Are you Jesus?

Tonight at Mass, the priest told a personal story of him trying to make a flight at the Chicago airport, and in his running and rushing, he ran smack into a kiosk full of snacks and fruit that went flying everywhere. After taking a moment, and realizing what he did... he decided to go back. missing his flight and helped clean up the mess he made. After a bit, he heard the worker crying and went to her to apologize. She was blind and told him when she heard the big crash, she started praying for Jesus to come and help her. So in him coming to help, she wondered and asked him, "Are you Jesus?"

He went on to ask us... when we think back over the past week, not month or year, but the last week... "Were you ever mistaken for being Jesus?" A beautiful thought to reflect on, and something to strive for this Lent. What acts of kindness can we do to be more like Jesus? How can we share in the water of grace with others to be Jesus here on this Earth?

Light & Love

I know it's been a long time.... and that's just how life is---  I've been learning that. Nothing goes to one's plan. Things always change and one just has to go along with it. If one gets too wrapped up in "their plan" then anxiety and frustration and unhappiness will build in. So I've been trying to remember when I lay in bed each night, to ponder on the day, and thank Jesus for the simple things along with the big things, and to thank Him for the hard times too. 

I've been noticing more recently, how much I am blessed to have such special friends in my life-- who listen, who understand me, who don't judge me, and who know me just by the tone of my voice. It's those little things that mean the most! And just the many people Jesus has placed in and out of my life, that have helped me and formed me for who I am today. 

But I just wanted to share a few things I have jotted down in the past weeks...

This line stuck out for me in one of the gospel readings this week, from Matthew 7, "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him." -----  I just thought, wow! Yes.. that is so true. Here I'm worried that God might have different plans for the deepest desires of my heart, and how am I ever going to accept that, accept His will. But then I read this, and think-- yes, God's gifts for us are even more than we can understand or imagine! 

And then our priest, Fr. Jeremy Hans, had an amazing homily a few weeks ago about what God teaches us about our bodies. It really struck me, as it emphasized a few books I've just read. "Saint John Paul the Great, His Five Loves" and  "Something Other than God." Highly recommend both of them! Such good reads. And then the article in the Omaha World Herald a few weeks ago about Sex Ed in the Public Schools. After reading it, I had an overwhelming sadness about me.. of what we are teaching our young people. How our body is to please us, to do with what we want, instead of teaching them the beauty and dignity of the human body and of human life. So when Fr Hans talked about God's view of our body--- it brought me a little hope. Here are a few notes I jotted down--- Our body is not some tool to be used. It is a visible sign of God's goodness. They are meant to be "temples of our Lord."  They are "made not as objects to be used, but they are made to give and to receive Love, true love, selfless love, they are not meant for selfishness." 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. only Light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only Love can do that."  ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

"Take the step that needs taking today. Take another step tomorrow. Every day will have it's own steps to take." ~Fr Jacques Philippe