Striving for Abundant Survival

I love being contrary. I mean, how can I put “survival” and “abundant” in the same sentence, right? And yet, I mean just that.

I am a survivor…and perhaps you are too. We survive many things in life: Childhood abuse at the hands of other children. Losing loved ones…some of them tragically. Watching our children suffer. Financial concerns. Maybe what you’re surviving is different from what I’m surviving. Maybe for you it was the premature death of a loved one, or a serious illness of you or a family member. But whatever the differences, we are probably both survivors.

I see that Merriam-Webster says of the word survive: “to continue to function or prosper”…so perhaps my putting the terms “abundant” and “survival” together into one sentence is not contrary, after all, if it means to prosper. We don’t have to “just barely” survive! We can survive fully – fully in love with life! As we “continue to function”, we can also “prosper”.

There are many ways to prosper. Even if we’ve had financial losses, we might prosper financially at some time in the future, if we practice delayed gratification today, and if certain things go our way. But there are other ways to prosper as well.

Abundance is defined as “marked by great plenty (as of resources)”. Our greatest resource, of course, is prayer. We also have love at our disposal, as well as laughter. We can find joy in a rose or a sunny, blue sky (or a rainy day if you happen to be from Washington State like I am). We can find joy in a hobby. Yes, some hobbies take resources that we don’t have, but any passionate interest can be a hobby of sorts, and some are free. Seeing a classical car cruising down the road still takes my breath away…and it doesn’t cost me anything. What do you enjoy seeing or hearing? We can grasp the little moments and enjoy them in the midst of difficulties.

We can also share our resources. I remember a tough time several years ago when I felt that I had absolutely nothing to give to anyone…except a smile. I didn’t smile because I was happy. I smiled because I wanted to give something. But while I was smiling in friendliness, I was feeling happier, if only for a moment at a time.

And so, I have at last found a theme for my blog: “Striving for Abundant Survival.” Come, strive with me. Smile with me. Laugh with me. And as David said in the 33rd Psalm, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us extol his name together.”

You Raise Me Up

(Here's how you can stop the background music before playing the video: Please click the square white button on the Music Control panel on the right side at the top of my sidebar.)

The first time I heard this song, You Raise Me Up, I wondered if it was about God raising us up or about people raising us up. More recently I heard it and realized that it is sometimes God directly, and sometimes God through people. He has certainly done both in my life in recent times. I am most grateful to those dear to me who raise me up, and to Him who sends them into my life.

As my sister-in-law always says, "God is good. All the time."

The Heaven Meme

Jean of Catholic Fire invited me to participate in this "meme" about heaven. Here is what she said about it:

St. Julian of Norwich describes heaven as a place of "eternal joy". She explains: "But we are not blessedly safe, possessing our endless joy, until we are all in peace and in love, that is to say wholly contented with God and with all his works and with all his judgments, and loving and content with ourselves and with our fellow Christians and with everything which God loves, as is pleasing to love."

This meme has one question:

How do you envision heaven?

My Reply:

Whatever happened to taking the time to meditate on heaven? In my fleeting moments, my thoughts of heaven are often more of relief than anything else. “In heaven, I won’t be worried about anything.” “In heaven, I won’t have doubts about what I should be doing on a day to day basis.” And on a lighter note, “In heaven, I’ll be able to sing on key!”

When I really stop to think prayerfully about heaven, it seems to me that it will be like spending time praying quietly before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give rest to your souls.”

At the same time, I think it will be like a big family gathering, where we will joyously sing carols, except that then when we sing them, the One to whom we are singing will be right there visibly, loving us. Of course, He loves us always; He loves us now, but we will be so much more aware of His love.

At the same time that my focus is on Our Lord and God, I think I’ll look over and exchange smiles with my loved ones, those who were near and dear on earth…and those who were dear but not so near, whom I only longed to meet. I think I will be welcomed warmly by Our Blessed Mother…and by my earthly mother, too, and we will understand each other perfectly.

I think we will be completely filled with love and peace and joy, of which we only get a foretaste here on earth.

I invite the following people to participate, if they have the time and desire:

Micki at Holy Cards for Your Inspiration
Alexandra at Happy Hearts at Home
Diana at St. Fiacre's Garden
Mary Poppins Not at Crazy Acres
Sean at The Blue Boar

See Tony Melendez Play Guitar with his Feet

Have you heard of Tony Melendez, who was born without arms, and plays the guitar beautifully? I had heard of him, but hadn't heard him or seen him perform. Thanks to today's technology, I have now been able to do that, sitting here at my computer. You can too, by clicking here.

You can read a biography here.

If you'd like to read Cay's post that introduced me to the video, you can read it here.

Journeys

Tomorrow I journey back to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky to accompany Paul home. I would appreciate any prayers for a safe trip. I'm hoping also that we can get on the early flight so we might be able to meet son Joe for an early lunch before he has to be back to Lexington to work.

A different type of journey that I wanted to share with you is Heather's continued journey. For those who don't know, Heather is a young mother who is on a journey through dealing with a brain tumor. Today's post struck home. Perhaps you, too, might find it inspiring. You can read it here.

Sixty Years as a Priest

Today, on the feast of Corpus Christi, we celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of Fr. Casimir Peterson. This wonderful priest, who offers the Tridentine Latin Mass at St. Alphonsus church, processes to the altar with a smile on his face and still climbs the spiral staircase into the pulpit to give his sermons. After Mass, the pastor Msgr. Bastress read the letters of congratulation to Fr. Peterson from the Cardinal, as well as from the governor, the mayor, the city council, senators and others in government. Fr. Peterson had a few words to say afterward, commenting pleasantly that he hadn't expected to be congratulated but simply to be thanking God.

Note re: Picture: The church is not dark, as it appears here, at least on my computer, with my photography. Also, just for disclosure...I took this picture a few months back, not today. But, at any rate, isn't it a beautiful church!

Devotion to Christ

Last night I posted about this to the Catholic BVI Readers blog (BVI for Blind or Visually Impaired); but this morning it has occurred to me that I ought to share the information about these talks with everyone!

At the EWTN site, you can find an abundance of audio talks available. What I discovered yesterday, and got excited about, is a series of talks on Devotion to Christ given by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

You can download these to your computer; and download RealPlayer for free, I believe, if you don't already have it. Just go here to check out these talks.

A Mother

By Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

"The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She neednot. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral - a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body.

"The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God's creative miracle to bring new saints to heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature. God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation...What on God's good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?"

Mirror Thoughts from Sr. Janet

These thoughts are so neat that I wanted to share them with you. This is from the same Sr. Janet in Rome, who had the extensive, life-like Stations of the Cross meditations during Lent.

But this is something a little different. I hope you will come away feeling as I did...inspired.
Click here to read what Sr. Janet has to say.

Give Your Cashier a Break Today

That cashier you deal with could be my son. It could have been me a year or so ago. It could be an accountant or a teacher, working part time on the side to help their family surive financially. I knew one woman who worked both a professional job and a department store job, and also had a family to take care of. I knew another woman, a grandmother in her sixties, who worked three jobs (and ended up in the hospital).

The cashier you encounter could also be someone who's going through something really horrendous in his or her personal life. And yes, I've known some cashiers and sales associates for whom that truly was the case!

It's not always easy to give your cashier a break. As a matter of fact, I have a confession to make. It was very hard for me, just the other day! I was checking out my always low price items, and I was having trouble hearing what the cashier was saying to me...not so strange in a noisy place, since I'm deaf in one ear. So I asked her what she had said, but she answered that she wasn't talking to me. Then I saw that her cell phone was open on the counter in front of her, and she was talking into it. Toward the end of the transaction, I once again asked what she had said, and she once again said it wasn't me she was talking to. How could she ignore me like this? Very rude. I was beginning to lose patience, but I decided to be polite and calm while being at least a bit open with her about what she was doing. So I said to her, "I can't tell when you're talking to me - and when you're talking to the person on your cell phone." She said, pleasantly, "I wouldn't call you a ........" I don't even know what word she finished the sentence with, because I didn't hear it, but evidently this was something she had said to her friend that she wouldn't think of saying to me...yet she had said it in my presence.

Now what could I have done at that point? There was a fleeting thought of complaining to management. After all, this girl should learn how she should treat customers. But you know what? I've been through this girl's line before, and I picked her line this day because she's pleasant to do business with. Who knows WHY she felt a need to talk on her cell phone this particular afternoon? One thing I do know is that the cashiers are usually very overworked...not only at that store but at every retail establishment I've seen in the past several years. I know how demotivating that can be! I know the lack of support from management that sometimes occurs. I know the anxiety that goes with reduced hours, as it causes overwork and not enough money coming in to pay the bills...even expenses that high school students have gone to work to pay. I know it all. So I just thanked her (she DID ring up my items, you know), and went on my way.

Would you like to do the spiritual works of mercy without getting further from home than your grocery store? "To bear wrongs patiently" is one of those works, and you just may have an opportunity to do that at your grocery store, post office, airline counter, or other place of business. Just remember: Very often the problems that occur are not the fault of the clerks. Much of the time they are simply exercising company policies that they don't like any better than you do. And even when problems are the fault of the clerks, it wouldn't hurt to cut them a little slack. Because of your kindness, some cashier might go home talking about the person who was nice to them, instead of talking about yet another person who abused them. You might save someone's day...or more. God bless you!

A Glorious Thanksgiving Day

If you see the mail lady put letters into your mail box and drive away, and then you go to get them, and the box will not open no matter how hard you try, what do you do? I'm thinking of a sledge hammer. Actually, though, this is not a "real" mail box, but my Yahoo mail box. (How much more real can you get than that?) I arrived to Yahoo, I signed in, and it says I have nine items of new mail; but they just won't let me get to them. "They" being the little men in the computer. I used to tease my computer-geek son about my thinking there were little men in the computer, and I sometimes thought that he believed me...not that there were little men but that I thought that. Nope, no little men, no pixies or elves, but sometimes it seems like it. How much "magic" God has given us in the world!

All of God's creation can fill us with wonder! The changing seasons of nature; the changing expressions of humans. The warmth of the sun; the warmth of loving and being loved. The intricacies of trees and flowers; the intricacies of the human mind. And so much more.

And then, now and then, God steps beyond nature and gives us an even greater miracle...something we can barely understand. Or something we can't fully understand with our minds, but only with our hearts.

Such miracles we are commemorating this week. The mighty God, Jesus the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, taking the form of man, coming to earth as a small, weak baby, coming to teach us, set us an example, take our sins upon himself, and reconcile us with the Father. Isn't this enough? But no, this is not enough for His generosity. He adds to that as only God can. He gives us yet another gift, as He gives Himself to us in Holy Communion for all time.

Today is the glorious Thanksgiving Day of that institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper. Thank you, Dear Jesus, for your great gifts. Help us to appreciate them and to grow in love of you and of all those whom you have created with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Sister Janet's Stations of the Cross

I wish I had discovered these Stations sooner, as Sister Janet in Rome posts one for each day. Today (Wednesday), she posted the 12th Station. If you'd like, and have the time, you can scroll to the bottom of her page, and click to get to the previous page, until you come to the 1st Station.

These Stations are written with reverence. Today's Station was written from the viewpoint of the Roman Centurion in charge of the Crucifixion. Previous ones were written from the viewpoints of St. John, Veronica, Simon, the women, a bystander. It is an interesting way to read about the Passion, and to feel like we're right there.

Different Gifts

In doing the Works of Mercy, each person has different opportunities and obligations, as well as different gifts. For example, we are not obliged to always "admonish the sinner" (nor is it always wise or prudent to do so). The Catholic Encyclopedia says the following about the spiritual works of mercy:

"Likewise the law imposing spiritual works of mercy is subject in individual instances to important reservations. For example, it may easily happen that an altogether special measure of tact and prudence, or, at any rate, some definite superiority is required for the discharge of the oftentimes difficult task of fraternal correction. Similarly to instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, and console the sorrowing is not always within the competency of every one. To bear wrongs patiently, to forgive offences willingly, and to pray for the living and the dead are things from which on due occasion no one may dispense himself on the pleas that he has not some special array of gifts required for their observance. They are evidently within the reach of all." (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Spiritual Works of Mercy

The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy

To admonish the sinner
To instruct the ignorant
To counsel the doubtful
To comfort the sorrowful
To bear wrongs patiently
To forgive all injuries
To pray for the living and the dead

Holy Week

Because it is Holy Week, the week of Our Lord's suffering for our salvation, I may be posting more items of a religious nature than usual this week. Next week I will be back to the normal, everyday variety.

I decided yesterday to start the week with the works of mercy, as enjoined by Our Lord in Sacred Scripture.

Today I'm posting the Corporal Works of Mercy, and tomorrow I will post the Spiritual Works of Mercy.

We can't all be Mother Teresa, but we can do the things that are before us in our daily life. For example, to feed the hungry: I know someone who said that her father carries grocery store gift certificates to give to those who ask him for money on the street (we would, of course, want it to be a store that is in close proximity to where the person is, who is asking).

We may not always be able to visit someone who is in prison or who is sick, but we may be able to send them a letter or card.

And we might be able, at some time in our lives, to take in someone who is not actually homeless but who might be if we did not, or who might not be able to pursue their career or education, if we did not.

Do we have a lot of clothes sitting in our closet that someone else could use?

Even taking care of our families, we perform these works, if only we do it with love of God as well as love of our loved ones. As Mother Teresa loved to point out, we are serving Jesus...in the poor, in those we meet on the street, in our families.

Corporal Works of Mercy

The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy:

To feed the hungry
To give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To shelter the homeless
To visit the imprisoned
To visit the sick
To bury the dead

When We Meet Our Lord

Matthew 25:34-40
34 Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: 36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. 37 Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry and fed thee: thirsty and gave thee drink? 38 Or when did we see thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and covered thee? 39 Or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee? 40 And the king answering shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.

Joy, from Melissa

You probably know the Little House books, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Did you know that prequels have been written about Laura's grandmother and great-grandmother? Melissa Wiley wrote these wonderful books, in two series, called The Martha Years and The Charlotte Years.

I was so happy, a couple years ago, to discover that Melissa Wiley is a Catholic homeschooling mother with a blog. She's such a good writer, I almost think she should charge us to read her blog. Of course she won't, and of course I'm only joking, Melissa...about charging us, but not about how much I enjoy your writing.

Yesterday's post on Melissa's blog, for March 22, is so inspiring that I'm excited to share it with you. It's not a subject that you would necessarily think of when you think of joy: the serious illness of a child. At first glance, it reminds me of St. Francis of Assisi's definition of joy. But it is also about making a decision to be joyful, and shows how our own joyful attitudes can bring joy to our children. I hope you will run right over there to read it.

"Carrying Our Crosses"

Today I would like to enourage you to read an article at Catholic Exchange, written by my friend Maureen Wittmann.

It's called "Carrying Our Crosses: Homeschooling with a Chronic Illness". Whether or not you homeschool, I promise you will be inspired.

John Newman or John Neumann?

Have you ever wondered whether it's spelled Newman or Neumann? Or perhaps you knew these are two different men. But do you know who they were and which one was which? For years I tended to get them confused. At last, now that I attend a church where St. John Neumann was once a pastor, and now that I can do research on the internet, I can learn more about these two great men.

These two intelligent, dedicated saints lived during nearly the same years of the nineteenth century, but were an ocean apart.

St. John Nepomucene Neumann became a priest in his native Bohemia and then immigrated to the United States. Having studied Italian in the seminary, he pastored the first Catholic church in America where Italians could hear the sermon and go to Confession in their native tongue. Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman was born in London and became an Anglican priest. He later converted to Catholicism, and became a Catholic priest. He lived and died in Great Britain.

St. John Neumann, as Bishop of Philadelphia, was best known for establishing the 40 hour devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in parishes, and for beginning the parochial system of Catholic education in the United States. In the meantime, in England, Venerable John Newman was perhaps best known for his book, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, his explanation of his life and conversion.

St. John Neumann is commemorated at the National Shrine of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia. He is commemorated in a lesser way in other places, such as St. Alphonsus Church in Baltimore, where a replica of the bedroom he used (while a pastor there) is preserved. Cardinal Newman is commemorated - in this country - by the Newman Centers on college campuses, which aid Catholic students in living their faith.