Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The Collect for today is short: "Grant us, Lord our God, that we may honor you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart." It is brief but powerful and worth praying for this grace all week.

The first reading is from the Book of Deuteronomy: 18: 15-20.

The Responsorial Psalm is from Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9.

"If today you her his voice, harden not your hearts."

"Let us come joyfully to the Lord; let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us.

For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice;..."

The second reading is from Paul's First Letter to 5 the Corinthians 7:32-35. Paul wants us to be free from anxieties. He seems to believe that the unmarried are only anxious about the things of the Lord.

The Gospel is Mark 1:1-28.

Picking up my Journal again

 What really got me back to writing in my Journal again? I just decided to write out my conversation with Jesus about my life right now and off I went. I do remember in the past taking time to write a letter to Jesus, but this was just writing out a dialogue with Him. Since I do most of the talking, it is not a very balanced dialoge, but when Jesus does say something, it is worth listening!! Try it and see if it works for you.

This week is full of Zooms! We began with a long one full of the work our Province is doing on important things like racism, community organization, etc.; on Monday I always have two Zoom meetings: one at 10:00 with my Spirituality Group of Mothers and one at 3:00 with two of my three senior. I had set up a Zoom for Spiritual Direction for Tuesday morning, have a Zoom on Wednesday with a friend just so I will not forget how to set up Zoom meetings, and then Thursday morning with the  Philippine Region. On Friday, I have my third Senior for a Zoom meeting in the afternoon. I am just letting you know that I do keep busy. I am going to see the movie "Nine to Five" here on Friday morning. We have been having movies every weekday morning in the Gathering Room for ten people, all wearing masks, of course.

I am now on a second reading of Maria Cimperman, RSCJs book, Reigious Life for Our World: Creating Communities of Hope. If you are a Religious and reading this blog, I hope you will get this book and read it. I am hoping a few more out here will read it and then we can have some discussion about it. I need to really go slowly this time and pray over the chapters. 

Some further ideas about Journaling

 The basic rule for keeping a Journal is that there are no rules! Whatever way you want to keep your Journal is a good way. You are unique and your Journal should be whatever you want it to be. 

Be open to experimentation in your journal. Maybe ask God to show you how to use your Journal. If you are faithful to keeping it, it will probably take on a life of its own. My daily entries are usually a mix of what I have done or need to do, gratitude for whatever happened that day that I want to thank for, and sometime a relection on my prayer or something that I have read. I never write more than a page and often it is less than a page.

I do believe that keeping a Journal helps us to live a more reflective life. God has a plan for each of us.  Our Journals help us to know what God wants. We need to be honest in our Journals. But we also need to enjoy keeping a Journal. Maybe my taking time off this January will help me to deepen my entries now that I am back to writing. I know that I do not need to write every single day, but it is a habit that I have had for so long that I want to return to daily journaling.

I try to get my students to Journal and they say it is helpful for them, too.

Keeping a Journal

 I am one who has kept a Journal for years. I usually write everyday but lately I just have been writing a review of the week. This happened because I finished one Journal and thought I would wait to start the next since it was almost the date of my Guided Imagery. For some reason, I have not returned to daily journaling. So, I went back to a book I have on How to Keep a Spiritual Journal by ronald Klug. 

Here are two questions that may get me started again if I take my new Journal to the Chapel today:

1. What changes would I most like to see in my life? (Even as I copy that question I know I would prefer to think of all the things I am grateful for in my life!)

2.If you knew you had only one year to live, what would you do with that time?

I am not sure that these questions are really going to get me going again, but sometimes I just write a note to Jesus to tell Him what I am thinking? Or tell Him what someone needs, or just thank Him for so many good things that are happening, or ask Him what He wants me to do tomorrow, etc.

Now, I hope I have motivated myself to begin again and perhaps you also will keep journaling as it is a big help and can lead to real spiritual growth if you try to make it more of a prayer journal. 

Pondering and Treasuring

 Every year a dear friend of mine in Miami writes an ephiphany poem; this year she discovered that she was using the same title so this poem is "Pondering and Treasuring (2)

Weary from challenge and ever "breaking news"

from crisis and grief in this year's past...

Let's pause a bit --deep inside,

where silence prevails, but memories last.

Like Mary, we can ponder adn mull over things,

examine perspectives, shift our gaze,

in the midst of uncertainty, loss and fear,

we can see the light also, in so may ways.

Like her, we can treasure the things that are good--

our families, our friends, the whole medical scene,

grocery store and InstaCart persons,

scientists working nonstop to make a vaccine.

We can hole and treasure the light in the dark,

the skies and the waters, pets, flowers...a tree,

Zoom visits, Face Time, and You Tube events,

loved faces as we click on a screen we can see.

In a year that has turned things upside down, 

in the dark, we can know that we're still richly blessed,

and ponder and treasure how closely we're held,

and in spite of the times, feel an ultimate Yes.

How Good to have the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

 We do have these gifts but need to pray that they increase in each of us and especially I am praying for our new President, the Vice-President, Congress, and all who are in government positions may really feel an infusion of all seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This blog has made a serious effort not to discuss politics, but this is a moment when we need to pray that those who govern our country will really focus on the common good.  I was going to ask all of us to pray today for the gift of wisdom, but then thought it is better to pray for an increase of all seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can also pray for the fruits of the Spirit to be manifested in our lives. With the many deaths surrounding us, we need to pray to keep the gift of joy. I think peace, joy, and gratitude are essential for each of us to cultivate during this pandemic. 

The Feast of St. Paul's Conversion

 Paul was a good Jew and persecuted the followers of Jesus because he was zealous for God and felt that these Jews who were folloing the teachings of Jesus were not being faithful Jews. It took a great light from the sky and a voice that said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Paul asks who is speaking with him and he hears Jesus say: "I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting." Paul asks what is he to do and Jesus tells him: "Get up and go into Damascus and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do." Since Paul could not see because of the brightness of the light, he was led by hand into Damascus. 

This is a dramatic conversion story and Paul will become the Apostle who will convert so many to follow Christ. I love to go back and read the Acts of the Apostles to follow both Peter and Paul as they went about teaching others and converting them to also be followers of Christ.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

 I know I did this but must have forgotten to save it so I will write again and this time concentrate on how Jesus first begins to call his disciples. He was just passing by the Sea of Galilee when he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew. They were casting their nets into the sea. I guess he waited, according to this picture, until they had come ashore. Then he just said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." I do not know that they understood what Jesus was saying, but they abandoned their nets and followed him.

Then Jesus walked a little farther and swa James and John in a boat mending their nets. Jesus called them andthey left their fater Zebedee in the boat and they followed Jesus. 

It is really worth reflecting on the call of these first four Apostles. They did not hesitate to leave all to follow Jesus. Jesus continues to call each of us. Are we ready to leave our own things, our concerns, our plans and follow wherever Jesus is calling each of us right now? 

Jonah resisted his calling

 Tomorrow we will be reading about how Johah was told by God to travel to Nineveh. Instead, Jonah boarded a ship going in the opposite direction. As the story goes, a great storm arose and the sailors could not manage in the rough seas. Jonah accepts the fact that he is the cause of this terrible storm and so deserves to perish that the others may live. The sailors then throw him overboard and he is swallowed by a whale. After three days, the whale throws him up on the shore. Now this may just be a story, but the First Reading tomorrow will tell us that Jonah went to Nineveh, according to the Lord's bidding. He begins to announce that the city will be destroyed in forty days. He had only begun to walk through the city when the people believed God and proclaimed a fast, When God saw that they had repented, God did not carry out his threats. 

The reading ends with this fact that the people changed God's plan. Was Jonah happy? No. I suggest you go back and read the entire story in the book of Jonah.

Forming a habit of feeding my soul

 To continue with thoughts from I heard God Laugh, Matthew Kelly talks about how we are body, soul, will, and intellect. He asks how we are intentionally feeding our soul? According to Kelly, feeding your soul is the missing piece of the puzzle. He suggests that the best place to start is with daily prayer. He tells us that nothing will change our life so completely as learning how to really pray. "In prayer we lern how to love and be loved, because we discover that we have been loved, are loved, and will continually be loved by God. 

I think anyone who has been reading this blog knows how important I think it is to just let God love us. He made us to love us and when we let Him love us, His love overflows to others, too.

God sees you and all your potential

As I told you, I am going to be sharing a few ideas that seem important from the book, I Heard God Laugh. Matthew Kelly says: "You are not what has happened to you. You are not what you have accomplished. Your are not even who you are today or who you have become so far. You are also who and what you are still capable of becoming. You are your realized and unrealized potential. God sees you and all of your potential, and he aches to see you embrace your best, truest, highest self. He yearns to help you and to accompany you io that quest."

Kelly tells us that the best is yet to come.

Kelly believes that we see things we are not satisfied with in our lives, God is speaking to us thruough that dissatisfaction. He is issuing an invitation to us, if we are willing to try something new.
 

I Heard God Laugh

 I Heard God Laugh is the title of a little book by Matthew Kelly. On the cover it says that this book is "a practical guide to life's essential daily habit".  Prayer is life's essential habit and this little book is attracting me because of its title. Now, I will copy something from the back cover of the book (I hope it is obvious that I just picked up this book because I love the title and have not read it).

This is from the back cover: "Is your life working? Most of us are trying to put together the jigsaw puzzle we call life without a very important piece. Over time this becomes incredibly frustrating. In this extraordinary book, Matthew Kelly powerfully demonstrates that we cannot live the life we have imagined, or experience the joy we yearn for, unless we learn to tend the soul. From there, with his classic style of practical wisdom, he teaches us how to remedy this problem.....

If I find time to check out this book, I will add more.