Every once and a while we go to church on Sunday and we get the exact message that we needed to hear. That happened to me this week.

This week’s gospel talked about the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert. In his gospel Mark writes about how “…..the angels ministered to Him.” Father pointed out that while in the desert Jesus was in a “God-less place,” and that his being there brought God to it. Ironically, that is what we are still being called to do all these years later – bring God to “God-less places.”

If we look around the world today, it’s hard not to feel that we are living in a “God-less place.” Watching the news and hearing about all the hatred and crime that fills our world, we can’t help but see what happens as we start to turn away from God. Father stated that we aren’t often overcome by the goodness in the world as often as we are burdened by the darkness of it. It’s hard at times to believe that there is any goodness or light left at all – but that’s where we come in. We’re called to be the light bearers of the world. We are called to spread the goodness so others CAN be overcome with it.

Today’s first reading told the story of the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood. God told Noah there would never be another flood. The sign of this covenant would be the bow in the sky that would appear whenever clouds come upon the earth. It made me think of the quote from Dolly Parton – “The way I see see it – if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”

Feels like we’ve been in a rainstorm for a while now.

As I talked about last week, anxiety has always been an issue for me. When I get overwhelmed or stressed it gets worse, and last week was one of those times. Listening to Father’s message today about finding the goodness, overcoming the darkness, and finding our way out of the rain to find the rainbow was exactly what I needed to hear. Some days are harder than others to see that rainbow, but staying connected to the Lord helps. Even though we may not always feel overcome by the goodness of the world, we ARE surrounded by it everyday. It’s up to us to notice it.

This week’s opening hymn offers us a daily prayer to help with it all:

”Change our hearts this time
Your word says it can be.
Change our minds this time
Your life could make us free.
We are the people your call set apart
Lord, this time change our hearts.
This time change our hearts.
This time change our minds.
This time change our hearts.”

I hope this week you are overcome with the goodness of the world, that your mind is changed to not focus on the darkness, and if you experience some rain – that you keep your eyes set on the rainbow.

Have a blessed week, and see you back here next Sunday.

This Sunday Father began his homily by saying that he hoped we had really paid attention to the responsorial Psalm today. Even though I just sang it several times, I had to go back and reread it in my worship aid.

”I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.”

Father then went on to talk about our current state of affairs in the world, specifically with the COVID pandemic. He reminded us that whether or not we become ill with this virus, it is ultimately the Lord who calls us home according to His plan and His time.

I have struggled (at times heavily) with anxiety since I was a young child. Even though it is a running joke with several of my closest friends that I’m obsessed with planners, it all stems from my desire to have things planned out and scheduled. I don’t handle the unknown very well.

Ironically, isn’t that what ALL of life is – unknown?

We worry as children about school.
We worry about our futures.
We worry about schooling and whether or not it’s for us.
We worry about choosing the right career path.
We worry about finding a spouse.
We worry about marriage.
We worry about children and whether or not parenthood is right for us.
We worry about our family members and our parents as they begin to age.
We lay awake at night, imagining situations and outcomes that may never come to fruition.
We also lose sleep over tomorrows that aren’t even promised to us.

If you’ve never had any of those worries….well, first – I think you’re a liar, and second – I envy you. The truth of the matter is that we spend SO MUCH OF OUR LIVES worrying about things that will NEVER happen. Now, I’m not saying to throw caution to the wind, cash in your 401k, and take off to Bora Bora. What I am saying is that we spend more energy than we should worrying about things that the Lord already has in order.

This Sunday we began our Little Black Books for the Lenten Season. The first Sunday always talks about your Lenten journey and how you are feeling about the direction you’d like to take. I’d like my Lenten journey this year to be one where I come to rest in the Lord more fully. I want to shed the weight of anxiety that I have carried all these years. I want to spend my energy living the life the Lord has planned for me not worrying about how it will all come to together.

I think about the leper in this week’s Gospel. I think about the worries and anxieties he must have had. All of a sudden one day……along comes Jesus……and the leper was made whole. How often does that happen in our everyday life? We worry and stress over so many things day to day, and then the Lord comes along and delivers us.

This Lent I want to spend more time walking with the Lord an less time worrying about the walk.

Have a blessed week, and we’ll see you back here next Sunday.

My weekend looked a little different this week. I was staying with my nieces for a few days, and unfortunately they were in quarantine until Monday. They are healthy, but they were quarantining to be safe. Since I was staying with them, I didn’t attend services this weekend. I read the weekly readings as I always do, but I stayed with the girls.

I had a Sunday filled with activities, and I was worried about when I would fit in my hour of prayer. Ironically enough one of the readings this week talked about being anxious with things of the world instead of being concerned with the ways of the Lord.

At the end of the day, I had crossed off almost all of the items on my to-do list with the exception of one….my hour of prayer. I was feeling very defeated. It was then that I remembered what I HAD accomplished during the day…..

When trying to run some errands on Sunday morning, I took the girls to ride along in the car with me and had a coffee date with them. (Their drinks were vanilla based , of course.)

When asked to snuggle on the couch with the girls and their guinea pig (Oliver IS a member of the family), I did and enjoyed a nap.

When my presence was requested in the living room, I stopped what I was doing and played two games of Life.

And when it was bedtime, I enjoyed a movie night while we all bundled and snuggled together.

It was then I realized I got in my hour of prayer and then some. I no longer felt defeated. I felt extremely blessed.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and see you back here on (Super Bowl) Sunday. #12❤️🖤🏈