Thursday, July 11, 2013

Keep open the "ear of the heart"... St Benedict, pray for us!

The clouds were amazing yesterday as we returned to our beach of favor.  We discovered that the wind was strongly off shore and with that comes the biting flies, so we took to the chilly water - even the two babies sit in their little floaties and love the water!  So wonderful that we are made from hearty stock and take the glorious with the more challenging - the biting flies and the cold lake makes us appreciate the days of warmth and just the right sun with on shore breezes.  We find ourselves saying - "this is truly paradise!"  Today is the Feastday of St Benedict - both of my oldest daughters attended University of Mary in Bismarck, ND - a Benedictine college!  They both know well the generosity and welcoming spirit of the Benedictines.  I remember when Nancy was in her 5th year there getting her Education degree that she spent some real personal time with the Sisters - some of the older ones wearing the old habits, and still living the more ordered life.  They spoke to her about a possible vocation - I know that she was approached by both the Schoenstatts as well as the Benedictines.  Having her two younger sisters both looking at religious LIFE and having been exposed to them at Schoenstatt girl's camps as well as college.  It was always before her as a possibility.  I wanted that for my girls as well as John - to know that being a priest, brother, or sister was a wonderful option, and one that they should definitely ask the Lord to direct them... "Is He calling you to serve and LOVE Him in this way?"  To see them now happily married to wonderful men and family raised in The Church, or glowing with JOY as the Bride of Christ gives me so much happiness!  
St Benedict promoted both prayer and the LOVE of the Word/Christ!  The Benedictines begin each day with the 95th psalm- so that they can be reminded to keep open the "ear of the heart."

Psalm 95:1-9

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 95

1" Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,[a]
    as you did that day at Massah[b] in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did."
Bernadette complete with her topknot looking at the beautiful clouds and lake from the deck.
It is a wonderful reminder today to be serving and hospitable -may our the ear of our hearts be tuned into the needs and worries of those around us - looking past ourselves and our selfish concerns helps us to find an answer to those issues - Christ tells us that we are to go out proclaiming - "The Kingdom of God is at hand"..."Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.  Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."  Such a tall order for us to fill as we give to those around us as we have had the JOY of Mercy poured upon us.  Our own problems evaporate into the air if we focus on the needs of others.  If we cave into ourselves and dwell more and more on things that bother us... they become that huge beam in our own eye that prevents us from removing the splinter from others.  Matthew 7:5  The mole hill becomes a huge paralyzing mountain that blocks our way from being Apostles/Disciples/Saints for Christ!  Today's Gospel - Matt 10 - we have heard many times... may we truly realize that He continues to speak to us this very day to carry this forth into our world/domestic Church/family!
We have the JOY of having sweet little Rose Ida while the rest fill up a van to travel up to Munising for a ride on Lake Superior to see the beauty on this glorious day of sun and cool breezes in the upper Pen of Michigan.  Pat said to John - "They went to see painted rocks, while I am painting the deck."
Lord, we are called to serve our families and some of that involves jobs that are difficult and some of it involves sweet times with a smiling baby girl, who looks just like our baby girls did!  Life is full of this constant mixture of all the good with the bad/hard.  We would grow bored if life was all goodness and easy and avoid any pain or hardship.  It is through the Cross that we find LIFE eternal, Lord!  You have showed us the way to follow after You carrying our Most Cherished Cross.  St Benedict saw clearly that we are to follow you down that narrow path through Prayer and your Word.  How we are filled with the wonder of your Truth as we look to the Saints, Your Church with the sacraments and sacramentals, and Your Word!  There is so much that fills us with YOUR LIGHT with each new day.  Jesus, we are yours and we trust in YOU.  Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
This is for my mom - the second painting I have done for Treasures.  I hope that you like it as much as I loved doing it...
"Our beloved St Benedict did not follow this way.  He did not lead a degenerate life but held fast to the way of which it is said: "the way of the just is straight.  Although narrow, it leads to life.  The way is narrow at the beginning but afterwards, as blessed Benedict himself teaches us in his Rule, one runs in the way of God's commandments in the unutterable sweetness of LOVE.  For those who are beginning, the way is indeed narrow, as it was for David when he said: "Because of the words of your mouth I have followed harsh ways."  But did the prophet, because he found it narrow at the beginning,  either abandon or decide that he should abandon it?  God forbid!   Rather, he held fast until he could make this very different statement: "I have run in the way of your commandments because you have enlarged my heart."  Fr Aelred of Rievaulx (1167)
You can just barely see that there is a daisy in her hair too! 
 Gus ready to swim with mom...
Last few days in our wonderful Michigan for 2013.  Some kids are ready to go home, and some aren't.  I have mixed feelings myself, so I can relate to all of them.
 

 

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