Let God In – Called by Name – Forgive and ask for Forgiveness – Ordinary Time

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – Tuesday January 19, 2016

Dear Vincentian Family- Please pray and serve with Mercy in this Jubilee year.  Pray for our clergy, religious and seminarians.  Pray for Pope Francis and our wonderful youth.  Pray for our Vincentian family around the world.  Pray for Peace and comfort for the Refugees.  Blessings, Lynn

Let God In – We are never ignored by God.  Relief doesn’t come from our prayers getting answered.  It comes from God who is the answerer to our prayers.  Jesus is our loving embrace. While we cannot be feel His touch physically, and His compassionate understanding does not end our sorrows. The injustices continue. You wonder why God hasn’t intervened to fulfill His promise of raising the lowly and humbling the arrogant.  Examine your heart and let God in.  Maybe what you are asking for is the wrong thing.  Maybe He already has things under control.  Pray and ask Him for patience.  Prayers are answered, but the answer may be a little different from what you are asking.  We still must let God in as in times of uncertainty we really only have God.  Remember He is always there and perhaps the answer is, “I am here, my beloved.  You are not alone, I am weeping with you. Do not despair my beloved one.”  Never give up.  Let God in.  Allow Him to share the intimacy with Him.  He gave us Jesus and Jesus chose the cross for us.  Look to the light of Christ and always let God in.

Called by Name – Your calling, Jesus, is irresistible. When you show yourself and come to meet me, your love exceeds everything else and I cannot resist you. Thank You for calling me by name!  I love this Scripture Isiah 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says– He who created you, Jacob, He who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine”.  Many times I ask you to to look in the mirror.  This is a good exercise for you first thing in the morning.  Look in the mirror and see Jesus in you.  He is there; He has called you by name.  You never need to fear.  Be Christ to others and see Christ in them.  This is especially important when you are helping others. I told this to two homeless pan handlers yesterday after we got to know each other a bit.  The one told me he was brought up Christian and still believes, but he is not good enough.  I told him to look in the mirror and he would see Jesus shining through him.  I told him to look at his image and say “I am special.  He has called you by name and you are special.  The other young fellow asked me if he could do it as well.  I told him of course if he wanted to.  He said he knew nothing about God.  I told him to ask God to help him know, but to be sure of one thing, you are so loved by God.  You are His, He called you by name.   As I walked to my car, I heard one voice calling out, God bless you and the other thank you beautiful lady I will get to know God.  I truly thank you, God for this gift of love.

Forgive and ask for Forgiveness – We need to ask for forgiveness and to forgive others and to put love around all of this. The holy family is a great model for us.  We must use them in our lives and be models for others.  Sometimes we know when we have made a difference and sometimes we don’t.  So we must trust in our Lord to help us make a difference.  When my kids and grandchildren were young, I taught them to ask for forgiveness and accept forgiveness.  Forgiving means you forget because it is gone.  You can remember through prayer.  I taught my children it was not okay to say “It’s Okay”!  It was more important to say, “I forgive you.”  This has stuck over the years.  I remember being hurt by something my future daughter-in-law said to me and I said, “It’s okay” and I told her I didn’t mean it was okay.  She cried and my son asked me to talk to her and I did.  I explained to her my thoughts on “ its okay” and told her I want to say, “I forgive you”!  She cried and hugged me.  She is so special to this day.  I baby sat their children and they got into a little fight.  The older boy accidently hit her in the eye and she really bonked him.  I asked if they had anything to say.  The little girl went over to her brother and said she was sorry and forgave him and he, little macho man, also said I forgive you and they hugged.  They then said, “Why are you crying Gramma?”  It is all about forgiveness and meaning it.

Ordinary Time – Welcome to Ordinary Time.  It is hardly ordinary.  Ordinary Time is the ordered life of the Church.  I remember teaching this in RCIA and I learned a great deal. It is appropriate to read the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (which is actually the first Sunday celebrated in Ordinary Time) always features either John the Baptist’s acknowledgment of Christ as the Lamb of God or Christ’s first miracle – the transformation of water into wine at the Wedding in Cana.  So for us ordinary Catholics in ordinary time we receive Christ, the Lamb of God who walks among us and transforms lives.  This is why there is nothing ordinary about ordinary time.  Ordinary time is the longest stretch in the Church’s Liturgical Seasons.  This does not mean it is ordinary in our interpretation.  It comes from Latin as most of our terms do.  It actually refers to numbers in a series and comes from the Latin word “ordo”.  Ordinary time in fact is really the ordered life of the Church.  We live each week in watchfulness and expectation of the Second Coming of Christ.. The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time is the Gospel of John.  I love the Gospel of John.  For me it is a great tool and an amazing love story.

Blessings,

Lynn

Lynn L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator & Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada