"Do not ask to have your life’s load lightened,
     but for courage to endure.
Do not ask for perfection in all you do,
     but for the wisdom not to repeat mistakes.
Do not ask for fulfillment in all your life,
     but for patience to accept frustration.
And finally, do not ask for more before saying,
     ‘Thank You’ for what you have already received."

Joy of Being Human . . . . . . . . . Eugene Kennedy

     "Hope grows in the midst of persons who are trying to grow in relationship to each other. We must dig into ourselves for the energies of hope when we are challenged to invest it in others, for their sake. Hope has a difficult birth — and sometimes a short life — precisely because it forces us to break the bowl in which we hoard our self-concerns."

     "All life is a series of choices and what you choose to give life today will determine what life will give you tomorrow…Whatever choices we make, we are also choosing the end results of them."

     "Life is a constant Advent season: we are continually waiting to become, to discover, to complete, to fulfill. Hope, struggle, fear, expectation and fulfillment are all part of our Advent experience. The world is not as just, not as loving, not as whole as we know it can and should be. But the coming of Christ and his presence among us — as one of us — give us reason to live in hope: that light will shatter the darkness, that we can be liberated from our fears and prejudices, that we are never alone or abandoned. May this Advent season be a time for bringing hope, transformation and fulfillment into the Advent of our lives."

     "Dec. 14: As disciples of Jesus, we are called to be reconcilers, not judges; we are called to forgive, not keep score; we are called to welcome back those who want to return and to enable them to put their lives back in order, without setting up conditions or establishing litmus tests to determine their worthiness and sincerity."

     "The fifth essential step into the fullness of life is:

     To Belong…‘a place to call home,’ a sense of community. A community is a union of persons who have in common, who share in mutuality their most precious possessions — themselves. They know and are open to one another. They are for one another. They share in love their persons and their lives."

     "Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a person brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make one brave in another."

The Inner Eye . . . . . . . . . Cord, May `82

     "The kind of sensitivity which allowed Francis (of Assisi) to be drawn toward Christ is born out of his deep contemplation, his own interior union with the Lord. One does not come to see the beauty of the created world as revealing Christ unless by grace. This kind of beauty is seen only by the ‘inner eye.’ It is the vision of the mystic whose eyes have been given the gift of sight."

Messengers of Joy . . . . . . . . . St. John Paul II

     "Christ came to bring joy — joy to children, joy to parents, joy to families and to friends, joy to workers and to scholars, joy to the sick and joy to the elderly, joy to all humanity. In a true sense, joy is the keynote of the Christian message and the recurring motif of the Gospels…Be Messengers of Joy."

     "To make connections there must first be an abundance of listening, which is much more than hearing the other person’s words. A good listener tries to pick up emotional expressions as well as an indication of the speaker’s purpose."

Want to be Noticed . . . . . . . . . Soundings, May `86

     "Even before two-year-olds can say the complete word watch, they want to be heard and seen. They want to be noticed. They want to feel important. Do we ever change? Probably not. We all want to feel important…

     We can no longer shout for attention, and stomping a foot is really out. Nor can we wear signs around our necks saying, ‘I want to feel important,’ but that’s what most of us would like to do.

     …Try to keep this in mind. When you are talking with someone who works for you, you should remember, with a few words or a gesture, to make that person feel important. You don’t have to use lavish praise. Even just recognition helps.

     …When we are young, we struggle desperately for recognition. As we grow older and wiser, we realize others need it too, sometimes more than we do."

Being a Peacemaker . . . . . . . . . Olga Morris

     "Peace begins with the way I think and respond in all my dealings with people. Before I can work for global peace, I have to be able to resolve personal conflicts peacefully. Being a peacemaker starts here at home."

     "If we don’t get what we want out of this life, it is seldom because we are not given enough time for it; we have more than enough time. As with most everything else, it’s what we choose to do with it that makes all the difference."

     In your travels, have you ever had a plane flight delayed? Have you sat in the airport waiting for the plane to take off, land, or just get to the gate? Most likely, all of us have at one time or another. Believe it or not, waiting for planes actually helps us live our spiritual lives better! Seriously!

     This is true because of the real distinction between "waiting" and "expecting." When we wait we simple look at the present and what is happening. When we expect we look to the future for some promised fulfillment that is beyond our ability. Waiting looks at what is not happening, expecting looks at what is about to happen. This is why we do not simply wait for Christ to return; we expect Christ to return, and we expect him to fulfill all his promises.

     The difference between waiting and expecting is desire. The desire for what that airplane trip promises at the other end keeps us patient in the boarding area. The desire for Christ’s return keeps us patient in this life as we expect the great things of the life ahead of us.

     The next time your plane is delayed, thank God, and look forward with greater expectation to what is still ahead. Joy is in the expecting of Jesus!