We need mercy…

TUESDAY, MARCH 21ST, 2023
 “We are sinners and in need of mercy like the air we breathe. Willingness to convert – to allow ourselves to be purified, to change our lives – is a sign of courage, and of strength. Let us ask the grace to be surprised every day by God’s mercy and to see the various circumstances of life, even the ones that are the most difficult to accept, as occasions to do good.” 
Pope Francis

It’s the birthday of poet Nizar Qabbani (books by this author), born in Damascus, Syria (1923). His mother, who was illiterate, sold her jewelry to raise money to publish his first anthology, Childhood of a Bosom (1948), and he went on to become the most popular Arab poet and to publish more than 20 books of poetry. Much of his poetry was influenced by the tragic deaths of two women he loved. When he was 15, his older sister committed suicide rather than be forced into marriage with a man she did not love, and he turned his attention to the situation of Arab women. He wrote romantic, sensual poems and poetry demonstrating the need for sexual equality and women’s rights. Many years later, in 1981, his second wife, an Iraqi woman, died during the Lebanese Civil War when the Iraqi Embassy was bombed. Qabbani was grief-stricken and frustrated with the political and cultural climate of the Arab world, and he lived in Europe for the rest of his life.
Qabbani said, “Don’t love deeply, till you make sure that the other part loves you with the same depth, because the depth of your love today, is the depth of your wound tomorrow.”

It is Spring

Between snow and cherry blossoms, the transformation begins…

We awake in the present and no longer fear the past, or the future.

Death obsession leaves us and the new growth beckons to us

Transform with me.

Brothers, sisters, the Lord comes to us when we step back from our presumptuous ego…

SUNDAY, MARCH 19TH, 2023
 “Brothers, sisters, let us remember this: the Lord comes to us when we step back from our presumptuous ego. Let us reflect: Am I conceited? Do I think I’m better than others? Do I look at someone with a little contempt? “I thank you, Lord, because you have saved me and I’m not like those people who understand nothing; I go to church, I attend Mass; I am married, married in church, whereas they are divorced sinners…”: is your heart like this? That is the way to perdition. Yet to get closer to God, we must say to the Lord: “I am the first of sinners, and if I have not fallen into the worst filth it is because your mercy has taken me by the hand. Thanks to you, Lord, I am alive; thanks to you, Lord, I have not destroyed myself with sin”. God can bridge the distance whenever, with honesty and sincerity, we bring our weaknesses before him. He holds out his hand and lifts us up whenever we realize we are “hitting rock bottom” and we turn back to him with a sincere heart”
Pope Francis

Faces, smiles, wrinkles, tears and scars reveal love around us!

SATURDAY, MARCH 18TH, 2023
 “How many luminous faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us! Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out to bring the light we have received to others through concrete acts of love (cf. 1 Jn 3:18), diving into our daily occupations more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness. The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.
May Mary, who kept the light of her Son in her heart even in the darkness of Calvary, accompany us always on the way of love.”
Pope Francis

Look for God’s gaze…

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2023

 “Is your faith tired?

Do you want to reinvigorate it?

Look for God’s gaze:

sit in adoration,

allow yourself to be forgiven in Confession,

stand before the Crucified One.

In short, let him love you.“

Pope Francis

to be humble…to be at the service of others…

“THURSDAY, MARCH 16TH, 2023
 “The matter of equality in dignity asks us to rethink many aspects of our relations, which are decisive for evangelization. For example, are we aware of the fact that with our words we can undermine the dignity of people, thus ruining relationships within the Church? While we try to engage in dialogue with the world, do we also know how to dialogue among ourselves as believers? Or in the parish, one person goes against another, one speaks badly of another in order to climb up further? Do we know how to listen to understand another person’s reasons, or do we impose ourselves, perhaps even with appeasing words? To listen, to be humble, to be at the service of others: this is serving, this is being Christian, this is being an apostle.”
Pope Francis

They search for closeness, attention, and a listening ear. Give them a drink…

TUESDAY, MARCH 14TH, 2023
 “Give me a drink. These words are not only a request from Jesus to the Samaritan woman, but a cry – silent at times – that meets us every day and asks us to slake someone else’s thirst, to take care of someone else’s thirst. How many say ‘give me a drink’ to us – in our family, at work, in other places we find ourselves. They thirst for closeness, for attention, for a listening ear. People say it who thirst for the Word of God and need to find an oasis in the Church where they can drink. Give me a drink is a cry heard in our society, where the frenetic pace, the rush to consume, and especially indifference, that culture of indifference, generate aridity and interior emptiness. And – let us not forget this – ‘give me a drink’ is the cry of many brothers and sisters who lack the water to live, while our common home continues to be polluted and defaced.”

Pope Francis

Only a few octogenarians can still write and speak stories. It is a fine radio gift…

MORRISON, CO – AUGUST 23: Garrison Keillor performs during “A Prairie Home Companion” – America The Beautiful tour at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on August 23, 2015 in Morrison, Colorado.

March 13, 2023

“If I still shout today, If I still scream”, he said, “it is to prevent man from ultimately changing me.”

Some people consider NYC to be Sodom. Consider the history of NYC- before making proclamations about it. I’m too old for people to change me. Only a few octogenarians can still write and speak stories. It is a fine radio gift.

MONDAY, MARCH 13TH, 2023
 “Thirsty for love, Jesus quenches our thirst with love. As with the Samaritan woman, he comes to meet us in our daily life, he shares our thirst, he promises us living water that makes eternal life well up within us (Jn 4:5-42). In this Season of Lent, let us learn to allow the Holy Spirit to form us so that our prayer might become a living testimony of God’s tenderness for every person experiencing difficulty.”
Pope Francis

proclaim, witness, encounter the wounded humanity with a servant’s heart…

SUNDAY, MARCH 12TH, 2023
 “The missionary zeal of the believer expresses itself as a creative search for new ways of proclaiming and witnessing, new ways of encountering the wounded humanity that Christ took on. In short, of new ways of serving the Gospel and serving humanity. Evangelization is a service. If a person says that he is an evangelizer, and does not have that attitude, that servant’s heart, and believes himself to be a master, he is not an evangelizer, no … he is wretched.”
Pope Francis

Keep on persevering with your health and fitness journey.

The tarot card of the day is the Seven of Wands.
The Seven of Wands is a card that represents a tremendous amount of effort getting put into something. It shows that you have been, or are ready to, commit to a goal to better yourself and that you have the perseverance and willpower to do so.

The Seven of Wands is here today because you may have recently thought about committing to a health and fitness plan. If not, it’s a sign that you may want to begin thinking about doing so. The Seven of Wands says that there’s no problem with bettering yourself. There is always room for improvement.
Why is it vital to keep your body in a healthy shape?
The Seven of Wands wants you to live your best life. It also wants you to push yourself towards improvement, even if it’s only one baby step at a time.
Keeping yourself healthy and taking care of your body is essential, as you only have one, says the Seven of Wands. Making healthy choices such as eating healthy and partaking in physical fitness is always necessary. The sooner you start, the sooner you reap the benefits of it.
The Seven of Wands also wants you to know that the benefits of health and fitness are long-term. As you age, keeping up with healthy habits and a regular fitness schedule can help prevent many problems in the future regarding your health.

Why is a fitness regimen important?
Fitness and adequate exercise are essential to living a healthy lifestyle. Besides eating a healthy diet and staying away from toxins, maintaining a solid fitness plan is important for keeping your body in the best shape possible.
The Seven of Wands wants you to make sure that you’re partaking in regular fitness activities regularly. This is because of all the benefits of doing so, both short-term and long-term.
The short term benefits of fitness:

• Within one hour after exercise, your blood sugar levels will be lowered.
• You will have much more energy throughout the day.
• You will be able to keep up your strength throughout the day.
• Your stress and anxiety levels will significantly be lower.
• It prevents you from experiencing fatigue.
• It will allow you to have a better sleep at night.

The long term benefits of fitness:

• You will be able to maintain a healthy weight.
• Reduces your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
• Lowers your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• It keeps your bones and muscles strong and prevents them from deteriorating.
• Improves your mental health and overall mood.
• May decrease the risk of developing certain types of cancer.
• Your chances of living longer will improve.
  How can you persevere on your health and fitness journey?
  The Seven of Wands knows that you have the strength and determination to persevere on your health and fitness journey. Here are some tips on how you can do it.

Take it one step at a time.
When trying to improve your health, it is best to begin with only one thing at a time.
For example, instead of completely changing your diet and cutting out all of the things you’re used to eating, cut out only one thing at a time. After your body adjusts to that one small change, begin to make another one.
It’s okay to start with baby steps.
It’s okay to start with just baby steps when you’re new to fitness and want to increase your physical activity. You don’t need to go out and run a marathon right off the bat.
It could be as simple as taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator or going for a brief 10-minute walk every day. You can increase it as your body adjust and build up to reaching your end health and fitness goal.

Drop electronics for 4 hours; assemble a colorful puzzle to Irish music of Enya and Celtic Women…refreshed.

color pulls my favorites together

outlines the rows

horizontal and vertical

claws and toes

purrs, tail sleeping

dreams and knows

feline things

who is Queen

on international women’s day.

March 11, 2023

all rights

jp

at Fox Hollows where one can get free of the electronic screen and renew relationship of 25 years