How do you receive God's presence?

God lives in us and loves us. God’s presence is revealed to our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit. As children of God, we are called to receive this gift of presence and to open our hearts to this love. People who have highly developed intellects often try to reach God through their minds and thoughts. People who have limited intelligence are more open to a simple presence, a heart-to-heart relationship of communion and love. They receive God in the peace of their hearts, although they are unable to put their experience into words.

Jean Vanier

Love this! It was part of the Meditation of the Day in Magnificat.

No matter what our level of intelligence, we are all called to a full, strong relationship with God. We are each uniquely created and will have our own unique way of communing with God according to his design.

Sweet!

Good advice for "shaping your will" this Advent

As I was reading the following paragraph I was thinking how this advice is great as we are starting Advent and preparing for Lent. Start your spiritual exercise along with your physical exercise this Advent and Christmas season.

Keeping the will in shape requires self-discipline and self-governance. I wish there were a shortcut, but there isn’t. We have to discipline ourselves: use a budget; follow a personal schedule; go to bed at a reasonable hour so as to get up at a reasonable hour; eat and exercise healthily; keep our stuff (room, car, house, office, garage…) clean and in order; avoid over-indulgence in entertainment; do chores; don’t get distracted at work; avoid procrastination… Everything your mother taught you when you were growing up was steeped in wisdom. An ordered life is the backbone of a healthy will. This type of self-discipline, because it requires self-denial, can also be a fruitful source of penance. Sometimes we are attracted by exotic penances, like climbing the Holy Stairs on our knees. Nothing wrong with that. But the warp and woof of spiritual maturity are the quite unromantic realities of constancy and hidden sacrifice. These strengthen us, so that we can say yes to whatever our faith asks of us, no matter how wily our enemies get. Remember, it’s an ongoing thing – we will never be perfect at this here on earth; we will always be tweaking, adjusting, and recovering from bouts of disorder and laziness, but if the effort is constant, the fruits will be too. (emphasis mine)

Excerpt from Introduction to Spiritual Warfare – Part IV – Getting Down to Action

That's some good stuff, right?! I recommend reading the whole article, and the previous 3 articles about spiritual warfare, on the linked site as well. It's important information for our spiritual walk and growth.

Why do people find rules to be bad? We NEED them to guide our broken lives!

Is 'Dogma' a Dirty Word?
From Creative Minority Report blog

What's in your dogma? On what belief do all your other beliefs rest? What's that one belief from which all other beliefs and motives derive?

I heard about two weeks ago a man say in conversation that he's a Catholic but he doesn't believe in all the rules or "dogma" of the Church. (He even threw up the air quotes when he said the term.) He said he doesn't believe God is into rules. (I didn't ask him to explain the Ten Commandments as I wasn't part of the conversation.)

But I know that many people think that way. That's what's behind all the "I'm spiritual but not religious" thing. That means you don't believe there are any rules. That simplistic view, I fear, views rules as impediments to happiness. And they can work themselves into some kind of righteous indignation that somehow all the rules of Christianity interfere with real love which they, freed from rules, are now capable.

But the rules of Catholicism are not incomprehensible. They are the well thought out conclusions of thousands of years of study by the brightest and holiest among us guided by the Holy Spirit. Their thinking is available in the documents of the Church. And moreover, these rules were established for our happiness. These rules are the best thinking on love; real love.

Case in point. The rules against abortion are not a "You shall not!" they are a request to be open to life. The Church is asking all of us to say the great "yes" just as Mary did over 2,000 years ago.

Just as the Church's "rule" that men should be faithful to their wives shouldn't be seen as "No!" to millions of women. It is more properly viewed as a "Yes" to your wife.

The Church's rules on contraception are not meant to make sex less fun. The Church is not prudish about sex. Evidence of that is that many Catholics have lots of babies. The Church seeks to elevate sex into lovemaking which puts the other before the self. Because only when we free ourselves from our selfish desires are we capable of love. Truly love.

Just look at what our culture has done to sex. Our culture argues openly for the meaningless of sex. It's good because it feels good. That's it. But that worldview views humans as animals who simply act on a primal instinct. And what does that bring us? People treating each other as animals. As less than human.

And somehow that's supposed to bring us happiness?

It is the Church's dogma which protects humans from that worldview. But I think that ironically for most people today "dogma" is a dirty word. I wonder without the Church's teaching, what is their dogma? What lies at the bedrock of all their decision making?

I wonder if in the end it isn't immediate personal happiness that lies at the bedrock of those who resist "dogma?" Which would be ironic because the Church's dogma is made for our eternal happiness. And chasing our own selfish desires leaves people in our culture today looking inward which leads them only further into themselves, like a snake devouring its own tail, forming a perfect circle which doesn't allow anyone outside to enter.

Are you running from the Truth? Stop running!

When Pilate asked, “What have you done to get yourself in so much trouble?” Jesus answered, “I told the truth.” Now why would his telling the truth make so many people so angry and so fearful that they’d be willing to kill him to shut him up? Because deep down inside, where lies can’t live, they knew Jesus was right about them and about life. They knew that if they let his truth into their hearts, even for an instant, they’d have to change their lives from top to bottom. And they were afraid that that kind of change was just too much for them — afraid it would spoil what little happiness they’d been able to squeeze out of life.

They’d got it just backwards, because ironically, the lies we sell ourselves in our frightened search for happiness guarantee that we’ll always be sad. That’s because the lies that fear makes us live by always build up walls and cut us off from our best selves, from one another, and from the God who loves us.

Excerpt from the Catholic Exchange article "Are You Running from the Truth?"


I finally stopped running at 34 years old and it's the absolute BEST thing that ever happened to my life. I still have my crosses and burdens to carry but they have purpose and meaning now, which, though it sounds strange (I know!), equals freedom.

If you are ready to stop running and want to talk about it, feel free to contact me through my profile page. I assure you I can likely relate to whatever you are feeling and thinking!

Friday fun: Why Generation Y?

[hitting forehead with palm] Oooooohhh, THAT'S why they call them generation Y. [nodding head with complete understanding]

CANDISC '09—My first bike tour: Day 3

Day 3: Tuesday, Aug. 4—Minnewauken to Fort Totten

Monday night/Tuesday morning turned out to be quite a chilly night sleeping right next to big Devils' Lake. I was buried deep into my sleeping bag all night and did wake up from the cold a few times. And in the very early morning hours woke to someone yelling for help because their friend was having an allergic reaction to something and couldn't breath. Scary! And not a very good night of sleep.

Around the normal 5 a.m. wake time in a hazy, sleepy stupor I wandered into the high school to hit the rest room, brush my teeth and get on my biking gear. When I got back out to my tent and sat down facing the door this is what I saw:


Wow! Suddenly the whole cold, sleep-deprived night was worth it. My tent was right by the little kids playground by the high school, as you can see, so I decided with a sunrise this beautiful I had to walk over to the lake to take more pictures.


And after getting back to my tent while packing I still had to take more. Yeah, I REALLY liked this sunrise. My name is DAWN, ya know! :)


Anyway, after the sun was up and I could put down my camera, we had a nice slow morning and very good breakfast. We didn't feel the need to rush because we had one of our short days of only 40 miles. (Heh, only 40 miles. Never thought I'd be saying something like that!:)

We rode around the edge of Devil's Lake for most of the day which offered many great sites and we had another very nice weather day. Since it was a short day with time to waste we even stopped in the town of Devil's Lake at a great coffee shop to have a latte and muffin to refuel. We also did some shopping in a few of the stores close by before heading back out on the bikes.


Here are Gayle and Ranae by Spirit Lake casino with part of Devil's Lake behind them. This was our last little "butt" break before heading the rest of the way to our campground at Fort Totten. A lot of the cyclists stopped at the casino to gamble but we had no interest in that so we just stopped for the view and a few minutes of rest.

It was a good day of riding but I could really feel the fatigue of the sleep-deprived night and was pedaling pretty slowly by the end of the ride. I was very happy to be at our campground and was really impressed with how well the inside area of this old fort worked for us. It was a fun night with a great atmosphere.




And the kids had a great time playing in this large open area all evening while a band played for us. A few of the adults "played" as well, dancing like crazy by the band. I had a good relaxing evening and slept like a baby all night, which is exactly what I needed because the next day was our longest day, 80 miles...

Days stats:
40 miles biked
11.9 MPH average speed
20.4 MPH max speed
3 hours and 12 mins. spent biking

CANDISC '09—My first bike tour: Day 2

I know, I know, I have been very bad at getting the postings for the rest of the tour days on the blog! It's been bugging me lately so it's time to get some more done. That darn conscience! :)

Day 2: Monday, Aug. 3—Drake to Minnewauken

OK, day two...


started with this great, unique, red sunrise. The sun was just GLOWING red. It looked much more impressive in person than could be captured with the camera. It was a good start to a good day.

Monday turned out to be a pretty nice weather day—not too hot, not too cool, a little more sun—with a {dah da dah} TAILWIND! Woohoo! I enjoyed the ride pretty much all the way and had quite an easy 65 miles. Most of the cyclists were relaxed and having a fun day. During the last couple of miles before camp one of the ladies I was riding by commented how this had been the easiest 65 mile day she had ever had. And here I had been thinking that I was just in better shape than I thought and I was going to breeeeeeze through this first tour! Ha, just kidding. But I did think, if most of the days could be like this one I would be one happy biker.


This was taken in the first hour or so of my ride that morning. It caught my eye on a fairly long stretch of flat, straight road so I grabbed the camera out of my handlebar bag and started shooting as I rode. Didn't my mother warn me not to do things like that?! ;)

Day 2 had nice views most of the way and when we pulled in to Minnewauken we had beautiful views because our campground was at the high school which sits right by big ol' Devil's Lake. In fact, the lake is growing and growing and they can't stop it so they predict the lake is going to envelop the high school in a manner of a few years and it will all be under water. The water is just feet from the back of the school at this point. I thought I had taken a picture but I can't find it.

The town of Minnewauken hosted a fun variety show for us that evening in the school gym right after we had a yummy spaghetti supper. We got some good laughs from those funny small town folks.

All around a very good day!

Days stats:
65 miles biked
13.1 MPH average speed
28 MPH max speed
4 hours and 48 mins. spent biking

What a wonderful world

Friday Fun: Another shattered dream

Finally! Someone has managed to photograph the pot at the end of the rainbow.


I think I will stop looking for those now.