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Tag: Prayer (Page 3 of 4)

Stop and smell the roses – Part II

stop and smell the roses

Stop! Open your spirit to God’s call.

In my last reflection I talked about how God reveals himself to us. I focused on all the good, true and beautiful ways He reveals himself to me as an example and reminder for us all to stop and smell the roses. Unfortunately, sometimes God reveals himself to us in ways we wished he never would. These revelations sometimes cause us sadness and pain. Never was this more obvious to me than this past week.

This past week was a tough one, one that tested my trust and faith in the Lord. One that threatened my peace.  Despite the tests, beyond the suffering, here I am. By the grace of God I have found my strength. I started my week with a phone call from my niece. She was calling to let me know that my brother was in the hospital. He had gone in for groin pain that was causing him difficulty walking. Given his history of testicular cancer, almost thirty years ago, my niece insisted that the hospital run several tests. Blood was drawn and CT Scans done which revealed an enlarged liver and spleen and a very high white blood cell count. My first reaction was “oh boy!”. After I hung up with my niece, my second reaction was to cry – this couldn’t be good. Those of you who know me well, know that I am NOT a pessimist – far from it – so this reaction surprised even me. I decided to take a ride to the hospital to be by his side during this trying time and to support my niece and sister-in-law, who were functioning on very little sleep. I noticed, as I was getting ready, that I was frazzled – I was rushing around like a chicken without a head, doing three things at once, out of breath and going nowhere fast. What the? I began to chastise myself: what happened to this peace you always talk about? What happened to your faith and trust in God? What happened to God’s “I got this?” I forced myself to slow down. I began to focus again on my God who is an awesome God! I reached out to my prayer warriors and suddenly my mood changed. There’s something to be said about surrender – when you realize things are out of your control and you call upon the will of God to be done, whatever the circumstance. I realized that prayer – my prayers and the knowledge that others were praying with and for us – brought me great comfort. When I turned my attention back to my heavenly Father, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was astonished at how quickly I was able to switch gears. It was a confirmation for me of how much I’ve changed. I got right back to my faith and trust and I was able to remain in peace, knowing the situation is in God’s hands. We’re still not sure what the final diagnosis is but we’re confident it will be treatable and curable.

One thing I have to say is that God never ceases to amaze me. Each day, as I begin to ponder certain thoughts or scripture verses, he continues to provide me with material throughout the day to further drive home the point, either through my reading, a sermon I hear, emails, websites. Everything always seems to have a common theme for the day. The situation with my brother started last Monday. On Tuesday I sat in church after mass praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. As I pondered each mystery, I was struck by the second mystery – The Scourging at the Pillar. The fruit of this mystery is purity. I thought: The scourging, Christ’s suffering bears the fruit of purity and I immediately related it to our lives. Our suffering, which Fr. Richard Rohr says is our lack of control, results in our purification. What I mean by that is our suffering serves to break us open. It forces us to switch gears, it stops us dead in our tracks. Our suffering is meant to purify and transform us. We are meant to journey through our suffering, as Christ did on the road to Calvary, and come out better on the other side, our spirits renewed. If we remain the same old person we were before our suffering, then we’ve suffered in vain, we’ve done it all wrong. Suffering is the time to ask ourselves, what is this meant to teach us.

I know for me, although I am trusting all will be well with my brother, I wonder what this ordeal is meant to teach us, as individuals and as a family. Of course, as a family I think we are called to understand that life is too short and that just as we come together in support and love in difficult moments, we should focus on that same love and support everyday. We need to take the time to visit one another, talk on the phone, say I love you and most importantly let bygones be bygones. As an individual, I’m reminded to not sweat the small stuff because there are much more serious things in this world we can “sweat.”

I come from a large family, many different personalities and egos with many years of pain. I pray everyday for healing of family relationships, I pray often that my parents will get to see us all in one place enjoying each others’ company without the tension that usually comes with our family gatherings. I see my prayers being answered slowly but surely and I wonder if this whole ordeal is God’s way of continuing to answer and bringing us closer together. Sometimes He answers us in ways we never dreamed. I wonder if my family members will “get it.” Will we, as a family, come out better on the other side or will my brother’s sacrifice be in vain? Pray for us – for strength and comfort, for conversions, for forgiveness, for healing in all forms! Thank you in advance and may God bless you always!

The Lenten Season is upon us!

The Lenten Season is upon us!  Ash Wednesday is just two days away.  What do you have planned?  Lent is a call to holiness.  We are called to increased prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  We are called to make a conscious effort to give more of ourselves, to sacrifice ourselves in memory of the ultimate sacrifice Christ made for us!  In past blogs, I’ve made mention of moving out of our comfort zone.  Lent is a perfect time to do just that.  If you haven’t done so already in preparation for Lent, take the next two days to really think of ways you can stretch yourself a bit more for Christ.  Too often we go above and beyond for ourselves and our own interests, but we fail to sacrifice more time for God.  If we want to lose weight and feel better about ourselves, we make provisions to fit working out and healthy eating into our already busy schedules but how often do we make provisions to fit God in to our busy lives.  We wake up earlier if we need to do something that is going to benefit us, but do we think about waking up earlier to attend 7am mass before work?  We have the perfect excuse for not attending mass more than 1x a week, don’t we?  We have to work!  We have no problem scheduling lunch and dinner dates with friends or spending hours in front of a television or  on social media, but do we make time to spend with Jesus, to sit quietly and feel His Presence?  To enjoy the beauty of His creation? Do we put Him first?

Lent is more than giving up chocolate or fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  It’s about the opportunity to develop a mind and heart focused on the will of God.  Last year, in my church bulletin there was printed a short blurb entitled Fast or Feast.  I thought it was great.  So often we think of fasting as refraining from food, but this adds a whole new perspective to the idea of fasting.   Here it is:

FAST OR FEAST

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude

fast from anger; feast on patience

fast from pessimism; feast on optimism

fast from worry; feast on trust in God’s providence

fast from complaining; feast on appreciation

fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives

fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on prayer

fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness

fast from words that pollute; feast on words that purify

fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others

fast from discouragement; feast on hope

fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift

fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm

fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence

fast from judging others; feast on Christ within them

Some things to ponder!  Another focus of Lent is almsgiving – a call to be charitable.  Time and money are always the first things we think about when speaking of charity.  But as with fasting, there’s so much to charity than time and money.  We are charitable when we display mercy, forgiveness, compassion, generosity and empathy, just to name a few.  For example, do you know of someone who is elderly, lonely or sick?  Have you given any thought to sharing a meal or a laugh with that person.  Is there something you can do for them to make their lives easier or something you can do to put a smile on their face?  Do you know of anyone who is depressed or someone who has experienced tragedy in their lives?  Be a voice of encouragement for them or simply show them you care by inviting them over for a cup of coffee.  In addition, most of us are blessed to live with ” more than enough” – this Lent we should seize the opportunity to simplify our lives – give away some of the things we “have” but don’t necessarily “need.”

Make this season one of challenge.  Don’t fall into the same annual routine, step outside your comfort zone.  They say it takes 21 days of repeated activity to develop a habit (don’t ask me who “they” are, I just know it has worked for me so it must be true!  LOL!)  So let’s vow to wakeup an hour earlier each day to pray or read the bible, try lectio divina (see the explanation on the page at the top of this site), try to quiet your mind long enough to meditate (NO doing meditation focused on God does not allow the devil to come in – meditation IS a form of prayer).  You may want to try a guided meditation first.  Instead of attending mass or service once a week on Sunday, try to attend 2-3 times a week.  If you’re Catholic, attend stations of the cross and Eucharistic adoration whenever possible.  Start a reading group in your church (I’m adding recommended reading for Lent on the recommended reading page of this site) – commit to meet once a week during Lent.  Make a pilgrimage to another church, monastery or holy site.  If you’re Catholic and rarely pray the rosary – this is the perfect time to develop the habit, it’s such a powerful prayer.  Take it from someone who has done it.  The more you do, the more you want to do and amazingly the “time” is available – you’ll have enough time for it all and then some – just as long as you stop focusing on how much time you “don’t” have.

Think about changing just one part of your routine this Lenten season, add something to it, focus more on God.  You may think you already do enough, but stretch yourself a bit more, show God how much you love Him – for we love Him because He loved us first!  May this Lenten journey be one of spiritual growth and renewal.  Be sure to check out the recommended reading and resources for  Lenten suggestions.  God bless you!

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