REMOVING FALSEHOOD

Last month, I came across a daily reading in our LIVING FAITH (Daily Catholic Devotions) that struck me as ... very heartfelt.  As if it were written by someone with ... experience on the topic.

It was written by Kristin Armstrong, "mother of three, a writer and a runner.  Her fourth book is WORK IN PROGRESS: An Unfinished Woman's Guide to Grace."   Click here to see what her other books are ... and to read a short bio on Kristin.

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/authors_Kristin-Armstrong-(1076472).htm

I think you'll find it (somewhat) interesting to learn that she is the former wife of cyclist Lance Armstrong.

So when I read this Living Faith "post", I bookmarked it ... and here it is, in its entirety:

REMOVING FALSEHOOD
Monday April 19
'Remove from me the way of falsehood, and favor me with your law.'  Psalm 119:29

We don't make a conscious decision to turn towards the dark path of deceit.  We don't wake up one day and decide that being a person of good character is overrated.  We don't suddenly develop a penchant for dwelling in a pit.

No, departure from integrity is more subtle and insidious than that, more like taking a wrong turn and ending up lost -- in a bad neighborhood.  It's allowing for a small deviation from the truth, rationalizing it and downplaying it, so the next indiscretion seems like no big deal -- and likewise the next and the next, until one can no longer remember how it felt to be clean.  It isn't enough to try to avoid deceit; we have to actively pursue truth.  We have to be intentional and diligent about seeking God's teaching and living in the light.

Lord, help me become so attuned to your teaching that a subtle tug of your Spirit is enough to turn me around.
-- Kristin Armstrong

Read what you will here, and take from it what you will.  That's all I ask.

-- Davielle

Worthiness: Part Deux

I shouldn't have been surprised when I happened into another serendipitous moment last week ... they just keep coming.

My delightful mother-in-law Marion called to invite me to a women's spiritual retreat April 30 - May 2 here in the hills of East San Diego county, at Whispering Winds { http://www.whisperingwinds.org/index.html } ... the same retreat that Mark and I will attend {separately} in October when we make our Cursillo  { http://www.cursillosd.org/ } retreat/s.

 {photo of Sycamore tree, Leo Carrillo State Park, CA - by me - December 2009}

I was really interested when she told me who the Retreat speaker / leader will be:  Sister Macrina Weiderkehr, O.S.B. who I read quite often in our daily "Living Faith" book ... { http://www.livingfaith.com/ } which is a "daily Catholic devotional".   And get this:  Sr. Macrina has a BLOG.  How could I not want to attend a Retreat with a Sister who blogs?  Really !!!   { http://macrina-underthesycamoretree.blogspot.com/ }

You may have read my last blog post, HUSTLING FOR WORTHINESS.  I hope you did, anyway.

So Marion invites me to this Retreat, I tell her I'd love to attend, and then I run upstairs to look at some of Sister's writings ... lo and behold, Sister Macrina's meditation for Sunday, March 14 ... A PARTY FOR THE UNWORTHY ... jumped out at me.   Worthiness?  Unworthy people?    Now that is just plain more than mere coincidence, don't you agree?

I'd like to "lift" that reading in its entirety here for you all to consider:

taken from LIVING FAITH, 2010:

A PARTY FOR THE UNWORTHY / March 14 / Fourth Sunday of Lent
" But now we must celebrate and rejoice ..."   Luke 15:32

Embarassing as it is to acknowledge this, I often feel like the Prodigal Son's older brother.  I completely understand his sentiments.  He was not able to rejoice over another's good fortune because he was focusing on whether the recipient of his father's love was truly deserving.  He was also wallowing in  his own imagined neglect:  I've been faithful all these years, and no one even noticed.  Poor me!   This gospel offers marvelous material for prayer and reflection for each of us.  Are we able to rejoice with another when because of some good gift they've received whether it be a material gift, a promotion or new opportunity, an affirmation or reward?  Or has our fountain of joy dried up because we are foundering in our own misery?  Look deep within your heart to see if there may be a bit of rejoicing you are withholding.  Practice being glad because of another's good fortune.

Oh most merciful One, teach me to throw a party for the unworthy, knowing that I may be the guest of honor.   ~~ Sr. Macrina Weiderkehr, O.S.B.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do we judge others to be "unworthy"?  Do we judge ourselves as being "unworthy" ??? 

Let's follow Christ's example and find EVERY ONE OF US ... worthy ... of our respect, our kindness, our generosity, our joy in their gifts ... let us be gentle with ourselves and others.

And by the way, when I also discovered that my most favorite art teacher, Chris Cozen, will be in town again on the exact same dates as the Retreat, I had a moment, a twinge, of  "oh, no, this can't be ..."   Until I realized that I most need to be at this women's spiritual retreat at this point in not just my life, but in my art-walk as well.   {but for those interested in taking the spot I would have filled at Chris' classes, you can visit Stamping Details at http://www.stampingdetails.com/ for class details; with my blessing!}

--  Davielle

Loving for no Reason

Taken right out of the little daily book (LIVING FAITH) that Mark and I receive from his mother every quarter, this:

LOVING FOR NO REASON {message from Wednesday Jan 7, 2009}

"God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." (1 John 4:16)

Every time you pray, it's God in you telling you to pray. You wouldn't even desire to pray except for God in you. It's God in you that loves God, that desires God, that seeks God. Every time you choose God on some level, God has in the previous nanosecond just chosen you, and you have somehow allowed yourself to be chosen -- and responded back!

We all find ourselves with this surprising ability to love God and to desire love from God, often for no reason in particular. That doesn't happen every day, truly, but hopefully more often as you learn to trust and rest in life. Moments of unconditional love sort of slip out of you and no one is more surprised than you when it happens! But when it does, you always know you are living inside of a Larger Life than your own. You know, henceforth, that your life is not about you but you are about God.

-- Father Richard Rorh, O.F.M. {Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality}