Celebrating Life!

For all things are yours...whether the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's. 1 Cor 3:21-23

Ave Maria! No, this really isn't a picture of me! My hair is neither blond nor this long, my figure was never this lithe, I avoid wearing this shade of green, and I no longer kick up my heels this high. But this is a good image of my heart and soul today as I celebrate my 62nd birthday. I'm not at all shy about celebrating birthdays because, for me, it's a special time to honor the God of all glory and beauty who so graciously created me in His image and likeness and to thank the everlasting Father of mercies for His eternal love and abundant goodness to me. I awakened this morning thinking of these lines from "Sayings of Light and Love" by St. John of the Cross. They have been my morning meditation, and I know that I will be singing them with gratitude and joy throughout this happy day.

"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me. What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? Yours is all of this, and all is for you. Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father's table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart."

Thank you, dear Lord, for your inexpressible gift! May I always and forever exult in You! Amen! Alleluia!

Old and New

"Old and New" by Ann L. Krumrein

This ethereal image that my sister Annie captured recently has been sitting on my prayer altar since she sent it to me. It reminds me of St. Paul's letter to the Philippians where he says that one thing he does is, "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13-14). Today I am especially thinking of and praying with this passage (Phil 3:7-16) because it's my birthday, a time I like to use to assess with gratitude and repentance the past year and to spiritually prepare for the new one opening up before me. I find that life can often be murky for, as St. Paul readily admits, "we see through a glass, darkly" (1 Cor 13:12). Yet the light of faith reveals to me the knowledge of Christ and the power of His resurrection, so that my sharing in His sufferings do not overwhelm me but become a source of joy as I am being conformed to His death (Phil 3:10-11).

Psalm 139 is also my special prayer and meditation today as I praise and thank God for His astounding, everlasting love for me. The Grail Psalter entitles this psalm "The Hound of Heaven," and I am so happy that God has always hounded me and continues to do so. He never leaves me high and dry, even when I've brought such misery upon myself. Sometimes I get stuck in the murkiness of life and either can't find my way out or just prefer to stay there and wallow, but for Him, even darkness is not dark and the night shines as the day (vs 12). God, who truly knows my heart and its deepest desires, lovingly keeps me from following the crooked way and leads me in the path of life eternal (vs 23-24). Truly, "I praise you for you are fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are your works!" (vs 14)

Thank you, so kind and gracious Lord, for the joy of birthdays, the wonder of my being, and the glory of YOU! Amen. Alleluia!