Author: Maria Johnson

a random rose in winter

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I have this rose bush with a mind of its own. It has survived abandonment, tramplings, storms, and most recently, the window guys who just pushed it aside and did terrible things to it with their scaffolding.

It’s taken a real licking, and keeps on ticking. Long after the other roses go dormant for the winter, this one makes it a point to give me one more bloom at an unexpected moment. You can see the deadheads in the picture — I gave up pruning it a while back, but there you have it, one more beautiful flower.

I always think it’s one last little nod from God, a little kiss, if you will, that lets me know things are going to get a little dark and bleak in winter, but look at what you have to look forward to in the spring.

I’ll take my hope where I can find it — it wasn’t a coincidence that we sang this in Mass today.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul,

My God, in you I trust.

psalm 25

are you ready? [redux]

The following post was originally published in 2010. I thought I’d bring it back for Advent!

O_Come,_O_Come,_Emmanuel_front

 

For every perceived betrayal that my body delivers to me as I age, I am consoled by the graces that come with aging – the most important and appreciated is wisdom. I’m still nowhere near that place where the patience to be quiet and wait comes naturally, but I’m working on it. At least on an intellectual level I understand it. That knowledge, however, doesn’t make the exercise any easier.

It seems that impatience and wanting it now is a condition of the times in which we live. If we can’t access that website in a click, we get frustrated. If there are two cars ahead of us at the drive-thru, we feel put out.

If God doesn’t answer our prayers on the spot, we are quick to accuse Him of not listening.

Once, I fervently asked God to give me patience. He accommodated me rather nicely. By providing seemingly endless opportunities to practice being patient! I’m not bitter; I got what I asked for. I learned that I cannot control the clock – but I can use it.

It wasn’t an easy lesson to grasp, but once I understood it, the peace that came to me was almost overwhelming. Letting go of that need for control (and by the way, a control I never had) was not just liberating, but empowering.

I’d love to say that I have a singular purpose in my faith that allows me to live my life in perfect concert with what God wants for me. Unfortunately, I regularly fall short of my potential. The human propensity to sin, whether through commission or omission, is alive and well in my heart. The thought would ordinarily depress me except that I have finally understood that God has given us a powerful gift in the sacraments of Holy Communion and Reconciliation. One nourishes our spirit, and the other heals it.

Advent, as a time for preparation, capitalizes on the graces of those two sacraments in such a profound way, that the effect is to slow us down rather than agitate us. If only we’d stop and see it.

I have wasted innumerable opportunities for peace over the years because of my impatience and failure to see the opportunity in the Advent Season. As a child, Advent didn’t even exist for me! There was Thanksgiving, and then a countdown to Christmas morning. Oh, and there was Baby Jesus in there somewhere. Sort of.

That attitude continued as I became an adult, only the problem was in reverse. I was counting the days because I had so much to do that the days would not be enough. I had gifts to buy. Food to cook. Parties to attend (obligations, not fun). A house to decorate. Oh. And Jesus was in there somewhere. Sort of. Maybe at the Christmas pageant where I had to dress up a kid as a shepherd.

I forgot – or perhaps better stated – I failed to realize the gift of Advent. Christmas morning was coming, whether or not I had picked out the right tinsel. In the end, the only thing that mattered was whether or not I was ready for the real Christmas, not just the celebration of the birth of Our Lord, but ready for his return.

The Catechism states, “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ “ (524).

Advent is a time for quiet prayer and public prayer. That’s why traditions such as a family Advent wreath are powerful. We pray and reflect and get ready for Our Lord.

That’s why parish missions are popular at this time of year. We gather as a community, united in our powerful need to seek the Lord, just as the Magi did.

And that’s why we are shrouded in purple – a majestic color often misunderstood as a symbol of kingly splendor, but also used as a symbol for penance. Most of us are quick to clean the house and make it presentable for the celebration…let’s also clean house in our souls and embrace the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I urge you to slow down during this Season of Advent, and embrace the opportunity for preparation. We can still prepare for Christmas with our shopping sprees and decorating sessions, but we should also keep in mind that these physical acts of preparation for Christmas day are not enough. We must also seek the greater spiritual preparation for the coming of Our Lord.

Get ready. You have time.

This blog posts appears as part of the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar. Follow the link to see what else is going on over at CatholicRoundup.com

the next day

I poured myself a glass of last night’s leftover wine and admired my rose garden, still blooming this far into fall.

It’s dusk. There’s still a little bit of light out, but it’s a heavy sort, like maybe rain is on the horizon. Still, it has a certain beauty, a feeling of change that’s in the air and I can’t quite figure out if it’s the weather or me.

I finally decide it’s me, and suddenly the little spotlight on the Blessed Virgin that sits in a corner of my patio turns on. A little beacon in my garden, and tonight, a little more, as I fancy the Blessed Mother nodding and winking at me from her little perch in the monkey grass.

I can’t help smiling. She knows my heart and the gazillion thoughts that were just swirling around my head, replaced now with a kind of happy calm settling the swirl. I nod back, thanking her for the little visit.

It’s been a wonderful Thanksgiving, quiet and uneventful, a contrast to other years, and I’ve appreciated every moment of it for the gift of the present, and our presence. Oddly for me, I’ve reveled in the mundane tasks of setting tables and doing dishes.  No doubt the leftovers tonight, alone with my husband, will taste as rich.

 

A conversation with Liz Lantigua

I’m over at CatholicMom.com today with a review and interview with author Liz Lantigua and her new book, Mission Libertad.

Check it out, the review, and the book! It’s a great adventure that takes us on a wild mid-night escape from Cuba, and the adventure doesn’t stop there.

See what Liz has to say:

Imagine the risk a family like Luisito’s takes even before they decide to get on a raft and cross the Florida straights. They must find scraps to build their homemade raft in a country that lacks basic needs. They need a place to hide the raft. They need to be extremely secretive so they won’t end up in prison. They have to make sure they are not caught trying to reach the beach by the vigilant comite de barrio, the neighborhood watch committee, who informs the government on the neighbor’s whereabouts. Then the most difficult part, saying good bye to the relatives they are leaving behind if they trust them enough to divulge their secret.

Read the rest here.

autumn…love this time of year!

This is what I see when I walk out my front door. It won’t be as lovely in a week or so, but today, a little bit of God’s handiwork. Such an artist! Makes me want to bake a pumpkin pie.

just a little moment of silence…

…before I chomp down on these little treats…

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They tell me it’s business, not personal. What’s next? Tony the Tiger is gonna retire? No more Frosted Flakes?

a prayer for the nations

I’ve had this prayer bookmarked in my journal for the longest time. Maybe I’ve used it here before, but as I gathered my little holy cards and placeholders in preparation for a new journal, I took another look at this and found it worth the share, even if I have posted it already.

O Jesus, present in the sacrament of the altar, teach all the nations to serve you with willing hearts, knowing that to serve God is to reign. May your sacrament, O Jesus, be light to the mind, strength to the will, joy to the heart. May it be the support of the weak, the comfort of the suffering, the wayfaring bread of salvation for the dying and for all the pledge of future glory.

Pope John XXIII (1881-1963)