Tag Archives: The Virgin Mary

Sun-Kissed

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We visited the Grand Canyon over the Thanksgiving Break, and I woke up to see the sunrise on our first morning. When I arrived at the rim, the canyon was still in the shadow of dawn light. The colors were beautiful, and I could clearly see the nooks and crannies deep in the canyon.

As the sun peaked over and illuminated the north-rim, the contrast became striking. The sun-kissed ridges took on new and bolder colors, while the nooks and crannies below became darker, their details fading into the gloom of shadow.

Witnessing this beauty a wedding came to mind and I thought of how quickly the beautifully dressed wedding guests fade in the midst of the groom’s great joy reflecting in the eyes of his bride as she gazes upon him. Without speech or words, but declaring through creation our Lord poured the beginning of Psalm 19 into my heart and reconnected me with Isaiah 60:1-2 in the silence of that early morning.

Oh my Lord, please let us all be sun-kissed by You as Your Glory rises upon us and let us never be deprived of Your warmth.

Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 
   It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Isaiah 60:1-2
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.

Our Spiritual Heartbeat

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I wrote an entry in 2016, Every moment is infinite, about surface living or skimming the surface of life when our focus is always on the past or the future, versus deep living when we focus on diving deep into each moment and truly living in the present.

As I have thought about this more, I have come to call it our Spiritual Heartbeat. When we spend all of our time skimming the surface of life, we are following a straight line and our Spiritual Heartbeat is a flatline. When we spend time diving deep into each present moment, we are following a line with valleys and peaks between each moment and we end up with what looks like an actual heartbeat.

We are told again and again and again to live in the present moment, but I don’t think we grasp the urgency… it truly a matter of life and death. If you have lost your way or don’t know how to get started, start small. Sit still for 30 sec and count your breaths… our sweet Jesus shows up, He always shows up and He will revive you!

Ephesians 2:1-6
In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. At that time you followed the world’s evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God’s anger. But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.

The Belly of the Whale

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My sweet husband took me to Lourdes, France this summer. On our first morning we attended the International Mass in the Basilica of St. Pius X. The Basilica of St. Pius X is a huge underground cathedral with a maximum capacity of 25,000 people.

During the mass there were many times that I didn’t understand what was being said, because it was held in many different languages. In these moments, I took in my surroundings and was amazed to realize that I was sitting in what looked like the belly of a whale.

We were not there for 3 days and 3 nights, instead about 3 hours, but in that time I prayed and praised the Lord for inviting us, bringing us and preparing all of us, me, my family, everyone there (about 2000 people), to do His Holy and Good Will!

Jonah 2:1-10

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me.
From deep in realm of the dead, I called for help,
and You listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight;
yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered You, Lord,
and my prayer rose to You,
to Your holy temple.
Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to You.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from Lord.'”

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.


Humbled again

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For months I have been waking up at 4:38 am. Sometimes I fall back asleep and sometimes I get up, but very regularly when I check the clock it says, 4:38. I sit here on this blog talking about listening, looking, watching and waiting for Him, but when it comes down to it, I don’t follow my own advice very well.

It finally occurred to me to look up 4:38 verses in the Bible and I was reminded and humbled again. He gives us what is not ours and what we have not earned and He plucks us from the pit and places us high on the backs and shoulders of mighty giants.

When we realize and remember this, there is nothing to do but live every moment in humble thanksgiving and love.

John 4:38
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

Deuteronomy 4:38
…to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

It starts with a seed

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Imagine a tiny seed of Faith, something as small as a mustard seed gifted to us within our soul through His Grace. If we want it to grow we must tend this tiny seed through thanksgiving and prayer. As it grows we start to notice when our prayers are answered and we thank Him all the more, and then we also begin noticing our unanswered prayers and thank Him. Eventually our thanksgiving becomes constant in all moments of our day and somewhere along the way this tiny plant of Faith flowers and a new seed is created, Hope.

After the success of one flower we continue tending our tiny garden with the same methods, constant thanksgiving and prayer, and then we notice a new light that has begun to fill our soul. It is a light we have not seen before, but we notice that it nourishes this new and tiny seedling in our soul and we begin longing to know this unknown light. As our longing and desire increases this new light begins shining on things that were previously not understood or known. With each new glimpse in the light our tiny plant of Hope grows, finally flowering and creating a new seed, Charity.

After the success of two flowers we continue tending our tiny garden now with a deep longing and hope for the light that reveals hidden mysteries around every corner, but always returning to constant thanksgiving and prayer even in the moments when we cannot see or feel the light. As our tiny seedling of charity grows, the light begins to shine on tiny glimpses of His Plan and we see the goodness and perfection of it. As our desire for the fulfillment of His Holy Will and Plan increases our thanksgiving and prayers continue, but are now changed as our requests decrease and our praise, thanksgiving and joy increase. Our sweet little plant begins to flower creating a new seed of True Charity, which is a great desire to love God above all else and glorify Him in everything, always.

It all starts with a tiny seed, but once we arrive at True Charity, we no longer wish to move the mountains of this world, for they are His Glorious works for art. Instead we long for Him to work through us and with us and in us moving spiritual mountains to prepare the way for the fulfillment of His Holy, Good and Perfect Will.

Matthew 17:19-20 – Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The work of prayer

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Oh the great weight of joy we feel when we realize that we too have been called to the work of prayer, the work of tending the garden of each soul we encounter.

My Sweet Lord, let our prayers be to Your Glory!

Thessalonians 5:16-18 – “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 

His Work

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We are all here doing His work, the work of our Father. He has many tasks to be done and has given each of us a unique and individual task for the fulfillment of His Holy and Perfect Plan. It is not our place to question the task of another, but instead to perform and complete our task well everyday with the intention that the work we do is for everyone, because it really is His work.

Let all that we do be done for Him with praise and thanksgiving!

John 5:17 – In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.”

Fasting from Hallelujah…

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In preparation for fasting from Hallelujah during Lent, I decided to say Hallelujah as many times as I could today, in praise of our sweet Lord. I repeated over and over again in my head at the gym, out loud in the car, while doing things around the house, almost all day. Later when I sat down to do my bible study lesson the final question asked us to write a psalm in praise of our Sweet and Holy God! It flowed quickly from me like water pouring out of a cracked and broken vessel.

I cry out an eternal Hallelujah,
From the infinite depths of my heart.
It fills the air with praise for our God,
Permeating everything until it fills the world and beyond.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Our Sweet, Faithful and Holy Lord always prepares the way for us, we cannot go wrong if we listen and follow!

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Luke 11:28

Precious Jewels of Time

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We are often reminded that our time is precious and we must spend it wisely. This is very true, but we don’t often look at the flip side of the coin.  We often think only of our own time, but very carelessly toss away the precious time that others have taken to spend time with us or do something for us.  My sweet baby had her precious time very carelessly tossed aside and trampled yesterday and it really hurts, a lot.

As I think about it this morning, He has opened my eyes to an even greater sorrow. He has gently reminded me that I have done this to His other sweet children many times… oh please forgive me my sweet Lord.  He has also opened my eyes to an even greater joy.  He has reminded me that He treasures all of our jewels, especially the ones that the world casts aside.  Glory to You my sweet Lord! Thank You, thank You, thank You…

My sweet Lord, please forgive me and help me to treasure the precious jewels of time that others give to me so that I won’t be the cause of this pain to You again, and an INFINITE THANK YOU for treasuring and carefully gathering all of our jewels, especially the ones that the world casts aside and tramples.

Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Ephesians 5:15-16
Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Isaiah 45:3
And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness — secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

Our Brother’s Keepers

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On our final day, the day that we meet our Maker and Judge, we will each mourn.

Some will mourn and be filled with fear and sorrow when they hear the words, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
– Matthew 7:23

The rest will mourn and be filled with shame and sorrow when they realize how many opportunities they missed to help guide and bring others home with them.

So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops; for the troops heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.”  The troops stole into the city that day as soldiers steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.
– Samuel 19:2-3

Our sweet Lord wants EVERYONE to come home, all of His sons and daughters, all of our brothers and sisters, let us not forget that we are our brother’s keepers!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
– Matthew 22:36-40