The Tree of Life

John said:
An angel showed me the river of life-giving water,
sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God
and of the Lamb down the middle of the street,
On either side of the river grew the tree of life
that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month--Rev 22

I am excited about a new Advent project for this year. I have drawn little pictures to add to golden stars I am going to place on my Advent Wreath. These pictures correspond to the Jesse Tree symbols. The first illustration is for a tree, and in my imagination I used the tree from the Oklahoma City Memorial as a pattern. But of course it didn't exactly look like that. Yesterday my friend showed me some pins and buttons she had fired embellished with designs of labyrinths. Her designs looked just like trees!  My dear granddaughter was reading a pop-up library book about Streganona in the car this afternoon. "Look, Grandma, a family tree!" The Jesse Tree is a walking prayer and it is a Family Tree. It  is a remembrance in story of the long walk of ancestors of Jesus Christ. The little paper stars we always place on our Advent Wreath each evening carry the names of friends and family and others we remember and for whom we pray. Jesse Tree, Advent Wreath. Family Tree, names of family and friends. Green leaves, green circle of eternity. Traveling through biblical history and family history. Trekking Catholic.

Beautiful Feet

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!--Rom 10

Today is the feast of St. Andrew and, of course, our associate pastor Fr. Andrew Budzinski comes to mind.  He has been ordained just a few years now and this may be a third occupation for him. I do know he was in the radio business, and we are well aware he was a Notre Dame leprechaun while he was at school there. He is enthusiastic and comes to the point and he has a sense of humor and smarts. We are so grateful he is with us here at St. Vincent's. He works with our Life Teen program and with men who feel a calling to the seminary. What an attraction for them! My gratitude list for today shall certainly have his name at the top.
Wouldn't it be grand to have as much enthusiasm for every priest we know? Each  has a special gift for which I am grateful, whether it be the grace of the confessional, or administrative abilities, or a spiritual presence, or good homilies, each priest I know has a gift. Often I hear of the 'problems' people find with our priests. And there are some, I can see them as well as the next person. But as a good member of our parish and of the Catholic Church, I believe it is up to me to point out the good the priests I know do. Nay saying is easy. But it leaves a pall of darkness behind unless solutions are added, or good points listed as well . It takes one candle to battle back the darkness. I am going to make a point to shine a light on the way our priests walk in my community.This is Trekking Catholic.

Millstones

A mighty angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone
and threw it into the sea--Rev.

I work with people who have issues with food. I do not say they are addicted to it, but they have issues, as do I. I read something about this issue everyday. One of the most important things I have read was from a book by  Francis MacNutt called The Practice of Healing Prayer. In it he mentions working with an alcoholic and praying 'to take away his need' for alcohol. Every day I pray for God to 'take away my need' for the chocolate and sugar that waylay my health and happiness: these are some of my millstones.  I have other millstones too: bad attitudes about people or situations or work or responsibilities. I'd like to have them chucked into the sea just as this angel has done in the Book of Revelations. I pray for the miracle. I also pray for the ability to see  the error of my ways, to learn how to correct these errors, and to put my lessons into action. In that way I shall do my part of the miracle, helping to chuck it. Give me strength O Lord.

Winners

On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory....--Rev. 15

Victory! I won something yesterday. I entered my NaNoWriMo novel, validated the word count and Won! Historically 16% of those who begin the NaNo project finish it as winners. It was such a rush to see "You are a winner!" flashing across my computer screen. I talked to a Notre Dame fan yesterday. He was pretty enthusiastic over his football team's win last weekend. I certainly enjoy remembering the father from A Christmas Story saying,"I won! I won! I won! A major prize!" when he receives notification of the pending delivery of the infamous leg lamp. The lead photo on my online news source this morning was of the lines of people waiting to purchase a ticket in hopes of winning the $500M lottery drawing this evening. There are so many different kinds of victories in life: the victory over an addictive behavior, the victory of crossing a finish line, or the victory of a chance prize. Great and wonderful are the works of God who give us the fellowship and the program of recovery, the dedication, focus and  and perseverance to train and to complete a race or goal of any sort, and the lucky numbers that match and change the course of a life or lives in big ways and small.
 Thank you for my challenges and for my victories. May I be a gracious winner on earth and in heaven.

The Faces of God

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury. –Rev 14:19

Yipes! I was lucky enough to grow up with a Loving God in my life. I have heard horror stories about the Judgmental God scaring and repelling others in their youth. Because of this a relationship with God is difficult and painful. Thankfully this Judgmental God is not my first thought, but He most certainly is real. In my local Catholic Church I don’t hear too much about this part of God. I wonder if this is not fostering a namby pamby idea of the Creator, something like those wimpy religious images of Christ. In my work with icons I learned about Christ Pantocrator (a word that closely means Omnipotent), the great visual of God on the ceilings of the Orthodox churches. In the sixth century someone ‘wrote’ an icon that seemed to encapsulate both the judgmental and the loving aspects of God. The face of Christ seems to be divided in two. The left side has a fierce eye and countenance: the all-seeing eye of God. You can run but you can’t hide! And the right eye seems to look upon the viewer with love and acceptance. An Orthodox priest told me penitents look at an image of this icon while in Reconciliation. The priest stands behind the penitent with his hand on his or her shoulder. God knows all and God loves us anyway.

I pray to know all of the aspects of God. May my fears not keep me from the Truth.

The Name of God

I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his father’s name written on their foreheads….who had been ransomed from the earth.—Rev 14:1-3 +

Two things: Firstly, I pray for the Holy Souls every day. I have accepted this long-ago calling and have not turned my back on it and on them. I am praying them into heaven. I am grateful for the readings from the Book of Revelation at this time of the Church Year which reminds me of the Holy Souls. I like to imagine this symbolic number of 144,000 strong enjoying their place in heaven. May my prayers get them there!

Secondly: Today’s readings and the phrase about God’s ‘name written on their foreheads’ reinforces what I heard at yesterday’s homily. Fr. Andrew was giving us a bit of the history of the Feast of Christ the King. It is not a very old feast; if I remember correctly Pope Pius introduced it about 1928 in reaction to the threat of communism and its godless ideas. Fr. Andrew told us about a recent trip he took to the monuments around Washington DC, and told us of the places he saw the word “God” etched in stone. The older monuments had the word everywhere. The newest memorial, that to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, did not recognize his title (reverend) nor include the words of God, or Jesus, or Christianity anywhere. MLK’s speeches were laden with those words. He was a preacher! It has become politically incorrect to use the name of God in any public place. We are in worse shape than we were in 1928! How intolerant we have become. Can this be good for our country? I think we Catholics need to be visible and vocal. Let us keep the word of God in our lives. God give us courage.

Endings and Beginnings

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” said the Lord God.

Today is the Feast of Christ the King of the Universe. It wasn’t until this year that I noticed the ‘of the Universe’ part of the Title on my Catholic calendar. When I read this I thought of photographs from the Hubble Telescope we had seen at a performance of our Philharmonic. With the majesty of The Planets swelling in the background the audience was awed by a universe we intellectually may know is there, but to see it! I know the word amazing is over used, but these photographs are amazing. Our universe is amazing. To wrap my brain around the idea of Christ the King of the Universe is more than I can do. I have to accept this glorious and creative authority on faith.  The church window behind the altar of my parish of St. Vincent’s includes the symbols of Alpha and Omega. I look at these every time I attend Holy Mass in that building. These symbols never cease to fill me with awe. I am so grateful there is such a feast to honor this aspect of our God. Amazing !

This final week of the Church Year is kind of like New Year’s Eve for me. I say the last week of rosaries with the saints who have been my 2012 companions for each mystery. I also bid ‘thank you and farewell’ to the saint who has been my constant Saint Companion this year. St. Faustina wrote of this idea of a Saint Companion and I have been participating in this for several years. When December 1^st rolls around I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit and then reach into my bag of names of saints and receive the gift given to me.  St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was my choice on December 1, 2011. What a gift she was to me! Frances Cabrini was a woman of great and selfless service. I have not been called to that kind of active lifestyle. I am a Carmelite, not a Franciscan! But her connection to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? That I could do. And I ‘assigned’ her to the Third Sorrowful Mystery to pray with me for my intentions of the day. In December of 2011 I had no idea I would be writing the NaNo novel, but here she appeared to grace my project. I named a character after her. I am grateful for the year we have spent together. I also look forward to the surprise of my saint companions for the new liturgical year.