Sunday Gospel Reflection

In Luke's Gospel for this Sunday we have Jesus reading the passage from Isaiah and then saying that this Scripture passage has been fulfilled in their hearing. Luke tells us. "And they all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"

That part is fine but then they hear that Jesus is not about to work wonders for them and they turn against him. They are filled with fury and drove him out of the town and were ready to hurl him from the brow of the hill. Luke tells us, "But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away."

I am reflecting on what the Heart of Jesus felt when the very people he had grown up with and played with and served in many ways, now reject him and wish to do him harm. How he must have felt this and he "went away."

We do not speak much about reparation now, but I think we need to make up to Jesus for the lack of love He receives from so many and for my own lack of love, forgetting that Jesus is always present to me and I so often absent from His loving Presence.

In honor of Mary

When I attended the Sacred Heart alumnae meeting and luncheon in Arizona last Saturday, one received her Child of Mary medal. We all recited this act of Consecration to Our Lady and I thought some of my readers would like to have it.

Holy Mary, Mother of God and Immaculate Virgin, filled with the desire of serving the Sacred Heart of your Divine Son better, and of loving Him as you loved Him, in the presence and under the guidance of the Church, I -----------, take you today as my Mother, my Queen and my Model. I consecrate to you, as a pledge of the most ardent love, my soul and my body, all that I am and all that I have. I confide myself to your motherly protection, with the firm determination to follow your inspirations and example. I will strive to live a truly Christian life, based on the principles of the Gospel, in a spirit of detachment, purity and submission. I promise to be in everything a true child of Holy Church, and under her guidance to devote myself generously to the work of redemption of His Divine Heart. Receive me, then, O Mary, ever Virgin, as your servant and child. Keep me faithful to this consecration. Help me to live truly as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ, and an apostle of His Sacred Heart. And do not abandon me at the hour of my death. Amen.

More about my Guided Imagery Retreat

In a guided imagery with music, you just let your imagination free to go wherever the music takes you.
I knew I had plenty of imagination but was not sure the music would activate it. I need not have worried because your guide is there to help you with a question. For instance, at one point I saw my parents. The guide asked me if they said anything to me. When I said, "No, but they both looked so well and were all dressed up." she asked me if I wanted to say something to my parents. I then thanked them for always being there for me. Then Our Lady came and she thanked me for holding the Infant Jesus in my prayer. And then I was with the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and I felt "at home".
In another imagery session, I followed a mermaid into the ocean and swam beside he until we came to what looked like a big rock; it was really a house prepared for me by Jesus so I can be with Him. I saw the rooms clearly and I felt an intimacy that has stayed with me. After the first days of retreat, I woke up one morning and  sensed Jesus sitting on the side of my bed and holding my hand. That was an intense feeling of being loved. I was the only Religious making the retreat and, from the sharing in the evenings that we did together, I realized that this kind of retreat is very freeing and deep. It is staying with me and I am so grateful now for the opportunity to have made this one after wanting to do this for years!

Joy gives me energy!

When we are joyful, it is easy to just feel that no task is too difficult. However, the energy for getting all we want done in a day, is not easy; joy helps, but we also need to protect our joy and admit our limitations. I think Jesus is also happy when we have the courage and common sense to admit that we are limited and to slow down and ask for help.

I am not letting "to do" lists bother me now. I do what I can and there is always tomorrow. We had a very holy and wise Religious at Kenwood when I was a novice. She loved to steal moments of prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. As she was the one in charge of the studies for the entire Province, others wondered how she found the time for the extra prayer. She told us, "I do not do today what can be done tomorrow." I have never been brave enough. or perhaps, I have not been trusting enough in the Heart of Christ, to adopt this idea of putting off what can be done tomorrow, but I admired her for this bit of wisdom. She also is the one that told us that charity is greater than any rule or regulation!

A year of Mercy is bound to be a year of joy!

When God forgives us, we are grateful and gratitude brings joy.
We all have known the joy of being forgiven. The best thing is that when we are sorry for our sins, God not only forgives them but also forgets them.
I think there are different kinds of joy. In the guided imagery retreat, at one moment I found myself in a meadow with a brook running through it. It was a singing brook. The stones in the water made the brook sing. Our Reverend Mother de Lescure, the Mother General when I entered, said that the stones are the difficulties we may have, but without the stones, the brook would not sing. She said that there was nothing able to take our joy away from us. I read that conference of hers when I was a young religious and have never forgotten it. So let us all be joyful and sing out our joy to the Lord. The Lord is merciful and kind - is that not reason for joy?

Home Again



I arrived home on the "red eye". I left Phoenix at 2:00 AM and arrived home about 9:30, Miami time as Suzanne had offered to meet me and she was delayed. My brother-in-law and my sister insisted on taking me to the airport last night so I had a about four hours to read in the airport before we were able to board. I am rather sleepy today but have done many things. The mail piles up when one is away.
My motto for this year is "Joyful Surrender" and I am finding it very fruitful. My sister gave me a book on Joy - all different ways of reflecting on joy. I suspect I will use these ways as titles for these days before Lent begins on February 10.
My retreat was very joyful and I keep hearing Jesus tell me that he just wants me to let Him love me. That gives me joy! I am grateful for this time away with Him, with friends and family. I also am glad to be home again!



God is so generous

I am finally able to connect again on my I-pad. When I visit my sister, there is a great deal to be done.
I went with her to pick up three at ate airport and then to the meeting of the Sacred Heart alums and then there was a luncheon. Betty had taken gifts for different people as she is President now of the group.. We were 36 and they are impressive and from schools from all over, but all have such good memories of the education they received from us.
I missed the Quad area meeting but hear is something I copied from one of the prayers sent me:

Quad Meeting Morning Prayer

Saturday, January 16, 2015 

New Orleans, LA

Presider:​The Lord be with you.

All:​​And with your spirit.

Presider:​Let us praise God for ordinary time.

All:​​And praise God for gathering us together.

A morning reflection from Teilhard de Chardin:

Do you now therefore, speaking through my lips, pronounce over this earthly travail your twofold efficacious word: the word without which all that our wisdom and our experience have built up must totter and crumble—the word through which all our most far-reaching speculations and our encounter with the universe are come together into a unity. Over every living thing which is to spring up, to grow, to flower, to ripen during this day say again the words: This is my Body. And over every death-force which waits in readiness to corrode, to wither, to cut down, speak again your commanding words which express the supreme mystery of faith: This is my Blood.    (Hymn of the Universe)​

Silence 

Reading 2: 

“When an almond tree became covered with blossoms in the heart of winter, all the trees around it began to jeer. 'What vanity,' they screamed, 'what insolence! Just think, it believes it can bring spring in this way!' The flowers of the almond tree blushed for shame. 'Forgive me, my sisters,' said the tree. 'I swear I did not want to blossom, but suddenly I felt a warm springtime breeze in my heart.” 
Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis

Short silent espacio

Leader: ​If God gave us only one day of life

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us only one fall or springtime

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us but one day of laughter

All: ​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us but one meal served in a secure home

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us only one friend to share the journey of life with

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​If God gave us only one chance to thank our families, and heroes and

                             colleagues for their help along the way

All:​​it would have been very generous

Leader:​But God has given us more than all these things.

All:​​And so we thank you, for life and time, for sun and storm, 

​​​for laughter and tears, for all that has made up the fabric of

                                 our lives. We praise you above all for your very self, poured

                                 out in the Heart of Christ, our Hope.  Amen.

Sing:     Taize antiphon  “Laude omnes gentes” (twice) 

Love transforms all

The name given to the group of new professed this time is "Love Transforms All". The devise is "you are the Center: the way, the truth, the life." I have been praying with this name and devise (motto) for some days. I do so want Jesus to always be the Center of my life. I love the song where we sing, "you are the center of my life; I will always serve you, I will always praise you, I will always love you" (hope I have remembered it correctly).
Since I have been in Arizona, my brother has shown tapes of last year's "Downton Abby" as I had not seen them. Today we look at this year's episodes. I am struck watching this secular program by how love transforms all.
Tomorrow I will meet my sister at her Church (my brother will drive me to Scottsdale) and join her for her hour of adoration there and then go home with her. We go to a country club for dinner with friends and then on Saturday, we have the meeting of the Sacred Heart alums followed by luncheon at the Phoenix Country Club. My sister is President of the Alumnae so we need to go early. I may not be writing a blog until I am home Tuesday.

A Brief Encounter

Joy is contagious. It is good to laugh, to share the hilarious things that happen to us when we look for them each day.
Oakwood had a poetry class last year when I was still in isolation. One, over ninety, sister Lorraine Lawrence, wrote an entire book of poems and I am copying here her "A Brief Encounter":

More powerful
Than a casual word
Is a smile on passing
A zing to the ego
To one's worth as a person
To the child of God
To the Jesus within
A union of spirits
Like singing in the rain
Enjoying life anew!
Given the circumstances, 
Smile at Jesus . . .

Make today a day of smiles!😊

Sun and Fun

Today I sat outside and thought about all those who are suffering from the cold. The sun in Arizona is warm even in winter.
I am still deepening my retreat by going back over the guided imagery exercises. I feel that Jesus is so present not only in me but in everyone. I am also feeling so grateful for the way God has taken care of me all my life. When I am grateful, I am joyful.
I am praying with the same phrase each day now from John's Gospel: "Remain in my love."
May we all remain in His love, trusting Jesus to care for us.

Gold Canyon thoughts

Here I am in Gold Canyon, Arizona, at the foot of Superstition Mountain. My brother and sister-in-law are so welcoming and I always sleep better here than anywhere else. Actually, I seem to sleep well anywhere, but their guest room seems especially conducive to deep, peaceful sleep.
I arrived last night and we are catching up with one another.
I had a long wait at the San Francisco airport and enjoyed watching the little children who were able to run around and work off some energy before boarding. There were also some babies and I just kept thinking of the Infant Jesus.
In prayer, Jesus invites me to go up the mountain with Him to pray. I am taking all my friends with me today in spirit.

"Do whatever He tells you"

I love the story of the wedding feast where Mary notices that there is a need and tells Jesus about it. She is confident that He will do something so tells the waiters to do whatever He tells them.
She says the same to me after seeing what I need. She is still taking care of the needs of our world.

How happy our new Professed must be today! When realize that Jesus is the Center of our life, we are full of joy.