The Duty of Delight

This "Xmas" cactus came to me a few years ago as a tiny gift. 
Dorothy Day died on November 29, 1980.  We may associate her with great poverty and a hard life, but she had this to say, "How necessary it is to cultivate a spirit of joy.  It is a psychological truth that the physical acts of reverence and devotion make one feel devout.  The courteous gesture increases one's respect for others.  To act lovingly is to begin to feel loving, and certainly to act joyfully brings joy to others which in turn makes one feel joyful.  I believe we are called to the duty of delight."

Love Stream

The most recent insight that God is giving me is a deeper understanding of a prayer I've been using for a long time just before Centering: "You are Love, with Whom, I love You." 
The development began with the river of Love that I experienced last month both with a grieving family and with a family with little twins.  Love was already flowing when I arrived with each family.  All I had to do was put my foot in the stream and I was swept along in Love.
God is helping me realize that when I begin my Centering Prayer in the morning I am not really beginning anything.  Spirit, Son, and Father are already Love flowing within me.  Centering is just my way of choosing to let go and let Love sweep me along into Love.

Irish Thanksgiving

This picture is from several years ago.  Today we have a bright sunny, cold day with a lake that hasn't begun to freeze.  I'm hoping this might remind us of what faced the Plymouth Colony when they arrived in the New World in November of 1620.
As we have often been told, many of the little colony starved to death during the first winter, almost putting an end to their project.  What we have not been told is that a ship arrived from overseas on February 20, 1621, bearing the much needed food.,  The ship was The Lyon and it had sailed from Dublin, Ireland.
According to the Massachusetts Historical Society, the wife of one of the prominent Plymouth settlers was the daughter of a Dublin merchant; and  it was he who had chartered the vessel, loaded it with food and dispatched it to Plymouth.  The day after its arrival, February 21, 1621, was designated as a Day of Thanksgiving, well before the Thanksgiving Day that we hear so much about.

Earlier Pilgrims

Catholic Europeans in America before Puritans:
St. Brendan in the 6th century kept a record of his voyage.
Irish monks in the 7th century left rock writing and a body in Southern W.V.
Norse explorer Leif Erickson in Newfoundland around 1,000 AD.
We thank God for them as well.

Only the Best??

This greeted me when I woke this morning.

Use the talents you possess

for the woods would be very silent

if no bird sang except the best.

Talent

A "talent" at the time of Jesus was the largest unit of currency.  One might weigh 65 pounds, another 88 pounds.  Not exactly pocket change.  One talent might be worth $300,000.
That's all the word "talent" meant until the parable (Matthew 25:14-30) was translated into English.  As people reflected on the meaning of the parable, they began to use the word "talent" to mean a God-given ability.

Risky Business

This fuchsia, dripping with rain, continued to bloom at my back door this autumn  until Saturday when the temperature dipped to 14.
Jesus demands that we use the talents that God has given us even though it involves risk (Matthew 25:14-30.)  We think that we are being modest when we deny our talents.  God gave us a particular set of gifts and expects us to make the most of them.

Davids vs Goliaths

Saturday a flock of these little guys landed in our cove.   They are called Bufflehead and are only about a foot long.  They stop here for a few days twice a year on their way south and north.  This picture is from last year.  The following happened last November.
There were 15 of  them feeding in the shallow water off my shore.  30 Canada geese tried to chase them away and seemed to be winning.  I went for my morning shower.
When I came back every one of the geese was lined up along my shore and along my neighbor's shore.  The buffleheads were a little offshore, facing the geese.  Both were watching a disturbance in the water.  At first it looked like a goose was trying to drown a bufflehead by holding it under the water.  But soon it became clear that the bufflehead was attacking the goose from beneath, which was why the geese were on shore afraid to go back in the water.  The 15 buffleheads gathered in two small groups offshore, keeping the geese lined up along the shore.
After a while the buffleheads backed off a little, allowing the geese to gather cautiously in the water and swim away.  Not long after, about 30 bufflehead joined the original 15 and they all continued feeding off my shore.

Martin of Tours

One winter day in 4th century Gaul Martin, an officer in the Roman army, saw a beggar shivering in cold.  He jumped from his horse, took off his cloak, took out his sword, cut the cloak in half, and wrapped half of it around the beggar.  Wrapping the other half around himself, he rode off.  That night in a dream Martin saw Jesus wrapped in the piece of cloak that he had given to the beggar.  The next morning he decided to be baptized a Christian.
I have several times taken part in Mass in St. Martin's Church in Marigot on St. Martin where this picture is painted on the wall behind the main altar.  Please pray for the people of St. Martin.  The island suffered terrible destruction during the recent hurricane.

Infinite Love

John Duns Scotus, a 12th century theologian, "taught that the Incarnation was not required as payment for sin; it was willed through eternity as an expression of God's love, and hence God's desire for consummated union with creation."  This is from Robert Ellsberg's Blessed Among Us, quoted in Give Us This Day. 

Heaven on Earth

"We carry our heaven within ourselves, because he who satisfies the saints with the light of vision gives himself to us in faith and in mystery.  It's the same thing.  I feel I have found heaven on earth, because heaven is God and God is in my soul."
(St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, quoted in Give Us This Day)

Day of the Dead

In an article I read many years ago the author from the United States described what it was like to be living in Mexico on the night between November 1st and 2nd in a pre-Aztec valley known for its deep mysticism.  At midnight all the bells up and down the valley began ringing to hold open the curtain between the two worlds.  During the hour that they continued the valley was filled with a hush and a peace while those living there called to themselves their dead and they were together again for a while.

Plain Saints

We celebrate All Saints mainly for all the people in our own lives, family and friends and neighbors, who have already passed to the other world.  People who never were recognized by the church as saints.