Art and Spirit: July 2015

Friday, July 31, 2015

MT 13:54-58

Today's Gospel reading, for me, was another verification that Jesus did not have actual siblings; he was the only child in the Holy Family. Today's readings name some of his disciples as brothers. These disciples were not in his physical family, which verifies for me that whenever Jesus speaks of his brothers or sisters, He is speaking of all of humanity. There is another scripture where Jesus asks....."Who are my brothers, who is my mother?".....It is us.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Gift of Understanding

Today on Pinterest I saw the familiar pin “Catholics DO NOT worship Mary”….and I chuckled. This topic comes up so often. This lead my mind to wander to my feelings on how much openness we all need to have regarding the MYSTERIES of the church, and how we need to be open to deeper meaning of the readings and teaching given to us by the inspired writers of the Bible…..then that lead me to think about today’s readings (Thurs. July 23. 2015) that I heard in morning mass, especially the gospel reading (MT 10:13-17), in which the disciples asked Jesus “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” Jesus pretty much explains that He does this because some will listen more deeply and will have more understanding and some won’t. It is all gift…..however, how much effort do we put into learning and understanding these mysteries? How much do we ‘take it to the core or your being’….as Mother Theresa said many times.

I was asked recently, “Why is Eucharist so important to Catholics?” For myself, and MANY Catholics…it is because we have taken the meaning of the readings from the Gospels to the core of our being. Jesus explains that “This is my Body, this is my Blood. You cannot have life without it. These are hard readings to wrap ourselves around, perhaps, and many left Jesus after He said this…and many still do. We need to pray for those who struggle with faith or don’t have faith…..but we also need to pray for our own understanding and enthusiasm for understanding. There is always going to be a learning curve. Praise God for the Gifts.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Mount Carmel Feast Day

Five scapulars with "Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, feast day July 16th. This is the feast of the Carmelites. The Order of Carmelites takes its name from Mount Carmel, which was the first place dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and where a capel was erected in her honor before her Assumption into heaven. July 16 is also the feast of the "Scapular or Mount Carmel". On that day in 1251, pious traditions says, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock, General of the Carmelites and Cambridge, England, showed him the scapular and promised supernatural favors and her special protection to his Order and to all persons who would wear her scapular.

Prayer of the Scapular - Lord, let the motherly prayer of the glorious Virgin Mary come to our help. Through her support help us to reach the true mount which is Christ. Amen

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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel by AllToolsPrayerful on Etsy

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patronal feast of the Carmelites. The Order of Carmelites takes its name from Mount Carmel, which was the first place dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and where a chapel was erected in her honor before her Assumption into heaven.

July 16 is also the feast of the Scapular of Mount Carmen. On that day in 1251, pious tradition says, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St Simon Stock, General of the Carmelites at Cambridge, England, showed him the scapular and promised supernatural favors and her special protection to his Order and to all persons who would wear her scapular.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chaplet by AllToolsPrayerful on Etsy

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

All That We Love Deeply

New to SEImagesonline

All That We Love by Sharon Elliott

fineartamerica.com

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Travel Enticements

Kootenai Lake near Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort

Beautiful British Columbia by Sharon Elliott

fineartamerica.com

Monday, July 6, 2015

A new creation on AllToolsPrayerful

I was busy this past weekend

Blue Leaf Necklace and Bracelet by AllToolsPrayerful on Etsy

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Lot's Wife question

I was sitting in Mass a few days ago and listening, as I do, something struck me. I don't know why I wonder this......but I do.
Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of Salt when she looked back at Sodom burning.....I know why she was turned in to a pillar of salt.....I just wonder what the significance of Salt is.....or even if there is a significance.
I read one idea from somewhere on-line that the Hebrew word for Salt is, Melach or Malach which means to disappear.......HHHHMMMM
Anyone have any thoughts on this?????