Peace

 And so shall the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus 

Philippians 4:7

 Reflection by:  Sharon Nelsen

I was on the phone conversing with my friend who said, “I had the most unusual experience yesterday; I felt enveloped in peace at the same time I was experiencing a deep sadness.”

For the past thirty years he has worked with at-risk youth, and presently is entrusted with youth on probation, so I certainly related to his experience of deep sadness.  He works in areas many of us are not inclined to drive through, much less stop and visit the families that live there.

His comment inspired me to think about how I view peace.  I realized that often I think of peace as that sense experienced when everything works out well; when a challenging situation has good results; when what I have hoped and hoped for, finally happens.  Is that the peace promised and given to us by Jesus?  The peace bestowed not as the world gives?  I would name what I experience, “relief,” for it is the same sense I have when the ache in my shoulder goes away.

I went to the Gospel of John where we find so many comforting, challenging words of Jesus.  The first passage I read showed me that the Peace Jesus gives us is connected to who we are.  Knowing our identity and that God's desire is to preserve us from evil, is perhaps our foundation for receiving this peace,  a peace that exists because it is based on truth, the Truth that is grounded in the reality that we are not OF this world, but here to sanctify it in the power of Jesus.  

(John 17.14-18)  “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them.  For they are not of the world, just as I, too, am not of the world.  I am not praying that you would take them out of the world, but that you would preserve them from evil.  They are not of the world, just as I also am not of the world.  Sanctify them in truth.  Your word is truth.  Just as you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

Another aspect of this peace is, as in my friend's experience of deep sadness and comforting peace, that it can coexist with all circumstances of our lives.  (John 16.33)  “These things I have spoken to you, so that you may have peace in me.  In the world, you will have difficulties.  But have confidence:  I have overcome the world.”

And yet another mark of this peace is that it sets us apart, again because we rely not on passing circumstances but on the transforming power of God.   (John 16.20)  “Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall mourn and weep, but the world will rejoice.  And you shall  be greatly saddened, yet your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” 

It is a peace we lose only through sin.  This thought came to me as another friend and I were chatting about his work experience:  He said.  “I can't do less.  I have realized that even though it is tiring, challenging and sometimes seems impossible, I need to stay with my job.  Years ago, I got tired of it.  I took another job that was a lot less work, thinking this would give me a respite.  But I had no peace. I was miserable.  I had less demands upon me, but I was upset all the time.  So, I went back to my former job.  I am sometimes tired, worn out by the demands, frustrated by the slowness of some aspects of it, yet I am at peace.  This is who I am and I can't settle for less.”

My friend illustrated in a most powerful way, what sin is.  So often we think of sin as a list of do nots

and weaknesses, when actually, it is a deliberate, knowledgable choice; we decide to settle for less even though we know what we are called to do.  We'd like an extended vacation and we're tempted to take it.  When Jesus lived His Truth,   “ ... many of his disciples went back, and they no longer walked with him.  Therefore, Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” Then Simon Peter answered him:  “Lord to whom would we go?  You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6.67- 69) When we are trying to live our true calling, where else do we have to go except to the Source, who strengthens us constantly with His Eternal Peace, the first gift He gave as Risen Lord:  (John 20.19)  “Then, when it was late on the same day, on the first of the Sabbaths, and the doors were closed where the disciples were gathered, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and he said to them: 'Peace to you.' ”

Nothing had changed in external circumstances;  everything changed internally with the Presence and the Promise of the Risen Lord because His Peace transcends the physical stage of tranquility; it is an  internal dynamic that empowers us to endure.  It is a gift grounded in truth, not circumstances, that we can receive in the midst of our trials.  It is a gift that only our choice to settle for less can affect, and even then its very absence is often the most effective message to return to truth.  In that way and in others beyond our full understanding, this Peace of Christ is our protector.   “Be anxious about nothing.  But in all things, with prayer and supplication, with acts of thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.  And so shall the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4.6-7)  And not only guard, but elevate, encourage, inspire, put things in perspective:  “And let the peace of Christ lift up your hearts.  For in this peace, you have been called, as one body.  And be thankful.”  (Col. 3.15)

Peace is wonderfully contagious.  If you've ever been upset and you move into the presence of a peace-filled person, somehow, you catch that peace.  It goes beyond words, answers, solutions, or any changes in circumstances. It's just there, and you know it.   A world filled with individual bearers of this Peace of Christ, can be powerfully contagious.  With that in mind, let us greet each other this Lent with the prayer of 1Peter 1.2:  “May grace and peace be multiplied for you.”   

Journaling with Sharon: Lenten Pondering

 By: Sharon Nelsen

Pondering leads to performance. 

Performance does not take us always to understanding, knowing, holding onto the revelations we receive.  Sometimes we rush into things and then wonder afterwards if what we did was the Father's

Will or our own inclination.

Mary pondered the word in her heart.  Her response, her action, her performance flowed out of that process and bore fruit.

I pray:  Dear Mary, teach me how to ponder the word of God.

And I ask:

What are the elements of pondering?

1)      Listening, which requires

- hearing

- being open to the “message” --that which stirs my heart

- concentrating on that message long enough to recall it

2)      Repeating the message to myself until it is part of my long-term memory

- as I go about my daily tasks

- writing it down AND re-reading it

3)      Savoring the message

- in a quiet place set aside

- repeat, repeat, repeat until I “taste” the words

- connect its message, its meaning to my present situation

4)      Acting on the message

-praying for confidence

-discerning choices

-proceeding in trust

In the January issue of “Give us This Day,”  there was a quote from Maisie Ward, co-founder of Sheed and Ward Publishing, that spoke to me about pondering:

“It is the chief characteristic of a life lived for God 

that there is time in it for everything that matters.”

Pondering matters.  I decided to focus on pondering for Lent, which fit well with the “Exercise in Love” that was already included in my Lenten journey.   Perhaps the Lord had more for me to ponder? 

With that in mind, I re-read each entry in my January journal.  I became aware that particular phrases really moved me as I re-read.  I decided to collect them into Lenten pondering, mindful that God will not overburden me.  I also trust  that God will lead me to a particular item on the list as I am faithful to this forty day exercise, so I am not concerned about the sequence as I recorded it.

2016 LENTEN PONDERING  FROM MY JANUARY JOURNAL

1. Pray for constancy.

2. To experience “Boundless Love” (St. Catherine of Siena's phrase), turn to God

- in my loneliness

- when I feel overwhelmed

- in my deepest desires

3. “We have this confidence in Him, that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us.” (1John 5.14 NAB) “And this is the confidence which we have toward God: that no matter what we shall request, in accord with his will, he hears us.” (NRSV)

4. May my worldly wants decrease and God's desires for me increase.

5. “Listen for the truth of a thing and obey what makes your heart more human.” 

(Joan Chittister, OSB)

6. Constantly trust in God's Goodness, in God, Goodness Itself.

7. No one can walk your path for you.

8. “Exercise in Love.”

            If you are so inclined, ask the Holy Spirit  to assist you in making your own Lenten Pondering List  from the words that seem to keep coming back to you, stand out a little, bring comfort, move you in some way.

            We have a great model and a loving companion for our Lenten Journey:

    

Dear Mary, 

Teach us how to ponder God's word to us.

Be with us so that with you, 

We may be blessed,

Believing what we hear,

And acting upon it.

Amen

An Excercise in Love

A reflection on 1 Cor. 12:31-13:13 (NAB)

 By Sharon Nelsen

This morning as I pondered the second reading, I decided to write out this well-known love passage of Paul, substituting my name for the word “love.” 

Sharon is patient,

Sharon is kind.

Sharon is not jealous...

With each movement of my pen, the truth of those attributes active within me became more tangible.  By the time I got down to

Sharon never fails,

I realized that if I graded myself on a scale of one to ten from the mighty list of Paul, I would get a five at best in any of them and that only because over the years, a bit of the Love of God has seeped into me in spite of my resistance.  A more accurate writing of the passage would be:

Sharon is sometimes patient,

Sharon is sometimes kind.

Sharon still gets jealous...

And often, Sharon fails.

But the exercise encouraged me to regard Love more practically,  moving me from the concept to the flesh and blood reality of myself in a real world.    I think that God is giving me good material for a nightly examen and I trust that the Holy Spirit will set a fire of light to those areas in which I am doing better, and those that are flashing “Serious work needed here.”

I continued the process through the whole passage that concludes with 13.13,  and which includes a nearly complete compatibility with Paul's words:

When I was a child I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child,

When I became a woman, I put aside childish things...

Presently, I know  partially;

Then I shall know fully

as I am fully known.  (Another invitation to ponder--what does it mean to be “fully known?”)

Today I have received my Lenten assignment that I hope will go full circle from concept to present  reality, to eternal truth:

“Faith, Hope, Love remain these three.  But the greatest of these is Love.” 

Right Where I Am

A prayer by Sharon Nelsen

This prayer came to me this morning after I had written out a quote from Joan Chittister, OSB "listen with compassion,...listen for the truth of a thing...(and) obey what makes your heart more human." That popped out at me from all of my morning readings. Then this scripture from which came the prayer:

"To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise." (Psalm 116.17a)



Praise You, Lord, right where I am
Praise You in the strengths and weaknesses
of my body
of my mind
of my emotions
of my spirit
May all of my weaknesses become vessels of Your Strength
May I use all--strength and weakness
to give your glory
now and forever.

 Amen!

Praise Him!

I Am Still Here

A Reflection by Sharon Nelsen on Mark 5:21-43

This past Sunday, I attended services with a Boys Town student at the Protestant Chambers Chapel at Boys Town.  I arrived early and was able to stand outside and watch the family home vans drive up, park, and pour forth stunning groups of boys or girls.  Each young man was dressed in slacks, a colorful dress shirt and tie; the young women came in flowing dresses of all styles.  Like colorful streams of life, they proceeded to enter Chambers Chapel.

As I entered with my young student, we were handed a worship leaflet that contained all the songs and readings for the service, as well as the sequence, and, a place for making notes of our own responses and inspirations.

We began with praise, the singing led by a wonderful, spirit-filled Boys Town family teacher.  Selected students proclaimed the readings—the same three scriptures being read at the same time on campus at Dowd Catholic Chapel.  I was struck with the theme of Pastor Michael’s sermon—“Jesus is always available.”  He took that ministry of Jesus and broke it open for us in the stories of the hemorrhaging woman and the raising of Jairus’ daughter from death.  I had come to services that day very concerned about my friend in hospice and a few other situations of apparent hopelessness.  Pastor Michael’s faith stirred up faith within me.

The next day as I was reflecting on my flawed faith in relation to Jesus’ availability in all situations  in my life, I became aware of the spirit of negativity that has plagued me and my family for generations.  I asked the Lord to set us free from that spirit and to fill us with His Hope and Joy in knowing that in Him, everything is all right because He has the power in all situations and if we but ask, we receive.

I realized that sometimes we are so hard on ourselves, thinking of ourselves as “wrong” or “not right,” when actually we are just flawed.  A grapefruit’s skin can be flawed with a brown spot and still be a tasty, delicious grapefruit; a tree can grow unevenly and still produce good shade, a home for birds, fruit and beauty; a family can have flawed members and still be a good family.  All of us are flawed by sin and yet we are good, wonderfully made in the image of God, “fearfully, wonderfully made” as the psalmist proclaims in Psalm 139.  I could feel my mustard seed of faith growing; Jesus is available for every situation I am willing to bring to Him.

As I reflected further on Jesus’ availability to us, I heard the Lord explain:

Even if there is contamination,


I am still here.

Even if there are flaws,


I am still here.

Even if there are missing parts,


I am still here.

Even if there are missing resources,


I am still here.

Even if there is abusive power,


I am still here.

Even if there is terminal illness,


I am still here.

Even if there is ignorance,

I am still here.

Even if lies seem to prevail,


I am still here.

Even if bitterness takes hold,


I am still here.

Even if all seems bleak,


I am still here.

“Is anything too marvelous for the Lord to do?” (Genesis 18.14)


I am

I am here,


With you now and forever!

Jesus

This morning I am more grateful for the faith and vision of Father Flanagan who adhered to the truth, “Every boy must pray, how he prays is up to him.”   I personally experienced the fruit of his work in the preaching of Pastor Michael.  My faith increases as I reflect and remember that Jesus is always available for us, for He loves us with an everlasting love, and love means being available to another.  Availability is the hallmark of all staff at Boys Town.  

It seems fitting to conclude with a quote from St. Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860) who mentored St. John Bosco, who inspired Father Flanagan in his mission to homeless, neglected boys, “We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still more.”  Love is always available.  “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1Cor. 13.13)

Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord

 By Sharon Nelsen 

The month of June, this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has always been for me a time of developing more intimacy with Jesus. As I pray and listen in my morning prayer time, I experience the Lord leading me to a more meaningful relationship with Him. Years ago, when I first sang “Taste and See” (the song written by James E. Moore Jr.) the words settled into my heart. Recently, it appeared that God wanted me to apply His words more specifically. A “This-is-how-you experience-it teaching of Jesus” came to me: 

Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord.

Taste the FREEDOM of being released from bondage.

Taste the STRENGTH of trusting that I understand everything about you and all circumstances of your life.

Taste the HOPE from the promise that I make all things new and that I can and do bring good out of 2 Corevery situation you hand over to Me.

Taste the PEACE of experiencing my loving care, concern, and presence.

Taste My DESIRES burning in your heart.

Taste the JOY of being in relationship with Me, in My Word, in My People and in our quiet times together.



My desire is happiness for you, for all; happiness that flows from our relationship.  As you listen, as you taste, as you see My Goodness, you will not be able to stop the flow of happiness welling up within you, washing out all pain, cleansing and strengthening you each day. My love, Dear one, now and forever, Jesus



Another scripture touched my heart this month. As I reflected on “For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him (Jesus),” 2 Cor. 1.20 these words flowed out so effortlessly that I knew they were gift from the Holy Spirit and meant for all of us:




You are dear                  Open your ear

I am near                        You will hear

Can you hear                  For you are dear

My yes?                          To Me!

Journaling with Sharon: Examination of Conscience or Self-judgement

By Sharon Nelsen

This morning’s verse 10 from Psalm 103, revealed to me my disbelief:  The psalmist declares that God does not “treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults.”  Intellectually, I have to accept that, but experientially, I do not believe it.  It feels like presumption to me.

I took that to the Lord in prayer and discovered that I believed the lie, not the truth.  The Lord led me to look at what was underneath the lie, what was keeping me from accepting the Peace God offers me in those wonderful, merciful words.  To my surprise, what surfaced was that I needed to look more closely at the differences between examining my conscience and self-judgment.  To that end, the Holy Spirit activated this understanding:

Examination of Conscience


1. Taking time to reflect on my motivations and acts

2. Believing “I have power and freedom to choose/decide.”

3. Desiring growth/challenge

4. Acting in the conviction that God is with me

5. Free to admit errors

6. Empowering

7. Encouraging

8. Affirming

9. Owns true self

10. Delights in one’s humanity



Self-judgment


Reacting to immediate accusations, “I should have…”

Believing “I am a victim; I really have no choice.”

Avoiding growth/challenge

Acting as if God is my adversary, against me

Fear of “being wrong”

Weakening

Discouraging

Condemning

Denies true self

Resents being human


If I believe the lies associated with self-judgment, then I will avoid healthy reflection on my acts. To help me change my habit, the Holy Spirit inspired me with a “Once Again Prayer”:



Dear Merciful, Compassionate Divine Friend,



Once again

I have fallen short

Once again

I ask your forgiveness

Once again

I rely on your mercy

Once again

I ask for Your Grace that I may

Once again

Serve you with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole being

Once again

I give You the praise and the glory for all the good you have worked through me and will

Once again

Continue to work through me in spite of my faults and weaknesses.

Once again



I thank you, Dear Triune God, for being with me. Amen!

Journaling with Sharon and the Father

Unless you become as a little child...

Beset with many tasks and sensing myself sliding into a feeling of being overburdened, I was drawn to an earlier journal entry-- a prayer that began this way:

 

“Hold onto the sense you are receiving,” I hear that word this morning Dear Lord.  You have taken me back to remembering my sense of things as a little child:

·         I didn’t worry about shelter, home, or food, or having a place to sleep.
·         Things may have been changing all around, there was a war going on, but I felt okay—that everything was being taken care of.
·         And, it wasn’t my responsibility—it was in the hands of others and my parents didn’t put those burdens on me.

 And You say to me, Dear God “Unless you become as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven.”  I probably don’t have the exact words, but that is what I remember.  Today I see a particular meaning for me in being a “little child”, and that is having that “sense” that everything is being taken care of—the world, all of us, are in Your hands, your Loving Hands, and you do not burden us with that which we cannot do. Rather, You teach us to listen with our hearts, from our unifying central core, so that we may move with You, doing, taking care of that which You have placed before us, given to us, as our responsibility. We learn in our teenage to young adult process to go from outer controls to inner controls.  We meet the challenges of our calling. You have called me to a holy Mother.  I am formed in motherhood and I have that gift to offer, mothering where it has been lacking as Father Flanagan “fathered” boys who had missed good fathering-- protection and guidance, provision and modeling.  So today, Dear Lord, I willingly move as Mother—nurturing, guiding, always caring, loving and letting go so my sons and daughters may grow. I was moved by the recent penguin story on Public TV’s “Nature”—how the parent penguins move away, longer and longer distancing, so the growing young will learn how to find them, and in the process, the young penguins develop physical strength that prepare them for life on their own. You, Dearest Father, Brother Jesus, Holy Spirit, sometimes appear to be far away.  Yet you are present, teaching us, teaching me, how to seek and find so that I may be nourished by You.  And in the process, my spirit is strengthened, preparing me for what lies ahead. Thank you, Dear Father that all is in Your Hands; Thank you, Dear Jesus, for teaching us by Your Life and dying, the Way, the Truth and Life;  Thank you, Dear Holy spirit, for moving our hearts and empowering us to express them for building up the body, the kingdom, the place where God is at home.  Thank you for showing me what it means for me to become as a little child.

Now and forever, 

 Your Sharon

 

As I listen, I hear the Lord say to me:

Beloved of My Heart,

            Yes, as you are free of bitter roots and regrets, you are able to sense my protective, caring, teaching, guiding, providing presence—LOVE, all works of love.  I have prepared you as a loving Mother—you wanted to be a Sister, and I have formed you as Mother.  Mother superior!  What a good laugh you are having over that one!  I show you the path to life, fullness of joy in My Presence and bliss forever at My Right Hand.

            Stay with Me, beloved, as I stay with you.  Remember My words:

            “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.”  (As did Jesus)  Ezekiel: 36.26

            “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.”  (Hebrews 19.24)

            Jesus said, “To the one who has something, more will be given.”  (Mark 4.25)  The more you are open to the word of God, the more you receive.  God does not hold back!

                  

I love you, Dear Heart, now and forever,

Abba

Listen and Ponder

A reflection by Sharon Nelsen

The first word of the Rule of St. Benedict is “Listen!” After more years than I care to reveal, I still wonder if I am hearing God, and so much so that this anonymous saying I picked up somewhere and saved because it spoke to me, I still hear sometimes as an admonition/encouragement:

"Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself to others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special."

It's only too common to go back and compare oneself with others though in princple we believe that each one of us hears God uniquely.

“The essence of Christian faith is a living relationship with God, a relationship inaugurated by Jesus and presently available through His Spirit.” (John Shea, An Experience of Spirit -Spirituality and Storytelling p 6)

I think that all of us truly crave a living relationship with God and a deep desire to hear and to ingest the word God speaks to us; hearing it with my ears—the ears of my heart; respecting the way my mind understands the word at the time; acknowledging the way I feel upon hearing that word, and then holding it, pondering it, and allowing it to stir my hidden unifying center, my soul.

“If we could divest the term soul of the dualistic overtones and false competition with body, its more powerful meaning might emerge. Soul is the ultimate source of all human activity. It is the hidden, unifying center of the person...When God stirs the soul and the soul responds, the soul speaks the experience.” (Ibid., p 49)

• I understand “God stirs” as God speaking

• The soul responding means to me that my deepest self is hearing what God is speaking

• The soul speaking the experience is the action I take in agreement with what I have heard.

In the beginning of Chapter Three of Exodus, Moses first sees a burning bush. When he turns aside to take a closer look, asking himself “why does the bush not burn up?” he is evidently ready to listen for he hears his name “Moses! Moses!” and answers, “Here I am.” In First Samuel beginning of Chapter Three, a voice is heard but not recognized because “At that time Samuel was not familiar with the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet.” But Eli, a seasoned listener, understands and teaches Samuel how to respond to the voice he hears, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Listening is an ear open to truth, truth that can be spoken to me in varied ways. Whether in scripture, through other writings, through the spoken words of others to me or to another, or in the silence of my hidden, unifying center, I hear God's word in my own unique way.

High above my thoughts are the Lord's thoughts, yet, through Jesus, God has stooped to share His Thoughts with us. Can we not do the same with each other? Recently, about a dozen of us gathered after mass in Father Flanagan's tomb area to pray with four women who were struggling with terminal cancers. We praised God in song, there were a few spontaneous prayers, and then one woman said, “I keep hearing the song, 'We Shall Overcome.'” After a pause, I said, “Let's sing it.” As we sang the song, we received the image of the good cells overcoming the cancer cells just as the efforts for total racial integration had overcome the evil of racial segregation in our country. It was a powerful, comforting and encouraging image for all of us and it came about because one person trusted what she heard, and another confirmed that indeed, she had heard the Lord.

The psalmist tells us that God's priority is that we listen to Him, desire to follow His Way and respond to Him.

Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.” (Psalm 40.7-8)

Somewhere along the way, along with body and soul being divided into separate categories, Catholics learned that God only speaks to certain “certified” persons: saints, clerics, and that person I know who is so much holier than I ever will be. We need to believe first that God wants a personal, living relationship with each one of us, as well as a collective one through Holy Mother Church, and secondly, we need to relearn how to listen to God. This kind of listening involves:

• Recognizing and acknowledging our emotional responses to what we hear; 
• Letting the core of what we hear settle into our heart--treasure it, take care of it, keep it alive! 
• Trusting in the Lord, the Giver of the word who will not lead His Beloved astray. The word of God that says, “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and let it not fear.” (John 14.27) and see also John 20.21. 

One sign that we have heard God's word to us is that we receive that gift of Peace promised by Jesus. It is not the peace we get from being satisfied, nor is it a peace that means we have no more challenges, nor is it always a peace that immediately surfaces. But God's Peace eventually brings us power over our fears; it deepens our trust in God, trust in God's promises, trust in God's word to us, trust that God will not lead His beloved astray; it reassures us that all works to the good, even the suffering, unpleasant things, faults, weaknesses and tragedies; it helps us remember that God is with me making all things new, desiring only our good and sending us the assistance we need to do the work He is calling us to do.

Mary listened. She heard God's word spoken to her through the Angel Gabriel. She went through the steps of thinking, acting, and feeling and then she pondered—what stirred her soul she pondered until it radiated out so that she was able to live out the word in God's peace.

Listening bears its fruits in pondering. Pondering the word we hear is letting that truth saturate our soul. Like Mary we can develop the habit of pondering:

• Think – use our mind ultimately, and before acting. When we have thought about something, clarified it, we are free to respond--even spontaneously! Our thought is not to lead us to this perfect pre-made thing to say, but to the true, God-appropriate thing to say at the time. No script needed!

• Act – to act means to do something. In learning how to ponder, to act is to develop habits of recognizing our true emotional responses, treasuring what we have heard, and trusting that God will not lead us astray. These kind of habits can grow, crowding out futile habits. 

• Feel – often, feeling can come first, or seemingly not at all. When I have an emotional response, I recognize and name the feeling-- name my true response and accept it. When I am in a situation and I sense something is affecting me but I can't name it, go deeper. Look for it. It is there--I have just learned to put a lid on it. There is a feeling response to everything—seek and you will find. 

• Ponder – Once we have accepted and recognized our thoughts, acts and feelings, we are ready to ponder, to let the truths gleaned from thinking, acting and feeling seep into our soul. (Brooding that can lead to grudge-bearing, happens when we ponder without recognizing our thoughts, acts, and feelings.) 

In holy pondering we go over the thoughts, relive the feelings, examine experiences and possibilities, accept all of our thoughts and experiences, hand them all to God as the fragment of truth we have to offer and then ask to receive the whole truth—God's thoughts, God's ways.”But when the Spirit of truth has arrived, he will teach the whole truth to you.” (John 16.13)

Is it any different that God came to earth as a human (creature) and that God comes to us again and again in words that stir our souls? Listen, accept the word that we hear, then ponder it and live in the Peace that Jesus gives us.

God says, “I will help you as you ask, each time, each event, each need, to use your talents and time to the fullest. I will help you to remember to seek my wisdom; to desire to choose what is life-giving; to keep the eternal perspective as you live in the confined quarters of time and space; to believe that I can do and will do the impossible; to rejoice always because my Word, my promises are true and endure forever; to adopt and nurture my thoughts and my ways; to delight in expressing what you hear; to move forward through your fears and blockages, especially those associated with sharing your soul, and, to praise Me in all things.”

And how will God help us? By communicating with us, speaking to us in myriad ways. Our part is to listen, think, act, feel, ponder, share, give thanks, and always praise the One who made us so wonderfully in His image and wants to constantly stir our soul--to be in living relationship with us.

Reflection on Endings and Beginnings

By Sharon Nelsen

Today is the last day of the liturgical year. It is also the end of month, near the end of the calendar year, and, for me, born in December, close to the end of another year of life.

Tomorrow is the first day of a new liturgical year. It is a time of beginnings. I decided to leave behind with the old year some patterns of thinking, old beliefs that aren’t leading anywhere helpful to me or to others--such as still feeling like a victim in certain areas, at the whim of everybody else, subject to others’ power, prestige and position.

I pray for truth that will set me free: The TRUTH is, God, You have given ME life

·         and with it, free will, choice

·         and with it, abilities and talents

·         and with it, relationships

·         and with it, obstacles to overcome

·         and with it, resources

·         and with it, TIME

·         and with it, opportunities

·         and with it, Your promises – “I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10.10b- NAB) or, the New Jerusalem translation that touches my heart, “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”

And so, Lord, as I leave behind false beliefs and distortions of the truth that lead to hopelessness, discouragement and despair, I look for new beginnings and I hear You say:

Remember: Bring to the now words that give life; habits that generate new life, joy, hope and love.

Reflect on what you really want in your relationships and with your life, with the time you have.

Record – Write down your deepest desires.  Do not be afraid to express them.  As you do, it will sort out your true desires and those you think are yours but really are someone else’s you’ve adopted or that have been put upon you.

Repent – Change direction!  Walk away from destructive thoughts and habits, attitudes and acts, and embrace generative, life-giving thoughts and habits, attitudes and acts.

Rejoice – Celebrate the new life!  Express it joyously any way you want—in song, in dance, in laughter and in sharing, embracing life in all its forms.

“I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Choose life—if you and your offspring would live—by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him.  (Deuteronomy 30.19b-20 Jewish Study Bible). 

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.”  (John 5.21 NAB)

  “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."  (John 6.63 NJB).

A Thanksgiving Reflection

By Sharon Nelsen

“Enter his gates with praise, enter His courts with thanksgiving,” the psalmist sings in Psalm 100.  As we prepare our Thanksgiving celebrations, I find myself looking more closely at how I interpret celebrating that holiday. 

As I reflect on family celebrations where we gather around an abundant table, I recognize a distortion about what is good.  What is good is coming together, being with each other, listening, sharing, catching up on many aspects of each other’s lives.  Being with each other in the context of a meal is a relaxing, enjoyable, healing and so often a fun-filled time.

How does that get distorted?  How does it become something else?  Sometimes the focus is more on the meal than on the people gathered; so all of the talk can be about the food.  Those who prepared the meal like to be thanked, but no one really got on an airplane or drove half a day to talk mainly about food.  Likewise, the turkey isn’t the only animal being stuffed at the meal.  There is another distortion that overeating is a sign of gratefulness—to God and to the cook!  How twisted is that?

Another distortion of a truth is that the way to relax, the way to enjoy each other, the way to celebrate being together, is to drink more alcohol.  I began to understand binge alcoholism in my family—getting drunk was a way of celebrating—a job, payday, a gathering, it didn’t matter, it was a time to celebrate, and that meant drink--for having the alcohol itself was a sign of success--and the more alcohol one drank, the better.

Better, perhaps for the one drinking who needs the drug in order to relax;  who works hard and so “deserves” some psychic time off (at least in their perspective).  But what about those moderate family members?  The ones who really want to be together in a meaningful, sharing way?  What about those present who are actively working for sobriety?  What about the minors around the table; the little children;  What about those with restrictive dietary needs due to medications, illness, age, or allergies?

What does it mean to be a good host, to have good manners, to accept all present graciously?  Who sets the standard at the table?  What if the host is the one over indulging?  What if the most “important person” present is also the alcoholic?  What options are there for those who enjoy being together and don’t need excess in order to celebrate? 

For me, it’s a matter of truth, and that means not joining in the lie with those who overindulge, no matter how accepted it is as an apparent religious mandate or a national pastime.  Enjoy what is real and authentic in each person present and share your own authenticity. God is with us at table, present in all gathered, though perhaps smothered a bit in the excess.   

“Seek and you will find”

A Reflection by Sharon Nelsen

 In the daily reading from Give us This Day, a quote from John Kavanaugh, SJ (1941-2012) struck my heart:

“It is only when we let go and turn to God in total trust that our searching hands are at last open to a final embrace of Love who is our Risen Lord.”

I prayed:  Dear God, I let go of all; I unclench my holding-on hands.  Take and receive, Lord, all I have and possess—particularly, my writings.  I connect holding onto with caring.  Please show me Your Way, Your Perspective, Your Vision.  Amen.

As I listened, I heard these words:

 “Ask and you shall receive.  Seek and you will find.” 

Why?  How?  Because the search for truth you so faithfully pursue will eventually meet with All Truth.  The bit you have—the fragment you cling to, will connect with All Truth—God!  God who says, “No one can snatch you out of My Hand!”  Even if you feel loosely held, “I have called you, and you are Mine.”  Continue to walk in that hope.  Who counts the stumbles?  Not important!  The fact that you keep moving with Love—that is the important element.

Now—let’s look at holding on and letting go.  You immediately associate that with control, lack of trust and, a bad thing.

 What if what you are holding onto is a fragment of truth?  What if it is good?  Can you pray?

Lord, God, Creator of all.  I hand to You the truth I hold.  I ask that you return to me whatever you have entrusted to me to complete for You, for the building of Your Kingdom on earth, for the part you ask me to do in the life time you gave me.  I give you all thoughts, feelings, expectations and hopes associated with this truth.  As You hand it back to me, may it be purified of my limitations, and shine with the wholeness that is you, so that in Your Light, we recognize the Light of the world, Jesus, Your son.  Thank you, Dear Abba, now and forever.  Amen

 Do you think you can pray that way—letting go of the fear and self-condemnation associated with your former thoughts?

 Beloved, you are Mine and what you cling to is Mine.  And what is Mine is yours in My son Jesus, who wants it that way because I want it that way.

  Trust Me to complete the good I have begun in you—the uncovering of the Light of My Son shining within you.  I can do that, and, I do it in the particularities of your “you-ness.” The unique image of Me that I created—sending you into the world to be like My Son, a light.  What do you see in the light?  What is there; what is real; what is present.  You see it materially, and baptized—given—into My Son, you see what is real, what is present spiritually.  As you connect that truth, you are able to see more clearly My Will in each situation.  My Kingdom comes as My Will is done!

Show Me the Path to Life

“You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.” (Psalm 16.11 NAB)

A Reflection by Sharon Nelsen

In my younger years, I frequently prayed that God would show me my path to life.  I prayed, thinking God would show me a numbered path, like “Walkway #38,” and even put me on it, just as He had set the planets in orbital paths.  Later, I believed that it was my job to find the right path.  Once I found it, (because there could only be one right one) I knew I would have peace. I would be able to move ahead in my life’s journey with confidence— I am on the (legally) right path!

God is always challenging me to grow up; to move beyond legalism, literalism and its easy answers.  Jesus’ words in Matthew 7.14, affect me: “How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.  And those who find it are few.”  But somewhere in my thinking a wisp wonders if the Divine One is playing some kind of game with me, having selected MY path and now is watching closely to see if I find it.  What kind of image of God is that?

It is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, my patron and good friend who bumbled a bit finding his path to life.  I think about him, his various paths, and write:

Well-worn is the path of suffering

Thorny is the path of doubt

Delightful is the path of praise

Challenging is the path of justice

Wearying is the path to peace

Joyful is the path to wholeness, to holiness

Smooth is the path to acceptance of God’s Good Way

I recall from years ago the words of a woman in our faith-sharing group:  “You know, sometimes we think that God is saying, ‘I wonder if she will find the path I have picked out for her?’  But, I think the truth is that God is looking at our lives and asking, ‘I wonder which path she will choose out of all of the many options before her?’”

I think about how I looked at the choices our children made as emerging adults.  When one declared a triple major upon entering university, I thought, ‘Now, that’s a challenge.’  Yet, I respected his right to choose his path even as I wondered about his choice. 

We can be certain that God knows the life-giving path for us in each situation in our lives.  We can be equally certain that God respects our free will, the God-given freedom to choose that the Deity will not take away-- even if we make it harder on ourselves, even if we are setting ourselves up for failure, even if we don’t do it right.

One of the most difficult challenges in our walk to become adult Christians, mature followers of Jesus, the Master Teacher, is the act of choosing.  It is much easier if someone tells us what to do.  Why?  Because now it is not our responsibility—we are just doing what we have been told.  And if we are told by an ordained clergy person -- all the better, for now it’s someone else’s fault if things go wrong (as we intend to explain to God on the day of judgment).

My pre-Vatican II religious formation reflected the times – it was the adult’s job to tell us what to do:  The doctor told us what we needed to know about our bodies; the teacher told us what we needed to study and learn; the priest told us what we needed to know about God, and our parents told us everything else we needed to know--except about sex. I am grateful for the healthy, foundational formation of my childhood that existed because a wiser, experienced generation told me what to do.  The wounding began when the being told didn’t stop.  Guidance became a method of control that hampered growth and abandoned us not only to figure out how to choose, but to assimilate the fact that we had the right and the duty to choose.  That process of accepting choice, especially in religious matters, took many years of struggle.  In order to move healthily into the adult arena of making real choices and taking responsibility for them, we need awareness—the conscious examination of our childish ways, thoughts and behaviors.  Wise guidance in that process, especially in learning to hear the word of God within, is not only helpful, but necessary to nurture our growth as a mature people of God.

One day, while praying about this dilemma in my theological thinking (which at the time only the rebels seemed to be addressing in our Church) I heard God say to me:  “Sharon, the pope has responsibility for pope things; the pastor has responsibility for parish things; and Sharon has responsibility for Sharon things.” 

Well, that was a welcome relief and, yet now I had something else to ponder:  Exactly what are my things?  Fortunately, by that time I had acquired some tools (searched for diligently by seeking out mature guidance) that helped me recognize and honor questions arising from within.  Those tools were prayer, contemplation, studying God’s Word, sharing my real life situations with a listening faith community, reflecting on what was life-giving in my day’s events, and, learning to recognize manifestations of God’s Power and Presence in a word of knowledge, a dream, or through a special anointing.

I looked at my domain --the “things” God had given me: family, friends, neighbors, communities of believers, resources, talents, skills, a healthy body and mind, an education, political freedom, opportunities, inspirations and, most importantly, the Holy Spirit, empowerment to choose what is good, what is life-giving in my domain--for immediate situations and for the long journey.

I began to grasp the narrow way as very specific to my life.  

Preceding Jesus’ words about the narrow way, is his proclamation that “the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.”  (Matthew 7.13 NAB)    Those words summarized what we did as teenagers-- we sought to discover life by grouping on a wide road with our peers.  We wanted to be grown up and we thought the best way to accomplish that was to swarm together.  We were quite concerned about appearances, our possessions, how we were compared to our peers and what those peers thought of us, and, we tended to discount any input (especially the unasked for variety) of wisdom from our elders or ages past.  It was a wide and crowded road.  If we didn’t step off of it as we progressed through our teen years, putting the childish behaviors behind us, we could not step into maturity.  Rather, we morphed into a kind of empowered teenager with enough religion to tinge our selfish desires with pious thoughts and guilt without actually transforming them.    

The seeds of many behaviors planted in childhood are good seeds, but like all seeds, they have to mature into the fruitful plant.  For example, when we were children, we often felt sorry for another’s plight.  It was our response to seeing hurt.  That is a seed, a beginning.  But if the same response persists into adulthood, it ends up diminishing self and others, labeling all as helpless victims.  Those seeds of caring that began as feeling sorry for someone need to grow into the mature Christian gift of compassion, a gift that focuses on the person, not on the circumstances.  Compassion strengthens the giver and the receiver; it communicates and shares love through appropriate assistance, aware of each person’s struggle and the challenge to grow in the midst of difficult and challenging situations.  Compassionate Christians trust in God and in every person’s ability to make conscious choices within the milieu of grace without diminishing the person who is suffering.

God asks us to be grown-up Christians and shows us how to get there, asking only our cooperation in the process.  God gives us Jesus, who sets us free and heals our crushed spirits; God sends us the Holy Spirit to empower us and enlighten us so that we are able to recognize our options and to make informed choices; God gives us each other in the Church that He promises to be with until the end of time;  God entrusts us to make choices that are life-giving for us, for each other, and for our world.