Lost and found

"Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost."
Luke 15:9

I lost my ring in Kansas a couple of weeks ago...the ring I wear all the time. It is inscribed and represents a commitment I made many years ago and, despite just being an inanimate object, it is important to me. I was hiking in a beautiful state park when I looked down at my hand and froze. My ring was gone. I can't believe how it affected me and I'm embarrassed to be so attached to just a thing, but, because of how I felt that day, I can totally relate to the woman with the lost coin in today's Gospel! I was ready to move heaven and earth to be reunited with my ring. Fortunately, a quick call and message to the Motherhouse and a dear sister searched my room, finding my ring on the bed. It was swiftly mailed back to me and I rejoiced when it arrived in the mail. So, I totally get this lady today. And it gives me such an appreciation for the message in the story. God rejoices mightily when one of his children come Home. Our "lostness" gives God a feeling of sorrow and of things being incomplete. We aren't where we belong--with God. Today, let's make a special effort to be "found" by God, by asking for forgiveness or forgiving a hurt. God will rejoice in our return! Love, heidi

All Souls Day...and I mean ALL!

"But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
Romans 5:6

Today is the Feast of All Souls; perhaps the "rest of us" who aren't saints, yet! Fr. Jairo had a wonderful homily last night about how all those we consider saints started out as sinners, and, through coming to Jesus in humility, have washed their garments in the Blood of the Lamb (Revelation 9:14). Great truth, that.
I love this reading from Romans because it shows us that we don't have to pretend with God. We don't have to try and be someone we are not, like we may have to with humans. We can be ourselves. God knows every inch of our hearts and every hair on our heads and JUST as we are, God sent Jesus to us. Today is the Feast of ALL Souls...not Good Souls, or Perfect Souls or even Trying Hard Souls. It is the feast for all of us...in our brokenness, weakness, sinfulness and pain, God reached into our reality and sent Jesus. And that is worth celebrating today! Love, heidi

In our brokenness

"If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart."
Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest"

This is quite a good reading for All Saints Day if you think about it. Think about what happens when our hearts are broken. There is surrender, for one thing. We let go of our own agendas and surrender in our brokenness. Also, we do not give up on God...realizing that God is as present in our pain as God was a part of our celebration. God hasn't left the building just because things are difficult for us--quite the opposite is true. We may feel closer to God as our hearts are broken and laid open. We can join our broken hearts to Jesus in the Garden and His brokenness, and realize that God can work for good in our weakness as well. Now think of the saints we celebrate today. Reading the lives of the saints teaches us that they had their share of broken hearts and struggles in this world. Not one of them lived an easy, perfect little life without troubles. And yet. They thanked God for breaking their hearts. St. Francis rejoiced in Lady Poverty. St. Therese found her Little Way of serving God. Blessed Mother Teresa took her broken heart to the streets and cared for the people she found there. Today, as we think about the saints, let's remember that it was in their broken hearts that God brought goodness into the world. Love, heidi

Loving us, masks and all

"To be loved so totally, so unconditionally, should call forth a response from us, just as it did from those whom Jesus loved and refused to judge. Such a love invites a response of humble gratitude."
Fr. Ed Hays, "A Pilgrim's Almanac"

Tonight our doorbells will be ringing with ghosts and goblins on the other side, wanting candy from us...craziness, all. So, today, let's think about how much God loves us and how that must change us. Just knowing we are so richly loved must make us feel differently about ourselves. And that knowledge cannot go without a response from us. The masks and costumes we will see today can remind us that only God knows the Real Us under the masks and costumes we wear continually trying to be the people we are not. And God loves us in spite of ourselves. And we respond? By loving the Real in our friends, neighbors, and family and thanking God continually for loving us, masks and all! Love, heidi

Growing, changing, singing, dancing...

"Love, true love, constantly renews itself--more than that, it is never satisfied, but will always surpass itself. It creates ever new expressions and finds ever new ways to communicate."
Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen, "This is the Day the Lord Has Made"

Last week, I set out to take a little walk on a beautiful autumn day. I was listening to a song called "Rise," by Shawn McDonald:

"For He, who is within me, is greater than I will ever be and I will rise!"

I absolutely was filled to the brim. In fact, I felt I would just burst with the love of God swelling up inside me. It's very hard to describe, but I felt completely surrounded and filled with the Holy Spirit as I took in the beauty of the day around me. I realized, when I read this today, that my prayer life is constantly changing and growing. For a long time, my daily rosary was my safe harbor and refuge at the end of every day. Now, I am growing more contemplative and quiet in my prayer, except for times like this when I am walking, singing, and literally bursting, inside! This reading today helps me realize I am not just a spiritual flake, but that my prayer changes, grows and evolves as my relationship with God changes and grows. It is constantly renewing itself and cannot be contained in just one prayer form. What about you? Love, heidi

Come, Holy Spirit

..."stillness can be the prayer that transforms us."
Sue Monk Kidd, "When the Heart Waits"

I attended a silent prayer session last week and this quote brought it to mind this morning. The service began with one song, "Veni, Sante Spiritus." Throughout the silence that followed, those words continued in my head, Veni, Sante Spiritus...Come, Holy Spirit. It was stunning to me that the silence was so filled with the Holy Spirit. I was very still, physically, but also still mentally, trying very hard not to chase bunnies in my head. Today's first reading, Romans 8:26-30, says, "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought." (Romans 8:26) I felt the Spirit so powerfully present as I sat, very still, in silence. We do not know how to pray as we ought. Sometimes we just need to be still. Love, heidi