As we begin the liturgical season of Lent,

let us be reminded of the Church's invitation for us

"to turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel."

May our acts of penance, meditation & ascetism 

prime God's grace more fully into our lives

 and make us more deeply grounded

in our embracing the poor, the suffering and the needy

in our midst! 

GOD'S BLESSINGS ON US ALL!

Most often,

it's worth noticing that

if we change the way we look at things,
or if we look a little father from our myopic visions,

we can see  that there are always 
Something Special

in the ordinariness of our life events!

May our lives be always full of God's blessings and surprises!

PRAYER - SURPRISE AND COMMUNION WITH GOD

PRAYING does not always take place 
in a contained or predetermined place of reflection.

 We NEVER know when 
there might be an interior turning 
toward the one who dwells 
within us and among us.... 
       

...at any time and any place 

we can be 
SURPRISED and DRAWN INTO COMMUNION

   by the unanticipated sense of God's nearness.

- Joyce Rupp, Prayer -



May we always be open to be surprised
and to be transformed in our lives
as "we know God deeper, love God dearer and follow God closer!"

GOD'S SEEMING ABSENCE AS GOD'S PROFOUND PRESENCE

"Dark Night of the Soul" is a profound feeling of God's seeming silence
and distance to everything that craves for deeper union with God

I have experienced the "Absence of God" so  profoundly

and that this "negation" has gradually became 
God's New Presence in my Life! 
May God be Praised!

EVER PRESENT GOD, 
THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME 
THAT YOU ARE THE GOD OF DARKNESS AS WELL.
EVEN IN MY DARKEST MOMENTS, YOU ARE THERE,
SEIZING ME AND LOVING ME.
I PRAY THAT I MAY ALWAYS FIND YOU
IN THOSE MOMENTS 
WHEN I AM UNMOVED TOTHE BEAUTY OF CREATION, WHEN I AM FROZEN TO THE LOVE OF COMMUNITY, WHEN I AM OBLIVIOUS OF YOUR ABIDING PRESENCE. AMEN.

You made the night your cloak,
you covered yourself in a canopy of storm clouds.
Psalm 18:11

SELF-GIFT TO OTHERS

If you LOVE someone, 

the greatest GIFT 
you can GIVE them is your 
PRESENCE.

-Thich Nhat Hanh-