"Do not be afraid to suffer..."

While spending time painting in the area of Italy known as Tuscany, I became accustomed to seeing grape vines growing on the hillsides.  The older gnarled vines were beautiful to sketch because of their knotty twists and bends.  Over the course of time, the winds, rains and sun -- the weathering effects of the seasons -- had forced their shapes.  The most luscious growth came from these rugged old vines...grapes so heavy and bountiful they seemed to invite people to pick them.

In another vineyard were young plants which had suffered no ill effects of nature at all.  They offered no particular beauty or character and were hardly worthy of my pencil or paintbrush.

As it is in nature, so it is in God's kingdom.  From the winds and rains of adversity comes abundant growth and a beautiful life worth painting.

Do not be afraid to suffer....  It is from being shaken apart and not being destroyed that one becomes strong and courageous.

~Laura Lewis Lanier, All Things Bright and Beautiful

In this is my Father glorified;

that you bring forth very much fruit,

and become my disciples.

~John 15:8

My sweet Jesus, I rejoice in so far as I share Your sufferings, that I may also rejoice and be glad when Your glory is revealed.  Amen.  (cf. 1 Peter 4:13)

A Prayer of a Devout Lover of God

My Lord God, it is my desire, in union with all Your saints and creatures, devoutly to praise, bless, and glorify You at all times and in all places and always to love You with a pure heart.  Because You are my God and I am Your poor servant, I forever desire to magnify and exalt Your holy name above all Your works.

You, my God, are my light and my hope, my strength and my patience, my praise and my glory.  You, my God, are my wisdom and prudence, my beauty and sweetness!  My God, You are my music and harp, my timbrel and organ, my psalm and hymn, my song and jubilation!  My God, You are my helmet and breastplate, my bow and sword!  You, my God, are my treasure and capital, my gold and silver, payment for all my debts!

You, my God, are my home, fortress, and palace, my shield and banner!  My God, You are my fortified tower and my life's defense!  My God, You are my garden and orchard, my greenhouse and cool retreat!  You, my God, are my dining hall and table, my food and drink!  All food not prepared or cooked by You is tasteless.  My God, You are my cinnamon and sweet balsam, my spikenard, choice myrrh, and precious ointment!  You are my rose and lily, my wreath and garland.  My God, You are my couch and bed, my blanket and covering.  My God, You are my light and lamp, my candelabra and constellation!  My God, You are my book, interiorly and exteriorly written, my Bible in which is all of Holy Scripture!  My God, You are my teacher, instructor, and adviser, my physician and pharmacist.

Thanks to Your mercy and generosity, I find and have all things in You, and whatever I may seek and desire that is not You I recognize as being of no benefit and of little worth. Open my heart to Your holy law, and "restore to me the joy of Your salvation" (Psalm 51:12); expand my heart that I may follow in Your way; confirm me in Your words, for there is no other who can help, nor is there anyone, other than You, who can lead me to eternal life.  Hear me, my God, when I cry to You -- in affliction, in joy, or in health.  I commend myself to you at all times, and I bless You forever.  Amen.

~Thomas à Kempis, The Valley of Lilies, #28

Hymn for the Day

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

Through all this new-born day, O Lord,

Which, in Thy grace, Thou givest me,

Let all its moments throb with joy,

That better I may follow Thee.

Gabriela Mistral, 1889-1957

Overcoming Evil

Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.  ~Romans 12:21

"Jesus conquered evil, both physical and moral evil, by His mercy and love.  This must be our strategy too. Whatever the evil around us, whatever the suffering it may cause us, we shall never overcome it by arguments and discussion or by taking a stand and adhering rigidly to it. This can only be accomplished by a delicate charity which understands intuitively the mentality, the tastes, and the needs of others, and which knows precisely when to intervene, to condescend and to sacrifice itself for the good of another, even if that other is unfriendly toward us -- only such charity can triumph over evil."

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy

"that I may be fully alive"

The vitality of God be mine this day
the vitality of the God of life.
The passion of Christ be mine this day
the passion of the Christ of love.
The wakefulness of the Spirit be mine this day
the wakefulness of the Spirit of justice.
The vitality and passion and wakefulness of God
be mine that I may be fully alive this day.
The vitality and passion and wakefulness of God
that I may be fully alive.
~Celtic Prayer

I am the life. ~Jn 14:6

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:1) Everyone knows that we were all born in darkness, and once lived in darkness. But now that the Sun of Righteousness has risen for us, let us see that we no longer remain in darkness.

Christ came to enlighten those who lived in darkness, overshadowed by death, and to guide their feet into the way of peace. Do you ask what darkness?

Whatever is present in our intellect, in our will, or in our memory that is not God, or which has not its source in God; that is to say, whatever in us is not for God’s sake, is a barrier between God and the soul — it is darkness.

In himself Christ brought us light which would enable us to see our sins, and hate our darkness. His freely chosen poverty, when there was no place for him in the inn, is for us a light by which we can now learn that the poor in spirit, to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs, are blessed.

The love with which Christ offered himself to instruct us, and to endure for us injuries, ostracism, persecution, lashes, and death upon a cross; the love finally which made him pray for those who crucified him — that love is for us a light by which we may learn to love our enemies.

The humility with which “he emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave,” and with which he scorned the glory of the world, and willed to be born, not in a palace but in a stable, and to die ignominiously on a gibbet—that humility is for us a light showing us what a detestable crime it is for clay, that is to say, for poor weak creatures, to be proud, to exalt themselves, or to refuse submission, when the infinite God was humbled, despised, and subject to human beings.

The meekness with which Christ endured hunger, thirst, cold, harsh words, lashes, and wounds, when he was “led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before his shearer opened not his mouth”— that meekness is for us a light.

By it we see how useless it is to be angry, how useless to threaten. By it we accept our own suffering, and do not serve Christ merely from routine. By it we learn how much is required of us, and that when suffering comes our way we should bewail our sins in silent submission, since he endured affliction with such patience and long-suffering, not for his own sins, but for ours.

Reflect then, beloved, on all the virtues which Christ taught us by his example, which he recommends by his counsel, and which he enables us to imitate by the assistance of his grace.

John Justus Landsberg, 1489/90-1539

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.

~Psalm 26(27):1, 4

"A marvellous prayer!"

"The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer! Marvellous in its simplicity and in its depth. In this prayer we repeat many times the words that the Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel, and from her kinswoman Elizabeth. …against the background of the words 'Ave Maria' there pass before the eyes of the soul the main episodes in the life of Jesus Christ. They are composed altogether of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, and they put us in living communion with Jesus through – we could say – his Mother's heart.

"At the same time our heart can enclose in these decades of the Rosary all the facts that make up the life of the individual, the family, the nation, the Church and mankind. Personal matters and those of one's neighbour, and particularly of those who are closest to us, who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the Rosary beats the rhythm of human life."

~Bl. John Paul II, 10/29/78 Angelus

Hail Mary, full of grace!

The Lord is with Thee!

Blessed art Thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Taking Inventory

"Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also" (Mt 6:21). This is a grand saying. Consider well what your thoughts are full of, for wherever they naturally turn is the real place of your treasure, and the home of your heart. If your thoughts are filled with God, then are you happy. If with anything merely mortal, which "the rust and the moth"' constantly consume, and corruption lays hold of, then will your treasure escape you, and your heart remain empty and destitute.

~Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, The Sermon on the Mount

Keep your heart with all vigilance;

for from it flow the springs of life.

~Proverbs 4:23

On Faithfulness in Little Things

He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater.  ~Luke 16:10

"Now, great things and great occasions of heroic virtues are rarely presented to us.  But little things are offered to us every day.  And how shall we ever prove our love to God if we wait for grand and brilliant things?  Perhaps one may never come to us all our life long.  More than this, great things require great courage.  How can we make sure of our strength in heroic actions if we have made no trial of it in small ones; if we have not striven and prepared ourselves by degrees for difficult things by the performance of those which are easy?"  ~Jean Nicholas Grou, "On Faithfulness in Little Things," Manual for Interior Souls

Dear Lord, help me to make the most of all the little things You will offer me this day, for Your eternal praise and everlasting glory.  Amen.

"safeguarding our smallness"

Ave Maria!  Vatican Radio's report on the Holy Father's homily of Tuesday, January 21, is worth reading in its entirety.  It's brief but packed, as is usual with Pope Francis. It made me think of Psalm 131:  "O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul."  Here's that report from Vatican Radio.

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says we need to be small and humble to dialogue with God. At the same time He always chooses those who are small and who have least power. This was the core message of the Pope’s homily at Tuesday morning's Mass in the Santa Marta residence.

Listen to this report by Susy Hodges:

We need to safeguard our smallness in order to have a personal dialogue with God. In his homily Pope Francis reflected on the personal relationship between God and his people -- the small and humble -- saying God always speaks to us on a personal level, using our names. "It’s never a dialogue between the powerful and the masses."

The Pope noted how when God chooses people, "he always chooses those who are small" and less powerful than the others. We tend to look at the outer appearance or power of people but God has his own different criteria. "He chooses the weak and gentle to confuse the powerful people in our world." One example of this, said Pope Francis, was when God chose David who was the smallest son, who didn’t count for his father and who had been sent out of the house to tend the sheep.

Later David became king but he committed two serious sins. What did he do then? asked the Pope. David humbled himself, he returned to his smallness, confessed his sins to God, asked for pardon and did penance. In this way, said the Pope, "David safeguarded his smallness through his contrition, his prayer and his grief."

The Pope explained how our Christian loyalty is all about "safeguarding our smallness so that we can have a dialogue with God." That’s why, he continued, "humbleness, gentleness and daily habits are so important in the life of a Christian" because it safeguards our smallness and pleases God. The Pope concluded by imploring God to give us the grace to safeguard our smallness before Him.

"Who is this King of Glory?" ~Psalm 24:8

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

I remain dazzled by God.
~Madeleine Delbrel

Praying through our difficulties...

Even the most sincere, the most deeply founded in faith, go through hours of despair. At such times it is important to continue praying. Perhaps it will sound as if we are talking into an echo chamber. Or perhaps we will feel that our efforts are so insignificant, so weak, that our voice can never reach heaven. But prayer never depends on our feeling close to God; he is always close to us, and he does hear us.  ~Johann Christoph Arnold, Cries from the Heart

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him:

to all that call upon him in truth.  ~Psalm 145:18

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

“When he saw Jesus coming toward him John said: 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.'” (Jn 1:29)

No longer does he say: Prepare. That would be out of place now that at last he who was prepared for is seen, is before our very eyes. The nature of the case now calls for a different type of homily. An explanation is needed of who is present, and why he has come down to us from heaven.

So John says: “Behold the Lamb of God,” of whom the prophet Isaiah told us in the words: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before his shearer he opened not his mouth.”(Is 53:7)

In past ages he was typified by the law of Moses, but because the law was merely a figure and a foreshadowing its salvation was only partial; its mercy did not reach out to embrace the whole world.

But now the true lamb, the victim without blemish obscurely prefigured in former times, is led to the slaughter for all to banish sin from the world, to overthrow the world’s destroyer, to abolish death by dying for the entire human race, and to release us from the curse: “Dust you are and to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:19)

He will become the second Adam who is not of earth but of heaven, and will be for us the source of every blessing. He will deliver us from the corruptibility foreign to our nature; he will secure eternal life for us, reconcile us with God, teach us to revere God and to live upright lives, and be our way to the kingdom of heaven.

One Lamb died for all to restore the whole flock on earth to God the Father; one died for all to make all subject to God; one died for all to gain all so that all “might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.”

Because our many sins had made us subject to death and corruption, the Father gave his son as our redemption, one for all, since all were in him and he was greater than all. One died for all so that all of us might live in him.

Death swallowed the Lamb who was sacrificed for all, and then disgorging him disgorged all of us in him and with him; for we were all in Christ who died and rose again for us.

Once sin had been destroyed how could death, which was caused by sin, fail to be wholly annihilated? With the root dead how could the branch survive? What power will death have over us now that sin has been blotted out?

And so, rejoicing in the sacrifice of the Lamb let us cry out: “O death, where is your victory? O grave, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55) “All wickedness shall hold its tongue,” as the Psalmist sings somewhere.

Henceforth it will be unable to denounce sinners for their weakness, for God is the one who acquits us. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for our sake,” (Gal 3:13) so that we might escape the curse brought down on us by sin.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444)

For he is the true Lamb

who has taken away the sins of the world;

by dying he has destroyed our death,

and by rising, restored our life.

The Roman Missal, 3rd Edition

Preface I of Easter

"in company with Mary"

We too are asked to take up as readily and as devotedly as possible the little crosses that come our way, to bear them with Him and for Him, and to go on unflaggingly -- to go on if necessary to the mountain of myrrh, to the darkness and the burial: that is the way to know something of the inexpressible joy of that other, later meeting of Son and mother, when the day indeed had broken, the dawn indeed had come, and there was only joy for them now, and the shared happiness of their love, the love that, having gone down in silence together to the very depths of human agony, now rose together to the heights of more than human glory, to that joy of which no tongue can tell, but which is promised in God's mercy to all those who, in company with Mary, try to love and follow and serve her Son to the end.  ~Rev. Gerald Vann, O.P.

Dear Mary, Mother of Christ and our Mother too, I beg you, help me to try to love and follow and serve your Son to the end.  Amen.

Brooms, buttons, dishwater, and restoring all things in Christ

“You see, this is the essence of our vocation: to connect an ordinary and seemingly boring life with its repetitious details, with Love Who is God. Then the boredom vanishes, and a day spent in sorting buttons is glorious. Then a day at the typewriter, when your back is aching and your mind reeling with tiredness, is a day that has redeemed many souls; how many, God alone knows. We must have that awareness and make that connection. If it isn’t made, it is a wasted day. What a horrible and a tragic thought that one of the most precious gifts of God, time, has been wasted. 

"In a word, Christ is waiting for you to become aware of him and [the work] that he has confided to you, by becoming aware of the connection between brooms, dishwater, lettering-typing, tidiness and the restoration of the world.  Dearly Beloved, when, when is this going to happen?”

~Catherine Doherty

Seek the Lord and live.  ~Amos 5:6

Oh my Jesus, how glorious every moment is because You are there!  Yes, even amid the the brooms, buttons and dishwater, I will find You if I seek You with all my heart.  And finding You, I shall indeed live and have some small but blessed share in Your work of restoring the world.  Amen!  Alleluia!

You, my sweet Life!

And I live, now not I; 
but Christ liveth in me.  
~Galatians 2:20

May my mind, my heart, my body, my life, 
be wholly animated by You, my sweet Life!  
I will love You Lord, my strength; 
I will love You, and will live, 
no longer through my own efforts, 
but through you.  
~St. Augustine

Somebody's knocking at your door!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  ~Rev. 3:20

The Lord is knocking at the door of our hearts. Have we put a sign on the door saying: "Do not disturb"?  ~Pope Francis, 1/13/14 Tweet

Dear Lord, is that really You?  Then please, do come in!

Learning Obedience

"And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them."  ~Luke 2:51

"O Jesus, how I love to contemplate You as a Child, in the poor house at Nazareth, with Mary and Joseph! Your simple, humble life was just like that of any other child of Your age. You, the splendor of the Father, did not wish anything to distinguish You from the children of men; You, uncreated wisdom, wished to learn from Mary and Joseph, Your creatures, the ordinary little details of life.  Joseph showed You how to handle his tools and You watched Him attentively, You learned and You obeyed. Mary taught You holy hymns and recounted tales from the Sacred Scriptures; You listened to her like a humble disciple, You who are the one true Teacher, You who are Truth itself. No one, neither Your relatives nor Your fellow townspeople, knew who You really were. Everyone believed You to be the carpenter’s son and paid no more attention to You than they would have paid to an ordinary apprentice.

"Only Mary and Joseph knew; they knew by divine revelation that You were the Son of the Most High, the Savior of the world, and yet they knew it more by faith than by experience. Your ordinary way of life concealed Your majesty and divinity from them so completely that when, without their knowledge, You remained among the doctors in the Temple, they could not understand the reason for Your unusual behavior. That incident, however, was an isolated one; immediately afterward, You wished to return to the hiddenness of Your most humble life. You went back with them, and were subject to them. And this, day by day, until You were thirty years old.

"O most sweet Jesus, grant that I may imitate, at least to some degree, Your infinite humility! You, the Creator, were obedient to Your creatures. Teach me to bow my proud head and willingly obey my superiors. You came down from heaven to earth. Give me the grace to humble myself, to come down, once and for all, from the pedestal of my pride! How can I bear the sight of Your humility and self-effacement,O my God and my Creator, when I, who am nothingness and sin, use the gifts I have received to set myself above others, to prefer myself even to my superiors?"

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy

The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and slighting on him.  ~Mt 3:16

“I am the voice, the voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord.” So I cannot be silent, Lord, in your presence. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

At my birth I took away my mother’s barrenness, and while still an infant I healed my father’s dumbness, for you gave me in childhood the gift of working miracles.

But when you were born of the Virgin Mary, in the way you willed and in a manner known to you alone, you did not take away her virginity, but while preserving it intact you gave her in addition the name of “mother.”

Her virginity did not hinder your birth, nor did your birth destroy her virginity. On the contrary, two opposites, motherhood and virginity, were easily united by you, because the laws of nature have their origin in you.

I am a mere man, sharing in the grace of God, but you are both God and man because of your love for humankind.

“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” You existed from the beginning, you were with God and you were God. You are the radiance of the Father’s glory, the perfect image of the perfect Father.

“You are the true light enlightening every person who comes into the world.” You were in the world, yet you have come to where you were already. You have become flesh, but you have not been changed into flesh. You have lived among us, appearing to your servants in the likeness of a servant.

You by your holy name have bridged heaven and earth, and do you come to me? You, so great, to such as I? King to herald, master to servant?

You were not ashamed to be born within the lowly limits of our human nature, but I cannot pass its bounds. I know the distance between the earth and the Creator, between the clay and the potter. I know how far I, a lamp lit by your grace, am outshone by you, the Sun of Righteousness.

You are concealed by the pure cloud of your body, but I still recognize your sovereignty. I acknowledge my servile condition; I proclaim your greatness. I admit your absolute authority, and my own lowly estate. I am unworthy to undo the strap of your sandal; how then could I dare to touch your immaculate head?

How could I stretch out my hand over you, who stretched out the heaven like a tent, and set the earth upon the waters? How could I enlighten the light?

Surely it is not for me to pray over you, for you are the one who receives the prayers even of those who have no knowledge of you.

~St. Gregory the Wonderworker, c. 213-270

Praise and Wonder

Let all Thy works, O Lord, praise Thee!
~Psalm 145:10

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.
E. B. White, Charlotte's Web