Life Goes On

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

Bill Sweeney's avatarUnshakable Hope

“Life Goes On”

Whether we’re going through the worst of times or the best of times, history and our own experiences show us that life does go on. This is true, but I don’t recommend saying “life goeson” to someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one.

“There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven —
A time to give birth and a time to die…
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4)

I thought about the above passage last week when our daughter gave birth to a beautiful seven pound girl on Wednesday, then a close friend died of cancer on Friday – “A time to give birth and a time to die.”

Those who are grieving and those who are rejoicing have this…

View original post 549 more words

The blessing of a wounded heart

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

This is a re-post from five years ago.  I was thinking about it this morning and thought I would share it with you again.  Christ had a wounded Heart also.

I did a series of posts on Fr. Iain Matthew’s writing back in July.  I have been re-reading him again.  He’s one of the people I go back to regularly–especially if I’m experiencing some kind of pain.  Because pain is precisely where, Fr. Iain says, Christ is waiting to meet us.  “The place of poverty within us is the threshold where Christ stands.”  He advises us strongly not to avoid our woundedness.  Each wound in our lives is the place where Christ wants to meet us.  The best thing to do is to make that place of pain a place of prayer,

the place within us where not everything is all right, where the wound that is in you aches. John [of the Cross] says: go there.  Go to that place of need, because that is a threshold at which Christ stands; our need is an evidence of God.

It is natural to flee from the place where that hunger throbs. Still, John encourages us to go there. It is what beckons the divine. It is the threshold at which Christ stands. We hunger for him because he has touched us; we want him because he wants us. The wound is the print of the pledge upon us, the pledge of the Spirit who holds us from the abyss. John comments on his poem: we “have our feeling of longing, the sense of God’s absence” precisely there, “within our heart, where we have the pledge.”

And so, we simply stand before God in our pain, with our pain, making our need a prayer.  God loves to hear and answer the cry of the poor. And remember: Christ had a wounded Heart also.

Seeing ourselves as God sees us

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

” . . . we are used to seeing ourselves as the world sees us–broken, struggling, failing, and frustrated.  But when God looks at you, an eternal and boundless love wells up inside him and he sees past every doubt, every fear, everything you think is shameful or broken about you.  When God looks at you, he sees something more beautiful, remarkable, and amazing than you could ever even wrap your head around.  In the words of St. John Paul the Great, ‘We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son’ (Pope John Paul II, 2002).”

(Gregory K. Popcak, Broken Gods)

“Come Sunday”

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

From the archives . . .

Sr. Dorcee, beloved's avatarWitnesses to Hope

Come Sunday

Lord, dear Lord of love, God Almighty, God above,
Please look down and see my people through.

I believe that God put sun and moon up in the sky.
I don’t mind the gray skies ’cause they’re just clouds passing by.
He’ll give peace and comfort to every troubled mind,
Come Sunday, oh come Sunday, that’s the day.

Often we feel weary but he knows our every care.
Go to him in secret, he will hear your every prayer.
Up from dawn till sunset, man works hard all day,
Come Sunday, oh come Sunday, that’s the day.

(Duke Ellington)

View original post

Transfiguration

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

Transfiguration

For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.

Malcome Guite

How to face the storms in life

Sr. Dorcee, beloved3 Comments

Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life;
rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise,
God, whose very own you are,
will lead you safely through all things;
and when you cannot stand it,
God will carry you in his arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;
the same understanding Father who cares for
you today will take care of you then and every day.

He will either shield you from suffering
or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace,
and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

St. Francis de Sales

Beautiful and Terrible Things Will Happen

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

barnstormingblog's avatarBarnstorming

chihuly7

chihuly5

chihuly9

Here is the world.
Beautiful and terrible things will happen.
Don’t be afraid.
~Frederich Buechner

(Two local teens died in separate roll over car accidents yesterday)

Most days I depend on beauty
happening in the most unexpected places
and go looking for it.
But when the terrible crushes, bleeds and fractures us,
beauty hides its face,
what I fear most
is that I’ll not ever see beauty happen again.

We are told, again and again and again
every single day, if only we can hear:
here I am with you in this broken world-
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid

chihuly4

chihuly11

chihuly8

View original post