Eternal Lord of all things, I feel your gaze on me. I sense that your mother stands near, and the great beings crowd around You.
Angels and powers and martyrs and saints. If you help me, please, I would like to make an offering:
I want it to be my desire, and my choice, provided that You want it this way, to walk this earth the way You walked it.
I know that you lived in a little town, without luxury, without great education. I know that you refused political power.
I know that you suffered: Leaders rejected You. Friends abandoned You. You failed. I know. I hate to think about it.
None of it looks very romantic to me, or very useful. But it seems to me a toweringly wonderful thing that Your divine majesty might call me to follow after You! – St. Ignatius
Month: February 2012
Hi folks, sorry for posting absence. I’ve been so busy with many things, and my blogging has suffered 🙁
I hope you’ll be patient with me as I try and catch up. Once again I’m turning to the simple lentil for a terrific soup, made even better by the addition of a bit of lemon juice.
I don’t know about you, but there’s something about the vibrancy of lemons that remind me of the summer sunshine. As winter ebbs away, thinking of the joys of summer is just the thing to keep me going.
Categories
Ash Wednesday
For most Christians, tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent, a season of repentance, forgiveness and mercy.
This penitential season leads us to the great feast of Easter, when we remember Christ’s resurrection.
So, why start with ashes? From Old Testament times (Esther 4:3, Isaiah 58:3, Jeremiah 6:26, Daniel 9:3), ashes have been a sign of repentance. Jesus spoke of the use of sackcloth and ashes (Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13).
It’s pretty easy to get discouraged, don’t you think? I’ve been talking to a lot of people about discouragement lately, and it seems as though it’s affecting just about everyone in one way or another.
Maybe its your health, or finances, or relationships, or work, or your kids. It could be that you’ve been looking for a job for months, and you get rejected over and over. Or you might be disappointed with someone who you wished had their stuff a bit more together. No matter what it might be for you, discouragement can really get us down, and that’s not a good place to get stuck.
I was talking to a friend early this morning. He had forgotten that he made a commitment to his coworker to meet earlier than normal, and the man had to wait for some time for my friend to show up. He wasn’t happy.
In life, things like this happen all the time. Sometimes, we’re the person who forgets. Sometimes, we’re the person left waiting. It’s these little things in life that seem to drag us down.
A friend of mine gave me a great little book for my birthday. Written by Matthew Kelly, The Dream Manager is a wonderful story of how a struggling company was able to turn things around because they helped their employees achieve their dreams.
Written in 2007 when we were living in better times, I believe the book has even more relevance today, since there are so many who are going through difficult times and might feel that their dreams will never come to pass.
Lately, I’ve been really trying to stick to my vegetarian diet. Since I’ve been traveling a lot, it hasn’t always been easy. I often worry about getting enough protein, since most of us get our daily dose get this vital nutrient from eating meat and dairy, vegans/vegetarians have to be careful that they have a balanced and healthy diet.
Beans and legumes are a great protein source, and are also high in fiber. They can be prepared thousands of different ways, and this recipe is just one. I hope you’ll make up a batch and try it by itself or as a burrito filling.
I was out on yahoo’s homepage yesterday, and I saw a little news item that caught my attention. It read, McDonald’s drops pink slime.
How could you not open that little window to see what they were talking about? Heck, we all eat at McDonald’s from time to time, right?
Well, I think they’ll be a few less fast food customers after watching this video clip.