True friends

I have always considered myself to be a true friend to those people I call my friends.
It hurts when they don't reciprocate. Or maybe their definition of being a true friend is different. I don't know, but I do know that the pain I feel being "betrayed"by a "true friend"is some kind of awful.
This has always been a sure way for me to identify with Christ, for He, too, was betrayed by friends.
Judas, of course. But also by Peter who denied even knowing Him.
I wonder if much of the agony He felt was from knowing He would experience this essential rejection of everything for which He had lived His life. By people who loved Him and whom He loved.
I am not the best person in the world and I do have many faults and failings.
Yet, I ask Jesus and His Blessed Mother to pray for me that I might forgive those who have injured me by betrayal. People whom I considered to be my friends,  but who hurt me by not being the friend I needed.
I guess maybe I need to be granted the grace to love them for who they are and not feel betrayed when they don't meet that need.
Today's photo is of Vedauwoo.

Still down

I am still not feeling well, so I don't have anything to share.
I offer my illness up for anyone who is sick. Please, dear Lord, exchange my illness for health for someone in need today.
Thank you.
Another photo of Vedauwoo.

Being Sick

Being ill looks a lot different from the inside than it does from the outside.
I wasn't as sympathetic to my little grand darlin's as I should have been this week when they complained about how bad they felt.
May the Good Lord remind me of how very badly I feel today the next time I am tempted to dismiss the symptoms of another who is ill.
Today's photo is of the very cool rock formations at Vedauwoo National Recreation Area. I took it after I had met my son for the kid swap and before my symptoms became full blown flu.

Anger

I don't know what it is about neediness that brings out the bully in me.
But, tonight I realized that I can be and therefore am a bully.
Lord, have mercy on me for this horrendous trait.
Blessed Mother, please pray for me that I might overcome this terrible trait.
Please ask our Lord, your most holy and merciful Son, to pour out blessings of love and kindness on those towards whom I direct my bullying.
Because I have asked for and received an exchange of Hearts and minds and wills with Blessed Mother, I ask that you heal the wounds I have inflicted by such smallness and meanness of spirit towards those whom I love the most.
Please grant to me the graces I need to become a more loving and kind and merciful person.
Today's photo is of clouds hovering over the mountains while a brisk breeze blows across the water.

Taking time to pray

I have been using my grandchildren's visit as an excuse to not keep to my daily prayer regimen.
And to forget the penitenial nature of the Lenten season.
I find myself falling backwards into the zombie like state of mind/being where I don't accomplish my daily duties, but sit before the television, being blasted by the voices of evil emanating from that box.
Even worse, I allow the grandkids to also be exposed to it. My children learned to sit before the tv from me and have passed it along to their children. What an awful legacy I have given to them.
Even as I write this, I allow myself to be inundated by the noise, the immoral plots and themes of what I try to justify as entertainment.
Lord, have mercy on me and on my children and grandchildren. Please bless them with the graces to break this unhealthy behavior. Unhealthy for the soul, that is.
Blessed Mother, I surrender this behavior to you and ask that you exchange it for a holier behavior that is much healthier for body and soul.
Today's photo is of my oldest grandson fishing on a cold, blustery spring day.

Enjoying the Day

Today we are enjoying the outdoors with our grandchildren.
We are blessed to be able to spend time with them, although it has disrupted my prayer schedule.
I have surrendered the week to the Lord and Mary, though, and hope they realize my offering of the day and our activities is the prayer.
I am trying to keep my calm and peace even when the little darlin's test my patience. :-D
Anyway,  we are blessed to be able to spend some time showing them how to fish. So many children these days have no experience of the outdoors. My grandchildren, too, spend too much time inside when they are home.  City living is so different than small town rural living, where kids can play outside, using their imaginations to create forts or ride their bikes to the park. In the cities where they live, they spend their time safe inside, but exposed to the violence of television and video games.
The weather today would be considered by some to be brutal.
Fortunately, we are basking in the sun, sheltered from the wind by a solid row of willows.
It roars as it passes overhead and once in a while, it sneaks up and changes direction giving us a "refreshing" blast of cool air. It reminds us that but for the willow windbreak, it would leave us as clean as the sun-bleached, wind-scoured bones of creatures who succumbed to winter. 
When the wind blows clouds in front of the sun, the temperature drops noticeably, however. Undoubtedly, a spring squall is moving through.
Patches of blue  run across the sky, surrounded by mean gray clouds.
Thank you, Lord for all your blessings.
A photo of the clouds today.

Surrendering All

Today I made an Act of Consecration to our Blessed Mother.
I wrote it down and signed it and dated it.
I hope to surrender each day to Mary and to rejoice in the love she and the whole heavenly retinue have for me.
I give you everything, Blessed Mother, especially today my love for my country.
I pray that you will influence the US Supreme Court to act in accordance with God's will in the matter of the individual mandate.
Thank you for your blessings today.
Help me to live my consecration more fully each day.
Today's photo is fishing with the grandchildren.

Vigil of the Assumption

Today is the vigil of the Assumption and the night before my Marian consecration.
I have my grandchildren with me today and will have them tomorrow.
Because it will be hectic and not a calm and meditative type of day, I take the time tonight to ask Mary to exchange my faulty heart for hers and to ask that on the day of Consecration, she comes with us as we share in family outings.
Blessed Mother, I know I have let you down and disappointed you and your most holy and perfect Son.
Still, please pray with me for forgiveness for my faults and failings. Ask Jesus to love us all in spite of those things that are disappointing and sinful.
Help us to trust in His mercy and love.
Today's photo is of Elk Mountain, from the east, looking westward.

Blessings

We have our grandchildren with us this week for their spring break.
They are so full of life and are such a joy. Admittedly, they are full of energy and fun. They keep us hopping and it's only after they leave thay we feel exhausted.  LOL.
We are blessed to have six grandchildren so far.  Four if them are with us this week. We don't get to see them as much as we would like, so we take full advantage of the chances we do get.
In preparation for my Marian consecration on Tuesday, March 25, I have been meditating on the love Mary has for each of her children.
Undoubtedly, this includes grandchildren as well. I will share mine with her, as I share my children and other family members.
Oh, Blessed Mother. I place in your most Immaculate Heart the love I have for my children and grandchildren.  I know that you will keep them deep in your heart of love.
Please help me to guide them to Your Son that they might partake of the salvation He purchased for them with His life.
A photo of my four youngest grandchildren, enjoying a swim in the pool.

Mercy

Oh, my Lord! I am in need of your mercy.
Today, during a heart to heart conversation. I heard you tell me that television is a way that evil enters my life.
And yet, when I got home and my husband had it on,  I sat down and began watching it.
Thoughtlessly. At first, any way. Then, I was reminded of our earlier conversation.
You would think that I would immediately turn it off.
But, I didn't.  I am addicted to watching certain shows.
I need your help in overcoming this addiction, my Lord and God. I turn it over to our Blessed Mother so that she can exchange it for something much more edifying to me and for you.
Thank you, my Lord and God for your mercy and your help.
Today's photo is of a low lying photo on the mountains.

Lapses

I don't know why I can seem to do well in regards to Lenten sacrifice, and then think I deserve a reward for doing well.
I have blown my sacrifices tonight after doing well with my fast.
I have relapsed back into old habits and choices.
Forgive me, Lord.
And now I feel physically ill. I am also spiritually ill.
Please help me, Lord, and have mercy on me.

My spiritual director/friend

Today I met once again with a friend whose relationship with me is primarily spiritual.
We have come slowly to the place where we could share our spiritual thoughts and experiences.
In my younger years, I could become quite annoyed with her. I am sure that I was just as annoying to her as she was to me. I have discovered that those kinds if things are usually mutual, even though I do not consider myself to be annoying. (Huge eye roll.)
At any rate, as the years have passed by and we both have mellowed with age and are no doubt tempered by wisdom, we have become spiritual sisters.
We can enjoy a spiritual discussion without having to be "right" in our point of view. Indeed, I have found that the person I used to find so annoying actually is quite deep spiritually and has some astute insights.
I consider this to be a gift from the Lord, or perhaps Blessed Mother or maybe both.
That they could arrange that my friend and I could meet at a certain point on the journey is remarkable. The journey that I began when I viewed it from atop the mountain and that looks so different when faced up close.
That our hearts and minds are so similar and that we both thirst for a deeper relationship, with God and with each other, is nothing less than miraculous.
Thank you, my Lord and thank you blessed mother, for giving me spiritual direction. I wouldn't have thought of this person as a spiritual director, but I see the wisdom of your choice.
Thank you and praise you.
Today's photo is of the mountains to the east of my town, covered in snow.

Feast of St. Joseph

Dear Lord,
I thank you so much for the gift of twin sons who were born on the Feast of St. Joseph.
Although I was Catholic at the time, I was a fairly recent convert and hadn't yet made the acquaintance of many of the saints. I knew what almost every one with even a minimal knowledge of the Bible knew about St. Joseph. He was the husband of Mary and foster father to our Lord. He was a carpenter and passed along his knowledge of carpentry to his son, Jesus.
It was only later, as I grew in my Catholic faith, that I came to a deeper appreciation of St. Joseph.
He appeals to me because  he reminds me of my own father: kind, generous and loving, albeit very human. As such, he is prone to the same faults and failings as the rest of us.
I have lately come to realize that God entrusted His most beloved--His Son Jesus and Mary--into the care of St. Joseph. Entrusted His entire plan for salvation into the human hands of Joseph and Mary. Because St. Joseph was human, he could have betrayed the Father's plan by nothing more than delayed obedience.
Something as understandable as, "Ok, Gabriel, we'll leave for Egypt first thing in the morning. "
And yet, he instantly obeyed and saved the lives of Jesus and Mary.
It is said by those more knowledgeable than I that any request asked of St.  Joseph is granted. He holds a high place in heaven and in our Lord's heart.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of St. Joseph.
St. Joseph, I ask you to intercede with the Lord for the protection and blessings of my family, especially today, on their birthday party,  my sons. I pray that they might become like you in all things, especially in devotion to Jesus through Mary.
I pray that you will ask the Lord to grace me with the gift of instant obedience, as well.
Thank you, Lord and St. Joseph.
Today's photo is of cactus that can be found almost anywhere.

Rod of Discipline

There is a story about a man who uses a rod with which to  threaten a child so the child will do as the man wants.
The man doesn't ever have to use the rod on the child, but he does brandish it occasionally when the child needs reminded that he/she isn't doing what has been asked.
The story proceeds and at the end asks if perhaps the sufferings and trying situations in which we find ourselves are in reality God's "rod."
As I ponder that, I wonder if it is true for my sons, who are both undergoing some trying times.
It is also possible that the trying times are in answer to my prayers for their salvation. Only those who have need of the Savior seek Him. Is the only way to get through to them through suffering?
Sometimes, I wonder if the Lord allows our choices so that we will find our way back to Him, when things don't work out the way we thought they would. At least, I know that it has some times worked out for me that way.
Or maybe He just takes the mess we have made of things and makes something good and beautiful and holy come out of it. I know He has also done this in my life.
I thank you, Lord, for the gift of my sons who will celebrate their birthdays tomorrow, on the Solemnity of St. Joseph.
I  also ask the intercession of St. Joseph in helping them through the trying times they are undergoing at this time.
Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings. You are My Lord and My God. I give my life to you, anew.
I liked the light and shadow  in today's photo.

Early Memory

I am not sure where this memory came from, but one of my earliest is that I seem to recall "being" before I actually was a human being.
I am in "space"  and assignments were being handed out. I don't remember my assignment, but I do remember that I didn't want to go where I was sent.
It wasn't "where the action was," so to speak. I was being sent to some insignificant backwater while important things were happening elsewhere.
My family tells me that I cried for the first two years of my life. I often wonder if it was in protest at being sent to some place I didn't want to go?
I love living here now, and I love my family although I had to learn to love the small town.
There is so much that I wish I had better appreciated when I had the chance. And there is so much I wish I had done differently, done better.
Somehow, the being in "space" is part of the journey that I have described earlier. How it all ties together, I am not yet sure. I just know that I will need forgiveness for the things I did poorly and badly as well as for the things I didn't do at all.
Lord, please guide me and enlighten me as I continue this journey so that I don't continue to make the same mistakes.
Today's photo is of the river.

Friendship and Discipline

From this evening's reading in the Liturgy of the Hours: "What I do is discipline my own body and master it, for fear that after having preached to others I myself should be rejected." 1Corinthians 9:27
Dear Lord, please grant to me the grace of self discipline that I might truly discipline myself. I could not stand to be rejected by you.
Thank you also for true friends.
Please help me to forgive those friends who are less than true, who remember not their friends when the situation changes.
Please help me also to be a true friend and forgive me for the times when I have been less than true, to You and to others.
This picture is of flowers given to me by one of my true friends, nearly two weeks ago.  Yet the blooms are still beautiful.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of the Liturgy of the Hours.

Trusting Mary

I read today that God the Father was the first to totally entrust Himself, His dreams, plans and even His Son to Mary.
It helped me to glimpse how and why I should follow His example and totally entrust myself to Mary who is simultaneously the Daughter, Spouse and Mother of God. What a wonderful thought.
Lord, I must also ask your blessings for my friend Pat.
She was angry with me tonight because of my cough. Or something. She is so desperate to always be going somewhere.  Please help me to understand her and to be patient with her.
And give me your wisdom and patience when dealing with her and my atheist cousin.
Forgive me when I am self righteous. I pray the Jesus prayer:  Lord Jesus Christ,  have mercy on me, a sinner.
Today's photo is ducks on the water.

Bad days

I had a bad day yesterday after I partook of something that I should no longer have tried.

Once I had lost my willpower,  I just kept going and going, over indulging to an extreme excess.

Today, I committed to fasting and did better. I pray for your forgiveness, my Lord and God, for the excesses I allowed myself yesterday.

I am also not very good at fasting, yet. I hope that "practice makes perfect," and that I will be granted the grace necessary to fast acceptably in the future.

Walking through the countryside, the wilderness towards the Lord is fraught  with dangers that look enticing and appealing from afar.

In all things, I need to remember that the Lord is good and merciful, eager to forgive my transgressions.

And I also need to remember that satan delights in pulling me away from the sure path that leads to the Lord.
His deceptions look sweet, but are deadly.

Lord, thank you for your many blessings. Please grant me discernment that I might recognize how hurtful it is to you when I stray off the path that leads towards you. And also please grant the grace to hold tightly to my fasts and prayer time.

Open water

A Call to Generosity

We have been without a functional heater for almost a week.
We had a weird "thundersnow storm" about a month ago, resulting in some bizarre power surges. They played havoc with appliances, including the electronic igniter in our heater.
We have struggled with repair people who didn't actually repair the heater and getting the right parts,  etc.
We are fortunate to be going through a fairly mild weather spell at the moment.  We also have small space heaters we could move from place to place to take off the chill.
It has made me be so appreciative of the many conveniences we are fortunate enough to have in our country. Heat being among those things that we expect to work at the "flip of a switch," so to speak.
As I was whining about going with minimal heat,  I felt compassion and sympathy for people who live their lives without knowing if they will have heat. Or water. Or food.
I am so blessed to live in the place I do.  Thank you, Lord!
I read a reflection today on "giving to all who ask." The author suggested (as part of a Lenten sacrifice) giving something to ALL of the people who ask. A call to action, because it's not enough to feel compassion and sympathy. I need to act on those feelings.
Giving something to everyone who asks struck me as absurd at first. I must be on every Catholic charitable organization list in the country. Give something to each of them?
But, as I have been considering the richness of my life, I have come to see that challenge as the same one Christ issued to the "rich young man" who turned away when Christ told him to give away all he had and to "Come, follow me."
I didn't even realize until writing it, but that IS what Christ is calling me to do.
Not give away all I have. Well, at least not yet.  But He is calling me to "Give something to everyone who asks."
Oh my. This is going to be a leap of faith. Lord, please help me to give of my many blessings to those in need, according to your will.
AMEN and thank you, especially for heat and hot running water.
Thank you also for teaching me how to fast.I had a more penitent fast day  today and I hope to improve on it the next time.

Gluttony gets me again

I thought I was doing well today in my Lenten observances.

I spent most of the morning either in prayer or spiritual readings.

I have a "Liturgy of the Hours" book that I have tried twice before to make a daily habit. It has never worked out for some reason or another.

Yet, this Lent I felt called to find it and begin praying with the universal church.
I am finding it easier than ever before. 

I am also preparing for Marian consecration on March 25, the Assumption.

I have Lenten meditations coming directly to my email.
I went to Mass and thought that I was making pretty good progress in my journey through Lent.

Then, after I got home from a luncheon date with my husband, I couldn't stop snacking.  It was gluttonous.

I am ashamed that I experienced such a binge of non discipline.

How am I ever going to make it through fasting when I displayed such lack of control?

Oh my Lord! Was it because I was so busy patting myself on my back for my prayerful morning that I opened myself up to attack? I was being prideful.

Forgive me, my Lord for all my follies.

Help me to receive the gifts you want to share with me.
Help me to open myself to interior prayer.

Lord, help me to be who you want me to be.

Heart to Heart conversations

I have been remembering spiritual places I have been.
It seems like a travel-log of the journey I undertook and described yesterday.

As I headed down from the lofty heights from which I viewed my far-off destination, I began to experience God in different manifestations.

One day it struck me that the silent conversations with no one in particular that I was having were truly  heart-to-heart conversations!

Oh!

The wonder of that knowledge literally dropped me to my knees and I was filled with such joy.

The thought that such a thing was possible filled me with incomparable delight!

I wanted to run and share such delightful news immediately with the one with whom I thought I was conversing.

I recognized God as part of it, but I thought the conversation with another's heart was actually being held with a person of my acquaintance. God had gifted me with the ability to speak with another person via our hearts, silently. Or so I thought at the time.

I have come to realize that it was actually the heart of God with whom my heart was speaking.

Let me repeat that. My heart was actually speaking to the heart of God.

Ok. Anyone who has experienced this would probably identify it as "interior prayer. "

It was so sweet, so sublime that I long to taste it again.

For as I continue on the journey, I sometimes wander into areas of dryness and drought, instead of the rich fertility I viewed from afar.

Don't get me wrong. The rich fertility is still there. I have just wandered into a dry patch and must continue on the way so that I can find the sweetness again.

For when I was truly having those heart to heart conversations I was experiencing life as lived to the full.

I have come to realize that getting there again will take discipline and obedience.

What was once gifted to me so freely now has to be earned.

Let me rephrase that. I think the gift is still there, but I must now delve a little deeper and work to increase my understanding if it.
I must discover what God wants me to do with such a wonderful gift.

Before, in my ignorance, I thought it was just for my pleasure.

I didn't have a spiritual director to guide me in the proper development of interior prayer.

Lord, please guide me as you will,  that I might reach the place you have selected for me.
Thank you for your many blessings.

Breadcrumbs

Today as I was taking my dog walking, white rocks seemed to catch my attention.
The thought occurred to me that they were like breadcrumbs leading me to my destination.
My destination. What is it? Where do I want to "end up?"
Years ago I used to have a vision of a fantastically beautiful valley.
I was up high, looking at a viewscape that was so wonderful, it still makes me catch my breath when I recall it.
A river wound through the mountains and I could see incredible distances.
The light was ambient, colorful.  Growth and health seemed to be everywhere. It was peaceful, but so alive I could almost taste it.
As I looked across the valley, I knew I had to journey through the place I was viewing. To get to a place where I was loved and cherished.
But traveling through it was going to be challenging and difficult.
Even though the beauty was astounding, the journey itself would test and try me.
Perhaps it could be likened to the journey of Jesus into the wilderness. Except that I have succumbed to temptations and failed those I love. Hurt them and failed them, just because I was human.
I am still on that journey, following the breadcrumbs left by Jesus as I make my way toward him.
He has healed the hurts and made right the failures. Thank you, Lord.
Lord, always let me recognize the signs you leave me so that I can find my way to you.

The Gift

Recently I experienced a deep hurt when my daughter rejected a gift I had selected for her.
It wasn't a valuable gift by any definition of the world valuable.
But I had chosen it with her and my granddaughter in mind.
So when she disparaged it to my husband in an offhand remark, I was deeply hurt.
She did take it home, but I think she immediately "re - gifted" it to the local thrift store.
I struggled with this hurt for several days.
At the same time, I am preparing myself for a consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
As I was wallowing in the hurt of my daughter's rejection of my gift, I was suddenly struck with the knowledge that I often treat the gifts of Mary just as my daughter had treated my gifts to her.
It was a deeply humbling moment.
Moreover, as I begged forgiveness of Mary, I found that I could easily forgive my daughter.
There are still twinges of pain regarding the hurt I experienced. I find myself reluctant to give any gifts to her again, fearing similar hurt.
Yet, I also love her deeply and want to be able to express my love to her, sometimes with gifts.
I think the next time I want to share something with her that I will ask the assistance of Blessed Mother.  She loves my daughter as she loves me and will be able to help me select a gift that my daughter will like.
She will also help me open myself up to the possibility of hurt and rejection, albeit unintended.
Thank you, Blessed Mother, for all the gifts you have given to me. Please help me to receive them in the same spirit in which you give them. Help me also to recognize them.
Thank you, Lord God, for the gift of Mary.
Today's photo is a gift of some rocks that I found in God's backyard, where I frequently walk and talk to him.

Thirst for Souls

Oh my Lord, I do want to draw closer and closer to you.
I have been preparing for Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
My preparation includes meditations from"33 Days to Morning Glory," by Michael E. Gaitley.
Today's entry was on Mother Teresa and her letter about a turning point in her life.
The words Jesus spoke from the cross resonated deeply with her.
"I thirst."
He thirsts for the souls of his Beloved Children. She also thirsted for them. The Lord graced her with such a thirst for them that she did mighty work throughout the world.
Yet thirst is an uncomfortable state. And Jesus thirsted from the Cross, where he was dying.
He loves us that much.
I, too, want that thirst for souls. I want to share in Jesus' love for His children and help draw them to Christ.
Lord, please take my paltry offering and use it how you will. I am yours.
The photo today is of the fresh snow on Elk Mountain.

A Special Monsignor

Today's Mass in a neighboring community was a little bitter sweet.
A priest who had served in my community years ago and has since been named a Monsignor officiated.
He is retired, but still serves the neighboring community by celebrating Mass when the current pastor has other duties.
Msgr was very special to myself and my friends.  We would gather in the rectory and share food and fellowship with him while he taught us about Christ and the Church. We were all so young..in our twenties while  he was probably in his 50s.
He was an immigrant from England who happened to find himself in a small Wyoming community. He had grown disillusioned with his life in an order..I don't recall which one...and had asked to be sent out as a Missionary. So he was sent to Wyoming.
My friends and I had always been somewhat amused that Wyoming was considered missionary duty. We didn't think it was like a third world country.
Yet many people who do not appreciate wide open spaces do so consider it.  We have since come to appreciate the many priests from throughout the world who come to our sparsely populated state and serve our communities.

Remembering all the good times was very sweet. Seeing how frail he has become was the bitter part.

Msgr is now bent with age and cannot stand throughout the Mass.  A special table that serves as an altar was set up in front of the regular altar where he could sit and celebrate Mass.
Extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist helped distribute communion to the faithful.
While his body was frail, his voice was still strong and distinctly British. His enunciation and pronunciation have always been, and still are, very precise and deliberate.
He has always taken such care while performing the consecration of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
He spoke the words of consecration with such deep passion and honor that it gave me "Jesus bumps."

How very blessed we are to have such fine men caring for our souls.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of priests.
I took a photo of this very fool cloud formation on the way home.
Thank you, Lord, for such sights.

Ash Wednesday, 2014

It is time once again to begin my Lenten journal.
This is something I have been doing, or attempting to do for years as a Lenten gift to the Lord.
Technology has enabled me to NOT have excuses for failing to get it done.
When I first began my Lenten journal, I was writing it out by hand. I have always wanted to include photos or a photo each day so I would take pictures to go with my musings. As I recall, my first attempts at this were with film and presented challenges that youngsters today cannot even imagine.
So the first thing that changed was digital photography. But I had to download them to my PC and then upload the chosen photos to my blog, etc. I didn't ever get a journal complete, from Ash Wednesday through Easter.
Writing today, I am using my phone to take photos and write the post in an email that I will send directly to my blog.
So, no more excuses!
I hope to present a complete photo journal of my Lenten journey to the Lord and His Blessed Mother this year.
I was able to get out and take a walk today and captured some moments on my camera.
I spent the day in quiet reflection and reading. I hope to make good on my other Lenten sacrifices this year, too. I am giving up television and sweets. I am also going to practice fasting twice a week. So, my journey should contain some tales of struggle and insights into overcoming temptations.
At least, that's the plan. The goal, of course, is getting closer to the heart of Christ.
A meditation today by Fr. Robert Barron says that love is "a concrete act on behalf of those in need--the hungry, the homeless, the lonely, the imprisoned, the forgotten.  It is the bearing of another's burden."
I need to find ways to bear the burden of someone in need. I need to let Christ shine through me.
Jesus, I give this day back to you. I managed to practice self - denial. I probably didn't do as well at it as you think I can, but I hope to get better with more "practice. "
I also need to get over some hurts in my heart that cause me to think ugly thoughts. I beg your forgiveness and mercy, my Lord.
The photo moment of the day is of the mountains to the east of my home. They are snow covered and the river tributary still has ice on it.