Canticle For the King

James Tissot's Get Thee Behind Me Satan

                                    I have been practicing Lectio Divina (prayerful reading and meditation on Scripture) long enough to know that the Holy Spirit always has something to teach me. However, what He teaches me is not always what I expect or what I think I need to be taught. Today's Gospel passage on the Parable of the Talents proved those two points perfectly, especially the second one. The usual lesson I receive from this passage still came through~ don't waste your God given gifts and that those gifts should return to God showing some growth in holiness. To make sure I heard Him, the Holy Spirit reinforced that point with this verse: "...at my coming, I should have received my own with interest." (Matt 25:27) Now I have to admit that this parable always makes me squirm in my pew a little. Am I using all that God has given me and earning Him interest in my holiness as we...

The amazing news of the Gospel is not that we receive Jesus into our lives, but that He has already received us into His. God often speaks to me through music. It happened again a day or two ago as I was driving to work. I heard these words: "The amazing news of the Gospel is not that we can receive Jesus into our lives, but that He has already received us into His." This line was actually spoken, not sung in Ryan Stevenson's song, The Gospel . The rest of the song is great too, but that one line stopped me dead in my tracks!(figuratively, as I was driving 😉) Yes, receiving Christ into our lives is awesome, but have we ever really thought deeply about Jesus receiving us into His? The theology of it, maybe, but what that means on a deep and personal level? Now that is something for some prayerful meditation! Photo by  Christoph Schmid  on  Unsplash

Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man... When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.  ~Mark 6:20 Caravaggio: Passion of John the Baptist I have read and heard this Gospel account of John the Baptist's death many times.  What struck me today was that while Herod was perplexed by John, he also liked to listen to him. Knowing what we do about King Herod, this seemingly positive spot is surprising. I was left with the question: "What if?" What if Herod had truly, sincerely listened to John? What if he had ignored Herodias? What if her daughter had disobeyed her? Would things have turned out differently? Perhaps, perhaps not. My questioning may have a bit of the Holy Spirit's prompting, but it is more the inquisitiveness of my nature. So in the end, these questions and their answers are not really important. It is John's unwavering loyalty to his mission, and his love for and loyalty to...

SanAgustin by Baltasar del Aguila Today is the feast day of St. Augustine. If there is any saint who gives me great hope, it is Augustine. His early life reads like a soap opera, but thanks to God's grace, his mother, St. Monica's prayers and the preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine not only converts to practice the Catholic faith, but would go on to become Bishop of Hippo and a Doctor of the Church. Each year on his feast day, the Order of Readings has us read an excerpt from St. Augustine's Confessions. It is one of the most beautiful writings in the entire book, as well as one of my favorites. As someone who left her faith for many years and then returned, I can relate to Augustine's words in this excerpt. I've read it many times, but glean something new with each reading. Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance into the inmost depth of my soul. I was able to do so because you were my helper. When I read those opening lines today,...

Christ Entrusts Peter With Keys of the Kingdom:Sistine Chapel

Christ and the Rich Young Man As I was reading and meditating on today's Gospel about the Rich Young Man, the verse that struck me most, and has stayed with me a good part of this day was "...he went away sorrowful." What exactly made him sorrowful? Was it simply the fact that he did not want to hear what Jesus said about selling his possessions and giving the money to the poor, or was it something deeper? In some ways, we are all the rich young man, and Jesus is telling us the same three things He told the young man in the Gospel: follow the commandments, sell all you have and give it away, and follow Me. However, those criteria may not mean the same thing for each one of us. As I tried to see how the Holy Spirit was applying this to my own life and circumstances, I saw the " sell all you have and give it away " speaking to me of holy detachment. I sometimes find myself not only being materially attached, but also spiritually attached. Sometimes I fin...

The Canaanite Woman~ Matthew 15:21~28 Woman, great is thy faith...

This information loaded world we live in can cause all sorts of thoughts and distractions to flood our minds. Not all of them bad, but they can still push God right out of our daily thoughts. As I was reading and meditating upon the Scripture from Philippians pictured above, I felt the nudge to write it down and post it to my bedroom mirror where I will see it at least every morning. (I actually do this whenever a verse jumps off the page.) I didn't write it down word for word but very similarly to the way it is pictured above. Here's a general idea of what I did in case you wish to do something like it. When bad, negative or evil thoughts come... THINK of whatever is: T rue                 H onest.                                   J ust                               ...

             I often try to imagine what our Blessed Mother's Assumption must have been like, and I come to the realization that it probably didn't happen at all as I imagine. When I read Anne Catherine Emmerich's visions on this event, I see that I am correct in that realization. I have only posted here the moment of Mary's Assumption, but you may want to read the entire vision beginning with Peter's Mass, and including Our Lady's last Holy Communion. Please remember that these visions are considered private revelations and are not dogma. That being said, they are too beautiful not to share, and surpass any reflection I could ever write on this event. On the night following the burial, took place the bodily assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven. I saw on this night several of the Apostles and holy women in the little garden, praying and singing Psalms before the grotto. I saw a broad pathway of light descend from heaven and rest upo...

I thought I would dedicate Sundays here to sacred art reflecting one of the readings~ Welcome to Sacred Art Sunday.                                                              Peter said to Him, "Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come."  ~Matthew 14:29-29                                   

  Divine love takes its sword to the hidden recesses of our inmost soul and divides us from ourselves. ~St. Jane Frances de Chantal                                                   The Holy Spirit seems to have me on a "sword" theme these last two days. The above quote is taken from the Office of Readings today for St. Jane's feast day. St. Jane, under the guidance of St. Francis de Sales, founded the Visitation Order. She was speaking to her sisters about martyrdom, especially about what she called a martyrdom of love. She described this martyrdom as: "Here God keeps his servants and hand maids in this present life so that they may labor for him..." When one of her sisters asked what this type of martyrdom looked like, she replied, "Yield yourself fully to God, and you will find out!" Now there's a challenge! And it is one, as Christians, we are a...

To belong to God we have to experience the two~edged blade: the blade of joy, the blade of the cross. ~Servant of God Madeleine Delbrel                                                                                I loved this quote from Madeleine Delbrel's reflection on today's Gospel(Matthew 16:24~28) in Magnificat. For me, it summed up Jesus' teaching on taking up our cross. Our crosses come in any variety of ways. Some are sent to us from God, others are self~inflicted. However they come, if we truly desire to belong to God, we need to not just embrace them, but embrace them with joy~ not an easy thing to do. Jesus embraced His cross. I doubt that He found it easy, but there must have been joy in His Sacred Heart because He went to the cross for love of His Father's will and...

                                                   Or in this case, the keyboard. After much prayer and discernment, I have decided to resume writing. I wasn't sure where God would take me with it this time~ I'm still not sure. I will leave that up to Him. This blog's title and description seem to reflect that. Much of what you will see here will be reflections and meditations on Scripture, the saints and all things Catholic. I will also share notable people and sites as I come across them. I like to consider this blog my own little devotional ~ one that I'd like to share with all who visit here. So let's pray and travel this road together and see where God takes us.