Just like Saint Mother Theodore many saints "leaned on Providence."  They are lessons we can all learn if only we will try.  Don't you know it's so much easier to do it ourselves.  "Leaning" is not what we are raised to do.  Well, now it's time we did learn to "lean."  I know I'm trying/.

~~~~~~~

In all your undertakings rely wholly on God's providence, through which alone they can succeed; but seek steadily on your part to cooperate with it, and then rest satisfied that if you are trusting all to God, whatever happens will be best for you, whether it seems to your own judgment good or bad.

St. Francis de Sales

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

What Else Is Left But HOPE!

There are times when the events of the world, though not directly impacting my life, seem to be overwhelming.  There is the riot and looting in London, the death of 31 in the helicopter crash, an economy and nation in flux and teenagers on the lam from a shooting.  Oh my goodness, it could cause one to despair!  And then I read this:

But our hope is in the Providence of God, which has protected us until the present, and which will provide, somehow, for our future needs.  ~Saint Mother Theodore Guerin~

Again Hope should reign in our hearts.  For God will not desert us!  I can attest to that for in my life he has rescued me innumerable time.

And too Pope John XXIII tell us:

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.  

If I turn to my favorite Psalm I hear this:

LORD, you have probed me, you know me:

2you know when I sit and stand;

you understand my thoughts from afar.

3You sift through my travels and my rest;

with all my ways you are familiar.

4Even before a word is on my tongue,

LORD, you know it all.

5Behind and before you encircle me

and rest your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

far too lofty for me to reach.

7Where can I go from your spirit?

From your presence, where can I flee?

8If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;

if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.

9If I take the wings of dawn

and dwell beyond the sea,

10Even there your hand guides me,

your right hand holds me fast.

11If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,

and night shall be my light”—

12Darkness is not dark for you,

and night shines as the day.

Darkness and light are but one.

~Psalm 139~

Finally,  if I would just listen more intently to the teaching of our Savior, I would hear loudly and clearly, "BE NOT AFRAID!"

And so it is today, I will leave the house and venture into a world that seem so out of control and journey with the Master.  For He is the one who is really in control!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Reflection on Trust

picture
from truthwithelegance

This very reflection on trust is where I am today. It speaks to me because I am in the back, I know it, but I want control. I want to fix it. I want it to happen now. I do not want to wait.

And then I was lead here.

God is to be trusted,
The God who called you to have fellowship
with his son Jesus Christ, our Lord.
1Corinthians 1:9

A poem compares our life with Jesus to two people on a tandem bicycle. It reads:

At first, I sat in front; Jesus in the rear.
I couldn't see him, but I knew he was there.
I'd feel his help when the road got steep.
Then, one day, Jesus and I changed seats.
Suddenly everything went topsy-turvy
When I was in control the ride was predictable--even boring.
But when Jesus took over, it got wild!
I could hardly hold on
'This is madness!' I cried out.
But Jesus just smiled--and said, 'Pedal!'
and so I learned to shut up and pedal--
and trust my bide companion.
Oh, there are still times
when I get scared and I'm ready to quit.
But Jesus turns around, touches my hand,
smiles, and says, 'Pedal!'"

I may trust Jesus too little, but I can never trust him too much.
Anonymous

~*~~*~~*~

The question for reflection, found in Mission 2000, B cycle, asks me why I find it hard to trust Jesus as I'd like. The fact is I trust him as long as life is beautiful, good, and going the way I think it should be going. But today is a day of thanksgiving for me. Yes, I have to thank him for the trial in which I find myself. I must trust him in his wisdom. I know he knows how to take care of me. Maybe my pride is in the way. Yes, pride. I want to fix it myself. Because of the pride, I see failure if I cannot help to heal the pain. When I read this I realized again that I am not GOD. I am the child He created and listening to my Father is what I must do. He's saying, "Let your brother, Jesus, do the work. You pedal!"

My life is full of contradiction. My family is full of diversity. We cannot all be alike, even if I wish it were so. So it is today that I offer again myself and family to the God who made us and let him know that I will start "pedaling" again.

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