God Blessing Ireland! Picture by Mark Rush
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
R.The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
Emphasis mine Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
What an interesting day.
I brought my car to the Hyundai dealer for a repair of the car’s computer, and the dealership offers Uber rides home and pick up after the work is done.
This was my fifth ride, and I love the service because I don’t have to wait at the dealership for my car to get repaired.
I can hear some of you thinking where’s Fred going with this?
Today, the man who picked me up was an African American who I found out taught Project Management at a local college, and he also taught religion.
As we were talking I noticed the Joy in his voice and his demeanor. One would have to be blind and deaf not to notice.
As we pulled into our driveway we mentioned the “Nine,” AND HE KNEW THE “NINE.” And he knew them in order.
We gave him a card, and he looked at it and explained to me how the last six words bring Love, Joy, and Peace, and we asked him to turn the card over and he was surprised to see no ad for anything, just God is Love, as I am sure you all know.
I got out of his car thinking this would be great for the Sidebar. I read the readings for today, prayed where do we go, and the bolded part of the readings jumped out at me, “The Holy Spirit.”
We copied and pasted the Responsorial Psalm, trying to think what we were going to write about with the bolded portion, and only THEN did the Holy Spirit open my eyes as to what we were going to write about.
And,
The Bolded portion fit in beautifully with what I had just experienced.
We asked him if he wanted any more cards, he said, “Give me one more,” we gave him many more.
I left his car filled with Joy!
Why are we writing about this?
You never know when someone may enter your life, and make a change in your life. I have met many people who know some of the nine, but few who have learned, or better yet prayed, the nine every day, but this man does. And, he reflects the Joy he is living in all of the time, or at least all of the time we were with him.
What a breath of fresh air especially at a time in all of our lives when everything seems so dark.
I stand corrected, dark times for those who refuse to change.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
Prayer:
If you want to grow in Love, Joy, and Peace this is a result of growth in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Kindness and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Three thoughts:
Fr. Richard Rohr, on Easter Sunday, spoke of The Resurrection of Jesus proving Love has conquered death. Jesus walked the way of death, and it became life, and this is a true Surprise because no one expected and many still don’t believe it.
Dr. Tim Gray, on Easter Sunday: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us reJoyce and be glad.” I never linked this prayer to Easter Sunday, and once I heard Dr. Gray I knew he was sooooo right, and I was soooo stupid (I just realized that we are spelling reJoyce wrong. The correct way is rejoice – no we won’t change, just wanted you to know I now know this is wrong grammatically, but for our blog we are “right on!”).
We are now in the season of Eastertide. Fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. This is meant to be a Joyous season, as opposed to Lent.
The Catholic Church makes this season longer on purpose, so we can celebrate that we are justified by the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Celebrate your being Baptised into the Body of Jesus.
Celebrate you are a member of a Divine Family who knew you before the start of time, and loves you Outrageously every day.
The Cross proves this.
Celebrate you have been Justified by the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and sadly are still a sinner.
And
Make part of your celebration telling others of this wonderful life.
Picture:
My eldest is in Ireland with her family. While visiting the Cliffs of Moher she took this picture. She called it God Blessing Ireland! Picture by Mark Rush
Please keep Snapping!
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
The offer for the cards is sadly for American readers only. The Post office won’t accept foreign stamps.
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed.
Send an email to: fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
