Come up here

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.”—Rev 11:12

This is the Month of the Holy Souls. My prayer calendar is full of reminders to pray for them this month in a special way. Today’s entry is a call to snatch a soul from hell by my prayers. I heard Rosalie Turton speak at a conference a few years ago. She told the story of someone who had a vision of a vast number of people in heaven and was told these were all the souls he had prayed to salvation. And then he had a vision of an even vaster number of souls. And these were those left behind because of his refusal to pray for them. I believe God is timeless. I believe I can pray for anyone in any time and snatch them out of eternal damnation. I believe I can pray a soul to the “Come up here” point. I believe in the power of prayer.

Return

"Go and take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. he said to me,"Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste sweet as honey." --Rev 10:8

This November I have participated in NaNoWriMo, a 50,000 word online writing project. Today I am near 47,000 words and will, God willing, reach my word goal this weekend. In the course of this month I learned that writing this novel may have been my idea of a lifetime dream, but I do not think that it was God's idea for me. The call to return to this Catholic Life blog has been powerful all through the month of sitting at the keyboard. At first I thought it was just the 'excuse' not to work on the NaNo novel. In actuality I think the NaNo project was the permission I needed to go back to writing this blog; to take up the scroll handed to me.
I have done a lot of work with icons. The scroll has a very important symbolism in them. It is the game plan of gifts God has written for us. In today's first reading for Holy Mass I read again of the scroll and how wonderful it is to recognize its gift to us from God. To take it means to accept this gift and all the sweetness of resting in the love God has for our individuality and the work only we can do for Him on earth. It also means we must have an accountability for having accepted it. To ignore our gifts is to have a sourness in our stomach.
The angel of NaNoWriMo is standing before me in all his glory. I will finish the novel project because of the many lessons I have been taught in the writing process. And to finish is a lesson in itself. And I also accept the scroll of this writing project as well. There is relief in this sweet taste of honey in my mouth.

Curing a Woman on the Sabbath

 I am working the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I am  on Week 23 now and the Bible verses for the week concentrate on Jesus healing.  Today I read this translation of Luke 13:10 and the Light Weigh(Spiritual Growth program I am a part of)  jumped right out at me  so I wanted to share…

One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!

Jesus saw…He sees everyone and knows all of the pain we hold

He called her over…she had to be paying attention to hear his voice. Paying attention to God and where He would like us to be can be a challenge in this noisy and complicated world.

He called her Dear…We all are precious to God

You are healed of your sickness…There is no doubt what Jesus was saying to her. We don’t need interpretation or translation for those words. Again, the noise and complications of our lives may garble the words of the Lord unless we make a concerted effort to hear what He is saying to us.

He touched her…We are touched by God in many ways. We need to be aware of how God is touching us. Do you recognize this question from our workbook? J

How she praised God! She knew Who made the difference in her life.

Footprints

I was walking the dogs separately,in the snow yesterday and noticed someone had treads shaped as a heart. They left little hearts behind wherever they walked. I was thinking what a creative idea this was on the part of the shoe designer. I had purchased flip flops with 'Just Married' on the treads for my son and his new wife when they traveled on their honeymoon. I thought it , too, a clever idea. This should be how we approach life; leaving little experiences of love behind. . When I turned around to come back home with dog two, I realized that the shoe treads were my own.

Mark 1:40-45 Jesus Cures a Leper

A leper came to Him and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter...

I always felt kind of bad for this guy, thinking he did exactly the opposite of what Jesus said. The end of the passage said there were so many people looking for Jesus that he could not travel openly because people were coming to him from everywhere. It seemed to me as if this cured man blabbed away and prevented the Lord from doing what he was called to do. Today I had another idea. What if this leper did exactly as Jesus ordered. Kept his mouth shut, went to the priest, and preached without words. This was his publication, living a new and clean life.What if the touch of the Lord changed this fellow so much that the love of God burned within him and people recognized it and came to Jesus, in droves. Isn't this what we as Catholics are called to do? Live our Catholicism publicly in our actions? I can think of two people, both in the medical field, who were doing this. They wore medals, Catholic medals, at work. One medical receptionist had on a miraculous medal , and the other person was a PA and she was wearing a small silver crucifix at the office. I must admit I see crosses as jewelry pretty often, but this may have been the first crucifix I have seen in public. I have been to this PA's home and I know she is Catholic because of a comment she made to someone about her Catholic wedding. Well, she also had an Advent wreath on her dining room table. There may be other Christian faiths that use the wreath, but I only know it because it is part of my Catholic heritage. I wear medas often. I wear the scapular all the time, but it is hidden beneath my clothes. Because of the public  display of faith these women have shown, I think I will have the courage to wear my faith more visibly.

Reconciliation

It was so nice to sit in the quiet of the sun lightened church this past Saturday. There were maybe a dozen of us patiently waiting our turn with the priest. I was told I made and 'excellent, excellent' confession. never heard that before. Well, don't think I confessed to this particular priest either, but still it was very nice to hear. Back in the early 70's I had a priest yell at me because I could not give a definition for grace or baptism or something. Took me twenty years to try it again. Gosh, what I missed over those years. How differently my life could, have been with that powerful grace at work within me. It is what it is and I am what I am because of it. So glad I am no longer afraid to spend time in the confessional. I remember being very surprised my mother had no interest in going to confession when she lived near and with us. I made sure a priest spent time with her before her death, but still, no interest in the sacrament. Didn't know her as well as I thought. I am glad prayer is timeless. I pray for her soul every day.

Words

I read in the latest issue of guideposts magazine about a habit of Debbie Macomber, popular novelist. Every year she chooses a work to be the focus of her devotions, her prayer life, her conversation with God. The word that 'came' to me was "words." There are a lot of blog opinions out there this time of year about evaluating for resolutions. One blog I follow suggested  this be the year of throwing caution to the winds and living life without the brake of fear. Do not stand in your own way, she said. She also suggested finding a word for the year. She suggested posting it where I could see it everyday. "Words" means writing to me. Writing poetry, and good letters. Writing those series of young adult books nattering in my head. Practicing the writing exercises in the writing books that load up my book shelf. Writing about Trekking Catholic. 2012 is the Year of WORDS.