” . . . difficulties are magnified out of all proportion simply by fear and anxiety. From the moment we wake until we fall asleep we must commend other people wholly and unreservedly to God and leave them in his hands, and transform our anxiety for them into prayers on their behalf: With sorry and with grief . . . God will not be distracted.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Letters from Prison)
Lift my eyes to Yours,
my heart to Yours,
and hold me there.
I would not stray from You
willingly,
yet weakness diverts my gaze
too often.
Be consoled, my soul.
His heart’s gaze never strays.
His hold never weakens.
December 14, 1999
“Mary’s motherhood is not some vague or abstract sort of thing. It’s concrete and personal. And even though it’s universal, it’s also intensely particular. Mary is your mother. She is my mother. In this light, John Paul thinks it’s significant that Mary’s new motherhood on Calvary is expressed in the singular, ‘Behold, your son’ not ‘Behold, your billions of spiritual children.’ The Pope gets to the heart of it when he says, ‘Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood.’ In short: Mary is uniquely, particularly, personally your mother and my mother, and she doesn’t lose us in the crowd.” (Michael E. Gaitley, MIC, 33 Days to Morning Glory)
I love this doctor . . .
Nothing was helping. Everything had been tried for a week of the most intensive critical care possible. A twenty year old man, completely healthy only two weeks previously, was holding on to life by a mere thread and nothing and no one could stop his dying.
His battle against MRSA pneumonia precipitated by a brief influenza-like illness had been lost. Despite aggressive hemodynamic, antibiotic and ventilator management, he was becoming more hypoxic, his lungs collapsing and his renal function deteriorating. He had remained unresponsive during the ordeal due to intentional sedation for his time in the ICU.
The intensivist looked weary and defeated. The nurses were staring at their laps, unable to look up, their eyes tearing. The hospital chaplain reached out to hold this young man’s mother’s hands.
After almost a week of heroic effort and treatment, there was now clarity about the next step.
Two hours later, a…
View original post 591 more words
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.
Steep me in Your stillness, Lord.
Oh, calm my restless soul.
Hush my spirit,
and put Your finger on my lips.
Say to my stormy being,
“Quiet, be still.”
Then hold me close
and let me rest
my head
against Your breast.
July 19, 1999
“The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him.” (Office of Readings, Feast of the Presentation)
Friday: from the archives
Sometimes an old hymn is just what we need to lift up our hearts and souls. So many of the old hymns are laced with Scripture, and singing them speaks much deeper to our hearts than we know. (God’s word always goes much deeper than we know.) Here is a beautiful rendition of O God, Our Help in Ages Past(with subtitles so you can sing along!).
The reason why singing is such a splendid shield against the fiery darts of the devil is that it greatly helps us to forget him, and he cannot endure being forgotten. He likes us to be occupied with him, what he is doing (our temptations), with his victories (our falls), with anything but our glorious Lord. So sing. Never be afraid of singing too much. We are much more likely to sing too little. (Amy Carmichael)
Benedict XVI is giving a series of teachings on the Creed. Here is a teaser from his first one:
Faith leads Abraham to tread a paradoxical path. He will be blessed, but without the visible signs of blessing: he receives the promise to become a great nation, but with a life marked by the barrenness of his wife Sarah; he is brought to a new homeland but he will have to live there as a foreigner, and the only possession of the land that will be granted him will be that of a plot to bury Sarah (cf. Gen23:1-20). Abraham was blessed because, in faith, he knows how to discern the divine blessing by going beyond appearances, trusting in God’s presence even when his ways seem mysterious to him.
A lot to think about there. If you’d like to read his whole address, you can go here.
Witnesses to Hope 