Category: Witnesses to Hope
Standing ovation
Iris Proctor was fantastic last night–the only speaker we’ve had to get a standing ovation. Not to worry if you couldn’t make it, just click here and you can listen. Or if you would like to download and burn a CD, you can go here.
Last night’s talk
You can listen to last night’s talk by going here.
Our next meeting will be Monday night, June 3–speaker to be determined. Hope to see you there!
LBDs
Sr. Sarah was her remarkable self last night at Witnesses to Hope. Sorry for all of you who could not make it. You can access her talk by going to the “Talks” tab above and clicking on “Witnesses to Hope Talks.” We did videotape one small section: Sr. Kelly’s commercial. You can view it here.
Sharon’s story
Wow. That’s all I can say about Sharon Doran’s story which she shared at Witnesses to Hope Monday night. She is so clearly a “witness to hope,” and I hope you can make time to listen to her sharing. You can find it here. She’ll make you laugh and cry, encourage you and inspire you. You can find out more about the Bible Study she leads here: Seeking Truth. You can e-mail Sharon at contact@seekingtruth.net (Sr. Ann gave her an excellent and inspiring introduction which you can find here–the quality of Sr. Ann’s recording is not as high quality as Sharon’s but still worth the listen.)
“Hope in the Midst of the Storms of Life”
The recording and handouts for the “Hope in the Midst of the Storms of Life” talk are now uploaded. Go to the “Talks” tab above and click on “Witnesses to Hope talks.”
“I will bless you, even if the car won’t start . . .”
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.
What are you reading?
I just updated the tab above: “What I’m reading” and it occurred to me once again how much what we read affects us and how we must choose carefully in this area. If you’re like me, you only have a limited time to read–never as much as I would like, I confess. As well as a selection of inspiring spiritual books that move me to prayer, I am also usually reading someone’s (auto)biography because I find I am so impacted by the lives of others (including my close friends). I need those “witnesses to hope.” What are you reading? What’s your favorite all-time book?
Reflecting the light
Someone shared something with me after the talk the other night that I thought you would all benefit from. For those of you who weren’t
there, one of the points I made towards the end of the talk was that in order for lights to shine brightly, it needs to be dark around us. In order for our lights to shine brightly in this world, the world needs to get darker. In order to illustrate this point, I held up a little lit clay lamp and asked someone to turn off the lights. After the lights came back on, a number of people remarked that the light was reflected brightly in my glasses. I, of course, was not at all aware of that fact. This woman who came up to me afterwards pointed out that all too often that is the case with each of us. We are reflecting the hope of Christ, and we’re not aware of it at all. So have hope. You may feel like you’re in the darkness, but if you’re in Christ, you will reflect His light. You may not see it, but others will.
Quotes from Witnesses to Hope inaugural talk
It was wonderful to see so many of you last night at the first meeting of Witnesses to Hope. As promised, you can find the recording of the talk under the tab above: “Talks/Witnesses to Hope”. And here are some of the quotes from the talks. Please, if any of you didn’t get to comment last night, feel free to leave one here. We’d all love to hear from you! (Don’t worry if it doesn’t show up immediately–I have to approve any new contributors.)
The yes of Our Lady does not end on Good Friday with the Great Cry and the yielding of the spirit. . . . The faith and love of Our Lady last into Holy Saturday. The dead body of the Son of God lies in the tomb, while His soul descends into Sheol, the Limbo of the Fathers. Jesus goes down into the hideous kingdom of death to proclaim the power of the Cross and the coming victory of the Resurrection and to open Heaven’s gates to Adam and Eve and all the souls of the just. The Apostles, hopeless and forlorn, know none of this ‘as yet.’ St. John tells us, ‘they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead’ (Jn 20:9). In all Israel, is there no faith in Jesus? On this silent Saturday, this terrible Shabbat, while the Jews’ true Messiah sleeps the sleep of death, who burns the lights of hope? Is there no loyal remnant? There is, and its name is Mary. In the fortitude of faith, she keeps the Sabbath candles alight for her Son. That is why Saturday, the sacred day of her physical brethren, is Our Lady’s weekly festival. On the first Holy Saturday, in the person of Mary of Nazareth, Israel now an unblemished bride, faces her hardest trial and through the fortitude of the Holy Spirit, is triumphant. (Fr. John Saward, The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty, p. 142)
Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things, on the condition that you believer much more in his love for you than in your own weakness. (Fr. Joseph Langford, Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire, p. 145)
How important can one small, unspectacular life be? Consider this: the good that each of us can accomplish even with limited resources and restricted reach, not even a Mother Teresa could achieve. No one else on the planet, and no one else in history, possesses the same network of acquaintances and the same combination of talents and gifts as each one of us does—as you do. (ibid., p. 72)
Hope does not come from what I do, but from the awareness that there is Someone who loves me with this everlasting love, who calls me into being every instant, having pity on my nothingness. (Fr. Julian Carrón, quoted in Magnificat)
Witnesses to Hope 