Virgen de Guadalupe (una imagen viva)

Virgen de Guadalupe (una imagen viva), a photo by LALO VAZQUEZ on Flickr.

Today's 'Moment with Mary' is about Guadalupe:

"The Preservation of the Image of Guadalupe is Inexplicable for Science

In 1531, a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to a poor Indian named Juan Diego, on the Mount of Teypeyac in Mexico. Juan Diego used his "tilma" to carry out-of-season roses to the bishop as a sign from the Mother of God and confirm the authenticity of the apparitions. As he unfolded his tilma before the Bishop, he discovered a miraculously printed picture of the Blessed Virgin on his humble cloak.

The tilma is a poor quality garment, made from cactus fiber, which should have deteriorated in 20 years' time. Copies of the original, some of them made in the eighteenth century, did not withstand the test of time. Juan Diego's tilma, 477 years old, is perfectly preserved and shows no signs of deterioration."

Find about more here (in Spanish):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vazquez100/4214635876/

You may also enjoy daily 'Moments with Mary', available in many languages:

http://www.maryofnazareth.com

Revisiting the Creed: A good start to the Year of Faith

In preparation for the upcoming 'Year of Faith,' Fr. Andrew Pinsent has been delivering a wonderful series of short homilies on the Creed over at Totus2us.com.  I'd just like to draw your attention to this fabulous series---whether you're a 'cradle Catholic,' a convert, or just someone up for some good thinking, this series helps get us back to the fundamentals. You can find the Creed podcast here:

http://www.totus2us.com/podcasts/sunday-evangelium/

This excerpt comes from the latest installment, given on the first article of the Creed, 'I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.'

_{"Regardless of the success or otherwise of all impersonal substitutes for God, a deeper problem remains. We are ourselves personal beings, and so it is unsatisfactory to propose that whatever created the cosmos is sub-personal. More specifically there is a natural desire not only to know that there is a God, but to know God, to be able to relate to God in a first to second person way, as an 'I' to a 'you'. On this point therefore the denial of a personal God therefore creates unusual dangers for humanity. If God, the Father Almighty, the true God, is denied or rejected, then there is an incompleteness in us, like a house that is left empty. And the problem with leaving a house empty is that it can be occupied by squatters or parasites. To give an example, the lesson of recent centuries is that in those places where Christianity was suppressed, those countries were not left in a state of spiritual neutrality, but tended to end up worshiping something else, often accompanied with a reign of terror."}

What is prayer?

For me, prayer is not asking God for things I want,
Prayer is asking God that I may want what He wants.

Since Faith is not the belief that God is there in good times,
and absent in the bad,
So prayer is a communion, neither good nor bad,
But simply the upturned glance, the heartfelt utterance,
'Share this with me.'

Since we were created for sharing,
The Creator who comes among us,
Who speaks to us and stoops down to us,
Is not only the Saviour, the Lamb led to the slaughter;
He is the Sharer, in all things that we are.

Prayer is the place that we share
All things that we are;
Prayer is the knowledge above all
That God's will is love.

For Faith is not the subjective experience
Of a God who is this or that;
But Faith is the knowledge
Of that beyond our experience,
The objective, the absolute: that God alone IS.

In this knowledge, love works
Whether in suffering or in joy,
Because suffering is the springboard to God
In darkness we yearn, and we learn
To desire the true light.
And joy is the necessity for God,
The desire to share
All that we are.

Song of the Soul

'Song of the soul that rejoices in knowing God through faith'

by St. John of the Cross

For I know well the spring that flows and runs,

although it is night.

That eternal spring is hidden,

for I know well where it has its rise,

although it is night.

I do not know its origin, nor has it one

but I know that every origin has come from it,

although it is night.

I know that nothing else is so beautiful,

and that the heavens and the earth drink there,

although it is night.

I know well that it is bottomless

and no one is able to cross it,

although it is night.

Its clarity is never darkened,

and I know that every light has come from it,

although it is night.

I know well the stream that flows from this spring

is mighty in compass and power,

although it is night.

I know the stream proceeding from these two,

that neither of them in fact precedes it,

although it is night.

This eternal spring is hidden

in this living bread for our life's sake,

although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;

and they satisfy their thirst,

although in darkness

because it is night.

The living spring I long for,

I see in this bread of life,

although it is night.

Hope for ex-Picnikers!

Rose, a photo by theroamincatholic on Flickr.

Okay, this is a side-note for interested parties---this blog is not about photography, but I do make use of my photography here, much of which has been processed using Picnik. This post is for all the other soon-to-be ex-Picnikers out there. Google has decided to shut down the online photo editor, Picnik, in order to drag us kicking and screaming into using Google+ for all our social networking, photo-editing, sitting-perpetually-in-front-of-a-screen-rather-than-talking-to-the-person-next-to-you needs. I've been using Picnik for a few years and am quite disappointed this service will soon be unavailable. Through a lot of experimentation, I've found the effects and editing techniques that really work for me on Picnik...so now I have to start all over again on something else.

I've been looking around and the best thing I've found so far is Pixlr Express, which is specifically recommended for users of Picnik. About a year ago, a friend very kindly gave me a version of Photoshop she was no longer using...but it was just too complex...or too technical for me, and I never got the hang of it. I liked the 'one-stop editing' and 'push-button effects' Picnik offered. Pixlr Express is the closest thing to this. Of course it takes time & experimentation to find what works for you and what works for each individual composition, but I'm happy with the results so far. Although it doesn't offer the same 'amenities' as Picnik, it has lots of great tools of its own. This rose was textured with Pixlr's tie-dye effect. I love it!

Check out Pixlr Express at pixlr.com/express/

Heaven & Earth

Most Amazing High Definition Image of Earth - Blue Marble 2012, a photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Sometimes, life on planet earth just seems too hard to take anymore. I usually feel this way when I find that yet-another-bug-in-the-kitchen I have to dispatch, and suddenly I'm struck by what a messy place we live in. If one were a 'nice person', one would think it was possible to get through this life without coming up against the anger, the dissolution, the people who don't like you, and the people you don't understand. But, in fact, I think we could all agree that Jesus was a 'nice person' (in the most authentic sense of the phrase), and there's probably no figure in world history that has been the object of more resentment, hatred, and misunderstandings than Jesus of Nazareth.

This morning I came across this beautiful high-definition picture of the Earth that comes from NASA. From this angle, the earth is a perfect sphere, a beautiful harmony of life and colour. But from our angle, it can also be just a bug-infested mess where we're all progressively tearing each other apart. Why do we do this?

My mother recently passed along this excerpt from St. Paul to me...in fact I received it on the same day we were celebrating the feast of his conversion:

"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another."

- Galatians 5:13-15

Paul's words here reminded me of somethingI had recently heard from Pauline scholar Fr. Jerome Murphy O'Connor: that for St. Paul, a Eucharist shared between members who did not love or know each other, was not a true, valid Eucharist. For the body of Christ to truly be the body of Christ, our 'Amen' must be twofold: we must believe we are really receiving the true Body of Our Lord, but, as St. Augustine said, we must also believe that we are becoming the true Body of Christ. For St. Paul, there is no other way to do that than by fraternal charity and cohesion.

Perhaps it's just the extreme reaction of a zealou man---filled with all the zeal of a convert---who spent his life battling against the divisions he was surrounded by. What would he think of Christians today?

And what about the world beyond Christianity---the divisions that plague us, amidst our families, communities and nations? Authentic unity doesn't simply arise from a desire for cohesion. In fact, the desire for a quiet life, for the appearance of cohesion, can often lead to the repressed turbulence that will sooner or later break forth in thunder.

We are troubled and afraid that love will make us 'slaves'; but in the same verse as St. Paul instructs us to become 'slaves to one another through love,' he also warns us 'not to be consumed by one another.' The key phrase is through love. We are not being told to be slaves to one another. Love, in Biblical and figurative terms, is often spoken of as 'a divine fire'; a fire that consumes but does not burn. We are not being asked to allow ourselves to be consumed by other people, but by the fire of divine love. This is an instruction towards prayerfulness and authentic holiness in our approach to others. Selflessness here is, perhaps, more a desire for the wellbeing of the other, than an abandonment of the self.

In the Our Father, we pray for God's kingdom to come: that is, for His will be to done, 'on earth as it is in heaven.' Looking again at the picture of the earth above, we might wonder whether that blue and green sphere would look much different from the great distance of space if it was a picture of an earth upon which the Kingdom of God was already fulfilled. It's my opinion that it's not the earth that would look different---but we ourselves.

Yes, we are co-heirs with Christ, we have received a royal appointment in this Kingdom. But the God who hands to us this dignity does not simply want co-heirs, He wants co-workers. The Kingdom of God first arrived in the person of Christ; but it cannot be fulfilled until we all live as a perosnal Christ to one another. That is,until the Eucharist is truly accomplished in each one of us, and we can say, 'it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.'

Damascus

Damascus, a photo by theroamincatholic on Flickr.

How softly do you reach for me,
The sounding silence of your voice
Betrays your gentle grasp
Upon the shoulder of the wanderer.
Here I am, we say
You and I,
Both at once are speaking
Listening, I receive
The Spirit that you breathe;
I know You, not as a stranger
But from the deep within
I know You, because you are inside of me.
I live with You, not as a stranger
But from the deep within
I live with You, because you dwell inside of me,
There in the deep within.
You know me, not from afar
But from the deep within
You know me, because my home is
Deep within Your heart.
Living, breathing,
Mutual indwelling
Your design so sweetly traced
Its circuit through creation
Mutely, infusing and imparting
This one consoling knowledge
No need for fear in the midst
Of an Unknown which is Love.
The same Being is
The end to which I live
The Horizon towards which I turn
The miles of my short steps.

Inspired by some words a friend passed on to me, on this feast of the conversion of St. Paul:
'Yo te conozco, porque estás dentro de mí'

Family rules

In Catholic teaching, the family is known as the 'Domestic Church.'  It is the seminary, the school, the training ground for love. It's the place where we help each other to prepare for heaven.  It's the place where we work to bring the Kingdom of God to earth...just as the words of the Our Father say.

At 38 weeks (as of today), my husband and I are expecting our first child to arrive any day...or any week...or whenever...now.  God has invited us to be co-creators with Him, to create our own family.  So, during the past eight months, we have thought extra hard about what family means and what kind of family we want to be.  Part of our thought process has been to come up with a few 'family rules,' the guiding principles that define the kind of home we create and the relationships we foster within that home.  There's not many yet, but as they've met with a positive response so far (from my mom!), I'd like to share them here...and in the comments below, feel free to share your own 'family rules.'

Our Family Rules

1.  Everyone has a right to be heard, and a responsibility to listen.

2.  Love is Truth and Truth is Love (so be truthfully loving, and lovingly truthful!)

3.  Openness is the key to honesty.  Honesty is the key to trust.  Trust is the key to love.

4.  Act as if God were in this house with us---because He is.


Do you have any 'family rules' to share?

A disturbing piece of news

When I was in elementary school, I was always getting bad reports sent home to my parents about my performance in the area of current events. 'Erin needs to pay more attention to current events.'  Well, I haven't changed.  I'm still not good at math (my other least favourite subject) and I'm not very interested in the worldly arena of politics, the gossip and the personalities that come and go, the black-and-white idealism that fails to accept with charity the reality of our humanity at its rawest need. BUT, sometimes you do have to pay attention.

My main source for news is Vatican Radio, and perusing the headlines today, I noticed something I felt the need to share.  I don't like to make this blog a political space; it is, after all, meant to be just what the title says it is, Contemplative.  However, this bit of news is about much more than just politics; it's about human life, or should I say---human lives, our culture's view of man and his existence and its meaning. 

The article is below:

US Bishops: HHS regulations "literally unconscionable"

The administration of US President Barack Obama Obama on Friday announced that non-profit employers – including the Catholic Church – will have one year to comply with new regulations that order almost every employer and insurer in the country to provide sterilization and contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, in their health plans. The US Bishops have condemned the new rules, and are say they are committed to working with all US citizens to reform the law and change the rules.

Below, please find the full text of the communiqué from the Press Office of the USCCB, followed by audio of USCCB president, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York.

*********************************************************************

The Catholic bishops of the United States called “literally unconscionable” a decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today's announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.

“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The cardinal-designate continued, “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable.It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty."

The HHS rule requires that sterilization and contraception – including controversial abortifacients – be included among “preventive services” coverage in almost every healthcare plan available to Americans. “The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” added Cardinal-designate Dolan.

At issue, the U.S. bishops and other religious leaders insist, is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for the conscience of Catholics and all other Americans.

“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, chairperson of the board at Franciscan Alliance, Inc., a system of 13 Catholic hospitals. “I have hundreds of employees who will be upset and confused by this edict. I cannot understand it at all.”

Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, voiced disappointment with the decision. Catholic hospitals serve one out of six people who seek hospital care annually.

“This was a missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection,” Sister Keehan said.

Cardinal-designate Dolan urged that the HHS mandate be overturned.

“The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand,” he said. “The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation. We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision.”

A Description of God

A Description of God, a photo by theroamincatholic on Flickr.

Wisdom,
A simple Child,
born in a lowly place.

Love, perched high on giddy heights
Speaking with philosophers
Answering their questions,
Dismissing all their nonsense.

Light, in darkness shining,
Radiant and warm
A candle held
To the great Beyond.

Silence, celestial
Far greater than the volume
Of space and time
All that does and might exist.

The glow, the fire
That burns in Solitude
Captured here,
In the cloister of my heart.