All Saint's Eve

Praying for the marines and servicemen lost yesterday west of San Diego in a plane crash, and for their families.

October 29, 2009

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (from Paul's letter to the Romans) When Robbie was making his First Communion I found a card with this verse from Paul's letter and I thought "this is the card". Being worst-case scenario types, Robbie and me, I seized this card as my prayer for him. No matter what happens, we can always know this... nothing, not any thing, can come between this reality.. that we are essentially and forever wrapped in God's loving embrace. This is impossible to comprehend. but I believe, maybe not as fervently as St. Paul did, that it is true. While some define faith as a believe in our sinfulness and our need for redemption, I think my faith challenge is to believe that God loves us <-> that much. We do not earn it or deserve it, but like children of loving parents, we receive it because our creator can not help loving us. Every single one of us, forever.

feast of st. jude and st. simon

October 28 I know a woman for whom this prayer has special meaning. Her life has been full of blessings, but she lost a child years ago. Some traditional prayers most powerfully express a depth of need and this is one of them.
Prayer to Saint Jude
Most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of.
Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone. Make use I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of.
Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the elect forever.
I promise, O blessed Saint Jude, to be mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you. Amen.

God's own face

My niece Anne's birthday is tomorrow. She will be 24 years old! Her mother hosted a big birthday bash with a fantastic Italian themed dinner, with tiramisu for the birthday cake. The birthday girl was not really basking in the glow. She said several times to me that it didn't need to be her birthday celebration, that we needn't have brought gifts, that it was her mother's excuse to have a dinner party. What does a person say to all that? I told her it was the custom in our country to honor people on their birthdays. I'm sorry that it makes her so uncomfortable. She was a lovely host though as she made a point of going around and talking to everyone. NICE. It's hard to know how to love a person, ya know? It's like cracking a safe, or solving a puzzle to know how to love some people, no? It can only be hoped that somewhere in the midst of community that the love gets through. God bless Anne and all of my nieces and nephews as they travel in their worlds, hopefully receiving the message over and over again how much they are loved. Thanks Aileen for inviting us .. a chance to celebrate Anne!

signs of the times

IN today's gospel reading from Luke, Jesus asks his followers why they don't know how to interpret the present times... as they know how to interpret the signs of the weather? Hmm. BECAUSE there is little reward in doing that! If we look around us and see the pain and suffering of others, then we will be invited to suffer with them. Unless we have a grounding in a compassionate creator then how can we wade into the pain and suffering of the world without the fear of being swallowed up by it? At Easter we sing a jubilant "I Know that my Redeemer Lives"... in the moment we believe the words we sing. But, when we're back in the trenches sometimes it is challenging to live as if we really believed it when faced with lives torn apart by illness, poverty, dysfunction and just plain old life. Today, I will try to be aware of the signs of the times. Where in the world am I being called to believe in the power of the Risen One, that power that overcomes death and and is grounded in the source of all life.

Adam ashamed

Judy Woodruff ended her reporting on the Lehrer News Hour with a "thank you" . Jim Lehrer always finishes with "thank you, and good night." After listening to the news and hearing Judy sign off with a thank you, I wondered , "thank you for what?" Am I being thanked for listening? The news was, as it often is , pretty dismal. So, given that, is that why we are thanked? or are they just thanking us for tuning in to PBS rather than Fox News? Money in the bank for them if they have more viewers. I've been watching the Lehrer News Hour at times and at the end of the program there is a slide show with no audio/or a soft instrumental playing. Photographs of slain members of the military from Iraq or Afghanistan are shown. We are invited to glimpse the faces of women and men who have given their lives for our country. It is most sobering. Then, the face of Judy or Jim or Gwen Ifill appears and they thank us and say good night. I can't get my head around this. I even feel badly writing about this... it is a very good thing to honor the lives of these men and women who are now gone. I'm just wondering if it's the best thing to follow the respectful silence with a "thank you".

october 20, 2009

i find Christianity to be VERY HARD. In today's reading from Luke's gospel, Jesus directs his disciples with these words: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival." Readiness. I remember when I was rowing for my college's crew team. We worked out a lot, ran, lifted weights, rowed at 5 a.m. in the dark and sometimes rain. We ate a lot when we weren't working out or racing, or sleeping. It was all preparation for the races. I remember having to decide if I ate this donut or orange juice was I risking an upset stomach when I needed to have my full strength for the boat. Being in labor too with our boys I remember that focus that was required to get through the moment, in order to be prepared for the ... next moment. There was not much of an option... either I collapsed into total unconsciousness and lost my connection to the process or I stayed with the process and joined my efforts to it. Pete and I had taken the birthing classes so we had been advised just exactly how we were to stay focused and to work with the process. So, I have had the experience of being called upon to really "show up". It is NOT EASY! Jesus is saying here to his friends that to follow him we need to "show up" and "be ready"... maybe if we do that, He'll take it from there..... and how do we do that? What comes to mind: empty ourselves.