O Oriens

"O Rising Dawn (O Oriens): O dawn of the east, brightness of light eternal, and sun of justice: come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death."

Wonder and awe strikes me whenever I am up early enough to watch the sun rise.  Our last visit to Colorado allowed that, and the dawn was glorious.  I know it is physics, light bending, various parts of the prism breaking through at different speeds, etc.  But, it still draws awe from deep inside my being.  Watching a new day emerge never ceases to draw my soul toward rejoicing in the everlasting dawn of the Son of God.

Today is our shortest day, longest night of the year.  We weren't up to watch the lunar eclipse, to watch the moon show red.  Though, with our wintry cloud cover, the motivation wasn't there.  This is a rare occasion, and many people have placed special meaning on it.  But, it is also just physics.  The author of our world, who actually is the source of those laws people have termed laws of physics, gravity, chemistry, etc. has indeed created a world full of wonder for all of us!

May your remaining days of Advent be filled more with joyful anticipation than frantic preparation.

O Clavis David

"O Key of David (O Clavis David): O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death."

Thank you, Lord, for saving me from my own darkness.  By your grace I have not sunk back into that original darkness You rescued me from, and by Your grace  You continually pull me back from the dark.  May Your light continue to shine more brightly in my soul, illuminating my path to heaven and eternity with You.

O Radix Jesse

"O Root of Jesse (O Radix Jesse): O Root of Jesse, that stands for ensign of the people, before whom the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: come, to deliver us, and tarry not."

Deep roots, deep in history keep us grounded back to the very beginning when the Word spoke.   On a personal level, my familial roots remind me that my ancestors who were devout believers are standing before God, interceding for not just me, for all my family who have, for whatever reason, abandoned a practice of faith. My they intercede for me, and for all our living family, to deepen our awareness of God, how He has so blessed each of us, and may we be led back to those roots and a faithful practice of our faith.  Not for the sake of practice, but in adoration of our loving God and Father!

O Adonai

"O Lord and Ruler (O Adonai):  O Lord and Ruler the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and redeem us with outstretched arms."

Our Friday was busy getting a letter drafted, printed, envelopes addressed, cookies baked, and packages assembled for our visit to Michigan today.  Today will be as busy, but the activity interrupted with two long rides to and from our destination.   Along the way, dear Lord, please guide our words, thoughts and actions to reflect your Law as written in our hearts.

O Sapientia

Just so you know, Advent is not forgotten.  This year, even though Advent is almost as long as possible, the time has flown by!  Might have something to do with the shoveling and hauling of firewood!  Or not.

Today begins the beautiful O Antiphons, readying all of us to savor this last bit of Advent, and approaching Christmas Eve with a growing awareness of how good our gracious God is!

I am quoting from my Catholic Daily Planner - thanks to Michelle Quigley for providing this beautiful resource ..

"O Wisdom (O Sapientia): O Wisdom, who come from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly; come, and teach us the way of prudence."

Ahh, prudence.  Well spoken when we make our final gift decisions.  Tom and I have to remind each other, balancing each other, when we do make our gift selections, that the material isn't nearly as important to our kids than the emotional and spiritual.  We can't wrap those and put them under the tree, but we can offer back in an authentic way our deep love for each one of them, and our thanks to God that they were gifted to us so many years ago!

May you walk in His Wisdom today!

Lenten Thoughts

Oh, I know it is only Advent.  But somehow Advent purples prompt me to think ahead to Lenten purples.  While reading this morning's news it occurred to me that my standby of offering up both wine and whining would be inadequate this time around.

So this Lent, what I hope to excise from my words and thoughts is cynicism.  I enjoy a dry sense of humor, but after a few, ahem, emotionally charged incidents the past few days, I am realizing more and more how what I claim is humor isn't.  Plus adopting a cynical attitude toward life is robbing me of the true joy of life.  So until Lent, my intention is to listen to my words more carefully, and see where I lack in charity.  Not the words I speak, but that dialogue that runs inside my head.

I figure it is so deeply seated, that prayer, fasting and other Lenten practices might be the only way God can get me to stop this destructive way of approaching life and the world.  Don't expect any updates.  Just thought I would share with you my intentions.  The result won't be up to me, but I do plan, and having a plan is the first step toward reform.

More Snow???

Yup!  Went to bed Sunday night, woke up to over 18" of freshly fallen snow.  Tuesday the schools were closed, but by the afternoon the snow had finally stopped.  If any of you have followed the news, Hwy 402 that takes us to the border was closed.  In fact, over 300 vehicles were stranded for well over 24 hours.  The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) were on snow mobiles, and the military was called in for support.  Only one fatality, a man who chose to walk a short distance, and sadly, was found within 50 meters of his vehicle.

Okay, stop with the snow already!!!  It isn't even winter until Tuesday.

A really positive thought is that we live in southern Canada, so it did become warm enough, and there was plenty of salt so that by yesterday afternoon we were driving on bone dry roads.  Not quite the same in the parking lots, but you just take what good news you can!

Plans are to head across the border to get our Christmas cards and packages mailed to all of you back home.  Then we pick up a few groceries, and hopefully some raw peanuts for Tom's peanut brittle, as well as pecans that don't cost over $10 per 3/4 pound.  It's mighty hard to be a southern cook in southern Canada.