We Have Turned Our Backs

Oh my God! Teach me to be generous; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to seek for any reward save that of doing your blessed will.
-St. Ignatius of Loyola

The news and the condition of the world have me truly worried.  We collectively appear to be lost.  We have lost our moral compass and keep our heads firmly planted in the sand.

The story about the well with poisoned water that turned everyone mad except the King and his family keeps going through my head.  The people because they have drank from the well all go mad.  The King and his family do not as they have a private well.  However, the people want to get rid of the King because they no longer trust him.  In the end the King and his family drink from the poisoned well and the people love him again.  But now the King is as mad as his people.

Social media allows us to judge others... and judge we do.  From the parents whose child fell into the gorilla enclosure which resulted in a beast, magnificent tho he was, to be killed for the child's safety.  I wish that I could tell you that I never took my eyes off any of my children or that I never feared that one drowned because I lost track of them at the lake.  They were fine.  Just taking a nap.  I didn't know that.  I am sure if this was posted on Facebook there would be outrage and a police investigation as to my criminal responsibility for losing track of my child.  It happens in an instant.

Politically we are slinging mud at each other and the vitriol is some of the most vile I have seen.  We as a country complain, but we don't seem to want to do anything to change the situation.  We have the power, but that would mean taking responsibility and we are not very good at that most days.

We listen and take advice from people who have no qualifications other than they have a podcast and they seem to speak to the hole in us that desperately wants to be filled.

If only we could turn around we would see that the answer has been there all along.  God, yes, God is the answer.  If we could focus on Him and His teachings and truly trust Him and be obedient to Him, and do His will and not our own we would not have any problems.

Let us look to our commonalities and truly love each other.  It is difficult to sling mud at someone you love.  We must act according to our conscience and be willing to accept the consequences of our choices.  We must stand up not for ourselves, but for those that can not stand up for themselves.  We must exercise mercy. Yes, mercy even for those that we think are not worthy.

I shudder when I think how we pray by rote the words of the Our Father...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us...

Lord, I stand before you
in need of your mercy.

I stand before you
in need of moral courage.

Help me see that my judging will
only lead to my own judgement.

~Cindy

Oh Pride...

The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and put all our trust in Almighty God.
-St. Therese of Lisieux

I will be honest, I am a bull in a china shop!  I open my mouth and speak before my brain and heart can stop me from being hurtful, small, and judgmental. I do not take criticism well, in fact, I become defensive and dig my heals in.

I have been known to cut off my nose despite my face.

Lately Our Lord has been putting me in positions to learn humility and I have been failing miserable.  I have been like the cacti in the picture with lovely flowers to lure you in and yet if you get too close my thorns will get you!

I have been extremely opinionated of late and with that comes judgement of others. I know best and am happy to tell you how and when you should do something.  I have snapped at others and then had to apologize to them as awareness stabs me in the heart.

Lord lately you have been gently trying to remind me to be an empty vessel and to accept criticism and to stop judging just because they sin differently than me.  As usual I needed a 2x4 to get my attention.  I needed more than one reminder and you were willing to provide the opportunities.  Thank you!

Lord, here are all my hurt feelings.
I give them to You.

Here are the unkind thoughts and criticisms of others
I give them to You.

Here I am stumbling on the path,
Hitting my head on the low gate to Heaven.

Here I am in all my weakness
Seeking my strength in You.

~Cindy

Divine Mercy

Pardon one another so that later on you will not remember the injury.  The recollection of an injury is in itself wrong.  It adds to our anger, nurtures our sin and hates what is good.  It is a rusty arrow and poison for the soul.  it puts all virtue to flight.  - St. Francis of Paola

I have been thinking and praying about Mercy a lot lately.  I began the Novena of Divine Mercy on Good Friday and attended the Divine Mercy celebration at Church yesterday.

 For the novena we were asked to come to the church at 3pm to pray the novena prayers and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Community.  Some days it felt like such a hardship to have to get in my car and drive to church.  Yet, I was always happy that I had made the trip when I got there.  Driving to church a hardship?  I am sure that Our Lord thought it was a hardship when His Father asked Him to die on a Cross for US!

But what is Mercy?  The dictionary tells us that Mercy is:

1. compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.

   
   

   So I began to wonder just how merciful am I... not so much.  Here I was being judgmental about others.  I was being obstinate about little things.  I was arrogant which led to more judging, yet there I was asking God to be Merciful to me.  Forgive me!   Forget that my every Confession contains these sins.  Have Mercy on Me!  Forget that I think that my way is the best way.  Forget that I have difficulty with humility and forgiveness.  Forgive Me!!!
   The amazing thing about Divine Mercy is that He does forgive me.  He looks down at my struggle and lifts me up. He sees me afraid and He stands by me.  He watches as I judge others and He grants me Mercy.

The above video is one that I saw on Facebook.  It reminded me that Jesus is there all day, every day. He is there ready to help me when I am afraid, when I am lonely, when I am celebrating.  He is there when I need His Mercy.

Pope Francis has declared that we will celebrate a Year of Divine Mercy starting in December 2015.  Please pray that we are as merciful to others as He is to us.

Lord,
Me again.
Standing here sinful and sorrowful,
asking for you to be merciful to me.

Help me to be humble.
Help me to not judge others.
Help me to see them with Your Merciful Heart.

~Cindy

1. 
   

Duck! There's a Plank in My Eye!!

There were so many distractions at Mass this morning.  Stage whisper conversations that were about gambling, winning and losing, health, grandchildren, and some that were just like a hive a of bees buzzing around my head.

I was trying to keep focused on my prayers and use the distractions as an offering up to Our Lord.  I have noticed though that conversations that I am not involved in are Distractions!  Conversations that I am involved in are Important!

So there I was in my pew trying to keep my head down and my thoughts focused and then...Father read the gospel and gave his sermon.  Yikes! can he read minds?

The parables of the wheat field that the enemy sowed weeds in and the servants that wanted to pull the weeds out, but no the owner said leave them.  The owner said, "I will have the harvesters sort it out in the end and they will gather the weeds and burn them and we will have wheat for bread."

Father reminded me that I am not the Judge.  I am the seed.  My job is to grow into the finest wheat that I can be...God's job is to judge at the end.  He has that covered.  God does NOT need me to judge and think that I know which is wheat and which is weed. I need to stop trying to do God's job.  I might as well, I am not very good at it.




In case you are wondering Father was not just talking to me, I am sure that he was addressing the entire congregation.  Though I think he did try and catch my eye!

Lord, here I am
a small bit of wheat blowing in the wind.
I go this way and that,
concerned about things that you have covered.

Help me to see that I am the seed.
A seed that has one job.
A seed that is trying to grow into the finest wheat.

~Cindy

Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged

I saw this photo on Pinterest the other day.  It has been on my mind ever since.

Confession

It was titled, "This is Confession."  It is from the time that Mel Gibson was filming the movie "The Passion."

At first my eye was drawn to the actor portraying the Christ and I was touched.  It reminded me that Christ did suffer and die for me and when I sin I pick up the whip and hurt Him yet once more.

Secondly, I noticed that Mel was wearing his Brown Scapular.  That is a good thing in my mind.

Then it happened.  I noticed that it was Mel Gibson who has been in the news for anti Semitic rants, public drunkenness, adultery, etc.  The fact that Mel was sitting there bothered me.  So I decided that I would photo shop Mel out of the picture.  Not being very skilled at that, I was not successful.

Here is that 2X4 that I sometimes need to get the message.  Here is what I share with Mel Gibson.  I too have committed the sins of public drunkenness and adultery.  There are many more sins, but these two I  share with Mel.  I also share the Brown Scapular and my need for Confession.

It is not my place to judge Mel.  His sins are between him and God.  I do not know Mel Gibson's heart nor the condition of his soul.  My place is to take care of mine.  My place is to pray for my fellow sinner.

I confess to you my brothers and sisters....

~Cindy