Where the pressure lies

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

I am reading a new biography of J. Hudson Taylor, It is not Death to Die.  Taylor was a missionary to China in the early 20th century.  In my estimation, he was one of the greatest Protestant missionaries to have ever lived, and, along with Amy Carmichael, has had a profound effect on my life.  I always recommend reading his life.  Yesterday as some of our Sisters were sharing about the stresses they’re encountering in life, I could not help but remember this quote from Taylor and would like to pass it along to the rest of you as well:

It does not matter, really, how great the pressure is.  It only matters where the pressure lies.  See that it never comes between you and the Lord–then, the greater the pressure, the more it presses you to His breast.

May whatever is pressing in on you this day only serve to press you closer to His breast.

A smile this morning

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If you need a smile this Monday morning, pop over to another blog I manage: Catholic Kids Say the Dearest Things. A number of our Sisters are teachers, and they bring home a lot of material for me to post.

You can subscribe to that blog–as well as this one–if you would like upcoming posts to be automatically sent to your e-mail address. Just click on “E-mail Subscription” in the sidebar and fill out the information.

Have a blessed day!

Omnipresence

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Today’s Sunday-poem by Luci Shaw is a reminder that we can be drawn to God through everything–even unlikely places.  The poem ends with something very though provoking.

Omnipresence

Reminders flicker at us from
odd angles, nor will He be ignored
We sight Him in unlikely places
oaths and dates and empty tombs
God.  His print is everywhere
stamped on the macro and the microcosm
feathers, shells, berries, birds’ bright eyes
Stars, cells speak his diversity
The multiplicity of leaf and light
says God.  Wind sensed
but unseen breathes the old
metaphor again.  Seasons are his
signature.  The double helix
spells his spiral name
Faith summons Him, and doubt
blows only the sheerest skein
of mist across His face.

~Luci Shaw

I trust

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

A thought from Amy Carmichael on trusting that God loves us:

1 John 4.16 (Rotherham) We have come to understand and to trust the love which God hath in us.

I have been thinking much of this translation.  We can never fully understand that love, but we can begin to understand it even here and now, and as we understand, we trust.  This means that we trust all that the love of God does; all He gives, and all He does not give; all He says, and all He does not say.  To it all we say, by His loving enabling, I trust.  Let us be content with the Lord’s will, and tell Him so, and not disappoint Him by wishing for anything He does not give.  The more we understand His love, the more we trust.  (Edges of His Ways, p. 145)

God’s need

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A few years ago I read something to this effect: if God had a need–which He doesn’t because He is God–but if He did have a need, it would be to love.  That statement made me stop to consider how much–or how little–I let Him actually love me.  How often did I consider myself unworthy of His love and consequently not open myself to His love?  How often did I put limits on how much He could possibly love me?  How often did I turn away from Him because I was dissatisfied/distressed/upset with the events He was allowing in my life?  How often did I just want to give up on my relationship with Him?  Sounds like an examination of conscience, doesn’t it?  In fact, it is, and it’s worth doing.

The Catechism, when describing the effects of original sin, lists “lack of trust in his goodness” as one of the primary effects (cf. CCC 396).  God went after Adam and Eve when they sinned.  The first thing God says to them after they sinned was “Where are you?”, the words of a God who desires to love, who wants relationship with us, who doesn’t want us hiding from Him.  The Father thirsts and hungers to love us, to love you.  He “needs” to love you.

The excessive love of God

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

I haven’t posted in the past two days because life has been full of more important things.  As many of you know, we run two Emmanuel Houses: homes for older adults who are no longer capable of living alone and have limited support and no resources.  This week three of the residents have been in the hospital and one at home passed on to be with the Lord.  Two of our Sisters who work there are on vacation.  It’s times like these when life can feel like it’s a bit too much.  Yet we know that all is in God’s Providence.  I meditate often on these words from Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity: “Everything that happens is for me a message of the excessive love of God for my soul.”  And as Amy Carmichael would say: “Everything means everything.”

Patient waiting

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The sisters in my house had an exercise in patient waiting this weekend.  We lost power on Thursday night due to a strong thunderstorm.  The projected time for restoration of power was this Tuesday night.  When we lose power, we lose everything including water.  We do have a generator–thanks to a very generous donor last year, but, of course, we can’t plug everything into it . . . and the water pump is one of those things.  This means a lot of water hauling, manual flushing of toilets, heating water on the stove.  (Like the good old days, heh?)  The good news is that everyone pitched in and maintained a good attitude.  The other good news is that the power came on last night at midnight–two days before the estimated time!!!

“Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. . . . You also must be patient.  Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Do not grumble . . . .” (James 5.7a, 8-9a)

Bowing down before the Lord

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The whole story of the Canaanite woman who implored Jesus to heal her daughter (cf. Mt. 15.21 ff) is absolutely fascinating to me.  Jesus seems to rebuff her more than once, yet she tenaciously perseveres in her request.  What particularly moves me is her response after 1) he first seemingly ignores her and 2) says that His mission is to the lost sheep of the House of Israel (of which she is not a part).  She responds by coming to Him, kneeling at His feet and worshiping (15.25).

Worship is an act of bowing before the Lordship of God and completely surrendering to His will.  How often is our response one of worship when we experience silence and non-answers from the Lord?  May the Spirit of the Lord prompt us to turn our disappointments into occasions of worship of our God who is only and always Love.

The end of the year for priests

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Tomorrow is the last day of this year that has been dedicated to praying for priests.  This morning we asked the priest who said Mass for us to stay for breakfast and then took some time to pray over him before he left.   He said, “I’m a bit afraid now that this year is ending that people will stop praying for us.  Please pray for priests.”  I pass on his appeal.

Here’s an inspiring excerpt from He Leadeth Me, by Fr. Walter Ciszek about his time of imprisonment in Russia during the communist era:

The moment a priest appeared on the camp grounds by himself or with a fellow priest, he would be joined by passing prisoners.  The moment it became known in a new brigade or new barracks or a new camp that a man was a priest, he would be sought out.  He didn’t have to make friends; they came to him instead.  It was a very humbling experience, because you quickly came to appreciate that it was God’s grace at work and had little to do with your own efforts.  People came to you because you were a priest, not because of what you were personally.  They didn’t always come, either, expecting wise counsel or spiritual wisdom or an answer to their every difficulty; they came expecting absolution form their sins, the power of the sacrament.  To realize this was a matter of joy and of humility.  You realized that they came to you as a man of God, a representative of God, a man chosen from among men and ordained for men in the things that are of God; you realized, too, that this imposed upon you an obligation of service, of ministry, with no thought of personal inconvenience, no matter how tired you might be physically or what risks you might be running in the face of official threats.  For my part, I could not help but see in every encounter with every prisoner the will of God for me, now, at this time and in this place, and the hand of providence that had brought me here by strange and tortuous paths . . . The things that are of God are all the joys and works and sufferings of each day, however burdensome and boring, routine and insignificant they may seem.  It is the priest’s function to offer these things back to God for his fellow men and to serve as an example, a witness, a martyr, a testimony before the men around him of God’s providence and purpose.

Don’t stop praying for priests.