The Power of Spirit

In reading the May 16 article by Father Ron Rolheiser, an Oblate father who writes for San Francisco Catholic paper, I am reminded of the power of the spirit. Fr. Rolheiser speaks of God's spirit and the spirit of those we love who pass on and how their presence is more fully felt in a different and deeper way after death. If only we can let go and let the presence of spirit fill us. In my pause of the article I became inspired that there other forms of spirit that generate from people we have met both alive currently and those who have passed into a new life. This is the spirit of love, joy, peace and compassion. We even speak in terms of the spirit of these ways of being. My sister Katie is here visiting from Texas and was not feeling good at all last night. As I prayed to God to help her, my own spirit of service and compassion was stirred as if God was moving me into helping her. My observation is that this spirit, in this case of service and compassion is really truly the visible presence of God's spirit. When we pray and are moved to action, the power of the spirit is alive in us. The power of the spirit is strengthened through action. The gifts of the Holy Spirit as referenced in Isaiah's book include: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety and fear of the Lord (also referred to as wonder and awe in God). I would add to these as love, joy, kindness, compassion, service, and peace.
Remember YOU GOT SPIRIT YES YOU DO. Use it and the gates of heaven open on earth.

The Breath Breathes You

Close you eyes and become aware of your breathing. Allow yourself to become the observer of your own breath, the inhalation and the exhalation and in moments you will see the calm, quiet, stillness as you realize the breath is breathing you. As a teacher of yoga and a woman who has sought peace her whole life, I have discovered in that past several years that peace has been present all the while. It is mostly that we are not aware of it being present because we are busy with life doing, playing, resting, working and living. It is possible in all these activities of being, that we can bring awareness to the presence of peace as we quiet the mind and bring our awareness to our breathing in and our breathing out and our pauses in between. Today, allow yourself to begin the practice of noticing as the breath of life breathes YOU.

SF's Most Holy Redeemer Parish " The Living Temple of God"

Several weeks ago my sister Bridget, her partner Amy and several of my brother Christopher's friends celebrated Christopher's birthday. We started the morning with mass at Christopher's parish in SF called Most Holy Redeemer. The readings and gospel were essentially about the temple, not the physical structure but the temple that is us, where the Holy Spirit dwells. This concept was well elaborated through the eloquent sermon the pastor gave to the parishioners. But the real essence of this message was alive in the people of Most Holy Redeemer parish. Even when we arrived at this beautiful Catholic Church located in the Castro district of SF, we were greeted by most loving men who offered us name tags so that we could get to know people. We then sat in our pew and the gentlemen next to us greeted us joyfully giving me a personal feeling of true welcome. Then the music begins, the loud voices singing the praises of their love of God and one another. This parish was truly alive with the Holy Spirit; you could feel the presence of God in every person. What does that feel like? I felt loved, I wanted to be more loving and my own temple felt as if it was being hugged by everyone in the church. Even as the weeks pass by since that lovely day with Christopher, Bridget, Amy, Gary, John, Chris and Marcus, the feeling of the Living God is present. Thank you Most Holy Redeemer parish men and women for opening your temple to all of us.

Life in it's Fullness

Since my last blog, I have been to Hawaii, Japan, hosted a wedding shower and numerous house guests, taught 2 yoga classes, attended church planning meetings and set up for a party to be held today at the church auditorium and of course a full time job squeezed into the above mentioned activities. Life is full and suddenly in this quiet morning I hear birds' singing joyfully this early morning as they begin to their day. It is the birds' song that provides my inspiration to write. How often does life get so full that we miss the birds, the flowers blooming and the people with whom we share our life? I rush from activity to activity and sometimes can't fully appreciate the moments of life as I am racing to the next event. However, this morning as birds sing, I quiet my mind, contemplate my blog and realize in this moment I am in states of peace, presence and awareness that the breath of life is breathing me into a new day and I recognize the fullness of life in all it's glory.

My Brother Survived Cancer and now he Lives

This little email sent from my brother Patrick on March 24, describing his Easter weekend is the story of his resurrection and one I will cherish forever as a reminder Easter in 2008.

I climbed San Gorgonio this weekend (11,500 feet).
Summit achieved!
Friday, 7 mile approach hike with full pack from parking lot to Dry
Lake, roughly 60% on snow covered trail. Slept in the snow with tent. It
was 9 degree in the morning when we got up.
Saturday, summit day, was 3.5 hours (5 miles up) of steep mixed ice and
snow, mostly hard snow the last third of the climb. Used ice ax and
crampons for only second time in my life.
Spent an hour on the summit. Drank a beer and ate sandwiches and smoked
oysters. Returned to camp, drank another beer, packed up and hiked out.
Total mileage on Saturday was 17 miles. I am still grinning.
Soaked my toes in the ocean yesterday. Snow one day, beach at sea level
the best. California living!
Thanks
Pat

Remaining

Today is Holy Thursday which signifies the Last Supper and for the Jewish faith the celebration of the Passover. There is much more to this Holy Day than I can begin to ponder, yet for today my thoughts are on the various characters of the evening. We have Jesus of course who sits with his disciples and shares a meal and reminds us to share a meal often in his memory. There is Peter whose fear is revealed as the night begins to unfold and he denies knowing Jesus and yet later weeps for himself in his lack of courage and for his love of his beloved Jesus. There is Judas the betrayer who also later deeply regrets his action and motive and kills himself surely to be resurrected in the end and then the women who remain who stay and watch and pray. Each character at points in my life is revealed hosting meals with friends, denying Life, when afraid, betrayal to integrity when greedy and remaining even when peace seems distant. Today on this Holy Thursday I will remain with our Lord in prayer and in service to each other in memory of Jesus who represents Life even through death.

Knock and the door shall open

Joe and I took a trip down memory lane two weeks ago. We went to Colorado Springs to see the hangar where he fixed his first jets and then to his first home. When we got to his little Tudor home two overgrown juniper trees hid the front the door, the paint was just as Joe, his mother and father had left it when they painted it some 22 years ago. Joe said shall we knock and I timidly agreed and am glad I did. To our great surprise, Susan who had purchased this home from Joe and his wife at the time, was still the owner and warmly welcomed us in. She immediately recognize Joe who she had only met once and as she turned to grab something on an antique bookshelf, she said "oh, I think these are yours", referring to two old photographs she had saved all these years. They were Joe's and thus began an hour visiting with this very warm woman. She had not changed anything in the house, barely even cleaned it, however despite the physical wear and tear of the home, Susan's unencumbered nature was the blessing of the trip. Meeting this woman who was free from the worldly necessities was loving, kind, welcoming and well holy. I realized I was in the presence of the divine named Susan. I learned two valuable things on this trip with Joe, be not afraid and knock and the door shall be opened.