IGNATIUS LOYOLA

What a great feast day we have today- Ignatius of Loyola. So many thoughts come to mind as a reflect on his life.  One quote that stands out your me is "Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God."   How many times in any one day do we feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders?  And what we have to remember is that God is in charge.

JOACHIM AND ANNE

Today is the feast in honor of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Mother,  yet what do we know about them?  Nothing - they never otter  a single word.  So why honor them?  It is because of the Blessed Mother that they are honored.  It was the gentle, faith filled way, that they raised her, which gave her the ability to say yes to the Angel Gabriel. What examples they must have been for Mary.  Do we try to do that for our children today?  Things are much more complicated than they used to be, so perhaps it is even more imperative we to to such examples of the past. 

St. Mary Magdalen

Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalen - one of our notorious sinners and one who was close to our Lord.  The one, in fact, that Jesus showed himself to after he rose.  Funny isn't it, Jesus was not hesitant to spend time with sinners and more importantly to forgive them, to see their intrinsic worth as a child of God.  It is easy to say that we forgive another, yet do we actually do that in our heart?  Many people today think that to be 'Catholic' means that we all are alike, they fear those that are 'different'.  Young and old alike, want the other to worship in the way they see fit. Yet who is to say which one is correct?  Jesus welcomed saints and sinners alike, people from all walks of life gathered around Jesus. Maybe today is a good day to start gathering around the person and message of Jesus.  Knowing that we are ALL equal in the eyes of God.

IS ANY BODY THERE?

It's funny, when this blog was started, I thought, how hard can this be?  Write my thoughts every few days -- after all every one has thoughts.  Now, as I sit here writing, I realize just how long it has been.  And I must confess, I wonder if anyone even noticed or cared? The Internet has opened up so many opportunities that it is easy to get lost--or as I often think, 'fall into the black hole' of information and ideas.  Like Alice and the looking glass, idea after idea and morph can into more and more ideas, that soon I sigh and wonder what was I looking to find! What should have take just a few moments, now has taken most of the after noon.   Here's the sad thing, can I look in the mirror and say that I spend this much time with my God?  On my top ten list of things that I value, it is safe to say that the Internet is not up there, but God certainly is.  So I now ponder what do I need to do to actively live what I say I believe.  Perhaps I should google, "ways to pray?"