Joining with the ladies at Suscipio

Beauty in the Ordinary

:: spying on a red headed woodpecker in a massive oak tree while on my rosary walk

 

Moments of Gratitude

:: homemade pizza and Greek salad for Father’s Day dinner

:: escaping the heat in the only way you can down here…in a pool

:: I’ll be a grandmother in a month

:: all the Lord has brought me through

:: He loved me and cared for me even when I didn’t think I was salvageable

 

In the Kitchen ~ Meatless Monday…and the rest of the week

:: Spicy Kale with Yellow Peppers and Onions

:: Polenta and Black Beans with Steamed Broccoli

:: Slow Cooker Lentil Soup, Salad

:: Blackened Tilapia Sandwiches, Corn on the Cob

::  Tofu Sloppy Joes

 

Pondering 

I’m a little scattered in this category lately…

:: what my father would be saying about the condition of our nation and the world were he alive today

:: how I can best help my grandchild be all God wants him to be

:: remembering my Benedictine promise of “constant conversion“that I might be all God wants me to be”

:: the importance of the Our Father in the Divine Office

 

One of the principle effects of the Lord’s Prayer, says Dom Morel

“is to contribute to the remission of our sins and to cure the maladies of our soul. It is, says St Augustine, like a daily baptism in which we are washed and purified of our stains…but for it’s effects to be felt it must be said with holy dispositions and a spirit of charity.”

— Commentary for Benedictine Oblates, G A Simon, p.199      

Reading and Praying

:: The Book of Numbers and meditating on 15:37-41– Tassels on Garments 

 

The LORD said to Moses,

“Speak to the people of Israel, and bid them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put upon the tassel of each corner a cord of blue; 

and it shall be to you a tassel to look upon and remember all the commandments of the LORD,

to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to go after wantonly. 

What tassel (sign of significance) will I set before my eyes this week that I might keep my thoughts, eyes and heart on Him and not the inclinations of my old sinful nature?

Captured

Paternoster Guild/Facebook

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David Playing the Harp

Jan de Bray

1670

From the “Explanations of the Psalms by Saint Ambrose, bishop“, today’s second reading of the Divine Office;

…a psalm is a blessing on the lips of the people,

 

~a hymn in praise of God,

~the assembly’s homage,

~a general acclamation,

~a word that speaks for all,

~the voice of the church,

~a confession of faith in song.

 

It is the voice of complete assent,

~the joy of freedom,

~a day of happiness,

~the echo of gladness.

~It soothes the temper,

~distracts from care,

~lightens the burden of sorrow.

 

It is a source of security at night, a lesson in wisdom by day.

It is a shield when we are afraid,

~a celebration of holiness,

~a vision of serenity,

~a promise of peace and harmony.

 

It is like a lyre, evoking harmony from a blend of notes.

Day begins to the music of a psalm. Day closes to the echo of a psalm.

I shall sing to you, God, on the lyre, holy one of Israel; my lips will rejoice when I have sung to you,

and my soul also, which you have set free.

 

Amen

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I think the saying goes: There’s an elephant in the room. Unfortunately these days, if you listen to even ten minutes of news and don’t live in a cave, there’s maybe….ten elephants in the room. I’m not so worried about massive land animals sitting right in front of our face. At least we can see them and since they live to be between 50-70 years old they’ll be around a while….I never liked the analogy of elephants anyways, because they have no natural predators except….humans, who are a real threat to them.

No, I’m more concerned about the slow leak….It was subtle at first. You know, the problem we now have as a nation that nobody is willing to admit; the problem that, were we to acknowledge, would mess up our presumption of autonomy forcing us to recognize man is never going to solve his problems apart from God. Our suppression of this one truth– especially since the ’60′s– is like a body of water that has pressed up against the walls of our nation’s founding and we’ve missed The Leak in the Dike.

Do you know this poem? I read this story of Holland’s sluices anew the other day in one of my favorite homeschooling books. It begins:

The good dame looked from her cottage

At the close of the pleasant day,

And cheerily called to her little son

Outside the door at play:

 

“Come, Peter, come! I want you to go,

While there is light to see,

To the hut of the blind old man who lives

Across the dike, for me;

 

And take these cakes I made for him–

They are hot and smoking yet;

You have time enough to go and come

Before the sun is set.”

 

So, mom returns to work humming while Peter in obedience, sets off. He bids his sister and brother good-bye and promises to return to them before they see a “star in sight.” He was a brave boy the poem continues, unafraid of the dark;

 

With eye and conscience clear…..he had not yet learned to fear.

 

It was a pleasant journey. Never mind that the blind old man could not see the child’s face because,

…his joyous prattle made glad a lonesome place.

 

 

But, the day was passing; the shadows falling…and the mother’s anxiety deepened as she saw the birds return home yet no sign of Peter.

She comforts herself by remembering, “he said he would come by morning” and though his absence wasn’t like her boy at all, she believed he’d keep his promise.

He was on his homeward way…but across the dike, had stopped to gather flowers listening to the sound of the angry sea,

 

dashing themselves against their narrow bound. 

Peter was grateful to his father, “that the gates are good and strong”–

…. my father tends them carefully,

Or they would not hold you long!

 

You’re a wicked sea,” said Peter;

“I know why you fret and chafe;

You would like to spoil our lands and homes;

But our sluices keep you safe!”

 

Then…

….through the noise of the waters

Comes a low, clear, trickling sound;

And the child’s face pales with terror,

 

As his blossoms drop to the ground.

He is up the bank in a moment,

And, stealing through the sand,

He sees a stream not yet so large

As his slender, childish hand.

 

 

‘Tis a leak in the dike! He is but a boy,

Unused to fearful scenes;

But, young as he is, he has learned to know

The dreadful thing that means.

 

 

A leak in the dike! The stoutest heart

Grows faint that cry to hear,

And the bravest man in all the land

Turns white with mortal fear.

 

 

For he knows the smallest leak may grow

To a flood in a single night;

And he knows the strength of the cruel sea

When loosed in its angry might.

 

 Seeing the danger this young boy fearlessly shouts the alarm,

He forces back the weight of the sea

with the strength of his single arm.

 

In hopes of help, he puts his ear to the ground listening for a footstep to “pass nigh”. Though no answer comes to him and he feels all hope is lost,

Yet what shall he do but watch and wait,

Though he perish at his post!

 

 

The little boy, we read, cries and moans until all he has for company are the stars and the memories of his brothers and sister asleep warm in their bed. He is tormented with thoughts of his poor mother and father and visions of being found dead.

But he never thinks he can leave the place

Where duty holds him fast.

 

His mother has been up with the light for thoughts of her little boy,

have been with her all night.

 

She returns to watch the pathway as she had done the day before, when suddenly, she sees her neighbors,

bearing something between them

Something straight to her door.  

She sees,

Her child coming home, but not

As he ever came before!

She and her husband fear the worst…that their son is dead…

Till a glad shout from the bearers

Thrills the stricken man and wife–

 

 

“Give thanks, for your son has saved our land,

And God has saved his life!”

 

So, there in the morning sunshine

They knelt about the boy;

And every head was bared and bent

In tearful, reverent joy.

 

Despite the years that pass,

When the sea roars like a flood,

Their boys are taught what a boy can do

Who is brave and true and good.

 

For every man in that country

Takes his dear son by the hand,

 

And tells him of little Peter,

Whose courage saved the land.

 

Many a stormy summer day, I read this poem to my young sons..

I taught them that this is who they must be as Christian men, but the lesson never bypassed me. This is who we are all called to be as children of God.

Unafraid to perish at our post if we must, for its not about the elephant in the room.

It’s about the leak in the dike. 

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•  Photo: ”The Hero of Haarlem” from Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland, by Mary Mapes Dodge (1865)
•  Poem

The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men…Luke 24:7

 

 

This is a Scripture I often recall as I take communion to the hospital on my pastoral care day; for after all … this is what I am,

a sinner and yet ~

The Lord allows me the privilege of working along side Him–meeting extroidinary people who, in their sickness and suffering, have blessed me beyond measure. 

The halls of the hospital are foreboding; sometimes I feel their heaviness like a weighted fog that hovers it’s threat of loneliness, grief, suffering and death. And that’s when I ‘m thankful that wrapped in the case against my heart is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. It’s into this darkness I accompany Him every week, trusting only in the mercy of His Sacred Heart.

There are so many encounters. I share them for one reason: to illustrate the mercy of God, despite the cracked vessel that carries Him.

You never know what a day will bring. The most incredible encounters are, inexplicable, unexpected, unplanned, unscripted and they often leave me wondering if angels don’t wander the halls defying the darkness. 

I’m remembering an encounter I had one morning not too long ago. My boss asked me to stop by a room on the third floor and spend time with an elderly patient who was driving the nurses crazy. Apparently, she was leaning on her call button, complaining about everything, crying non stop and mumbling things no one had the time to understand.

How old is she? I asked.

92 … he whispered

 

As I prayerfully approached her room, I thought to myself;

I’d be mumbling too, if I was stuck in a hospital bed at 92.

 

The minute I saw her I noticed her frailty and as I pulled a chair to her bedside, she took my Benedictine cross in her arthritic fingers,

“I should have been a nun.” she exclaimed.

“Oh? Tell me why you think so…” 

 

Instantly, the conversation intensified as she remarked that perhaps, if she would have done as the Lord wanted, she wouldn’t have suffered so much in her life..

Then, I invited her to tell me her story.

She had lost three husbands to cancer, but the deepest sorrow of her life was witnessing the drowning of her three year old daughter…

It happened before she could get to her…It happened with the little girl clothed in the precious pink dress her dear aunt had sewn for her and it was the outfit in which she was buried. Tearfully, she described the memory of that day and how all these many years it has haunted her. She told me the agony she suffered has never lost it’s sting, so as a consolation for this sorrow, she had asked the Lord for a special favor.

She requested that on the day she was to die, the Lord would let her hear a knock at the door…by this she would know it was her lovely daughter come to take her to heaven.

It was hard to hold back tears as she continued her story. 

Once, in her lonely days as a widow–alone and expecting no one–she was resting in her condo, when suddenly she heard… a knock.

“I was so excited,” she gleamed. “I was sure the day of my homecoming had arrived.”

But, oddly enough the knocking was at her window.

She thought,

“Well, I suppose if I’m going home to Heaven, I can leave as easily through the window as the door.”

 

However, as she approached to see who was knocking, she was met ….by the window cleaner.

At a loss for words to continue describing her desperate hopelessness to me, she gave way to full blown sobbing.

It was at this point, I asked if we might pray together. It wasn’t a fancy prayer, just one that attempted to convey the merciful love of our Savior, assuring her that Jesus loves her and knows well her pain.

Then, she received the Eucharist and suddenly the spiritual darkness seemed to take flight, not only in the room, but in her heart.

As she dried her tears, I gently encouraged her to be confident that one day she would see that lovely daughter again and perhaps she will meet her at Heaven’s door in that pretty pink dress.

“Yes, I will have to wait till Heaven to see her because my sight is all but gone.”

“My dear…” she hesitated. “May I ask you a question?”

“Of course you may.”

“What color are your eyes?”

Softly, I answered. “They…are brown. ”

 

The color of her little girl’s eyes.

 

“Ah, she said,” You had no way of knowing that. Only the Blessed Mother and Jesus know how much that means to me.”

“For the first time in almost 60 years, I have finally found peace.”

 

The hands of sinful man cannot bring light to darkness…but, we can accompany Him on whatever mission He sends us ~

that He might set His people free.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us.

 

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• See also: 5 reasons to adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus
• Photo source

Corpus Christi

Carl Emil Doepler, the elder

1824

FROM PROMISE TO FULFILLMENT

“The purpose of the Stations of the Eucharist is to help the faithful deepen both their understanding and appreciation of the Source and Summit of our faith: The Most Holy Eucharist. Through the whole of salvation history, God, our Father has prepared His people for the Gift of His Beloved Son, and also for the Gift of His Real Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist. Throughout the Old Testament, the Eucharist was prefigured.

And in the New Testament, these shadows give way to reality.”

The first six reference the Old Testament and the last six, the New Testament relationship to salvation history.

1. MELCHIZEDEK, THE KlNG OF SALEM: FORESHADOWING OF A EUCHARISTIC PRIESTHOOD

 

2. THE JEWISH PASSOVER: THE PASCHAL LAMB: PREFIGUREMENT OF THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE

 

3. THE MANNA: PREFIGUREMENT OF THE EUCHARIST, THE NEW MANNA

 

4. THE OLD TEMPLE: PREFIGUREMENT OF THE EUCHARIST, GOD DWELLING AMONG MEN

 

5. ELIJAH AND THE HEARTH CAKES: PREFIGUREMENT OF THE EUCHARIST, FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY

 

6. BETHLEHEM, THE HOUSE OF BREAD: BIRTHPLACE OF THE BREAD OF LIFE

 

7. THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA: WATER TO WINE, WINE TO BLOOD

 

8. MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES: THE EUCHARIST, FOOD FOR THE MULTITUDES

 

9. THE BREAD OF LIFE DISCOURSE: JESUS, THE BREAD OF LIFE

 

10. THE LAST SUPPER: PROMISES FULFILLED

 

11. THE ROAD TO EMMAUS: JESUS, RECOGNIZED IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD

 

12. THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB: THE EUCHARIST IS THE PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE

 

—visit site for meditations

—purchase a book at nuns gift shop

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Visitation 

1434-1435

Jacques Daret

…you never think of Mary without Mary thinking of God for you. You never praise or honor Mary without without Mary joining you in praising and honoring God.

Mary is entirely relative to God.

Indeed I would say that she was relative only to God, because she exists uniquely in reference to Him.

She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God.

If you say “Mary” she says “God”.

When St Elizabeth praised Mary, calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her Canticle,

“My soul glorifies the Lord.”

What Mary did on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and honor her,

when we present anything to her, then God is praised, honored, loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.

—True Devotion, St Louis de Montfort

Wonderful Effects of Devotion,  255

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St Paul Writing His Epistles

Valentin de Boulogne

(c. 1618 – 1620)

I had a kitchen disaster last night; the kind that makes me wonder why, after a challenging day, I would see fit to take on a recipe I’ve never tried before. By eight o’clock the kitchen was still a mess, dinner was in the garbage and I was more than a bit frazzled when the phone rang.

It was a call from a dear friend in law enforcement. We have many of these late night calls that remind me what it was like growing up with a father who was a homicide detective. They see humanity at it’s worst and there comes a time when they must find a way to not lose heart, they must find a way to see beyond the disgraceful condition of a world gone astray from it’s moorings, for they after all, are the ones cleaning up the mess.

Believe me when I tell you after one of our conversations, you’d think we live in a war zone; but my neighborhood and state is no different than yours. Well, some might say, that’s pathetic and so negative, why draw attention to it? Because if our country continues on it’s course it’s not going to get any better..The results are being processed every day in the courts of our cities. We have compromised truth to such a degree and shunned the reality that God exists that the grave consequences of not following Him may one day end in losing our soul as a nation. 

So, what is a Christian to do? How can we avoid being driven to despair in the face of such turmoil and worldly anxiety? Should we wring our hands and cry, “Where are you God? ” Should we raise our fists to Heaven and accuse God of forsaking us? Is He forsaking us?

For it is God who said. “Let light shine out of darkness,”

who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ.

—2 Corinthians 4:6

 

Though a Christian is only an earthen vessel, he must be head and shoulders above the anxieties of the world, in order to show that power belongs to God and not to us-

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.

 

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

 

For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

—2 Corinthians 4: 7-12

Although we find ourselves living in times of constant distress, the apostle Paul teaches us that God’s grace alone, can keep us from despair; our sufferings, if submitted to the Lord’s mercies, will conform us to Christ. Death might be at work, but obedience and trust will result in life and boundless blessings.

For the apostle Paul, his ‘no compromise’ life in Asia resulted in a great deal of suffering which he shared with the Corinthians so they wouldn’t be ignorant. He experienced so much affliction, was so unbearably crushed, that he almost despaired of life itself.

(2 Cor 1:8-11)

 

Why did God allow him to experience that?

• to make him rely– not on himself–but, on God who raises the dead
• so his hope would always be set on God to deliver him….again and again
• to call them to pray for him  (1: 8-11)

Pray like our lives depend on that truth. 

Pray for the ones cleaning up the mess.

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Holy Trinity 

Sandro Botticelli

1491-1493

 

 

“The Holy Trinity or Pala delle Convertite is an altarpiece by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli,

dating to c. 1491-1493.

It is housed in Courtauld Institute Galleries of London.

 

It was originally commissioned by the Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali (guild of the Doctors and Pharmacists) for the church of Santa Elisabetta delle Convertite in Florence, a church/monastery housing former prostitutes or fallen women, who had converted from the licentious life to one of honesty, and whose patron saint was Mary Magdalene.

 

The picture shows the Trinity (Jesus Crucified, God and the Holy Spirit’s Dove) within an almond with seraphim.

 

In the background is a blue sky within two rocky spurs, in front of which are Mary Magdalene, taken in an intense praying posture, and St. John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence, who, as usual in the pictures of the period, is pointing to the center of the composition. The figure of Magdalene resembles the contemporary “Magdalene Penitent” by Donatello (1453–1455) and that by Desiderio da Settignano (c. 1455) in the church of Santa Trinita.

 

In the lower part, in a smaller scale, are the Archangel Raphael with Tobias, who is holding the fish that, in the Biblical tale, he had been ordered by angel to capture in order to save his father….”

 

 

• link

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—2 Cor. 13:14

 

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(news.va) Pope Francis has called Christians worldwide to prayer this Friday for our brothers and sisters in China. Speaking at the end of his general audience in Italian, the Holy Father noted that Friday, May 24th, is the day dedicated to the liturgical memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. Emer McCarthy reports:

He said : “I urge all Catholics around the world to join in prayer with our brothers and sisters who are in China, to implore from God the grace to proclaim with humility and joy Christ, who died and rose again; to be faithful to His Church and the Successor of Peter and to live everyday life in service to their country and their fellow citizens in a way that is consistent with the faith they profess.

Making our own a few words of prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan, together with you I would like to invoke Mary : ” Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus”.

Mary, Virgin most faithful, support Chinese Catholics, render their commitments, which are not easy, more and more precious in the eyes of the Lord, and nurture the affection and the participation of the Church in China in the journey of the Universal Church”.

In May 2008 Pope-emeritus, Benedict XVI, composed a special prayer for the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians (May 24), venerated at the shrine of Sheshan, near Shanghai. He also designated May 24 as the yearly World Day of Prayer for China and asked that we recite this prayer.

Below we publish the full text of the prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan:

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother,

venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”, the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.

We come before you today to implore your protection. Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

 

When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.You willingly and generously cooperated in that work, allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,

standing beside your Son, who died that we might live. From that moment, you became, in a new way,

the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.

Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.

 

 Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.

Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.

 

May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus.

In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.

 

Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.

Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever.

Amen!

Please pray for the underground church in China and all our suffering brothers and sisters.

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• see also Cardinal Kung Foundation

Saint Rita come to my aid!
Faithful, loving wife and mother,
Humble, prayerful widow and nun,
Because of my need, answer my call.

 

Saint Rita, come to my aid!
Beautiful rose born
from the Savior’s thorns,
Lead me far from anger and hate;
Guide my heart on peaceful paths with charity to all.

 

Saint Rita, come to my aid!
Helper, healer, holy friend
Hear my petition (make request).
To Christ take this prayer,
For He is my Lord, my God, my All,
My hope in despair,
My strength when afraid.
Saint Rita, come to my aid!
Saint Rita, answer my call.

Amen.

 

Blessed feast day.

It’s never too late to pray a novena.

St Rita, I thank you in advance for the answered prayers you will obtain on our behalf.

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