Separation: We're not the only ones who experience the pain of that chasm!

Separation.  This word came to me loud and clear Saturday evening during Holy Communion.  Last week was rough.  My dog was attacked by another dog and I’ve been a wreck trying to process it all.  My dog is okay, thankfully, he’s got a puncture wound in the back of his neck just above his shoulders, but my friend and I took him to the vet Saturday morning who cleaned out that wound and put him on some strong antibiotics and pain meds.  He’s currently dozing next to me on his bed as I write this.  My reaction to this whole situation wasn’t the kindest, and I’ve felt absolutely terrible about it, so I knew that I needed to go to Confession before I was able to be comfortable with receiving Holy Communion.  So, when our Lord was being administered to those of us in attendance, I quietly shook my head as one of the Eucharistic Ministers walked by where I was sitting, letting this person know I’m not receiving our Beloved Lord.  I needed to talk to Him first to apologize to Him for my actions.  As I was sitting there in my seat, I was crying and apologizing to my Jesus for how disgusting my response was to my dog’s attack and how I’d allowed my rage to take over rather than hand it to Him.

I wrote this yesterday (7 May 2020)

So, I have had two things rattling around my head for the last several weeks.  One - Hosea, as a whole, but there's a phrase in there that God  says to the Israelites:  'Come back to Me.'  Two - The Parable of the Prodigal Son, which the entire point of that story is our Beloved Lord saying, 'Look.  I don't care what you did before, just come talk to Me about it, and let's work on where to go from here.  Alright?  I love you, don't you understand that?  I'm here, I care, and I'm ready to heal you.'

That being said, I have been really thinking about these two things a lot lately, especially with the social distancing our human society as a whole has been forced into due to the pandemic.

Yesterday morning - for reference, I'm talking about 7 May 2020 - I was thinking about the seminar called 'The Gift' that I've signed up for through the Charismatic Catholic Renewal (The link is there, just click on 'The Gift' and it'll take you to the page to register if you're interested.  Yes, it's free.  ;)  )...  One of the last statements made towards the end of last night's session was, 'Come back to Me.'  I thought about that phrase a lot as I got puppy-dude combed down for the night and went to bed.  When I got up, I wrote the following poem.  I've not written poetry for years, but this demanded to be written.

I hope you like it.

Triduum Thoughts 9 April 2020 - Holy Thursday Night.

Sitting during Mass this evening, I was listening to the Readings, and then Deacon Tim's homily and got to thinking about a lot.  Sometimes my thoughts come at me like drinking from a fire hydrant.  Other times, it's barely trickle of anything out of a frozen tap.

Tonight, I want to share with you something that came to me, and I would love your honest opinion.  It's my hope that this draws you ever-nearer to our Sweet, Beloved Lord and what He has done for us.

...and breathe...?

Good morning, Reader! Happy Thursday.

...Can you tell the coffee kicked in… 

And there’s another reason for my good mood: I don’t remember how much I’ve written about this in the past, but over a year ago, I started on an adventure. I decided to sign up – at the encouragement of a few close friends – for a Creative Writing Specialization online. I had no idea where it would take me, and I certainly didn’t think it would take this long to get this far. But, as the saying goes, ‘If you wanna make God laugh, tell Him your plans!’

Lent: It's NOT About Us!

How is your Lent going, Reader? I hope things are going well, and you’re drawing ever-nearer to our Beloved Lord!

Something that I wanted to address is how we approach Lent. I know that two posts ago, I mentioned some ideas of what to do as penances this year to do, some suggestions. Here’s the thing, I wanted to reach out and discuss a little something about Lent a bit further than I did last week: HOW are you approaching Lent? I don’t just mean, ‘are you praying more?’ or ‘are you fasting more?’ I certainly hope these things are happening, of course, but… No. I want to take some time to share a little something with you that I just learnt about: 2 Samuel 7.1-7:

After the king had taken up residence in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from his enemies on every side, the king said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent!’ Nathan answered the king, ‘What ever is in your heart, go and do, for the Lord is with you.’ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ‘Go and tell David My servant, Thus says the Lord: Is it you who would build Me a house to dwell in? I have never dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up from Egypt to this day, but I have been going about in a tent or a tabernacle. As long as I have wandered about among the Israelites, did I ever say a word to any of the judges whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’

Let's talk about Lent!

I would like to talk about Lent just a little bit… Ash Wednesday is coming up, and I got to thinking I’d like to write a little bit about it… And without really any effort to look, I found my answer.

Recently, I read something that made me quite sad. Someone I know in a peripheral sense mentioned about becoming increasingly stressed out about ‘what to give up’ for Lent. Honestly… I reached out to this person and explained, ‘Hey, no, you’re going about this the wrong way!’

Now, understand, Reader, I am in no way perfect. I know, it’s a shock, isn’t it? But I tell you the truth, and this is going to be hard to understand for some: None of us are. Lent, though, shouldn’t be at all a stressful time! Preparing for it, during, or even Easter. It should be, honestly, a time of joy. We are preparing to meet our Beloved Lord in the desert. It’s a time to weed out those stumbling blocks that are causing us harm in our spiritual walks with Him.

When God Steps Back - What does this mean?

I subscribe to a rather neat newsletter, Friends of the Little Portion Hermitage. I like reading these so much, I save each one. Today’s title caught my eye and it gave me pause when I read it. ‘The Discipline of Darkness.’...

Happy New Year!

So, here we are, a new year! Already! I was trying to figure out how to write this post, and this is my… I think the fourth or fifth attempt at writing this out. Here’s hoping this time it doesn’t need re-written, because...

Christmas 2019: All of the Because.

Firstly, I want to say Happy Christmas, everyone. :) I hope that things have been well for you all, that time with loved ones was joyful and fun! You know… It’s been years since I’ve celebrated Christmas on purpose. ...

Third Wednesday of Advent: JOY

Recently, someone I care very much about like my own flesh and blood was put through some unnecessary things by family. Now, ‘family’ … I want to explore that word a little. Family, as we are typically...

Nemo dat quod non habet.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been taking apart the Readings for the First and Second Sundays and Wednesdays of Advent and sharing my thoughts with you on here. Today, Reader, I am going to take a small break and address something...

For the Feast of a little baby Saint...

As I sit here, it’s 21 years since my oldest daughter (my second baby) went Home. Normally, I’m a sobbing, quiet mess. This year… This year is worlds different. In a word: Love. I’ve been tremendously fortunate to have friends...

Whoa.

Monday morning, I had a really interesting thought come to my mind. I woke up at one point, and so vividly I could reach out and touch Him, I saw Jesus on the Crucifix. It just dominated my thoughts for several minutes, and left me just laying there contemplating what the Crucifix meant, why it happened, and not just a, 'Oh, look! There's Jesus, He died for me on the Cross because I'm a sinner.' No. There's much, much more to it than that.

The Pros and Cons of Technology

Recently, my nephew (he’s in his mid-20s) and I were out adventuring around town (we ended up at Walmart, which seems always the ‘it’ place for my friends and me to end up when we’re bored haha), and on our way back, we were listening to music and we were talking about technology.

Self-improvement - what I'd like to work on...

Now,  I don't want this to come across as one of those 'self-help-y' posts, but ... I mean, let's be honest here.  I have two idea banks, and I couldn't decide on something to write about.  What's a writer to do?  Well, I grabbed a decent-sized handful of ideas I'd written on popsicle sticks and closed my eyes, shuffled them about and... this one was the one I grabbed.  So, here we are.

Bear with me.

Comfort - not just something physical!

Hey, so I want to talk about comfort.  It comes in so many different forms, as we're all aware, and as a species, doesn't matter if it's animal, human, or even plant, comfort is a thing we all yearn for.

My dog, she's most comfortable wherever I am that she can touch me.  If we're sitting on the couch watching a movie, she's right next to me, right at my hip, usually under her blanket (she's a Dachshund, and Dachshunds are known burrow-dogs).  My cats, they're fairly comfortable wherever they decide to be.  Sometimes on my lap, sometimes on the back of the couch, my bed, wherever they feel like being that they know is within their permissible boundaries to be.

Personally, I'm comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, barefoot, running around in the sunshine.  If it's cold, I'm happiest indoors, of course.  If I HAVE to go out, then I want a silly hat and usually, I can get by with a hoodie.

But, I didn't decide to write this about physical comfort.  No.  I want to talk about comfort that goes deeper than the surface.

Random actual update. :)

Happy New Year, y'all!  I hope you had as great a time welcoming the new year as much as I did.  Welcome, 2019!  You were anticipated!

Good-bye, 2018. You won't be missed. Not entirely.

I'm going to share something incredibly real and raw with you all.  I don't think being vulnerable is necessarily a BAD thing, but it is not something that I'M entirely comfortable with, so bear with me.

As 2018 comes to a close, I have done a LOT of reflection on how things went.  The ebb and flow of life, as a whole.

Ya gotta have goals, kid!

Recently, my friend, Rebeka, mentioned to me that she’s wanting to make a plan for her writing, plotting her novel and making things easier to write.

Well, Rebeka, and of course anyone else reading this, I really can’t help much in that department, but I can help with something else on that front: Making sure you have a way to make a goal for yourself to at least write something.

Being a rainbow when everything's black and white.

Recently, I had someone come to me and ask for advice on how to survive. Specifically, how to come ‘out’ to the family about their sexual orientation. This person has expressed concern about having been previously treated as a pariah, sending this person – not compassionately – to counseling as a way to ‘purge’ this information from this person.

This… is a delicate matter. There are a lot of people who don’t agree with this lifestyle, and there are a lot who do. It’s been a constant source of contention for many, many years, probably centuries. But, sticking with the modern era, and with some of the crusty old political types trying to force us back into the 1950s, well, I can see the concern as being quite valid.