Look on me, Lord, and help me, for I am poor and alone.
My anchors are lifting, my boat is set adrift. I am being tossed about on the stormy sea, and I cannot find my way. My heart has sunk into my stomach and I am seized with fear and panic. Where is my support? Why are my friends leaving? My God, please come here and hold me, for I am breaking apart.
What can I possibly say about someone who was so much more than a sponsor, so much more than a friend? My heart is filled to overflowing with love for you. You are home with our Lord. How comforting, how inspiring to know that.
Godmother. What is a mother? Someone who loves, unconditionally. Who guides. Who supports. Who directs and listens and calms and sympathizes. Who teaches and corrects and informs and shares. Who gives endlessly of herself. Who praises, uplifts, worries and prays. Who nurtures and protects. And you have been all of these things and more to me and for me. An amazing and humbling gift from God.
I have prayed for you, I am praying for you and I will continue to pray for you. As I also hope, with all confidence and trust, that you are praying for me and all of us whom you have loved here on earth.
Epiphany. Of course. Epiphany. Where the wise men, always seeking truth, left the comfortable familiarity of their homes to follow the light of Christ. We prayed for you from your copy of the Liturgy of the Hours. It was beautiful. I loved it.
As with gladness men of old,
did the guiding star behold,
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onwards, beaming bright,
son most gracious God, may we
evermore be led to thee.
As with joyful steps they sped
to that lowly manger-bed,
there to bend the knee before
Him whom heaven and earth adore,
so may we with willing feet
ever seek thy mercy-seat.
As they offered gifts most rare
at that manger rude and bare,
so may we with holy joy,
pure, and free from sin’s alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to thee our heavenly king.
Holy Jesus, every day
keep us in the narrow way;
and, when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed souls at last
where they need no star to guide,
where no clouds thy glory hide.
In the heavenly country bright
need they no created light;
thou its light, its joy, its crown,
thou its sun which goes not down:
there for ever may we sing
alleluias to our king.
Of course, I had a difficult time finding that hymn from Evening Prayer I of Epiphany again! In the meantime, I re-looked at all of the parts of the Liturgy of the Hours, trying to find it again. I found so many other wonderful things that reminded me of you in some way. Most especially, parts from the reading from Isaiah 60:1-22.
Arise, shine out, for your light has come,
the glory of the Lord is rising on you,
though night still covers the earth
and darkness the peoples.
Above you the Lord now rises
and above you his glory appears.
The nations come to your light
and kings to your dawning brightness.
Lift up your eyes and look round:
all are assembling and coming towards you,
your sons from far away
and your daughters being tenderly carried.
At this sight you will grow radiant,
your heart throbbing and full;
since the riches of the sea will flow to you,
the wealth of the nations come to you;
camels in throngs will cover you,
and dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
everyone in Sheba will come,
bringing gold and incense
and singing the praise of the Lord.
All the flocks of Kedar will gather inside you,
the rams of Nebaioth will be at your service.
They will come up, for acceptance, to my altar,
to adorn the Temple of my glory.
Who are these flying like a cloud,
like doves to their cote?
Yes, for me the ships are assembling,
vessels of Tarshish in the front,
to bring your sons from far away,
and their silver and gold with them,
for the sake of the name of the Lord your God,
for the sake of the Holy One of Israel who has made you glorious.
Foreigners will rebuild your walls
and their kings will be your servants.
For though I struck you in anger,
in mercy I have pitied you.
And your gates will lie open continually,
shut neither by day nor by night,
for men to bring you the wealth of the nations
with their kings leading them;
for the nation and kingdom that refuses to serve you shall perish,
such nations shall be utterly ruined.
The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
with cypress and plane and box,
to adorn the site of my sanctuary,
to glorify the resting place of my feet.
The sons of your oppressors will come to you bowing,
at your feet shall fall all who despised you.
They will call you ‘City of the Lord’,
‘Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’
Though you have been abandoned,
and hated and shunned,
I will make you an eternal pride,
a joy for ever and ever.
You will be suckled on the milk of nations,
suckled on the riches of kings,
and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your savior,
that your redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
For bronze I will bring gold;
for iron, silver;
and bronze for wood;
and iron for stone;
I will put Peace in as magistrate,
and Integrity as the government.
Violence will no longer be heard of in your country,
nor devastation and ruin within your frontiers.
You will call your walls ‘Salvation’
and your gates ‘Praise.’
No more will the sun give you daylight,
nor moonlight shine on you,
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
your God will be your splendor.
Your sun will set no more
nor your moon wane,
but the Lord will be your everlasting light
and your days of mourning will be ended.
Your people will all be upright,
possessing the land for ever;
a shoot that the Lord has planted,
my handiwork, designed for beauty.
The least among you will become a clan
and the smallest a mighty nation.
I, the Lord, have spoken;
in due time I shall act with speed.
Thank you, Pat, for sharing yourself with me. You have no idea (or, well, maybe now you do), of just how special and precious a gift you are to me. Give our Lord my love for me, until I can join you both.
I love you!
Because I get things like this in there:
Isn’t she just adorable? I’m glad her mom took her to get her portrait taken this year! 🙂
I love you, baby! Cutest goddaughter ever! 🙂
Orville Redenbacher, you have disappointed me. I thought your easy microwaveable treats would make a fine, warm dinner. However, they quickly cooled and was not nearly as tasty as the popcorn I can pay a billion dollars for at the movie theatre. Oh how I wish you would work on your Secret Recipe just a little bit more so that bachelors as myself can have an enjoyable meal on nights when they are too cold to get out to the store, too broke to order a pizza and too lazy to cook using more than one pan.
Apparently, despite the “embed” button, this blog doesn’t like to actually embed video. So, I’ve linked this hilarious clip for your viewing pleasure:
And also for you is this great photo from National Geographic:
Originally uploaded by CadyLy
I went out to the store needing mundane items like, oh, deodorant, so I wouldn’t stink, and ended up buying hair stuff that supposed to eliminate frizz, make my hair soft, act as a weak hairspray, take 5 pounds off me and give me an instant face lift — or something like that. And for $20 — it had better live up to it! 🙂
I also got some new make-up, since the stuff I have laying around the house is over a decade old (gasp!). Ended up finding the best eyeliner ever! Ever! Now, don’t judge by these pictures, since my skill in applying said eyeliner is LACKING, but it really is good stuff. And new foundation in Natural Ivory. Hmm. Me. Ivory. You wouldn’t think with as dark of eyes and hair (well, normally), but yes, I am very Snow White like that. And new lip gloss.
Well, I have to be girly SOMETIME, give me a break! 🙂
After my fit of narcissism, where I playfully took about a billion pictures of myself and my new make-up, Terry came over and we went out to dinner at Shield’s and then saw “Seven Pounds” with Will Smith at the theatre. It was a really good movie. A little slow, very dramatic, very emotive. It didn’t have any real surprises to it — you could figure out what was going to happen the entire way through — but it was very well done. Go Will! You are one of my favorite actors. 🙂
After Terry dropped me back off home, I danced around the living room for a short while, then got ready to go to Mass.
Oh yeah. Did I tell you? There’s a MIDNIGHT MASS for Mary! I’d never heard of that before, only midnight Mass for Christmas. I was so excited! 🙂 For weeks, I was dancing in anticipation of going to this Midnight Mass. I mean, what was the alternative? I could go to some parties with some friends — and don’t get me wrong, I love my friends — but I’m not really the drinking type and bar scenes are not really for me, and I am allergic to cigarette smoke and this was FAR COOLER! (Sorry guys, I am just that kind of Catholidork.)
So, I drove out about half an hour to Plymouth to Our Lady of Good Counsel. Since I had gotten up way early to go to work in the morning, I was yawning on my way in. I got there about 11:15 pm and everyone was gathered in the Day Chapel, praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I prayed for many things in that 45 minutes, but one of them was, “Please, Lord, help me stay awake for Mass.”
I did manage to stay awake through Mass, and it was lovely. I do have to admit to fantasizing about sleeping in front of the tabernacle, since I wasn’t sure that I would be awake enough to drive home. But God provided for me by having a little reception in the Social Hall after Mass, where I could load up on sugar — at least enough to get me home. I met a woman named Delphine, and a boy named Mark came up to me and chatted for a little while.
Fr. Lee came up to me when I was talking with Mark. After he met Mark, he turned to me and said, “Oh. I’ve met you before.”
What and that once was enough? Sheesh. Between you and Fr. Mark, I’m beginning to get suspicious of your entire ordination class. 🙂 But, giving Fr. Lee the benefit of the doubt, I will edit that phrase in my mind (and yours now too) to read: “Oh! Nice to see you again!”
There. Isn’t that better? 🙂
May you have a happy New Year filled with peace and love! 🙂
Hugs and Kisses,
— Jaibee
As long as I am reading into things…. 🙂
Proverbs 16:30
He who winks his eye is plotting
trickery;
he who compresses his lips has
mischief ready.
This shows how we are able to lie with our bodies. It brought to mind for me teachings from the Theology of the Body almost immediately, especially when you are speaking of conjugal union between two people who are not married. For in that act, your body is saying to your partner, “everything I have is yours.” If you are not married, this is not true. And, whether you are married or not, if you are contracepting, you are still making a lie of this in that you are withholding your fertility from your partner. You are saying, in essence, “You can have all of me…except this.” So, in the very act in which we are to make ourselves vulnerable and open completely to the other person, we are holding back. We are not making a gift of ourselves, but rather a leasing of ourselves, with stipulations and conditions. Which would you rather have? The free and complete gift, or the conditional lease?
I may be completely out to lunch here, but this struck me while reading my Bible:
Song 2: 12
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in
our land.
The pruning of the vines just sounded so very end-times to me, where the unworthy would be forcibly separated from the vine, while the good fruit would remain with the vine. The flowers appearing on the earth, as a pointing to the New Earth and the New Jerusalem. My favorite part is “the song of the dove is heard in our land.” For in that, I see the Holy Spirit being heard and felt and known by all who dwell within the land. That time of complete unity with God. Here now, so often is the Holy Spirit suppressed and not heard — how wonderful it will be when we are all able to hear the song of the dove throughout the land! 🙂
Evidently, my embedding isn’t working. 😦 So I will link instead to my YouTube site, where you can watch to your heart’s content! 🙂
Lord, teach me to be patient — with life, with people and with myself. I sometimes try to hurry things along too much, and I push for answers before the time is right. Teach me to trust Your sense of timing rather than my own and to surrender my will to Your greater and wiser plan. Help me to let life unfold slowly, like the small rosebud whose petals unravel bit by bit, and remind me that in hurrying the bloom along, I destroy the bud and much of the beauty therein. Instead, let me wait for all to unfold in its own time. Each moment and state of growth contains a loveliness. Teach me to slow down enough to appreciate life and all it holds.
© 1992 Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
I go to look up Mass times for today, and this is what immediately pops out at me. Certainly, God can’t be trying to tell me something, can He? And then, in writing this entry, it abbreviates it as “Prayer for Pat,” which, of course, I will pray for Pat! I love Pat! Please also pray for her!
Paroxysm of Giggles / Critical Mass 
