Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak...St. Pio

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. St. Pio of Pietrelcina

A recent post on Stay with me, Lord covered the first sentence of St. Pio’s prayer. The above sentence is the second part. Plus my last post was on The Cross and Humility. This second sentence fits nicely with recognizing humility. At times, it seems as if we only realize we are weak when we fall. We’ve all heard the phrase, “I hit rock bottom.” When we fall, sometimes we chastise ourselves to the point of insulting God’s infinite mercy. All we have to do is open our arms to Him. His love for us is so great; He cannot help but reach for us, His wounded child. He lifts us up with strength to move forward, He will even carry us.

The weight of our sins caused Our Lord to fall on His way to Calvary. But the weight did not cause Him to remain on the ground. Alone we cannot carry our cross, but with Him we are able to stand each time and continue the journey.

Lord, when we acknowledge our weakness, You pour Grace upon us. Help us to remember to open our arms in response to Your love, and to fall unabashedly into Your merciful Heart. Amen

The Cross and Humility

Whenever we are having a family meal, my Dad likes to make the same joke. First he lets everyone know he is the patriarch. Then when we try to let him serve first, he waves everyone ahead and says he is practicing humility! We always get a good laugh from it.

St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi says, “This is the remedy to fix my gaze on You, Incarnate Word, hanging on the Cross. As soon as You see a humble soul looking at You in this way, You are quickly moved to look at it, and the effect of Your divine glance is like that of a ray of sunshine on the earth: it warms it and prepares it to bring forth fruit. This is the way You act, O divine Word, who by the light of Your glance, drain my soul of all its pride, and consume it in Your fire. No one can acquire humility if he does not fix his gaze on You, O Word, on the Cross.”

To humble self means rooting out all independence, pride and will. This is what we think of when we hear the words, meek of heart. Antonyms of humble include proud, rude and exalted. We think of people who are arrogant, unkind and selfish.

There was a time when I thought humility meant wimpy. Now I know, to be humble takes strength and courage. It is a discipline. There we see disciple in discipline. We find freedom in discipline. Otherwise we are slaves to our vices.

St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi reminds us that Our Lord shines upon the welcoming and humble. He warms these hearts with His Divine Mercy. And from these hearts springs forth the fruits of His love.

Lord, help me root out self. I can’t do it alone, I need Your strength. Amen

Stay With Me, Lord ~ St. Pio of Pietrelcina

“Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina

I am struck by the beauty of Padre Pio’s prayers. This line reminds me to ask Jesus to stay with me after receiving Him in the Blessed Sacrament. How quick we forget Him when we walk back into the world. We forget Him when we see the sick struggling to make it through the day. We forget Him when we see the lonely wandering the street. We forget Him when we see the depressed sinking in despair. We forget Him in so many ways.

How often do we abandon Him? I know I’ve abandoned Him many times when I’ve seen someone in need. I’ve abandoned Him when I thought I had better things to do. What could be better than being with Him? Just like His disciples I’ve forgotten and abandoned Him, but He remembers me and stays with me.

Once again, “Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Baptism, Funeral Pall and New Life

Having a chance to visit with my elderly aunt the other day was as always a treat. She was asking me about the cloth covering the casket during the Catholic funeral. It seemed like I remembered this had to do with baptism. Later I found that to be correct. The white cloth is reminiscent of the white baptismal gown or garment. Just as the person is welcomed into the Church community as a new Christian in baptism, the deceased is now entering a new life in the resurrection of Christ.

This white cloth is called a pall. It is a sign of our resurrection and hope for a new life with Christ.

The Third Floor Window Book Giveaway

This post is for a link for a wonderful woman named Colleen Spiro. This month is the anniversary of the publication of her book The Third Floor Window. She is generously giving away a copy of her book, and if you click on the above title you will find a way to enter her giveaway. Colleen is a survivor of incest, and this book is about her journey and how God has helped her find hope and healing. Please visit her blog, she is an inspiration!

Migraines and Thankfulness

When my husband walked into our room earlier, I told him I had a headache. Then I describe it as, "You know, the kind that makes you feel like you're going to toss your lunch." He immediately said, "Migraine!" He's familiar with these himself. After I asked him to turn off a lamp, I realized it has been awhile since I've had a migraine. This is evident because I didn't even recognize it right away. I remained still and drifted off to sleep. Waking later, I knew the migraine was gone. Sometimes I can sleep it away.

I was thankful this crushing headache was gone, but I was also thankful it happened. It made me see again where I take things for granted. Not having a migraine for quite sometime was something I hadn't appreciated. It causes me to think of the many things others deal with that I've never endured. This is the one area I have improved in somewhat but not enough, I need to be more thankful.

Lord, thank you for the infinite blessings you've sent to me. Thank you for each breath I take, for You breathing my being to physical life and for the Holy Spirit's breath of spiritual life. Amen

A Parent's Lament

My children will tell you I was an overprotective mother, which is true to a certain degree. I grew up when children roamed neighborhoods, and doors were left unlocked. By the time my children were born, we heard stories of child abduction and warnings such as, don’t put your child’s name on shirts, backpacks, etc…This was because a predator could call the name acting like they knew the child.

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There are certainly regrets I have from raising my children but being overprotective isn’t one of them. The regret is my selfishness and not spending more time with them. Don’t get me wrong my two boys gave me some gray hairs.

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One particularly bad day, I was taking a bath and lamenting to our Lord. I use the word “lamenting” because it just sounds better than complaining. Anyway, I was lamenting the fact that I must be a sorry parent because I was having a tough time with these boys. As I continued to groan about my inadequacies, God interrupted my thoughts. He said, “Listen, I’m the perfect parent and look at my children running amuck!” I really didn’t expect God to use a work like “amuck!” I expected something like, “Listen thou, I am thy perfect parent and gaze upon my children sinning endlessly.” But He said “amuck.” Well that got my attention, and I said, “You’re right, Father.” He probably smiled when I said He was right, because He’s always right. He didn’t need me to confirm it. Feeling much better, I thanked Him and seeing as we were chatting already, I asked Him a question. “Father, when you’re talking about your children not always acting like little angels, are you talking about me?” I waited. I asked, “God?” I waited again and still no answer, maybe a chuckle but no answer. Opening my mouth to lament the fact he wouldn’t answer, I realized He was talking about me. He is the perfect parent, and we are his imperfect children. The good news is He loves us imperfections and all...even when we are running “amuck!”

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Father, thank you for loving us through the good and bad times. Amen