Waiting for the Miracle

His name was Juaquin (pronounced Wah-keen).
About 10 years ago, I rescued this fish from a woman I worked with. She had "won" him in a raffle.

We all need proper care and tending.
I relate to the "fishbowl" experience. The sad thing about these Beta fish, is that there is a lot of misinformation on how to care for them. They DO need their water changed frequently, you DO have to test and correct the pH of the water, you DO have to feed them Beta food, they cannot live on plants, etc., etc.

Love is reciprocal with just a little time and attention
He lived with Him and me for 3 1/2 years, a long time for Betas. It was important to us to give him proper care.

Amazingly, and I did not expect this from a fish, but Juaquin became sheer delight to me. He would see me come up to his bowl and practically wag his tail off. He would leap up and kiss (bite) my fingers as I would sprinkle in his food pellet. He was absolutely hilarious too. Such a personality in an odd little fish. We loved watching him, and I believe he loved watching us too.

I couldn't wait to see him when I came home from work, and he was ecstatic.

He left my heart wounded in a way I had not experienced before.
He lived for about 3 months after I first noticed he was "sick." I have had sick pets before, but this one I couldn't physically, tenderly hold, and spoon feed, and caress in his sickness. I could only watch and say soothing sounds. There was nothing I could do to make it better. I cried/sobbed.

Not being able to physically help or even comfort the situation was painful and was a new experience to me. Ultimately, Juaquin was freed from the confines of his bowl, and that makes me very happy. There are always blessings in woundedness, and in tears. I'll probably never bring home another beta though, at least not anytime soon.

I hope this doesn't seem like a sad story, it is not. I love my memories of Juaquin, and I learned a lot about Love and commitment from the little guy - we will be together in spirit forever.

"Juaquin in a Winter Wonderland"
I so love this photo. It is one of many. One year, Him and I decorated the area around Juaquin's bowl and took several pictures. We have used them as our Christmas cards.

"Time for Different"
Advent is a time for different way of looking at everything; a time of expectant waiting for something miraculous to come.

Peace
Keren

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to express much gratitude and say "thank you" and "I love you" to my friends, my family, the people who visit this site and this blog, and mmy special relationships....the real ones, the indirect ones and the imaginary ones too :o)...even the ones I get mad at and even the ones who get mad at me.

Why are we always hardest on the people we love? I think it is because we know, deep inside, that they will always love us, and we will always love them.

Eternally grateful for Love - sometimes it is all we have holding us together - hey like hug?.


Peace, Love
Keren

I know I am sappy...I have done nothing but eat sweets today, including a Sprinkles cupcake ! Cherry Pie with a turkey silhouette on top. Then we topped it off with spiked eggnog....this was at work...

Dedicated to the Holy Spirit

Devotion to Holy Spirit
in other beliefs named : Shakti, Te, Sophia, Chiti... Love...please let me know if there are more...
Father / Son / Holy Spirit = God
Ice / Water / Steam = H20



Peace
Keren

Come down from the Cross, we could use the Wood

(Tom Waits song "Come on up to the House" I could not find an appropriate version to post....so I give up).

No disrespect to the Cross - we all have them to bear, we all need them to grow and, to me it is important to reverance the cross (every thing about Jesus)..but I'm ready to pay some attention to the Holy Spirit aspect of our Creator....we all have that too!

Paying too much attention to our own sufferings can sometimes seem more like whining...or ever worse...showing off a "badge" of some kind.


Peace
Keren

To all those who know Love

Thank you for being consistent and loving me even when I am mixed up and fail.

Thank you for not expecting perfection out of me.

Thank you for not turning away from me even when I don't have much to give you.

Thank you for supporting me.

Thank you for holding me in your heart.

Thank you for holding the Christ light for me, when I frequently lose my way.

When we express Love to each other we are being Christ to each other.

I absolutley love having my Angels and Saints and connections to my loved ones who have gone before me, but it is sooo necessary that we humans on this earth support eachother too.

Our cups runneth over indeed.

Peace and Love
Keren

Miracles lead to Love, more so than Logical explanations

I need to go to work, but I wanted to make this post this morning, in honor of today being the Feast of the Presentation of Mary. (see below for more on this)

Last week I was in church taking photos, playing with my new camera. There were only a few candles lit at this shrine/altar. I tried to light one…, but there was not enough wick in anyof the holders to make a flame. There was a woman at the altar of Joseph cleaning the candle holders so I didnt try to find one.
After I snapped this shot I looked back at the photos I had taken on the camera lcd. I noticed that in this photo, there appeared to be a candle that was not in the rest of the photos. A taper on a round pillar it seemed. I went back over to the shrine and looked but couldn’t see anything that looked like the taper in my photo. It was a miracle. I brought the lady cleaning the candles over and showed her and she saw it too. Now..it was not long before I had the logical explanation figured out. More on this later.

The crux of the matter is that I was “presented” with the lit candle, after I could not light one at the altar. It was a gift from the Blessed Mother to me. This kind of “gift” may seem illogical or meaningless to you, but it put a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart that I have held since then. What does that mean? It means I feel a little more secure, a little less likely to get irritated, a little more willing to roll with the punches…a little more spiritual, a little more loving hopefully.

I don’t know what you believe about Mary, but she too was prophesied in the Old Testament and then ofcourse written about in the New Testament. The Koran has as much, if not more written, information about Mary – including the “virgin birth”.
In essence. Mary was the bearer of the Light for the World. In a miraculous way. I believe this.
One more thing about the Catholic church, perhaps Orthodox Anglican others too..I don’t know. Catholic Christian faith embraces relationship with our angels and saints and loved one and friends who passed to the other side. The Roman Catholic Churches, at least in the big city, are open most of the day and well into the evening, 7 days a week 365 a year.
Churches will always be needed as long as there are lonely people. Churches with place for prayer and connection like this shrine, provide many sad, scared and lonely people a place to feel safe and loved. A light, when they cant make one on their own.

Have a great day!



November 21, 2008

Feast of the Presentation of Mary

Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery. The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century. Although the feast at times disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the universal Church.
As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in apocryphal literature. In what is recognized as an unhistorical account, the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was three years old. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless.
Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond.

From American Catolic on line. (will provide link)

Revelations: Love Affidavits

The owner said to his only Son, I give you all of my authority, you are as me.

Go out to the people and remind them of me. Say to them: “I am look and feel, I am taste and sensation, I am sound and fragrance"

“I am your bread and your wine” “I am your hope faith and Love”
“I am your judgment”

Bring back the ones who reveal me even in my tiniest forms, my least expected ways, my smallest gestures, the poorest situations; to the bare, empty, locked up and sick.

*****
Peace
Keren

Aloof: le Muse

I am so glad the Presidential election is over!

Now then...I dont like taking sides, I prefer things warm and fuzzily defined.

Tight slacks..I work best with plenty of freedom but I require some structure to have shape.

Forward retreat...I am ready to move on.

Peace
KEren

Trust Fund: the Potential to Trust

Dear heavenly Lovie:

We praise and thank you for all you do to reveal yourself to us through the abundance of Love we have inherited from you.

We cannot deposit it in our bank accounts, but we can give it to others. The more we give, the more we get back. What a beautiful system that is!

Ultimately, who could ask for anything more?

Thank you for continuing to give us the potential for Trust, in any situation, that will allow for the expansion of our hearts to be able to grow and multiply the Love you have given us to give.

Amen
Peace
Keren

The Real Presence

Unconditional Love
***
(From God...to you, to me, to all of us)

I love everything about you.
I love your face, I adore it especially after an absence.
In reality, I love it all the time.
I love the way you sometimes look up when you smile,
I love the way your face expands to show your heart when your mouth breaks into a smile...the way your brow raises up.
I love the way you say your words.
I love how your eyes can seem distant, veiled or shy, but oh how intense...one split second locked with them reveals a millennia.

I love to notice the things you do that remind me of me,
or, of the way I want you to be reminded of me

***
Is it not all about the recognition of the physical and transcendental reality of Love?

To me...this is what the Holy Eucharist is all about.
Physical substance, inner reality,
i.e.,
Human sustenance, transcendental substance.

Peace and Love
Keren

More on Veterans Day - JFK, also myHim

John F. Kennedy
Proclamation 3557 - Veterans Day, 1963

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
[.....
WHEREAS this day (November 11) has an important dual significance in that it gives each one of us an opportunity both to honor the dedicated men and women of all races and religious beliefs who have honorably served in our armed forces in time of war, and to reemphasize our determination to achieve world peace with patience, perseverance, and courage...]

Dual significiance because November 11 was originally proclaimed as Armistice Day. Armistice Day is (was) the anniversary of the symbolic end of World War I on 11 November 1918. It commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Rethondes, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". It was to be the war that ended all wars.

MyHim and I had a conversation last night...I suggested that as long as there is excess testosterone there will be War...Him thought for a minute and said maybe War was more caused by lack of testosterone than too much. .... hmmm :o)
Peace
Keren

TLIO Honors all Veterans

Thank you United States Veterans and all Veterans worldwide who have served and who are serving with Courage and Love for Freedom and Democracy.

Peace
Keren

It was originally called Armistice Day. Good intentions.

Love is not a Victory March

You may remember this song from the first Shrek. Hallelujiah, written by Leonard Cohen - an amazing spiritual soul exposed through his writing and singing, and most likely his life too.

I love the part - "David had a special chord that when he played it pleased the Lord." I don't know.....the whole thing gives me goose bumps.

I also love all Bible stories about David and then his son Solomon. David was a real nobody who was chosen and anointed by God and one of God's anointed, then through proving himself to people and giants, etc..he ultimately became King and then the story really gets interesting.

David was soo human...and his son Solomon, don't even get me started. There is a Rumi poem about Solomon and the Queen of Sheba I love...and will post here soon..

I don't understand all the lineage references in scripture but Jesus, through Mary, was born of the house of David. I was born in St. David's hospital...does that count? :o) I don't think so. My sister tells me it was an Episcopalian Hospital not a Catholic Hospital...However, I do believe it was Catholic in 1959 when I was born to my absolutely-(mostly.) wonderful-loving-kind-religion-shedding-former-protestant parents..anyway it had a Saint named for it, and I like that.

I love the Old Testament Bible Stories. I also particularly love reading about Abraham.. the Father of Faith. I find it very interesting and want to learn more about it, that he had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael...from two different women..read the book..very simply put (from my basic understanding) Isaac then became the connecting ancestor of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, and "Ishmael, whose twelve sons became desert princes (most prominently, Nebaioth and Kedar), along with Midian, Sheba and other Arabian tribes" (wikipedia)

The heart of the matter is..Muslim and Jewish people are of the same God as the God of Abraham.

Most Christians understand that Jesus was Jewish. So, Christians also have the same God...the God of Abraham. Abraham is our common (as in mutual) "Father of Faith"

It is my hope that one day ALL people (no matter what their faith, or non faith, or background or experiences) will recognise our common (as in mutual) most glorious and amazing Creator...Love... and all that Love encompasses.

It is also my hope and prayer that we can all retain, stay with, our external differences (because to me, that is what life and learning and growing is all about) while also acknowledging our internal oneness and connection.

Peace and Love
Keren

P.S.. Please someone..anyone correct me if you belive I am misguided about any of this...I am very much in the learning phase, hopefully growing too. :o)

"If you know Love, you know God"

"If you know Love, you know God"
great wonderful quote from my myspace friend JC in the UK.

Im reposting this video because I like it, it makes me feel good, it embraces diversity love and dancing. It is important in these uncertain times that we embrace eachother by honoring our similarities and respecting our differences and be happy.

Love is at the heart of all matters. Love cannot be legislated. Love is inside each of us - no one can take that from us. Everyone - poor rich black brown pinkish orange yellow green white muslim christian jew hindu rastafarian unaffiliated whatever male female gay straight marginalized non-marginalized etc etc etc.

No law can change Love,
No president/leader can make Love happen
No circumstance can take it away from us

We the people... want to recognise Love in others and in ourselves and embrace it and dance with it, and then go to work ... or maybe we can learn to love and dance while we are working.. that would be good too.

:o)
Peace and Love
Keren

Myths and Courage and Compassion

Each year on November 1st, Catholics (Perhaps Anglicans, Orthodox, others) celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. November 2 is All Souls Day.

Our tradition holds that the Saints...these holy people... and all of our deceased relatives and ancestors for that matter, and angels too (all that is seen and unseen) are “with us”, in communion with us, even though we cannot see or necessarily feel their presence. They are praying for us, supporting us, and lovingly holding us in the Holy Spirit.

When Catholics (who are baptized as babies) are later “confirmed” in the church, and also when adults (like me) are baptized and confirmed, we choose a Saint to be confirmed with us as our patron saint. I personally believe the saint actually chooses us, but that is another story.

My patron saint is St. Veronica. I have not seen the movie, but if you saw the movie “the Passion of Christ”, Veronica is a woman who is in the crowd watching Jesus as he carries his cross along the Via Dolorosa, blood, sweat, tears perhaps, running down his face, stinging, blurring in his eyes and mouth...Veronica is the one who braves the Roman guards and runs out and offers him her scarf to wipe his face. He does, he takes it, presses it on his face to absorb it all and hands it back to her and the blood on his face has imprinted his facial features on her scarf.

There is no scriptural references to this event. She is, for all practical purposes, a myth.

At first, I was a little bothered by choosing a Saint that many people would doubt, not believe ever existed. It occurred to me however, a lot of people don’t believe the way I do about most things.. so what?

Veronica represents courage and compassion. I believe her courageous act of compassion, and stories about it, gives us a true image of Jesus and His Ministry, and also one of His Holy Face through the imprint of His Holy Blood. FYI...she is also the Patron Saint of photographers and laundresses.

Peace
Keren
I put the lyrics on a comment below. Beautiful song isn't it?
P.S.S.
This is from Wikidpedia.
Saint Veronica or Berenice, according to the "Acta Sanctorum" ((Acts of the Saints) was a pious woman of Jerusalem who, moved with pity as Jesus carried his cross to Golgotha, gave him her veil that he might wipe his forehead. Jesus accepted the offering and after using it handed it back to her, the image of His face miraculously impressed upon it. The name "Veronica" itself is a latinization of Berenice, a Macedonian name, meaning "bearer of victory" (corresponding to Greek: phere-nikē). Folk etymology has attributed its origin to the words for true (Latin: vera) and image (Greek: eikon). The Encyclopaedia Britannica says this about the legend:
Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica (vii 18) tells how at Caesarea Philippi lived the woman whom Christ healed of an issue of blood (Matt ix 20). Legend was not long in providing the woman of the Gospel with a name. In the West she was identified with Martha of Bethany; in the East she was called Berenike, or Beronike, the name appearing in as early a work as the "Acta Pilati," the most ancient form of which goes back to the fourth century. It is interesting to note that the fanciful derivation of the name Veronica from the words Vera Icon (eikon) "true image" dates back to the "Otia Imperialia" (iii 25) of Gervase of Tilbury (fl 1211), who says: "Est ergo Veronica pictura Domini vera."