
Margaret of Cortona
““I neither seek nor wish for anything but you, my Lord Jesus”. With these words, Margaret of Cortona, answered the Lord’s question, “’What is your wish, poverella?’” (little poor one)
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““I neither seek nor wish for anything but you, my Lord Jesus”. With these words, Margaret of Cortona, answered the Lord’s question, “’What is your wish, poverella?’” (little poor one)
The causes of mental illness range from biological to environmental and everything in between. My own anxiety issues are biological, it is literally a part of my DNA and because of the wonders of modern medicine my illness is in check, at least most of the time. There was a time when I refused to acknowledge that I was struggling, but with time accepted it and asked for help.
“Today, I sacrificed a one of my precious masks for the sake of Ash Wednesday. Normally I burn a stack of palm crosses and fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration just as many churches do.”
But hope is not fragile,
or pretty,
or fine.
Hope is a weed,
a clinging vine.
“Regardless of where I am spiritually at any given moment, I persist with readings and prayers at the beginning and end of each day. And, despite what may be going badly in some of our lives, here we are, together as the Body of Christ in this Cafe, choosing to get up and embrace the spiritual life again today, to seek that joyful union.”
“Alfred Adler, in his theory of Individual Psychology, wrote that mental health could not be balanced by oneself—there must be a community aspect to it. He called that ‘social interest’ or ‘community feeling’.”
On January 21, 2021, President Joe Biden continued an American tradition by attending a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. The event included a closing prayer from Presiding Bishop Curry. Since 1933, the National Inaugural Prayer Service has been a familiar part of the inaugural ceremonies, but even before the was a National Cathedral, The Episcopal Church prayed for—and with—Presidents. That tradition began with George Washington and the first inauguration in 1789.
“As we traverse this second year of COVID with fears about the possibilities of more restrictions conflicting with our desire to get rid of masks and start gathering together, I know that many of us are wondering, ‘Does God believe in healing?'”
“Cry aloud, in habitants of Zion, ring out your joy,
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.”
“As I fell from my perch, that lofty view, my eyesight blurred and my heart broke. I never quite got over it.”
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