GONE FISHIN' ....................

Lyrics from an oldie but goodie:

Simon Peter, put that net down.
Follow me I'll lead you out of this town,
to a place where no boat has ever been.
I will make you a fisher of men.

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

P R A Y E R ! !! !!! !!!!

When a new priest comes to town, one expects that there will be changes. Father Bob decided that after each petition we would sing, "Jesus, Jesus, hear our prayer", rather than stating, "Lord hear our prayer".

A young toddler in the congregation has recently started to recognize the refrain and belts (and I mean, BELTS!) out in her most earnest voice, PRAYER!!!!!"

Some thought that it was just a passing thing, but yesterday at mass, my family all smiled as the petitions started and we realized that the little girl was off to our right. She did not disappoint us! She had been relatively quiet until her head lifted at the sound of "Jesus, Jesus.......". A heartfelt "Praaaayer!" came bursting forth from her little lungs and a satisfied smile went with it. She had participated!

I swear I saw our pastor smile in recognition, I might be wrong. Maybe I thought he did because he says a lot of the mass with the same passion that I hear from that little girl. I was disappointed a couple of weeks ago when I heard negative comments about the unique cherib solo. Yes, as a former teacher and full time mother, I understand that there has to be order in a large gathering. But this was not something the little girl was doing to disrupt. I hardly hear anything out of her during the rest of mass. To me, it has everything to do with spiritual earnestness! I am so very jealous! I wish that I could bellow out worship with that much bravido! Can you imagine if we all listened to each petition and punctuated each syllable of the refrain with the little girl's innocence?

Her mother did take her daughter to the cry room when she realized after the third petition that her spontaneous litany was going to continue. I understood from her point of view, she did not want to be responsible for disrupting the service. But, I could not help but wistfully watch them disappear into the cryroom. How many parishioners have we lost at times because their participation was deemed inappropriate? Yes, the stability of ninety-nine sheep are very important, they pay the bills. But we can learn a lot from the ornery actions of a lost little lamb can't we?

For a long, long time I know that I will hear a special emphasis at the end of "Jesus, Jesus, Hear Our PRAYER !!!!" and smile.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! ! !

Happy New Year !!!!!!!!!!!

And your New Year's resolution is ........................?????????????

Years ago I had started to write down verses on notecards and carry them with me until I had the verse memorized. I came across a worn card one day during Advent, 'Joseph's Song', and refreshed myself mentally and spiritually with it on my daily walk:

"In the Lord I place my confidence and trust.
For it is only in his strength that I can overcome the fear of this awesome responsibility.
Generation after generation will struggle for the meaning of the Lamb of God.
But only those who dare to risk
will hold the promise in their arms."

So, the focal words for me during Advent were confidence, fear, responsibility, struggle and risk. All of my life experiences up until this point have given me confidence that there is a loving God. Yet this confidence has not overshadowed the fear I have of looking others in the eye and calmly stating, "Yes, I know Him, and this is what He wants me to do." I am well aware that, no matter how great the struggle becomes between my confidence and my fear, God is holding me responsible to walk with Him. The Struggle will be daily and the Risks will taunt me. But I realize that I will never find the peace that holding the Christ child promises until I rise every morning with prayer and fill my days with the Spirit.

My New Years resolution? Pretty simple actually. I would like to be me in 2010. With great respect to all those people and experiences that have helped form a secure cocoon around me for many years, I often wonder what wuld happen if I would finally crawl out into the world. To confidently deal with my fears, to maturely accept my responsibilities and struggles, and to defiantly risk the condemnation that the world may heap upon me if I truly followed the Spirit. That would truly bring about a New Year wouldn't it?