Serve with joy

The pleasure of service is one of the meditations on joy given by Bishop Morneau in Growing in Joy. He has this quote from Gandhi:

"...service can have no meaning, unless one takes pleasure in it. When it is done for show or for fear of public opinion, it stunts the man and crushes his spirit. Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy."

And George Herbert wrote: " All worldly joys go less/ To the one joy of doing kindnesses."

Am I serving with joy? We need to ask ourselves: Are we able to radiate joy?

Leapt for Joy

When has your heart leapt for joy? Dolphins are able to show their playfulness and joy by leaping high out of the water. I love to watch them and think that sometimes my heart does leap for joy. Of course, there are all kinds of joy. Sitting among parents at the first football game of the year, you could feel their joy when the son caught a pass. That is a passing joy and certainly did not happen often yesterday in the first game of the season. The other team's players looked huge next to ours and I was told they were not in our league and so the game did not count, but we were outplayed.
To go back to the joys we feel, some are so deep and quiet that we may not leap, but only savor the moment in a more profound way. I guess when I feel great gratitude, I also feel deep joy. God loves me and that is the basic reason for my joy.
Mother Theresa, who seems to have spent much of her religious life in a dark night, has this to say about joy:

"Joy is prayer--joy is strength--joy is love= joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. She gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen."
(Quoted by Bishop Robert Morneau in Growing in Joy, p. 26)

May we realize that love and gratitude are the wellsprings of joy and the thought of the risen Lord should be a way for all of us to experience joy even in the midst of sorrow. The joy will be deep within even when we are feeling sorrow.

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

We seldom see a cloudy sky here, but we do have an overcast one in the morning. It has kept us cool all summer except for a few hot days but August has been delightful. I am feeling such gratitude for this wonderful place and people. I think I am receiving the hundredfold now.

I read today that gratitude and thanksgiving help to make all the other practices more beautiful. When gratitude shapes our lives, "fidelity is more likely to be joy-filled, truth is life -giving, and hospitality is offered with generosity and joy. Similarly, gratitude flourishes when the other practices are vibrant." (This is taken from the section on Embracing Gratitude as a Way of Life in "Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us" p. 57)

Take the lowest place

Jesus went to dine at the house of a Pharisee and told the parable of how those who had been invited were choosing the places of honor at the table. He said that we should take the lowest place - "for the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

And then he says not to ask those who may invite you back, but invite the poor, the crippled, and the lame, and the blind and you will be blessed indeed because of their inability to repay you. "For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

The world would be a better place if we were taking care of the poor and those who have disabilities. When I think of the money some are making and then read about the number of people right here in the United States who are homeless and living in poverty, I just pray that something can be done to help them.

In the meantime, let us pray for the grace of humility.

Jesus walked

I seldom walked anywhere in Miami; it was too hot. Now, I am walking for twenty minutes three times a day and finding it is a time for prayer and reflection and wonder at the beauty around me.

The redwoods alone invite awe and gratitude. My walks have also helped me to reflect on how Jesus made His way around with his disciples. He walked the dusty paths from one village to another.

Was he reflecting on the nature around him? He used some of what he saw in his parables when teaching in the villages. He avoided the large cities for the most part. He preached the Kingdom of God was at hand; he reached out to those who were poor, isolated, sick and infirm. He was open to go wherever he was needed or invited. He still is.

I guess I feel Jesus is inviting me to walk with him, to talk to him and to listen to the concerns of His Heart. I am grateful that I can walk and more than grateful and full of joy to know that Jesus wants to walk with me. He wants to walk with each of us. Get going! (I miss the swimming pool we had at our house in Miami, but I am grateful that I can watch the water polo practice in the huge pool here. I used to be able to swim there years ago, but now I think the insurance has made this impossible. Even the students who are not on teams or trying out for the swimming team are not able to go swim.)

Thank for all that is good, and dear and beautiful

I think that I shall be a fan of the Sacred Heart Prep football team here in Atherton. I have been watching them prepare for their first home game this coming Saturday. As the football field is next to Westwood, we can hear the shouts and even see the scoreboard, but I shall go early and bring a book so I have a good seat on the bleachers to cheer our team. I am enjoying seeing the mixed campus here. The boys sometimes stop and introduce themselves with a poise that is unusual for teenagers. The seniors all arrived on the first day of school with white pants and the Sacred Heart red tee shirts and they led the Freshmen with a planned activity. Classes began after lunch but each was only fifteen minutes. I was told that this allowed each student to find the right classroom for the course he or she is registered for this semester.

I am not very spiritual tonight but do want to share a few more thoughts. This is from "The Diary of Anne Frank" and is quoted in Bishop Morneau's Growing in Joy: "When I lie in bed and end my prayers with the words, 'I thank you, God, for all that is good and dear and beautiful, I am filled with joy.''

Anne was in hiding to escape Nazi persecution - the circumstances were not good in that attic and there was the constant fear of being discovered. Yet, this Jewish teenager could be filled with joy by thanking God for all the good, and dear, and beautiful.
Try it yourself. I did and it was an experience of joy. We have so much to be grateful for each day. Let us not miss the opportunity to thank God and to thank others who do so much for us.

Gratitude

In the mail today, I received a book from a dear friend with a note to tell me that the first section of this book is on gratitude, "a topic about which often you talk." That is true because I believe that a grateful person is a joyful person. The two go together. I am looking forward to reading this book: "Living Into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us" by Christine D. Pohl. 

The book is speaking about any community and gives these four practices that sustain community: Gratitude, Truthfulness, Making and Keeping Promises, and Hospitality. I suspect that there is much to reflect on in this book and I will happily share, if so inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2 begins with a quote from George Herbert's "Gratefulness":

Thou who hast given so much to me,

Give one thing more--a grateful heart....

Not thankful when it pleases me,

As if your blessings had spare days;

But such a heart, whose pulse may be praise.

Let us ask then for a grateful heart whose very pulse is praise!

Happiness

Today I read that happiness is an outward expression of our inward joy that is found in Jesus. Of course, anything that pertains to joy interests me.  I read about a book called "The Happiness Dare" by J
Jennifer Dukes Lee and this was quoted in the daily "In Courage":

Happiness is a feeling, but it’s also a decision. It’s a choice we get to make every day.
Where do we make that choice? I guess it is in everything from the moment we awaken until we sleep again at night. The entire day is choosing happiness by choosing what pleases Jesus.
Julian of Norwich said, "And what can make us rejoice more in God that to see in him that in us, of all his greatest works, he has joy?" And Bishop Morneau says that "joyful persons live with the conviction that they are not only acceptable in God's sight, but are truly one of God's delights. Joy leads us to self-acceptance and the acceptance of others. More broadly, joy leads us to say yes to our existence." From "Growing in Joy", p. 11.

When we are not happy, let us ask ourselves why we are not. It really helps to discover the cause. Last week, I was feeling funny inside, as though something was not quite right. After prayer and reflection, I decided I was just grieving my friends. After thirty years in Miami, it is natural that I miss many good and dear friends, but once I realized what was causing me to feel "funny inside" I began to both count my blessings and take time to contact a few of my friends. Being is California instead of Miami just means that I am grateful for e-mail and for writing notes to friends to stay in touch. Now I am smiling and send a big smile to all.

Love is demanding

"Love is demanding; but there is no greater joy than love." That is a quote from Cardinal Schonborn's conversation about "The Joy of Love" from the August 15-22 issue of America. The interview was conducted by Antonio Spadaro, S.J. and the title is "The Demands of Love." Love is demanding, but God is Love and His Presence kindles joy. Sometimes we forget that God is present when we are struggling to love as "the Father loves" Jesus and as God loves us.
"Love one another as I have loved you" is what Jesus keeps telling us. In our world today, we need to keep on loving - loving those close to us, loving those who come to us, migrants, refuges, those in countries far from us but who are suffering and need love. We all need love and we are all called to love. We go to the Heart of Jesus to find this love and then we pour it out with joy to all. As John of the Cross told us: "Put love where there is no love and you will find love."
Let us spend the day pouring out the love that overflows from the Heart of Jesus.

Of Many Things

Today is the Feast of the Queenship of Our Lady. I looked at the pictures on Google and decided Our Lady would rather have a nature picture. I can imagine Mary in Heaven surrounded by angels and saints, but my imagination is not at all capable of seeing her as she has been depicted by others. I think she would want to be the Queen only to help us, but not with all the regal appearances. But who knows what it is like to be Queen of Heaven?

The title "Of Many Things" is, of course, taken from the front  inside page of  America. Matt Malone, S.J. is both President and Editor in Chief and has written an interesting introduction to the August 15-22 issue of America which features an article on people with disabilities. He begins by confessing his own disability: a loss of hearing seven years ago in his left ear. He said he is still learning how to deal with this - where to sit or stand to increase his chances of hearing something. He said that he has learned that many are sympathetic to those who are visually impaired, they can be quite impatient with those who are hearing impaired.

Since I am hearing impaired, I loved his honesty. He says it has made him more in touch with the world's pain. It gave me much to think about and to thank God again for my own deafness which has been a blessing in may ways, although I guess I get as frustrated at Matt at times when I cannot hear.

Sunday Rest

Today my blog is late as I did not schedule it for today and I had a very busy morning and no time to return to my room. Now I am happy it is Sunday and we have prayer together in front of the Blessed Sacrament (Exposition) at 4:00 so time to catch up with notes I wanted to write yesterday.

My refection today is on the above picture which always draws me into prayer. The water gushing from the rock is the love being poured out from the Heart of Jesus and being carried by us to so many in all parts of the world.

As I walk around the grounds here, I see the last preparations for the opening of school tomorrow. It seems that we have almost 1200 students arriving to start classes. The football players have been here all week; today there are groups of freshmen being led around the campus by older students. Perhaps these are the Ambassadors.

Next Sunday we are expecting all the students from the Sacred Heart Club and we will each adopt one or two to have visits with each week during the academic year.

God seems far away

My reflection today is triggered by Karl Rahner who talks about how our hearts can be so inert, tired, worn out with everyday things. God may seem far away; we can feel incapable of loving as Jesus asks us to love - "Love one another as I have loved you"! Well, we cannot love as Jesus asks unless we seek this love from Him. We must pray for this love and God will answer our prayer by pouring out this love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. God must "love himself in us and through us in His Holy Spirit, for our love to be worthy of Him."
The truth is that we need to pray for love of God. We cannot will to love others as the Gospel asks, but we can pray for the grace and this is one prayer that pleases God and He is sure to grant us, if we really want it.

We have a funeral here this morning of a very beloved Religious.

It is easy to meditate on death here, but there is always joy when another of the community goes to God. We have a beautiful sharing of memories after the funeral Mass with all friends and relatives present.