What an amazing day this is!  It follows an even more amazing evening last night.  The Easter Vigil service was beautiful and truly inspiring.  As Holy Week concludes with the celebration of this day, we give thanks to God for the gift of His precious Son, for the glory of His resurrection, and for the Spirit that graces our lives.  We also give special thanks to Father Bill, Father Bob, Deacon Sue, Lori, our readers, our choir, and our parishioners.  Thank you for the hard work each of you put into the glory of the many services this week.  Each of you brought home God's message to us all through His Son...a wondrous gift of love.


Easter Prayer

God, give us eyes to see
the beauty of the Spring,
And to behold Your majesty
in every living thing -
And may we see in lacy leaves
and every budding flower
The Hand that rules the universe
with gentleness and power -
And may this Easter grandeur
that Spring lavishly imparts
Awaken faded flowers of faith
lying dormant in our hearts,
And give us ears to hear, dear God,
the Springtime song of birds
With messages more meaningful
than man's often empty words
Telling harried human beings
who are lost in dark despair -
'Be like us and do not worry
for God has you in His care.

Helen Steiner Rice
Read more at: http://www.faithandworship.com/prayers_Easter.htm#ixzz2P9TTnqX7
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Lent is a hard journey for me.  I tend to isolate a little bit which is probably pretty common for difficulties that we encounter.  Holy Week is difficult for me.  I had to ask myself what makes the Lenten journey so hard for me and perhaps for others to communicate within.  Is it the profound sense of hurt I feel for Jesus as he takes those impossible steps?  It is personal to me, deeply personal.  If you truly love someone, you do feel their pain and yet, it is a pain I could not possibly imagine.  In a very short period of time, Jesus' journey presents Him with betrayal, temptation, ridicule, a sense of isolation from the humanity He seeks to serve, physical pain, emotional trauma, and more.  And yet, out of His love for us, in spite ourselves, He has the courage to go on, to fulfill God's promise.  I heard someone once remark, "well, He is the son of God, He can do those things."  Yes, He is the son of God, but Jesus' journey through Lent was as a member of humanity.  In His walk, He was at one with His humanity.  In his resurrection, He was and is at one with both God and humanity.  His journey serves as many things, not the least of which is our salvation, but it is much more than that.  It is a reminder to us all that He uniquely knows those moments in life where we face disappointments, betrayal, pain, isolation, and other challenges.  It is a reminder that He overcame those challenges through the type of courage that only love can inspire.  I firmly believe that is why His greatest commandment involves love.  He knew the strength that flows from love.  He knew and shared that God is love and that was and is the source of his strength.  He lived and died that God is love.  And he rose from the dead to the fullness of love, not the brokenness or pain that defined His last steps here.  As I go through each of those steps with Jesus during His journey, in the midst of what I see and read once again of how difficult those steps were, it calls me forward in my own humanness to realize that the love of God brings us all back together at the end of this week.  It makes us whole.  It heals the brokenness we may feel and that no matter what challenges befall our paths as humans here, Jesus uniquely understands.  He has been in our shoes when we experience moments of great personal, physical, or emotional challenge.  He offers His love and His heart to heal that sense of brokenness or disappointment and uplifts us in our personal resurrections here, every day, in His name and through His grace.   I found myself wondering what I could best do for Jesus this week.  How could I best honor Him and navigate my own emotions associated with Holy Week.  I came up with only one conclusion...offer another the gift of love throughout the week.  Communicate it.  Share it.  Uplift it and you shall be uplifted.  I believe that. So, Saint Gabriel's parish, I shall start with you.  I love you guys and gals, each and every one of you.  Thank you for blessing my life, gracing my spirit, and surrounding me with a profound and welcoming sense of family.  I am a better person today through your sharing of love.  I grow closer to God through you.  You touch lives.  In His name, you have touched mine.  May you experience and share in the fullness of His love all throughout this week and in His days to come.

From time to time, I receive internet musings from individuals who have forwarded something meaningful to them from a faith perspective.  Today is one of those days.  With Lent approaching, I found the email entitled "Recall Notice" of particular interest from the trusted friend who sent it.  It's a very creative approach to a recall notice from God and we are the subject of the recall notice.  Quite accurate.  I found everything in this internet transmission to be a source of reflection, not just in the Lent Season, but in all seasons.  God blesses us with so many opportunities to reflect on His promises, His Word, and our faith.  What message(s) do you take from today's internet transmission quoted below?

To celebrate Godliness in the life of Jesus, we focus today on someone who touched millions of lives:  Mother Teresa.  She made a choice every day.  She chose to live inspired, to walk in the shoes of our Savior.  She focused on worship, hope, inspiration, love, trust, treasure, time, compassion, courage, wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe.  Those are many of the aspects of Godliness and Godliness is a choice, an active choice we make every day to live and celebrate our faith.  See if you find an inspiration or two in some of Mother Teresa's most famous sayings.  How will you celebrate the Godliness of Jesus today? 

"If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one." Give to the South Hall Community Food Bank.

"If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve."  Pray with love, worship with awe.

"I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work in miracles and unkindness and hardness."  Hold another in kindness and with the compassion of Jesus.

"Silence is prayer; prayer is faith, faith is love, love is service.  The fruit of service is Peace."  Serve God today.  Start at home.

"God made the world for the delight of human beings--if we could see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs:  the phone call we've waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day.  As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us--you just can't resist Him.  I believe there is no such thing as luck in life, it's God's love, it's His."  Delight in the small things of God that grace your day.

"Prayer is not asking.  Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts." Trust God.

"Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly."  Treasure the stillness of sitting in quiet reflection with God, experiencing His peace, comfort and grace.   Be.  Don't just do.  Be.

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."  Love and love fully.

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.  Be the living expression of God's kindness:  kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile."  Feed a soul with kindness today.

"Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls."  Be a fisherman.

"We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work.  We have been created in order to love and be loved."  Remember how Jesus lived.  Godliness is love.  Love is trust, faith, wonder, awe, reverence, courage, compassion, and so much more.  Live loved and share it.

The holidays so often have a life of their own as we hustle and bustle down the shopping aisles.  Even work takes on an uncommon pace for many during December.  My prayer for you this day and throughout this season is for peace, peaceful reflection on the ultimate gift...the one guest who comes and forever stays.  When all of the hustle and bustle of the season stops and the trees come down, there is something so incredibly miraculous that stays.  Read on.

I'd like to share a poem I was asked to write for my mother decades ago.  She seemed to need a greater understanding, a hope, a touch of promise, and a sense of permanence.  It was the first Christmas since my brother's death at the age of 21.  The table would never be set the same.  The gifts under the tree would be fewer that year.  So many things had changed and one's sense of permanence and roots had been forever altered.  She would ask me frequently, "tell me with your faith, where is he.  I know you know.  How do I make him permanent?"  The answer was to focus this season and all seasons on what is truly permanent in our lives year round, not just at Christmas.  I created a prayer with the hope that it would put her in touch with the soul source of permanence that exists in every moment of our lives if we but listen, truly listen, and still ourselves in a season of hurry.  May the peace, love, and joy of the promise fulfilled be with you each day and all throughout the year.

Nan's Christmas Prayer

May the Peace of each Christmas past
Fill your heart and warmly last
Each day, each night in simple pleasure
Throughout the day, each second to treasure.

For presents shall come and gifts shall go
But One Presence stays in hearts that know
That blessed Man who in love God made
The One Guest who came and forever stayed.

May the Joy found in Christmas upon this day
Be with you by night and guide the way
To make each step upon your path
A festive occasion with merriment cast.

For presents shall come and gifts shall go
But One Presence stays in hearts that know
That blessed Man who in love God made
The One Guest who came and forever stayed.

May the Love you find in Christmas tomorrow
Bring faith alive and joys, not sorrow
For in the future you shall behold
The face of a Child, the Promise foretold.

For presents shall come and gifts shall go
But One Presence stays in hearts that know
That blessed Man who in love God made
The One Guest who came and forever stayed.

M.K.O.