Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is thy faithfulness

Oh God our Father!

Morning by morning

All we have needed

Your hand hath provided:

Mercy and love

Pardon for sins

Peace that endureth

Thy dear presence

Cheering and guiding

Strength for today

Bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all ours

With ten thousand beside.

As Thou has been

Thou forever will be.

For thy great faithfulness

Oh God our Father,

Our thank you and love!

  -  Prayer adapted from  the song "Great is Thy Faithfulness" written by T. Chisolm & W. Runyan & sung by John McDermott

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An Artful Summer

From the Potter's Table

Fruits

Fruits and Vase

Bouquet of Flowers

Fresh Orange

Holy Family

The Robins

Garden Flowers

Flowers on a Vase

Handmaid of the Lord

Province

House on the Hill

Trees

Prayer Space

Provence

Tuscany

An artful summer indeed! With gratitude and joy for being introduced to a way of capturing life and color in a medium other than photography :)


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The Truth Remains...

DWELLS GOD

- Arnel Aquino S.J.  Behind our restless search for greater meaning, and answers to our deepest questioning, beneath relentless faith, boundless hope, surrend'ring love. Behind our trust that all things will be better, that peace will reign and mercy will prevail, deep in our hearts, in our souls, in all we are Dwells God, eternal God, self-giving God, all pow'rful love. More than we ever know or may believe, the truth remains that deep within us dwells God. Behind the deep regret for all our failings, and hunger for the pardon of our sins, beneath our restless shame, desire to rise from them again. Behind our courage to forgive each other, and willingness to heal each other's pain, deep in our hearts, in our souls, in all we are Dwells God. Dwells God.  You just have to take a long, close look at the intricately ordered patterns and design at the center of the sunflower to be reminded of the profound truth that resounded like a choral piece among the Holy Week homilies, talks and reflections during this Lenten season, that  "more than we ever know or may believe, the truth remains that deep within us dwells God... Deep in our hearts, in our souls, in all we are... dwells God." Our faithful, loving God! Happy Easter  :o) .

Gazing Upon the Lord

 

"To see the face of God is my heart's desire.

To gaze upon the Lord is my one desire."

- Manoling Francisco S.J.

 

I love these two lines!  They are so beautiful! They have been coming to life in my mind a lot lately, especially during times when I am engaged in completing an assessment evaluation or when reflecting on what a person may really need and how this can be brought forth in therapy.

I remember someone sharing with me years ago that prayer will be most alive in ministry. Now I realize how true this is. It is our Lord who desires so much for a person to heal, but often times He needs and invites us to collaborate with Him, to be his partner in reaching the other person. He is truly at the heart and core of healing work. To collaborate with Him then, is prayer in a very pure and sacred form.

"My dearest Lord, with every person who is before me, from the start you already know the person thoroughly, even before he or she could speak. Share with me your vision and your wisdom. Use me in any way you wish. In every instance, let it be only and always your love that will flow through to this person, so that he or she may gradually become empowered to make the healing choices that will help him or her to grow into the person You desire him or her to be. And may he or she learn to trust in You, the love that one can truly trust.

My dearest Lord, all I ask is to be able to see and gaze upon your face, while assisting You in this healing work so close to your heart."

 

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Connectedness

On a recent trip to China, I realized for the first time that I actually felt at home there. I enjoyed walking anonymously in the streets, just observing the ordinary men, women and children as they went about their daily activities. 

I even imagined that sometime in the retirement future, we could possibly rent a place for a whole month and just live the ordinary day to day life there. We could also find our way to the outskirts of the city, in order to enjoy some of the countryside scenery, which can be breathtakingly beautiful. Some Chinese nature paintings do capture the sight quite well - an old man standing on a hill looking at the distant mountains, the ball of sun at dawn peering through. In many places, there may also be music floating in the background, either the voice of melancholic singing, or the melodious sound of the flute or accordion coming from a street corner and wafting in the air. 

And then the people... though they may be strangers, when I close my eyes and ponder further, I realize that we are truly of the same flesh and blood, no different from all of them physically, and with a long shared history. 

Last month, I felt our connectedness to them quite strongly. And yesterday, Chinese New Year's day, I again experienced this same feeling of inner connectedness. 

I couldn't help but close my eyes and pray to our dearest Lord, that He truly bless and take care of all who are within this circle of connectedness. 

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Advent Ponderings

It's so nice to just sit and watch the flames of the Advent candles flicker, while the wax drips down slowly. It gives a very soothing and peaceful feeling.  Together with it is also a quiet joy that lingers in my heart when I think about how, yes! God really and truly loved man so much - why esle would He go all the way in taking on our human nature with all its challenges and idiosyncracies.

I've come to know for years, that He is never outdone in generosity and love. So even if we think we love Him and try to do so to the best of our ability, His own love is still a million times more than ours! We may have a flame burning in our heart for Him, like these flickering Advent candles, but His own flame is really THE great big ball of fire.  The fire of His love.  The light that He promised He will never extinguish. One that He assures us we can always count on, even in times when we might feel impoverished and diminished like a smoldering wick.

When we started out listening to the gospels during this Advent season, at first it was just like the usual. But as the days have been passing, the gospel scenes resonating within leave me with a growing desire to cut down on the hustle and bustle of  the usual activities, in order to get into the silent night of His heart, to watch and wait with the shepherds, Mama Mary and St. Joseph, till I can better recognize and truly welcome His  presence in people and events all around with the same joy like in the nativity story. 

May we all be able to experience this quiet joy during the remaining few days till Christmas, and also for all the days for the rest of our life.

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Advent Possibilities

The point when Mary realizes that "nothing is impossible with God" and when this certainty fills her heart inspite of the uncertainty of how all that lie ahead will unfold, is for me, one of the most poignant moments within the Advent story.

"Nothing is impossible with God." Nothing that is good is impossible with Him, who is the source of ALL that is good.

This line is especially comforting and strengthening when we are in the process of shedding off long-time and hard-to-be-rid-of attachments and ways, when we are tempted to think that our desire for change cannot be fulfilled, when we doubt whether our collaboration and partnership with Him can be sustained for the long term and bear significant fruit.

"Nothing is impossible with God." -  a most beautiful mantra of trust. An act of love that flowed through Mary's heart, and one that we can let flow within our own heart and mind and will too  :-)    

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