“You need not be afraid, am I not here?” (The Blessed Mother, to St. Juan Diego)
Lowly, yet chosen
In 2006, Pope Francis, then Cardinal Bergoglio, chose a children’s hospital in Palermo (Buenos Aires) to celebrate The Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper. There, he washed the feet of 12 sick children.
His episcopal motto is “miserando atque eligendo” (lowly, yet chosen).
Thank you, Lord, for this man, a true Witness to Hope.
What can man do to me?
Ps 118.6: The Lord is on my side; I will not fear; what can man do to me?
Job 34.29: When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble?
The Lord is for me (margin). What can man do to me? Nothing. Nothing that really matters. Nothing that can do any harm. Nothing that will not be turned to golden good.
Sometimes we feel as though man could do a great deal. A perverse child can cloud a whole day. The sight of deadly sin, injustice and suffering can overwhelm us. And deeper things, the inward assaults of the never-resting foe (though he is not man but stronger than man) can seem to do appalling things.
But still the word stands, the question that can have only one answer. The Lord is for me. What can man do to me? Nothing.
And to another questions there is only one answer. When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble? No one.
However things seem, the answers to those two questions are among the things that cannot be shaken.
~Amy Carmichael
Take heart
Mary words
“Mary most holy, Mother of God, passes unnoticed, just as one more among the women of her town. Learn from her how to live with ‘naturalness.'” (St. Josemaría Escrivá)
He makes them better by loving them
It’s midway through Lent. You may be wanting to give up. Here’s a reminder of what Lent is all about. Read it for yourself . . . as well as for others.
Jesus loves as a pure gift, for the sake of nothing; he gives by taking the initiative, gratuitously . . .
He makes others better by loving them. Not only does he not accuse their mediocrity, although it is his full right to do so–infinitely more than we could–but he takes up their defense and gives his heart, his time, his trust.
Against Simon the Pharisee, Judas, and Martha, he defends Mary Magdalene, as he defended the Samaritan woman and Zacchaeus against public opinion or his Apostles. He knew that if such people were weak, small, mediocre, it is precisely because they lacked the love to grow and because others did not love them enough.
What does our Lord do? He calls forth, arouses, renews the best part in man, the part that is good and filled with hope and is always hidden in each and every person. Because Christ loves, and shows his love in creating new and good things–and for no ulterior motive–everybody who meets him once again begins to believe, to have trust in God and in themselves. His love is above all a pure, gratuitous gift, and in this way he manifests the Father and shows us that the first step in love is to be a source of life, and that only he who loves shares in the life of God. “Experience has shown me too late that we cannot judge people by their vices, but on the contrary by what they hold intact and pure, by the childlike qualities that remain in them, however deeply one must search for them.” (George Bernanos)
Not only does Christ give, but he does so by making himself smaller than we are; at Christmas an infant, at the agony a beggar, and before the Samaritan woman, Zacchaeus, and Mary Magdalene, with the washing of the feet. At every moment, Christ puts himself on a lower level than those he loves, accepts the fact that he needs them, not for the sake of some strategy or clever calculation, but to evoke in such people the best part of their being–their heart, their generosity–in order to make them capable of giving in their turn.
Fr. Bernard Bro
The Lord is with us
Hard-pressed
It’s been a good while since I’ve quoted anything from my friend, Amy Carmichael . . . and she is always so good:
Is 53.7 Hard-pressed–yet He humbled Himself, nor opened His mouth.
The assault of our great enemy comes in waves. Sometimes we cannot do the work committed to us to do, and this is indeed a trial of faith. “Hard-pressed” is the word that describes it all.
It is the word spoken of our Lord Jesus in Rotherman’s translation. Hard-pressed–yet He humbled Himself, nor opened His mouth. To ask why, even to wonder why, is to open our mouth. Our Lord Jesus Christ shows us the way here as everywhere. Am I hard-pressed in any direction inward or outward? The only word I speak must be a word of acceptance “Even so, Father.” Underfoot is the rock of Romans 8.28. Overhead is the banner of Eternal Love. Nothing is going wrong, however wrong it seems. All, all is well.
Lenten Grace – Wilderness Waiting
reblogged from Barnstorming
This is the wilderness time,
when every path is obscure
and thorns have grown around the words of hope.
This is the time of stone, not bread,
when even the sunrise feels uncertain
and everything tastes of bitterness.
This is the time of ashes and dust,
when darkness clothes our dreams
and no star shines a guiding light.
This is the time of treading life,
waiting for the swells to subside and for the chaos to clear.
Be the wings of our strength, O God,
in this time of wilderness waiting.
– Keri Wehlander from “600 Blessings and Prayers from around the world” compiled by Geoffrey Duncan
“Come Sunday”
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)
Witnesses to Hope 