November 29, 2009

1 Thessalonians 3:12- 4:2 Grow In Love, Which is Pleasing To God

Towering Oaks near Centerton AR

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,13so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

Labels: Scenic Arkansas, scripture

November 26, 2009

Thanks Be To God...A Thanksgiving Hymn

The Mighty Ohio River Overlook Indiana

For the fruits of His creation
Thanks be to God
For the gifts to every nations,
Thanks be to God
For the ploughing, sowing reaping
Silent growth while men are sleeping
Future needs in earth's safe keeping
Thanks be to God



Flying the Colors Bella Vista AR


In the just reward of labor
God's will is done
In the help we give our neighbor
God's will is done
In our world wide task of caring
For the hungry and desparing
In the harvests we are sharing
Gods will is done


Antique Quilts for sale Bentonville AR


For the harvests of His Spirit
Thanks be to God
For the good all men inherit
Thanks be to God
For the wonders that astound us
for the truths that still confound us
Most of all that love has found us
Thanks be to God

James Quinn SJ

From the "Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer"
a Psalter of the Liturgy of the Hours
Liturgical Press
Collegeville Minnesota



Bright Mums Bentonville AR

Labels: Catholic, IN, Thanksgiving

November 25, 2009

Indian Summer

my view of my "back forty" and Hawksnest Ravine..Peartree Cottage Metfield Bella Vista Ar

Lord,
You take care of the earth

and send rain

to help the soil

grow all kinds of crops.

Your rivers never run dry,

and you prepare the earth

to produce much grain.

You water all of its fields

and level the lumpy ground.

You send showers of rain

to soften the soil

and help the plants sprout.

Wherever your footsteps

touch the earth,

a rich harvest is gathered.

from Psalm 65

It was a beautiful "Indian Summer", for us in the Ozarks. Much of the time, October and November was warm and sunny with some of the most beautiful autumn leaves the locals can remember. The mild temperatures allowed for people to get out to the local craft fairs and harvest gatherings. I found myself drawn out to the bench to spend time in prayer before going into work... But as the month draws to a close and Thanksgiving time is here its cooled off and we may even have some snow flurries in the next few days...We are staying inside mmore and more our of the damp and chill in the mornings

We are doing fine. Im sorry for the long time between posts, but my life is somewhat ruetine, hard to talk about, and my hands are killing me from my Carpal Tunnel, so typing is very difficult...and frankly, most evenings I just want to sit in the quiet of my house with my doggie and my prayer book and be still for a bit, and not even try to think about anything

I can hardly believe it but friday ends my 10th week at Walmart.com. all of the hard work and training is about to be put to the test as we enter the notorious "Black Friday" on 11-27 (called black friday because this national day of shopping is the first day for many retailers that they show a profit or "go into the black" for the year. Not so for Walmart, but that is another story. The company has got a no holds barred approach to this years sales and we expect orders to 5 to 8 times higher than on an avarage day. Already there is a push higher and I have been working 10-12 hour days. Black friday will be an 18 hour day as well as its sister "Cyber Monday" the biggest internet shopping day, on 11-30. If you want a deal on electronic stuff this will be the day. The flat screen tvs are so cheap stores are buying them to resell in their stores...thats cheap.

Through it all there has been much testing of my faith. I went into this thinking that maybe this is it...I will get to stay here and work. Its a good job, I am close to home and its casual dress. People are very kind, even my brash young supervisor, who many people find annoying I see his good heart, and we all had to grow up at our own pace. He has been long suffering with me as well...

But the truth is, its likely that once the Christmas rush is over, I will be thanked and sent on my way. I am looking diligently for another position, and can apply at Walmart now and will. But I think it is going to be a long cold winter for me and I need to prepare for it. Im saving every dime of over time and paying utility bills and my car insurance ahead. I cant have a savings account as I am going to try to get on public assistance again once this job is over...I also should qualify for unemployment and will apply for that.


My garden Angel among the glowing dogwood leaves..

Nearly all of my creditors have me in collections and I know one lawyer in town has 4 accounts of mine. I am looking for a lawyer of my own and once I am working again I will file for bankruptcy. I have nothing, own nothing of value, and frankly I am ready for a fresh start and an end to the 50 calls a day from bill collectors some of whom arent even my bills... I hate it. I hate being a deadbeat, but there is no talking to these people, and its almost like they are forcing me to do this, rather than waiting so I can pay them off. One credit card jacked my intrest up to 39.95 percent, That is so unbelieveable...it has got to be illegal. The amount I owe is going up so fast I will never see daylight...

On a bighter note, my landlord contacted me and things are going to stay the same for the time being. He wants me in the house I want to be in the house and I am very content here

I have no holiday plans I am working half days Thanksgiving Day, the saturday and sunday of the weekend 4 to 6 hours I dont get holiday pay so having this keeps me stable as far as my 40 hours goes. I bought a turkey and some trimmings but will likely cook it next tuesday when Im set to have a full day off likely it too will be a half day... I could get used to that...

Sunday 11-29 is my Rite of Acceptance at St Steven Church. I have not been attending RCIA class but Msgr Marcusk has these lovely cds for me to listen to Im not going to "miss the bus" to Catholic Land this year. no matter what. I am very glad to have found this church and look forward to learning and growing. I also have taken up praying the liturgy of the hours morning and night. That is amazing, and powerful I feel a renewed stiring of Gods presence in my life.

This is my favorite holiday season of the year, its a time of reflection. While I have had a very rough year, I have few regrets for this path I am on. I know deep down in my heart that it is a time of refinement...a time that God is using to refocus me back to the type of life I had before Woody and the illusional life we had. Sometimes it seems like a dream. This now is the reality. The truth is that we have very little control over our destiny...Like a seed planted in the ground, it is God that controls our prosperity or our want. Our responsibility is to choose to do our best everyday and trust Him for our futures. We can plan, sceme, save, work, but like the seed in the ground we cant necessary make it grow, only God gives the increase.

And so it goes...thank you one and all for your prayers and concern. Please keep me in your thoughts as I gather in a harvest of provision. You are a blessing to me...

Labels: Bella Vista, Catholic, Current Events, Pear Tree Cottage, Personal Growth, Scenic Arkansas, scripture, Thanksgiving, weather

November 22, 2009

Psalm 92~ It Is Good To Give Thanks

Glorious Fall near Bentonville AR


It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.

But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Labels: Scenic Arkansas, scripture, Thanksgiving

November 15, 2009

Wisdom 7:21-8:1-The Incomperableness Of Godly Wisdom

Hawaii Skies Taken on the grounds of the Polynesian Cultural Center Laie Oahu Hawaii

And now I understand everything, hidden or visible, for Wisdom, the designer of all things, has instructed me.
For within her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, shrewd,
irresistible, beneficent, friendly to human beings, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating all intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits.
For Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion; she is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things.
She is a breath of the power of God, pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; so nothing impure can find its way into her.
For she is a reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God's active power, and image of his goodness.
Although she is alone, she can do everything; herself unchanging, she renews the world, and, generation after generation, passing into holy souls, she makes them into God's friends and prophets;
for God loves only those who dwell with Wisdom.
She is indeed more splendid than the sun, she outshines all the constellations; compared with light, she takes first place,
for light must yield to night, but against Wisdom evil cannot prevail

Strongly she reaches from one end of the world to the other and she governs the whole world for its good.

Labels: Scenic Arkansas, scripture

November 11, 2009

Light Unending~ A Tribute To Our Fallen Veterans

Tribute To The Fallen Memorial to the victims of the Ft. Hood massacre, and all veterans. St. Steven Church Bentonville AR


Day is done, but love unfailing
Dwells ever here;
Shadows fall, but hope, prevailing
Calms every fear
Loving Father, none forsaking
Take our hearts, of Love's own making
Watch our sleeping, guard our waking...
Be always near.

Dark descends, but Light Unending
Shines through our night;
You are with us, ever lending
New strength to sight
One in love, You truth confessing
One in hope, of heavens blessing
May we see, in Love's possessing
Love's endless light

Eyes will close, but You, unsleeping
Watch by our side
Death may come, in Love's safekeeping
Still we abide
God of love, all evil quelling
Sin forgiving, fear dispelling
Stay with us,our hearts indwelling
This eventide

James Quinn SJ

From the "Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer"
a Psalter of the Liturgy of the Hours
Liturgical Press
Collegeville Minnesota

Today let us remember, that those that serve out of love of country do more than serve that country they serve the cause of peace and ultimately the cause of Christ

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Let us not forget those that serve in the Armed Forces and their families today and everyday, May God bless them and keep them from harm.

St Martin of Tours, patron of the solider and whose feast day this is, pray for us and for those that serve in uniform today. Amen

Labels: Catholic, Current Events, Poem, Quotable Quotes

November 01, 2009

The Saint of Molokai'i, A Tribute For All Saints

A Hawaiian style prayer card with the Maile Lei and a photo of the young Damien at ordination


During Fr. Damien's beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said: "Holiness is not perfection according to human criteria; it is not reserved for a small number of exceptional persons. It is for everyone; it is the Lord who brings us to holiness, when we are willing to collaborate in the salvation of the world for the glory of God, despite our sin and our sometimes rebellious temperament."

"We are all called to be great saints, dont miss the opportunity" ... is one of Mother Angelica's famous quotes, and I think a valid one. We live our lives never thinking that just around the corner, is an opportunity to have a dynamic impact for Christ in our world. Many times this is caused by just going about our business doing what we are called to do. Im sure that if we interviewed those we call "saints" they wouldn't think they were anything special or did anything worth noting, but that is what we are called to do, as Blessed Mother Theresa said "doing small things with great love..." that is the secret of a life pleasing to God.

In the first Christian centuries, those proclaimed saints were usually martyrs. Nowadays, those most often venerated are men and women who in their time were great humanitarians-missionaries, builders of hospitals and schools, servants of the poor and the abandoned.

Even in this shining company, Damien stands out, as one can see from a good biography like Gavan Daws's Holy Man: Damien of Molokai. When Joseph De Veuster, a strong and devout 19-year-old, entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Louvain, he took the name Damien. In the fall of 1863, he set sail for the Hawaiian mission and was ordained in Honolulu on May 21, 1864.

the painted church of Hawaii, South Kona Big Island of Hawaii

He then went to serve the parish mission on the southwest side of the Big Island at what is now known as Star of the Sea Painted churchThis is adjacent to the Pu'uhonua O Honaunau or City of Refugeonce the home of Hawaiian kings it had become a place for lepers to be quarantined as they were prepared to be shipped off to Molokai'i

Almost exactly nine years after he left Belgium, having volunteered for the neglected leper colony stranded on Molokai, Damien reached the island on which he would die. The settlement had a spectacular location at the foot of towering cliffs facing tropical seas, but when Damien arrived, living there was like living in a suburb of hell. No medical care, no supplies... it was as though those people had just been dumped off the ships and left to die of exposure in that deserted place.

The highest sea cliffs in the world are here on Molokai'i It was this forbidding scene that greeted the young Belgian as he prepared to do his life's work...Kalapaupa Molokai'i Hawaii

But Father Damien didn't give up. He used the resources and contacts that he had to gather assistance from the church and the public at large. Soon nursing sisters joined him and a hospital was set up. Trades were taught and workshops opened to supply needed items for the colony and to give the residents employment and hope...

He was, first of all, the people's priest--celebrating Mass for them, hearing their confessions and keeping vigil at their deathbeds. But he also transformed the colony physically as well as spiritually. the author, Gavin Daws quotes an observer who described how the young priest went to work: "A vigorous, forceful, impellant man with a generous heart in the prime of life and a jack of all trades, carpenter, mason, baker, farmer, Medico and nurse, no lazy bone in the makeup of his manhood, busy from morning till nightfall."

Photo of Fr Damien with residents of the colony unknown source

But there was much more to Damien than the social activist who could quarrel vigorously with civic and ecclesiastical bigwigs when they were slow to back improvements for the leper colony. He had an inner life that energized and sustained his outer life.

He spent the first hours of each day in prayer. Even in his final illness he slept on a straw mattress laid on the floor. And he constantly refreshed his spirit by reading the Imitation of Christ, a 15th-century treatise that was once the most popular of Catholic devotional books.

Today the Imitation is often dismissed as unsound because, on the one hand, it emphasizes austerity, humility, solitude and unremitting self-scrutiny while, on the other hand, it says nothing about the service of others and is contemptuous of secular culture.

Yet the genius of the book is proven by the way it spoke so powerfully to an ardent heart like Damien's: "Let it be our chief study to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ .... Jesus has many lovers of his heavenly kingdom, but few who are willing to bear his cross."

Damien did indeed want to help the miserable, but for a reason that went far beyond decent compassion. He went to Molokai because he knew unerringly that this was to be his way of loving and following the Christ who said: "What you do for one of these least ones, you do for me."

A view of the Kalaupapa settlement now home to one of the worlds only research centers on Hanson's disease...accessible by plane boat or mule only this is one of the most isolated places on earth Molokai'i Hawaii

On a autumn day in a city much closer to the place of his birth than that of his death, Father Damien was eulogised by Pope Benedict XVI during a service of canonization. in the audience were 11 of the last residents of the Kalaupapa Leper Colony in bright Hawaiian dress, along with heads of state, princes and priests of his order.The Holy Father said this of Blessed Damien

Father Damian, the famous apostle to the lepers, left Flanders, Belgium at the age of 23 to go on a mission to modern day Hawaii. "Not without fear and loathing," Pope Benedict underlined, "Father Damian made the choice to go on the island of Molokai in the service of lepers who were there, abandoned by all. So he exposed himself to the disease of which they suffered. With them he felt at home. The servant of the Word became a suffering servant, leper with the lepers, during the last four years of his life."

He continued, "To follow Christ, Father Damian not only left his homeland, but has also staked his health so he, as the word of Jesus announced in today's Gospel tells us, received eternal life."

The figure of Father Damian, Benedict XVI added, "teaches us to choose the good fight not those that lead to division, but those that gather us together in unity.


Turn of the Century country church Kalawao Molokai'i Hawaii

Labels: Catholic, Faith, Hawaii