The first 40 minutes of this video are of scenes taken at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA where I was once a member of their Community.
Cistercians, better known as Trappists, are affiliated with the Benedictine Order.
.
.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Song: Remembrance The Scenes: Passion of the Christ
In remembrance of Good Friday.
.
Have a very blessed day.
+
.
Communion Featuring The Passion from Hadley Baker on Vimeo.
Have a very blessed day.
+
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
I thought this was, well ..... humerous
.
It's not like cell phones don't ever ring at St. Joseph's!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Palm Sunday
Today's readings carry the sorrow of the world. The false accusations, denials, betrayals and beatings Jesus faced are heartbreaking.
+ + + What brings greatest sorrow to my life?
+ + + How well do i bear my burden?
+ + + In what ways does the Passion of Jesus speak to that sorrow?
+ + + Which injustice in my life and in the world at large stirs the most passion in me?
+ + + Unlike Jesus, Who spent much of HIs last hours on earth in prayer, many of us forget to pray in the midst of a crisis. What role, if any, has prayer played for me in my hour of need?
+
+ + + What brings greatest sorrow to my life?
+ + + How well do i bear my burden?
+ + + In what ways does the Passion of Jesus speak to that sorrow?
+ + + Which injustice in my life and in the world at large stirs the most passion in me?
+ + + Unlike Jesus, Who spent much of HIs last hours on earth in prayer, many of us forget to pray in the midst of a crisis. What role, if any, has prayer played for me in my hour of need?
The one who seeks not the cross of Christ seeks not the glory of Christ.
John of the Cross
16th century
+
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
5th Sunday of Lent
+
It is a famous sentence in the bible, famous for its brevity, ”Jesus wept.” Those words actually mean a lot to me....struck with the grief Jesus experienced at Lazarus’ death. How very human!
I’d like you to consider those words. We are faced with the fact that sooner or later every one of us is going to die. Are you (am I) prepared not only for your (my) death, but importantly, are we also prepared for the loss of our loved ones, our best friend, our sister, our brother, our husband, our wife?”
An ancient African saying is “There is no way out of the desert except through it.”
+
No amount of knowledge can prepare us for bereavement. Grief is the most intense and enduring emotion we can experience. No quick fix. No short-cut.
Knowledge of the grief process gives us a very generalized map of the terrain
have to cover. Each of us will take a different route. Each will choose his own landmarks. We will travel at our own unique speed and will navigate using the tools provided by our culture, experience, and faith. In the end, we will be forever changed by our journey…..
Nevertheless, knowledge helps us avoid the major pitfalls of grief. A knowledge of what is known of grief assures us that we have not lost all sense of sanity. When we find ourselves feeling befuddled in a mist shrouded swamp we can say “It’s OK. This too is part of my journey. Others have gone this way before me and I will survive. I am human.”
Experts describe the process of grieving and the emotions of grief in various ways. The most commonly described reactions are:
1. Shock,
2. Denial,
3. Anger,
4. Guilt,
5. Depression,
6. Acceptance
7. Growth.
Some people experience the grieving process in this order. Most often, a person feels several of these emotions at the same time, perhaps in different degrees.
Don't be afraid to talk about death or loss. Children do not benefit from "not thinking about it" or "putting it out of their minds." Share important facts about the event and try to get a sense of what the children think about it and about death in general.
We shouldn’t wait until a death traumatizes a child, but talk openly about the passing on of a loved one.
+
Life as well as death, both are important:
> How do I see faith as lifegiving, for myself and others?
> Jesus shows a lot of emotion in today's Gospel reading: He weeps! He gets perturbed!
>>> How do His feelings affect me?
>>> What does He do with His intense feelings?
>>> What do I usually do with mine?
> Whose death caused me the most sorrow?
>>> What more can I do in my life to honor that person?
+
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Farewell to our Snow Birds
Out to lunch this past weekend with a few of our visiting Snow Birds.
Grits A YaYa from the Fish House
A delectable Southern specialty of smoked Gouda cheese grits smothered with a sauce of fresh cream, sauteed Gulf shrimp, spinach, portobello mushrooms, applewood-smoked bacon, garlic, and shallots. See for yourself:
da - lish
Thanks for lunch, guys! See ya in '12
+
Grits A YaYa from the Fish House
A delectable Southern specialty of smoked Gouda cheese grits smothered with a sauce of fresh cream, sauteed Gulf shrimp, spinach, portobello mushrooms, applewood-smoked bacon, garlic, and shallots. See for yourself:
da - lish
Thanks for lunch, guys! See ya in '12
+
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
+
Eddie was the extrovert in the community for the disabled in the assisted living unit. He always plunked himself down right in the middle of where the action was – in a chair by the mailboxes, at the entrance to the dining room, or right in front of the TV in the sitting room.
He knew everyone by name. “Good morning Miss Liddy. Your knees must be hurting you today.” “Hello there, Harry. Lydia was looking for you, and, my, but she was mad.” “Hello, Maxine, you got a letter today. Maybe it’s from that son of yours.” “Watch out, Charlie, someone spilled water there, and the floor might be slick.”
Eddie was blind. He was born that way. But he didn’t miss a trick. He saw more with his blindness than most of us see with our two good eyes. He saw with his ears, and his gut, and his heart. Sometimes “blind” is not really blind and “seeing” is not really sight.
All of us are born blind in one way or another. Some of us have blindness of body: a crippling disease, cancer, diabetes, or bad bones.
Some of us have blindness of heart, and that is a terrible blindness. The blind of heart can’t love another beyond a superficial level and usually can’t even love themselves. The blind of heart often live lives corroded with addictions to material things, possessions, and work, to cover up the empty hole.
And worst of all is blindness of the soul, which wraps all the rest of life in gloomy darkness.
Is it possible that a kind of blindness lives inside you?
Jesus notices our blindness. Jesus sees. Jesus invites us to see. Jesus invites us to see with our very blind eyes, with our wounds and brokenness. Jesus uses our weaknesses as grace. When tragedy of one form or another strikes us, we often ask why. “Why did this happen to me?” In today’s story the crowd also asks why. “Whose fault is this? What did they do wrong to deserve this?”
Jesus’ response is that the blindness was an opportunity for the works of God to be manifest. We look at our physical and mental blindness as a curse. And indeed Jesus does heal the blindness. Yet at the same time, the blindness is a door to grace. It is the sick who need the doctor. It is the blind who need to see. It is we who need the redemption, the transfiguration, the Burning Light.
“Manifest,” phaneroo in Greek, means to be revealed, to be seen, to be made visible. It is the same root as in “theophany,” a physical visionary experience of God, or “epiphany,” God revealed. It is the name of the Greek god, Phaeros, son of Helio, the sun god. It is a burning expression of light that conveys its own image.
Our call in life, our reason for being, is to make Christ manifest. Jesus is the image, the exact reflection of God. We are called to become the image of Jesus. We are to become like the Shroud of Turin. The shroud is believed by many to be the scorched, branded, burned image of the Light of Christ’s resurrection, an image left behind. We are the image left behind of Christ, called to be the burned, branded, reflected image.
So let us manifest Jesus. Let us reveal, reflect, burn with the Light of Christ. Let us be manifest in every aspect of our lives. We come to church to be near the Light, to be touched by the Light, to see Jesus. Do not turn off that light when you go out the door. Think bigger. Think constant. Let God be manifest within you to others. Be a blinding light of God.
+
A few questions for reflection on today's Scripture readings:
We are called, appointed, anointed by God to see the light and lead others out of darkness:
+ What blocks me from seeing the light at certain times or in certain areas of my life?
+ What areas of my life do I try to keep in the dark? Who or what am I
shielding from the light? Why?
+ When have I helped another see better? How did they respond?
When has someone tried to help me see better? What was my response?
+ What one truth do I see most clearly in my life?
_______________________________________________________
+
Eddie was the extrovert in the community for the disabled in the assisted living unit. He always plunked himself down right in the middle of where the action was – in a chair by the mailboxes, at the entrance to the dining room, or right in front of the TV in the sitting room.
He knew everyone by name. “Good morning Miss Liddy. Your knees must be hurting you today.” “Hello there, Harry. Lydia was looking for you, and, my, but she was mad.” “Hello, Maxine, you got a letter today. Maybe it’s from that son of yours.” “Watch out, Charlie, someone spilled water there, and the floor might be slick.”
Eddie was blind. He was born that way. But he didn’t miss a trick. He saw more with his blindness than most of us see with our two good eyes. He saw with his ears, and his gut, and his heart. Sometimes “blind” is not really blind and “seeing” is not really sight.
All of us are born blind in one way or another. Some of us have blindness of body: a crippling disease, cancer, diabetes, or bad bones.
Some of us have blindness of heart, and that is a terrible blindness. The blind of heart can’t love another beyond a superficial level and usually can’t even love themselves. The blind of heart often live lives corroded with addictions to material things, possessions, and work, to cover up the empty hole.
And worst of all is blindness of the soul, which wraps all the rest of life in gloomy darkness.
Is it possible that a kind of blindness lives inside you?
Jesus notices our blindness. Jesus sees. Jesus invites us to see. Jesus invites us to see with our very blind eyes, with our wounds and brokenness. Jesus uses our weaknesses as grace. When tragedy of one form or another strikes us, we often ask why. “Why did this happen to me?” In today’s story the crowd also asks why. “Whose fault is this? What did they do wrong to deserve this?”
Jesus’ response is that the blindness was an opportunity for the works of God to be manifest. We look at our physical and mental blindness as a curse. And indeed Jesus does heal the blindness. Yet at the same time, the blindness is a door to grace. It is the sick who need the doctor. It is the blind who need to see. It is we who need the redemption, the transfiguration, the Burning Light.
“Manifest,” phaneroo in Greek, means to be revealed, to be seen, to be made visible. It is the same root as in “theophany,” a physical visionary experience of God, or “epiphany,” God revealed. It is the name of the Greek god, Phaeros, son of Helio, the sun god. It is a burning expression of light that conveys its own image.
Our call in life, our reason for being, is to make Christ manifest. Jesus is the image, the exact reflection of God. We are called to become the image of Jesus. We are to become like the Shroud of Turin. The shroud is believed by many to be the scorched, branded, burned image of the Light of Christ’s resurrection, an image left behind. We are the image left behind of Christ, called to be the burned, branded, reflected image.
So let us manifest Jesus. Let us reveal, reflect, burn with the Light of Christ. Let us be manifest in every aspect of our lives. We come to church to be near the Light, to be touched by the Light, to see Jesus. Do not turn off that light when you go out the door. Think bigger. Think constant. Let God be manifest within you to others. Be a blinding light of God.
+
A few questions for reflection on today's Scripture readings:
We are called, appointed, anointed by God to see the light and lead others out of darkness:
+ What blocks me from seeing the light at certain times or in certain areas of my life?
+ What areas of my life do I try to keep in the dark? Who or what am I
shielding from the light? Why?
+ When have I helped another see better? How did they respond?
When has someone tried to help me see better? What was my response?
+ What one truth do I see most clearly in my life?
_______________________________________________________
+
Friday, April 1, 2011
Now is the time to return to the one, true God.Americans do not adore golden calves, but we still dabble in idol worship. Perhaps celebrities, supermodels and athletes are the gods of our society, for we seem to pay them more attention than we do God. We put angel wings on lingerie models, immortalize athletes in bronze, and treat memorbilia like relics. Steroids, Botox and Paparazzi are the rituals of our false worship. We have no shrine to rival Lourdes except in Hollywood or South Beach. Jerry Welte
+
Bands on the Bayou: Bayview Park - Friday, April1
Workman Middle School presents an evening of music.
The crowd awaits:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
