OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Let Us Open our Eyes
One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”
– Rachel Carson
The Wisdom of Pooh
Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
– A.A. Milne (via Eeyore)
One of our sisters considers pampas grass to be a nuisance, and rather large weeds. I’ve always found it pretty to look at. It’s that way sometimes, weeds . . . flowers. Kinda depends on your perspective on how you see them. Probably if I had to deal with uprooting them in garden where they were unwanted, I would see them as weeds too.
Are there any weeds in my life that I would be helped by seeing them as flowers?
Silence Gives us a New Perspective
I share a piece of wisdom from Mother Teresa today.
The trees, the flowers, the plants grow in silence.
The stars, the sun, the moon move in silence.
Silence gives us a new perspective.
– Blessed Mother Teresa.
With Delight I Rejoice in God
Saturday’s Responsorial Psalm is from the Psalm 13
With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
Though I trusted in your mercy,
let my heart rejoice in your salvation.
With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
Let me sing of the LORD, “God has been good to me.”
With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
God Will Give Us the Desires of our Hearts
Psalm 37 is tomorrow’s Responsorial Psalm. Whenever I have the privilege to speak with young women about discerning their call, verse 4 of this Psalm comes to mind . . . and to my lips:
Delight yourself in the Lord, and God will give you the desires of your heart.
In other words, we can trust the desires of our own hearts when we our hearts and minds are centered in God.
The Beauty of the Seas
In Wednesday’s Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 24 we read:
The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For God founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Finding a Quiet Time and Place
In Wednesday’s Gospel from Luke 4 we read,
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
We would all do well to find
– some quiet time
– some morning time before the day crowds around us
– in some deserted place.
It would benefit our hearts, our minds, our spirits, our bodies, and our relationships.
All Creation Gives Thanks
In Tuesday’s Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 145 we read:
Let all your works give you thanks, O God,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Reign
and speak of your might.
Wisdom from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Fulfilled life is possible in spite of unfulfilled wishes.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
So let us live our lives to the full!
Gratitude and Wanting What We Have
Gratitude is the intention to count-your-blessings every day, every minute, while avoiding, whenever possible, the belief that you need or deserve different circumstances.
– Timothy Miller,
author of How to Want What You Have
If we could remember this, and put it into practice, we would find the joy and the peace we seek.
OPreach 