Month: March 2024

63) Scourging at the Pillar

     We were at the Dunrovin Retreat Center near St. Paul, with a group of ladies from Transfiguration Parish in Woodbury for an Emmaus Retreat. Part of the retreat includes receiving a drawing that has been artistically created by another Emmaus sister, who has asked the Holy Spirit to inspire her with an image that will speak to the person who receives it with a personal message of God’s intimate love for them. 

      When all had received their drawings, we were given the opportunity to share how they spoke to us, or if there was some special significance for them.  The stories are often so beautiful and amazing, and truly do show that God works through our efforts to bring His love personally to the hearts of each of us.

      One of the ladies stood up and showed us the drawing she had received, which had 3 beautiful red fall leaves on it.  The Lord had touched her heart, and it was visible to us as she shared her story…

    

There had been some free time in the afternoon, and some of the ladies had gone outside for a walk.  It was early October, and the leaves were just beginning to turn; the weather was cool and overcast, but a good time for quiet reflection and communion with  the Lord.  We had been assigned prayer partners, and she decided to pray a rosary for her prayer partner while she walked.  She chose the sorrowful mysteries, although it was Saturday, and was quietly praying the rosary and meditating on the second sorrowful mystery, the scourging at the pillar, and thinking about the precious blood Jesus had shed for us and the pain he had endured in the scourging.  Her heart was moved as she meditated on this mystery, and then she became aware that she was walking through an abundance of bright red leaves on the path, although she couldn’t identify any tree in the area where they might have fallen from.  She said she felt like she was walking right through His Blood, and It was covering us all with His protection and anointing.  It was a sacred and holy moment for her – she hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.  And then when she received her drawing, there were these 3 bright red leaves…

     Thank You Lord, for Your intimate knowledge of each one of us, and for pouring Your Love into our hearts in so many unexpected and personal ways.  May we always have eyes open to see and ears open to hear that our hearts may be touched by Your grace and filled afresh with the fire of Your Love ~

62) Reconcilation gifting

The opportunity for Reconciliation was always especially meaningful when celebrated at the Cenacle of Our Lady of Divine Providence – it seems that the Lord often would bring up things from the past that were stumbling blocks to grace.

     At one of the sessions, I felt led to confess a sin of the past whose memory often haunted me.  I had confessed it in a general way previously, but now felt the need to be more explicit about the experience.  The priest was very helpful, as he assured me of God’s grace and mercy.  In thanksgiving, I went to the Adoration Chapel to express my gratitude to the Lord.

     As I sat before the tabernacle, the Lord gifted me with a beautiful image. I saw myself sitting on a bench beneath the Cross, with Mary sitting beside me with her arm around my shoulders.  In my lap I held a photo album – in it were pictures of the  situations I had confessed.  Jesus was on the Cross above us, and as we sat there, His precious Blood began to drip down on the photos, and each drop totally erased the pictures, making them white as if a drop of bleach had been put on them.  He was blotting out all those images with His precious Blood, so that I no longer saw them, but only saw a clean white frame, and felt the comfort of His Presence, and that of Our Blessed Mother.  Now whenever the enemy seeks to raise those pictures before my eyes again, all I see is that image of us sitting beneath the Cross, with those drops of precious Blood that make each photo all white.

      The Lord has blessed me several times by changing the way I remember a difficult experience.  Asking Him to show me where He was with me, or what He was doing, have brought forth images that provide healing grace to painful moments in time, and have allowed me to become more free.  What a beautiful way to bring healing, and to set the captives free!

     Lord God, thank You that You are a God outside of Time, Who has been with us throughout our lives and can bring healing and wholeness to all areas of our lives. Thank You for the healing balm of Your precious Blood, to wash away the stain of sin ~ 

(re-visited from Rosary Reflections, Sorrowful mystery, the Crucifixion. In this season of Lent, of Reconciliation, this memory has always blessed me. May it bring a blessing to others who may be unable to let go of images that want to rob us of our peace)

61) Salvation

Salvation

     I recently met a young woman, I’ll call her Beth, who struck me as being so pure and sweet, joyful and with a sense of peace about her.  We were at a conference together, and many of the participants wore anxious expressions, and spoke of the fears and troubles they were dealing with.

Not my new friend; Beth’s words were filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s blessings to her throughout her life.

     Our conversation reminded me of a talk I heard years ago.  The speaker was a young woman named Cary who was making a presentation to a group of other young people who were acquainted with her – the know her background story.  A young man was the co-presenter, and he was the first to speak to the group.  He shared how when he had been immersed in the darkness of addiction and poor choices, of sin, the Lord had come and rescued him.  He had been pulled from the swamp and brought into the Kingdom of Light, and was now helping others to find their lifeline in Jesus.

     Cary spoke next, and to the surprise of the audience, she began by speaking of how God had saved her from drinking, from promiscuity, from many sinful behaviors and activities.  Her audience was taken aback, because this wasn’t the story they thought they knew of her life.  The part that has touched my heart is what she said next; God had saved her from all these before she ever was involved in any of them.  He had kept her from making the poor choices that would have led her down the path she described.

     Being with Beth and listening to her innocence, I recognized that here was another child of God who had been shielded from the negative repercussions of bad choices – she had been saved from them without even realizing it.  

     A recent question in a devotional I’m reading asked the question, “Do I really believe that Jesus is my Savior?”  As I prayed with this, it became apparent that yes, I can see in my own life all the negative things that the Lord saved me from experiencing. He is even now saving me from doubt, from loneliness, from feeling rejected or abandoned.  Those things which I may identify as having been difficult, from which He didn’t “save” me, have been sources of growth in faith and love, for which I am now grateful!  

     We’ve been re-visiting St Therese’s STORY OF A SOUL, where the word “little” resounds thoughout her testimony, shedding  light on her own purity of heart and innocence.  All of this has come together in a beautiful way to fill my heart with gratitude once more, for God’s Goodness to me, and for how He has highlighted it with the stories of Beth, Cary, and St Therese.  I thank God  for the gift of Salvation, brought home to me on so many levels.  

Lord God, thank You for the gift of Salvation!  Poured out on me from the moment of my conception, and as the promise of life eternal with You.  I was saved, I’m being saved, I will be saved, God willing, as I seek the grace of final perseverance to stay true to the One Who is Truth…