When something happens that just floors you...

Have you ever been struggling with something and you just can't put your finger on it?

You know there's something going on, something is not quite right, but you just can't figure out what it is?

Then, something happens, and there it is, the answer to a question you had not yet been able articulate?

As you know, most of us struggle in our mind about something or another. We may be aware of it, we may not. We may admit it, we may not. Nonetheless, the struggle is real and it affects us.

If you have gotten to the point where you are able to recognize your thoughts, and you spend time "looking" at them, you have figured out that taking time to be aware of your thoughts is truly valuable.

I heard a quote that made so much sense and explained it quite well. "Not all your thoughts are your own." Before I started learning about how thoughts affect us. That statement would have had me a bit dazzled.

Yet, it is so true. Thoughts come from other sources besides ourselves and we don't have to accept or entertain them. That's a discussion for another day.

Let's just summarize by saying that there has been a struggle within having to do with some of those thoughts. So coming from a place where I was not yet sure what it all meant, while knowing that the experience is for a reason, and there is value in it, the answer came yesterday and today in a very unexpected way.

When I am on the schedule to set up for Mass, I usually go at least an hour early. I want to be set up and deal with all the unexpected things that come up at least thirty minutes before Mass starts. I respect that some people come in early to pray and spend some quiet time with God and they don't need to be distracted by my presence in the Sanctuary.

Sunday, a very special friend was there early as well. She is struggling with physical illness and is using a wheel chair and she called me into the side room she was in and said she had something for me. I followed her to where she had her bag. She pulled out this rosary.

As most of you who know me, know that I wear a wooden cross that I bought while I was on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I bought it at a place where St. Francis of Assisi stayed when he walked the Camino. I've been wearing it every day since.

The gift she had for me is a rosary with the main cross as the cross of San Damiano where St Francis heard God telling him to rebuild His church. And the "beads" for the Lords prayer (Our Father) are the same as the cross that I wear!

How perceptive and thoughtful is that, right!?

Of course I love the rosary! Wow! What a gift right!

Today, as I was heading out for a rosary walk, I remembered the rosary and prayed it as I walked. When I got back I noticed the inscription on the back of the San Damiano cross.

I looked it up and it is in Latin. It is the prayer that the Lord said to Moses, on how he was to instruct Aaron and his sons to pray. You can find it in your bible in Numbers 6:24-27.

I love this prayer!

So here's my Thanksgiving gift to you.

"The Lord bless you and keep you:

The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace."

God bless you all. May you have a blessed Advent season.

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