He Is Risen! reflectiion from a Holy Land pilgrim

With each passing year...the older I get...my faith seems to be moving from acceptance of abstraction to acceptance of the very real. As a child, I didn't really understand how incredible the words "He has risen!" really are. And how this statement defies human understanding, yet, I accepted easily. As an adult, my faith is filled with much more wonder for recognition of what "He has risen!" really means.  The memory of my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land contributes to this wonder.   The stories and places of the bible are so much more real to me. Gratitude fills my heart this Easter, but mostly for Jesus and the perspective His teachings bring.

 -(reflection and photo from Holy Land pilgrim AD).

  On the Sea of Galilea, off the shore of Tiberias

Easter Vigil snapshots

Our Easter Candle is Lit!



Fr. Sean proclaiming the "Exultet" - He is Risen!

Our Cornerstone sisters proclaimed the Word of the Lord
Let us lift up our hearts to the Lord!


Everyone is arrayed with the Lord's creations


CHRIST BE OUR LIGHT

ALLELUIA!

Roll Away the Stone!
He is Risen! ALLELUIA!

Good Friday reflections from a pilgrimage

 Our Mt. Carmel pilgrims traveled to the Holy Land where Jesus was born and died.

They woke very,very early one morning and walked the Way of the Cross.

  Louise shares her moving experience with us this Good Friday.

"On the seventh day of our pilgrimage early in the morning we started the day on the Via Dolorosa “The Way of the Cross”.  We stopped and read each station along the way.  Fr. John Paul led us  after each station ( group of five taking a turn carrying the cross )  singing  “O heal me , O heal me, O heal me Jesus, heal me.  There are nine stations along the way the remaining five inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. After the ninth station Fr. John Paul, dressed in his white alb, was then given the cross to carry the remainder of the walk (we followed).  He placed the cross upon his shoulder with dignity and ease and his tight grip on the cross spoke to me. My eyes transfixed on his hand my thought was “I am never alone, should never be overwhelmed, Jesus is always with me either carrying or bringing me always to Hope. 

Later that morning, I witnessed Fr. John Paul kneel, touch The Stone of Unction (the stone where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial)   with his eyes closed, a peaceful expression came across his face, I again witnessed faith.   At our visit to the (believed) site of the High Priest Caiaphas’ home, we walked down the stairs into an area where excavations have shown a rock-cut flagellation post.  Fr. John placed his hands upon the rock, closed his eyes and sorrow this time on his face.  How blessed am I to have experienced such feelings in the core of my heart, while my eyes witnessed deep faith and the memory of John Paul’s hand tightly gripped to the cross understanding love, and lastly his look of sorrow while being in the places where Jesus may have walked.  This has been a grace given to me as I search Jesus in these last days of Holy Week."

Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, - Jesus
meets his mother.

Holy Sepucher Church - the site of the Holy Cross

- believed to be where the cross actually was in the ground.
It is a site of holy veneration as you can see-

we each knelt down in
humility to kiss the ground.
Holy Sepucher Church - the site of the Holy Cross

-Kathy L photos and caption

Holy Thursday- the Last Supper

 Holy Thurday

The Last Supper

It is Holy Thursday.

I am preparing for a feast on Sunday.

There is a lot to do-

Plan the menu, shop, set the table

cook, clean

make adequate space for the guests.

It was no different on that Holy Thursday.

Someone like me prepared the supper.

Someone like me set the table.

Someone like me expected a special guest.

Someone like me found enough chairs

and enough plates and cups

And someone like me had Jesus come for dinner.

The women were busy that day

making all the preparations.

By the time they served the meal, they must have been exhuasted.

But they were there.

And when Jesus broke the bread, and said the blessing

he said it for everyone

and when he shared the bread he shared it with all, the women too.

And when he blessed the cup

and shared it-

he shared it with the women too

Giving thanks to God for His greatness.

I imagine Jesus thanked the women for preparing the food

perhaps complimenting some delcious portion he tasted

knowing the loving work it takes to make a Passover feast.

I imagine the hostess, nervous at first,

was calmed by Jesus

as he humbly washed the feet of his disciples

until in gratitude tried to wash hers....

Today

We are all welcome at the Table of the Lord.

We are given a gift of being at the Last Supper

 every time we partake of the Eucharist.

Today

 we can remember that women made the bread

served the meal

and

ate the bread

and

drank of the cup

with Jesus
and

are deeply loved by him. 

Then and now.

Linda has shared a beautiful poem she came across just recently in America Magazine,
written by a woman- a nun

Sister Lou Ella Hickman

“a woman at the last supper”

i knew exactly what he meant

for I know about body and blood

as well as flowers and yeast and sewing

he used words I could understand about giving life

and during those moments

I felt the world revolved around me instead of only men

but now

there are dishes to wash, a floor to sweep

and food to put away

yes, I know about body and blood; about giving life

and I will remember

Wenesday of Holy Week

It is time to face the cross.

in all of Lent

I looked at the back of the cross,

as a bystander, an observer.

Knowing the story, I do not want to face the cross.

As the Tridium begins

I turn and look at Jesus.

I think of Jesus, the man, the son, the friend,

betrayed by a trusted disciple.

I think of his personal pain

I have felt that acute pain

that comes from betrayal of a loved one.

It pierces the heart.

But I will not stop here and wait for the sorrow.

I will keep walking,

and I will pass the pain

because I have learned of forgiveness from the Lord.

I can walk to the light

I can walk in the love

-because Jesus did

and showed me how.

I am facing the cross and trying to comprehend the events of Holy Week.

I realize I will never grasp this enormity,

I live in the aftermath of the greatest lesson ever taught by example-

Jesus living, dying and rising.

And I feel God's love.

Amen

Denying Christ and Reconciliation

Peter said to him,

“Master, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you.”

Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?

Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow

before you deny me three times.” Jn 13: 37-38

The photo is taken at the Church of St. Peter in Gallincantu, meaning 'cock-crow'. The statue is entitled, "No, I do not know the man". Peter indeed did deny Christ, but don't I do the same? And perhaps more than 3x a day?

Tonight and Wednesday evening we have the opportunity to seek forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. We can choose like Peter to return to the Lord, again and again and again.
- Kathy L.

We are preparing.

Easter is a few days away.

The church is prepared with washing and waxing the floors.

Are we washed and waxed too

with shiny hearts and souls?

Even loyal stouthearted Peter, who swore oaths,

was un-prepared for his test.

Father Ron today said Peter was over-confident of his faith.

I feel confident in my faith,

but wonder- how many times I would fail if put to the test like Peter?

3 times 30, I fear.

but like Peter, I now stand with the Lord

proclaiming my love and fidelity,

Grateful that my faith is nourished, not tested at Mt. Carmel

and praying the day will never come

that I deny the Lord.

The Lenten season has been uplifting in a new way.

My OLMC faith has allowed me to see and feel joy

where my old faith was filled with Lenten dread, remorse and sorrow.

God's love has given me a new freedom

to live in the light in every season, even Lent.

I will be going to the Vatican with the Mt. Carmel choir

where they will sing at the Altar of the Chair on July 3rd.

There I plan to humbly reflect on how Peter became the rock of our great and marvelous church

in spite of his grave transgression of denying his dearest friend and Lord.

If Peter can rise from his faults

so can I.

Holy Week Blessings

Lucy

Monday of Holy Week

Kathy, Louise, Jill and Anette experienced being in Bethay

This photo is from the mural in the Church at Bethany – where Lazarus, Martha & Mary lived.

  This scene depicts Mary approaching Jesus with the Alabaster jar in her hands.

Today’s Gospel retells this story.   -Kathy Lamont

This morning at the homily Father Sean said Mary did waht nobody else dared do.

She touched Jesus, and anointed him with a priceless ointment.

She bent over him, touched his feet.  This was a very intimate gesture-

one a spouse might do. 

Mary must have been filled with love and courage, so have such scandalous behavior in public.

But what she did for Jesus, he did for us.

It was prefiguration of the washing of the feet at the Last Supper.

I believe Mary had courage.

I believe she had love.

I believe she had faith.

The hymn Valimar sang at the Mission echoes in my mind

Said Judas to Mary " Now what will you do

With your ointment so rich and so rare?"

"I'll pour it over the feet of the Lord,

and I'll wipe it away with my hair."

"O Mary, O Mary, O think of the poor.

This ointment, it could have been sold;

Annd think of the blankets and think of the bread

You could buy with the silver and gold," he said,

"You could buy with the silver and gold."

"Tommorrow, tomorrow, I'll think of the poor,

Tomorrow," she said, "not today;

For dearer than all of the poor in the world

Is my love who is going away," she said,

"My love who is going away."

Said Jesus to Mary, "your love is so deep

today, you may do as you will.

Tomorrow, you say, I am going away,

Bt my body I leave with you still," he said,

"My body I leave with you still."

OLMC window

 

We carry the love within us this week

Holy Week begins

...thoughts of Holy Week-reflections from encounters in the Holy Land....

On our recent pilgrimage to the Holy City, we walked the passageway called Palm Sunday Walk, the site which is traditionally used to commemorate Jesus' own entry to Jerusalem on a lowly animal. We envisioned the shouts of "Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!"
Along the way we encountered a colorful burro which brought to mind the beginning of His Journey to Suffering, Death, and Triumph. Is it possible that Jesus perhaps walked on these same cobblestones, and that the palms we saw were descendants of those laid down for His path?
Today, Palm Sunday, we shout Hosanna to our King - as Fr. Ron said today, may we shout this out loud, not just in Church, but to our family, our jobs, our world! -Kathy L.

Last night, in the pouring down torrential rain, I saw Father Sean leading a large crowd of singing Catholics up Ridgewood Avenue in a re-enactment of the Palm Sunday Arrival of Christ. Father Sean said in his homily yesterday that the Church calls for a public procession of faith on one day of the year- Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday itself was splendid- with brilliant sunshine. Father Sean was nice and dry as he blessed the palms outside Mt. Carmel at the 3:00PM mass.

The procession is a moving towards Christ. The palms remind us of those that greeted Jesus as he came into town on the road Kathy described, as depicted in Anette's Holy Land picture.
Tonight the reading of the Passion at 6:30 mass had new meaning for me. I was the Voice in the story. The Voice speaks the words of Peter who promises to stand by Jesus no matter what, yet fails to do so 3 times. It is also the Voice of Judas, and Caiaphas, the High Priest.
I did not like speaking Peter's words of denial, and wonder how many times I do that in day to day life by not showing my Catholic self. I wonder how many times I am a Judas, who betrays someone he loves for money.
I did not like what the Voices said, especially when the voice was my own.
I hope to have a holy Holy Week, and I wish the same for all of you.
blessings, Lucy

Water and Mission

As we start the second half of Lent

Father Ron explained that the gospel

now turns to talk about Jesus.

The first reading is of the water, flowing from the temple,

first as a trickle, and then as a raging river.

The gospel tells the story of the sick man who could not get into the water at the pool of Siloam.

Jesus helps us to the water.

Healing waters abound this Lent.

ValLimar and Tom

Lead us to the Water

at the Mission

and last night was very "moving"

Talking about the music ministry to the choir

Val with choir members

Mission Monday Night

What is often said in many, many words can be conveyed

so powerfully through lyrics in a song.

We heard them tonight as Tom Kendzia and ValLimar Jansen made us the choir

and got us to sway and pray!

Tom played come. come as your are and worship

come, come as you are before your God

People came, and it was standing room only

 ValLimar told us the story of the Woman at the Well

who gave Jesus a drink

and a taste of living water

and the story of the man born blind.. the Gospel we heard yesterday.

Val was the neigbor of the man born blind

and told us the gossip about him

and how he came to know Jesus 

We were shaking our hands and praising God in song!

ValLimar,

 you are a beautiful sister

and we know you would sit as we sit,
in our Cornestone circle

and tell your story

which is

Faith

See you tomorrow!

blessings,

Lucy

Mission Monday

The Mission Starts Tonight!

If you did not hear ValLimar and Tom Kendzia over the weekend

you missed something special.

They are here to PROCLAIM with music and story

The Gospel of the Lord

The church was rocking last night!

It's a special opportunity to hear a song sung by the compsor

especially after singing it so many times in church.

Endless is Your Love, by Tom Kendzia

echoed through Mt. Carmel is a beautiful way

with Toms' own voice

reminding us of how God loves us.

And ValLimar telling the creation story as we never heard it before..

..singing on the altar as we never heard before

..urging us to Be The Choir

and to shout our true AMEN!

Keith Guthrie and Cheryl Spirer
music makers

See you at the Mission

Blessings!

Laetare Sunday

Laetare Sunday

This third Sunday in Lent

is celebrated with joy.

the priests wear the rose-pink vestments.

And what a great day to announce our Parish Misssion!

Last night Val Limar and Tom Kendzia arrived in town

and we had the lovely opportunity to meet these

nationally acclaimed Catholic music writers and performers.

The musicians, Tom Kendzia and Peter Sicko

Val Limar and Keith Guthrie

Tomm Kendzia and noted speaker coach- John Halvey

Keith, Tom and Peter
We look forward to an awesome Mission this upcoming week
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
with special sessions for the music ministry,
other ministries and the Youth.

Special welcome home to our Holy Land pilgrims
Louise, Jill and Annete, waiting for Kathy to join them at the 9:30 mass today.
Welcome home ladies!