Ordinary Time Cycle A

Trinity Sunday while on vacation in the desert

I was able to attend Sunday Eucharitst at St. Elizabeth of Hungry in the Desert.  The homily was helpful to me.  I have always found it hard to preach about the Trinity, other than 3 in one, Father, Son, Hoy Spirit

FatherSonHS

What caused me to give thought was something I already knew.  Father=creator, Son=redeemer, Holy Spirit=Sanctifier.

What was new was the challenge to see how I make God present to others in my life. 

 How do I show the Father-how do I  create for others;

 

How do I show the Son,  how do I have mercy, grant forgiveness, express compassion for others;

How do I show the Holy Spirit,  how to I sanctify, bless others, how often do I pray for others, especially for all those I come in contact with, those walking on the street, those I pass by in the aisles at the store, those I see at the gas station, etc.

My Last Vacation Before Retirement

Desert Wk 5-10

I always find a great peace here in the desert.  But, this vacation, my last before retirement causes me a lot of reflection over my years as a teacher and then a priest.  The question for me is what lies ahead.

Today's Gospel reading was a help.  I include it here for you to refledt on.

 

When you were young you walked where you liked; 

But when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, 

and somebody else will take you where you would 

rather not go.  

Christ’s prophecy seemed to the evangelist to be speaking merely of Peter’s martyrdom,

 but today it has much more to say to us. 

In the bad old days people died young and they died, on the whole, quickly.

 In today’s kind world such things are receding into the past. Now we are deprived,

 one by 

one, of our faculties and all the achievements that made us adult and made us human.

 We are taken into hospitals or put into homes and imprisoned there by our weakness

. If we are unlucky, we are subjected to systematic humiliation and daily petty cruelty 

from those who should be caring for us. If we are lucky, the kindness we receive is still a 

reminder that we are not the proud, independent beings we once were.

Let us pray for the weak and old and helpless.

 Let us pray for their caregivers, (ourselves included), that they may

 lay their frustrations before Jesus and, by his grace, not take them out

 on those they should be caring for. Let us pray to St Peter that God may allow

 us to embrace death, like him, before our endurance fails.

 

Preparing for the Holy Spirit...

Well retirement is just a little way off; July First to be exact. 

 I must say I am a little nervous as to what the future holds for me. 

 I know I will miss not having a community to celebrate daily mass with. 

But this is a real chance to see if I am willing to wait for the Holy Spriti in my life once again. 

Like the early Christians we all have to wait for the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Lord, give me the grace and courage to wait. 

Christ is risen, alleluia.  Chriest is truly risen, alleluia.

 

This icon below is great.  The Holy Spirit comes as a wind.  I love the words sung in the Neocat communities. 

 

IF YOU FEEL A BREEZE FROM HEAVEN, 

A WIND SHAKING YOUR DOOR. 

LISTEN.  IT IS A VOICE THAT IS CALLING YOU. 

CALLING YOU TO TRAVEL AFAR.

 

HSpitir