today's faves

Inspiration for this post goes to Meg at Held By His Pierced Hands.  Her blog should really be in my sidebar....I just haven't updated recently.  I love, love, love her writing and thoughts.  In a recent post, she shared some of her favorites after someone had asked what her favorite parable was.

And since I seem to lack for ideas of my own lately, here goes.....

Favorite Parable:  The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:  11-32)  I think it is the story of most of us.  I also remember reading it during our First Confession Ceremony/Celebration/Liturgy all those years ago in third grade.

Favorite Image of Jesus:  The Good Shepherd  The fact that He leaves the 99 and goes off in search of the one lost sheep.  So, not only does He welcome us back when we come to our senses, but He goes out, searches for us, and carries us back.  See Matthew 18:12-13.

Favorite Bible Verse:  I'm pretty sure that can't be narrowed down to just one.  Tops on the list:  Be still and know that I am God.  (Psalm 46:10)  Draw close to God and He will draw close to you. (James 4:8)  Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.  (Mark 9:24).

Favorite Bible Study: Anything by Jeff Cavins and the folks at the Great Adventure.  I have studied James, the Bible Timeline, Revelations, Acts, and Matthew (twice).  Again it is difficult to pick a favorite, but James was short and had a great deal of practical application.

Favorite Liturgy:  This is an easy one....Holy Thursday...the Mass of the Lord's Supper.  It is beautiful.   It begins with an open, empty Tabernacle.  Even without the customary washing of the feet - an option that our pastor chooses not to exercise - there is so much symbolism and richness.  It is a Mass that doesn't end...at least not right then.  It concludes with Adoration, at the end of which the priest removes the Blessed Sacrament from the Tabernacle, leaving it empty as it was at the beginning of Mass.   A bonus on Holy Thursday is the Chrism Mass, which is held early in the day at the Cathedral.  Simply beautiful.

Favorite Prayer:  This would have to be the Prayer of St. Francis...Lord make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred..... I don't know why it's my favorite.  I'm pretty sure I don't know it by heart in its entirety,  nor do I pray it regularly.  Maybe it's the structure, the poetic nature, or just the simplicity, and the image of what we should all be.

Favorite Sacrament:  Of course, the Eucharist is the hands down (or hands-out) winner.  What is not to love?  Our God making Himself present to us - condescending to us - to be consumed in order that He can consume us.  But a really close second would have to be Reconciliation/Confession/Penance.  It is that one-on-one with Jesus.  That combination of nervousness and anticipation.  The grace, the encouragement, the warmth, the fresh start.  It is so worth it.  Every single time.


Favorite Penance:  I have had many that are thought-provoking and/or helpful, and my current priest never assigns the "say 3 Hail Marys" variety.  My favorite, though, "Go and bask in the silence and let Jesus speak to you."

Favorite Catholic Musician:  That would be Matt Maher.  Love, love, love.  And my favorite of his songs, "Deliver Me."  Loosely based on the Litany of Humility.

Favorite Catholic Devotionals:  This awesome series.  There is something for each day of the year that  matches up with the Scripture readings for the day.  Things that make you think, but presented so that normal people can understand.  In Conversation With God.  I got most of my copies from eBay.

Favorite "Catholic" thing to do:  Adoration.  This is the best thing ever.  Whether the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance or simply present in the Tabernacle of whatever random Catholic Church you find yourself at.  What do you do when you go?  You can just sit in the Presence.  You can kneel.  You can kneel then sit.  You can pray prayers you know.  You can just sit and gaze.  You can tell God everything that is on your mind.  You can sit and listen to God whisper in your ear.  You can read.  You can write (one of my favorite things to do).  You can ask for forgiveness.  You can ask for wisdom.  You can ask for help.  You can surrender. You can praise Him.  You can thank Him.  You can do all of the above.  It is amazing the answers that come.  The peace that comes.  Amazing.

Favorite Lenten Practice:  The best Lenten "penance" ever was daily Mass.  I started part way through Lent one year, and committed to 3 days a week (because our parish had Mass at 6:30 am 3 days a week and I could go and make it to work at the required 7:05).  This was absolutely the best thing ever.  I was hooked long before Lent was over and felt like someone had been keeping this little treasure a secret.  It's not a penance.  It's a gift.  And it's certainly not just for Lent.

And that, boys and girls, are my favorites for now.  I'm sure there are more that I could add....and maybe I will....

yes, i can

I was twice touched today.

Dropped by the confessional this afternoon.  My good priest was sitting there reading a book in the dim light.  I had nothing earth-shattering this time, it was just "time".  Kind of like you get your oil changed before it stops working.  My kinda-sorta rule of thumb is once a month or so and/or before I serve as a Eucharistic Minister.

Sometimes I know that I am a prayer-slacker.  Especially during weeks like this when everything is out of sync.  So we discussed prayer in depth.  Or rather, he gave counsel on prayer and I mostly listened.  Quality over quantity, he says.  Even if it's just five minutes that you give to the Lord.  It's more about listening, than talking....it's about the relationship.

So, prayer is not just something whereupon you think back at the end of a day, "Well, my life today was a prayer...."  No, giving love, sharing love, which is what prayer is, requires a conscious choice. Some days, the prayer may be offering everything to God, but it is a conscious thing.

I struggle with a routine, with making prayer a conscious choice, a conscious part of my day.  Mass is a given of most days, and on most school days, a stop at the church across the street for a few minutes of quiet in front of the Blessed Sacrament is easily done.  But beyond that...it's a wasteland.  I know I could put down my iPad and say the Rosary.  Especially in light of current events in this country or even in my family.  But another game of Bingo Bash holds so much promise. Or just checking that Facebook status one more time.  Good in their own right, but a pain in the larger picture.

And, as he pointed out...I am not him.  I am not Teresa of Avila.  I am Karen of ThisPlace.  My prayer, his prayer, her prayer....all differ in structure and routine.  If only I knew what my routine needed to be...

And for your penance...he has a twinkle in his eye...."when you hear the Gospel today, and you hear Jesus ask if you can drink from the cup, you say, 'Yes, I can.  And I will.'  But you will have to wait to find out what is in the cup."

The Cup that we must drink...the same one that Jesus drank....self-emptying love.  And what does that mean?  When we forgive and empty ourselves of anger and hurt;  when we say 'no' to temptation or sin; when we come together to offer fitting worship - not just going through the motions, and empty ourselves of distractions; when we do an act of kindness for another, especially when they don't deserve it.  All drinking from the cup.  The questions is....are we thirsty?

So a two-sacrament day.  Jesus reaching out and touching me.  How awesome is that?

a holy orders kind of weekend....part two

The next requirement for our Ad Altare Dei group, after attending an ordination (or reading the rite from the back of the book), was to interview a priest, deacon, or bishop about the effect of Holy Orders on his life.  The idea, hopefully, for the boys to see the ordained as a regular person and to possibly open the door to them considering such a vocation.  I didn't have to beg too much for our good priest to attend our meeting yesterday afternoon, so the boys could interview him.

He showed up at the appointed time (and we showed up 15 minutes before the appointed time) dressed in "regular" clothes.  Khakis and a blue shirt.

The boys, in turn,  posed the questions provided in the book...

What was meaningful to him about the Sacrament of Holy Orders?  First, he clarified that it wasn't a past tense kind of thing, that he continues to live the sacrament.  But then he spoke about the day of his ordination, all those many years ago.  About being prostrate on the floor of the church during the Litany of the Saints while the entire Church (those present, those in Heaven, the whole Mystical Body) prays for you!  The tender affection of Imposition of Hands, first by the Bishop and then by every priest in attendance.  The Sign of Peace, a fraternal greeting by every priest present.  And finally, saying the words of Consecration for the very first time.


Why does he feel called to be a priest?  He doesn't, he said.  He trusts that God has called him, but he doesn't feel it.  He trusts because of "the data"; because everything in his life points to the fact that it works.  Does he get tired or frustrated?  Sometimes.   But over all, he is happy and fulfilled in his life as a priest.

How does he help the Church as a priest?  The Church helps him, he says.  Yes, he baptizes, confirms, absolves, anoints, witnesses marriages, counsels, teaches, feeds with the Eucharist.  But the Church helps him to become a better man of God.  It is not a job, but a life.  We point others to Christ, in a mutual kind of way.

How has Holy Orders helped you to grow in and witness Christ's love to others?  He is able to bring to people what others can not.  People open their souls to him as a minister of the Lord's mercy. (And he has the gift of forgetting what people tell him in that sacrament)  He is part of people's lives at privileged times (weddings, funerals, deaths, reconciliation). 'With all due respect, would you go to confession to your mom??  But you come to me.'

How does the Sacrament of Holy Orders help you live out your Christian commitment to our community?  Holy Orders takes what began at Baptism (the priesthood of Christ that we are all part of) and fulfills that grace.  He feeds us so we can go out and feed others.  He shared with us the prayer that he prays each and every time that he elevates the Host at the consecration:  Help me to love You ever deeper, and through the intercession of Your Mother (and mine), create in me a clean heart and a steadfast Spirit.  And after Communion, he prays, Lord, take my hands, my feet, my heart, my mind...

After the required questions were out of the way, and because he didn't seem in a hurry to go, we asked others.  Those questions you've always wanted to ask a priest....

Is Anointing of the Sick a 'straight shot to heaven'?  Sometimes.  There is an Apostolic Blessing that is given when death is imminent that pardons/absolves all remaining temporal punishment (what Purgatory does).  His mother recently passed away, after lingering for about a month.  He said that she received that Blessing three times.  I surely hope that's available to me when it's my time to go!

When priests go on vacation, do they sit in the pews like regular people?  Most of the time, yes, and he related a couple of experiences he has had while on vacation.  

Why was Jesus, who had no original sin, baptized?  In solidarity with us.  Jesus took on our sins and failures.  The innocent, standing in for the guilty; the Suffering Servant.

If you're in a hotel room on a Sunday, can you say your own Mass?  Can and have! Do you say it out loud or in your head?  In a quiet voice.  No homily?  Just a quiet time to reflect after the readings. How long does it take?  About 15 minutes, depending on how much quiet time after the readings.  The dialogues with the people (Peace be with you, etc) are skipped.  What do you wear?  An alb and a stole.

I had told him it would take about 30 minutes, but he stuck with us for more than an hour, sharing some of what makes up his life.  We are so blessed to have him.  Often, in our Rosary group, we pray for our priests - those from the past, the present, and the future.  Thank you God, for our priests.  Keep them close to you. 

little choices

It's kind of a slow news day (or month) when I pull out homilies to blog about.  I try to avoid doing it too often, because it's sometimes difficult to get the whole idea across second hand.  Often it is a "ya had to be there" kind of thing.  

The First Reading on Friday morning was the story of the beginning of King David's downfall.  It begins:  

At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign, David sent out Joab along with his officers and the army of Israel... David, however, remained in Jerusalem.   

The account continues with David waking up one evening from his nap (Yawn!) and going to stroll on his roof, where he happened to see the lovely Bathsheba - doing what else but bathing?  So...he sends his servants to fetch her, and you can imagine what happens from there.  But as if that wasn't bad enough, she sends word that she is "with child".  David goes into damage control mode here, and brings Bathsheba's husband home, thinking that they might like a little "couple time".  But Uriah, being the man he is, does not give in to the temptation.  So...David sends him back to the war with a letter to give to the commanding officer to place Uriah on the front line and then to pull back and leave him there so that he will be killed. 

The good Father pointed out that David's first bad choice/mistake was remaining at home when the rest of the guys went off to war.  David was complacent.  Things were going well, and he let his guard down.

How often we do the same...we are complacent, and we make that first little bad choice...to eat xyz food, or to skip xyz part of our daily prayer.... to make some unkind remark about someone...

He pointed out that both sin and virtue work this way.  They start with small choices that add up to great things.  Just as we can make small bad choices, we can also make small good choices - sacrifices, helping someone, fasting, praying - that God can do great things with.

Look at the choices David made:

• he stayed home, when Kings went on  campaign
• he went for an evening stroll on the roof
• he let his eyes wander to things he shouldn't have
• he sent his servants to get the young lady
• he had relations with her
• he tried to cover his tracks by calling her husband home
• he sent him back to the front carrying his own order of execution

Lust, greed, murder, all in one Bible Reading!  Small things turning into big things.

Lord, deliver us from growing complacent.  Help us to seek you in all the small choices we make in our living and our loving.   ~ Amen.

now i get it

The homily this morning centered on "keeping it all together". And on trust. Trusting in the Lord to keep it all together as He did with Israel/Jacob's family in the first reading, and as He did with the early church in the Gospel, and as He does with us in our every day lives.

Trusting in the Lord is something easier said than done for some of us. If the truth be told, the basis for so many sins is a lack of trust in God...the idea that we can't trust God to do what is best for us. It's one of those things that often makes its way to confession in one way or another.

And often I get a penance along the lines of "spend some time in prayer thanking God for the way he works in your life." Sometimes it seems like kind of a "nothing" penance. Always good, but not real demanding or time-consuming, and certainly not unpleasant.

But now I get the connection...the way to build trust in the Lord, the good Monsignor said, is in prayer. Forget about the "gimme list" he said. God already knows what's on that. Spend time, instead - perhaps daily - reflecting on the graces God has given you, the jams He's gotten you out of, the good things he has done for you. That builds trust.

come hungry

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  ~ John 6:56

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  Credit for the ideas - if not the text - of this post goes to my kind pastor.  It was a wow! kind of homily today.  Apologies for anything that I butcher too badly in the retelling. I assure you, he told it better!

Imagine if you will, that you were invited to a supper - a supper that you had no right to attend.  But you decided to attend, mostly just to see what it was all about.  You get there, and there is the most delicious, beautiful spread you have ever seen.  Only one problem....you're not hungry!  "Eat!" you host says.  "Well, I didn't really know if I'd like the food that you were going to have, so I ate before I came...I guess I'll try a little of this..."  But you are already full, so the delicious food that you sample, does nothing for you.

Here we are...at the most supreme of all miracles...of all suppers.  Are we hungry?? 

The Lord gives himself to us...so that He can assimilate us into Himself...so that we can become more like Him.  Not so that we can assimilate Him into ourselves.

He knows that we are on a journey and that we need food for that journey. He knows that we hunger...for love, for security, for peace, for health.  We look to fill those needs in all the wrong places. He also knows that most of the time we are full...full of self-righteousness, pride, selfishness, doubt, fear, and ourselves.  Yet He comes to us anyway.

And the preparation for this meal?  The host suffered, died, and rose so that He could give Himself to us!  We, in preparation, need to empty ourselves.  We need to be hungry so that He can fill us!  Are you hungry?

I'm starving!

coming up for air [conditioning]

My brain has not been with blogging lately.  This week has been miserably hot, and we have been fairly busy.

Thursday found me doing the making tape part of painting of son #2's room.  It really needed it worse than son #1's, as you can see by this picture.  The closet, bathroom and ceiling remain to be done.  The bathroom is taped, but not painted.  The closet adjoins the attic and is quite toasty.  Actually the whole endeavor was not very cool.  The A/C is running and cooling a little, but not enough.  A/C man is supposed to come next week.

 

But the room looks better.  It is now "China Blue".  Said child wanted "Pool Party Blue".  This is close, but a little more reserved.   I need a picture without the Bubble Gum/ Dora the Explorer/ Barbie / Pepto-Bismal Pink intruding.  

 

Yesterday the locksmith came and re-keyed all of the locks.  The pool guy showed up and left me with a long list of chemicals to purchase and his cell phone #.  I packed a few boxes of things at "home" to bring to the new house, I made at least half a dozen phone calls to schedule driver's ed, a visit to the orthopedist, trying to locate a matching washer to the dryer we bought, and who knows what else.  A friend of mine came with me to swim in the not-real-clean pool and to see the house.  (We just told ourselves that our boys were swimming in a lake this week, and surely the pool is better, even in its current neglected state.)

Today the furniture people delivered the four items of furniture we bought (2 tables with chairs/stools, a love seat, and a new bed frame for me and the mister).  Kind of cool to see furniture in "the space".  Love how all those HGTV people always oooh and ahhh over "the space".

And then we took off in search of The Washer.  Drove almost to the Texas border to save a couple of hundred bucks.  Worth it?  I don't know, but it is done!

And in a few short minutes, my guys will be back from their week of Boy Scout Camp in Georgia, and so I must go.  

In all the moving, I am missing my down time and my time spent with God.  I make it to Mass in the mornings and not much else.  But, this too shall pass.  The challenge will be to see God in the moving and the negotiating and the mess.  Almost certainly He is there, too.

Oh..... one more thing.  I found this yesterday going through some papers.  This quote was on a paper I got at a Mother's Day of Reflection a year or so ago.

I am nothing.  He is all.  I do nothing on my own.  He does it.  I am God's pencil.

A tiny bit of pencil with which He writes what He likes.

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God

who is sending a love letter to the world.

God writes through us, and however

imperfect instruments we may be,

He writes beautifully.

~Blessed Mother Teresa

And therein is my blogging philosophy!  :-)  

Gotta run!  My boys are on their way!

blessings

My new favorite song....




Blessings, by Laura Story.  It's one of those that just jumped out of the radio the first time I heard it. 

What if your blessings come through raindrops? What if your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you’re near?
What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?

 

Laura has had many blessings in her life, but one of the ones that she wouldn't have signed up for was having her husband diagnosed with a brain tumor.  And yet God works through it all. :-)  Suffering included.  Or maybe most especially through suffering.

finding the rhythm

School is out for summer!  (Hearing bits of that Alice Cooper ditty playing on my boys' iPods...)  I've enjoyed a whole week of that freedom, and it surely does go fast! 

But just for the record, I did devote one entire day to a Promethean Mini-Conference that was an example of Professional Development done right!  Wondering what Promethean is??  It is about the most wonderful thing to hit the education world since computers!  I love my Promethean Board; I use it every.single.day, but there is so much more that I could do with it, and it was good to get ideas. 

I also did go visit with my principal one morning.  I wanted to see what the schedule looked like for next year, and find out the status of my room and the "consolidation".  He said for now, my room is "safe".  That is some consolation, though I know never to count on anything such as that.  However, I am done with it until I have to show up again in August.  I have spoken, he has heard, the rest is out of my hands.

My priest is taking a break this week from being a "fisher of men".  I think he's spending time in the Gulf of Mexico fishing for real fish.  And as such, there have been no Masses at all at our parish since last Sunday.  Lucky are we to have other places where the Lord waits for us. 

Every year, I see summer stretching ahead of me with great potential for getting things done.  And then, only a tiny fraction of what I envisioned actually gets done.  What happens?  For one thing...summer heat.  It just saps your strength.  Especially when anything involves being outside.  It's not even summer yet, and our temps are hitting the upper 90's.  Arghhh.  Besides the heat, the pace just seems to slow.

The priest on Tuesday mentioned that this is a season of reflection/mediation, education (read some of the books in this library...that was at the church that burnt that has daily Mass in the parish library), and service.  Frankly, that sounds like a pretty good use of summer for me, and the slower pace lends itself to some of that....especially the reflection.

During the school year, I found a great rhythm.  I would drop off my kidlet at his school and then proceed down the road to the church near my school.  There I could have 20, 30, maybe 40 minutes (if there wasn't a Mass) of time with the Lord before heading into the world of work.  It was an awesome thing, and it was time that would have been otherwise wasted with shuffling papers or idle conversation.  Now I find myself still wanting to spend that time there, but it doesn't fit into my schedule in quite the same way.  I have to go out of my way to spend that time, and I feel guilty.  It reminds me of the Martha and Mary story...wanting to sit at the feet of Jesus, yet feeling the need to be busy about so many other things.  I found this little bit of validation a couple of days ago...on Facebook of all places...posted by The Word Among Us....

Every moment of prayer,

especially before our Lord in the tabernacle,

is a postive gain.

The time we spend in having our daily audience with God

is the most precious part of the whole day.

~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Who am I to argue with that little woman?

Still looking for the rhythm, though!

lemons

Or I could call it "endings part 2", but "lemons" is more interesting, I think.  Let me apologize in advance for the length and the lack of pictures...

This school year was sweet.  One of the best in recent (or distant) memory.  My schedule was great, my students were wonderful, and I made the acquaintance friendship of a new co-worker who made things so much better.  Considering how last year ended, this year was a special treat.  (Almost certainly arranged by God...who didn't follow my plans at all.)

But it surely ended on a sour note!  The final week just sucked...pardon the language.

I knew all along that my new favorite co-worker might not have a position for the coming year, and I did my best to just enjoy what was for what was.  But I had hope (faith?) that everything would work out (according to my plans, of course) and that she would still be with us next year.  As the year wound to a close, it became more and more apparent that things weren't going to work out according to my plans.  :-(  And then it became official.

At the same time, with less than 2 weeks of school, I had heard from a friend, who had heard from "someone reliable" that the school system was contemplating cutting about 100 of our teacher assistants.  My teacher assistant went to the board meeting that week, but nothing along those lines was discussed.  Nonetheless, at some point that no one really knows, the decision was made.  We only know because one of our teacher assistants was called by human resources and told that he was being displaced and offered other teacher assistant positions.  Those with less seniority hadn't even been called, last I heard.  And so even though no one directly told us, it became obvious that I would no longer have a teacher assistant and that my assistant would be moved to a different class on our campus.  We have worked together for several years, and it has been a pretty good match.  She spent her last day cleaning out her desk.  It just sucks that this happened and it sucks that no one really cares enough to tell the people that it impacts.  The grapevine is good enough, I suppose.  It also sucks that next year, there will be 2 people remaining to do the work that 5 or 6 people did this year.

The final straw came when I went to turn in my key on the last day.  An off-hand comment was made that I might not be in that room next year.  That they might have to "consolidate" us.  My first thought was of my Promethean Board.  It was bought by Special Ed for me, but it is bolted to the front wall of my room.  My second thought was of whom I might be "consolidated" with.  Nope, not happening without a huge fuss from me.  I don't fuss often or much, but this person just has some boundary issues.  Not gonna be just he and I in a room!  And my third thought was...2 classes in one room?  Really? With kids that already have attention issues.  That's sure to work!

So that was the end of my really wonderful year...the loss of a great co-worker friend, the loss of a oh-so-helpful teacher assistant, and the threat of a loss of personal space.  Going into the summer with much uncertainty.  (It also does not help that with an impending change of residence, there is also uncertainty about what my morning schedule/routine will be like.)

And yet I have this year to look back on...surely there have been lessons there.  After last year, I dreaded this year with a fear that you don't know.  Look what happened...God had my back.  One thing after another after another.  The pieces fell into place, and it made a beautiful picture.

Our last day was Thursday, so Friday I was at Mass early...not having to worry about getting a teenager out of bed and out the door.  It is quiet, quiet, quiet at our parish before Mass, and the anger, the sadness, and the disappointment swirled through my head.  The words that came to mind were from James.  Having just completed a Bible study on the book of James, the memory verse from the first lesson written in purple sharpie was still taped to my computer at school.  "...count it all joy...when you meet various trials...."  Joy?  How convenient!  The homily from the day before (that sucky last day) had been about none other than JOY!  What is joy?  Not that happy face thing, the good Father said.  Good thing, because I wasn't feeling much of that!  Joy is the quiet peace of the Presence of Christ within us.

My penance last time I went to confession was to have a conversation with God about what it might be that He wanted me to give up on the journey to Him.  Many possibilities have entered that conversation, but I was never quite satisfied that I had "the" answer.  I'm not certain ;-), but I think it is my uncertainty that needs to be surrendered.  It sucks up energy to worry.  What will be will be.  I will do what I can to influence things that I can change, but other than that, God can have the rest of it.  I'm pretty sure I found my answer there!

Have you lived your life in such a way as to show others that I love you?  ~Jesus

P.S.  Things are proceeding well on the new house front.  The appraisal went well.  The title research is happening now.  The closing date should be in the next few weeks.

the end is near

The end of the school year...and of spring, it seems.  There are 11 or 12 days left of school.  Every year, this is easily the most stressful part of the year.  This year, I thought I was doing good.  I held my last IEP meeting today.  I picked the date for Honors night a month ago, and sent out the papers for teachers to list their awards a couple of weeks ago.  Yet everything comes to a point at the same time.

Our annual scout po-boy sale is this weekend.  I must remember to order 1100 buns tomorrow.  Honors Night is Wednesday and there are still cakes and trophies to order.  Paperwork at school is due.  Stuff that has slacked throughout the year has to be caught up.  Grades have to be inputted.  My 8th grader needs a haircut before graduation.  Paperwork needs to dropped off at the credit union so our loan can continue on its merry way.  Grandkids are coming this weekend.

I had a faculty meeting this morning.  They could have just emailed me all of the dates and saved me the trouble of being there 40 minutes early.  I missed my time with God this morning.  I thought I would go this evening, but my child needed help with his English paper.  The phone has been steadily ringing and now my offspring is in my room, playing Words With Friend on his iPod one moment and texting on his phone the next.  

God and I did continue our conversation yesterday...the one about what He wants for me to leave behind...  It was a little clearer to me, but I think it will be an ongoing conversation. 

A couple of spiritual nuggets:  Let us seek the God of all consolations, rather than the consolations of our God. ~ St. Augustine....in other words, Seek God for Himself. ~ Good Monsignor

And a few things that I thought were noteworthy from a Mother's Day Prayer Breakfast that I attended on Saturday:

The Four Stages of Prayer

• Talking AT God....ready-made prayers like the Rosary
• Talking TO God....sharing our hearts with God
• Listening to God...through scriptures, friends, good homilies, etc
• Resting in God...wordless contemplation of the holiness of God

You must SIT with God every day. (not walk, not drive, SIT)

As long as I agree to be with God, God agrees to be with me.  (Pretty sweet, isn't it?)

So, tomorrow, since I don't have any stupid meetings, I will agree to go and be with God, to sit with Him....listening, maybe resting. 

Lord, help me finish it all. 

slacking

I have been SO slacking with blogging.  There is one thing on my mind lately.  It starts with an H, ends with an E and has an OUS in the middle.  I can't even give you the countdown to the end of school, so pre-occupied am I with inspections and closing costs and interest rates and paper work and trying to wrap my mind around the impossibilities of packing and moving and living in a space this big.  Afraid we'll mess it up by moving in!

The house is b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. I don't want to totally bore you with pictures, but, indulge me....

This is the sitting room to the master bedroom.  Henceforth to be known as The Mom Cave.

And this is the younger child surveying his kingdom from the balcony outside his room.

A pool was not even on my list, but since it's there....

The inspection went reasonably well.  There is some water damage to the roof around the chimney and roof vents and the roof is "nearing the end of its useful life", but those are fixable things.  The meeting with the credit union also went well.  We qualified for the lowest rate, and even though we don't have final approval, we don't forsee anything that will be a problem. 

Our homily this weekend was great.  The Gospel was the story about the two disciples encountering the Risen Lord on the way to Emmaus.  The good Father noted that so many in the Bible encounter God while on a journey.  Abraham.  Moses.  Paul.   And now, these two.  They encounter God on the journey because they are fertile ground.  They must first leave something behind...a place or a possession.  Secondly, they are not stuck...they are moving forward.  And third...they are open to change...that is what makes them "fertile ground for redemption".   What are we called to leave behind in order that God might move us forward in our lives and change us?  I went to confession before Mass, and my penance was essentially to  read the gospel and meditate on those questions...to engage in a convesation with God about those things.  God and I spoke last night, but sometimes you don't get immediate answers to questions like that.  We agreed that we'd talk again soon.  ;-)

Maybe its the clutter that I'm called to leave behind.  Or maybe it's something more abstract like irritation at teens or doing unnecessary things on Sunday or procrastinating.  Maybe it's all of the above.  Or something altogether different?  So we'll talk again when it is quiet!

Before I exited the confessional, I mentioned to my good priest, who has heard my struggles with work (even though he says he doesn't remember) how much I had dreaded the beginning of the school year, and how even though God has not followed my script at all, it has turned out to be a great year.  He quietly said, "That's why...because he doesn't follow our script!"

Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms!



take time

Yes, it's true.  Or maybe it's more true that the people of Louisiana LOVE Our Lady of Kibeho and her ambassador, Immaculee.  I spent yesterday evening and the better part of today at a retreat featuring Immaculee.  Just me and 999 of her other closest friends, many of who have heard her speak on other occasions.  There is just something about her that draws people - again and again.  People in this area absolutely love her, and she said she feels like she is coming home when she comes here.  Friday night, she was welcomed with a standing ovation before she said a single word!

Her story...her time spent in the bathroom with 7 other women for 90 some odd days hiding from mobs of roaming killers....a time during which she lost her family, but found herself, is fascinating.  She speaks of the fear and of the miracles that occurred while she was in that bathroom during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.  She speaks of forgiveness and sadness. 

But most of all, she speaks about love. The love of Our Lord, and Our Lady.  She encourages us to ask God for what we want, as long as it does not run contrary to His will.  Either we will receive what we ask for or the desire for it will be removed.  She shares stories from her own life where seemingly impossible things happened.  More than once. 

I have said it before, but there is a love and a peace that just radiates from this young lady.  ( I had a hard time getting a decent picture today.  The crowd was enormous, my camera was acting crazy, and I didn't want to look too much like a stalker.)

I am lucky.  This is the third time in a year that I've heard her speak (well, actually a year and a week, I think).  And while much of what she had to say, I had heard before, there were still things that were new to me or things that I heard in a different way because I am at a different place in my life. 

A year ago, I never rarely prayed the Rosary.  Nothing personal, just wasn't my thing.  Then at her retreat last June, she led a rosary that changed that for me.  In the last 10 months, I have prayed more Rosaries than I did in the previous 10 years (which isn't really saying a whole lot).  A daily Rosary was really my one Lenten resolution this year.  I succeeded somewhat at it; there is still p.l.e.n.t.y of room for growth, but I was much more open today to the repeated requests of "the Blessed Mother asks us to pray the Rosary every day".  I suppose when Lent is over, I will keep plugging away at it.  I bought her Rosary CD's...I've been contemplating that purchase since I saw her last June.

That's Our Lady of Kibeho and some of the many flowers we brought today.  When the Blessed Mother would appear in Kibeho, she often referred to those in the crowd as "her little flowers".  And so today we offered flowers, but also were flowers.

She had practical advice today that I had not heard before.  First of all, we need to clear away (clean house) of what is not uplifting or good.  Our music, our art.  I'm fine with this, but I'm not sure how far I'll get with my teenage sons.  Secondly was some advice on Daily Prayer that she received from someone else. 

• First is to wake up with a prayer to God.  Ask Him to guide you, to forgive you, etc.  
• Then once you are awake, read a few Scripture verses...I suppose it could be from part of the Daily Mass readings... and then spend a few minutes meditating upon them.  
• Next is to read a paragraph....just a paragraph from some kind of spiritual reading and meditate. 
• Then during the day, find five minutes or so of quiet when you can reconnect with God.
• And at the end of the day, make sure you end with prayer...I suppose there could also be another bit of Scripture and Spiritual reading.  

If we want to be with God, she said, we need to make time for Him.

She closed with a couple of final bits of advice.  One is on my Facebook page.... If you are ever conflicted between being right or being kind, always choose kindness.

And with Lent drawing to a close and Holy Week beginning, she asked us to take time this week to see Our Lord and His Mother.  Take time to love them for what they went through for us.  Console them...

And along with those thoughts, I'll leave you with a couple of images that I ran across today.  The church where this event has a school, and the school was open today for us to use for lunch, etc.  These statues were in the lobby.  I thought they were unlike anything I've seen before, but beautiful. 

bible study tidbits

Sunset from the parking lot at Winn Dixie.  Not at all relevant to anything else in this post, I'm sure.

When my pastor first arrived at our parish  nearly 4 years ago, one of the first things he did was to announce that he was facilitating a Great Adventure Bible Study on Revelations.  As soon as he announced that, I just knew that I was supposed to be there.  It left me hungry for more, and since then we have completed a 24 week Bible Timeline Journey and 24 week study on Matthew.  Right now we are finishing up a 10 week study on the Letter of James.  Ten weeks is a long time to study something that takes up only 5 pages!

The premise of this study is that James is full of "pearls for wise living".  It's a quick read...check it out.  And the Bible Study itself has been full of "pearls".

One week was about acquiring wisdom [not to be confused with information].  We spend a lot of time making sure that our children are educated and infused with information.  But wisdom....not so much.  There was mention of where we might acquire wisdom - Holy Scripture, the Catechism, papal encyclicals and church documents, the lives and writings of the Saints, elderly people who have lived a life on a good moral foundation, etc.  A suggestion was also made to keep a journal of practical wisdom that we might someday pass on to our children.  It could be a nice leather bound volume.  For the time being, I bought something that was light and small (and cheap) that I could slip into my purse.  I have bits from scripture, bits from Bible studies, things I've heard in homilies, [generic] advice I've gotten in confession.

Another week was about wisdom in speech.  Be quick to listen and slow to talk!  Just because it pops into your head, you do not have to say it.  And don't send emails after 11 pm.  Those are the ones you live to regret.  Control of the tongue.  A life-long project in some of our cases.  Enough said.

Wisdom in relationships....trouble begins in the heart...on the inside.  We want what we want.  We quarrel and fuss because we put created things ahead of the One who created them.  Pride keeps us from God's grace; it is a disordered view of yourself.  God gives grace to the humble.  Humility is a great gift from God.

A how-to of restoring lost relationships - with God and with others: 

• submit to God...spend time in prayer...close the mouth and open the ears...
• resist negative influences in the culture...resist the devil...we CAN stop fighting, we can control our own will
• draw near to God...prayer and meditation
• cleanse your hands and purify your hearts... clean up your act...you can't be away from God, but near him at the same time...that's why the Eucharist and Reconciliation go hand in hand.
• turn laughter into mourning...repentance and penance..turning towards God's will...whole-hearted contrition
• humble yourself before the Lord...the opposite of pride...repent...when we humble ourselves, God lifts us up

Bible studies have been a wonderful thing.  So much for the head, the intellect, but also so much for the soul. I have so much more that I could share, but it would be too long for one post.  Perhaps it is possible to OD on wisdome??  Our last class of this session is Wednesday...the wisdom of confession and prayer.  I'll be back with more!