All Saints Day/All Souls Day

Nov 1:  All Saints....Nov 2: All Souls...two wonderful feasts.

All Saints we remember those holy women and men whom the Church has pronounced saints....yet I believe we are all saints.  I have always held that a saint is someone who tries to be the best s/he can be or as Matthew Kelly says: to be the best version of yourself.

Do you have someone special "up there"? Your namesake? Someone you admire for how s/he lived? How about your deceased friends, parents?  Absolutely!

Then we have All Souls Day, a consoling feast, when we remember our loved ones who have died.  We pray that they are enjoying eternal joy and peace.  We thank God for them, for who they were for us.  This holy day also is a reminder that we will be joining them....who knows when...so let's be the best we can be "one day at a time". 

Trust

Just returned from a drive of PRAISE and THANKS....autumn beauties.

I get these mediations by Fr. Richard Rohr....you may know of him...a great writer, spiritual guide, Franciscan and more.  I want to share the one I read today on TRUST...something that does not come easy to me.

He writes: "What you can rust is that you are being guided...you realize that God is letting this happen to you now to teach you something, to show 'you something, or to love you in a new way...
the Spirit in you allows you to trust that there's a reason for this; God is even in this...when a YES and not a NO first comes to your soul and to your heard, then you can see God in the moment and see guidance in this event being given to you by the provident hand of God.  You can trust nothing is wanting."

Is that not of God...for me right now, YES!

Take time to sit with this.

AUTUMN BLESSINGS.......

Finally....

I am "finally" back....praise the Lord.

I think I wrote this before....but I am SOOOOOO taken by the beauty of Autumn...those trees, those leaves just leave me awestruck, breathless....standing there with my mouth wide open...and a word of  praise, thanks, and awe.....

And we forget that we are just as....no...more beautiful....we too are God's "work of art"!  Let's be in awe of each other.

AUTUMN BLESSINGS......

CELEBRATE!

We have had so many days to celebrate something special:  St Therese, the Little Flower on the 3rd; Angels on the 2nd; my birthday on the 1st; and today, the 4th  Francis of Assisi....the 7th Holy Rosary.  I best stop there.

It is good to have days to celebrate...they balance the ordinary and the dark days.  Balance is ALWAYS the key to being happy:  work, play and pray; give and be open to receive gratefully... now you think of other ways to keep in balance.

The beauty of the Autumn season is beginning to show.  I love to drive and just take in the wonderful artistic work of our God...it is truly breathtaking.  And it is amazing how the trees "know" just the when and the how. 

I hope you find....no, TAKE time to marvel and enjoy this aspect of our marvelous creative divine Artist. 

Special Days....

Today, the 14th is the feast of the EXALTATION OF THE CROSS.  We usually see the cross as a symbol of Jesus' death and so a painful memory....yet a grateful sense.  BUT, we know that the cross is a symbol, a reminder of our REDEMPTION.  This is s joyful memory.  How grateful we are for Jesus taking on our load upon himself and SAVING US.  So gratitude.

This feast was established way back (I do not know my history)....but you may recall St. Helena who discovered the true cross.  Why don't your google this....interesting.

Let's renew our gratitude for the CROSS....perhaps by being more intentional in making the sign of the Cross.  Perhaps looking at how we handle the little "crosses" of our dailyness.

THEN....tomorrow the 15, we celebrate the feast of the SORROWFUL MOTHER. ...and why would I be so excited about that?  It is the feast of our congregation:  we are the SISTERS OF THE SORROWFUL MOTHER.   Our sisters locally are getting together for dinner.

Another title is Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.  We honor seven of Mary's sorrowful events....I'm sure there were more.  I'd like to share them with you.

1.  The Prophecy of Simeon...when baby Jesus was presented in the temple, Simeon said to Mary: your heart a sword shall pierce.
2.  The Flight into Egypt:  Joseph taking Mary and the child fleeing to Egypt to save Jesus' life.
3.  The Loss of Jesus for three days....on their trip to Jerusalem, the 12-year old disappeared...isn't that just like a 12-year old?
4.  Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary
5.  Mary is with Jesus as he is crucified and dies on the Cross
6.  Mary receives the body of her Son into her arms....(the Pieta)
7.  Mary buries her son   

These are the "mysteries" of the chaplet of the Sorrowful.  It consists of an Our Father
and seven Hail Mary's followed with a Glory Be...

Perhaps you can join us in this prayer...or the "Stabat Mater"...a long "story" prayer to Mary
See what you can find with google "Stabat Mater".

"Holy Mother pierce me through
In my heart each wound renew  
Of my Savior crucified....(from the Stabat Mater)

Join us in this celebration of gratitude to Mary, our Sorrowful Mother. 

Women Friends

I am not sure if I heard this was WOMEN FRIENDS day or week or month or year!!!  But the focus is WOMEN TO WOMEN FRIENDS. 

I think this is wonderful!  How many of us would have thought of taking time out to reflect/think about our women friends.  I am sure I would not have...too many "TO DO'S"...yet it is worth our time to sit and, maybe even write down, the names of our women friends...those women who support us, take time to listen to us, cry with us, laugh with us, pray with us.

I don't know, and I don't have time to look it up, but our Scriptures, either the Book of Proverbs or the Book of Wisdom has some wise sayings about friends.  How about looking that up and reflect on the particular one that "grabs you"....then reflect on the gift of your women friends, thank God for them, pray for them....then take a look at how you are FRIEND...

HAPPY AND BLESSED WOMEN FRIEND CELEBATION!  

Labor Day....

Yes I know.  Labor Day's past.  But isn't every day LABOR DAY?  Whether we labor for a salary or labor non-salaried...we labor....even if you are "retired"...I am sure you too labor.  So much for defending my topic!

The reflection I'd like to share is from Sr. Genevieve Glen as she reflected on labor:  "Work was woven into the human fabric from the start.  We first see God busy about what Genesis calls the work of creation.  The climax of God's creative work was human beings, created in the image of that very
same God.  Entrusted with the care of everything just made or set in a garden rich in fruit trees, the first human beings were also intended to be creative workers, cultivating the future God had built into all living things....Our work's content does matter, of course, but what matters more is what truth it tells about us, what relationships it serves, what fruit it bears.  Does it reveal the image of god or a self writ large? Does it weave bonds or tear them asunder?"

You see why I wanted to share LABOR DAY with you.  We have a few good questions to ponder and reflect about our labor.

Blessings...........