Sacred Sunday: Saturday Centus

Ms. Jenny Matlock, from the blog of the same name, has begun a series of memes called Saturday Centus. The point is to write from a prompt, supplied by Mr. Jenny, and in 100 words (not including prompt) tell a story. The following is what ensued when I attempted this myself. I felt it was perfect for my not so weekly Sacred Sunday theme. Please enjoy. (Prompt is in red)


"May I help you,miss? You look puzzled."


"Mmmm...thank you, I'm just looking for my father. We came in together a moment ago, but he seems to have wandered off."



"I do not think he has wandered off, for you were alone when you entered here."


"No, I'm quite sure he was with me."


"When was the last time you spoke with him or dined at his table?"


"Come to think of it, it has been some time."


"Are you certain it wasn't you that wandered far away?"


"What do you mean?"



"Remember when your path became rocky and unsure? When nightly tears became your lullaby?"


"But how....how do you know that?"



"My dear child, I am He."



I fall to my knees and tearfully pray: "Father! Please forgive me!"

Sacred Sunday: i found Jesus

Brian Miller of WaystationOne has agreed, once again, to host a Sacred Sunday post. For more of his work please be sure to visit his blog HERE. Thank you, Brian, for another outstanding contribution. i met Jesus in a monastery in the mountains, across the river from pittsburgh. He was bronze, in the foyer and when the sun shone just right through the doors, His glory would be blinding. if you were looking. in the stairwell he stood, in monk garb, finger raised as if he had some wisdom to impart. one for the road, if you were heading out. down the hall, on the way to the dorms, he hung on a black cross his feet resting on a bleached, macabre skull. rather gothic if you ask me. outside the window of my room, on the brick wall, He was painted in brilliant color, radiance pouring off his head like feathers on a native american indian. at night, i would stroll the grounds, in the garden by where He stood encased in concrete, and watch the hookers ply their trade on the corner. i imagined Him sitting on the park bench, litter fluttering in the breeze created by cars driving by, talking with them, instead of being safe behind the wrought iron fence that kept them out. His hands a lot dirtier than these pristine portrayals. i found Jesus on a mountain in pittsburgh. He is alive and well, and wants to know if you will come out and play.

Sacred Sunday: Brian Miller

fierce & furious



between us
there is a
quiet intensity
that trancends
words we speak or
comforting caresses,
like a hurricane
stripping away all excess,
your love does not
go quietly
into the night.
it is real
it is painful
at times
and
i cry out
on my knees
or fall on my face.
do not let me forget your
fierce, soothing,
jealous, stretching,
undying
love.
amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's guest blogger was Brian Miller of WaystationOne.

He is a prolific writer and poet.

If you liked what you read here,

be sure to comment over on his blog.

Thank you Brian, for being my guest today. 

Sacred Sunday April 25, 2010

Today's Sacred Sunday guest post is brought to you by Tina of Life is Good. Please be sure to go visit her and thank her for her words here today.

Sacred Serenity


Although I'm an outgoing, talkative, leader type person, I have to have my alone time. My peace and quiet, nobody bother me time. It's sacred. It's also hard to fit into the schedule when you're a mom, wife, sister, friend, and all the rest we do as women today. But if I don't have it, I lose sight of who I am. And then I'm lousy at being all of the above.

Even my best friend called me crazy because I used to get up at 5 am. But that's when I used to get my sacred serenity. It was just me, my candle, and my green tea. I so enjoyed the quiet before my family woke up. The house just sounds different when they're sleeping. It's a stillness that's different than empty. Cozier. Since I teach a Bible study, this was the perfect preparation time. Writing my lesson plan on a fresh brain was a lot more effective than trying to do it in the afternoons, even if I did kick the boys outside. That's a different quiet. A quiet punctuated with, “That's MY nerf gun!” and, “I need a drink, Mom!”

Now that I'm homeschooling and our schedule has gotten all loosey goosey, I'm no longer getting up early. It's a rebellion thing, I think. Why should I get up, when there are no lunches to make, no carpool to drive, no school starts at 8:30 to worry about? There's also no serenity. They boys are home ALL THE TIME. I'm never alone. And I've noticed I'm a bit tense around the edges. Ok, crabby a lot of the time. I think I know why. Gotta get some alone time.

Here's what I need. Here's my version of perfect serenity.

I slide out of bed and no one notices. I grab my breakfast as I head out, but I can't wait until I get to the dock, so the first bite of my reuben goes down as I tip toe out, being careful not to slam the screen. The mist hovering over Mill Creek is like a shroud of secrecy, ready to envelop me, give me cover. The great blue heron is in it's usual position of sentinel, and doesn't flee as I arrive. He's seen me do this so many times, he allows me passage to the dock with scarcely a glance. It's too early to sail, since barely a ripple disturbs the still water. I untie the kayak instead and just let myself drift into that mist, not bothering with the paddle just yet. I lay back, and let my thoughts drift too. What a perfect time to talk to Him. Thank Him for His amazing creation. For the salt-murky air tickling my nose with all the memories of my childhood spent at this place. For the birdsong as they greet the morning, each other, and me, with their melodies of praise. For His love, which surrounds me every day. Thanks, God for all of this.

I allow myself to just drift, just listen. I hear the world begin to wake up. A mother calling to her child. Engines starting. The manager of the fuel station greeting his first customer. Conversations. Sound travels far over the water, and I've heard some familiar voices, too. I grab the paddle and head back to the dock. I see two not-so-little-anymore boys. Ready for breakfast. And their mom is now ready to face the day. Renewed. Relaxed from some time spent in sacred serenity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tina...I so appreciate this post as the subject matter 
is near and dear to my heart as well.

Thank you for a beautifully treatise on what is sacred to you,

and to many of us as well.

Sacred Sunday: Poetry Corner

Things I Never Knew

Whether you like opera
Or a rainy day
While riding in the car
Music or the window down
Watching Earth’s
Contoured cloth
Catching rivulets of Grace.

Or your favorite movie
While thunderstorms
Rage white and black
Through thin blinds
Turned just upward
Through which comes
Peace in crescent shadows.

Would you choose
To live this life again
An eternal recurrence
of dreamless horizons
Or dare to lift
Vinegary hyssop
To Hope’s parched lips?


The above poem was written by fellow blogger, Jim Hawley of It's This or Go Crazy. I found it an especially well written piece. Although there are many layers to this poem, for the sake of the theme of Sacred Sunday, these are the questions that came away with when I read this particular piece:


1.  Are we just passing through life living for gratification of earthly desires or are we focused on the "Rivulets of Grace"  offered before us, freely given by our Savior? 


2.  In times of suffering and chaos, do we open the gifts of the Holy Spirit to aid our needs and those of fellow man?


3.  And despite the Grace we are offered, due to our fallen nature, do we refuse to accept it by repeatedly lifting the hyssop branch up to our thirsty Lord? 


What are your thoughts?


This is but a small example of the body of work available at Jim's blog. I encourage you to go and pay a visit. I do not believe you will be disappointed. 

Sacred Sunday - Religious Education

It's a very busy weekend at the hospital. My sweet Bethany has agreed to post this week's Sacred Sunday blog post while I attempt to recover the craziness that is the nature of Respiratory Therapy. I present to you Bethany's blog post on her experiences teaching Religious Education.

Since my mom is very busy, and Daylights Savings doesn’t help anything, she has asked me to do Sacred Sunday for this week. 

When I found out that I needed 40 Service Hours to graduate 9^th grade, I was frantically searching for hours (even though it was August). A friend of mine mentioned teaching Religious Education, and I thought that I could possibly be good for a teaching position. So, I talked to the Director of Religious Education after Mass one day, and got a teaching position for 5^th grade. 

During the first class, half of the students were out with Swine Flu, so we combined classes. It ended up working well, and we still have the classes combined today. There were originally four teachers, but later on in the year, one had to drop out due to family issues. The adult I was paired up with originally creates the best lesson plans, and interacts with these kids better than many people could. I mainly just add my thoughts on what she’s teaching. And the other adult from makes sure everyone is behaving, although they are some of the best-behaved 5^th graders I have ever met. They ask very good, relative questions, and actually want to learn. For the first test, they were the class with the highest score.

You may be wondering how this ties in at all with Sacred Sunday. Well, teaching these kids has changed me. I’m ashamed to say that, at first, I was doing this only for Service Hours, but now I find myself going there because I want to. I want to see these kids understanding this beautiful faith that they were blessed with. I want to see them each week.

You know how they say you learn more through teaching? Well, it’s completely true. Before I was just loaded with these facts about The Faith, and didn’t put them to any use. The other teachers call me the Catholic Encyclopedia, because I’m always throwing out facts, they swear I’m not disrupting the class, though. But as I throw out these facts, I begin connecting all these things I know to real life, and I begin realizing how these can be applied to real life. 

Looking back, I realize how much of a blessing God gave me by letting me work with these amazing kids. I can see how much I’ve changed in just this year, and how much of that change has come through teaching. I can only hope that I’ve helped them, even just a bit, like they’ve helped me.

Sacred Sunday: February 28, 2010

"Old Woman at Prayer" by Nicolaes Maes

(Dutch painter, 1634-1693)

Also known as "Prayer Without End"

As part of my Lenten journey, besides giving up red wine, I enrolled in a 6 week course on Prayer. This course is part of the Why Catholic? Journey Through the Catechism series. Last week was my 1st session and, as with everything I do, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I was pleasantly surprised. The small group I was assigned to had some very lovely people and I was pleased that the group leader was a woman I knew very well through previous Bible studies. There were some serious conversations and reflections and I walked away feeling I truly had learned something that I could apply to my prayer life.

For today's Sacred Sunday, I'd like to share with you a story, from my study guide, that helped open my eyes and heart more fully into understanding what prayer should be like. Enjoy.

A disciple has been calling on God for many years.
through prayer, fasting, and meditation.
One day she hears a voice within her ask:
"Who is there?"
"At last, at last," she thinks joyfully.
"God," she cries, "It is I. I is I"
But she is met by silence and the voice disappears.
Years pass and the woman goes on meditating
and calling on God with renewed passion.
Suddenly, without warning, she hears the voice again.
"Who is there?"
This time, without hesitation, she replies,
"Only you, only you."
And the door opens and she enters the heart of God.


I'm off to my 3rd 12 hour shift in a row so I probably will be too exhausted to reply to your comments but rest assured I appreciate them and will be looking forward to reading them when I return home from work. May God provide abundant blessings to you and your families this day and always!

Sacred Sunday: God on Trial

I ran across the following article by Fr. Paul Scalia,. (He's the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia) This article was originally published in the Arlington Catholic Herald and subsequently posted on the Catholic Exchange website. I thought it made for a very appropriate Sacred Sunday Post. Regardless of whether you are Christian or not, please take a moment to read and see if you recognize a bit of yourself. I know I sure did.

(Image from Google Images; artist unknown to me 
despite extensive search)

God on Trial 

Traditionally, the Church has understood Our Lord’s three temptations in the desert as a summary of the temptations we face. St. Thomas observes, “The matter of all sins were included in the three temptations.” By this interpretation, Our Lord occupies our place. On our behalf He undergoes and triumphs over the temptations of the evil one. Or, better still, in Him we triumph over all temptation.

There is, however, another way of understanding Our Lord’s temptations. Instead of seeing us in Christ’s place, we can see ourselves in the devil’s. Without denying the significance of the traditional interpretation, we can understand the devil’s temptations of Our Lord as signifying also the various ways in which we tempt God — that is, how we test Him and put Him on trial. It is not a flattering interpretation, to be sure. But we often need strong medicine for healing.

Consider the devil’s basic question to the accused: “If you are the Son of God …” (Lk 4:3, 9). This expresses an attitude, implicit if not explicit, that we assume quite often. It is a petulant, peevish response to God’s self-revelation. He reveals Himself and rather than taking Him at His word, rather than responding in faith, we demand proof. We say, in effect, “Oh, yeah? Prove it.” Zechariah copped this attitude and received a rather severe punishment. God’s messenger declared to him, “you will be speechless and unable to talk … because you did not believe my words” (Lk 1:20).

The devil also exemplifies the particular proofs we demand. There is, first of all, the proof of worldly comfort: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread” (Lk 4:3). For us to believe, we demand that He give us want we want for our worldly comfort. We may not have this exact thought process, but the attitude lurks within. For some reason we suppose that our health and wealth is proof of His divinity — and that the lack or loss of them is reason to doubt or reject Him. How many people lose their faith precisely because they lost the worldly comfort on which they had based it. If He is God, they say, He would not have allowed this.

Second, we demand power. “All this will be yours, if you worship me,” says the devil (Lk 4:7). Now, we would never be so crass as to demand that He worship us. At least not in so many words. But we do demand that He conform to our way of thinking and our way of living before we will let Him into our world. In other words, He must set aside His divine claims before we allow Him in. No, we do not close Him out entirely. We just require Him to take a lower, less divine place — right there alongside our other devotions, interests and hobbies. Instead of conforming ourselves to Him, we demand that He conform Himself to us.

Third, we demand “signs and wonders” in order to believe. The devil demanded a spectacle — that Jesus throw Himself from the temple parapet and let His angels save Him. That would get their attention. Likewise, we demand something stupendous and amazing (which Our Lord warned against specifically: cf. Mt 24:24; Mk13:22; Jn 4:48). We are not content to marvel and wonder at the “small” workings of God. We have grown bored with His “regular” works. We want something big!

Chesterton succinctly condemns this spiritual boredom: “There is only one sin: to call a green leaf grey.” Sin comes from boredom with the wonder of God’s creation, with His small voice, and with His smaller presence in Mary and in the Eucharist. The irony is, those who insist on miracles typically do not believe them when they come — exactly as Our Lord warned: “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead” (Lk 16:31).

“Prove it” is not a good attitude toward God. We should instead say, “Help me to see!” Mother Church gives us Lent as a time to correct our mindset and cultivate the proper openness to and delight in God’s self-revelation — so that as Easter comes our response to Him will be one not of doubt but of devotion: “My Lord, and my God!”

Sacred Sunday: Wordless Edition

Sacred Sunday: A Universal Call to Holiness

There is a beautiful statuary in our church called "A Universal Call to Holiness". It is a very symbolic work of art. I would like to share with you what these symbols represent. This call to holiness can also be symbolic of our preparations during the season of Advent, where we prepare ourselves in patient waiting for the coming of our Lord. 

The Madonna offers her Son, the Savior of the World, to all people. She presents Him to us for us to listen and follow in His example. She makes the ultimate sacrifice by giving up her only Child to the world so that we may ourselves live for our eternal salvation. We listen to His Word in the Gospel and then we apply the Gospel message in all we do everyday. The Child Jesus is dressed with a stole around His neck, identifying Him as the High Priest who makes the ultimate sacrifice of His life for our salvation so that we may live for all eternity with Him.

The Angel with the Horn calls us to Holiness through Service. We are reminded that in our work, play and all we do, we are to serve the Lord and one another. Our gifts are not for us to use for our personal gain but rather they are to be used in service to the Lord and our sisters and brothers in the world. We must continue to serve those who have less than us: the poor, the oppressed, the physically handicapped, and the unfortunate.

The Angel holding the Chalice calls us to Holiness through Sacrifice. Sacrifice is a form of prayer. Our daily sufferings and tribulations that we face, whether we are young or old, deprived, sick or suffering with a disappointment, can all be prayers to bring us to holiness. We offer any and all difficulties that we face as a sacrifice to God. It is a continual reminder of how our Lord made the ultimate sacrifice. So too, we offer our daily sacrifices to our God, and in so doing, we discover the joy of knowing Him better.

The Angel holding the Crown calls us to Holiness through Praise and Evangelization. It is important to maintain a prayerful life every day to get us closer to our Faith and to our God. Using this Faith, we then are able to spread the Good News to those who have not heard the Word or have fallen away from God. As others have offered and taught us the Faith, so too we must continue this tradition and spread the Faith to all throughout the world that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

The Angel Praying calls us to Holiness through Faith and Hope. We must continue to remember that we want to get closer to the Lord so that one day we will be able to share eternally with Him and the Saints. It is our Hope that we live our life like Christ which will lead us to Eternal Life. A continued Faith in the Church and its teachings will help us, and then, empowered by this gift, we are able to have the Hope to endure.