Weave and Sew Dust

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I needed a coffee break from my weaving and sewing and I am glad for your company and conversation. Thanks for taking the time to read and share my postings.

Come and You Will See JBB

Come and you will see—John 1: 39

I have often found myself wondering where Jesus was staying when he gave the invitation to the two disciples. My imagination tends to run a bit rampant. Did he live his everyday life in a small house attached to his carpenter’s shop? Did he spend so much time at the synagogue that he lived in a house adjacent to it? Did he depend on his lodgings to be provided by his extended family and friends? Did he live by the sea so he could take meditative walks along the shore? Did he have a sheltering cave in the mountains for his sojourns there?

A favorite quote of mine is, “Wherever your heart is, there will be your home.” And Jesus had the largest heart of all, a heart that was particularly in sync with the plight of the poor. So what exactly did those disciples SEE? They must have seen the love of God in action; that Jesus stayed where his heart called him to be. They might even have recognized a bit of themselves as they were created to be. Face-to-face encounters with the poor tend to open one’s heart wide.

Consider the well-known words of the ghost of Jacob Marley as he visits Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, “Business!. . .Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. . .Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?”

Consider Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday our country celebrates in January, who came and saw how God loves all people unabashedly equally and then put his heart, soul , and life into making a difference.

Or study the saints, every one of which sees the oneness of God’s creation and then go on to live lives that seek to help the poor.

When God calls; when you wonder where God dwells; will you come and really see and have your life fulfilled?

(first published in the Justice Bulletin Board 1/15/2012)

A New Flame

I had every intention of starting a new way of sending Christmas cards this year via my blog. . .and now it is already December 28 and I haven't written in my blog in ages! I hope that everyone had a beautiful day and without further ado, I wish everyone good things in the new year. May everyone be abundantly blessed!

Below is my "card" photos for the new year. My kids know of my love for cats and I have been without one for a long time. So this year they surprised me with a flame point Siamese kitten named "Holly Go Lightly." She is a riot. . .follows us all over the house, has already climbed almost all the way up the Christmas tree, quick to made her needs known, and not shy at all. She is a rescued kitty  and is eating like crazy to put some flesh on her little bones. She is super affectionate and has even won over my dog-loving husband.

Thanks, Cara and Kyle, I didn't realize how ready I was to have a little ball of fur back in my life. I am so blessed with your love and the love of your children. Little people and little creatures under foot. . .the stuff of Christmas! As tiny Tim so eloquently spoke, "God bless us everyone."

I think this photo looks like an old oil painting.

and I couldn't resist adding this cherub. . .

 

 

Compassion JBB

. . .for I am compassionate—Exodus 22:26

I cannot say it any better than these words by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCC, November 1999:

“Because God loves you, you never stand alone. There is someone with you in anxious moments who knows your deepest desires and wants what's best for you. Think of the person who has loved you most. Multiply that love a million times over and you still haven't reached the extent of God's personal love for you.

Because God loves you, you can go beyond yourself. You can forgive those who have hurt you, however deeply. Even when you feel intense pain, the possibility of forgiveness lies within you. You can forgive others because God is always ready to forgive your sins. You can overlook wrongs because God empowers you to go beyond your own heartache.

Because God loves you, you can ask forgiveness of those you have hurt. You can admit wrongs and ask forgiveness to make relationships right. His grace can heal you.

Because God loves you, you can care for the weak, remove injustices, alleviate poverty, annihilate oppression, and restore righteousness in our world. The love of God in you gives you strength to defend the unborn, support the elderly, and lift the hearts of those without hope. God's grace in you helps you to see that in every person beats a heart yearning to be loved.

Because God loves you, you have the power to touch hearts with compassion, heal wounds in those around you, and act selflessly.

. . .Now through the Holy Spirit, the power of God's love lies within you.”                 http://www.sjnews.org/because.htm

Created in the image of God, we human beings cannot live our lives wrapped up in our own little world. As God is compassionate so must we be. The unity of love of God and love of neighbor is a hallmark of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. . .transcendent mystery and loving labor hand-in-hand.

Now, you cannot say, “I did not know.”

What does love look like?

For us, love looked like a cute little blond with sparkling blue eyes and a Southern drawl who flashed into our son's life nine years ago, along with her darling daughter, Kayla. "Windi", as her grandfather nicknamed her at her birth, was so full of life and love that one would never know she had a heart transplant in her late 20's. At the time that she gave birth to our grandson, Christopher, eight years ago, she was one of only 40 women worldwide, who successfully carried a baby full term after having a heart transplant. . .our miracle baby from one of God's most  loving mothers. 

This past North Carolina weekend, the weekend she left us to run to her Maker, was picture perfect--like God made nature look and feel like Windi. . .the blue of her eyes in the sky, the leaves turning yellow gold like her hair, a spunky breeze, the just right warmth from the sun, and, at night, how the stars twinkled. She would have soaked in the glorious day with her family because she knew how precious life is in every day that she had. . .who should care about laundry and matching onesie socks. . .she had her priorities straight.

When I finally got into my car that day, the very first song that played on the radio . . ."Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie."  I am so going to miss you, my daughter-in-love.

In Memory

Yesterday was the first anniversary of my mom's "going home." A friend of mine, Maria, had designated a Mass in her memory-- a distinctly Catholic custom. Mom would have liked the Mass. It was the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul and I know she is with both her brothers, one who was named Vincent,and her sister, as well as my dad. The song for the Mass was "Sing a New Song" by Dan Schutte (1972, OCP Publications) and taken from Psalm 98. This is such a joyous song as is the Psalm that inspired it.

"Yahweh's people dance for joy. O come before the Lord. And play for him on glad tambourines, and let your trumpet sound."

Mom loved to dance and I can remember her at her Polish club in Florida dancing the polka with her friend, Edna.

"Rise, O children, from your sleep; your Savior now has come. He has turned your sorrow to joy, and filled your soul with song."

God turned my sorrow at her passing to joy in 2010 when, in her final months, I found I was gifted to create some paintings that gave me much joy.

"Glad my soul for I have seen the glory of the Lord. The trumpet sounds; the dead shall be raised. I know my Savior Lives."

I know my Savior lives and so does Mom!

"Sing a new song unto the Lord; let your song be sung from mountains high. Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing alleluia."

We need more singing these days.

As I got into my car after the Mass, I turned on my radio and an instrumental started playing. It played for the entire ride back to my  house.  The poignant song --"Going Home." I miss you, Mom.

"The Help"--a must see movie

Chris and I went to North Hills Cinema last night to see The Help and it was sold out so we went to the Raleigh Grande instead and ended up in the front row! Great movie, really captured the essence of the book. I won't spoil it for anyone but be prepared to laugh!

The art director is the son of a friend of mine and I am going to get to meet him at the beginning of September. Can't wait.

My favorite line from the book, that they couldn't put in the movie because it was in Aibileen's thoughts, is from a non-conversation between Miss Leefolt and her maid, Aibileen. Aibileen is thinking, "My face goes hot, my tongue twitchy. I don't know what to say to her. All I know is, I ain't saying it. And I know she ain't saying what she want a say either and it's a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation"(29). Thanks, Kathryn Stockett, for the gift of your book that is so poignant and depicted women of great courage, like so many women of the Civil Rights era.

 

See

See--I have been captivated by this word lately.This morning I am noticing the light on the window screen. Where there is an obstruction, the gentle light is completely blocked; it does not impose itself.

Light:how so like God; Blockage: how so like us.--musings of an anam cara (soul friend)

A little bit of sunshine

 A budding jewelry designer! Visit www.greenheartstudios.com

New look for one of my favs

Greenheart Studios is refreshing its look and, of course, the jewelry is always refreshing. One has to respond quickly to buy a piece of Cara's jewelry collection 'cuz they are, for the most part, one of a kind! All are meticulously hand-wired and only personally selected gemstones are used. Check it out at  http://www.greenheartstudios.com/ She does custom orders too!

When you visit Greenheart, you can also see one of the sweetest jewels, my granddaughter, Lila, who loves to model her own necklaces.    

Seeking Wisdom? JBB

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest—Matthew 11:28

It is easy to get a visual image of a day laborer in this passage and not the more erudite meaning of a Jewish scholar struggling to master the laws of the Torah while failing to seek wisdom. All ancient Hebrew thought is expressed through the senses, what can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted, or heard. In this way, because of Hebrew’s concrete language, the Lord reaches both the day laborer and the scholar with these reassuring words.

In our Door Ministry, many day laborers come seeking financial help. Our “day laborers” consist of construction workers, nurse’s aides, bus drivers, moms with kids in tow, restaurant workers, landscape gardeners, young people trying to finish college or trade schools, and the elderly, to name a few. Thanks to the wonderful contributions from the parishioners at Sacred Heart, the Door Fund is able to give them a little bit of financial rest.

But, something else happens here at The Door. Wisdom happens. For it is here that we encounter our sisters and brothers who have the same hopes and dreams like our own. Paul describes it in this way: “There is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female; for you are all one person in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). Or, as Anne Werdel so often says, “We are all beloved sons and daughters of God.” We learn the wisdom of inclusivity.

I am also thoroughly convinced that the Lord gives us the poor, not so much for us to change them but so that we can be changed, transformed in our minds and hearts--to begin to love as God loves. We learn the wisdom of selfless love.

Finally, on the road to everyday holiness, God often sends people to us so that we may continue on our way toward God. However, because most of us are so insulated from the poor, we need to put our feet on the ground in their neighborhood if we wish to grow in holiness. Remember, Jesus spent a good portion of his life among the poor making their lives better. As we hear in Joan Chittister: In My Own Words: “Sanctity consists in making life good for everyone whose life we touch.”  We learn the wisdom of walking with the poor.