HOLY THURSDAY LOVE: WASHING SMELLY FEET!

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Virginia

The Easter Triduum begins tonight with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and culminates with the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Here are a few thoughts about the extraordinary servant-leader Love of Jesus.

Holy Thursday takes us to the Upper Room where the first thing Jesus did was wash the feet of the disciples humbly like a servant. These days our feet tend to get a good wash at least once every day in the shower. We rub in lotion to make them softer and less smelly. We cushion our shoes with comfy socks that encase our feet, keeping them away from things like dirt.

At the time of Jesus, however, most folks wore sandals. It gets decidedly dusty walking around the Middle East, which would make the disciples’ feet dirty and smelly. But Jesus takes their smelly feet gently in His hands and washes the grime away.

Jesus, their Teacher. Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus Christ, on His knees with a towel and basin, washes their smelly feet, teaching the disciples (and us) how to love one another. If we loved others a little more often vs. our readiness to judge others, maybe, just maybe, we might fulfill what Jesus asked us to do:

“Do you know what I have done to you? If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet… This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:12, John 15:12)

It’s time to put on our aprons of faith, roll up our sleeves and start washing smelly feet – loving each other as Christ loves us.

grace, peace & smelly feet Love

Virginia : )

“Do not forget that true love sets no conditions; it does not calculate or complain, but simply loves.”  Saint Pope John Paul II

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NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTIES

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Virginia

On this Wednesday of Holy Week, it might be good to reflect how far we have come on our Lenten journey. Consider where we were last year at this time – finding our way in a global pandemic landscape, unable to celebrate Easter at church – we have come a great distance figuratively (even if we haven’t been able to travel anywhere!)

Our churches may be open for worship this Easter with social distancing in full force, but uncertainties continue to cloud the horizon. As we prepare to enter the Easter Triduum of Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday, imagine how the disciples must have felt when Jesus was taken to be crucified. Uncertain, fearful, wondering what the future holds.

Sound familiar?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Sometimes God’s guidance leads us through circuitous paths beyond our understanding, and sometimes we lead ourselves off the beaten path. We may wonder what the heck we’re doing, where we’re going. The most important thing to do in times of uncertainty is PRAY – and recognize God is with us wherever we are, and wherever we go.

As a Thomas Merton groupie I’ve carried this prayer of his with me for years, pulling it out during challenging times of anxious uncertainties. May it bless you today…

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” Thomas Merton

grace, peace & PRAYER  

Virginia : )

Photos: Butchart Gardens (BC) CANADA

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Holy Week: Courageous Clarity

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Virginia

As we prepare for Good Friday and Easter Sunday a few things lurking around the corners of our hearts may chip away at our faith priorities. We may lack courage to open up the dark corners of our lives to more of Christ’s scrutiny. That’s the thing about Easter. Good Friday takes the darkness out of dark and opens us to the victorious Light of Easter – if we let Jesus take over fulltime management of our heart’s real estate and daily schedule.

That begs the question…

WHO IS JESUS TO ME? 

Jesus is the Word – to be spoken.
Jesus is the Truth – to be told.
Jesus is the Way – to be walked.
Jesus is the Light – to be lit.
Jesus is the Life – to be lived.
Jesus is the Love – to be loved.
Jesus is the Joy – to be shared.
Jesus is the Sacrifice – to be offered.
Jesus is the Peace – to be given.
Jesus is the Hungry – to be fed.
Jesus is the Thirsty – to be satiated.
Jesus is the Naked – to be clothed.
Jesus is the Homeless – to be taken in.
Jesus is the Sick – to be healed.
Jesus is the Lonely – to be loved.”
Saint Teresa of Calcutta

grace, peace & courageous clarity

Virginia : )

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Extravagant Love!

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Virginia

“Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.”  (John 12:3)

On this Monday of Holy Week, Jesus travels to Bethany to have dinner with Lazarus and his two sisters. Once again “Martha served.” But this time there’s no complaining to Jesus about her sister Mary not helping in the kitchen. Again we find Mary at the feet of Jesus, but this time engaged in an act of costly worship anointing His feet with fragrant perfume.

I’d like to imagine Martha sitting next to her with a towel (so nothing stained the carpet.)

Sometimes I resonate with Martha getting things done, cooking in the kitchen, a make-it-happen person. Other times I aspire to be like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words, basking in His presence and worshiping Him.

Navigating our lives of faith it’s really both and, not either or. Mary made a gesture of costly worship, but consider Martha’s intrinsic role in the household. If Mary blew a whole year’s worth of wages, wouldn’t Martha have a say in it? In a sense this sacrificial act of extravagant love came from both of them, but in different ways.

Just like at times our love can take different forms: changing diapers, cooking, care-giving, giving of ourselves (our presence and presents), reaching out to irascible friends and colleagues, laying down our lives for others, spending time in prayer and adoration. All we do can be acts of love, costly perfume, if we offer them up to Jesus and do them with the fragrance of His extravagant love in us (and for us!)

grace, peace & extravagant love

Virginia : )

“We have three things to do…Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.”   I Corinthians 13:13 (The Message)

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Palm Sunday: Ascending Love

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Virginia

On this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion there is a great deal to contemplate. Jesus arrives triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey with people singing Hosannas and waving palms. A few Scripture readings later He ends up betrayed, scourged and crucified.

The Cross and love of Jesus Christ is at the center of everything, every nail of suffering He endured that we might know His love and be set free.

At the end of today’s readings the body of Jesus is put into a tomb. But, the good news is He doesn’t stay there. On Easter next Sunday we will celebrate Resurrected Love, Resurrected Light – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

During Holy Week as we walk with Christ on His path of suffering, know that He walks with us in whatever hardships we are facing. He can take what is dragging us down, and turn us around with transformative grace and love.

“Jesus presents to us the great mystery of the descending way. It is the way of suffering, but also the way to healing. It is the way of humiliation, but also the way to resurrection. It is the way of tears, but of tears that turn into tears of joy. The descending way of love becomes the ascending way of love, the way to joy, peace, and new life.  The cross is transformed from a sign of defeat into a sign of victory, from a sign of despair into a sign of hope, from a sign of death into a sign of life.” Henri Nouwen

A blessed Palm Sunday to all!

grace, peace & Ascending Love

Virginia : )

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Difficult Journeys +Persevering Grace+

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Virginia

We are nearing the end of our Lenten journey. Easter is next Sunday! As we prepare to enter Holy Week, the somberness of Lent becomes more sobering as we journey with Jesus to Calvary. As He passed through the valley and shadow of death, so, too, He is with us in our valleys.

Today many folks are journeying through dark valleys of injustice, hurts, health challenges, grief, economic loss, and things that make the toes of our hearts curl up with hopelessness. It’s easy to get stuck in our valleys, to let fear prevent persevering grace from entering our hearts and lives, to stop moving forward.

Jesus could have stopped on the way to Calvary, but he kept on going – for you, for me, for everybody. His persevering grace is available for us today if we plug into Him to keep on going.

“Calm your anxiety and apprehension. Remain at peace, continue to go forward, and don’t let your course be stopped. It is true that this is the darkest hour of the night for you, but may the thought of a bright dawn and more brilliant noontime sustain you and induce you to keep moving forward. Do not doubt that the One Who has sustained you so far will continue with ever greater patience and divine kindness to support you on the remainder of your difficult and trying journey.”  St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

grace, peace & persevering grace

Virginia : )

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PEACE AND HOPE!!

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Virginia

On this fifth Friday of Lent (Good Friday is just a week away!) Virginia is sharing one of her favorite quotes for our hearts to contemplate. It may be a bit familiar to faithful readers. (Virginia has shared this before, perhaps more than once. As stated, it is one of her favorites!) It’s a reminder to TRUST GOD when we may not understand what the heck is going on around us.

“Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting God who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either God will shield you from suffering or God will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.” Saint Francis de Sales

Here’s to trusting God will provide the grace to get us through this day, the next, and the next one after that. May God’s peace permeate our anxious thoughts and worries with extra doses of hope to cope with whatever is freaking us out right now (there’s plenty!)

grace, peace & HOPE!

Virginia : )

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SAYING “YES” TO GOD!

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Virginia

Today on the Solemnity of the Annunciation we honor Mary’s open heart of faithfulness when Angel Gabriel appeared with the Good News of God’s love for us and of her special role in bearing God’s son Jesus into this world.

Mary took a huge step of faith with her “yes” to God’s request through Angel Gabriel. She risked death (they stoned pregnant-out-of-wedlock women back then) but she said yes to God, anyway. Despite her fears, despite not knowing how her betrothed, Joseph, would take it. She said, “Yes.” Let it be so. Let it be as You have said.

She trusted God, completely, and moved forward with faith letting her yes become Love incarnate within her.

Something to think about! When was the last time you said, “Yes” to something for God? Something hard to do that requires extra doses of faith? Following Jesus is not just singing “Kumbaya” around a campfire, but letting His love flow through us in tough places (even if that means being stuck at home for a year and being nice to those around us!)

Taking Mary’s example to heart, may we offer up our “yes” to God’s nudging in our lives. Somehow, someway, may God’s Light shine through us today.

“Yes. Let it be so. Let it be as You have said.”

grace, peace & willing hearts

Virginia : )

“Mary’s words give us a new outlook of life. The outlook of a persevering faith; a faith which is the light of daily life. Of days sometimes tranquil but often stormy and difficult. A faith, which, finally, lightens up the darkness in each one of us.” Saint Pope John Paul II

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Planting Seeds of Love

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Virginia

On 24 March 1980 Archbishop Óscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass at the Divina Providencia Chapel in San Salvador. Working tirelessly on behalf of justice, he planted sacrificial seeds of love in El Salvador that resound around the world.

Today as we remember Saint Óscar Romero’s life of courageous faith and sacrifice, the love of Jesus he shared with so many, here is something for our hearts to contemplate.

“We plant seeds that will one day grow, we water the seeds already planted knowing they hold future promise. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.” Saint Óscar Romero

grace, peace & SEEDS OF LOVE

Virginia : )

p.s. If you would like to learn more about Archbishop Óscar Romero, here’s a post Virginia previously shared: Óscar Romero, A Life of Courageous Faith

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Clay Pots: Masterpieces of Divine Art

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Virginia

“Promise me you’ll never forget that you aren’t an accident or an incident… you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God.” Max Lucado

The other day I had a bit of a revelation. Not an earth shattering end of times lightning bolt, but gentle affirmation by way of a resounding still small voice. The kind heard when all the clutter around our hearts is silenced for a few ticks.

Many of you are probably familiar with 2 Corinthians 4, the “jars of clay” verses. I must confess I memorized them as a child and put them on my office wall in the Middle East as a reminder “to be perplexed (and vexed over injustices) but not in despair.”

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

I have always viewed myself as a “clay pot.” As life happened I included “cracked clay pot” in that moniker. “Isn’t it grand as our cracks get wider there’s more room for the Light of Christ to shine through?” A sentiment Virginia has shared on many occasions.

The cracked clay pot in my mind is broken down, plain earthen pottery. Basic and serviceable, no frills or decorations of any sort.

While on a week-long silent retreat years ago (written about previously here) I discerned the “treasure” inside burned out clay pot me at that time was indeed valuable – filled with diamonds, emeralds and rubies of God’s kingdom – and “diamonds are hard to crush.”

But, the outer image of a cracked earthen clay pot persisted. Until the other day as I emptied out the constant clutter of voices widening the cracks in my clay pot. Clear as a bell, that still small voice said:

“You are not a broken down clay pot, but a masterpiece from the Master Potter, Your Creator. An artisan’s showcase of healed beauty is what you are to Me. Precious in My sight, precious, precious, precious! Don’t forget My Love lives in you.”

As an appreciator of fine pottery it’s a paradigm shift to envision myself as a beautiful artisan work of art, a “showcase of healed beauty.” What an image to treasure as I look at special pottery pieces brought back from Bethlehem, from Africa, from artists all over.

I am God’s masterpiece! You are God’s masterpiece! That is something to rejoice over.

In these disparaging times when so much seeks to puts us down, to widen the cracks in our clay pots, don’t forget that we are Masterpieces of Divine Art.

NO MATTER HOW CRACKED, WE ARE MASTERPIECES OF DIVINE ART.

grace, peace & Divine Masterpieces

Virginia : )

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