be fully alive

June 28th, Feast of St. Irenaeus

Bishop of Lyons, c. 202

"The glory of God is a human being fully alive;

and to be alive consists in beholding God."

— Saint Irenaeus

John The Forerunner

Today is the Feast Day of John the Baptist.

This Russion Icon is from the 17th century and is entitled "John the Forerunner"

Prayer of John the Baptist

Troubler of Israel,
Turner of Hearts,
Last but also First--
John the Baptizer!

Make straight a new path,
Through a new wilderness,
And bring a new people,
To the “Great and Fabulous Dear God”
Who awaits and invites us
To a Message that is always
Bigger than we are.

Like you,
May we grow smaller.

Amen

from "The Center for Action and Contemplation

Ascension Thursday

"The Feast of the Ascension, one of the great festivals of Christianity, is observed on Thursday, 40 days after Easter. I looked at several depictions of this event and many of them were similar to this one - just His feet showing...........they look rather dainty in this painting....I could not find the name of the artist....

Wednesday of Holy Week

Rodney Dangerfield (and if you remember him you are old!) would have spoken of today as one that gets "no respect"......for Wednesday of Holy Week falls between Palm Sunday and the Triduum (Evening of Maundy Thursday through the evening of Easter Sunday).....but it is not just any old day. It is a Day of Reconciliation & aren't we all in desperate need of healing and forgiveness? So this is the day to reflect on our need for a Savior.

Today's gospel story was about Judas (the bad guy) betraying Jesus (the good guy)....as a child it was easy to villify Judas - the world was so much easier to divide into categories of good/bad, yes/no, etc. but now i see the Judas inside of me......for when i feel betrayed as he must have felt, i too betray. During the Morning Eucharist Elizabeth+ said that "when we are afraid of betrayal we withhold our trust". So true! Well Jesus was betrayed and still He chose to love us to the point of death. What a great Reconciler we have!