Some friends of ours went over to Ireland for a few days. They brought back some greatshots. Here are just a couple of them. I think they really capture the magical beauty of the place.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Ireland
Some friends of ours went over to Ireland for a few days. They brought back some greatshots. Here are just a couple of them. I think they really capture the magical beauty of the place.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
THE PIETA
The Pieta always, reminds me of Our Lady's humanity, the simple love she had as a mother for her son.
More than any other representation, The Pieta acknowledges how the calling of motherhood means the embracing of our childrens experiences.
From their peace and joy to their pain and sorrow, a mother has to hold it all in her heart.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sunlight and Rainfall
(c) Tomo Yun ( http://www.yunphoto.net/en/Just as a plant requires both the rainfall and the sunlight to blossom and bear fruit.
So we need both the joys and pains of life to grow in strength and abundance.
Simply Loving first
Tradition suggests that the Portrait of Love given by St Paul (1Corinthians13: 4-13) is a description of Jesus himself.
I love it so much.
"Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other peoples sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes."
How wonderful it would be if love was the prefix of all ours thoughts toward others. If we simply loved first. If we felt love before we apraised a person's appearance or demeanor.
When it comes to my children I have to check myself at times. Am I connecting with them before I critisize. Do I notice the unwashed faces, uncombed hair and jeans smeared with grass stains before I notice them. Their hearts, their thoughts, thier perspective, their intentions.
Am I loving them first.
Love is fluid, able to find it's way through the smallest gaps like sunlight through a crack in the curtain which penetrates a whole room with quivering light.
Some people have quite a harsh, austere or aloof exterior that can be hard to penetrate. But once offered kindness most people quickly discard their outer defences.
Often it is only the preconceived ideas we have about people that prevent us from loving them without restraint.
Equally, when love is the initiator of action, it can offer us so much extra strength, purpose and grace. It becomes the wind in our sails, propelling us onward towards through difficulty, trial, pain and grief. I've often realised how much more joy I get from serving others when I do it in a true spirit of love rather than duty.
If love flows through us, the spirit flows through us too. Love is like pure water, rinsing our eyes with clarity. Flowing freely, seeping into every dark corner, every tiny space.
I love it so much.
"Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other peoples sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes."
How wonderful it would be if love was the prefix of all ours thoughts toward others. If we simply loved first. If we felt love before we apraised a person's appearance or demeanor.
When it comes to my children I have to check myself at times. Am I connecting with them before I critisize. Do I notice the unwashed faces, uncombed hair and jeans smeared with grass stains before I notice them. Their hearts, their thoughts, thier perspective, their intentions.
Am I loving them first.
Love is fluid, able to find it's way through the smallest gaps like sunlight through a crack in the curtain which penetrates a whole room with quivering light.
Some people have quite a harsh, austere or aloof exterior that can be hard to penetrate. But once offered kindness most people quickly discard their outer defences.
Often it is only the preconceived ideas we have about people that prevent us from loving them without restraint.
Equally, when love is the initiator of action, it can offer us so much extra strength, purpose and grace. It becomes the wind in our sails, propelling us onward towards through difficulty, trial, pain and grief. I've often realised how much more joy I get from serving others when I do it in a true spirit of love rather than duty.
If love flows through us, the spirit flows through us too. Love is like pure water, rinsing our eyes with clarity. Flowing freely, seeping into every dark corner, every tiny space.
Priceless Gifts
http://www.lightandland.co.uk/
I was talking with some friends over dinner recently about that ever popular question: What would you do if you won the lottery? Everybody gave similar answers: a percentage for charity, a percentage toward their children's future, a percentage for themselves, a percentage for friends and loved ones.
It seems like a dream, to win the lottory and never have to worry about your future finances ever again!
I would certainly love to give back to those who have given so geneourously in acts of service to me. In fact I have often thought about the fun I'd have sending anonymous cheques to those wonderful people in my life whom I owe so much.
However, the more I contemplated the actual truth behind the fact, the more I started to realise how much I would also want just for myself. How easy it would be to bit by bit pad out my exsisitence. A quick cab ride here, a new wardrobe there, a quick trip... anywhere...whenever, whatever, however!
Mmm... I guess God knows how to protect me from myself and loves me enough never to let me win the lottery hey!
After searching a little deeper I found that I actually come to a completly different conclusion in answer to the initial question.
Maybe, the deepest part of me dosen't actually want to attain a huge ammount of wealth.
If I suddenly came into alot of money I would never have to trust in providence again.
If all aspects of my life were completly secured, if all my bases were covered, if I new whatever I chose to do whether it be right or wrong, everything would work out just fine in the end, I would never have to trust God to lead me every step of the way, from day to day, hour to hour, moment to moment.
If all I had to worry about was pleasing myself I could wander away all on my own.
Maybe I'd see alot of places and meet alot of people along that way but at the end of the road would I find an eternal pathway ahead of me?
We are not made to walk alone. We are not made to be isolated. God calls us to him individually so that we can be united with him. So that we may become part of something much greater and more infinate than the small fragment of our own life.
It's so natural to want security, whether it be financial, emotional or physical. But the truth is that every day is a gift, every hour is a gift and every moment is a gift.
From the moment I gave myself and my life to Christ he has called me more and more to choose a life that makes me totally reliant upon HIM. The further along the road I go, the more I realise I would be lost without him.
In the end, the things I've found along that journey are priceless and I wouldn't care to trade them.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
CONTENTMENT
I found this wonderful little story at Sarah's fantastic blog "A bend in the Road" ( look down the side bar for a link) and thought I would share it :)
Even if you sleep in a thousand mat room, you can only sleep on one mat. Japanese Proverb
A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.A smile wrinkled the seller's leathery face.
"By no means. All is well."
"Then why are closing your popcorn stand?"
"So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife."
The man of commerce objected. "But the day is still young. You can still sell."
"No need to," the stand owner replied. "I've made enough money for today."
"Enough? Absurd. You should keep working."
The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor.
"And why should I keep working?"
"To sell more popcorn."
"And why sell more popcorn?"
"Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell you popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea."
The popcorn man smiled. "I can do that today. I guess I have enough."
From 'Cure for the Common Life' by Max Lucado.
Even if you sleep in a thousand mat room, you can only sleep on one mat. Japanese Proverb
A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.A smile wrinkled the seller's leathery face.
"By no means. All is well."
"Then why are closing your popcorn stand?"
"So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife."
The man of commerce objected. "But the day is still young. You can still sell."
"No need to," the stand owner replied. "I've made enough money for today."
"Enough? Absurd. You should keep working."
The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor.
"And why should I keep working?"
"To sell more popcorn."
"And why sell more popcorn?"
"Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell you popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea."
The popcorn man smiled. "I can do that today. I guess I have enough."
From 'Cure for the Common Life' by Max Lucado.
Quotes of Thomas Merton
It is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God.
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Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how.
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Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone-we find it with another.
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Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.
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Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
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The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
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The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
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We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
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We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness.
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We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.
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We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves. When ambition ends, happiness begins.
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Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Endurance
www.theperfectstick.comDirty water filtered through sand still remains soiled
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But dirty water filtered through dense rock flows out clensed, purified, refreshed and full of life.
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