With all of this so fresh in my mind, you can imagine my elation and gratitude when I received the following link.
Turn up the volume and fly around the Sistine Chapel.
http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html
A Prayer Diary |
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Last month, on my travels to and from the cottage, I listened to Ross King’s Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling on audio tape. It was filled with technical details about frescos and pigments, and descriptive details about every fresco Michelangelo painted in the Sistine Chapel. When I got home I would take out my art books and examine the pictures. With all of this so fresh in my mind, you can imagine my elation and gratitude when I received the following link. Turn up the volume and fly around the Sistine Chapel. http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html
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I’m thinking about gratitude, figuring that with prayer I have to start there and end there, as challenging as it is. Start my day, my first sip of coffee, my walk, my solitude here at the cottage, things that I like. But what about happenings that don’t encourage my applause—burned toast, a flat tire, a friend with cancer? How can I muster gratitude then? And let’s move on to the wonders of nature. I have gratitude for the sunrise this morning and for the Wolf Moon last night. But what about the nor’easter that undoubtedly will bring snow to shovel, along with the possibility and reality of home damage and even death to someone? Not an uplifting place to end. It is so easy to parcel out gratitude for those things that please me. But, of course that presents me with a dualistic view of God, which I like to believe is way too small for me. God is bigger than any category, so my gratitude has to be bigger, as well. To me, gratitude is awe, so that’s where I must begin. When I start there, I can easily be grateful for the good things; with the help of God I can end up seeing and working in awe with God in the difficulties. My goodness, five days without a post. Busy time at home, along with many church visits, but I have been praying. Seems that many of the names I write anew each morning on my Top Ten Prayer List are repeats. Some folks are in the midst of some very tough times, and it doesn’t seem right to take them off. Today on my way here to the cottage I stopped at the nursing home to see Barbara. Usually I sit at her table in the lunchroom and we chat. But today, her spot was vacant; none of her friends knew where she was, but they were concerned. Well, it seems that this dear lady fell after breakfast and was taking across the street to the local hospital, where I found her in the ER, about to have her arm put in a temporary splint until tomorrow when an orthopedic surgeon will tend to it. “Unfortunately a nasty break,” the doctor on call told me. Yes, unfortunate. What are we to make of these unfortunate mishaps? Barbara is one of many ninety year-olds struggling to keep healthy and hopeful about life. She’d doing a remarkable job, but like many of her peers, she especially needs our prayers. We, who are able, have a special obligation to pray for those who are at the mercy of others for so much of their well-being. On the beach today, a clear, cold winter’s day, minus snow and wind. For a while, just God and me. I cherish the solitude and simplicity of the moment, after feeling crowded here at the cottage. Crowded? Not by visitors but by the people that I’m praying for. If I had made up God’s call to intercessory prayer, I’d immediately have found something else to do with my time. But here it is and it can get mighty overwhelming at times--overwhelming because it goes on and on and on. For most of the time it’s ‘praying without ceasing.’ More and more I’m accepting this call to prayer. The good news is that I have this cottage-by-the-sea where I can empty myself of the busyness of daily life, and, with the help of God, of judgments that get in the way of prayer. The bad news is that this isn’t easy. The physical, emotional and spiritual energy one puts out in prayer is something I never thought of, but it’s there, part of the call, so I’m discovering. For sure, intercessory prayer isn’t just about giving God a list of names that God already knows. When I get overwhelmed, I have my model. Jesus continually went off to pray, for others, and to be with God. He had his beach and I have mine. Whether I make a formal list of New Year’s resolutions, I always have a few lurking in the back of my mind. When I’m healthy and things are going well, the resolutions tend to be of the ‘self-improvement variety—eat healthy, exercise, be nice to the cat (I don’t have a cat, so that’s an easy one). But what about those who are sick or who are in the midst of painful life happenings? What might their resolutions be? No, no, that’s not the question I need to ask or answer. My question has got to be, “What can I do for them?” It’s pretty clear to me that I can’t solve their problems, but I can be present to them in whatever way seems appropriate. Visiting, leaving a meal, telephoning, emailing, sending a card are all possibilities. But maybe they don’t need or even want my physical presence. There’s always prayer, no matter what else I might do. Praying that the peace of God surround them; praying for the highest good, whatever that might be; praying God’s light shine in their midst—we each have our own language for our prayer. I try to keep mine simple and not tell God what to do. How about “Thy will be done”? What’s important is to ‘just do it’. |
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