God ever comes!

 

 Silent Steps

Rabindranath Tagore

Have you not heard God’s silent steps?
God comes, comes, ever comes.

Every moment and every age,
Every day and every night
God comes, comes, ever comes.

Many a song I sung in many a mood of mind,
but all their notes have always proclaimed,
‘God comes, comes, ever comes.’

 In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path

God comes, comes, ever comes.
In the rainy gloom of July nights on the
thundering chariot of clouds
God comes, comes, ever comes.

In sorrow after sorrow
it is God’s steps that press upon my heart,
and it is the golden touch of God’s feet
that makes my joy to shine.

+++Photos taken at Franciscan motherhouse in La Crosse, WI.  Reflections of the Adoration Chapel in the nearby puddle. . .

July 30, 2023: Anne Hansen Preaches for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordina...

Leading with our strengths . . .

 

    THE ONE-ARMED             JUDO CHAMPION

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn’t understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

“Sensei,” the boy finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”

“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept                  training.

Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.

“No,” the sensei insisted, “Let him continue.”

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

“Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

“You won for two reasons,” the sensei answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”

https://philipchircop.wordpress.com/Source: Unknown

CONSIDER THIS

Oftentimes what might appear to be an incredible weakness can in fact be the greatest strength.

Look beyond your limitations and focus on what you have and can control.  Always enter the arena of life with a positive, life-giving mindset.

 

July 23, 2022: Erin McDonald, CSJ Preaches for the Sixteenth Sunday in O...

July 22, 2023: Antoinette Gutzler, MM preaches for the Feast of St. Mary...

Listened to ~ loved ~ discovered ~ homed!

 

     

When Someone Deeply Listens To You

When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you've had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.

When someone deeply listens to you
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind's eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!

 

When someone deeply listens to you
your barefeet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.

 John Fox

 

Mary Magdalene ~ Woman of Faith and Courage!

 

I never suspected
            Resurrection
                        and to be so painful
                        to leave me weeping
With Joy
            to have met you, alive and smiling, outside an empty tomb
With Regret
            not because I’ve lost you
            but because I’ve lost you in how I had you –
                        in understandable, touchable, kissable, clingable flesh
                        not as fully Lord, but as graspably human.

I want to cling, despite your protest
            cling to your body
            cling to your, and my, clingable humanity
            cling to what we had, our past.

But I know that…if I cling
            you cannot ascend and
            I will be left clinging to your former self
            …unable to receive your present spirit.


 (Mary Magdala's Easter Prayer/Ron Rollheiser)