Tenderness, Compassion, Sympathy and Tolerance

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these." 

- George Washington Carver

My experience is that one has to live many years before becoming fully capable of tenderness, compassion, sympathy and tolerance.  Even then, it is only Christ in us that produces these qualities.

TV~ (Today's Verse) 

He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.  [Luke 10:34]

The Great Litany

Today is the first Sunday of the church year, the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent means "the coming" and is a time of expectant waiting for the entrance of our Savior into the world. 

On this first Sunday of Advent, the Great Litany is recited.  This lengthy responsive prayer was compiled in the 1500s from a combination of litanies by Thomas Cranmer, St. John Crysostom and Martin Luther.

It is worth reading and praying.  When sung responsively in church, it feels holy and powerful.

http://www.bcponline.org/GreatLitany/Litany2.html

TV~  (Today's Verse)
Hear me, LORD, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer...  [Psalm 17:1]

Third Order Carmelite

I never knew there could be lay-person nuns.  The iconographer that I met the other evening is a "Third Order Carmelite."  This appears to be a way to dedicate one's normal, every-day life to prayer and pursuit of God, but within an organized order.

"Lay Carmelites, filled with the spirit of the Order, seek to live their own vocation by silently listening to the Word of God (Lectio Divina). According to the constant tradition of Carmel, they will especially cultivate prayer in all its forms...
 

In the midst of their normal family lives, in the work place, in their social commitments and relationships with other people, Carmelite Third Order members seek out the hidden image of God. They try to live in the spirit of the Beatitudes, humbly and consistently exercising the virtues of honesty, justice, sincerity, courtesy and fortitude, without which no Christian or human life is possible."   (http://ocarm.org/en/content/ocarm/third-order)

TV~  (Today's Verse)
Take the... sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

One by One

The friar stood before his students that day to give a lecture on offering thanks to God.  He said but a few words, "Count your blessings.....one by one."  Then he turned and walked out, leaving his students there to contemplate his words and await his return.  It was two hours later that the friar returned. 

Even two hours is not enough time to count all the blessings that God has given us.  Yet, I wonder if I'd have been able to fill the full two hours with an item-by-item list of my blessings.  I must admit that, even on this day of thanks, there are tears being shed for things that seem absent or undeserved.

TV~ (Today's Verse)
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. [Psalm 116:7]

Visiting an Iconographer

The other evening, I visited the beautiful home of an iconographer.  Decorated creatively and furnished arts-and-crafts style, the home exuded a sense of peace and spirituality.

The woman who lives there spends much of her time "writing" icons.  Apparently one does not paint an icon, one "writes" an icon because it is a story of the gospel and is thought of as a passage into heaven.  Icons came about before the general population could read and thus were ways for the populous to seek God.  The idea of an icon is that rather than focusing on the image itself, you look "through" it to become closer to the Lord. 

Before any project is begun, the iconographer prays and often fasts for a period of time.  She uses gold leaf on some of her pieces, as that is a symbol of divinity.

TV~  (Today's Verse)
One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
[Psalm 27:4]

The Greatest Power

Q:  What is the greatest of all God's powers?

A:  The power to forgive sins.  This brings a person from death to life.


TV~  (Todays' Verse)
"Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, and walk '? "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins "-- then He said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home." And he got up and went home.… [Matthew 9:6]

Walking in the Dark

Please give credit to the author, it you happen to know him or her...

I do not ask my cross to understand, my way to see
Better in darkness just to feel thy hand, and follow thee.

TV~  (Today's Verse)

They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.… 
[Psalm 91:11]