Are you lucky?

A wealthy man is a lump of clay gilded with luck.
Oh greedy one, you are not wealthy. You are just lucky.
An unlucky person will accuse you of guilt,
But what guilt is there in being lucky?
To be lucky and guiltless you must share the luck.
Then everyone is rich. They are lucky to have wealth,
And lucky to know a generous person like you.
You are good when you are one with your soul,
You are good when you speak well of others.
You are good when you strive toward goals.
You are good when you do something kind
For somebody else's sake and for nothing in return.
And you do good in many countless ways
But when you are not doing good for others
You are merely wasting away an opportunity.
If you have the good fortune on Judgment Day
To be within earshot of the Savior,
You will cry out with the others and say,
"Oh Lord, I am a sinner and you are all merciful.
In spite of all the bad that I have done,
And all the good I could have done but didn't,
I sincerely repent and I crave your forgiveness
If it is not already too late."

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All-Terrain Woman

Today was the first time that I heard the phrase "all-terrain woman." A news reporter was interviewing a young Honduran woman named Rosalin Guillermo with three children who had been waiting on the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico for twenty-four hours with no food or water and in desperation she had climbed down a sort of rope ladder into a boat that was below the bridge and some kind young men climbed down after her bringing her children with them and they all crossed he river together. When the reporter asked her how she had the courage to do something like that she said, "This bridge, this river, they can't stop me. I am an all-terrain woman." ("Soy una mujer todo terreno"). By the use the metaphor "all-terrain woman", she labeled herself as a strong person who can endure a lot of difficult situations.

When asked why she was making this difficult, dangerous, and uncertain journey to seek asylum in the United States with her young children she said, "I want them to study, have a good future. My husband is dead so I do this for my kids. I ask you with all my heart, wouldn't your mother do the same for you?" When the reporter mentioned that Donald Trump has a "zero tolerance" policy for her actions she said "I know about this," she says. "But I have faith in God. He has the final word. We did not come to rob or kill anyone. All we want to do is work and start a new life."

Her courage and determination remind me of a line from the English poet, James Allen:

The human will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless soul,
Can hew the way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.

My hat is off to all-terrain women everywhere!

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Politics vs. Peace and Harmony

Politics is a convention for the narrowing of minds enough to perpetuate the reign of ignorance, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation of the desires and designs of one another. Because individual lives on earth are relatively short, mortality compels a dependence, and charity speaks to the heart in a faint, yet powerful voice, and binds mankind in a common brotherhood in the struggle for the common good against non-rational ideas and the evil impulse of our base desires. Nevertheless, we have every reason to hope that through individual humility, patience, empathy, and self-sacrifice that we can accelerate the unity of purpose of the vast human family under the paternal gaze of our Creator and thus reach the state of peace and harmony that is the end point of His eternal plan.

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On the Gifts of God

Considerations:

1.) I consider the material gifts that God has given me, my body and the means to maintain it, my family, my talents, my abilities, my education, my vocation, and my mission in life. I also consider how many more people there must be without these gifts; people who are in poor health, people who are injured, without limbs, blind, deaf, mute, poor, uneducated, homeless, and hungry, etc. I also consider that God willed that I should be better off than many people and yet, at times, I have been ungrateful of what I have and envious of those who have more. I also consider that He has granted the progress of my soul in uniting with His Holy Spirit.

2.) I consider the mental gifts that God has given me. Why am I not stupid, idiotic, insane, neurotic, psychotic, or hopelessly drug addicted like so many other people? God has favored me with loving parents who provided me with a decent and suitable education while so many other people have grown up without good parents to guide them and have grown up in utter ignorance.

3.) I consider God's spiritual gifts. From a small child God has taught me to know about Him. How often has He shown me the correct path and how many times have I failed Him? How many times has He forgiven me and delivered me from evil only to see me fall again from his grace. In spite of my failings, how many opportunities has he given me to repent and turn away from sin, and how have I responded?

Affections and Resolutions:

1.) Oh God, how good Thou hast been to me; how generous in mercy and kindness Thou art. O my soul, be ever aware of all the great things that the Lord has done for thee!

2.) I wonder at my own ingratitude. What am I, Lord, that Thou should remember me? I have rejected Thy mercy and abused Thy grace.

3.) Wake up O my soul! Renew thy faith and love for thy Benefactor. How could I not serve the Lord who has done such great things in me and for me?

Conclusion:

1.) I thank Thee O Lord, for making clear to me the knowledge of my benefits and my duty to serve Thee out of love for Thee and accepting Thy gift knowing that I will never be able to repay Thee.

2.) I offer Thee my heart, my mind, and my soul, O God, and I plead with Thee to accept me as a true son (or daughter).

3.) O God, please strengthen me by the merits of Thy son Jesus Christ who died on the Cross at Calvary for my sins. Amen.

Note: From Introduction to the Devout Life by Saint Francis de Sales, 21 August 1567 – 28 December 1622. He was a Bishop of Geneva and is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church. His Introduction to the Devout Life was written specially for lay people. In it he counseled charity over penance as a means of progressing in the spiritual life. St. Francis de Sales has been styled "the Gentleman Saint" because of his patience and gentleness. He developed a sign language in order to teach a deaf man about God. Because of this, he is the patron saint of the deaf. He is one of my favorite saints because he was very "down to earth, understanding of human nature, and practical as well as saintly. He, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Anthony of the Desert are my companions and advisers on the "straight and narrow path."

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