Begin Again

There’d be times when you’d mess up big

times you’d fail

times you’d trip so hard

you’d get knocked down bad

Times like that you’d want to quit

but BEGIN AGAIN.

There’d be times when you’d say

“Enough is enough,

I’ve really had it now,

why bother trying?”

Yeah, there’d be times you’d get so tired

but still, BEGIN AGAIN.

There’d be times you’d think

you’ve just lost everything

times you’ve risked it all

and got back nothin’

Times like that you’d feel

everything you’ve worked so hard for

were in vain, but BEGIN AGAIN.

Begin again,

try again,

believe again,

love again.

There’d be a second wind,

there’d be another star,

there’d be another hand,

to help you rise again.

Don’t start quitting,

never stop dreaming.

A new tomorrow waits

for those who dare –

to BEGIN AGAIN.

 

God and the Spider

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen."

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one.” Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.

“Hah,” he thought, “What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.”

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while.

“Lord, forgive me,” prayed the young man. “I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall.”

We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. As the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, “In God we will have success!”

[Nehemiah 2:20]

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Conscious Contact

Conscious Contact! Coming into what is clearly a spiritual program, we may have been fearful that our own unworthiness would hold us back. We may have believed that a spiritual life and a “conscious contact” with God are reserved for a few people with saintly qualities.

What we must know is that the spiritual life is every person's right. It includes the human qualities that have brought our greatest progress. “The spirit of the thing” is an ordinary phrase, but it expresses the presence of a Higher Power in our lives.

What's most useful to know is that we can contact our Higher Power at any time, in any place. This can be extremely important when we are in very bad situations. We always have a Higher Power to pull us through and to set things right in our lives. That's our birthright as human beings.

I'll turn to my Higher Power frequently throughout the day, if only for a few moments each time. This will keep me on the right path.

~ From “Walk in Dry Places” by Mel B

Life Without Spirituality

 

Prayer for Making Decisions

God,

It seems that life is always requiring decisions.

Sometimes everything in my life is stable and settled,

And then a new opportunity presents itself,

And I feel unsteady and unsure of which way to go.

At other times I become weary with stability

And decide I want a change in my life.

That’s when I look for other possibilities

That may allow me to move in a different direction.

In either case, I can feel unsettled about making a decision,

Especially when there is still some

Haziness in my heart about the course I should take.

I do not, after all, want to make the wrong decision.

I pray that you will guide my thoughts

When I am searching through options for my future.

Help me be patient when the process

Is unfolding more slowly than I would want.

Help me trust the spirit of intuition

That you have given me as an aid for

Interpreting the signs that help me move forward.

From: Understanding God Today

2nd Sunday of Lent

In Evangelii Gaudium (2013) Pope Frances says, “The Gospel, radiant with the glory of Christ’s cross, constantly invites us to rejoice” (5). The story of the transfiguration that we hear in today’s gospel, Mark 9:2-10, focuses our attention on that radiance the Holy Father speaks to us about. Peter, James and John accompany Jesus to a mountain where, “he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.” While all this activity is going on, a cloud casts a shadow over them and from this cloud the voice of God says, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” No one knows exactly what Moses, Elijah and Jesus talked about. Although in Luke’s version of the transfiguration we are told, “And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9: 30-31).

None of the disciples understood what was happening. Jesus added to their confusion when he told them not to speak about what they saw until “the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” They descended from the mountain bewildered and wondering “what rising from the dead meant.” This was not a moment of rejoicing for Peter, James or John. In fact, Mark tells us they were terrified.

With almost two thousand years of hindsight, it could be easy for us to gloss over the transfiguration as some sort of Godly special effect. Some of us might forget that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified when the event happened. We believe that his experience of transfiguration was God the Father’s affirmation of the path he had chosen. For Peter, James and John the mystery of the transfiguration became clear only after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The experience provided them with glimmers of hope in their darkest days. And then they could rejoice.

And this is what the transfiguration can be for us. We can rejoice in our moments of doubt and fear, sadness and despair because we know the end of the story. We know that glory follows the passion. We know that Jesus endured the passion out of love for us. And we trust the words of Jesus, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40). St Paul gives us another assurance when he tells us that by removing the veil of unbelief and skepticism, “all of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Co 3:18). 

Loving Father,

for a fleeting moment

you glorified your Son on the mountain

to encourage him to carry out his mission

and to strengthen his disciples.

Let the presence of your Son in this Eucharist

and the words he speaks to us

transform us and give us light and strength

to take up our task in life

and to lighten the burden

of our brothers and sisters,

until you transform us with him.

Amen

A Reflection

When you see a sunset, do you say, “It’s too bright - not enough color, too much orange?”

Probably not. You just accept it and maybe thank God for the gift.

And when you walk through a forest, do you say, “The trees are too tall. The leaves on that one are the wrong shape. It has the wrong shade of green, too. Too many leaves on that one.

Probably not! You probably just accept it – and maybe say thanks for the gift of the forest.

We are God’s children. We are greater than any sunset, any forest. And we’re great because God made us and because God loves us. Maybe we should stop beating ourselves up and start saying thank you a few more times.

I have a hunch, by the way, that when we meet God, we will be asked, “How did you like those sunsets? What about the mountains and the streams and the sea-shores? What about balloons and roller coasters?

He probably won’t say, “Well you could have spent more time alone in the office!