Portions of a meditation given by Pastor Ivars at a wedding yesterday:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.

As wonderful as today is, with God's blessing -- we are always on the brink of tomorrow. We are always expected to be ready for change. We are constantly called to leave the comfort of what we know -- into the challenge of what is new. The best way, and really the only way, to cope with the unexpected that tomorrow will bring, is to trust in the Lord with all your heart.
An ancient rabbi, Bar Kapara, said that this text is the hinge on which all the essential principles of Judaism rest. Well, it is also the hinge on which Christianity rests. Paul wrote to the Corinthians "that we should not trust in ourselves but in God." Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me."
Our text from Proverbs amplifies this: "In all your ways acknowledge him." The words trust and acknowledge come from the same root work in Hebrew which means not only to see but also to know. This is knowledge with totality. This knowledge includes not only the mind, but also your will and your heart. It is the same as Jesus' declaration of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The difficulty with this is our own sinful, prideful nature that keeps telling us that we know what is best -- that we know what we should do. That's why the text from Proverbs doesn't stop with trusting in the Lord with all your heart. It goes on to caution us, "And lean not unto your own understanding."
We have the tendency to call upon God only when we think we need him -- when our own ways have gotten us into trouble -- or when we face some unexpected tragedy we cannot control or overcome. Of course, these are times to turn to the Lord. But our text tells us that even at other times we are not to depend upon our own understanding. We are to acknowledge God in all our ways. It is when we trust and depend upon him to lead us all of the time, that he will direct our paths in the way we should go.
The Psalmist says, "Blessed are those who trust in the Lord." Your trust in him will allow God's blessings to shower down upon you and your marriage. May you love one another, as Christ first loved us all. Amen.

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Pope Benedict XVI:
"Grant that we may be one flock and one shepherd!"
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Abraham Joshua Heschel: "We are all Pharaohs or slaves of Pharaohs. It is sad to be a slave of a Pharaoh. It is horrible to be a Pharaoh. Daily we should take account and ask: What have I done today to alleviate the anguish, to mitigate the evil, to prevent humiliation? Let there be a grain of prophet in every person!"

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Teresa of Avila: "Our problems exist because we take our focus 
off of Christ."

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On this feast day of my namesake, let me share some of his words, as I accept them for myself:

O God, let me know you and love you so that I may find my joy in you; and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in all their plenitude. While I am here on earth let me learn to know you better, so that in heaven I may know you fully; let my love for you grow deeper here, so that there I may love you fully. On earth then I shall have great joy in hope, and in heaven complete joy in the fulfillment of my hope.
St. Anselm (1033-1109)
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Pope Benedict XVI:

The church must renounce worldly principles and standards in order to accept the truth, and the way it must go will always lead to some form of martyrdom. It is important for us to realize that we cannot bring about unity by diplomatic maneuvers. The result would be a diplomatic structure based on human principles. Instead, we must open ourselves more and more to God.

The unity that God brings about is the only true unity. Anything else is a political construction, and it will be as transitory as all such constructions are. This is the more difficult way, for in political maneuvering, people themselves are active and believe they can achieve something. But we must wait on God, and we must go to meet him by cleansing our hearts.

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waiting for the Eucharist

Why hasn't my prayer been answered? How did I pray? Saint John gives me this instruction:
And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 John 5:14
Did I ask according to his will?
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St. Augustine: "Let us seek Him Whom we have found."

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I want to share with you a prayer I was reading, written by my namesake, St. Anselm, born in 1033, died 1109.
O Blessed Lord, who hast commanded us to love one another, grant us grace that having received Thine undeserved bounty, we may love every one in Thee and for Thee. We implore Thy clemency for all; but especially for the friends whom Thy love has given to us. Love Thou them, O Thou Fountain of love and make them to love Thee with all their heart, that they may will, and speak and do those things only which are pleasing to Thee. Amen.
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Prayer from the Moravians:
We confess, Lord, that we often stand in judgment, labeling another "unrighteous." As we worship today, guide our hearts to forgiveness. Let us welcome all we label "sinner" as you welcome us, with open arms and open hearts. Amen.
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Of course there are days when you don't feel like going to church. Where is God anyway? Why can't I just stay in bed? Please go, no matter how deserted you feel!
Screwtape, a senior devil, writes his nephew, Wormwood, a devil in training: "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."
C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters

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Saturdays can be such busy days. We do the leftover stuff we didn't get to this week; we try to get a jump on the next week. Often Saturdays can get to be too busy -- with no time for relaxation -- with little thought to God (after all, we will deal with him tomorrow). Yet, in Psalm 113 we read: "From the sun's rising to its setting, the Lord's name is to be praised."
Let us strive to do more praising of the Lord's name on Saturdays.
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It got me to think about myself & my attachment to things when I heard that Pope John Paul II had no personal possessions, no money, nothing tangible to leave behind upon his death. How many of us would have been willing to live with no possessions even though all was provided for us? And do we not now have all provided for us? What are the things that we long for? - work for? - desire? How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 1 John 3:17-18
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Let go, and respond to the immediate needs around you. Don't get caught in some false perception of yourself. There will always be another person more gifted than you. And don't perceive your position as important, but be ready to serve at any moment. If you can let go of who you think you are, you will become free - ready to love others. If you learn to see your impermanence, you will be able to live for the moment and not miss opportunities to love by pushing things into the future.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

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Bishop Angelo Comastri, vicar of the Vatican: "This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope."

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Blessed be the memory of Pope John Paul II.
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Let us pray for Pope John Paul as he approaches eternity with the Lord.
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