The Liturgy of the Hours

Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures.  It fills them with light, strength and consolation, and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home. - St. Rose of Viterbo

I love technology and all my little gadgets.  I revel in the idea that I can put something on my calendar on the phone and it will sync to my computer and iPad.

For awhile now I have been praying the Liturgy of the Hours digitally.  It was easy and straight forward.  I could even listen to it being read to me.  But I have been being pulled back to the Dead Tree Books for a bit.  There are those in my family who at reading this are shaking their heads wondering what took me so long.

I have a lovely prayer book that I use every day and have been having the nagging feeling that it was time to purchase the Four volume set of the Liturgy of the Hours. Thank you Amazon Prime for delivering them it two days!  The down side is that the guide for 2016 is on back order.  So for the time being I go to the digital edition and stumble in my book until I find the correct readings/prayers.

The Deacon at our Church was kind enough to give me the LOTH 101 right after he blessed my volumes. Still stumbling around, but from everything that I have read that is normal.

But I love my books with their ribbons and thin pages.  They rest in my hand and have weight that feels right.  There are no notifications dinging and scrolling across the screen.  I am able to fall into the rhythm of the readings without distraction.

I have ordered the book, "Divine Office for Dodos," from the Confraternity of Penitents Holy Angles Gift Shop.  They promise me that they will have me flipping to the proper Proper of the day in no time!

Lord,
I am so grateful 
for the opportunity to pray in unison
with others around the world.
This gift of the Liturgy of the Hours
is second only to the Liturgy of the Mass.

Let me lift my voice in your praise.
~Cindy

The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul

"Therefore, brothers. Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by word or by letter from us."
 2 Thessalonians 2:15

The story of Saul being knocked off his horse and blinded is one of my favorite ones from my childhood.  I think that is because I have related to Saul.  Thinking I was doing the right thing and running headlong into the fray.  Judge, Jury and Executioner.

Saul persecuted Our Lord in big ways before his conversion.  Binding up those he thought guilty, having them put to death or imprisoned.

Once Saul saw the light he was baptized and became one of the most important preachers of the Gospel.  He became Paul.  He preached anywhere and everywhere.  He was a prolific letter writer. He was martyred for his beliefs.

I too am guilty of being a persecutor of Our Lord.  No, I haven't had anyone arrested, thrown in prison or put to death.  But I have gossiped.  I have had unkind thoughts roll around in my head for days about someone, so much so that I have imprisoned them in my most unkind evaluation of them.

I have been uncharitable not only with my time, but with my treasure.  I have let my pride stand between me and others.  And is it not true then that it stands between me and my Lord?

There are actual persecutions going on now.  People are being threatened for their beliefs, they are being put to death for their beliefs.  I on the other hand have the freedom to worship when and how I want.  I have a Church and brothers and sisters in Christ at my disposal.  I have ready access to the Sacraments.  I have Freedom!

Lord, help me when I persecute

those around me, with my words,

my thoughts and my actions.

Remind me of the conversion of Saul.

Help me to be a better preacher of my beliefs,

by my words, but more importantly by my actions.

~Cindy

They have no wine...

Mary can teach us kindness..."They have no wine" she told Jesus at Cana.  Let us, like her, be aware of the needs of the poor, be they spiritual or material, and let us, like her, give generously of the love and grace we are granted.  -Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

I have been a bit like that leaf floating down the river.  Not feeling like I have a direction.  Feeling a bit aimless.  Feeling dissatisfied.

I am not sure what I am dissatisfied with, but it is a vague cloud that hangs over me and makes me itchy.

If I look around I have so much to be thankful for in my life.  There are people, even in my own family, that are facing huge financial worries and health issues.  I have a roof over my head, food on my table, clothes on my back, good friends, and most importantly I have my faith!

I am finding my way in this new phase of my life.  I am still enthusiastic about life and all the adventures that await me.  Our Lord has been revealing His mission for me in bits and pieces.  I like the big overview and then distill it down.  God works by handing out hints and teases me with my mission.  Why?  Because it is all about Trust, Abandonment, and Obedience.  The message is always the same.

God:  Trust me I have a plan.
Me: But have you thought about this or this?

God: Trust me I have a plan.  Have I ever let you down?
Me: No You have never let me down, BUT...

You get the picture.  Mary, as Father Charlie reminded me this morning, trusted her Son.  Today's Gospel has the only words attributed to Mary in the Bible.  "Do whatever He tells you."

Wise words indeed.  "Do whatever He tells you."

Lord, I may feel like that leaf floating down a river with no direction.
You have set my direction as I pass over each stone, branch or obstacle in my way.
You move me along in the shallows and the deep.  You let me linger in the stillness.
You move me rapidly when needed.

Lord, keep my heart and ear tuned to You.
Help me to take heed of Mary's words:
"Do whatever He tells you."
~Cindy

The Feast of the Epiphany

The star beckoned the three wise men out of their distant country and led them to recognize and adore the King of heaven and earth. The obedience of the star calls us to imitate its humble service: to be servants, as best we can, of the grace that invites all men to find Christ.
- St. Leo the Great

Our Lord calls all of us to recognize and adore Him.  How we choose to accomplish our mission is as different as each one of us.  All are called to serve.  It may be that we are called to a Consecrated Life, or one of marriage.  Perhaps, we are called to be in a Third Order or simply a Lay person sitting in a pew.  No matter our mission we all have been called.

The star still beckons us to seek Him.  Sometimes it beckons us to places that we do not want to go.  Often we are uncomfortable and yet we are called to follow that star.  I think that the star is such a strong symbol for me as I love to look up at the night sky and stand in wonder in all that God has made.

In that previous life on the boat when sailing at night the stars were guides to follow to a destination.  They were points of light punched in an ebony sky to remind me that I was not alone.  I may have been on a very small boat on the ocean, but I was not alone.  God set the stars out every night to keep me company as I listened to the snap of the sails and the whoosh of the water as it passed under the keel. It was there under the ceiling of "His Great Cathedral" that I heard Him speak to me.  He was a voice of comfort when the storms came.  He was and is a gentle reminder that I have been called.

Lord,
Help me to listen.
Help me to hear with my whole being,
what it is that You ask of me.

May my response to following the star
be quick and steady.

~Cindy

Merry Christmas

The people who walked in darkness

Have seen a great light;

Upon those who lived in a land of gloom

A light has shone.

Isaiah 9:2

May the light of the newborn babe grow in your heart.  Merry Christmas!

And the Second Year Passes

"He who bears his sufferings with patience for God's sake, will soon arrive at high perfection.  He will be master of the world and will already have one foot in the other world.
-St. Giles of Assisi

How symbolic that on the second anniversary of Michael entering eternal life I am driving to San Antonio to spend Christmas with our children.

How happy I am that I will have two days to myself to talk to him as the miles move under my wheels. So many times we made this journey together.  In some ways we still make the journey together.  I talk to him all along the way!

I remember all the previous trips full of jokes, teasing, pushing on when he wanted to stop.  Asking if he wanted to stop at the Cochise Stronghold.  His answer was always that we would stop on the way back.  We never did.  We were always ready to be home.

I will visit his grave though I know he is not there.  But there is something comforting about sitting there and talking with him. I know that we will share memories while there.  I am sure there will be tears.  I know there will be laughter.

I would be remiss if I did not thank St. Joseph for the holy and peaceful death he gave Michael.  It was truly an answer to prayer.  Michael bore his sufferings with patience for God's sake.  I pray he has one foot in the other world.

Lord,
Thank you for all the memories that you give me.
Thank you for the health to make this trip.

Give me strength for the coming year and the changes it will bring.

~Cindy

A Year of Mercy

"Mercy is a good thing, for it makes men perfect, in that it imitates the perfect Father.  Nothing graces the Christian soul so much as mercy."
-St. Ambrose

If ever the world needed mercy it is now.  I look around and see terrorists, evil, and a country that seems to have lost its moral compass.

Some drag out the Founding Fathers and talk about their search for religious freedom.  Forgetting that as soon as they landed they set about making sure that everyone obeyed their version of religious freedom.

Have we forgotten that they committed genocide on the Native Americans.  The same Native Americans that saved them from starvation and certain death from the brutal New England winter.

We have always had different rules for different ethnic groups for immigration.  It depends on who we consider our enemy to be at any given moment.  Every time in history that we have attempted to divide our country on ethnic or religious differences we have lost.  We lost because of the Chinese Exclusionary Act, the Japanese Internment Camps, the Indian Reservations.  As Catholics have we forgotten that Maryland was a Catholic Settlement because the others did not want us.

Have we forgotten the Jesus came as a man.  A man that would look like most of the individuals on the no fly list. Jesus was not blond haired and blued eyed.  No, He looked Middle Eastern.  He looked Jewish.

I do not have many answers but I do know this.  We all will be judged based on how we have treated our fellow man.  Jesus is in the face of every refugee, every illegal immigrant, the stranger that walks past us, the beggar on the street corner, and the family member we haven't spoken to in years.

Mercy is something that the world needs now.  Mercy begins with me.

Lord,
Help me to see past the person
and see You in them.

Fill me with mercy for my fellow man.
Help be to be an agent of mercy for You.

Let not my fear stop me from seeing You.

~Cindy