The 36-Hour Day

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are thy ways.  Who going through the vale of misery use it for a well, and the pools are filled with water.  Psalm 84:5,6

My dad died suddenly six weeks ago.  Capable, joyful, caring - he made everything okay for those around him and lived his life helping people.  He was my mom's heart, mind and source of normal living.  She has Alzheimer's disease.

"I recommend you place her tomorrow in a residential care facility," said someone from a home care agency. 

"Your first job is to see to the care of your mother.  You need to find an assisted living facility for her," said the attorney. 

"Keep your mother at home where she is comfortable," said one of the African aides that I interviewed. 

"Are you putting me in a nursing home?" my mother questioned angrily when my sister and I toured some residential living communities.  Mom can't remember what day it is and will put on two different shoes, but her emotional impressions remain largely accurate.  That is what makes the decision so hard.

Bottom line, I am the one who has to make this decision about my mother. Nobody else.  And my heart bleeds for her.

Prayer:  Lord, show me Your well and the pools that are filled with water as I go through this vale of misery.  Please let mom feel cared for and loved.  Protect her and give me Your Wisdom.  Amen. 

Power Came Forth

And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all.  [Luke 6:19 RSV]

The phrase "Wise men still seek Him," rings true here.  Tired and sick we often are and we look for ways to touch Jesus. 

Some ways that I am able to touch him:  Reading the scriptures, praying (especially at an Adoration Chapel), and receiving Communion which is the ultimate oneness with Christ.

Dear Lord, I seek to touch you.  Send Your power.  Bring healing.  

Mother's Day

We went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.      
 [Psalm 66:11]

A double celebration today of Mother's Day and a graduation.  Thank you, Lord. 

Psalm 124 says it best:


If the Lord himself had not been on our side, now may Israel say; if the Lord himself had not been on our side, when men rose up against us;

They had swallowed us up alive; when they were so wrathfully displeased at us.

Yea, the waters had drowned us, and the stream had gone over our soul.

The deep waters of the proud had gone even over our soul.

But praised be the Lord, who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.

Our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we are delivered. 

Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth.  [Psalm 124]


Praise be to God forever.                                                                                                    

Aging

Wisdom from Clara - my elderly prayer partner who happens to be legally blind and virtually lame but who sees beyond this world and scales mountains with her prayers:

"Close relatives especially as they grow old can be especially difficult.  I remember taking a class taught by Tony Campolo at Eastern.  He said that some older people become very difficult because in the background they envision that soon death will come like a discordant note over and over again in a symphony.  If a person is fighting death, chances are that they are fighting everyone else.  They want desperately to live.  The oddity is that they often deprive younger people of the joy of living.  

Although I still miss my mother terribly, it was such a blessing when she said to me a few days before she died, 'I have absolutely no fear of death.  Jesus is my God and my all!'   As for some elderly people, I'm sure that they are angry and feel as though they are no longer in control.  The truth is that we never are.  We are blessed if we can lay all our problems at the foot of the Cross."

Blessed Are They That Mourn

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps for a first-born. [Zechariah 12:10]

The beauty of the Old Testament prophecy. 

Lord, during this Holy Week. give us a spirit of compassion and supplication.  Cause us to look upon You who was pierced.  Allow us to mourn for You and weep bitterly for You. 

A Troubled Spirit

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.  [Psalm 51:17]

How does our inner spirit respond during hard times?  Do we get angry and become bitter towards God?  Or do we allow the pain and difficulty to do a good work within us?  

A troubled spirit.  A broken heart.  Good things?  Apparently they are, in God's eyes.  

In the passion of my Maker, be my sinful soul partaker; may I bear with her my part; of His passion bear the token, in a spirit bowed and broken bear His death within my heart.  Amen.

God is Kind

A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.  [Psalm 51:17b]

GOD IS KIND.

Why is there so much suffering?  We never will know this side of heaven.  But in the midst of all the pain and difficulties, I have seen the kindness of God over and over.  His daily kindness shows itself through impressions we get while reading scripture, or in prayer, and through the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Kindness does not force itself upon another person.  Likewise, God waits for us to come to Him.  It is through our seeking of Him that we experience His kindness.  When the heart shows itself open to the Lord, living water will be there to sustain us.  

God Meant it for Good

Joseph said to them..."But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  Think about this.  Sold into slavery by his brothers!  Joseph suffered years as a slave, his father Jacob suffered decades of debilitating grief and the brothers suffered from guilt.  We don't feel so bad for the brothers, do we?  They should suffer after what they did, right?

But somehow, God had a plan within the sinful choices and the suffering.  Jacob's heart-rending grief was not in vain.  GOD HAD A PURPOSE THROUGH IT ALL.  At the end of the story, if this had been New Testament times, Jacob and Joseph could have sung the lyrics: Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God.  

Has grievous sin and suffering marked your path?  Take heart.  Seek God.  Await His overriding purpose amidst the blinding pain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDxTGW8DPhs  

You Are Mine

Here are the lyrics of a comforting song, written as if the Lord is singing it to us.    At the end, you'll find a link where you can listen.

YOU ARE MINE

I will come to you in the silence,
I will lift you from all your fear.
You will hear my voice
I claim you as my choice,
be still and know that I am here.

I am hope for all who are hopeless
I am eyes for all who long to see.
In the shadows of the night,
I will be your light,
Come and rest in me.

I am strength for all the despairing,
Healing for the ones who dwell in shame.
All the blind will see,
the lame will all run free,
All will know my name.

I am the Word that leads to all freedom,
I am the peace the world cannot give.
I will call your name, embracing all your pain,
Stand up, now walk, and live.

Refrain
Do not be afraid, I am with you
I have called you each by name.
Come, and follow me
I will bring you home.
I love you and you are mine.
 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL_bN9NeOM0

Afraid of Alzheimer's

My mother, 81, is sliding into the dementia of Alzheimer's.  It runs in her family.  I take more after Mom than Dad and the thought of developing this ravaging disease is scary.  I have been praying that God would spare me from such a future.  Today at church, I saw this prayer:


Lord Jesus Christ,

Take all my freedom, my memory, my understanding and my will. All that I have and cherish You have given me.  I surrender it all to be guided by Your will.  Your love and Your grace are wealth enough for me.  Give me these, Lord Jesus, and I ask for nothing more.  Amen.   St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556


The above will be my prayer as time marches me towards old age.

So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. [Psalm 71:18]

A Picture of My Wilderness Path

Open My Eyes, Lord

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water...  [Genesis 21:19]

Hagar - Abraham's concubine, mother of  baby Ishmael, borne to Abraham at the request of his wife, Sarah.  Then Sarah had her own son, Isaac,  and Hagar's presence became a source of annoyance and jealousy.  So, Sarah got rid of her.  (Abraham agreed to the idea only after God spoke to him.)


Hagar finds herself in the desert with her young son crying.  She cast the child under one of the bushes.  Then she went, and sat down over against him a good way... for she said, "Let me not look upon the death of the child."  Hagar was in utter despair - tired, thirsty and waiting to die.

And then, God spoke to her words of encouragement and opened her eyes.  She saw a well of water in front of her.  Had it been there the whole time, but she couldn't or wouldn't see it?

Lord, open my eyes on this desert journey.  Show me the well of water that you have placed in front of me.

The LORD Being Merciful

When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."  

 But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. [Genesis 19:15,16]


Lot lingered.  He didn't want to leave his familiar environment.  Perhaps he didn't really believe that all would be destroyed.  

How did God show his mercy?  He had the "men" (angels, really) seize the hands of Lot, his wife and his daughters.  The men set them outside of the city.  Lot needed to be dragged away in order to be saved.

Lord, is there a familiar, yet dangerous place in which I am lingering?  If so, please send angels to seize my hand and bring me forth to the place of safety.  Amen.  

Jesus Never Fails

And they that know Thy Name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast never failed them that seek Thee.  [Psalm 9:9]

There is a little chorus I like to sing.  Here are the lyrics:

Jesus never fails. Jesus never fails.  Heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never fails.

As we face the day ahead, whether it brings routine or something serious like foreclosure or surgery, the Lord will meet us as we seek Him.   May that be your reality this very day, this very moment.

Prayer for Mothers

I found a bookmark this morning that must have come from a resource table at one of the prayer chapels I often visit.  It was a timely read.  Perhaps it will be the same for you.

PRAYER FOR MOTHERS

God of all peoples,
God, our Father,
God of Mary, mother of Jesus,
Bless the mother of our family,
Bless her with the strength of Your Spirit,
She who had taught her children how to walk,
How to speak, and how to pray to You.
Bless her and all mothers today with health,
Joy, love, laughter and pride in her children.
May she who embraced the gift of life that you entrusted to her,
Be embraced by You for all eternity 
To rejoice with her family and friends forever.
This blessing and all graces, we pray
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen+

 [Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home by Edward Hays.  1979: Forest of Peace Books, Inc. -- Easton, KS 66020]

How to Pray

Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  [Matthew 6:6]

My prayer partner is 80% blind and virtually lame, however she "sees" clearly in the spiritual realm and moves mountains through prayer.  I call her Clara.  Here is her advice on how to pray, as written in a letter to me:

"By Saturday I felt as though we had barely made a dent in hewing away the rock embedding [our intentions].   We have to keep on praying because as bad as the situations may seem, without prayer they will get so much worse. 

"In recent years, I don't spend as much time on meditation as I used to, and I can feel the difference.  As you already know, it's good to prepare for prayer by reading the Bible or from the lives of the saints, or for that matter, any religious writing which elevates the mind and lifts it from our worries.  The next step is to pray with words, not too many, which make our intention clear to us.  God already knows what is needed, but to receive His guidance, we can't be confused about the intention of our prayers. 

"After the intention has clarity, we can use formal prayers, such as the rosary in which we pray the Our Father, Hail Mary and Gloria preceded by the Apostles' Creed.  These prayers have been prayed for centuries and have the zeal of the saints and martyrs within them.  Now when we have finished, there is one more crucial step, and that is meditation.  Meditation in the Catholic world is the step before contemplation where God takes over and fills us with His wisdom and guidance.  

"I find the best way for me to begin to meditate is to think of a Bible story where Jesus is always giving us a message.  It can be anything of your choosing from Jesus walking on water to raising Lazarus from the dead.  I don't use words in my mind, I just picture the scene, and breath slowly in and out.  Now resting in the Lord and just breathing.  You can start with 5 minutes  several times a day or at least 3 minutes.  Even if you feel nothing, you are allowing God to do His work in you.  It is in silence that the clamor and worries of the world recede, and in that silence built on faith, the problems that we are praying about are dissolved by God. 

"Some years ago, there was a missionary priest who wrote several books on prayer, fasting and meditation.  I went to one of his services when he came to Philadelphia.  He was an active mystic, and his rail thin appearance was in line with the fasting that he did.  Now, I just remember that he was living in a monastery in California.  For the life of me, I can't remember his name.  But he explained how meditation prevents many calamities in our lives.  When we trust in God and remove our worries from the situation but remain mindful that a solution must be found, our Lord takes over.  Whether it was he or another priest, I remember how the priest related that he was staying with a family, and they were getting ready to take him to the airport.  He told them that they couldn't leave yet, that he had to be alone to meditate.  Had they left at the appointed hour, they would've been buried in a tremendous rock slide.  As it was, they were all saved, and only the flight reservation had to be changed. 

"While meditation isn't easy with young children,  we have to practice it daily whatever our circumstances are.  Playing an instrument requires practice, and meditation is the same.  The more we do it, the easier it becomes.  Meditation opens a path for God to communicate with us in our prayer intentions.  His grace is always active, but we must be receptive in a clear minded way to receive it.  

I hope that some of the above will be helpful. "

Love and prayers,
 Clara 

The Queen Mother

So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne; then he had a throne set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right. [I Kings 2:19]


After Solomon was crowned king, we see his mother Bathsheba approaching him.  Notice how Solomon treated her.  Solomon, the king, bowed to his mother.  He had a throne brought for his mother. She sat on the throne and it was on his right hand side, the place of honor.   He venerated his mother.  

The King's Mother

And the LORD struck the child that Uri'ah's wife bore to David, and it became sick... 

On the seventh day the child died. [2 Samuel 12:15b,18a]

So often, God used mistakes people made to be the very things through which he brought the line of Christ.  

King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife.  When she told him she was pregnant, he then allowed her husband to be killed in battle.  

We are told the child of that union was "struck" by God and died.  The innocent baby took the punishment for David's sin.  Sound familiar?

Bathsheba, the mother of that first sacrificial child later gave birth to Solomon, in the line of the Ultimate sacrificial child: Jesus Christ.  Bathsheba was queen, King David's wife.   Bathsheba also was the queen mother, King Jesus' mother.  

Changing Injury to Compassion

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God, and not of us.  [2Corinthians 4:7]


Once again, I am drawn to Jesus' first miracle.  He changed the water, which was in clay jars, into wine.  Clay jars - earthen vessels.  We are earthen vessels.  We  are comprised of 70% water.

When we suffer hurt and injury at the hands of another,  Jesus can change the water of that hurt into the wine of forgiveness.  Let us each present our own earthen vessel to Him and ask Him to transform us from within.

It is there, in fact, "in the depths of the heart," that everything is bound and loosed.  It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.  
[CCC 2843]