HOPE

Hopeful
Life with vision
Anticipating good
Living today for tomorrow
Expectant

When there are so many suffering in this world, the pain and suffering being endured by the people of Haiti becomes just one more example of the tragedy in the world. Hope is the way to tomorrow. The sunrise is the hope of the darkness of night. Food is the hope of hunger, water the hope of thirst. Healing is the hope of pain. And love is the hope of despair and fear.

Pope John Paul II said in an address to the 5oth session of the United Nations in 1995:

Hope is not empty optimism springing from a naive confidence that the future will necessarily be better than the past. Hope and trust are the premise of responsible activity and are nurtured in that inner sanctuary of conscience where "man is alone with God" and thus perceives that he is not alone amid the enigmas of existence, for he is surrounded by the love of the Creator. [Pope John Paul II, His Essential Wisdom edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi]

So it is that we who hope actively participate in offering hope. Hope is not a passive activity. Hope is most active when we bond with others to bring hope to fulfillment. Working in a food pantry or offering financial support to it. Feeding the hungry by cooking or serving the meal. Tutoring the child who cannot read. Hugging the child that weeps in fear. One cannot in all honesty say that they cannot supply hope or offer hope to another if he/she are actively investing time, talent and treasure to its fulfillment. There is always HOPE at the foot of the Cross!

So today, offer hope wherever and to whomever you can!

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God!!!

Lesson Well Learned Again

So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
Hebrews 4:16

I was taught a lesson in accepting grace this morning by Duchess, our dog. As Ron was leaving for work, she rushed passed him and jumped in the car. Coaxing her to come in didn't work. When she got out of the car she ran to the other side of the street, all of this in the dark, fog of a 5:00 a.m. morning. One cannot yell at that hour, though I really wanted to, so I thought enticing her with a treat. After several minutes she was in the house, sitting "pretty" for her treat. I really didn't want to give her the treat because she had been such a pest, but she got the treat non-the-less. In just a few more minutes she would probably do something again that would annoy me, but because she is so cute, she'll get the treat again.

It occurred to me, when I was giving Duchess the treat, that God performs this same ritual with me several times a day! I am given his glorious gift of grace each time I follow his way! And when I "rush pass" him doing my own thing, he is still there coaxing me back with that "treat" called grace. So, even though he probably doesn't want to give me the grace because I don't deserve it, he loves me so much that he bestows it on me anyway. It is comforting to know that God thinks I'm worth coaxing. It is wonderful to know that when I fail, I have been redeemed. So, it is that I am so grateful for the gift of GRACE!

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be go God!!!

Food For Thought

I woke up this morning just as I always do, saying the Hail Mary. My thoughts wandered to why it is that I always awake this way. Have I done this so many years just as a matter of course or is it because my morning can't begin until I call upon our Lady to pray for me? I would like to believe that It's because I want her to pray for me.

My thoughts then wandered to other gifts I am offered by God and I began to focus on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Every night I go to bed saying the Act of Contrition. I ask God for forgiveness for sins I had committed that day and I go to bed hoping the next day will be better and the sins I committed would not be experienced again. Then I began an examination, not of my conscience, but of my personality and how I use or do not use the sacraments.

You see I take forgiveness of my sins for granted. Yes, I TAKE IT FOR GRANTED! Jesus Christ died on the cross so that I might be redeemed. I'm asked to "Love the Lord my God with all [my] heart, with all [my] soul and with all [my] mind. And I am to love [my] neighbor as [myself] (Matthew 23:36, 39).

It is simple. It is not a book with 200 laws and regulation. No, and the words are simple. They are not complex. It is not so complicated that I have to say, "I don't understand." If I follow his simple instructions all will follow all the rules and regulations ever written. If the laws are morally right and focus on the law of love I will not sin.

Now I am wondering why it is I make it so difficult to follow these two simple laws...

1. I'm selfish.
2. I'm jealous.
3. I'm greedy.
4. I'm religiously lazy.
5. I'm impatient with others.

That's only the beginning. I think if I start working on these five flaws, perhaps I will become a better follower of Christ. I should not take the Sacrament of Reconciliation for granted. When I accept its graces, I should do it with gratitude to a God that loves me, not necessarily for who I am, but for whom I can become.

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God~

First and Always Catholic...

"First and Always Catholic"
Originally uploaded by Svadilfari

At a time when we are celebrating the priesthood. I have found this article by Peter John Cameron, O.P. to be very heartwarming and hope filled. This touches me personally as I am the daughter and grand-daughter, as well as, the wife of a member of the Knights of Columbus. My grandfather was a member of the first council in Denver. I am proud of the legacy and would invite those Catholic men who read this and are not members of the Knights of Columbus to seriously consider offering your services by joining this most worthwhile organization. (This article is in the January issue of Magnificat.)

Profile of a Priest: Father Michael J. McGivney

by Peter John Cameron, O. P.

Father Michael J. McGivney (1852-1890) spent his shor priesthood protecting the poor and the oppressed, especially by founding the Knights of Columbus. One seminary rector expressed his doubts about McGivney's vocation, disguising his objections in Latin: "Mr McGivney is a very good and pious young man. But he is exceedingly sensitive,, usque ad lacrymas [even unto tears]." But wasn't this sensitivity the very source of Father McGivney's astonishing priesthood? Pope John Paul II tells us that priest "should be able to know the depths of the human heart, to perceive difficulties and problems." Father McGivney did this par excellence. An 1880 newspaper article captures Father McGivney's New Haven: "Hundreds of yours are growing up in our midst in abject poverty, in filth, wretchedness, and crime for want of help and sympathy." Father McGivney responded. He ransomed an orphaned teenager who would have bee sent to a public institution. His pastoral care of a murdered on death row was so effected that even the New Your Times was amazed at the inmate's serenity on the day of his execution. "All the difficult circumstances which people find in their path as Christians are sincerely suffered in the priest's heart" (John Paul II). A month after the death of Father McGivney at the age of thirty-eight, a board of directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution. One line is the epitome of praise for a priest: "He was our father."

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God!!!

"First and Always Catholic"
Originally uploaded by Svadilfar

Blessed New Year

This is a lovely and loving way to bring in the New Year. Yes, understanding and knowing we are in the care of our loving God. Wishing you all the very best!

In The Cradle Of His Knowing

I am a child of God
Placed in the
cradle of his knowing

No matter what stage I am at
In life

There is a part of me
That has not yet reached its prime

Like the bed of a river
That is composed of histories
Laid down
by flowing water

Impressed upon my soul is
A story all its own
A tale of dying to the old world
Of not yet being born into the new

Riddling and sifting
His journeying through.

Poem by
Ann Murry at Poetry,
Prayer, and Praise.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!!

What Child Is This...

G. K. Chesterton has written a really lovely poem. It is tender and visual. It is rare that I read a poem and feel I am there, experiencing the sight. Not so with this poem. It is from Advent and Christmas, Wisdom from G. K. Chesterton.

The Christ Child

The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary were the world,
But here is all aright.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary's breast
His hair was like a star.
(O stern and cunning are the kings,
But here the true hearts are.)

The Christ-Child lay on Mary's heart,
His hair was like a fire.
(O weary weary is the world,
But here the world's desire.)

The Christ-child stood on Mary's knee
His hair was like a crown,
And all the flowers looked up at Him,
And all the stars looked down.

Collected Poetry

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Thanks be to God!

An Advent Reflection

Still I have neglected this corner of my world. But today as I have read other posts I have come upon one at Poetry, Prayer and Praise that I wish to save here. Ann has posted a wonderful reflection by John Henry Newman.

A Meditation

by John Henry Newman

God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work

to me which He has not committed to another I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection

between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good.

I shall do His work.

Visit and enjoy the entire offering. Then take time to reflect.

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