Be patient ...

Be patient to all that is unresolved in your heart

and try to love the questions like locked

rooms or books that are written in a foreign tongue.

The point is to live everything.  Live the questions now.

Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,

live your way some distant day into the answers.

                - Ranier Maria Rilke      

     

What a reminder to simply be here now ...

and simply do the next right thing!

Its all pretty simple

 (notice I did not say easy)

if I do just that ... love what is before me at this moment

and leave the rest up to God!

 I read a poem many year ago that went something like this ....

God always answers prayer ...

the answers are yes, no,  or wait ...

and know that God always walks with you there!

I don't think I have learned to LOVE the questions,

but I have learned to live with them more precefully!

For that, I am most grateful!

What about you?

Love, Cate

Thy Grace is my Sufficiency

May it please the supreme and divine Goodness

to give us all abundant grace

ever to know its most holy will

and perfectly to fulfill it.

      - Saint Ignatious of Loyola

I remember the first time a wise woman began speaking to me about  "thy will be done".  I was not at all open to the concept...I mean, what if "thy"will was vastly different from "my" will?  Why would I ever want to surrender to that?  I smile at those thoughts now ... I wonder how I thought I had so much power and control that I could choose to persuade God to transform thy will into mine?  Or, even more, that I thought my ideas and desires were better than God's?  YIKES!   

  AND THEN I BECAME WILLING

I sought to know, what is God's will? I am willing ... but how will I know what it is?

AND THEN I BEGAN TO LISTEN

The still small voice was willing to repeat itself again and again and again, until I was able to hear ... and over time, it grew stronger and stronger.

AND THEN I CAME TO BELIEVE...

AND THAT HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

GRATEFULLY,

Cate        

our interaction With all things

Endurance, Cleanliness,

strength, purity,

Will keep our lives straight

Our actions only for a good

purpose.

Our words will be truth.

Only honesty shall come from

our interactions

With all things.

- from the Lakota Sioux Sweat

Lodge Ceremony      

    http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/adorable-newborn-baby-deer/1jrab2kry?q=Deer&rel=MSN

This link is a special treat today!

It certainly takes my breath away.

The glorious gifts of our Creator ...

all right here for me,

if I only take the time to see!!

Love, Cate     

Be Here Now

Don't think about the future.
Just be here now.
Don't think about the past.
Just be here now.
                     -Ram Dass

Several years ago while struggling with serious illness.

I watched an Anthony DeMello presentation on acceptance.

He spoke of living in the present moment in a way that struck

me right to the core ~ I remember it still, and refer myself and  others

to his simple wisdom quite often.

He said that a person could handle even the most excruciating pain

as long as they stayed in the present moment.  We CAN handle peacefully

anything that comes our way, as long as we are fully present to it, living in the

exact moment.

 

We get in trouble when we stop being fully present to the present

and begin to add our fears from the future ~ which multiply quickly ~

and/or tack on our unresolved issues from the past.  

Soon, the present moment is so painful and heavy, it is no wonder it feels impossible!!

So, just be here now, breathe into the now moment,

know that God is right here in the now, and the what-is-ness of life is right here!! 

No mater what ...

jut be right here,

right now ...

all is well in this present moment ...

take it one present moment at a time ...

that makes all the difference!!

Cate

If you let go a lot

Do everything with a mind that lets go.  Do not expect

any  praise or reward.  If you let go a little, you will have

a little peace.  If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of

peace.  If you let go completely, you will know complete

peace and freedom.  Your struggles with the world will

have come to an end.

                                 - Achaan Chah

Wow .. what a reading for today! 

Just what I needed.

Sometimes I really do get this and I let go

quickly and completely.

Other things I hang on to things

and let go a little bit at a time.

Sometimes these simple truths

are just not that easy!

Therefore, I practice praying for the willingness ...

it works, it really does!

I'm struggling with grief today,

praying to let it go into gratitude.

What are you willing to let go?

Let's choose freedom!!

Cate

Living in Awareness

Praised be my Lord for our Mother the earth, that

which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth

divers fruit, and flowers of many colours, and grass.

- Saint Francis of Assisi

May the food we are eating make us aware of the

interconnections between the universe and us, the

earth and us, and all other living species and us.

Because each bite contains in itself the life of the sun

and the earth, may we see the meaning and value of life

from these precious morsels of food.

- adapted from Thich Nhat Hanh

I read these centering thoughts after a very busy and productive day.

I am weary now, grateful for this day,

and grateful for the slowing down and centering of these thoughts

at the end of this day.

When I begin and end my day in a centered prayerful way,

I find myself more balanced and connected

during those difficult moments that may

cross my path along the way.

The miracle of the inter-independence

of all living beings is more than my pea brain can ponder ...

but, taking a moment to receive that awareness;

fills me with gratitude,

surrounds me with peace,

and deepens my trust in the ONE who has ALL POWER.

Sweet sleep ~

Cate

The gift is there

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by
their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy, or
hard.   Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it
a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angels hand
that brings it to you.   Everything we call a trial, a sorrow
or a duty, believe me, that the angel's hand is there;
the gift is there,
and the wonder of an overshadowing presence.

Our joys too: be not content with them as joys.
They too conceal diviner gifts.

And so, at this time, I greet you.
Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with
profound esteem and with the prayer that for you
now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee.
                                                       - FRA Giovanni, A.D. 1513

The Spiritual Journey remains the same throughout time, doesn't it?
These words spoken in 1513 ring true still today ...

It is the rare person who wants to hear them when in the midst
of tragedy, loss or crisis ... most of us don't have the fortitude of
Viktor Frankl.  I remember the many times I dragged myelf through
difficult times, fighting aganst the flow of life!  Yet, in retrospect,
I can see the gifts that were surrounding me during those times.

I am so grateful for a dear friend who told me that she would remember
the truth for me during those times when I was unable to remember it
for myself.  It was her faith that carried me through some difficult
times.

I know the gift is always there, whether I can see it or not.  I know
many people who are struggling deeply right now....my human heart
struggles with them.  But, I remember the gift from my friend,
and what a difference it made.  So, I remember the truth for them ...
the truth that God is with them and in them, and nothing can ever
take them away from the love that is God.

I know that when you are desperately seeking a solution,
this probably seems like spiritual hogwash.  But, this is the
truth upon which I base my life.

Divine gifts are all around us, lets remind each other
to wake up and see them this day!!
Love, Cate