Evening Sun, Pueblo West, Colorado USA
Three wise men came to worship Jesus so many years ago. Why do you suppose they came to worship him? Why do we worship him? Is it to gain favor? Is it because God needs our worship? Or is it perhaps, as St. Augustine said, because we need to worship him as we are “restless until we rest in him”. And perhaps also it is because it is the just thing to do, to pay homage to the one through whom the universe was created.
Canadian Geese landing, Barr Lake, Colorado USA
Faith is God’s work in me, to which I respond. ~ Fr. John Richardo
Sunset, Northwestern Colorado, USA
Sunset, Olympia, WA USA
Thank you, Lord, for etching your love for me upon my heart.
Thank you, Lord, for passionately walking this earth and rescuing me from sin and death.
Lord, help me to show my love for you in how closely I follow you and how I treat others.
Western Red Cedar, Olympia National Park, WA USA
The oneness of God is the oneness of perfect love. God desires us to join him in the oneness of love by emulating his compassion for others. “The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3: 16-18)
Double-crested Cormorant, Tumwater Falls, Tumwater, WA USA
Paul was a prisoner in Rome when he wrote these words. Paul knew all too well about hardship; having been stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, stranded and hungry, all for the gospel. In text below St. Paul gives us a way of understanding and living that allows us to see hope in the face of adversity.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” ~ Philippians 4:4-9
Small Western Red Cedar with limbs wrapped around Douglas Fir, Squaxin Park, Olympia, WA USA
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
As St. Paul explains, “And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13: 2) So let us imitate God by our acts of kindness, generosity and forgiveness.
Chinook salmon, Tumwater Falls, WA USA
Salmon were born to return to their spawning waters, just as man was born to be with God. As St. Augustine said to God of man, “you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” So let us seek God with all of our hearts and not rest in our love of God and neighbor until we reach our heavenly home where we will behold the One that is love itself.
Great Blue Heron at sunset, Hogum Bay, WA USA
The mysteries of our faith are shrouded in beauty, allowing beauty to speak of their truth.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race” ~ John 1:1-4
So with hope all Christians, who are part of the mystical body of Christ, can join St. Paul in saying…
“yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20
May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Yellowstone River as seen from the lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, USA
My pulse was 31 bpm as I staggered through the emergency room door. Dizzy, shaking and delirious, I looked about me, the ER was packed, full of brokenness, full of beauty. Humanity in a raw form, beautiful people made in the image and likeness of God, but terribly broken, but cared for and loved.
Sickness, removes our veneer and exposes our vulnerability. It is a humbling process. I had never truly been sick before. In my mind, when I became sick, I knew I would find comfort in my relationship with our Lord, which I did, but in a way I did not expect.
My heart felt broke, I searched for breath, my mind wandered and I could hardly pray. I felt like I was struggling to hold on to life. Comfort in prayer was not possible and as looked up to our Lord I realized what I could do, I could be a light in the darkness. I could love my neighbor. Love is an act of will, given by the grace of God, to love the other, as other.
So I directed my will from my sickness, which I could not control, toward loving those doctors, nurses, caregivers and friends that were accompanying me. In doing so, I did find comfort, the comfort that only God, the one that is love itself, can give.
While I was sick my mind often wandered to our Lord and what he must have felt during his passion but it also wandered to the first chapter of the book of Luke. A young, peasant girl, with her dreams and plans, suddenly encounters the reality that God’s plan for her life is different than she expected. With tremendous faith Mary responds with her fiat, “May it be done to me according to your word.” All peace and freedom lies in that statement.
Notice; however, what the mother of our Lord does next, she goes to the aid of her older kinswoman who is about to give birth. Mary loves. Living faith is to trust in God’s providence and then work with the situation you have been given, in love.
I am out of the hospital now and feeling fine. Thanks be to God! I have learned from this experience and hope these words might be of help to others.
Wildflowers, Mt Ellinor, Washington USA
Like a farmer that nourishes the soil, let us nurture our souls so that we might yield fruit “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold”. Let us trust in the Lord and his love for us. Let us remain humble, focused on loving God and neighbor. Let us grow in passion for an understanding of the word of God and participation in his sacraments. Let us grow in virtue including the virtues of fortitude (patience, endurance and courage), temperance (moderation of our desires for worldly things), justice (giving someone or something what is rightly due), and prudence (the wisdom that guides our daily decisions).
Blackberries, Western Chehalis Trail, Washington USA
“Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.” Luke 10:39
The door to our heart is opened through faith, humility, and the love and adoration of Him whom we serve.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ~ Matthew 6: 9-10
Mt Rainier as viewed from Mt Ellinor, Washington USA
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God. ~ Psalm 84:3
The psalmist yearns for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” ~ Matthew 13:44
Typically, we think of a treasure as something to be sold so that we can have more, more earthy things, but Jesus refers to the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven as a treasure that we hold so dear that we sell all that we have to obtain this, the most valuable of treasures.
Deception Pass Bridge, Washington USA
Many Christians have described the cross as a bridge between heaven and earth but few realize this metaphor was first employed by a young, uneducated woman in the 14th century, Catherine of Siena.
Catherine describes in her literary masterpiece, The Dialogue, how we are to walk across the bridge of the cross to Heaven. Catherine insists that the central focus throughout our walk is Jesus and, in particular, the love of Jesus as displayed in his selfless giving of himself on the cross.
Catherine’s first step across the bridge is one of humility, as the soul looks down on the cross and sees the nails in the feet of the crucified Jesus. It is here that the soul realizes her brokenness and her need for the Savior’s healing touch and the soul begins “to strip herself of vice”.
The second step or stage for Catherine begins as the soul walks on the bridge to the side of Jesus. Here, at his pierced side, the soul sees, feels and understands the heart of Jesus. The soul is immersed in Christ’s love which transforms the soul, enabling the soul to grow in “virtue and love”.
The last stage or step on the bridge for Catherine is the soul seeing the face of Jesus on the cross. It is here that Jesus gives her his embrace and the soul “tastes peace”. What is this peace? It is the peace that only Christ can give. It is a freedom from worry, a freedom from ego, a freedom from addiction, a freedom even from the fear of death.
Catherine of Siena was an enigma in her day and remains an enigma to many today. She spent most of her adult life caring for the poor. She had no formal education, yet she became a prolific writer. She was a woman living in what we now call the medieval age, yet she was a counselor of the learned and nobles. She was a church reformer, brokered peace between Italian city states and was instrumental in convincing Pope Gregory XI to move the papacy from Avignon, France back to Rome.
How did Catherine, an uneducated woman in medieval times, receive such admiration and respect? Perhaps it was because Catherine crossed the bridge and became the person Christ wanted her to be.
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” St. Catherine of Siena
St.Catherine of Siena died at the age of 33 in the year 1380. She is a Saint and also doctor of the Catholic Church for her contribution to our understanding of our Lord.
Olympic Mountains as viewed from South Budd Inlet, Olympia, Washington USA
What does your safe harbor look like? St Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” God is the safe harbor, the place where peace dwells.
My prayer this Independence Day Holiday is that you, your family and the people of the United States find safe harbor in the hands of our Lord.
In the beautiful name of Jesus,
Amen
Marbled Godwit, Pacific Beach, Washington USA
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be always in my mouth.
My soul will glory in the LORD;
let the poor hear and be glad.
Magnify the LORD with me;
and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me,
delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him and be radiant,
and your faces may not blush for shame.
This poor one cried out and the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and he saves them.
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the stalwart one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones;
nothing is lacking to those who fear him.
The rich grow poor and go hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Come, children, listen to me;
I will teach you fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who delights in life,
who loves to see the good days?
Keep your tongue from evil,
your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the LORD are directed toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The LORD’s face is against evildoers
to wipe out their memory from the earth.
The righteous cry out, the LORD hears
and he rescues them from all their afflictions.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,
saves those whose spirit is crushed.
Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him from them all.
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked;
those who hate the righteous are condemned.
The LORD is the redeemer of the souls of his servants;
and none are condemned who take refuge in him.
~ Psalm 34
Sunset, Tongue Point, Washington, USA
How intimate is God with the Christian? So intimate that God, the Holy Spirit, dwells within the Christian’s heart (Gal 4:6).
How intimate is God with us? So intimate that Christ, himself, dwells within us and we dwell within him when we receive Holy Communion (John 6:55-56).
Thank you, Lord, for being present to us in the most intimate of ways. May we, in whom you dwell, worship and follow you through our acts of obedience and kindness.
Amen
