Summer stories . . .

There was a small boy who when walking down the street one day found a bright copper penny. He was so excited that he found money and it didn’t cost him anything. This experience led him to spend the rest of his days walking with his head down; eyes wide open, looking for treasure.

During his lifetime he found 296 pennies, 48 nickels, 19 dimes, 16 quarters, 2 half dollars and one crinkled dollar bill ~ for a total of $13.96.

He got money for nothing. Except that he missed the breathless beauty of 31,369 sunsets, the colorful splendor of 157 rainbows, the fiery beauty of hundreds of maples nipped by autumn’s frost. He never saw white clouds drifting across blue skies, shifting into various wondrous formations. Birds flying, sun shining, and the smiles of a thousand passing people are not a part of his memory. (Author unknown)

* * *

A little girl walked to and from school daily.
Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning.  The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child.

Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school.   As she did, she saw her little girl walking along.  At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile.

Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.  
When the mother's car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her, 'What are you doing?' The child answered,  
'I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.” (Author Unknown)

When I read this little story, I thought of the camera I recently purchased.  It has a function button that “reads” smiles. Somehow if I adjust the camera to a certain icon, it can notice the smile of the person I wish to focus on and when they smile the camera flashes!  Wow!  Is it not so in life when someone we focus on beams us a giant smile we just respond in kind and sense that we are loved, noticed, accepted, welcomed?  That’s probably why God can’t get enough of us as well! 

Just some Monday mirth!

Jesus is watching you . . .

A burglar broke into a home and was looking around.
He heard a soft voice say, "Jesus is watching you".

Thinking it was just his imagination, he continued his search.
Again the voice said "Jesus is watching you".

He turned his flashlight around and saw a parrot in a cage.
He asked the parrot if he was the one talking
and the parrot said, "Yes."

He asked the parrot what his name was and the parrot said, "Moses."
The burglar asked, "What kind of people would name a parrot Moses?"
The parrot said, "The same kind of people who would name their pit bull Jesus".

 

* * *

The Magician and the Parrot . . .

A Magician worked on a cruise ship.
The audience was different each week so the magician did the same tricks
over and over again. There was only one problem:
the captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began
to understand how the magician did every trick.

Once he understood, he started shouting in the middle of the show, 'Look, it's not the same hat!' or 'Look, he's hiding the flowers under the table!' or 'Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?'

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything. It was, after all, the captain's parrot. Then one stormy night on the Pacific, the ship unfortunately sank, drowning almost all who were on board. The magician luckily found himself on a piece of wood floating in the middle of the sea with, as fate would have it, the parrot. They stared at each other with hatred but did not utter a word. This went on for a day... and then 2 days... and then 3 days. Finally on the 4th day, the parrot could hold back no longer and said......
OK, I give up. Where's the ship?

 

* * *

Grace before Meals . . .

A man decided to skip Mass one Sunday and head to the hills to do some bear hunting. As he rounded the corner on a perilous twist in the trail, he and a bear collided, sending him and his rifle tumbling down the mountainside. Before he knew it, his rifle went one way and he went the other, landing on a rock and breaking both his legs. That was the good news. The bad news was the ferocious bear charging at him from a distance, and he couldn't move. "Oh, Lord," the man prayed, "I'm so sorry for skipping Mass today to come out here and hunt. Please forgive me and grant me just one wish . . . Please make a Christian out of that bear that's coming at me. Please, Lord!" That very instant, the bear skidded to a halt, fell to its knees, clasped its paws together and began to pray aloud right at the man's feet. "Dear God" the bear said, "Bless this food I am about to receive."

Covenant

God
knocks at my door
seeking a home for his son:
Rent is cheap, I say.
I don’t want to rent. I want to buy, says God.

I’m not sure I want to sell,
but you might come in to look around.
I think I will, says God.

I might let you have a room or two.
I like it, says God.  I’ll take the two. You might
decide to give me more someday. I can wait, says God.

I’d like to give you more but it’s a bit difficult.  I need some space for me.
I know, says God, but I’ll wait. I like what I see.

Hmm, maybe I can let you have another room.  I really don’t need that much.
Thanks, says God.  I’ll take it.  I like what I see.

I’d like to give you the whole house but I’m not sure . . .Think on it, says God.  I wouldn’t put you out. 
Your home would be mine and my son would live in it. You’d have more space than you’d ever had before.

I don’t understand at all.I know says God, but I can’t tell you about that. 
You have to discover it for yourself. That can only happen if you let him have the whole house.

A bit risky, I say.
Yes, says God, but try me.

I’m not sure  . . .  I’ll let you know.
I can wait, says God. I like what I see.

     Margaret Halaska, osf

And it was GOOD!

 

 

 

 

In the aeons of time
there came a moment
when God said: "NOW!"
Light sprang from darkness,
order from chaos,
and where there was no life before
life teemed.
God saw that it was - GOOD!
So every once in a while
God does it again
God's "NOW" breaks planets open,
bursts stars apart,
shifts the continental plates,
moves mountains and valleys,
melts the ice-caps,
sends forth a Sun.
It is incredibly disturbing -
adjusting, adapting,
stroking the fires of passion
for God's endless possibilities,
But a Word keeps calling:
"LIFE!" Be in it with me,
any moment, every moment,
alert for God's "NOW!"

Raphael Consedine PBVM

 

 

 

 

NASA photo of the Helix Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has been dubbed the 'Eye of God'

 

The Presence of the Presence!

 

 

God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need.  Then the rest of the day can take its course, under the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace.  And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone

undone. . . just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with God.  Then you will be able to rest in God ~ really rest ~ and start the next day as a new life.

 

St. Teresa Benedict of the Cross (Edith Stein)

 

Photo by Anita Henning, CSA

 

Peace

An offering from Gerald May:

Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone...
much less upon one's own mind.
It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves.
Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety,
moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves,
where underneath, within,
peace simply is.

 

 

A Summer Prayer . . .

Transforming Presence,
layers and layers of my false self
keep being stripped away from me.
I walk with caterpillar feet,
knowing that the skin must be shed
time and again
before I find my butterfly wings.

I look at the old discarded peelings
of the person I thought I was
with some dismay and sadness,
but also with some relief and joy.

With every lifted layer, I feel lighter.
With every painful peeling, I am freer.
With every discarded skin, I stretch deeper.
With every sloughed off segment, I grow wiser.

Keep teaching me, Freedom Bringer,
that it is never too late
to embrace the changes
that lead to my truest self.
Keep nudging me away from confining security
when I cling too tightly to what needs to go.

Continue to attune my spirit to your song
of ongoing transformation.
Remind me daily that I will always have
another layer that needs to be shed.


Joyce Rupp
Prayers to Sophia