St. Peter Claver lived in the valley of the shadow of death. He was the slave to the slaves; feeding, treating, teaching, caring for and baptizing hundreds of thousands of slaves in Cartagena, Columbia for over forty years from 1615 to his death in 1654.
Dead grove of aspens – West Elk Wilderness, Colorado
Colorado Sunset - Walsenburg, Colorado
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Len Brammeier
This less than one minute video combines mountain wild flowers and a mosaic of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Basilica of the Rosary in Lourdes, France.
Fremont Pass, Colorado
Bull Elk – Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Prayer is spending time close to God, listening to the Creator of all.
There are many forms and types of prayer. Imaginative contemplation of biblical readings, developed by St. Ignatius, is one type of prayer that often allows me to hear His voice. The link below is a 12 minute example of imaginative contemplation prayer provided by the Pray as You Go* App. This app provides daily prayers and I have found it useful in developing my prayer life.
Open this hyperlink and listen by hitting the play button that will appear at the top of the screen http://pray-as-you-go.org/prayer/?uid=4787
K2 Mountain, Capital Peak and Mt Sopris, Colorado
There are all kinds of lights. Lights of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (see Gal 5:22-23)
What kind of light will you be?
Sunrise on Tenmile Peak, Colorado
It has been said that perhaps the only irrational part of God is how much He loves us. A love so complete that God, who is eternal and cannot die, became man, suffered and died for the love of man. A God that loves us so much, He enters our heart and dwells in our innermost being. A God that loves us so much, he holds the world together despite our sins to each other, the world and to Him. No it is not an irrational love, but a perfect love.... a Love found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Let us bow our heads and pray that we are given the grace to begin to love as Jesus loves.
Baby Swallow, Amarillo, Texas
“like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.” 1 Peter 2:5
Spiritual houses are strong yet joyous, just take for example the life of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. At the Auschwitz concentration camp of World War II, Franciszek Gajowniczek was being placed into a starvation bunker. Gajowniczek began pleading for his life, “My wife! My Children!”, when Kolbe calmly stepped forward and asked to take Gajowniczek’s place. Maximilian Kolbe joined the other nine men in the bunker facing starvation and the guards were shocked when instead of hearing the expected weeping and crying they heard the group singing songs and reciting prayers being led by Maximilian Kolbe. Maximilian Kolbe’s body was cremated in the Auschwitz death camp on August 15, 1941, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.
Let us become living stones, spiritual houses of strength and joy.
Casa Grande, Big Bend National Park, Texas
This picture of Turquoise Lake wouldn’t make sense if it had only the land, or only the water or only the sky; however, when you include all three, the picture not only makes sense, but is beautiful.
Jesus reveled to us that the one God that existed before space and time is a Trinity of three persons in one God. A relationship of love. Perfect. Beautiful.
Have you ever noticed that God loves relationships; ant colony’s, flocks of birds, a fawn being fed by its mother…. Perhaps all of these relationships are a very tiny reflection of the perfect loving relationship of God.
The human family, when it is at its best, each person loving and caring for the other, is likely one of the better reflections of God’s love. As it is written in Genesis 1:27, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
God wants the best for us. He wants each of us to dwell in his love. To come into his loving arms. When we enter into a loving relationship with Him we become the best versions of ourselves, we become the people he intended for us to be.
Let us open our hearts to our loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Love. Pure Love.
Turquoise Lake, Colorado
”And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit”. Acts 2:4
“it is necessary to open ourselves once again to the horizon of God’s Spirit, without being afraid of what he asks us or of where he leads us.” Pope Francis, General Audience May 22, 2013
Foreground, painting from the St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Savannah, Georgia, Background, Texas Hill Country sunset
Gentle woman, quiet light,
morning star, so strong and bright,
gentle Mother, peaceful dove,
teach us wisdom; teach us love.
Mosaic from Basilica of our Lady of the Rosary, Lourdes, France
May we be like flowers radiating His light through works of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
"But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” John 3:21
Sunset, Spring Branch, TX
The greatest two commandments; that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind and that that we love our neighbors as ourselves (Mt 22: 36-40), are summarized in the following quote by St. Catherine of Siena.
“Reflect that God requires nothing of us except that we show our neighbors the love we have for God.” St. Catherine of Siena, Letter T89
St Catherine’s life (1347 – 1380 A.D.) personified this quote; as her love for God grew this love poured forth from her onto the people that she met. St. Catherine of Siena’s feast day was April 29th.
Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg, Colorado
“let us… persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12: 1, 2
Antelope running near Clayton, New Mexico
“mercy… this word changes everything. This is the best thing we can feel: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand properly this mercy of God, this merciful Father who is so patient… Let us remember the prophet Isaiah who says that even if our sins were scarlet, God’s love would make them white as snow. This mercy is beautiful.” Pope Francis, Angelus, March 17, 2013
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become as white as snow”
Snow covered mountain near Cripple Creek, Colorado
“In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the word “creation” has a broader meaning than “nature”, for it has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance.” “Even the fleeting life of the least of beings is the object of his love, and in its few seconds of existence, God enfolds it with his affection.” Paragraph 76, 77 Laudato Si’ Pope Francis - On Care for our Common Home
Blue Bonnets and Oaks, Spring Branch, TX
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Hebrews 3:4
Great Egret, High Island, Texas
