RANDOM THOUGHTS: GENESIS, two great lights...

GENESIS  1: 1-19

TWO GREAT LIGHTS

Two great lights ...

To serve as luminaries

Upon the earth...

The ONE greater

To govern the day...Jesus

The lesser one 

To soften the night...Mary.

 God made the stars...

Set them in the sky...

To shed light upon the earth...Saints


"LAZARUS...COME OUT!"

Jesus knew Lazarus' death was an act of God to show His power..
He waited for God to act before he went to his friends.

To the degree we seek to control, do we trust God to act?

Martha sent for Jesus and ran to tell Him, to scold Him,of her brother's death.
Did she really believe in the resurrection,or just wanted her brother alive, now?
Mary did not come out with her friends until Jesus arrived,why? She sat within the house.
She  had previously anointed Jesus with oil,as a sign of His coming death.
 Did she know and believe then, that Jesus would resurrect? An inner knowing?
 Maybe a mystical experience as she sat at His feet, that day?

To the degree we seek to control, do we trust God to act?

Lazarus was being grieved as dead! They believed he died.
Did their thoughts keep him bound; tied hand and foot with burial bands?
Can we actually do that if we do not believe?

 Why was Jesus perturbed?
Yes, He was sad. His good friend was dead!
 Humanly, He wold miss Lazarus. Jesus cried for that reason, understandably.
But scripture here says that Jesus was "perturbed," twice.
Perturbed in the dictionary, is described to mean, disturbed, agitated,disquieted.
Was He thinking, once again, "How long do I need to be with you until you learn?"

How many times I could say to myself in a situation, 'Oh! will I ever learn!!!?"
How many times do You have to remind me of something known, yet hadn't sunk -in deeply, yet.?
And I wonder, what tone-of-voice  Jesus would have used, trying to teach me?
" Have I not told you that if you believe, you will see the Glory of God!"

Father, God...thank You for your infinite patience and unending love shown to me...
 not only You, but all those around me,waiting for me to awaken
 to a new fullness of your loving Presence each day, each moment.
Help me to love more and wait upon You to act.
Help me to let go of my own ways that seek to control;
and thanks that You teach me I am loved, no matter where I am in this picture.
Amen

"OH, THAT TODAY YOU WOULD HEAR HIS VOICE!"

OH, THAT TODAY YOU WOULD HEAR HIS VOICE

On the third Sunday of Lent, there ran a desire within my heart to hear a Word that could be pondered and carried within, to be nourished and be fulfilled, during the Lenten mission and lived.

As we listened, the Psalm of the Mass was read.

 My heart melted as the Words spoken entered in  caressing my mind, resting there...

"Oh, that today you would hear His voice!"

                                                             Psalm 95. 

"OH, THAT TODAY YOU WOULD HEAR HIS VOICE;

"IF TODAY YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART."

Come Monday morning and the beginning of our Lenten retreat, we were also to celebrate Saint Joseph's feast day! I was ready to listen and learn! Fr. Simeon was teaching and it would be a wonderful week!

 Earlier that morning, as the "Our Father" was prayed,  v e r y  s l o w l y....

These words,  "MINE IS THE KINGDOM" resonated, speaking to me, having a newer, deeper, awesome, meaning!
This universe, this planet, this life, is created with each one of us, individually, in the loving thoughts of the Creative process of our maker! He made the entire universe so  that there would be the exact elements needed to create man from the clay of the Earth!
  Imagine that!
We were called forth into His Kingdom! A Kingdom leading toward an Eternity spent in loving  the King, the Father of all creation, Our Father!
To follow this,  we have been invited into this Kingdom! I, we, are not summoning the king into our lives...He is called each one to Himself through Jesus and though His messenger and teacher, the Holy Spirit!

 Something else was to be lived out!
I was to listen and trust more in the Providential care of God.
 That is a little difficult to explain.
Living in the moment!

 That meant for me, accepting "what is at the moment", not complaining or trying to change any situation. It meant trusting more...trusting that God's plan is unfolding before my eyes.

 At this very moment, He would take care of everything, "if I could let Him!"

And let Him, I must do...! Change nothing and ask nothing else to be in it's place!
Just "Be"!

Okay, God! I think I got it!

So,wonders never cease!
 As I drove the car Tuesday morning, a strange, new, strong sound emanated from the motor! I realized the car needed urgent care! I drove it immediately to the mechanic,

 who took it right in to be diagnosed, and kept it there!
Kept it there!

 I now had no car to travel to the Lenten mission! Maybe I had forgot to pray,"Lord, don't put me to the test!?"

A ride home was provided and there was a lovely opportunity to spend time with a dear friend.
Everything was provided...offers came to take me for groceries, and others called, who were unaware of my circumstances, to bring me to mass and the Lenten retreat, either day or evening!
Providential care from God was happening before my very eyes!

"Jesus, continue to show the Father's loving care in all circumstances of life, for we have entered into Your Kingdom as "called guests". Help me to remember and to submit to Your great Plan for life lived in the Presence of Your Kingship through the love of Jesus, and the power of your Holy Spirit."
                                                                                           Amen

"OH, THAT TODAY YOU WOULD HEAR HIS VOICE!"

THE SERVANT OF THE LORD

"WHY DID NO ONE ANSWER WHEN I CALLED?"

We are celebrating the first full week in the Lenten Season. It is a time to seek that open door 

that we may have slammed closed behind us.

 Today we read the story of Jonah hearing a call he sought to ignore.

. Running away from the call he heard clearly, he endured pain, suffering many trials and hardships.
He came to realize that he was the cause of the troubles.

When Jonah heard the call of God a second time, he hastened to answer.

Putting aside his own understanding, Jonah obeyed, and God was faithful, saving Nineveh!

 God calls us to what is best for our own salvation.

"IS MY HAND TOO SHORT TO RANSOM?

HAVE I NOT THE STRENGTH TO DELIVER?"

The theme of Jonah's story in scripture met me in a painful place of a a dry spell, a sense of emptiness and an abandonment of energy lived out of less daily prayer. These are symptoms of my running away, retreating from what God may be asking of me. Asking only that I continue to go forward, unknowingly, using words to encourage others on their journey, for the glory of the God of all creation. 

Of course, my plan for me was a different scenario. I realized that my being was not only rebelling, but that a grieving sentiment had set in. I wanted it all to be different than what God was asking...
just like Jonah did !Yes!  Angry at God for not having it my way.

Receiving the Graces of being reconciled in Confession renewed the flow of the Holy Spirit
 as the blockage left me.

 "MORNING AFTER MORNING HE OPENS MY EAR TO HEAR!"(Isaiah 50:10)

O' Breath of God , come set me free

From weighing burdens set on  me

Unforgiveness keeps us apart

When anger resides within my heart.

Make me willing to see my plight;

Open my ears, give me the light

That I may look within my soul

To see what keeps me from the goal

Of love of neighbor and of self.

Let me not too busy be,to sit

To ponder, to stay with Thee

Until my heart does soften more

And I can open a once closed door.