forgive again

Forgiveness

Is a thousand pains

Placed one by one

In small boats

Kissed tenderly

And sent out to sea

Sometimes a few float back

The exquisiteness of the pain

Remembered

Kissed yet again

Then placed in its boat and sent out

As many times as it takes

Will they ever stop coming back

I can’t know

I can only send them out again

One by one

-Laura S. Walters

one can learn a lot from little ones about forgiveness

Prayer for the Aged

For the Aged

Look with mercy, O God our Father,

on all whose increasing years bring them weakness, distress, or isolation.

Provide for them homes of dignity and peace;

give them understanding helpers,

and the willingness to accept help;

and, as their strength diminishes,

increase their faith and their assurance of your love.

This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Book of Common Prayer

I read this prayer today on The Daily Office.

What struck me were these words,

"and the willingness to accept help"

Why is that so difficult for us?

sand art?

I am easily amused

by kitty litter puns!

a new kind of thinking

"You don't think your way into a new kind of living.

You live your way into a new kind of thinking."

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

photo of labyrinth on Irish beach

failte = welcome

Feast of Mary Magdalene

"It is clear that Mary Magdalene's life was radically changed by Jesus' healing.

Her ministry of service and steadfast companionship,

even as a witness to the crucifixion, has, through the centuries,

been an example of the faithful ministry of women to Christ.

All four Gospels name Mary as one of the women who went to the tomb

to mourn and to care for Jesus' body. Her weeping for the loss of her Lord

strikes a common chord with the grief of all others over the death of loved ones.

Jesus' tender response to her grief - meeting her in the garden,

revealing himself to her by calling her name -

makes her the first witness to the risen Lord."

Lesser Feasts and Fasts - 2006 p. 314

May we, like Mary Magdalene,

live as joyful witnesses to Christ's resurrection.

painting by Tanya Torres

visit her website to see her art.

This particular work is "Mary Magdalene of the Roses"

which is installed at Holy Rosary Church in East Harlem

"needing" the credit

It is amazing what you can accomplish

if you do not care who gets the credit.

- Harry S. Truman

but the problem is that I do care who gets the credit, especially if it's ME

and the photo powerfully shows what happens
when I make sure that I do get the credit. (Sigh)

it always goes back to relationship and loving one another,doesn't it?

Good News

“What was achieved in the body of Mary

will happen in the soul

of everyone who receives the Word.”

Gregory of Nyssa

Alone with God

"Grant me the ability to be alone.

May it be my custom to go

outdoors each day

among the trees and grasses,

among all growing things

and there may I be alone,

and enter into prayer

to talk with the one

that I belong to."

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav

photo of this sweet strolling child

was taken from here

she looks so pensive...

Jesus as Mystic

"Jesus was a mystic in the sense that he lived in conscious awareness of the transcendent reality of God. Everything we admire about the life of Jesus – his compassion, wise teaching, mighty acts, and sacrifice – were funded by the private disciplines of his inner life – how he learned to be tuned into the presence and power of God’s song.  He demonstrated that the transforming power of God’s kingdom is accessed through receptivity, mindful surrender, study, simplicity, silence, and solitude. Through the example of his life, we are invited to follow a path of a mystic."

'Soul Graffitti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus' by Mark Scandrette

do you connect with any of these images of Christ?

pay attention

"…And when Jesus comes along saying that the greatest command of all is

to love God and to love our neighbor, he too is asking us to pay attention.

If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for him

 in what is happening around us and inside us.

If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else

we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes,

that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces

but the life behind and within their faces.

Here it is love that is the frame we see them in."

-Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark

That I Might...

"Oh, that I might ever know

Your Presence in every face,

Your Pulse in every heart;

That I might ever feel

Your Breath in every breeze,

Your Touch in every raindrop;

That I might ever see

Your Smile in every bloom

Your might in each sunrise.

And, oh, please grant

That I might view

Life's beauty through

Your Eyes.

- Lynn L. Salata

Rita and Taco playing on beach @ Lake Crescent

people's stories

"If there's anything worth calling theology,

it is listening to people's stories,

listening to them and cherishing them."

- Mary Pellaur

what we have in common

"Compassion - which means, literally, "to suffer with" - is the way to the truth

that we are most ourselves, not when we differ from others,

but when we are the same. Indeed, the main spiritual question is not,

"What difference do you make?" but

"What do you have in common?"

It is not "excelling" but "serving" that makes us most human.

It is not proving ourselves to be better than others

but confessing to be just like others

that is the way to healing and reconciliation.

Compassion, to be with others when and where they suffer

and to willingly enter into a fellowship of the weak,

is God's way to justice and peace among people.

Is this possible? Yes, it is,

but only when we dare to live the radical faith

that we do not have to compete for love,

but that love is freely given to us

by the One who calls us to compassion."

- Henri Nouwen

quoted in the wonderful book

'Befriending Death: Henri Nouwen and a Spirituality of Dying'

by Michelle O'Rourke

p. 112

Artwork from here:

Flow of Compassion

2006 Finalist

Jessica Escobedo, Age 13

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

where's God in this?

It was easy to love God in all that

was beautiful.

The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me

to embrace God in all

things.

St. Francis of Assisi

(for those who cannot find hope

 in whatever this day has brought)

Bechdel Test

My friend Karen sent me a youtube video today that I encourage you to watch.

It explains the Bechdel test which considers the presence of women in movies...
or lack thereof.

Here are the rules:

1) are there 2 or more women in the movie with names?

2) do they talk to one another?

3) do they talk to one another about something other than men?

Now think back over the movies you've watched this month....which of them passed this test? Realize that this test is not saying that the movies that don't pass the test aren't good movies, just that "half the sky" is not represented in our entertainment choices...should that matter? At 51% of the population I think it does.

Years ago Karen told me that her top rule for video viewing in her home was the 10-in-10 rule: Ten die in the first 10 minutes, turn movie off. Being the only female in the household they had a few arguments regarding said rule. Her husband and sons would claim that some characters looked only maimed and might be revived at the hospital:) Do you have rules for what movies you watch or don't watch?

extra credit: name the movie that passes the Bechdel test from the photo above.