Footprints

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As I walk along a beach covered in the visible footprints of today, and in the hidden footprints of many yesterdays and tomorrows  – I praise and thank You, O Lord, for directing my steps into the footprints of those who walk in Your ways, and I praise and thank You, O Lord, for leading in Your ways those whose footprints I walk in. Amen.

Psalm 25:4
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths.

Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Hail Mary

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About two years ago I started feeling called to pray the Rosary.  I was excited to pray it and wanted to spread the call. I asked a friend to pray with me.  I bought Rosaries to give to the homeless and asked them to pray with me, and I bought a book about the Rosary, The Secret of the Rosary by Saint Louis de Montfort.

And then the time came to pray… every time I would begin to pray, I lacked patience, the desire to complete it left me as soon as I began and honestly I kept falling asleep in the middle of saying it.  My attempts became fewer and fewer and my excitement waned.

Then about six months ago I had an interesting discussion regarding the strong connection between our physical actions and our prayers, and I decided to begin trying to pray the Rosary again, but in action this time.

I decided to connect praying the Rosary with an exercise I love, yoga. Below is how I have been been praying the Rosary of our sweet and wonderful Mother, and I hope that if you struggle to pray the Rosary this will help you.  Use this as a guide to pray with me, or as a spark to ignite a new idea within you to honor and pray the Rosary of our sweet Mother Mary!

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I begin the Rosary by praying the Apostle’s Creed in the humble position of prayer on my knees with my hands together in prayer.

I then pray the Our Father with my arms spread wide and my face tilted upward open to both receiving and giving according to His Holy Will.

For each Hail Mary I go through a vinyasa yoga flow.

I begin in the downward-facing dog pose, a humble position showing Mary that I desire to learn from her.

Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.

I then flow into a plank pose, a position of strength acknowledging the great and unimaginable strength required by her to FULLY surrender to our Lord.

Blessed art thou among women,

I then lower into a prostrate position and spread my arms wide to form a cross as I speak of her Holy and Blessed Son, Jesus.  I desire to be one with the dust of the ground when speaking of our Lord.

And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God

I then bring my hands in and press up into a cobra pose, the pose of a snake acknowledging that I have sinned and I have caused others to sin just as the snake in the Garden of Eden did so long ago.

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Pressing back into downward dog pose, I continue this flow for each Hail Mary.

Then at the end of the first 3 Hail Mary’s or at the end of each decade I sit back into a child’s pose, a pose of rest and humility, honoring the Trinity, begging for forgiveness and mercy and once again acknowledging that Mary is my mother, and I long to learn from her as I pray.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.

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Acts 1:14
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

A call to prayer

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Many are fasting for various reasons these days, especially right now in the middle of Ramadan.  As I finished reading a book on fasting, The Roots and Fruits of Fasting by Mary Ruth Swope, I ran into 5 people who told me they were fasting.

I pray when and if we fast, we let the feelings of hunger, the rumblings within act as an internal bell tolling and calling us to prayer, calling us into deeper communion with our Lord.

Joel 2:12
Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.

Pray Outside the Dimension of Time

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My friends, I think we need to remove ourselves from the DIMENSION of TIME when we pray.  This is where our sweet and holy Lord resides and longs for us to join Him in prayer.  Removing TIME from our prayers removes one more constraint that He placed on Himself, with the knowledge that we would set Him free.

Rise above our vast timeline, rolling it up in your mind into a ball and praying over all generations, past, present and future, trusting that He knew that YOU would sit by His side, and pray a blessing over all of His children from generation to generation.

Hope is NEVER lost, for to Him every moment is NOW.  He set us free and He patiently waits for all of us to join Him in prayer and set Him FREE!

Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Encircled

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I saw an interesting rainbow yesterday.  It actually looked like it was inverted – instead of arching down towards the earth, encircling the earth, the ends appeared to go up as if encircling something in the sky.

From what I found online, the physical explanation is that I must have seen a higher order bow, the 3rd or 4th reflections of the light within the water droplets sending the light forward and creating a bow that encircles the sun.

Keep watch my friends, for we know neither the day nor the hour.

Revelation 4:3
And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

 

PRAYER

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In the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, St. Catherine asked our Lord what fruit souls receive?

His response to her was “The fruit which I destine for them, constrained by the prayers of My servants…”
Treatise on Divine Providence, page 11

Our Infinite, Mighty and Sweet Lord allows Himself and His Gifts to be CONSTRAINED by our prayers for each other.

His Infinite, Mighty and Sweet Gifts, Graces and Fruits flow freely to those for whom we pray – start at home, pray for your spouse, your children, your family, your neighbors and watch as our Lord fills them with His Good and Holy Graces, and also changes and expands your heart as He greatly desires for us to pray for everyone and at all times.

Pray, pray, and pray more my friends – for with deep, humble and heartfelt prayer for others and the world, we set free our Infinite, Mighty and Sweet Lord from the constraints He has given Himself and open the door for His Infinite Ocean of Grace and Mercy to pour down on the whole world!

Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

His Gardeners

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My waking thought on a Monday morning back in September was…

“I would wage that the care and pruning of the tree of life is one of the greatest undertakings.”

It was such a interesting, yet out of the ordinary thought to have as I woke up that day, that I immediately wrote it down in my journal.  Since that early Monday morning, I have held this thought close and pondered it many times.

I think right now in this present moment He calls us to be His gardeners – caring for and pruning His tree of life in ourselves and in each other.

John 15:12
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Connected

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I think deep down we all know that we are somehow connected whether we acknowledge this or not.  The connection isn’t immediately visible in this world, and yet many of us feel it and know that it is there.  Those who have accessed this deep knowledge in times of silence or brokenness or even great joy, experienced this connection and wanted to share it with everyone and thus many creations and inventions have been born from what we know within, spoken and written languages, roads, art, books, mail, morse code, televisions, telephones, and now the internet – connecting our whole world.

Yet – anything we create here is a simplistic, broken and eventually a corrupt copy of what truly exists, what is real yet invisible!

Let us use our inventions to spread LOVE despite their brokenness, but let us NOT allow them to overshadow the true and real connection that is buried deep within each of us – you will find it in the SILENT and INFINITE DEPTH of each PRESENT MOMENT.  Within each moment it waits to be discovered – a buried treasure whispering to us – Come, come and see!

Matthew 13:44-46
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Double Doors

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Can you see them?

Look up at just right angle and you will see high on the Hill of Calvary there is a set of double doors created just for us.  The lintel and center post is covered in the blood of our Passover Lamb, our sweet and precious Jesus.

His Cross holds these doors open for us… and through this opening He calls to us, beckoning for us to come, come in and see!

RUN my friends, run to His Cross, run through the doors while He holds them open for us!

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Isaiah 45:1-4
Thus says the LORD to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
‘I will go before you
And make the crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the LORD,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me…

Matthew 25:1-13
“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps,  but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’“But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’

“So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.

Expressions of His Love

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We are all expressions of God’s Love – each existing only as a silent dream, that when whispered from His Heavenly lips came to life.

We are all wounded and broken in some way by this fallen and fragmented world, yet still beautiful as the very act of living expresses His Great and Infinite Love.  Welcome all who come to you gently knowing that this sweet, precious, and broken being is an expression of His Love and as you send them forth – send them floating down the river of prayers flowing from your heart, easing their pain and yours for a moment or maybe a lifetime.

Psalm 46:4
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High.