God's Favorite Season

I think spring might be God's favorite season. Not only does spring provide Him with so many ways to remind us of His presence, we're also so ready to be aware of Him after the long, dark, cold winter. The perfume of blooming trees, the beauty of their flowers, sunlight glittering on the river, the smell of rich soil ready to welcome seeds, the fragrance of new-mown grass, birdsong from before dawn until after dark, bees buzzing, frogs croaking....all are God's miracles of spring, His gifts to us. Let us enjoy them in wonder and with gratitude in our hearts.

Surrounded by the Spirit

I live surrounded by the Spirit. I only have to open my eyes and look as I walk around my village. These are just some of the reminders I see every day that tell me God is here, watching over each of the 150 souls who live in this place.

Be A Vine

My friend, Edith, sent me a book of Lenten meditations this spring. It's called "Organic God" and is written by Kate Moorehead who was Edith's priest at St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita. She had sent me one of Kate's books for Advent and knew I enjoyed reading it as a daily spiritual discipline. Likewise I've enjoyed this Lenten book. Using the words of Jesus, Kate explores spiritual themes from an organic aspect using nature as her metaphor. One meditation that really caught my interest was the one on Sunday which explores the vine as a metaphor for discerning God's will. Searching for and interpreting God's will for my life has been a struggle. I never seem to quite 'get it.' And from what Kate writes, I'm not alone! As she explains it, God's will isn't a problem to be solved or a guessing game to win or lose. The fullness of God's grace and being allows us such freedom that almost anything we do...as long as it is rooted in Christ...is what makes Him happy and what He will support. There is no one right answer. This is rather like what Ignatius of Loyola suggests as well...that God gives us imagination and inspiration and ideas. And He expects us to use them! Kate uses the metaphor of the vine to explain this. Vines grow in any direction, on almost any surface. They are strong and versatile. Faced with a rock or a steep surface, they will find a way to survive and thrive, as long as they stay attached and rooted to the main stem of the plant. If we are the vine and Christ is the stem, we can grow and thrive and explore all our imaginings and inspirations if we always stay firmly rooted and attached to Him. As simple as this is---this is God's will.

Colloquy

I learned a new word this week as I continued to experience the Ignatian Prayer Adventure for Lent: colloquy.  A colloquy is an intimate conversation with God, Jesus or one of the saints at the end of your prayer time. Conversing with God and Jesus, I'm familiar with, but being a Protestant, I've never really conversed in prayer with a saint. Until I came to the Episcopal church, I'm not sure I even was much aware of saints. But having a conversation with a saint is appealing, and I've been giving it some thought. Which of the many hundreds of saints might I speak with? Here in France, the Virgin is, of course, the most popular of the saints with St. Joan of Arc and St. Therese of Lisieux running close in second place. But which saints speak to my heart? St. Jacques is my favorite. St. Jacques, the saint of the chemin or the camino. The saint of pilgrims and of seekers. And what would I say to him? "Please intercede on my behalf with the Holy Father to heal my knee, so that I, too, can walk the way to Santiago de Compostelle."

St. Foy is also a favorite. I first met her in Conques. You can see by her photo that many others pray to her as well. Her story is amazing; I've blogged about her in the past. I continue to be pulled into her mystery. I'm reading "Little Saint" by Hannah Green right now...for the third time!....because Foy has called me again to come to her. As I pray to her, my question would be "Why? why do I feel so drawn to you and your abbey church in Conques? What are you asking me to do?" When I think about St. Foy, her matrydom, and her miracles, I don't really envision her as she's shown in her chapel at Conques...all gilded and grown-up looking. My favorite image of her is as she's depicted in the church tympanum...a young girl kneeling in prayer and asking for God's blessing on her people.

My Friend

My friend, who is my age, has wanted to be a priest since she was a little girl. All through her life God kept nudging her towards the priesthood. He even talked the Episcopal church into ordaining women to help her out! Like the rest of us, she always had reasons that it couldn't be God whose plan this was. After all, seminary would be too hard, too expensive, too time-consuming. She was a wife....a mom...not a student. And most recently came the biggest excuse of all..."I'm too old." I was with her at a retreat the weekend that God not only nudged her, but poked her hard in the ribs and slapped her up side of her head. "Yes!" I said, "you should go for it." And she did  She started the process and is now in seminary. She's going to be a marvelous priest! She's smart, loving, open and compassionate. She's deeply spiritual and fiercely committed to living a life in Christ. I'm very proud of her. Here's my question, though. Why is so easy to see God's plan for other peoples' lives, yet so hard to discern His will for mine? Anyone have an answer?