Trust

"Jesus, I trust in you."

These words are found at the bottom of the image of Divine Mercy.  They are so easy to say and, sometimes, so hard to do.

When life throws us a curve ball, say your car breaks down, or you wake up too sick to go to work, or your basement pipes back up 3 times in a week, it may still be fairly easy to say those words.

How about when something really devastating happens, say, cancer.

How do we react to something that huge?

I am honored to know a person who is in a fight with cancer who has not only committed those words to memory and likely says them often but who LIVES them.  In a note asking for prayers this is what he wrote:

“My feeling is that this cancer does not change the basic facts: the Father is all loving and wants what’s best for us, He is all wise and knows what is best for us, and He is all powerful and can bring it about.   

     “So I feel, as always, blessed and fortunate.  The Lord has chosen this cancer to do important work that needs to get done, not the least is the opportunity, through grace, to grow more quickly in faith, hope, and love of the Lord, if only I continue to trust in Him and endure well, without complaint, and with a joyful attitude the challenges this cancer brings.

    “ In addition, because I am fortunate to be ”grafted” into the “body of Christ,” I have the opportunity, once again by grace, to join myself more intimately to Jesus’ own once and for all redemptive sacrifice made present at Mass, offering my life in Christ to the Father for your well-being, and for those others whom He puts on my heart. 

     “So, I cannot be sad.  I can only be grateful and rejoice, taking delight in the Lord.  Kathy (named changed by blogger) and I will be on an adventure with great opportunity.  Lastly, prostate cancer can be so “friendly” compared to the evil of others.”

I am so grateful for his example and I ask you to keep him in your prayers.  

Dear Jesus, help us all to "trust in You." 

Divine Mercy Novena Coming

Starting on Good Friday, I am joining more than 10,000 Catholics to pray a Divine Mercy Novena!

I’m actually trying to help this online prayer community (PrayMoreNovenas.com) to get 20,000 people praying this novena for God’s Mercy. We all need Mercy, right?

You can sign up for handy email reminders to get the the novena prayers here.

http://www.praymorenovenas.com/divine-mercy-novena

After you sign up, maybe you can help spread the word as well. God’s Mercy is abundant and overflowing, let’s share it!

———

Okay, that was all from John Paul.  This is from me: 


I have done at least 3 novenas with this group.  You get an email each day that contains the prayers for that day.  Easy as pie!  Please join us. 


And, if you write a blog or have a website, go ahead and paste the John Paul part of my blog onto your site.  Let's get this novena worldwide.

Oh! The Pain

The other day, as I was contemplating Christ's passion and death,  I was moved to wonder, 'how many of those wounds that tortured His precious body were caused by my sins?'

Instantaneously a number popped into my head.   I will not share what the number was but I will admit that it surprised me.

Over the next several days, with that number floating around in my head, I tried to see if perhaps I had made it up myself.  Nope, that was the firm number the Lord kept giving me.

Last Saturday at confession, my penance was to stand before the image of the eleventh station.  The 11th station is Jesus being nailed to the cross.  The priest told me to put myself in the scene and choose which person represented me.

As much as I wanted it to be the pure and sinless Mother Mary, it wasn't happening!!

As I looked at the other people in the scene I saw a soldier with his hand in the basket of nails pulling out the next one to be used.  I saw the soldier in charge diligently watching his charges.  There was one soldier with a hammer ready to strike and the last person was a woman standing with the Blessed Mother.

With tears streaming down my face, I put myself in that scene, and I thought about that number.  Wow!

Christ died for our sins, before we were even alive to commit them.  As for my number, He knew that before He walked the road.

It brings new understanding and thanksgiving for the verse:

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) NIV

Do you have an hour to save a life?

40 Days for Life is a national and international campaign that involves 24/7 prayer vigils that take place outside of facilities that perform abortions.

The  current 40 Days for Life campaign has been going on since Ash Wednesday. It will last until April 1, 2012.   So far close to 300 babies, that we know of, have been saved and at least two abortion facilities have closed their doors.  There are also employees at abortion clinics that have approached the volunteers who are praying outside the centers.  They are looking for a way out.

Just last evening, I prayed at our local abortion facility with one of my sisters and a cousin.  He told me that there is a clinic worker who needs to find a $12 an hour or higher paying job and then she can quit her current job.

This is the 10th campaign that 40 Days for Life has held.  This spring's campaign is going on in 251 cities in the United States and in locations in Canada, England, Australia and Spain.

Can you give an hour to save a life?  To find a vigil site near you go to http://40daysforlife.com/location/.

If you cannot get to a vigil would you please add to your daily prayers:

participants in the vigils
abortion clinic employees
women seeking an abortion
doctors performing abortions
the men affected by abortion and especially
the babies whose lives are the most dramatically impacted by this procedure.

Please also consider spiritual adoption.  See "A Popsicle Stick and a Prayer" in my post list.

When I in Awesome Wonder . . .

Last evening my mom called to let the kiddos know that Venus and Jupiter could be seen, very close together, in the night sky.  A couple of them had a good time setting up the telescope and taking a look at the planets.

This morning when I came out of Mass there was a beautiful half moon lighting up the early morning sky.
The sun was rising, too, and it was an intense orange color as it came over the horizon.

Later this afternoon while I was out walking, I noticed that the trees are starting to bud.  Hurray!
I took a photo of some purple flowers (I don't know what they are called) that are in full bloom in the neighbor's side yard.

This morning's pleasures inspired me to start humming "How Great Thou Art."  How could I do otherwise?  God makes His presence known so boldly if only we are aware enough to appreciate it. I've been singing it in my head all day as I have found more things for which to be grateful.

 Here's a short list that will keep me singing for a long time:

An awesome hubby, healthy children, vehicles that run, 70 degrees in March with more lovely days to come, a visit with two of my sisters and my parents, energy to get through the day,  and no more hole in my living room ceiling.

I pray that I will always be aware of God's blessing and not take them for granted.  He loves our praise.

What makes you sing?

Blessings

The Lord, and my dear one blessed me with a  wonderful time away.  I get to spend several days in Florida where it is warm and green and peaceful.

I longed for warmth and I am warm.

I longed for peace in my heart and I have it.

I longed for a closer relationship with the Lord, and I feel renewed and refreshed.

I have been to Mass, Mother of Perpetual Help devotion and confession.  I have had quiet time to listen to some nice hymns and rosary time to contemplate the life of Christ.

Walking around outside contributed to my rosy glow as I am just a bit sunburned.

I have had the blessing of family time with cousins.

Never doubt that God knows the needs of your heart and will find a way to answer those needs in ways you least expect.

Night Prayer

We are blessed at our parish to have night prayer on Sundays during Lent.  It is a lovely way to end the day and my dear one and I get some peaceful prayer time together.  This song is sung during the prayer and it is very powerful.  Read it slowly and soak it up.  Enjoy.


Refrain
Holy darkness, blessed night,
heaven's answer hidden from our sight.
As we await you, O God of silence,
we embrace your holy night.

1. I have tried you in fires of affliction; 
I have taught your soul to grieve.
In the barren soil of your loneliness,
there I will plant my seed.

2. I have taught you the price of compassion;
you have stood before the grave.
Though my love can seem 
like a raging storm,
this is the love that saves.

3. Were you there 
when I raised up the mountains?
Can you guide the morning star?
Does the hawk take flight 
when you give command?
Why do you doubt my pow'r?

4. In your deepest hour of darkness
I will give you wealth untold.
When the silence stills your spirit,
will my riches fill your soul.

5. As the watchman waits for morning,
and the bride awaits her groom,
so we wait to hear your footsteps
as we rest beneath your moon.

Text: Inspired by St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591. Text and music © 1988, 1989, Daniel L. Schutte. Published by OCP. All rights reserved.

Dark Nights and Dry Days of the Soul

It happens to all of us at one time or another.  It usually happens to me about this time of year.  I'm longing for the warmth of spring and for the magnolias to bloom.  I want the plastic off the windows and the windows open.  Fresh air . . . what a concept.  I want my coat put away for another season and spring colors in my wardrobe.

What I really long for, though, is a closer relationship with the Lord.  But I feel withered, like the grass and barren, like the trees.  I want new life running through my veins.

Lent is a struggle for me.  I look forward to it with eager anticipation and then find that the fasting and the hum drum days don't really mesh well and they bring me to a dark place.  I alway wonder, "why did I want it to be Lent?"

My prayers seem more forced, my fasting is done in a less than "do not let anyone know you are fasting" mode and my energy seems sapped.  I find myself sitting more and doing less.

Of course Lent brings us to Easter and usually with Easter comes spring warmth and all the other things mentioned above.

So I hang on to the promise of the Resurrection and know that the darkness will not last forever.  And even in the dark, I know the Lord is there cheering me on through Lent to the beauty of another springtime!