Are you struggling? -- questioning?

We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. You have to doubt and reject everything else in order to believe firmly in Christ, and after you have begun to believe, your faith itself must be tested and purified. Christianity is not merely a set of forgone conclusions. Faith tends to be defeated by the burning presence of God in mystery, and seeks refuge from him, flying to comfortable social forms and safe convictions in which purification is no longer an inner battle but a matter of outward gesture.
-- Thomas Merton
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Psalm 16:8

Why am I concerned about what will happen today? - tomorrow? Is it because I have turned my attention away from God?
I will hold the Lord for ever in my sight: with him at my side I can never be shaken.
In everything I do, in every thought that crosses my mind, the Lord should present. I must hold him "in my sight" so that he is "at my side."
Lord, help me do this. Amen.
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God's creatures

Dogs have owners; cats have staff.
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Do as I do, not as I say

Another verse to convict me:
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
1 John 3:18
Do my actions show love?
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Look forward with joy!

Has Katrina got you down? Are you upset with work, co-workers, family & friends? Do you feel like, what's the use? Read what Dorothy Day said:
We may be living on the edge of eternity, but that should not make us dismal. The early Christians rejoiced to think that the end of the world was near, as they thought. Are we so unready to face God? Are we so avid for joys here, that we perceive so darkly those to come?
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Hermit humor

A story about a Taoist hermit in the mountains conveys the truth of our oneness with divine humor. A formal delegation from the Confucian temple below decided to visit and seek his advice. When they arrived at his hut unannounced, they were scandalized to find him completely naked. "What are you doing meditating in your hut with no pants on?" they demanded. "The whole world is my hut," he replied. "This small room is my pants. What I want to know is, what are you doing in my pants?"
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Starting the day

Every morning I start the day by praying the Psalms as part of the monastic tradition known as the Liturgy of the Hours or the Daily Office. The first words that come out of my mouth are:
O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
This introduction has become such a routine that I must confess I do not always think about the words -- that is until yesterday morning when it struck me: Are my first words each day a proclamation of praise to God? How many of my words during the day praise God?
Just as I love traditional liturgy, I cherish these words with which I start each day. I pray that they will remind me more often to proclaim God's praise.
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Hurricane & the Psalms

As I pray the Psalms, I continue to be reminded of what Katrina has wrought & what must have gone through the minds of some in the midst of the storm.

Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I am stuck in bottomless mud;
I am adrift in deep waters and the flood is sweeping me away.
I am exhausted with crying out, my throat is parched,
my eyes are failing as I look out for my God.
* * *
But I turn my prayer to you, Lord, at the acceptable time, my God.
In your great kindness, hear me, and rescue me with your faithful help.
Tear me from the mire, before I become stuck;
tear me from those who hate me;
tear me from the depths of the waters.
Do not let the waves overwhelm me;
do not let the deep waters swallow me;
do not let the well's mouth engulf me.
-- Psalm 69 (Grail translation)
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Seeking wonders beyond me

Could it be that I am seeking wisdom & understanding that I am not entitled to? Why can I not be content with what I do see? -- with what I do understand? I was led to these questions by reading Psalm 130 in the translation used by Universalis (I don't know which one that is).

Lord, I do not puff myself up or stare about,
or walk among the great or seek wonders beyond me.

Should I not be content with the knowledge God has chosen to let me have?

Truly calm and quiet I have made my spirit:
quiet as a weaned child in its mother's arms --
like an infant is my soul.

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Image of God

You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
-- Anne Lamott
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Katrina suffering

As I think about the suffering and death caused by Katrina, the images from TV and the paper won't leave. Some of the phrases from Psalm 88 (Grail translation) come to mind:

LORD my God, I call for help by day;
I cry at night before you.
Let my prayer come into your presence.
O turn your ear to my cry.

My life is on the brink of the grave.
I am reckoned as one in the tomb;
I have reached the end of my strength,
like one alone among the dead,
like the slain lying in their graves,
like those you remember no more,
cut off, as they are, from your hand.

You have laid me in the depths of the tomb,
in places that are dark, in the depths.

I am drowned beneath your waves.

As for me, LORD, I call to you for help;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
LORD, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide your face?
Your fury has swept down upon me;
your terrors have utterly destroyed me.

They surround me all the day like a flood,
they assail me all together.

Friend and neighbor you have taken away;
my one companion is darkness.

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New Orleans

"We're just a bunch of rats. That's how they've been treating us."
-- Earle Young, awaiting rescue outside the Superdome
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