Winter coming to a close harsh winds' bite sinking less deeply into bone; pavement peaking out from beneath tattered blankets; Sun deciding to stay for dinner. Blood in cold veins starts to warm and muck along like galoshes in slush; scissors in drawers ready to be opened to cut sleeves off flannel. Perch and walleye look up at square shadowed clouds moving across their icy sky leaving behind holes of luminous light; orange trucks look forward to dropping front-end weight and washing salt off their tail-ends telling war stories to the guys at the garage. Winter coming to a close the season that proves one is still tough enough to not fly away like a snowbird.
https://depositphotos.com/11970662/stock-illustration-sacred-heart.html Sufferings accepted well are like the wood which serves to kindle the fire of love. To the extent that you endure faithfully and make good use of your crosses, you will see the sacred fire of love grow in your heart. *I have been reading the 'Maxims of Perfection' from Fr. Jean-Pierre Medaille - the Jesuit priest who helped the original 6 sisters form the Sisters of St. Joseph in LePuy, France. They eventually came to America and founded both Academy of Holy Angels and St. Margaret's where I have been blessed to work. Each of us goes through various trials (some large, some small) in family, relationship, work and this maxim seems to give some purpose to the sufferings we all inevitably encounter in life.
Our Lady of Sorrows is the Feast on September 15th. It commemorates Mary and the suffering she experienced watching her Son at the foot of the Cross and appropriately falls the day after he Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On Friday's during Stations of the Cross at St. Vincent's School we would say small portions of the prayer the Stabat Mater . Until this morning when I reread the whole thing in the Liturgy of the Hours for this feast, I had never realized how fully beautiful it was or how it could serve to draw someone who had lost a loved one into a deep sense of companionship with others who have experienced loss. Listen to this sung version while pondering the text below: https://youtu.be/BTHwodbnTrs Stabat Mater At the cross her station keeping, Stood the mournful Mother weeping, Close to Jesus to the last. Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, All His bitter anguish bearing, Now at length the sword had passed....
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