect each of us will find one phrase to ponder and try to make fruitful in our own lives. I find that I am sometimes judging others and will watch that as I do not want to be judged!

Second Sunday in Lent

 Today's Gospel is the Transfiguration and in the Collect we pray to be nourished with God's word, so that we may rejoice to behold His glory.

The first reading is from the Book of Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

"The Lord God took Abram outside and said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, shall your descendants be."

Responsorial Psalm: "The Lord is my light and my salvation" 

Second Reading is from Paul's Letter to the Philippians 3:17-4:1.

The Gospel is from Luke 9: 28-36

Luke tells us how Jesus took Peter, John and James and went up the mountain to pray. He was transfigured while praying. Then, Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and conversed with Jesus. Then, from a cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son, listen to Him"

I love this Gospel and often find that Jesus is inviting me to go up the mountain with Him. God the Father also tells me to listen to His chosen Son.

Now, we are all praying for peace and so those prayers are being carried to heaven, but maybe God is waiting for us to show that we are really ready to sacrifice in order to stop this fighting.