Give cheerfully!

"God loves a cheerful giver."

2 Corinthians 9:7

What can we give to God, cheerfully, on this summer Friday? Can we give some time...spent quietly and peacefully with God? Can we give some treasure...helping St. Vincent de Paul or the City of Refuge or any of our favorite charities? Can we give some of our talents...can we spend some time with people who are lonely, in need of a ride to the store, a cup of coffee or just time with another person? Can we do this all cheerfully? We need to, because God cheerfully gives to us. And what we receive in abundance we need to share...in abundance! The harvest time is coming and the abundance of what we have is so great. We need to cheerfully share it! Love, heidi

Give a little, get a lot...

"What you give to God--everything in your life that you freely offer to him--you get back in a form so that you can give it to others."

Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen, "The is the Day the Lord Has Made"

Yesterday, I went to see a lady at the same nursing home where Helen died a year and a half ago. I hadn't been back there since then...I was kind of avoiding going back. But, there I was. I felt her presence with me as I walked down the hall; the place brought back a flood of memories. Some of the staff has changed, so they didn't have the familiarity with me as I enjoyed back then, but then I saw an old friend. Missy, the old black dog, who always came around Helen's room for an illicit snack or two. She was laying in the hallway, still looking like she's never missed a meal (or a snack!) It was the sign of familiarity I needed to feel at home there again. I realized that the little I gave to Helen came back to me a hundredfold, as the nuns used to say. The little I opened up to this once-stranger in my life, the more gifts I received. Isn't that just like God to pull something like that? Blessings on your Wednesday! Love, heidi

Fear nothing!

"Fear nothing in carrying out what God asks of you for the service of the poor."

St. Louise de Marillac

 

St. Louise was, with St. Vincent de Paul, the foundress of the Daughters of Charity, and, thus, our Sisters of Charity today. You have heard me say many times how my life has been influenced and guided by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and they offer us this quote today. Service to the poor is a tough calling, no question about that. And the Sisters of Charity, all over the world are doing it, no question about that either. Let us pray with them and for them today, thus joining our hearts with those whom God has guided and sent to the poor. Love, heidi

A glimpse of a happy ending...

"Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them..."

Mark 9:2-3

A few years ago there was a movie out called "The Pursuit of Happyness," (yes, it was spelled that way on purpose). I went to it, hoping for a feel-good movie, but it was a rather sad tale of a guy trying to find as job and taking care of his little boy. The trouble was, nothing really good happened to the guy until the very end of the movie, and, by then, I was spent. I needed something reassuring to keep me in my seat...I needed to know this movie would eventually have a happy ending. Well, that is how I see the Transfiguration of Jesus in today's Gospel. The disciples needed a glimpse that this story would have a happy ending...eventually. They were to go through a whole lot in the next several years and they needed reassurance. Seeing Jesus with Moses and Elijah was validating that Jesus was in communion with their Jewish faith. And what could be more reassuring that the voice of God telling them to listen to Jesus, he is the Real Deal. And yet. Even after this experience, Peter denied Jesus and was an overall disappointment in Jesus' hour of need; they all were, really. It is comforting to note that as much as we walk with Jesus in our lives, we may slip up, too. And Jesus is still at our side. Love, heidi