Author: Sr. Dorcee, beloved

I am the one whom Jesus loves.

Contemplations

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A couple of poems from Anne Bradstreet about the beauty of autumn:

Contemplations (I and II)

I.
Some time now past in the autumnal tide,
When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed,
The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride,
Were gilded o’er by his rich golden head;
Their leaves and fruits seemed painted, but was true,
Of green, of red, of yellow, mixèd hue;
Rapt were my senses at this delectable view.

II.
I wist not what to wish.  Yet sure, thought I,
If so much excellence abide below,
How excellent is He that dwells on high?
Whose power and beauty by His works we know!
Sure He is goodness, wisdom, glory, light,
That hath this under-world so richly dight.
More heaven than earth was here, no winter and no night.

Note: Phoebus–another name for the Greek god Helios, or the sun.
dight–adorned or dressed.

A star of hope

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“Just as the presence of the memory of God’s goodness helps us and becomes a star of hope for us in our common, collective history, so also each of us has his own personal history of salvation, and we must truly treasure this history, keeping always in mind the great things He has also done in my life, so that we might trust: His mercy is eternal. And if today I am in the dark night, tomorrow He will free me, for His mercy is eternal.”  (Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday audience, October 19, 2011)

Take a moment today to remember, to remember God’s goodness, to look to that star of hope in your own life.

The strength of hope

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Just to underline what Pope Benedict said in his meditation on Ps 136 this past Wednesday: “Remembering becomes the strength of hope.  Remembering tells us: God is; God is good, and His mercy is eternal.”  This is so important for us to cultivate, this art, this habit of remembering.  Life can move too fast, and we fail to remember all that God has done, especially the little things: laughing at the table, the winter sun on the river, bluebirds, St. Therese’s eyes looking at me, my dentist’s generosity, my middle name that means “full of grace.”  I would easily have forgotten all of those things except for my list–the list I started 8 months ago–my list of things to be thankful for each day.  I’m now on #476.  (I really should be farther along than that!)  And when I look back over this list, I remember the good things the Lord has done and I have hope for tomorrow.  “Remembering becomes the strength of hope.  Remembering tells us: God is; God is good, and His mercy is eternal.”

(If you want to learn more about making a list, go here.)

Remembering

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From Benedict XVI’s reflection on Psalm 136:

[W]e can say: The liberation from Egypt, the time in the desert, the entrance into the Promised Land and then the other problems are very distant from us; they are not part of our history. But we must be attentive to the fundamental structure of this prayer [of this psalm]. The fundamental structure is that Israel remembers the Lord’s goodness. In its history, there are so many dark valleys, so many passages through difficulty and death, but Israel remembers that God is good, and they can overcome in the dark valley — in the valley of death — because they remember. Israel remembers the Lord’s goodness and His power; that His mercy endures forever.

And this is also important for us: remembering the Lord’s goodness. Remembering becomes the strength of hope. Remembering tells us: God is; God is good, and His mercy is eternal. And thus, remembering opens the road to the future — even in the darkness of a day, of a moment in time, it is the light and star that guides us. Let us, too, remember the good; let us remember God’s eternal, merciful love. Israel’s history is already part of our memory as well, of how God revealed Himself, of how He created for Himself a people to be His own. Then God became man, one of us: he lived with us, suffered with us, died for us. He remains with us in the Blessed Sacrament and in the Word. It is a history, a remembrance of God’s goodness that assures us of His goodness: His love is eternal.

You can read his entire meditation here.

Dull weather

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Is it “one of those days”?  Here is a little encouragement from Amy Carmichael:

Ps. 76.4 LXX Thou dost wonderfully shine forth from the everlasting mountains.

Sometimes it is dull weather in our soul.  Here is a word for such days.  Often when it is misty on the plains it is bright on the mountains.  ‘Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains’ is a lovely word, I think, but this beautiful LXX rendering, which our Lord must often have read, carries us even further.  The mist may lie low on the plains, but there is a shining forth from the mountains.

There is nothing in me.  I may be as dull as the plains are when the mist is heavy upon them, but what does that matter?  ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.  Thy righteousness is like the great mountains’ [Ps 36.5-6], and from those everlasting mountains ‘Thou dost wonderfully shine forth’.

In dull weather learn to look up to the mountains.  Refuse to look down to the plains.

May you have the grace today to look up to the mountains.

“I will bless you, even if the car won’t start . . .”

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

A week ago I gave a talk at Witnesses to Hope, and part of what I spoke about was the importance of thanking the Lord in all circumstances.  This past weekend one of the women who had attended that night, passed on to me a prayer that she found in the September issue of The Word Among Us.  Part of it goes like this:

Father, I choose today to go through my day blessing you, whether my circumstances are comfortable to me or not.  I will bless you, even if the car won’t start or the kids’ commotion won’t stop.  I will bless you in rain and in drought, in hot or cold, in feast or famine.  I will bless you because you have rescued me from sin.  I lift up your holy name and exalt your goodness because you are holy and righteous.

I will bless you, Father, when gas prices rise, and when my income fails.  I will proclaim that you are good and you hold  all things in the palm of your hand.  When insects swarm, when crops fail, when stock markets falter, even when your favor seems to flee my life, still I will bless you.  You are mysterious in your ways, yet compassionate in your wisdom.  I will trust you, Lord, and bless you, God most high.

You can read (pray) the entire prayer here.

“Not ashamed to pray”

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Today’s Sunday-poem is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

                Divina Commedia (1)

Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
   A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat,
   Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet
   Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor
Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er;
   Far off the noises of the world retreat;
   The loud vociferations of the street
   Become an undistinguishable roar.
So, as I enter here from day to day,
   And leave my burden at this minster gate,
   Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray,
The tumult of the time disconsolate
   To inarticulate murmurs dies away,
   While the eternal ages watch and wait.

Building up a memory for the good

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As I have mentioned before, Pope Benedict is doing a marvelous series on the psalms during his Wednesday audiences.  Here is part of his address yesterday on Psalm 126:

Dear brothers and sisters, in our prayer we should look more often at how, in the events of our own lives, the Lord has protected, guided and helped us, and we should praise Him for all He has done and does for us. We should be more attentive to the good things the Lord gives to us. We are always attentive to problems and to difficulties, and we are almost unwilling to perceive that there are beautiful things that come from the Lord. This attention, which becomes gratitude, is very important for us; it creates in us a memory for the good and it helps us also in times of darkness. God accomplishes great things, and whoever experiences this — attentive to the Lord’s goodness with an attentiveness of heart — is filled with joy.

You can read the entire thing here.

“The brimming river of God’s love”

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A commentary by Amy Carmichael on the banner scripture for this blog:

Rom 5.5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

This verse seems clearly to mean that love comes first into our hearts.  Then because love has come we hope, and that hope “never disappoints,” as Weymouth puts it.

Experience worketh hope, Romans 5.4 tells us.  And so it does.  But it also worketh fear.  If we have had long experience of the weakness of souls, and seen many a time what seemed a great blaze-up of blessing fizzle out, we do become fearful of hoping too much.

And yet the word stands.  Here it is Way’s paraphrase (vv.3-5): “I will go further, and say that we actually exult in such afflictions as ours, knowing as we do that affliction develops unflinching endurance; that endurance develops tested strength, and tested strength develops the habit of hope.  This hope is no delusive one, as is proved by the fact that the brimming river of God’s love has already overflowed into our hearts, on-drawn by His Holy Spirit, which He has given to us.”