May the sun bring you new energy every day. May the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries. May the breeze blow new strength into your being. May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. ~ Apache Blessing

Apache Blessing

Peace & Patience, Pardon & Prayer

Benedictine Sisters Monastery in Tuscon AZ

Spanish-Renaissance-style Benedictine Sisters Monastery

Catherine Todd Thu, Aug 23, 2007 at 11:01 AM
To: "M.Elizabeth Krone"
To: Sister (Sr.) M. Elizabeth Krone, the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N Country Club Rd. TUCSON AZ 85716-4583. Telephone: (520) 325-6401. Email: osbtucson@benedictinesisters.org., Benedictine Monastery. www.benedictinesisters.org/

Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a monastic contemplative community which offers retreats, monastic experience, weekends of prayer.


Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, www.benedictinesisters.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedictine_Sisters_of_Perpetual_Adoration
http://curmudgeonkc.blogspot.com/2005/11/benedictine-convent-of-perpetual.html


(Note: I have edited this letter on this blog a bit, didn't send it all to Sr. Elizabeth)

Dear Sr. Elizabeth,

As you can see, I have spent the morning looking up information about your wonderful monastery on many sites, including Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia that anyone can add to! Your webmaster might even want to add more info to the Wikipedia site. Your own "real" website for all four monasteries of the Benedictine Sisters is really beautiful, with the woman playing the golden harp, and the woman in the garden... where is the harp photo from? Who plays it? I have always loved that truly angelical musical instrument, but never learned to play. Just the piano, which "comes natural" and is my first love from when I was small. I played other string instruments, as the violin and guitar, but the piano remained kind of all. Just sit down and the music pours out. I imagine the harp is much the same way. Gorgeous music and maybe you play a bit yourself? Let me know...


Did I tell you your beautiful photos of your Benedictine Convent came? Les (my former husband that I still live with) is interested in coming to AZ "for the birds" since he got new binoculars for his birthday, and I am interested in coming to meet you (in person) and see your beautiful church, so maybe one of these days I will actually be able to come and visit. What a treat that would be! Thank you so much for the invitation, which means the world to me.

I am going to get a special photo album just for all the wonderful pictures and letters you have sent me. I cherish them all, for always. I also love reading about your convent on the wonderful website you have: who designed it and maintains it for you? Seems I remember seeing a photo of a nun who was working on the computer in the office, and you mentioned something about it in one of your letters. Do you help out now with your considerable computer experience? You have learned so much yourself!

Your convent looks like a "dream come true," as I have always thought that I belonged in the monastic life. I had actually considered joining as a beginner - what is the term? Novitiate? when I was 14 years old in boarding school at Our Lady of the Lake in in San Antonio TX, but moved to Champaign-Urbana Ill. when I got pneumonia and had to go back to live with my family. That was the only time I was ever hospitalized for an illness, that I can remember... seems like I was sick for about two weeks. Long time for me back then. Going back to the bosom of my family was like descending into the bowels of hell (and the years before the convent boarding school, as well). A huge mistake I think, I always wondered how things would have been if I had not gotten ill... going back there the worst thing that could have happened to me there. But who knows? Everything is supposed to be for "spiritual growth and development," and I suppose being beaten and abused must have some "spiritual significance." My mother always insisted that I was "asked to leave" without further explanation, and made me believe that I was "kicked out" but I have written to the nuns about why I was "sent home" and they said I was so ill I had to be hospitalized, and that the doctors recommended that I be with my family. Of course, who wouldn't recommend that?

Why my mother chose to turn this into "I was asked to leave" is forever beyond my comprehension, and I spent YEARS believing this was yet another example of how I was "no good" even when I couldn't remember having been in trouble there! Finally in my 40's I wrote to the convent / school, and found out the truth. All those wasted years. For what? Always making everything out to be my fault and something I did wrong, even a hospitalization for pneumonia. What kind of mental illness is this called?

But that is how she has always been, so I have to learn to "turn the other cheek" and ignore it. Except for the family stories that now surround me, started by her, it seems to be over. But "family lore" tells a yellow-journalism tale and I don't know how to correct it. I guess that is why I am trying to write all these things down, so that there is some kind of "realistic history." I would not want this kind of shame visited upon my son any longer (it always has been) and if God Forbid he has children of his own, my grandchildren deserve to know the facts about "Grandma Catherine" and that I wasn't all bad, in fact I wasn't bad at all. "Katie" needs to know this too, even at this late stage, so I really appreciate your letting me write. I never intend to pour out all these memories that I wish were dead and gone, but when I get started - poof! There they appear. I think it's time for another banana!

I have fond memories of the campus of Our Lady of the Lake, and then the nightmare of returning to the "concentration camp." But those memories of praying in peace and solitude in the beautiful church and the grounds have stayed with me always, and have inspired many of the gardens I have built since then. What could be better than that?

I remember going back to Ill. "with the family" as "the dark years," when I was tortured almost to death and when darkness descended all around me and it seemed the nightmare would never end. But it did. There was no way out for the next two years, but I did finally legally gain my freedom when I turned 16 years old. Those two years did so much damage, but I did have the freedom in the previous year and I am SURE that all the praying and going to church must have made me strong enough to not only survive, but to leave. So I suppose in retrospect, there is something good to be said of that, as well. In fact, looking back on it now as I write these words, I can see that I have survived many more years in spite of that nightmare, and if nothing else, I have developed strength and compassion for other abused individuals. From compassion springs the greatest love and understanding, so even that experience has to be worth something.

I wish I could have stayed at the convent, even though I found many of the rules quite confining. I was also told more than once that I should consider "joining the Jesuits" since I always wanted we should all be living the "vow of poverty" more than we did in San Antonio, and I wanted to "argue theology" even at that young age!

But I'm sure things work out "the way they should at the time" or "for the best" one way or another. At least that's what everyone always says. I do remember being upset that the nuns would not allow me to continue going to swim team practice off-campus, even though I was a National champion swimmer and diver, and headed for the Olympics. They said I had to "choose between God and the Swim Team" which I still always remember and wonder about. I was 14 years old! Practice was off-campus and I had to take the bus, which I had been doing since I was 10 years old alone all the time, but the nuns would not allow it. I can understand their concerns, but it was a shame to miss out on that greatest of experiences. Later on the pneumonia knocked me out of the Olympic trials that year, and 4 years later I was off doing a ton of other things. One has to be in practice every day of one's life to make it to that level, and by age 18, I was at the Chicago Art Institute and hitchhiking around the country in 1968! Those are a whole bunch of other stories for yet another time. But I did survive the pneumonia, my only major illness, for which I am very grateful. Pneumonia was quite serious over 40 years ago.

Looking back on all this, for some reason, I apparently had to be "out in the world" for the majority of my life. Yet as I enter the latter third of my life I know the "contemplative life" is the only life for me, whether it's at a "home of my own making" such as I've done here with the gardens and all, or an established order for contemplation shared with other people. The quietness and tranquility is all that matters at this point. If I am going to survive, I must have GOD in my life on a constant, conscious basis. Your letters and emails help remind me of that, and lead me to it many, many times. Thank you for that!

Of course, God is always "in one's life," whether we know it or not, but I have to develop a life with a routine that allows and encourages me to recognize this fact at ALL TIMES, and reminds me to put EVERYTHING IN GOD'S HANDS. Writing this letter to you is a good exercise for that!

I am also trying to develop Gratitude, for the good and for the bad. Each morning, when I wake up, the first thing that pops in my mind is "thank you, thank you, thank you Lord" for the comfortable bed I am in, the soft quilts I sleep with, the bird songs outside my window, the flowers blooming on a constant basis, thanking God with their very presence and existence, and the sun, moon and the stars.

I am asking God to "remove any resentments I still hold in my heart" AND I "eat a banana every day," as you recommended! I always smile when I remember that letter, and I really do try to do this. Les has always eaten a banana each morning and he is in great physical shape, and doesn't seem to get depressed as I do, and you always have such a cheerful outlook that surely following your regime can't hurt and will most probably help, so I now do it too.

You would love the gardens here in Oxford that I've developed, as with the small statue of St. Francis in the daylily bed, and two beautiful tiered fountains with lilies all around, and the benches and bird feeder and hummingbird feeders and flowers and trees and sky and clouds and birds overhead one is "in a garden" even inside the house. I put in paned glass French doors and double windows in every room, which all look out on the trees and the flower beds surrounding the house. With every view you are "living in the garden" and the house is really incidental. It's really beautiful and peaceful and quiet and I often take my wireless laptop computer outside and work on it there. It's pretty great.

I haven't been much of a correspondent lately, as I have been swamped with things that need to be taken care of here, but it's all been very productive and it's good to be sorting and giving away and selling 40 years worth of accumulation. I can't believe how much I have saved over the years! And for what? Who knows? Some of it is, of course, valuable on a financial and / or personal level, but most of it can be given or sold at our weekly yard sale to someone else who is so happy to have it to use. So even though a lot of the boxes hold painful memories, when I whittle them down to what is really the most important, there's plenty to laugh about, be proud of, and be grateful for at the end of it. So the process is going "smoothly" when I am able to get started. Getting started is the important part, as I could answer email all day long and then I don't get my work done! So please accept my apologies for not keeping up as much as I should, but know that I read everything you send.

I am still waiting for Les to dig out the cassette player so I can listen to your beautiful church music! He actually found it buried in the sheds, and I have the cassette waiting until he can bring the player up to the house. I can't wait to get to AZ and hear you play in person! I have sold both my pianos and am bereft for the music that I played, so hope you will have one I can play when I get there, whenever that is and "come what may."

Thanks so much for being a wonderful part of my life. You have demonstrated to me that God does "love us all" and with God's Love, "all things are possible." I never thought this could be true. You are a true friend to all of us, and I can't tell you how much this means to me. God bless you as I know He / She already does!

Loved the photo of your charming cat "Boots," is it? Such a happy and comfortable cat with so many people just waiting to pet her, I bet!

Looking forward to more music, photos, mail and emails,

Your friend in Christ and God's Love, Katie (Catherine Todd)

P.S. Good Lord! I had no idea I would write so much... I started out just to thank you for the letters and photos and piano cassette! Hope it's alright I've written so much. I can edit these letters if you don't want to read the "dark parts," just give the word. In the meantime thanks again and again for helping me "let it all out." Hopefully somehow this will make a difference and make room for those oh-so-valuable and elusive qualities called "love and forgiveness."

--
*** Traveling:

"A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on a plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home." ~ Carl Burns

Words to live by: "Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song." ~ Konrad von Gesner

"The world is made anew each day, for God makes it so. It contains within it all the good and all the evil as before; no more, no less, but the same." ~ Paraphrased from "The Crossing," by Cormac McCarthy

Catherine Todd
6754 Leaning Oak Rd. Oxford NC 27565
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727


More photos: http://www.tucsonmonastery.com/index.asp

Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

Welcome from Sr. Lupita Barajas, OSB - Prioress



& from "Curmudgeon's Cave" blog, http://curmudgeonkc.blogspot.com/2005/11/benedictine-convent-of-perpetual.html

Cathedral of St. John, blessing of the animals

Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC

Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC

Medieval churches in / around Paris

Medieval churches in / around Paris
1 message
Catherine Todd Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 8:35 AM
To: "Catherine S. Todd"
From: Re: Visiting Phil & Phyllis [Re: Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Part of email I sent to Uncle Johnny w/info about Medieval churches in / around Paris:

----- Original Message -----
From: Catherine Todd
To: John Merrick
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 11:01 PM
Subject: Cathedral of St. John the Divine & see you soon, I hope...

Dear Uncle Johnny,

I'm in NYC getting ready to go back to NC tomorrow night (Monday 7:30 pm). Early this evening, I attended the most wonderful church in NYC, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine for "Choral Evensong" singing on Sundays at 6:00 pm, right near where I stay when I'm here. See: http://www.stjohndivine.org/worship_music.html

And since I can't get back to my beloved Paris, I love visiting this church as much as the little chapel wing near the Notre-Dame Cathedral, on île de la Cité, with the gorgeous hand carved organ and accapella singing soaring into the huge, towering Medieval rafters and curves and arcs of the ceiling... we sit in the ancient wood prayer seats with carved wooden doors and marble altar rails, every inch a work of art by unnamed hands who worked "for the glory of God" (and their daily pay!).

I will have to find out the proper names for all these Medieval Church parts one of these days so I can give an accurate description. The church has all kinds of programs (stone carving, tapestry restoration, music and more) and a gorgeous garden with fantastic sculpture, and I believe it's a non-denominational church which is right up my alley. I always try to schedule my trips around being able to get to the Cathedral at 6:00 pm on Sunday, as it's about the only time I ever enter a church. But it's wonderful. Very short sermon, always simple and sweet: tonight's was "how to and the importance of getting along with one's neighbors." Took about 5 or 10 minutes and then more gorgeous music, soaring through the stained glass windows into the early evening night. You would have really enjoyed it.

I just came across this interesting database of Medieval Churches around Paris, hadn't seen this before:
Medieval Database churches in Paris Basin 'A-B' by John James ... - 10:52pmParis Basin Churches A-B. List of all the 1740 churches with something from 1100-1250 period click for map. Prepared by John James, 24 Auguste 2004. ...
http://www.johnjames.com.au/medievaldatabase-parischurches-A-B.shtml

and Pictures of Paris, France Photographs of Notre-Dame Cathedral on île de la Cité, pictures of the most famous of churches in Paris. The Pyramide Inversée, seen from the outside at www.davidphenry.com/Paris/index.htm


I also carry your little book "Everyday Suchness" with me everywhere, as it just fits in my purse. I can't tell you what a difference it has made to my mental state. All I have to do is pick it up and open it and it falls right to wherever and whatever I need to "study upon" for that moment in time. Plus the language is simple enough that even I can understand! I'm going to look for more books by it's author, Gyomay M. Kubose. Buddhist writing and thought really is right up my alley. I can't thank you enough.


In the meantime, I hope to plan to come back to visit you in 10 days or 2 weeks, and will look for my ticket on Tues. as soon as I get back. Thanks for sending me all those airline sale emails, they really help a lot!


I don't know if I mentioned it, but visiting you must have brought me lots of good luck! When I got back we closed on the white house that had been on and off the market with the buyer's financing falling through, and they finally were able to get all their ducks in a row and started moving last week! I got this good news in the morning and then in the afternoon that same day a person called and wants to buy the little green house for $10,000.00 more than we had thought we might have to list it at (for a quick sale) so things are finally falling into place! All because I came to see you, I'm sure! We're getting the last little yellow house done and it's just a half a day or so for the final plumbing hookups, final finish on the beautiful old hardwood floors, final inspection, and we'll be moving into a house that I've redone where I finally get to use one of the whirlpool tubs I've put in for everybody else! Hah - ha - ha! Finally, I get to enjoy some of the "fruits of my labor" at long last! Can't wait, let me tell you.


When I do get to PeachTree City, I've been wondering what you'd enjoy doing: are there any botanical gardens nearby we could visit? Or how about some topiary gardens, or just going to a fabulous nursery? I'd love to help out in the yard as well, and will bring down whatever you'd like, including some of my wholesale bulb catalogs. I've been "working my way through them" for a number of years now. Eventually I will have planted just about every kind of lily they offer, and most of the daffodils! And that's saying a lot.

I loved seeing your garden and all that you've done with it; really fabulous. Send me the name of those roses, and maybe I can bring back some cuttings when I come.

See you soon, I hope... how does 10 - 14 days sound for your calendar? That would be towards the end of August. Call me on my cell tomorrow if you want to: 919-605-0727, or Home # 919-693-0853 Tues. and after, or send an email... I'll call you when I'm back on Tues. and can look at the airport travel schedule. See you again soon, I hope!

Love, Katie

--
*** Traveling:

"A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on a plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home." ~ Carl Burns

Words to live by: "Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song." ~ Konrad von Gesner


"The world is made anew each day, for God makes it so. It contains within it all the good and all the evil as before; no more, no less, but the same." ~ Paraphrased from "The Crossing," by Cormac McCarthy

Catherine Todd
6754 Leaning Oak Rd. Oxford NC 27565
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727

Sr. Elizabeth ~ Psalms for Reflection

Fwd: [FWD: Psalm 23 with pictures] Note for blog: is there a way to add the photos from the email? Try to do this...

M.Elizabeth, Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 1:45 PM
To: Catherine Todd

Dear Katie,
Probably the last thing in the world you feel like doing right now is writing anyone. And I understand that. Someone sent this to me this morning and I hasten to send it on to you, The twenty-third (used to be 22nd!) psalm, with delightful pictures. Enjoy. And just put out of you mind things that are hurtful. Could I ask, Did the tape I sent to your Oxford NC address come? I have an original and toward the end, it was starting to kind of "squick" or squeal. I attribute that to the wet weather that we are having now in the monsoon season. Maybe the music completely turned you off. I assure you, I won't mind at all if that's the case. And Sr. Angela's book, "God and a Mouse." Did you get to look at it yet? Would you rather I not write any more for a while? Whatever. You know I "am on your side." And I want everyone else to be on your side.

There is a verse in the Book of Exodus in the bible I have always found extremely helpful-- Exodus, Chapter 14, verse 14: "You have only to keep still and I will fight for you."

The place is where the Israelites under the leadership of Moses are fleeing from their lives as slaves to the Pharaoh to go to the Promised Land. And Pharaoh's chariots and charioteers are coming after them to take them back. At that, the people start crying out in anguish and dismay to Moses--why did he have to bring them out here in the desert? At that, Moses gets the message from God to tell them God's Words: YOU HAVE ONLY TO KEEP STILL AND I WILL FIGHT FOR YOU.

The year was 1955. I had started out to read the whole bible during my personal prayer time. I read the Book of Genesis, the first and had come to the Book of Exodus. I only read 14 chapters and when I came verse 14, this one, it so touched me that I didn't go on. But just stopped there. It kind of brings out St. Therese of the Child Jesus, her conviction that she knew she couldn't do all the things she wanted to do, but she just had to "let go and let God." It kind of is the same thing in everyone's life, more or less, do you agree?
Take care. Love and Prayers,
Sr. M. Elizabeth

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [FWD: Psalm 23 with pictures]
From: sophia
Date: Tue, July 31, 2007 8:36 am

Beautiful!
Sophia

* * * * *
Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd = That's Relationship!
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I shall not want = That's Supply!
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He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = That's Rest!
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He leadeth me beside the still waters = That's Refreshment!
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He restoreth my soul = That's Healing!
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He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = That's Guidance!
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For His name sake = That's Purpose!
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Yea, though I walk through the valley of t he shadow of death = That's
Testing!
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I will fear no evil = That's Protection!
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For Thou art with me = That's Faithfulness!
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Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = That's Discipline!
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Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies =
That's Hope!
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Thou annointest my head with oil = That's Consecration!
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My cup runneth over = That's Abundance!
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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life =
That's Blessing !
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And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = That's Security!
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Forever = That's Eternity!
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Face it, the Lord is crazy about you.
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Send this to people you are crazy about.

I thought this was pretty special, just like YOU!!!

What is most valuable,
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is not what we have in our lives, but
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WHO we have in our lives!
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' Do not ask the Lord to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing to move your Feet'
Peace.
---
Catherine Todd Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 4:36 PM
To: M.Elizabeth

Dear Sr. Elizabeth, thank you so much for writing. I did get your wonderful tape, but haven't been able to dig out a tape player to play it on yet. We've moved next door and everything is still in boxes inside. I'll ask Les tonight if he can find it for me, as I am dying to hear you play. Really, I'd like to come to Tuscon and hear you play "for real" in your what I imagine your beautiful church to be. Can you send me some photos of the church? Your convent looks wonderful.

I'm flying to Atlanta tomorrow just for the day to see my Uncle Johnny Merrick, so I might be out of touch a bit. It's nice to have someone in this family wants me to come visit, and I haven't seen him in at least 25 years, I don't think. My cousins, his children, are "all grown up" and I can't imagine what they even look like now, so it should be quite a treat. I hope.

I am going to try and go back mid-August when I get back from NY to see if I can help him out a bit more. His eyesight is failing and there's lots of doctor appointments. I took care of Les' mother Dorothy for almost 4 years and it's more than a full-time job, so maybe I can help the kids find some outside help to look in on him part-time during the week. I'm scared to death of going to hospitals and doctors, so even though I would take Dorothy, and will take Uncle Johnny, it's not my "cup of tea."

Other than that I have been very, very depressed and at odds with myself and the whole world, cannot find any purpose anymore, but I have been reading and thinking about your letters quite a bit. They do mean a lot. I am sitting outside in the garden right now, by the fountain with St. Francis "keeping me company," and a little bird is tweeting and calling from the tree and a light gentle warm breeze plays among the shadows and the leaves, and I am not dead yet... I have not departed and am still among the "land of the living," no matter what someone else (or others) may want. It's a beautiful warm day, a few giant white cumulus clouds in a pale blue sky, with the last of the lilies blooming and the world continues to turn.

I will read those psalms you mention. Thank you so much for writing. This depression is almost killing me, but not quite. It's "situational depression," meaning it's directly attributable to what is going on in my life right now, and I'm reading (yet another) book on Forgiveness, and I'm getting so tired of it that maybe exhaustion will finally force me to "lay down my anger" and ask God to take over. I hope so. What more can we do?

<< And Sr. Angela's book, "God and a Mouse." Did you get to look at it yet? >>

Yes, thank you, and thanks for the reminder. When it came, I couldn't remember ordering it! I will take this book with me on the plane tomorrow.

Keep writing all that you want to, even if I don't respond as often I read EVERYTHING.

I love the saying under the last photo:

' Do not ask the Lord to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing to move your Feet'

In thanks for you loving kindness and prayers, Katie
[Quoted text hidden]
--
*** Traveling:

"A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on a plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home." ~ Carl Burns

Words to live by: "Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song." ~ Konrad von Gesner

"The world is made anew each day, for God makes it so. It contains within it all the good and all the evil as before; no more, no less, but the same." ~ Paraphrased from "The Crossing," by Cormac McCarthy

Catherine Todd
6754 Leaning Oak Rd. Oxford NC 27565
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727

WORD FOR THE DAY ~ to April 27, 2007

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
4.27.07

Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth – that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Apr. 26


Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light. - Albert Schweitzer

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Apr. 25


Thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives. - Jalaluddin Rumi, from Camille and Kabir Helminski's RUMI: JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Apr. 30


A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it -- that alone can be like waking up from a dream. - David Steindl-Rast


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, May. 2


Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.


Helen Keller

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Friday, May. 4


The day I acquired the habit of consciously pronouncing the words "thank you", I felt I had gained possession of a magic wand capable of transforming everything.


Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov (see Wikipedia for more, “stronger than one’s enemies... but then treat him gently”)


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, May. 8


The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.


Jalaluddin Rumi


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, May. 9


What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset.


Crowfoot, a leader of the Blackfoot nation


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, May. 12


To see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.


William Blake


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, May. 5


Beauty seen makes the one who sees it more beautiful.


David Steindl-Rast
A Listening Heart


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, May. 17


To be able to spread an aura of goodness and peace should be the motive of life.


Paramahansa Yogananda


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, May. 30

As one can see when the eyes are open, so one can understand when the heart is open.

Hazrat Inayat Khan
The Bowl of Saki


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, May. 31

Even in a world that's being shipwrecked, remain brave and strong.

Hildegard von Bingen


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Jun. 2

My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things -- trout as well as eternal salvation -- come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easily.

Norman Maclean
A River Runs Through It


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Jun. 5

The sin of inadvertence, not being alert, not quite awake, is the sin of missing the moment of life — live with unremitting awareness.

Joseph Campbell


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Friday, Jun. 15


When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything you gave me."


Erma Bombeck


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Jun. 16


You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?


Robert Louis Stevenson


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Sunday, Jun. 17


You never need anything when you give away that which you thought you lacked...you suddenly experience that you had it to give all along.


Neale Donald Walsch
Tomorrow's God


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Jun. 19


The heart is right to cry even when the smallest drop of light, of love, is taken away....You are right to do so in any fashion until God returns to you.


Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Jun. 21


Whatever God does, the first outburst is always compassion.


Meister Eckhart


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Sunday, Jun. 24


When the soul betrays itself and loses the blessed and longed-for fervor, let it carefully investigate the reason for losing it. And let it arm itself with all its longing and zeal against whatever caused this. For the former fervor can return only through the same door through which it was lost.


St. John Climacus
The Ladder of Divine Ascent

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Jun. 25


I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.


Blessed Mother Teresa

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Jun. 26


Retire to the center of your being, which is calmness.


Paramahansa Yogananda



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WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Jul. 11


Emptiness is bound to bloom, like hundreds of grasses blossoming.


Eihei Dogen
Sky Flowers


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Jul. 14


At any moment the fully present mind can shatter time and burst into Now.


David Steindl-Rast
A Listening Heart


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Sunday, Jul. 15


We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.


Joseph Campbell



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WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Jul. 19


We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours.


Dag Hammarskjold


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Jul. 21


Death can come at any minute, in any way. We do not know what is in store tomorrow, or, whether there is a tomorrow, or even a tonight! But still, we have the golden present. Now we are alive and kicking. What should we do now? Love all, serve all.


Swami Satchidananda



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WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Sep. 20


Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the mystic, the source of all true art....It is a privilege to be alive in this time when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.


Joanna Macy


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Sep. 22


We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all.


Dorothy Day

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Sep. 27


Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is the true prosperity.


Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Sep. 29


Even if I should be locked up in a narrow cell and a cloud should drift past my small barred window, then I shall bring you that cloud, Oh God, while there is still the strength in me to do so.


Etty Hillesum
An Interrupted Life


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Oct. 24


Thanking heaven even for our difficulties and misfortunes is the best way to transform them. You will see your difficulties in a different light, as if you had wrapped them in a film of pure gold.


Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Oct. 27


When every situation which life can offer is turned to the profit of spiritual growth, no situation can really be a bad one.


Paul Brunton


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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Nov. 3


That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.


Simone de Beauvoir

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Nov. 5


Pray - period! Don't expect anything. Or better, expect nothing. Prayer cleanses us of expectations and allows holy will, providence, and life itself an entry. What could be more worth the effort -- or the noneffort?


Thomas Moore

---

2008

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Feb. 9


Whoever does not see God in every place does not see God in any place.


Rabbi Elimelech

---

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Feb. 16


There are many things to be grateful "for" but, as I ripen with the seasons of life, the many reasons blend into a sacred mystery. And, most deeply, I realize that living gratefully is its own blessing.


Michael Mahoney


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Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don’t worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time. Sara Paddison

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Feb. 19


The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination.


John Schaar

Note: full quote from Wikiquote:

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created— created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.

- John Schaar

Schaar has said that practically the whole history of America can be found in Faulkner's "The Bear".

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Feb. 20


Mistakes are the portals of discovery.


James Joyce

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WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Feb. 21


It is not a question of whether you "have what it takes," but of whether you take the gifts you have -- they are plenteous -- and share them with all the world.


Neale Donald Walsch
Tomorrow's God


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Friday, Feb. 22


There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.


Albert Einstein


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Feb. 23


All attack is a call for help. When you know this, you begin at once to look deeply into the question of what kind of help is being called for.


Neale Donald Walsch
Tomorrow's God



www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Sunday, Feb. 24


Remember this always: The living of your own life writes the book of your most sacred truth, and offers evidence of it.


Neale Donald Walsch
Tomorrow's God


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Tuesday, Feb. 26


Great compassion is the root of all forms of worship.


His Holiness the Dalai Lama




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WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Feb. 27


Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.


Ralph Waldo Emerson

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www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Mar. 8


An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception.


Harold Loukes

---


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Sunday, Mar. 9


The next message you need is always right where you are.


Ram Dass

---

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Mar. 17


No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.


Aesop

---

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Thursday, Mar. 20


What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.


Joseph Addison

---

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, Mar. 29

If the past is unredeemable, and the future unpredictable, what more practical course is open than to safeguard the present by constant rememberance of the divine?


Paul Brunton
Notebooks

---


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Friday, Mar. 21


Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.


Sarah Ban Breathnach
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And though I have the gift of prophecy, & understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
~ King James Bible 1 Corinthians 13:2


www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Mar. 24


Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life reveals just the opposite: that letting go is the real path to freedom.


Sogyal Rinpoche
Glimpse After Glimpse

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Wednesday, Apr. 9


Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them.


Rabindranath Tagore
And though I have the gift of prophecy, & understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [love], I am nothing.
~ King James Bible 1 Corinthians 13:2

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Higher Self

SG says to "say this every day for protection, strength and blessing, as when your light begins to shine brighter as you heal and it attracts the dark spirits which come to steal it. Saying this every day strengthens one spiritually to be happy and peaceful all throughout the day." She also bought me the book Deepak Chopra's "Seven Steps to Spiritual Success" which I'll pick up when we both get back to Pana. Great! (actually written 4/14/2008, posted 2007)


“Higher Self”

My Beloved Higher Self,
I begin with
a deep inner recognition,
acknowledgment, and
acceptance of you,
My Higher Self.

My Higher Self is
the Life,
Consciousness,
Love, and
Intelligence
that gives me the ability
to embody and create
in this physical world.

I pour forth my Love
to my Beloved Higher Self
in deep gratitude
for the Gift of Life
she has given me.

I acknowledge my oneness
with my Higher Self
and that She is the Real me,
a Being of Perfection
in Her own Higher Realm
that has placed
Her Eternal Flame of Life
within me.

I acknowledge that
I am the authority
through free will
as to what I experience.

My Beloved Higher Self,
enfold me now
in a sphere of White Light.

Hold it around me
so powerfully that
no discord can get through.

See that it makes me
invisible,
invincible, and
invulnerable
to the discord in this world
and forever sensitive
to the Promptings and Guidance
You offer me each day.

See that It is Eternally Sustained
and held ever-expanding around me.
I thank you and love you and bless you.

Hold your Love
in all the things I do this day.

Add Your Love
to all the physical service
that I render.

Let my outer self be
a Source of your Presence
here in this world each day.

Thank You
Thank You
Thank You
--
Wishing you Tons of Happiness and Great Health, S.G. 4.14.08

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Comments:
david santos said...

Excellent!
Happy day
June 17, 2008 6:48 AM

catherine todd said...

Dear David, thank you for your comment. I just saw it today. It's a wonderful prayer, isn't it?
June 30, 2008 7:56 PM

Sondra's Prayer "Thank You. Thank You. Thank You."

Catherine Todd Fri, Aug 17, 2007 at 10:40 AM [changed post date on blog]
To: Sondra Anderson
Sondra, add to and correct as needed. Fantastic! CT

Dear God,
Please amplify all positive
energy, emotions, and memories
around my relationship
with my father (mother, siblings, son, former husband & friends).

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please guide me towards my path
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please help me stay on my path
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please remove any blocks from my path
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please remove all blocks I have put in my path
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please remove any blocks anyone else has put in my path
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please protect me
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God, please strengthen the sphere of light that protects me
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Dear God please help me, help me, help me
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

The three Thank You's" really make a difference. Try it. The second time strengthens it, the third time explodes with gratitude. Happens inside of you and breaks everything loose!

The significance of saying thank you nine times:

1st three is of the Past: past, present and future of the Past

2nd three is of the Present: past, present and future of the Present

3rd three is of the Future: past, present and future of the Future


From Sondra via telephone (as is the prayer)
--
*** Traveling:

"A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on a plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home." ~ Carl Burns

Words to live by: "Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song." ~ Konrad von Gesner

"The world is made anew each day, for God makes it so. It contains within it all the good and all the evil as before; no more, no less, but the same." ~ Paraphrased from "The Crossing," by Cormac McCarthy

Catherine Todd
6754 Leaning Oak Rd. Oxford NC 27565
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727