Judith, a Hope Bearer

The Catholic Herald published this article today: 

During his weekly address, the Pope said women like the biblical heroine Judith are an example of trusting God amid sufferings and difficulties when it is easy to give up hope and fall into despair.

“This is my opinion, but women are more courageous than men,” the Pope said to applause.

As the Pope arrived for the audience, the sounds of classical music echoed throughout the Paul VI audience hall as a youth orchestra from Bolivia played for the Pope.

Pope Francis focused his audience talk on Judith, “a woman of great beauty and wisdom,” who reproached the people of Israel for their lack of trust in God to deliver them from foreign invaders.

“They were at the point of saying, ‘God has sold us,'” the Pope said. “How many times have we come to situations that test our limits where we are not even able to trust in the Lord? It is an ugly temptation.”

Facing a situation full of despair, the Pope continued, the people gave God five days to intervene. However, even in prayer they doubted that the Lord would help them.

“Five days are given to God to intervene – this is the sin! Five days of waiting but already expecting the end. In reality, no one among the people is capable of hoping,” he said.

Pope Francis said that in the moment of despair, Judith confronts the people’s doubts with the “courageous language” of faith and hope.

Her courage, he explained, is a reminder for Christians “to knock on the door of God’s heart; he is a father, he can save us. This widow risks (everything), even of making herself look like a fool in front of the others. But she is courageous, she goes forward.”

Christians must “never put conditions on God,” the Pope said. Instead, they should allow “hope to conquer our fears.”

“To trust God means entering into his plans without assuming anything” and to believe that “he knows better than us,” the Pope said.

The story of Judith exemplifies the importance of the “courageous counsel” of humble women, Pope Francis said. Their words, he added, contain “the wisdom of God” and should never be “dismissed as ignorant.”

“The words of grandmothers – how many times do grandmothers know the right word to say,” the Pope said. “They give words of hope because they have the experience of life, they have suffered so much, they trusted in God and the Lord gave them this gift of giving us hopeful advice.”

My prayer: 

I pray that we can be women pregnant with hope, and bear it in this world of ours that often despairs and falls into the temptation of believing that You, O Lord, will not help us when we are most in need. Hear our cry, O Prince of Peace. Yours is the Gospel of peace, not of despair.  In the midst of our brokenness come to our aid as we trust in you, as Judith encouraged the people of Israel to do in the midst of their desire to be delivered from their enemies. 

Give us, O Lord, the grace to be courageous women who, no matter what pain or sorrow, suffering or difficulties we face, move forward and choose to rise up in hope instead of falling into despair. Open our ears to the call to a challenging "war effort". In the words of my own beautiful and courageous mother who passed from this earth, "our weapons are our collective voices of reassurance to our children, grandchildren, and all who have lost hope for the future..." Give us voices to speak.

I pray we have perseverance to keep knocking on the door of Your heart, O Loving Father. You know best and can save us.

Again

A thousand broken pieces scattered and thrown.

What is this miraculous force that seems to reassemble and

the masterpiece becomes even more beautiful and visible?

The love that was scarred and hidden comes to light and there you are again.

You, O Heavenly One, can orchestrate and devise the most ingenious plans. Way above what I could ever imagine.

Yes, we die a thousand deaths and through some supernatural recreation, we are transformed. I die in your arms. Reaching out to you with a mouth that can hardly speak, but you know how to read the language of the soul that longs to be one with the eternal flow. So I keep giving myself to you again and again and I never fear that you hear, and are near, for you have proved your love time after time.

I hear a melody that resounds so sweetly and harmoniously within and I am dancing in the wind of your spirit.

Twirl me round and round in our dance of love.

You & I ...

Faith in the Child

A most blessed Christmas season to you! Remember Christmas did not end yet, it extends through the 12 days after...until the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, when the wise men followed the star in the East and brought their treasures of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ Child--the Word who became flesh. And they saw his glory.

If we have faith in the child, we will "reign in peace in this life and forever in the life to come." *

"Now take a look now at the manger at Bethlehem. Perhaps we see a tiny arm reaching out at random from the manger. “The Lord has made bare his holy arm.” And this anticipates another baring of that holy arm, when it is stretched out on the wood of the cross, revealed to all nations, just as Isaiah said. God’s power would be revealed in the powerlessness of love unto death. This is what became flesh on Christmas day."    
Bishop Robert Barron

Lord, I pray you will increase our faith in you. You, O Emmanuel, who are with us! Daily in all that we do. May we recognize your presence more clearly this new year. May we see you in ourselves, others and all of your wondrous and glorious creation. Our entire being, our hearts long to reign in peace. Come, O Savior, O royal Prince of Peace! Bestow this great gift of peace that we may be a people of peace and give it unto others. That peace may reign in this entire world. As you humbled yourself coming into this world, we humble ourselves before you asking for true humility--a constant recognition that we need you and are dependent on you. May we, too, have the self-giving love that you have--daily in everything we do, everything we say, everything we think. Reign in us now and forever.
Sheila


*excerpt taken from a sermon by Saint Quodvultdeus, bishop

Prepare Ye the Way

I lit a candle and sat in the darkness before dawn. Just breathed in the birth of the fresh morning. Quieted myself. Redirected my thoughts as necessary to remain contemplative. Rested in his presence in my prayer chair. Looked out the big picture window in front of me as the sun rose in the east. Eventually light began to fill the room.

And then, as I wrote in my journal, I wished the Lord "Good Morning" and ushered the invitation "Come, O Lord!" Give me the graces, I prayed, to prepare my heart for you. And I sweetly said, "I am yours, and you are mine. You have the words of eternal life so speak to me. I am listening."

Are you (the reader) listening too?

And then in that still small voice, I heard, "Behold, I am coming soon.  With the sound of a trumpet I will return. The earth will tremble and shake. For behold, I come quickly. (Rev 3: 11, 22: 7 & 12)

Are you ready for his coming?

Prepare ye the way. Daily, for we know not the day nor the hour.

Pray for Peace

"May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and let themselves be led by the desire for peace."    Pope Francis

Whose voice will raise up this plea for peace? Yours? Mine? His? Let it be all of ours.

Father, give us the grace we need to plea for peace. Not just to You in prayer and petition but where others may hear. Give us fortitude to stand firm. Courage. Anoint our lips that our words may go forth with the power of the Spirit and help lead others to peace. A peace that surpasses understanding. A peace that guards their hearts and minds... Phil 4:7

To lay down our weapons means to surrender any tendencies toward violence, whether it be real weapons or unkind words and actions. To believe that there's something more powerful than weapons. Someone more powerful. And that someone is Jesus Christ, The Prince of Peace. He walked the earth and said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Jn 14:6 He leads the way to peace and fullness of life. Follow him. Wherever he may go.

"Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." *


*(J. Jackson & S. Miller)

Open Door

Yesterday morning as I sat in prayer and journaled, I poured my heart out with these words, "Dearest Lord, my Savior, we gave thanks yesterday for all your goodness and faithfulness. (It was Thanksgiving Day.) You are awesome. Glory to you, O Lord. My heart rejoices, my heart rejoices. I love this quiet time alone with you early in the morning. I give you my heart. Make it yours, I pray. Speak to it and lead me in your way and truth so I may have life and bring life to others. You alone are holy and you alone are worthy."

Then I could hear a melody within the silence of my mind with those words, "You alone are holy, You alone are worthy, You alone are good, Almighty God. (That's the refrain). And then the verse, "The heavens are covering all creation, Your graces are reigning from above, With voices we surrender to your mercy, We pray for hearts open to your love."

 As I continued to listen, I heard him whisper in a still small voice, "Heaven and earth are open and rejoice this day."

So I went to my computer and googled this, "Heaven and earth are open" to see what more I could find and understand what he might mean by those words. Isaiah 45: 8 popped up on the screen and was particularly striking, "Drip down, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it." There were those scriptural words, "Let the earth open up..."

I felt strongly that the Lord was saying righteousness is indeed being poured down from above and springing up and salvation is indeed bearing fruit. We may not see this with our physical eyes, but with eyes of faith, we can believe that what the Lord has spoken is true. And I do believe! "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Then I was led to an article * about "open door" and want to share with you these three P nuggets:

Open Door of Power
We are invited to pass through the door. The door stays open. This door did not shut and will not shut. The door Himself is Jesus. He is the open door.

Open Door of Promise
God always keeps his people and his covenants with his people close to his heart. God keeps his word and does everything He has promised to do.

Open Door of Praise
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor and power." Revelation 4:8, 19:1
"I will enter his gates with thanksgiving; And his courts with praise." Psalm 100:4

So, today, remember these three words: power, promise and praise and believe that through Jesus we enter through the open door and will receive our promised inheritance: eternal life, and will praise him with great rejoicing now and forever and ever.

*Sermon by Mike Hullah

Three P Words

Our new Bishop, David Konderla, was invited to speak at a women's retreat last Saturday. He quoted our retreat scripture theme from 2 Thessalonians 3: 5, "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ", then spoke about three P words--prayer, providence and prudence.

"Prayer is essential;" it "grounds us. We must be listening" to the Lord, he said."We do not work out of our own power. We do not have faith..." out of our own doing either. "Everything," he reminded us, "is a gift. Everything returns to Him." Bishop David encouraged us to "trust that the Lord is doing this" and that "Jesus changes our lives if we stay out of his way." He exhorted us to "do everything without worry and anxiety."

"The key to prayer," he instructed "is practical and human. Go to bed, get seven hours of sleep..." get up earlier and have time for prayer. We can "be a more transparent instrument when prayer is done well, especially in the morning."

Providence. "God is in our life in large and small ways all the time. Not just the good things. Bad things happen to good people. Things are just something that happens in our lives." He continued to encourage us, "See God more often. Live with ambiguity. Seek meaning in everything."

Being practical again, Bishop David said, "Catch early signs and symptoms of not praying." For example, "If someone cuts us off in traffic," ask yourself, "where are we going in such a big hurry?"

Insight again: go to bed earlier and pray.

"God is around us all the time," he said. "Our awareness dims in and out from time to time." So we need to "pull Him to mind when He dims."

Prudence is the "mother of the virtues." It "helps us know which virtue to apply. We practicing virtues when "we're praying and attentive and sensitive to God's presence around us, in good and bad things, big and small." We need to live our lives in virtues" which means "stable habits," like being patient.

Three powerful P words: Prayer, Providence and Prudence.