Liturgical Year

OK...
I have to confess last year we did a horrible job trying to keep a track or even stick to the Liturgical year and celebrating the various Feast days.
The truth is that Brid is older and I need to make it all much simpler and easier to follow.
This year at Summer School of Evangelisation we all chose, seperately decided to attend a lecture called Prayer Boot Camp...Wow what an awesome lecture series.
It looked at various ways to pray and keep that alive daily.
One way was the Prayer Wheel.It breaks prayer into 5 min sessions, over an hour..

We were challenged to start our day with Adoration at 6am.
Well lets just say as the evenings do not end until 11pm at least, I chose to do my hour of prayer elsewhere in the day. I have actually kept this Challenge going.
Dermot &  I reflected on our prayer life and we realised that we actually do pray more than we first thought.We enter into the Readings of the day, we discuss them,We pray at meals, The Angelus etc..
So what have I discovered in all this??
That I just need to let go and believe that God will use this time of messiness and disorder to put  a fire in each of us, for more of his word.
I have begun by finding a Character Calendar connected to the Liturgical year..
I downloaded it and placed it on my desktop to view daily. This ha been a real treasure to find.

While we attend this 8 day retreat, our summer school, I always ask God what he wants for my year ahead.
He has done some amazing things in the past. Relocating us, finding a Ballet School, A new Church.
This year I was open to his desires again, and the word that kept coming into my heart  was

                                                    ........... PRAY...

I feel utter peace and surrender to the Lord about this.
But I must tell you more. The last 2 years I have been in a very baron place. My Desert place as I have called it. Unable to pray, talk to God, before the tabernacle after Communion. Its been terrible, but I feel a total healing of this now. It happened at Summer school after the Reconcilation Evening.

Adoration...
 

                                           SO I AM BACK......PRAISE GOD FOR THIS.....



 

Today while reading the reflection on the readings of today, I was reminded of a passage of Scripture.
I loved this passage.
One day it struck me, its was bigger than I was living.
This was a profound passage which when taken deeply can be a little scary, so I put it away and thought its too big for me.
I said to myself, there is so much more in the scriptures than this passage. God had other plans, he again reminded me of this today.
Do I really want to enlarge my territory? I did and then I withdrew. Yes he has Blessed me abundantly and he keeps Blessing me. Yes, He is with me in all the mess of life. Yes, he keeps me from evil, but the last bit it a problem. Can I at all times not cause pain.

Shall I ask again,
You may have guessed already, its;-
The prayer of Jabez, " Oh, That you would Bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted himwhat he requested. 1 Chr 4:10.

There has been some controversary over the book that was written by Dr Bruce Wilkinson. I am not here to talk about that, just how this prayer has touched me.

Our New Years 'Eve Prayer

On New years Eve as we were enjoying our last meal for 2010 together, we each shared what we were thankful for in 2010.
We have so much to be thankful for.
It was a lovely way to spend our meal time, remembering and explaining the many blessings and graces God gives us. We can so easily focus on our Sorrows and the trials of everyday, that we sometimes forget the goodness that we are Blessed with. So as we looked back on 2010, with fondness we know we will embrace the New Year with freshness.
As we sat in Church the next day, our Parish Priest spoke about January being a month of reflection on the year just gone and how we would move, with God into the coming year. It was a reflection that resonated with me, as we had done just that.

So as my friend Erin, wrote in her post here, about the word for 2011, I would say my two words would be Peace and Unity.

May God Bless your New Year.