Monday Seventh Week Ordinary Time

May 16,2005Reading I Sirach 1:1-10

All wisdom comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever, and is before all time
The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these?
Heaven's height, earth's breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these? Before all things else wisdom was created; and prudent understanding, from eternity. The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom and her ways are everlasting. To whom has wisdom's root been revealed? Who knows her subtleties? To whom has the discipline of wisdom been revealed?
And who has understood the multiplicity of her ways ? There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring, seated upon his throne: There is but one, Most High all-powerful creator-king and truly awe-inspiring one, seated upon his throne and he is the God of dominion. It is the LORD; he created her through the Holy Spirit, has seen her and taken note of her. He has poured her forth upon all his works, upon every living thing according to his bounty; he has lavished her upon his friends.
The Lord is the source of all wisdom, the vastness of creation attests to this. Wisdom is a creation of God embued with the Holy Spirit, a gift from God. The beauty and presence of God and the divine presence in all the wonders of creation, the water, the sky, the fields, the creatures make my heart leap with joy. The goodness of nature is witnesses to the Divine prescence and the wisdom of the Creator God.

Photographed Sunday Pentecost 5/15/05

Dragonfly May 13,2005

dragonfly May 12,2005

Evening Cedar May 14, 2005

Sunset May 14, 2005

May 14, 2005

May 14, 2005

May 15,2005

PENTECOST Jn 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

He breathed on them. Spirit and breath "spiros" are one and the same. The Holy Spirit is a fuller life the fire, the passion, the wisdom, the courage to live with an awareness of the God within and everywhere. A vision of the God made flesh in all people. To see Jesus in the face of every living person and have the heart to treat them tenderly with compassion and mercy as God among us. The disciples were instilled with the power to forgive the sins of others.

I know that I have the power to choose to forgive others their trespasses. There may be times when the act of a person is in some way against God's will, then I pray for the wisdom to know when I should not forgive but still be able to show compassion and mercy. The Holy Spirit is a part of God that instills a special wisdom that aids in the discernment of the greater good and God's will. In my trials and difficulties, I pray to God daily for the wisdom to see the path that God has chosen with love for God first and for all people.

Today on the Pentecost, I renew my committment to live the Gospel life with a fire of love and driven to walk in God's ways in all things.