"Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing distress you,
While all things fade away,
God is unchanging.
Be patient for with God in your heart
nothing is lacking,
God is enough."
Margaret Rizza, Prayer of St. Teresa, from "Chants for Prayer"
Well, that seems completely enough to say on a beautifully dawning spring Thursday! If you would like to pray with this beautiful chant, here is the video...sorry if there is an ad:
Prayer of St. Teresa
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Ask. Then trust...
"If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."
John 14:14
This is reassuring and wonderful...but, how do we know it's happening? I mean, we pray for something and it turns out differently than we think it should. Does that mean the prayer didn't "work?" Did Jesus not come through? I think this scripture urges us to trust that Jesus is doing his part, whether the outcome is what we prayed for or not. God can work much good through the messes we create and we need to trust that. We also need to pay attention and try to learn from our mistakes, that's a fact too. But the outcome we receive has Jesus written all over it, regardless of our judgment of it. So, Jesus encourages us to ask in his name and then we need to trust the outcome. It may not look like what we asked for...praise God, it may be much better! That is a ponderous thought for a dawning Wednesday, but let's ponder it! Love, heidi
John 14:14
This is reassuring and wonderful...but, how do we know it's happening? I mean, we pray for something and it turns out differently than we think it should. Does that mean the prayer didn't "work?" Did Jesus not come through? I think this scripture urges us to trust that Jesus is doing his part, whether the outcome is what we prayed for or not. God can work much good through the messes we create and we need to trust that. We also need to pay attention and try to learn from our mistakes, that's a fact too. But the outcome we receive has Jesus written all over it, regardless of our judgment of it. So, Jesus encourages us to ask in his name and then we need to trust the outcome. It may not look like what we asked for...praise God, it may be much better! That is a ponderous thought for a dawning Wednesday, but let's ponder it! Love, heidi
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Drop the stones!
"But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him (Stephen) together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him."
Acts 7:57-58
The mob who stones Stephen, because of his hard-to-hear yet truthful words, covered their ears to avoid hearing his testimony. Did they know, on some level, that they were wrong about him, but just couldn't admit it? He wasn't violent toward them, but yet, they murdered him. They may have thought they were acting justly in their killing of him, that it was the right thing to do. How often, throughout history, have people killed others thinking they were doing the right thing? Will we ever really learn Jesus' way of forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration? Sadly, there has been a mad dash to kill inmates on death row before the killing drugs are no longer available. People are killing each other in the streets all the while we may think of this martyrdom of Stephen so far away from our own culture. It is not. We are murdering Stephens everyday. It's been two thousand years since Jesus taught us about life and love. What have we learned? Today, as we pray and ponder with the first martyr, Stephen, let's ask ourselves how we are still killing others, with our words, our dualistic, self righteous attitudes, and our indifference to suffering of others. Let those stones fall from our hands! Love, heidi
Acts 7:57-58
The mob who stones Stephen, because of his hard-to-hear yet truthful words, covered their ears to avoid hearing his testimony. Did they know, on some level, that they were wrong about him, but just couldn't admit it? He wasn't violent toward them, but yet, they murdered him. They may have thought they were acting justly in their killing of him, that it was the right thing to do. How often, throughout history, have people killed others thinking they were doing the right thing? Will we ever really learn Jesus' way of forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration? Sadly, there has been a mad dash to kill inmates on death row before the killing drugs are no longer available. People are killing each other in the streets all the while we may think of this martyrdom of Stephen so far away from our own culture. It is not. We are murdering Stephens everyday. It's been two thousand years since Jesus taught us about life and love. What have we learned? Today, as we pray and ponder with the first martyr, Stephen, let's ask ourselves how we are still killing others, with our words, our dualistic, self righteous attitudes, and our indifference to suffering of others. Let those stones fall from our hands! Love, heidi
Monday, May 1, 2017
Do we have what we seek?
"When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus."
John 6:24
Pray-as-You-Go had a wonderful little reflection on this today which really gave me pause. Why are we looking for Jesus? Presumably we are, since we are spending time reading the Gospel, listening to PAYG or even reading this daily Heidi-gram. Why ARE we looking for Jesus this May Day? And, once we find Jesus, what would we say to him? I remember having such a powerful encounter with Jesus many years ago and the first thing I could think of to say was "Please stay with me!" I didn't want the moment to end; I wanted to feel that Presence all the time. I still feel that way now, many years later. Saturday night, we had a wonderful homily, sharing about the Road to Emmaus when the two disciples did not recognize Jesus as he walked along with them. We learned that Jesus is always walking along with us, but we just don't always recognize him. How can we see him? We can rely on Jesus being present in the face of the poor, in the compassion of others and, certainly, in the Eucharist--in the breaking of the bread. We just need to keep our eyes open! So, today, let's spend some time pondering...why are we looking for Jesus? Do we already have what it is we seek? Do we just need to open our eyes and recognize it? Blessings on your May Day! Love, heidi
John 6:24
Pray-as-You-Go had a wonderful little reflection on this today which really gave me pause. Why are we looking for Jesus? Presumably we are, since we are spending time reading the Gospel, listening to PAYG or even reading this daily Heidi-gram. Why ARE we looking for Jesus this May Day? And, once we find Jesus, what would we say to him? I remember having such a powerful encounter with Jesus many years ago and the first thing I could think of to say was "Please stay with me!" I didn't want the moment to end; I wanted to feel that Presence all the time. I still feel that way now, many years later. Saturday night, we had a wonderful homily, sharing about the Road to Emmaus when the two disciples did not recognize Jesus as he walked along with them. We learned that Jesus is always walking along with us, but we just don't always recognize him. How can we see him? We can rely on Jesus being present in the face of the poor, in the compassion of others and, certainly, in the Eucharist--in the breaking of the bread. We just need to keep our eyes open! So, today, let's spend some time pondering...why are we looking for Jesus? Do we already have what it is we seek? Do we just need to open our eyes and recognize it? Blessings on your May Day! Love, heidi
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