Autumn Fire Prayer

"Dance with delight, O flame of autumn fire,

as the earth, spinning and leaning away from the sun,

begins to cool from the summer heat,

and speak to me of the promise

hidden in this season of autumn.

For spring is seeded in this season of completion,

just as the giant oak exists within the acorn.

Autumn fire, orange and yellow sacrament of the sun,

light up the darkness with your dancing.

Your power is seeded in the ripeness

of the fruit and grain of this harvest season.

Great is God, whose heart is the shrine

wherein lives this whole universe;

great is your heart, my Beloved,

greater still is your unceasing love for me.

May my love for you enflame my every word of thanksgiving

to reflect the golden beauty of autumn

that the earth dons once again."

Fr. Ed Hays, "Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim"

Love is...

"(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:7-8

Many years ago, Daughter Jeni gave me a small stuffed bear. He is the cutest thing--he has on a little sweater with a heart on the front! I had the bear quite a while before I noticed his little foot had, "Love bears all things" stamped on the bottom. At the time (and even now) it strikes me as so beautiful. Pun aside, I needed to see that message then and still do each day. We go through much in our lives that baffles us, scares us, frightens us, angers us...you get the idea. But one message to hang our hats on is "Love bears all things." I have heard that you can interchange the name of God in St. Paul's reading on love. God is patient, God is kind...and so forth. So, God bears all things, works too. And God never fails. I know that as I go through this day I will remember that little bear with the wise Truth stamped on his little foot...Love bears all things. Maybe you will too! Love, heidi

The greatest spiritual gift...

"...Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts."

1 Corinthians 12:30-31

 

"Go on," I urged St. Paul after today's cliff-hanger first reading abruptly stopped. What are the greatest spiritual gifts? I picked up the bible and read beyond today's actual reading and found the beautiful reading about Love. "If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal..." (1 Corinthians 13--you know the reading, you probably had it at your wedding!) It ends, "The greatest of these is love." (v. 13) Yes. The desire to do good we experience comes from God, but we still have the free will to do it with love. Or not. We can do good works, say the right things, even put a good message in a blog, but if we don't do it with love, it really doesn't work. The action is nullified if there isn't love behind the action. This is really tough because sometimes, we just may not feel the love. We can certainly pray often, "Lord, please fill me with your love...it's a whole lot bigger than mine! Let my action reflect your love!" I'm sure God will be happy to oblige us there. God relies on us to spread love through the world and everything we do needs to reflect God's love...it is truly the greatest spiritual gift. Love, heidi

Carrying the cross

"Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

Mark 8:34

In the movie, "Julie and Julia," Meryl Streep, as Julia Child, says a line, "But what am I to dooo?" And she stretches the word "do" out and makes it sound quite whiny. Well, this is what came to mind when I studied this gospel from yesterday. (Weird, right? Welcome to my head...) I read the scripture and thought, "I must not be doing this right because I really don't deny myself anything at all...I definitely have more than one tunic! And this cross I carry isn't heavy at all...in fact, it is quite manageable. I'm not doing this right. I wondered if the command to carry our crosses and deny ourselves must always involve suffering. I read of Jesus in scripture and he often celebrated with friends and it wasn't all drudgery, was it? Then I remembered what the sisters told me about following your hearts desire. God puts the desire within you. God doesn't want you to be miserable fulfilling God's will. God loves a cheerful giver! We can always do better. We can look at our weaknesses and try to improve them. For me, it is to try and live simply, as per the Sisters of Charity (reduce, reuse, recycle!)  It means to do my best for my family and my dear clients each and every day. It is to help those who struggle in their lives and share all that God has given me, including the message of the Gospel. And I may not have to be miserable doing it. And that, is a relief! Love heidi