Prayers of Healing

My uncle has eye surgery scheduled for next week.  My folks tell me it's a tricky procedure, with limited testing, and there is a strong chance that he could come out of it completely blind.  However, as the alternative suggests that he could go blind if his condition is not treated, this doesn't leave him with a lot of options, and he's going to have both eyes operated on.

I'll be honest, my uncle and I are not close.  Maybe when I was a kid, we were.  I thought he was funny, but because he was a big, bald, bearded man, I also found him a little intimidating.  As I got older, we grew apart, and never being super-close to begin with, it would become easier and easier to resent him for hurts and frustrations that he had caused me over the years.

That being said, I love my uncle.  And I'm not just parroting back the Christian ideal of "love thy neighbor".  I really do care about him.  It doesn't matter what he's done or how strained our relationship is; he's still my uncle, my godfather, and a member of my family.  And that's important.  If you're looking for proof, the fact that there are tears pricking at the corners of my eyes while I write this should be proof enough.  While I would obviously  be concerned to learn that someone I knew could possibly go blind from a failed surgery, it's not something that would bring me to tears, unless I really cared about them.  And obviously, this emotional response tells me something very important about my feelings for my uncle.

In preparation for his upcoming procedure, I've been reading up on my saints.  I knew St. Lucy was the patron saint of eyes and blindness (the legend says that Emperor Diocletian had her eyes put out as a punishment for being a practicing Christian, and the Lord restored her sight).  However, I also learned about another saint, St. Odilia, who is also considered the patroness of eyes, blindness, and vision.  (Her legend says that she was a princess, who was born blind, abandoned by her father, and raised by peasants.  When she was older, she was sent to a convent, and when she was baptized, her vision was miraculously restored to her).

I'm praying daily to both of these saints (daily prayers of intercession to Lucy, and a novena to Odilia), and will continue in my prayers until I learn the outcome of my uncle's surgery.  This could take a while, since he has to wear the bandages over his eyes for at least a week after the surgery.  But, if it will grant him divine protection, intercession, and healing, then I will pray for as long as I need to.

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this blog yet, but if you do, I ask that you pray for my uncle as well.  God bless you for your thoughtfulness and caring!

Peyton Manning on Faith

Yes, I know...this is only my third post and already I'm sharing other people's writing.  But, I've had a nasty case of writer's block lately, and I thought this was a great article.  I love Peyton Manning, and will most certainly put his book on my reading list.  Check it out!  Support our fellow Christians.  And as for our brothers and sisters of different faiths, or no faith at all, it certainly couldn't hurt to read about a wonderful man, could it?  No, I don't suppose it could ;)

 

http://youngcons.com/peyton-manning-opens-up-about-his-christian-faith/

1 Kings 19:11-13

I've written blogs in the past, but usually I don't find myself completely at a loss for topics right at the start.  But, that's what happened this time around.  I set up the blog (easy) and wrote my introduction post (also fairly easy), but when the time came to write about something besides myself, I developed a terrible case of writer's block.  Fortunately, at mass today, things all sort of fell into place and I found my topic.

Today's first reading at mass just happened to be one of my all-time favorites: 1 Kings 19:11-13:  

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

 I've loved this verse since the first time I heard it, but it really became important to be about a year or so ago.  I was a senior in college and going on a retreat that I did not want to attend.  I'm not going to go into too much detail about it here, but for a while, my relationship with God was a bit strained.  And when this retreat came up, I didn't want to go.  But, circumstances sort of worked out in such a way that before I knew what happened, I had been given the coveted last spot on the trip, and was going to be spending a weekend with the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, praying and contemplating.

As I said, circumstances worked out in such a way that I ended up on this retreat.  And I have no doubt in my mind that it was the hand of God which got me there.  Looking back, I know in my heart that God wanted me to come and spend a weekend with Him.  In spite of myself, I found so much healing that weekend.  It really was a retreat that changed my life.

Towards the end of the retreat, I joined a session to go and pray with the labyrinth, a very old an beautiful prayer where you walk around the twisting and winding path of the labyrinth, patterned on the floor.

This is one of my favorite forms of prayer, and I don't get to do it nearly as much as I would like.  At the start of the labyrinth, you keep a thought in your head, sort of like a prayer.  Perhaps it's something like "Which college should I attend?" or "Should I apply for that promotion at work?"  (For me, the focus was about a guy I was seeing at the time.  We were very much infatuated with each other, but we had a lot of issues in our relationship, and I wanted to know what to do about it.)  By the time you reach the center of the maze, the answer is supposed to come to you.  And on your winding way back out, you contemplate the answer you have received, before sitting again in quiet prayer.

I had been walking to the labyrinth, which was out in a field, and my thoughts were confused and frustrated.  As I said before, I had no doubts that God wanted me on this retreat, but I could not understand why I was not getting the Big Answer.  I had been expecting enlightenment, something hitting me like lightning or fireworks.  I had been half expecting the voice in the clouds saying "Little Sister, I have called you here because ________."  But, all I had was silence.  That's when it hit me.

 

I had been looking for the Lord to come to me in the guise of fire; or an earthquake; or a great, driving wind.  And I had been disappointed.  But, then, in that moment, I heard His voice as a little whisper in my heart, a realization that left me trembling about close to tears.  I had been quoting that verse all weekend, since it came up in one of my reflections.  And yet, it took me until that moment to realize that all this time, God was talking to me, but I just didn't hear him because I was expecting something bigger and grander.  It was a very humbling and powerful experience.  And as I listened to this reading at mass today, I found myself filled with that same humbling sense of awe.

Introducing Little Sister

Hello, there!  I'm so glad you decided to stop by and check out my little blog.  I suppose this would be the part where I introduce myself.  You can call me Little Sister.  I'm a 20-something Catholic living in the United States.  I love reading, writing, learning, and of course, Catholicism.  I'm just your average girl next door, and I'd like for you to think about me like that.  I'm no one in particular.  Just a quiet Catholic who decided she wanted to start speaking out about the state of our world.  I'm not the best when it comes to speech, but I love to write.  This blog has been an idea bouncing through my head for a long time, and I think that perhaps this is God's calling for me; to write about things and to speak out about things, but in a way where I am most coherent.

The purpose of this blog, as you might of guessed through the title, is to have conversations, little "heart to hearts" about various topics with you.  Think of this as just a nice chat with your little sister, cousin, daughter, friend, niece...however you want to view me.  I have chosen sister because in my own experiences, I have always had the deepest and most fulfilling conversations with my brother, who is my best friend.  Here is a place to talk about Life, Catholicism, Common Sense (here, a nod to the wonderful GK Chesterton), and the Greater Truth that is often overlooked in our world.

This is not just a blog for Catholics.  I invite everyone to come and read and discuss.  Catholics, Protestants, Agnostics, Atheists, and people of other faith backgrounds are all welcome to join me.  After all, while we may disagree on many points, that does not mean we should not be able to talk with each other.  To paraphrase GK Chesterton, freedom of religion means that we should be able to discuss religion, but instead, we do not discuss it at all.  And I believe that this is a real shame.

One quick disclaimer: Some of the things I say on this blog might be offensive to some of you.  And it is not my intention to insult people of faiths different than mine.  Perhaps I may make a comment out of ignorance; if this is the case, please feel free to correct me.  However, when it comes to Catholic dogma and opinions, I'm going to be a bit more aggressive.  Here, you might be offended, if say, I disagree with you on topics such as abortion or marriage equality.  I hope to shake things up here.  I may be considered to be too conservative on topics such as this, but I'm going to be sticking to the teachings of the Church here.  The general opinion on these topics is that the Church is old-fashioned, restricting, and just wrong.  I'm here to argue in favor of the Church.  If you disagree with me, you're more than welcome to speak up.  But, I am far less likely to back down or apologize.

Finally, if you ever want to contact me, please feel free to.  My email address is listed under my profile, and I hope you'll take advantage of the opportunity to get in touch.  I'm sure that there are many things we can talk about, and just as I said before, these are meant to be conversations.  So, that means if you have questions, comments, or just want to chat, I encourage you to do so.  You can, of course, comment below each post on the blog, but for longer conversations, just email me, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thank you again for stopping by!  I'm looking forward to many heart to heart conversations with you in the future.  I think we'll have a lot to talk about.  God bless!