Celebrating Life!

For all things are yours...whether the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's. 1 Cor 3:21-23

Ave Maria! No, this really isn't a picture of me! My hair is neither blond nor this long, my figure was never this lithe, I avoid wearing this shade of green, and I no longer kick up my heels this high. But this is a good image of my heart and soul today as I celebrate my 62nd birthday. I'm not at all shy about celebrating birthdays because, for me, it's a special time to honor the God of all glory and beauty who so graciously created me in His image and likeness and to thank the everlasting Father of mercies for His eternal love and abundant goodness to me. I awakened this morning thinking of these lines from "Sayings of Light and Love" by St. John of the Cross. They have been my morning meditation, and I know that I will be singing them with gratitude and joy throughout this happy day.

"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me. What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? Yours is all of this, and all is for you. Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father's table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart."

Thank you, dear Lord, for your inexpressible gift! May I always and forever exult in You! Amen! Alleluia!

Second Sunday of Advent

The Virgin, weighed down
with the Word of God,
comes down the road:
if only you'll shelter her.

St. John of the Cross, quoted in A Year with Mary by Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, Carmelite nun and writer

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, come home with me. Amen.

Blessed are the poor in spirit!

Blessed are the poor in spirit…

…those who know their need for God, who rejoice in their littleness and exult to call God their Father…

…those who know they need others and who gladly accept their help…

…those who understand that they have nothing and are nothing and can do nothing except through God, with God and in God…

...those whose food and drink it is to do the will of their Father...

…those who are nobodies in the eyes of the world but somebodies in the eyes of God…

…those who can say "please" and "thank you" and "you go first" and "I'm sorry" and "I was wrong" -- and really mean it…

…those who keep company with the Mary, the Mother of Christ, and with all the angels and saints…

…those who make their home in the Church, their mother…

...those for whom no sacrifice is too great and no service too small...

…those who hope in God alone…

Blessed are the poor in spirit! Only they can sing with St. John of the Cross: "Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me." The kingdom of heaven is truly theirs!

Dear Jesus, help me to grasp what my greatest and truest riches are -- and deliver me from hoarding them. Amen.