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In this season every day is a new adventure!

  I was thinking back to when I was a kid in my parents kitchen and the many different kinds of foods that to me were just the fixings for another meal, but as I got older learned that was not the case for many of my friends.   When I was a kid, after it rained my mom would go out in the yard and look for snails, and at least one a week she would to out and forage chicory and dandelion greens.  I recall one afternoon some friends and I were playing outside in the yard and my mom came out and she was picking chicory and dandelion greens and putting them in the fold of her apron as she bent over and pull the greens from the ground. My friends were so curious, with wide eyes they asked what is your mom doing? I responded nonchalantly, getting stuff for making salad.  That was common place in our Italian kitchen, no so much for my friends. But my young friends who were open and adventurous loved whatever my mom and dad served at our table.  I was never a big fa...
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Seek the Lord and His strength & presence !

One of the readings I did this morning reminded me of 1 Chronicles 16:11 "Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His presence continually." In this season of my life, and my recovery journey I am reminded every moment of every day how much I rely on Jesus and seek His presence daily in joy and in pain.    It was a rough night I got about 2 1/2 hours sleep and was up at 1:30 am and I was unable to get back to sleep.  I was hoping to make the sunrise, but I am moving a bit slower these days and ended up missing the sunrise by a 7 minutes. But what a blessing when I opened the around 6:20 am to a beautiful cool morning breeze.  And I am so grateful that I got to enjoy that cool breeze in the Backyard Oasis with my readings and meditations and a  delicious iced espresso. I got in a little PT with a light walk around the vegetable garden, grape arbor and rose gardens and picked our first roma tomato and a few roses for the Blessed Mother.   A start to a beaut...
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All it took was seeing one post - and I headed down memory lane

  These are pictures from an afternoon visit to the Eremo di San Bartolomeo in Legio (The Hermitage of San Bartolomeo in Legio) a place I dream of returning and brining my beloved to share the experience with me. The afternoon we visited in 1998 my heart was heavy with grief from the loss  of my mother, my best friend who went to glory less than a year before. Grief that was hard to work through because I was also dealing withe reality of a difficult and dangerous situation at home.  Being in Italy with my family was a brief respite from the situation I was dealing with at home.  I don't mean to be cryptic, that is a story in itself for another day. i traveled from Boston to Rome and my dad, my two sisters, each with one of their daughters and my sister-in-love and her and my brothers son all few in from Texas.  We were going to visit our family in Italy and to make a family pilgrimage in honor of my mother who recently passed to her and our family's patron Sain...
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Lord increase my capacity for compassion, your compassion!

Musings "On the Passion of Christ" According to the Four Evangelists by Thomas Kempis It is hard for me to imagine what Jesus endured when he was sent back to Pilate and the crowd was given the choice of Barnabas or Jesus and they chose our innocent Jesus yelling "Away with him, Away with him, Crucify him"  Thomas Kempis writes "Lord Jesus Christ, my Friend, in your abundant charity I ask you to enkindle in my heart the grace of genuine compassion for your sufferings." And today that is my prayer too!   Today's reading from "Jesus Listens" by Sarah Young also resonated with me today and I love the last line of her sharing "Lord, teach me how to trust in you at all times and in all circumstances."  It reminds me of Job and it's my recurring theme in my continuous rounds of the Surrender Novena!!
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Musings "On the Passion of Christ" According to the Four Evangelists by Thomas Kempis In this chapter, Jesus is brought before Herod who was once fascinated with Jesus and wanted Jesus to perform a miracle and when Jesus didn't comply he threw a tantrum and sent Jesus back to Pilate.  Can you even imagine what our Lord endured. I can't. He was interrogated, mocked and brutalized suffering through so much pain, hatred and evil treatment and all the while conducting himself with so much humility and patience.  
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God's love is beyond imagining

Musings "On the Passion of Christ" According to the Four Evangelists by Thomas Kempis Gave myself some grace yesterday, I was having a tough day, my back and the pain radiating down my leg was more intense than usual. I think my nerves ae starting to wake up and some days are better than others and yesterday not my best. So I decided not to post on my vlog and to do reflections on both chapters today! This book is drawing me in and helping me to see our Lord’s Passion in a way I’ve never experienced before. The details are graphic in ways we don’t often read or experience Jesus’s Passion, His love, His sacrifice and all that He endured for me is overwhelming and makes me want to draw closer and closer to His Sacred Heart that burns with love for me. And at the same time it wounds my soul that people can be so cruel and heartless to have treated Jesus they way they did. Fear, pride and insecurities ruled them and it makes me pause to examine my own fears, insecurities ...
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St. John of the Cross has the words to describe today's reading

Musings "On the Passion of Christ" According to the Four Evangelists by Thomas Kempis I was mulling over what to say, lost for words after reading Chapter 9, and heartbroken at what Jesus endured for love of me/us. When I shared what I was reading and Jesus's example of meekness and humility in the face of such malice, hatred and brutality my beloved reminded me of a quote from St. John of the Cross "Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent." That my friends says it all!
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