It was many years ago that I first read the excerpt below from A Woman Wrapped in Silence. The affect on me then was so profound and in all these years it has never wained. I can never read this without being extremely touched and moved and so I wanted to share this.

I was later given a copy of the book for my own from a priest friend. This is one of my treasured books.

From A Woman Wrapped in Silence

Death is a long time, not in time,
But in the waiting, in the givils kept,
Intense. It is a watch that stares observance
Of the faint, tremendous fluttering
Of eyelids and the struggled breath that breaks
Again impossibly from out a wait,
Drawn long enough to be a hundred deaths.
And when it comes, death may be paler light
That casts a calm, released nobility.

And they were two that watched his misted eyes
In love so great it reached across the ebbs
Of strength and gave itself to him for ease,
And for a warmer knowledge this was part
Of life that he was keeping now, as once
He'd knelt and on a night yet clear to him,
Had taken in his arms a Child.

And when
His spent breath sighed away and stillness came,
Suffusing on his face a look of longer
Stillness, she was watching him, and waited
In an ache of waiting for a sign
Of further wait. There were no more of signs,
And deep within her, turning like a thread
Of sound that twisted upward from a further
Depth, a certainty was winding, winding,
Stronger, wider, winding, till it whirled
And broke in inner thunder, and she knew!
She knew that he had died. Joseph . . . Joseph!
Who had come . . . but only sobbing now
Too deep and real, and shaken for the mute
Withholding, and her head was bent to him
In blessed tears.

She felt His Presence then
Who was so near, and found His hand so strong
In closing on her arm. And she had turned
To Him, and with a softer sob and older
Yearning, reached to Him and sought to give
Him comfort in return. To Him, to Him
Who wept for Joseph here as she was weeping.
And they paused, and in a little while
Looked down on him, and gently stooped to him
And kissed his hair.

Joseph was a man
Who'd marked a single measure on his life
More sure than lines he'd drawn for guilding tools.

When we listen to your word,

our minds are filled with light.

Send forth your light and your truth, let these be my guide.

Our parish has asked anyone who knits, sews, crochets if they could help in shawls and lapghans for those going through chemotherapy. I'm glad to be able to give back when I can. I've started one lapghan, hope to start a prayer shawl tomorrow.

May God bless my work and those it will comfort and warm in their time of need.

From the rising of the sun

to its setting may the name of the Lord be praised.

...

As I look from my back window this morning this is what I see. In the quiet hours of the morning I ask for thy graces that I truly see.

Recipe for a Happy Heart

5 pints love
3 quarts care
4 cups laughter
2 cups hope

mix together
sprinkle with joy and understanding
bake in sunshine
share with friends

From an exposition of psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose

Let your door stand open to receive him, unlock your soul to him, offer him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of everlasting light that shines on every man. This true light shines on all, but if anyone closes his window he will deprive himself of eternal light. If you shut the door of your mind, you shut out Christ. Though he can enter, he does not want to force his way in rudely, or compel us to admit him against our will.

Caregiver

If you've been involved in caregiving, and as the days turn to weeks, months and years, then you know the moments that come far too often of tiredness and stress. Frequently, with much less then happy heart does one approach the day. That's why searching for joy in all things is important, its not always accomplished, but its tried. In my readings this morning this stood out:

Be strong, let your heart take courage,
all who hope in the Lord.


... He always hears me,
He's always there.

May your heart be filled with His Light,

your day with His blessings
your life with His grace.

Wishing you Joy in all things.

A Work In Progress

Joy

defined as: 1 a: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight b: the expression or exhibition of such emotion : gaiety
2: a state of happiness or felicity : bliss 3: a source or cause of delight

share a hug ... share a smile ... share a blessing ...

share the Joy.