Your Pastoral Coach

Just for this Moment

Just for this Moment

Just for this moment, we are one...
Just for this moment,
my heart is your heart,
my mind is your mind,
my soul is your soul.

Just for this moment, we are one...
Just for this moment,
my worries have vanished
my body is well,
my heart is at peace.

Just for this moment, we are one...
And I open my eyes,
and smile.

Technorati Tags: Hope

If

If
By RUDYARD KIPLING

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Technorati Tags: Accomplish goals and realize dreams

Explore..., Dream..., Discover...

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
~ Mark Twain, 19th century US author and humorist

Technorati Tags: Quotes

Unceasing Prayer

I saw this today and loved it...

From Unceasing Thinking to Unceasing Prayer

"Our minds are always active. We analyze, reflect, daydream, or dream. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is "unceasing." Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with our God, who is the source of all love. Let's break out of our isolation and realize that Someone who dwells in the center of our beings wants to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds."

Henri Nouwen

Courtesy of Quasi-Mom...

Technorati Tags: Quotes

Be Who You Are

"Be who you are and you will set the world on fire."

St. Catherine of Siena

art by Peter Quidley

Technorati Tags: Quotes

Emptying Our Hearts

"I know that to do this (living in the presence of God) your heart must be empty of all other things because God desires to posses it exclusively, and he cannot posses it exclusively without first emptying it of everything other than himself; neither can he act within it nor do what he pleases."

Brother Lawrence

Technorati Tags: Living in the presence of God, Quotes

My Hunger for God

Spiritual growth and holiness are such interesting things. One one hand I hunger for God so much! On the other hand, I can't seem to be able to easily do what will satisfy my hunger. I crave to be in His presence all the time, all the days of my life, in fact all eternity. I know that for where I am, what would help me the most is to live in His presence by doing something simple: before every single task I say "God, please be with me as I start this meeting, or answer e-mail, or drive to work, or make coffee, or give this presentation, etc." Basically, the whole day becomes a constant and simple prayer. This week work has been insanely busy and difficult. I get very focused doing the task at hand and juggling many priorities. My success at doing these prayers? Maybe 20%... So simple in concept, yet so difficult for me to do... Nevertheless, I believe the benefits would be immense. And thus, I will continue, I will keep trying. This quote sums it up for me...

"You called. You shouted. You broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my darkness. You breathed your fragrance on me. I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you. Now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me and now I burn for your peace" (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 7)

Technorati Tags: Catholic, Quotes, Spirituality

I Want to Plant My Heart in the Earth

I'm going to plant a heart in the earth
water it with love from a vein
I'm going to praise it with the push of a muscle
and care for it in the sound of all dimensions.
I'm going to leave a heart in the earth
so it may grow and flower
a heart that throbs with longing
that adores everything green
that will be a strength and nourishment for birds
that will be the sap of plants and mountains.

Poet Rosario Murillo

Let's plant seeds of love, peace, and justice...

Technorati Tags: Quotes

Let's be Angels of Peace

The stress of the Christmas Season is beginning to increase. People are tired of the first wave of shopping, traffic jams, and wondering how they are going to pay for all the things they want to get for others. Some people are beginning to dread celebrating Christmas for the first time without a loved one. What are we to do? We have a wonderful opportunity to become angels of peace. How? Smiling, allowing someone ahead at the shopping line, allowing someone to get a coveted parking spot, empathizing with retail workers, or by watching your friend's children while they get things done or rest. Remember that the more stressed and depressed we are, the more we tend to be thinking about ourselves. The more we serve, the happier we get. There are so many ways to be angels, let's pray that God can put us at the right place, right time, and right peace of mind to help someone in little ways...

"Let us not be justices of the peace, but angels of peace."

St. Theresa of Lisieux

Technorati Tags: Catholic, Quotes, Service

Which Comes First... Gratitude or Happiness?

"In our daily lives we must see
That it is not happiness that makes us grateful
But gratefulness that makes us happy."

Anonymous

Technorati Tags: Gratitude, Quotes