Hello my friends! It's getting warmer out! Yah!! We've decided not to have the 50th Anniversary Party - too much stress, and too much money - which we don't have, and we can be just as happy with having our girls take us out to eat - just our family! Everythings so up in the air about Darla - not knowing where she'll end up, Mpls, Fla. or stay in Texas, and just because his brother and wife had a big celebration doesn't mean we have to too. Just the thought that our girls want to do this for us is good enough - we were touched. His brother said it was stressful. I'm excited today because I found a lost friend on line! That's always good to get connected again!! Praying for all your needs, thanks for your prayers for us.
Live today so that you will make life better for those around you. You will
end up making your life better too. Lord, You teach that it is in giving
that
I receive. May I always have a generous spirit.
Scripture for the day:
"'Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who
fell into the hands of the robbers?' He said, 'The one who showed him
mercy.' Jesus said to him, 'Go and do likewise.'" ~Luke 10:36-37
Meditation for the day:
We can accept the difficulties and disciplines of life and thereby
fully share the common life of other people. Many things that we need
to accept in life are not to be taken so much as being necessary for
us personally. In our disappointments and difficulties we share in the
problems of humanity. We can accept the compassion and understanding
of others. We can share many of these experiences of life in order to
understand and sympathize with others. Unless we have been through
the same experiences, we cannot understand other people or their
makeup well enough to be able to help them.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may accept everything that comes my way as a part of
life. I pray that I may make use of it in helping other people.
Dryness in Prayer
Brother John Raymond - Community of the Monks of Adoration
March 28, 1993
You may have read about or heard of certain stages in prayer. I
would like to talk about what is perhaps the second stage a person
enters into as he progresses in prayer.
Prayer is more than just words - it involves our whole
relationship with God. Just as in any relationship the intimacy
between two people takes time to grow. In the case of our
relationship with God it is only our response to God's love that
needs growth. God helps us in the beginning of our relationship with
Him by drawing us to Himself through many consolations during our
prayer. We pray to God and enjoy the consolations we receive from
Him. God showers us with these consolations to form in us the habit
of prayer.
Once we are firmly rooted in a life of prayer God sometimes
withdraws these sensible consolations. Perhaps we have become use to
them. We begin to feel like a "cold stone" when we try to pray. This
dryness or loss of feelings we experience may even carry over into
our charitable works. Some may experience other difficulties when
praying. The first thought (though it's incorrect) that comes to
many people when this happens is that they have done something wrong
and therefore God has abandoned them. Yet when they examine
themselves they cannot find any serious violations of His Law. This
experience of dryness can be very painful. It can be even more
painful if one was very attached to the former feelings of
consolation.
What is happening? God is purifying our love for Him. We are now
asked to pray and serve Him with higher motives than before. Our
relationship with God becomes less of a "what I'm getting out of it"
attitude. Then we'll grow in humility before God. We realize just
how much we depend on Him for everything - even prayer. Thus this
seemingly negative experience in prayer helps us to grow in a
positive way.
Some people, however, turn back in their relationship with God at
this point. They give up their daily prayers. Their "motive" for
prayer is gone and so they give up. Others may not give up prayer
altogether but cut down on the amount of time they used to spend in
prayer. This is a sad mistake.
If we accept this new situation in our relationship with God and
do not panic we actually will suffer less. After some time we will
notice a deeper level of love for God developing. We will again
"want" to pray regardless of what we "experience" while praying.
Just to spend time with God will be our delight.
We have to remain faithful to this relationship of prayer with
God. Perhaps the only thing we are able to do during prayer is say
to God "here I am." But God, Who looks at the heart, knows our
intentions and is pleased with us.
When we arrive at a type of prayer where we are just happy to be
in God's presence we have arrived at what spiritual authors call the
Prayer of Simple Regard or a stage of prayer which involves a "look
of love," a simple gazing upon God. Our will is attached to God and
we are happy to just sit in His presence. St. John Vianney tells
about a man who used to a lot of time before Our Lord present in the
tabernacle of the church. One day St. John Vianney asked the man
what he did during this time. The man responded, "I look at Him and
He looks at me." In other words this man was experiencing this form
of prayer.
I wish to point out that often spiritual writers are speaking
about the stages of prayer that many people pass through. This does
not mean that everyone travels by this path in their life of prayer.
As the Benedictine, Father John Chapman stated, "Pray as you can,
not as you can't." But for those who are experiencing dryness in
prayer I hope and pray that they may persevere on the path they have
begun. A path that will lead to a more intimate prayer-life with
God.
Mother Teresa Said...
Mother Teresa once said, ALWAYS REMEMBER this saying: "Jesus only brings you
peace, fear and anxiety come from the devil." If you feel anxious just Trust
in God's Mercy and pray and your peace will return. You will be assaulted on
all sides with health, with dryness, but Jesus and Mary are at your side.
And we here all have the greatest gift of all, Mary to intercede for us. To
lay all of our prayers at the feet of her son. We have Mary at our side.
Just think about the magnificence of Having the Mother of God at your side,
pleading God's mercy for you and those you love. She leads us to her Son and
wants to hear us say: "Jesus, I trust in You., the whole message of Divine
Mercy".
The English writer John Ruskin has given us a good picture of what the
Lord wants us to be in our world.
In the olden days before electricity, the streets were lighted by gas
lamps. Each evening a lamplighter would go around with a little flame
and light one lamp after another.
One evening, Ruskin was sitting in his house looking out the window.
Across the valley was a street on the hillside. There Ruskin could see
one lamp after another being lighted by the lamplighter as he went along.
Because of the darkness, Ruskin could not see the lamplighter, only his
burning torch and the trail of lights he left behind.
Seeing that, Ruskin turned to the person sitting with him and said,
"There's a good illustration of a Christian. People may never have known
him, they may never have met him, they may never even have seen him. But
they know he passed through their world, by the trail of light he left
behind him!" "Let your light shine before people" is the way Jesus said
it in Matthew 5:16.
The Jack in Us
A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day, when he
accidentally got too close to the edge and fell.
On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He
looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for
more than a thousand feet. He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and
there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff. So Jack
began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and
lower a rope or something. "HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there?"
He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. He was about to give up
when he heard a voice. "
“Jack, Jack, can you hear me?"
"Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!"
"I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?"
"Yes, but who are you, and where are you?"
"I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere."
"The Lord? You mean, GOD?"
"That's Me. "
"God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me down from here, I'll stop
sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my
life. "
"Easy on the promises. Jack. Let's get you off from there - then we can
talk." "Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully.
"I'll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do."
"Okay. Let go of the branch. "
"What?"
"I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go."
There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled.
"HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"
Have you ever felt like Jack? We say that we want to know the will of God,
but when we find out what it is, we can't handle it. Sounds too scary, too
difficult. We decide to look elsewhere. When He says, "Let go of the things
that stand between you and Me. and trust Me with your life," it sounds
pretty scary. But when we let go, we find freedom and safety in His hands. .
" Have a Blessed Day and remember that Jesus Loves You!
The Apple Tree
A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and
play around it everyday. He climbed to the tree top, ate the apples, took a
nap under the shadow... He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with
him. Time went by... the little boy had grown up and he no longer played
around the tree everyday. One day, the boy came back to the tree and he
looked sad.
"Come and play with me," the tree asked the boy.
"I am no longer a kid, I don't play around trees anymore." The boy replied,
"I want toys. I need money to buy them."
"Sorry, but I don't have money... but you can pick all my apples and sell
them. Then you will have money." The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the
apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked
the apples. The tree was sad.
One day, the boy (now a man), returned and the tree was so excited. "Come
and play with me" the tree said.
"I don't have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house
for shelter. Can you help me?"
"Sorry, but I don't have a house. But you can chop off my branches to build
your house." So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily.
The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then.
The tree was again lonely and sad.
One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. "Come and
play with me!" the tree said.
"I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you
give me a boat?"
"Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy." So
the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed
up for a long time.
Finally, the man returned after he left for so many years. "Sorry, Sir, but
I don't have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you..." the tree
said.
"I don't have teeth to bite" the man replied.
"No more trunk for you to climb on"
"I am too old for that now" the man said.
"I really can't give you anything... the only thing left is my dying roots"
the tree said with tears.
"I don't need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these
years." The man replied.
"Good! Old tree roots is the best place to lean on and rest. Come, Come sit
down with me and rest." The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled
with tears...
This is a story for everyone. The tree is our parents. When we were young,
we loved to play with Mom and Dad... When we grew up,we left them... only
come to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter
what, parents will always be there and give everything they can to make you
happy. You may think the boy is cruel to the tree but that is how all of us
are treating our parents. love your parents, no matter where they are.
Daily Prayer
O Lord, give us the strength and courage
to get through the daily struggles within us and around us.
Teach us to view all of our daily experiences as one great act of love for
You.
We want to fulfill our daily obligations with a sense of serving You.
When temptations face us, we shall fight them for love of You.
Help us keep this spiritual outlook on all our daily activities.
People must not dim our vision of You.
Even in helping others, let it be an act of personal loyalty to You.
By our example we hope to inspire others with a keener desire to follow You.
By humble and timely advice we shall try to help others to see Your holy
Will.
By our prayers we shall try to obtain for others the graces which they need
to fight sin and to practice virtue.
Strengthen us O Lord and send your Holy Spirit to fill us with a firm and
constant love for you
so that we can courageously go on daily, fighting for your Glory without
self-consideration. Amen.
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