Mosaic Monday- All about mystics

Mosaic Monday

The Mystics

Bear with me as I share some of my week-end retreat in this way.

"Mystics on the Move"
Art by Sr Marie Becker
I will tell you more about this marvelous piece of art at a later date.

There is quite a marvelous spiritual movement in the world today.

"Mystics on the Move"

What does Mysticism Mean, and who cares?

Mystic was a scary word to me, until this weekend.

My idea of a mystic was someone who was way over there in an unattainable place I could never reach, maybe even a little 'looney'.
Boy was I ever wrong.

The definition our presenter used.

Mysticism is

The desire of the human soul to have union with the Devine.
According to Merton the desire itself is pleasing to God, as long as we are trying.

Thomas Merton, my favorite, wrote.

Click on to enlarge


My mosaic for today is
some of the most well known mystics.

 Center, Thomas Merton, he is more real to me.
1st. on the left to the right -Soren Kierkegaard, I remember a little from college.
2)Hildegard of Bengin
3) Augustine of Hippo
4) Catherine of Sienna
5) Down the right side, Theresa of Calcutta
6) Theresa of Avila
7) Bonaventure, sorry bad selection for a pic.
8) John of the Cross, to the left
9) Julian of Norwich
10) Thomas Aquinas, up the left. Gotta know him, I was educated by the Dominicans.
11) Teilhard de Chardin
12) Beloved, St. Francis of Assisi 

"Christians of the future will either be a mystic or he/she will not be a Christian at all."
Karl Rahner, S.J.


This make sense to me when I look around at politicians and others who profess to be Christian.
There is so much hypocrisy.

Being mystical does not mean being perfect.
It means living each day with the understanding that you always walk with God and you act as if you know it and therefore treat others and nature as such.


From scripture we learn

We will be known as Christians, because of our love for each other.
Forgive me for being judgementel, but I hear some call themselves Christian yet I cannot see it in their treatment towards others.




Go here for more Mosaic Mondays.

In retreat this weekend

Please pray for me and my fellow associates as we gather this week-end to re-commit to our ministries of service to others.

"Mystics on the Move."

What is mysticism and why do we even care?

How would you answer that question?

First ATC card. September theme Leaves

I am so excited.

I told you it doesn't take much to make me happy these days, thank goodness.

Yesterday I received my first ATC from my swap partner Denisa at

Full of Gold 

She is truly 'full of Gold, full of God's Grace.'

Pay her a visit and soak up her wonderful witness to the joys of faith.

Click to see details of this ATC and pay special note to the embroidery knots around the edge.

I am impressed.

I received, in this card, the joy of beauty and an idea of using sewing skills in my ATCs.
 I forgot to take a picture of my card, but it was done on a piece of bark from our Riverbirch tree.

For Denisa's boys, the tree.

I collect the peeled bark and dry it and it makes a wonderful surface to paint on.

Thanks to Denisa, Debbie and Wendy for this fun ATC swap project.

Check it out, I think you will like the idea.

Now that is pretty exciting

Friday Shoot Out

This week's FSO theme is flora, fauna and/or pets.

Not many unusual plants and foliage in a small town like mine.

So here are some of our back yard critters.

Horses next door.

 The regal doves are everywhere.

Peter rabbit waiting for Polly rabbit.

Tish and Todd in our p0nd.

Wonder what  this Japanese maple is reaching for.

The Far East maybe?

Go here for more FSO

2 meme week and Vintage Thingie Thursday

This week I received two memes.

Today is the day for me to follow through.

One came to me from Cathy at Bit of the Blarney
Cathy has been hostess for Adventure Express for awhile and I take part every week.
It has changed my understanding of an adventure.
I used to think I did not have any adventures left.
Was I ever wrong.
Check her out and get the adventure bug.

Another came to me from Steven at Crazy as a cool fox.

Steven is always taking part in fun things. Creative writing is his forte and he has quite a talent to inspire. 


Now Cathy's meme asked for 10 surprising things
and Steven's had 7 .
I am going to present six.


1) I had been in the medical profession for 52 years when I retired at age 70.


2) At age 18 I went into training as an x-ray tech and spent 25 years there.


3) This is not a surprise statement to many of my followers but the most dramatic occurrence of my life, after my marriage and the births of my children, was the death of my only sister at age 32.
I left the x-ray position and began college work on a nursing degree.


4) Graduated from nursing school at age 48 and spent the remaining 27 years as a nurse.


5) I was scared to death of retirement, can you believe that. But I am loving it.


6) I am an idealist. HH is a realist.

I am also hooking up with Vintage Thingie Thursday with this picture to go with my x-ray experience noted above.

I found this picture on the net but it looks just like my early years. My instructor was a nun and and the Radiologist. The x-ray tube had to be changed for different sized areas of the body. They were heavy, and yes years ago techs wore caps. Well,  we got rid of those very quick because our arms were constantly up moving and measuring and adjusting and dragging  that heavy tube around.
The tech has to step behind that barrier while the exposure is made.
When I go for x-rays now it is an entirely different picture.


Now that is all me knows, at this time.


Go visit my friends listed above and I pass this meme challenge on to anyone with guts enough to accept it. LOL

Go here for more VTT

Adventure Express with Cathy and some words of reflection

Well thanks to Cathy and Adventure Express I have changed my idea of what an adventure is.

I had such an exciting day on Friday when I went to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth to do my three hours of volunteer work as an associate, I could hardly wait to write about it.

For weeks now I have been looking for a table with wheels to store my art supplies on so that I can wheel them in and out of the closet. Now everything stays stacked up on my kitchen table. In see-thru boxes, of course, but still stacked up.

Something like this would be perfect.
Woo Hoo
I saw this in the Visitor's Center room just as soon as I walked in and asked her if she knew where we could find another one like it.
She said no and told me if I wanted it I could have it. She had it because a friend of hers had moved and could not take it with her.
I resisted but she said she only took it because the friend had no where else to take it.
In fact she got it just for me.
How lucky can one get.

Next she told me she was sorry I did not get to come to the campus picnic 2 week-ends ago because my degenerative disk was acting up.

I told her the main thing I missed was getting a chance to get fabrics etc. from the missions in India and Botswana.

She went to a cabinet, came back and said
"You want fabrics from India and Africa? Help yourself."
Woo Hoo again.

Batik from India.

India

Botswana

India

Made in Kenya.


Every single one of these pieces are finished with uncut edges and suitable for table spreads, banners or wall hangings.


On top of that I ran into one of the sisters who taught me to cut plastic shopping bags and crochet tote bags and purses out of them.
That is something I have been wanting to learn for a couple of years.

We did not have any visitors at the center that day and it was a good thing. I was busy all three hours oohing and awing over all the great things that were going on.

God loves art and artists.
He just told me so.


Just read some words coming from the hearts of a couple of folks struggling with all the demands of life.
Just so happened to receive this letter today from our new director of the SCNAssociates group I belong to. It is fairly long.
You will know who needs to read it.
It hit right home for me.

Dear Associates, Candidates, Inquirers, and Sisters,

A month has passed and I am feeling more comfortable in my new position.  Tammy and I are working to get everything finished for the retreat weekend.  Sr. Marilyn has a wonderful program planned for all those who will attend.  If you won’t be able to be here at Crimmins with us, please gather with other Associates close by and watch it by Web cast in a group or with your faith group members.  It will be video taped and you will be able to check out a copy to watch if you won’t be able to watch that weekend and it will also be archived so you can watch it at a later time.

Sr. Maria Vincent had Patsy O’Toole send former members, who had attended a gathering in 2007, a reflection she had.  I wanted to share a part of that with you.  She was here on retreat and she used this as a meditation one day.  It is (from an unofficial publication of the Schola network)

The question was “How can I work in the marketplace and also lead a contemplative life?”  This was particularly interesting to me and I thought some of you might want to read what part of the reply was.

“. .. . The truly contemplative person is not necessarily the one who spends long hours in solitude, though some quiet time is essential.  Rather, the active-contemplative (or the contemplative-active) is the one who acts in a self-possessed way, who does not panic or become frantic, frenzied, and frazzled when there is too much to do.  Each thing to be done is taken in its turn.  What can be done in a given period is done.  What cannot be done is left undone.  And miraculously, by keeping a cool head, one gets more done in a given time than would have been possible were one to panic. 

We in the USA seem to be always in a mad rush to get things done, victims of the work ethic that substitute’s activity for virtue.  Even when the pressure of the job is almost unbearable, one can turn inward – who’s to prevent that – and draw on that strength which brings with it the realization that it is a joy just to be alive, to know that God exists, that the spirit is immortal.

Contemplation should be an adverb which modifies our action.  It describes the mode or manner of one’s conduct.  The practicing Buddhist knows this.  Contemplation lies in the intensity of one’s ability to concentrate, to “center” oneself by attending to what one is doing.

. .. . If one can learn to perform each action on its own terms, one can get along with very little private prayers, just as people with dedication to an important project can get along with very little sleep.  All of which does not mean that less time for private prayer is better than more time.  What it does mean is that no one is excluded from leading a contemplative life because they lack sufficient time for long, quiet prayer.  So the motto: Do what you’re doing can be helpful.  Contemplation is not a thing-in-itself; it lies in the how of the things you must do.”

Thank you Sr. Maria for sharing.

I hope to see you at the weekend.  I just wanted to say hello and share something that I thought would help you along the journey!

Love and always blessings from Nazareth,

Jo 

Go here to see more Adventure Tours. 

--
 

Happy Birthday Superboy

Happy Birthday

Superboy

Get the latest copy.

On the news stands now.

Superboy just mosseying along keeping an eye on things.

Protecting his loved ones.

Creative Tuesday- Theme birthdays

Everyone loves a birthday party.

Now when you are small a birthday is enough unto itself.

In later years it takes a party to help me through.

Let's party.

For

Birthday

My new Bic Mark-It.

Ultra fine point permanent markers and a touch of white water color.

Woo Hoo

Love it.

Now go here for some more CT

Mosaic Monday- Signs of Fall

Mosaic Monday

It is that marvelous time of the year again when I feel like I can take a deep breath without chewing the air.

Many flowers are fading but the harbingers of fall are coming on.
Click on mosaic to avoid the sidebar.

The crabapples

The begonias

The humingbird feeder is about empty

The grass is needing rain.

But the cool weather and shortening days make us more comfortable and ready to slow down and get our nests ready for winter.

I love living in a climate with regular changes.

I even like winter.

Go here for more MM with Mary.

Magpie Tales with willow

Magpie Tales

with

Willow Manor

The Haunting of House #51
 Berkeley Square

My name is Miss Effie Fletcher. Miss Effie of Miss Effie's Millinery.

I attest that these matters written here are true, to the best of my ability to remember.

At that time I lived in Berkeley Square along with several other families of distinction.
I was not of those families, just a renter of a flat.

Each morning I hurried to my millinery shop with loud click, clacks on the cobblestone, made by my very fashionable laced ladies walking boots.
Of course I wore the best in millinery wear as a walking advertisement.

I passed by the home of the spinster Rudd Sisters.

There were three at one time.

Agnes, Mae, Regina.

One, Miss Agnes was a dressmaker and the misses Mae and Regina were educators.

Mae and Regina had passed on and Miss Agnes lived alone in that big house with her house staff and all her mannequins and sewing machines.

She still did some mending and simple construction of clothes, mostly for babies and children. Her christening gowns were known all over London.

I almost went there when I was looking for a flat near my newly established millinery shop, but I kept hearing roomers that #51 Berkeley Square was haunted.

#51 was where the Rudd Sisters lived. Well that was not for me and I took a suite of rooms in the home of the Spencers, a middle aged couple who never bothered me nor I they.

Of course most of my customers were well to do ladies and they knew what they were talking about.
They all patronized my shop since I was on top of the most beautiful and stylish fashions in Europe.
Refined ladies do not gossip, of course.
Just the truth.


They always looked down on the Rudd Sisters since they never married and were working to make ends meet.

Well that was not true at all the Rudd's had their own share of respectability and nobility in their lineage.
Their ancestors had come from Pepin The Short,
the Carroll, Brooke and Twyne families.



I usually walked straight down the street to my shop on the same side of the street. To the shop and back to my flat on the same side, never breaking my routine.


One evening, the sun was still up and it was a very clear evening. As I was on my way home , I looked up into the sky and something drew my eye to the second floor window of the house #51.
The haunting.


I looked up and slowed down. It looked like a person in the window. A person with a long gown on and both arms raised up in the air.
I dare not stop and stare.

Well the next morning, I would just walk on the other side of the street and see what I could espy.

Nothing was seen in the second floor window the next morning or the next evening.

I went on for several days, just about ready to keep it all to myself, since I had heard it was haunted, when on my way home one Wednesday, I saw the figure again.

Well as I strolled along home I realized that last Wednesday was when I saw it before and also I had run into Miss Agnes on Wednesday morning as she was coming out of the house, saying she was on her way to the market since Wednesday and that evening was her cook and maid's day off.
She just passed me by without any greeting.
Must have had her mind on something else.
Didn't even notice my beautiful teal velvet and peacock feathered hat.

Didn't give it much thought at that time.

The next morning was Thursday and as I neared #51 Berkeley Square I noticed Mr. Weitherly up ahead of me on the walk way.


Mr. Weitherly was the landlord of my shop and lived all the way on the other end of Berkeley Square.
His office was over my shop.


"Well good morning Mr. Weitherly," I said as I hurriedly caught up with him." How are you this fine morning?"

"Well Miss Effie, you are looking snappy this morning. I take it you are very well," he bowed to me. "I was just out for a short walk as I stayed all night in my office and needed to stretch."


"Yes, I am well and how is Mrs. Weitherly and all the little ones this morning?" I inquired.
He didn't have to tell me why he was out, it was none of my business.

They were raising their 2 grandchildren and I had been told Mr. Weitherly was not too keen on that.


"Everyone is fine," he said. " I must be getting on to my office right away. A busy day today."
He tipped his hat as he walked hurriedly away.
Was his face flushed or was that my imagination?


Well each day after that I watched the upper window for evidence of the haunting and did not see anything again until Wednesday.

As I was strutting on to work I met Miss Agnes, again, coming out of her house and she told me she was on her way to market.

"Do you go to market every Wednesday morning yourself when your cook is off," I asked.

"Oh yes I do love to cook dinner myself on occasion."
Miss Agnes looked rather chipper today. As if she was anticipating a good day and evening. There was quite a bounce in her step.

Yes the haunting figure was in the window again that Wednesday evening.
Yes, I saw Mr. Weitherly up in front of me as I made my way to my shop the next morning.


I slowed down and walked very slowly,behind him, to work that day.
Not a haunting, me thinks, a secret code.
That's all me knows, as my little granddaughter says, with a grin.


Go here for more Magpie Tales.

I love this, I love this song and this little girl.

Thanks be to God.

This is the most amazing young star I have ever seen.

It seems every little soprano has sung this song.
I researched them all and in my uneducated music opinion, she is the best.
Even better than Maria Callas as an adult, or as good.
Click on the video twice and it will take you to You Tube then click on 'skip intro' at top of screen.

I can't stop watching this video. This is one of my favorite songs of all time.

I saw some earlier pics of her and I love her the more simple way rather than all glamorized up.

Praise God for such a beautiful gift.