January 27, 2013

Bulletin January 27, 2013

3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-20
As I sit here thinking of Jesus’ words, I envisioned the scene that is all around me with the difficulties in our country, the world, our church not to mention the difficulties I’m having in being a follower of Jesus. What was it like when Jesus was given the scroll from the prophet Isaiah? He obviously hadn't prepared His ‘sermon’ ahead of time; but when the words of Isaiah were presented, He knew where He would go and what words He would use to describe His mission. Luke, by saying “…the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him”…implies that what Jesus will talk about is the future, announcing something is coming. All eyes are on Him and He lays His cards on the table…He interprets His role as the ‘Isaiah servant’…the ‘anointed one’ who has been prophesized. There is no doubt what He is talking about: God’s promise of the One who will save the world…the waiting is over. No longer will there be predictions; the Messiah is now present and this is what is going to happen…Jesus uses the words of Isaiah to explain what that will be.
The time is different now…I’m living in a different setting…the world has changed but the times echo the same urgency and I like so many, many others are asking ‘when will it happen?...when will the Lord turn things around? When will our world stop the violence and the ‘looking out for self interests and see the ‘each person is my brother and sister’ and my caring for them is my part in redemption. Or maybe the question that is more precise: ‘when will I listen to what the Lord has taught, and realize that I have been ‘anointed’ to change the area of the world where God has placed me?’ OR do I just want to wait for the amazing ‘wave of the wand’ and let God do the changing? But why did God create me? What did He call me to be? I am to be Jesus…am I doing it?
So often I feel that others are relying on me to be ‘doing the doing’ or that the ‘message from God is for the ordained or the religious minded.’ Then with my retreat work and spiritual direction I see so beautifully that so many just want to ‘know the divine’ and what they are to do. The message from God is for each and every person.
It’s up to me to share and help each person to realize that God constantly is calling each individual He created. He is calling me and each person: to bring ‘glad tidings’…words of comfort and support and encouragement and love to the ‘poor’ which means those who are in need right in my daily world. He calls me and each to be aware that the devil wants to ‘enslave’ us…and Jesus has set us free…love is free. He calls me and each person to show people God by how I live and act…and as St. Francis of Assisi says, “And sometimes use words.” This is God’s world and He has placed me here deliberately…a world that Jesus redeemed and my role and each person’s role is to live the redeemed life. So the question is now: what am I doing about it? Am I waiting or acting? What do I need from the Spirit to be aware of my gifts and bring them to all in need? How does this happen? How do I become aware that God has a role for ‘little old me’… you are My beloved son/daughter and I need you to be Me? Somehow God breaks into each life and lets each one know, ‘they are loved’. When this happens, the big question comes, ‘then what should then be done; I’m just a ‘me’; a simple, alone me? The following article is from John Shea, a theologian, author and storyteller, in The Relentless Widow, Luke, Year C. He tells us how this happens, “…a person may have a profound awareness of communion with ultimate reality. This awareness may be triggered by nature, by the death of a parent, by the birth of a child, by the love of a woman or a man, by quest for scientific truth, by compassionate protest on behalf of the poor and oppressed, etc. In and through these events and activities, God’s love breaks into consciousness and grasps a person. But this depth awareness is fleeting. Ordinary consciousness, not the Source, but of work, family, finances, etc., returns. How will the Spirit of this religious experience be courted and pursued? Will the person test out its meaning with other ideas? Will sacred books be consulted? If they are, chances are the experience will grow in significance. The meaning and implications of the experience will be deepened. The Spirit of the experience wants this to happen, but the person must cooperate…there is another way, a backward way, so to speak of deepening spiritual knowledge…a movement from the secular to the sacred…He quotes an article from Michael Novak who brings out an example from the business world. “I know from talking to and corresponding with business people that many have never been asked whether they regard what they do a calling. They don’t think about themselves that way. That has not been the language of the business schools, the economics textbooks, or the secularized public speech of our time…But most of them, they say, do start mulling the idea of calling once it is raised. Some confess that they could think of what they do as a calling, even if they have not. That would not be much of a reach from what they have already been doing. It’s just one of those things that, so far, few people say.”

Sometimes the business world is viewed as ‘all for the good of the company.’ This could be possible but so often it is lopsided; people in the world work because they have the gifts and talents for it and because it contributes in some way to the common good. Novak shows how this could give a sense of fulfillment. “…But fulfillment of what? Not exactly a standing order that we place ourselves. We didn’t give ourselves the personality, talents, or longings we were born with. When we fulfill these---these gifts from beyond ourselves—it is like fulfilling something we were meant to do. It is a sense of having uncovered our personal destiny, sense of having been able to contribute something worthwhile to the common public life, something what would not have been there without us—and , more than that, something we were good at and enjoyed.” And then the wonderful conclusion of John Shea: “Perhaps as we searched out meaningful work, we were responding to a call deep within us a call that comes with the very fact of our being alive.” This really is God…calling; so I reflect on:

• Can I remember a time when God’s word penetrated into my being?
• Do I give God’s ‘word’ a chance to make a home in me?
• Do I ever find it difficult to put my faith into words? What might make me feel more comfortable with expressing my faith?

Sacred Space 2013 says,

“Jesus’ good news is that we are all loved unconditionally by God, no ifs, no buts…When I accept this, and truly believe and live by it, I gain true freedom and a new insight into the ways God works in our lives.”

January 20, 2013

Bulletin: January 20, 2013 2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11
The Christmas Season has ended and now the readings and liturgy are called ‘ordinary time.’ As always, there is nothing ordinary about any part of Scripture…its purpose is to lead each person to an awareness of God and His great gifts given to each person showing His love. Each and every gift has a rationale of love and care which leads everyone involved to heaven. I know this…I preach it…I have to be reminded of it often. I find that an explanation and a reflection on these readings do exactly that.
The many chapters of Isaiah leading up to today traced Israel’s slow awakening to faith during their time in exile. They had suffered much and realized that God had been faithful, but they hadn’t. The prophet is telling them that God wants them to return home: home to their own country and little plots of land, home to their religious heritage, and home to the temple the symbol of God’s presence and how He had chosen and gifted these people. They had felt ‘desolate and forsaken’…but now the prophet uses names “My Delight” and “Espoused”. These are wedding terms and ones showing that God wants to be with them and each person. The Father announced at Jesus’ baptism similar words ‘the Son in whom I am well pleased’; another translation is ‘one in whom I take delight’. Delight…God takes delight in me and in each person. Am I there yet, hardly; but God is. What will it take in me to let God show His delight; I do not have to do anything, just let God be the doer. This takes trust, abandonment and a realization that I am really loved; each person is. All the great saints echo this while at same time acknowledging their own sinfulness. I have not met a parent who isn’t delighted and thrilled at a child’s first recital or art work, or public performance. Was it good…it’s not about goodness, it’s about love; and this is the love God has for me and for each person.
And God helps me and each person along this road to Himself by sending the Spirit to fill each with gifts to build up the Church. Again, this reiterates that it is not about me but about God and living this way brings each one closer to God. Living the Word expresses it this way, “He (Paul) speaks of gifts, ministries, and works. ‘Gifts’ here refers to operations of the Spirit, notably speaking in tongues and prophesying, gifts that were usually operative during worship. Ministry was service within the community. Works were feats of great energy or divine power. Since all of these gifts or ministries or works were manifestations of the Spirit, no one was to be considered superior to another. Further they were not given for the self-aggrandizement of the one who received them. All were given for the benefit of the entire community.” Again the reminder for me: it’s not about me but how God is gifting, sharing and leading me closer to Him, because He wants me to be in heaven with Him. Do I want this?

The Gospel recounts the wonderful first miracle of Jesus public ministry at Cana with the changing of water into wine. It is so important to remember that the miracles of Jesus were never mere exhibitions of supernatural power. This miracle certainly showed His glory…it said, ‘His glory was manifested to His disciples and they believed in Him.’ But was there more...yes!

The miracle shows God’s generosity and His generosity in my life and each person’s cannot be overestimated. I have never said enough ‘thanks’ to God for how He has touched me; how He has saved me; how He has rescued me; how He has sent someone in my life at the right time to touch me; how He has lead me through the ‘pathways of despair and depression’ to show that I am loved and important and valuable to Him and therefore to others. I can never thank God enough for the discovery of the innumerable gifts He has blessed me with. I can’t even enumerate them because when I try, I discover there is another. Not one of these gifts was meant to make me ‘big and important’ but to touch another who was in need. I will never know this fully until I am with God; no person will.

And then there are the Sacraments: what an honor to be the ‘servant administrator’ of them. One of the great gifts of my priesthood is being touched by the faith of people who come humbly and so sincerely to receive the Lord in the sacraments. Do I reflect on them as often as I should…no. The readings today call me to look at God’s unbelievable awesome gifts of love.

I am honored to have Msgr. Chet Michael as my spiritual director. His wisdom and guidance expresses each person’s giftedness in this quote from ‘Arise, A Christian Psychology of Love.’ He says, “Each of us should feel a personal challenge to do all we can to meet the needs of the times. No matter how small I feel myself to be, I am called by God to do something worthwhile to help the world attain the fullness destined for it. Regardless of my education or lack of education, regardless of the specialization of past training or my present situation, I always can make a worthwhile contribution to the total growth of our world…Regardless of whether or not I realize it and intend it, by the very fact of being alive and existing, I exert an influence for better or for worse upon others.

Never must I allow myself to make the mistake of imagining that I am unimportant or that what I do has little or no effect upon others. Every human being is important in the work of the redemption of the world. Others may be more important, but I have a definite place assigned to me by Almighty God. There is a niche that I am expected to fill; and, if I fail to accomplish my particular task, a certain part of the fabric of the world’s perfection will be lost. I am needed; others depend upon me; and they will not be able to do a good job in their vocation unless I do a good job in me. …when I do the most good for God and others is down deep in my heart where the basic attitudes which govern my exterior conduct and influence others are formed.” I am gifted and called to love…and as Chet says…’gratitude, gratitude, gratitude…..and more gratitude for God’s love and gifts.

So I reflect on:

• What gifts of a generous God do I see in my own life and in those around me?
• Take some time to reflect on the special gifts from the Holy Spirit? How and when did I become aware of them? Have I enabled the Spirit to keep them growing in my life?
• Do I help others identify and nurture their own gifts? If I don’t, am I too focused on myself and miss the Spirit in others?
• Jerome Sabatowich, a well-known religious educator gives this reflection, “We usually see pictures of a serious Jesus but today’s Gospel tells us He also went to parties and He undoubtedly had fun at them. We may even assume Jesus and His apostles joked around and teased each other as they traveled from town to town. Today, ask Jesus to teach you how to be a joyful Christian.”

January 13, 2012

Bulletin January 13, 2012 The Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Today is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. I look back at my own baptism? What was it like? I don’t know. I was baptized in the hospital because they thought that I might not survive. My baptism in St. Anthony of Padua church was on November 30^th, the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Was my mother there; I don’t know; in those days the mother didn’t come out until after the child was baptized. What did my baptism mean? What does it mean now?
Baptism has been celebrated in the Church from the very first Pentecost, where Peter spoke to the astonished crowd about Jesus and how He was the Savior of the World and then Peter declared, “Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38 Was I aware of this…no…it’s a nice passage and I could stop there and then miss what my baptism and each baptism is like.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this powerful statement which brings this sacrament closer to me: “From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion.” Since I’m a ‘cradle Catholic’ the Catechism said that “Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. Now only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. The catechism has its proper place here.”
Was this accomplished in my study in Catholic Grammar and High School…no. My training in the seminary was helpful but still very incomplete in this manner. Being ordained right after the conclusion of Vatican II made me go back and do quite a bit of studying and experiencing what this sacrament really should mean for me.
Alice Camille has done great work in explaining Beliefs, Teachings and Practices of the Church. In her book, Invitation to Catholicism she described Baptism as an invitation. She uses the example of receiving an invitation in the mail from a hugely famous individual to an exclusive club. The others in this club are the ‘movers and shakers’ of the world. The cost is nothing, not in dollars, but there are commitments, a big one, “All members must die in order to gain full benefits within this organization.” Put in this way, I might say, ‘No, I don’t think so, not at this time.’ But this really is what the cost of the gift that comes from God…the gift of God choosing me and each person to come and be baptized into the faith.
Baptism is about membership in the ‘Club Christian’ Alice Camille continues, “It is an invitation to a new life within the Body of Christ, the church, but that new life is achieved at the cost of the old life. A New Testament letter quotes a Christian hymn: ‘If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him.’” (2 Timothy 2:11) So I have to die to myself…I’ve heard this many times…I’ve preached this a lot...what does this dying entail? Alice Camille continues, “We can’t hang onto our false selves, that part of us drawn to concupiscence—the sin of wanting more and more, also called original sin. We have to let go of our (let’s be honest) defective wills and surrender to God’s perfect will. Surrender isn’t easy, and it can feel exactly like a death. But paradoxically, for Christians it is the one sure way out of death and into authentic life.”
For me this means every day and many times during the day to say that my commitment is to Jesus and to live as He taught me to live. It is to realize that the gifts that I have been blessed with are for precisely this purpose: to show God’s love. Now my love is always included in this but I must live that it’s only God’s love through me that I am able to live as a baptized Christian. If I live for me; I’m fooling myself and not being Christ. This is a lifelong process. It’s my goal each day…I progress…I regress…I’m blessed and I try to be grateful but often I fall back into being the ‘enemy of the Lord.’ But the Lord always picks me up, if I come to Him and allow Him to be God to me. This is the cross part of the journey…I don’t like crosses…but Jesus accepted the cross, carried it…fell under its weight…was continually beaten; was crucified and died on that cross TO SHOW LOVE…for me and for each person individually. I find it so interesting in today’s Gospel that verses 17-20 are cut out. They tell how Herod had John put in prison (his cross) because John spoke out (what the demands of love are) because Herod had entered an immoral marriage with his brother’s wife and done other evil deeds (love demands the Christian to be instruments of love and speak out where love is absent).
My baptism acknowledges that I have been chosen; that I have been gifted; that I have a mission: to be Jesus…at all times, whether convenient or inconvenient. Am I doing this? Or do I just take comfort and saying that I am a follower but not being a follower. In the book of revelation it says, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write this: ‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this: ‘I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” STRONG WORDS! So I reflect on:

• Am I asking the Spirit each day to enroll me in the school of Christ so I may learn from Him? Am I asking that He increases in my life and I diminish?
  

Sacred Space 2013 “To be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire is to be baptized with the purifying fire of divine love….As brothers and sisters of Christ, we are all beloved sons and daughters of God. Do I really believe this? If not, what are the obstacles preventing me from doing so?”

• My pride does not want to admit that I need to be purified. Yet what makes me unclean—the rejection of love, not wanting to be loved, not loving. Am I letting God in?
  

• Dorothy Day asked Jesus in prayer about the Gospel call to see Him even in the most rejected: “Let me tell You something. They smell. They have, lice, and tuberculosis. Am I to find You in them? The answer she received was ‘Yes”.
  

January 6, 2013

The Feast of Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Christmas continues with the story of the wise men…magi coming with their gifts. Sometimes I rush too much to finish the story of Jesus’ birth and I miss some wonderful insights. Here was Jesus birth: divinity presented itself at that time, in Bethlehem to all people in a visible form. This is a first…never before…never again. The child was like any other child: He slept, He cried, He was hungry, Het needed to be changed but this child was “the Word …become flesh.” One of the most beautiful, scholarly and must read books is ‘The Lord’ by Romano Guardini. The New York Times described it in this way, “Monsignor Guardini…has written more than just a life of Jesus. He places that life in the context of history and shows how the teachings of Jesus are related to the whole body of church doctrine and practice.” This book is always at my fingertips when I write. Here’s what he says about the Incarnation: “…this child is God in essence and in being. If an inner protest should arise here, give it room. It is not good to suppress anything; if we try to, it only goes underground, becomes toxic, and reappears later in far more obnoxious form. Does anyone object to the whole idea of God-become-man? Is he willing to accept the Incarnation only as a profound and beautiful allegory, never as literal truth? If doubt can establish a foothold anywhere in our faith, it is here. Then we must be patient and reverent, approaching this central mystery of Christianity with calm, expectant, prayerful attention; one day its sense will be revealed to us. In the mean time, let us remember the directive ‘But love does such things.’…

Jesus did not ‘experience’ God; He was God. He never at any given moment ‘became God; He was God from the start. His life was only the process by which this innate divinity came into its own.” AND His life was love…God loving me…God loving each person; everyone in all the history and future of the world.
With this in mind, I wonder if the Magi’s ‘appearance’ and disappearance has a deeper meaning for me. Down through the years there has been speculation about how many there were; does it really matter? Much has been proposed concerning their origin: were they kings; rulers in their own countries or different countries did they know each other? Were they astronomers, or just plain star gazers? What about the star; was it a rogue star or from some special constellation? They brought gifts; were there only three and why these three? Tradition says that gold symbolizes the kingship of Christ, frankincense indicating divinity, and myrrh representing redemptive suffering of this baby. WELL does it matter? Does it really matter which one or how many of the above are accurate. Matthew does not spend time on these. His whole point as St. Anthony Messenger Press points out, “… is to see the hand of God at work in these magi, guided only by a star and making a long journey from the east—all for the purpose of pointing out and paying homage to the birth of the newborn king of the Jews. (This is my italic) Those who should have recognized this did not have the slightest clue. Those who had no apparent reason even to be remotely interested come and make manifest the Lord.” How much of God do I miss because I’m looking the other way OR I never thought that God would do this in this particular way OR I don’t really think that He is concerned about me and this trivial problem I’m facing OR that I’m not feeling particularly ‘godly’ at this time and I don’t want to. WELL God interrupted the life of Mary and Joseph; God interrupted the shepherd’s life routine; God definitely BIG TIME interrupted the lives of these people from the east. They came a long way; spent much money I’m sure; and for them it was worth it because they knew that God cared about them. And God cares about me just as much but what am I doing when I realize His love, care, concern and constant presence with me?
Like the magi, my life is a journey each day to discover this God who is ‘crazy in love with me…all the time’. This journey brings me along the path of a search for meaning, for living a purposeful life, to discover even more about God and the things of God. That’s the purpose my life; of each person’s life. When I look at my life I have to see what ‘stars’ I follow. Am I concerned with wealth; or possessing more and more things; do I want to have success and be looked upon in admiration; is the concern for power or prestige more than it should be. Do I give credit to God, because I can’t really do anything without Him? Do I realize that God is always pointing me to live Jesus; I do this with bringing peace, compassion, mercy, honesty and forgiveness every step of the way. And what gifts am I bringing to God today? The gift really must be the using and sharing of the gifts God has blessed me with and not keeping them captive within me; and me taking credit for their origin. I keep telling myself and sharing that ‘it is about God not me’. Am I living it each day…did I live it today? What do I need from God to live it tomorrow? Do I ask for His gifts or do I forget once again that I am that important to God that He not only needs me to be Jesus but He helps me to live as Jesus. I have to swallow myself and take the journey that could be long and hazardous, as the magi did, and know that He is with me. So I reflect on:

• Do I search for Jesus in my daily life, He’s there I know? What happens when I find Him where I least expect?
  
• Does my judging of people keep me from finding Jesus present there?
  
• How does Jesus come to me in my difficulties? Do I always want Him to solve them the way that I want? Do I see that they can be the cross He is giving me to be closer to Himself?
  
• Where do I see Jesus in my family, this is important?
  

Sacred Space 2013 gives an important message:

“Herod was interested in Jesus in an intellectual way, careful that his own position not be affected. I realize that my prayer draws me into a relationship and ask that I be ready to accept the consequences that may come to light.

The comfortable and established did not recognize Jesus, but the travelers and strangers appreciated who He was. I ask that I be open to the voices of the stranger and to wisdom from other traditions.”

January 1, 2013

Bulletin: January 1, 2013 New Year’s Day…

I am in my 70^th year of New Year’s. I have made resolutions galore…this year I’m going back to prayer…established prayers from favorite saints and should be saints who have inspired me. (These are from the Notre Dame Prayer book for students)… Lord help these prayers sink in!

Day by Day

Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ,

For all the benefits and blessings which you have given me, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for me.

Merciful Friend, Brother and Redeemer, May I know you more clearly,

Love you more dearly,

And follow you more nearly, Day by Day. St Richard of Chichester (1197- 1253)

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light

And where there is sadness joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so

Much seek to be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. St Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

My Gift

Lord, I freely yield all my freedom to you. Take my memory, my intellect and my entire will. You have given me anything I am or have; I give it all back to you to stand under your will alone. Your love and your grace are enough for me; I shall ask for nothing more. St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

Jesus needs us

The Risen Christ is with us today, and He continues to need each one of you.

Jesus needs your eyes to continue to see. He needs your strength to continue to work.

He needs your voice to continue to teach. He needs your hands to continue to bless.

He needs your heart to continue to love. And Jesus needs your whole being to continue to build up his body, the Church.

As we believe, so let us live! Cardinal Joseph Bernadine (1928-1996)

For A Holy Heart

Lord, grant me a holy heart that sees always what is fine and pure and is not frightened at the sight of sin, but creates order wherever it goes.

Grant me a hart that knows nothing of boredom, weeping and sighing.

Let me not be too concerned with the bothersome thing I call ‘myself’.

Lord, give me a sense of humor and I will find happiness in life and profit for others.

St. Thomas More (1478-1535)

For Courage

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to seek reward, except that of knowing that I do your will. Amen

St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

Lord, Give me Strength

Give us your strength, Lord. Because sometimes things get tough, and we are ready to quit.

Give us your love, Lord. Because sometimes people reject us, and we are tempted to hate.

Give us your eyes, Lord. Because sometimes life gets dark, and we lose our way.

Give us your courage Lord. Because often we are put under pressure, and it’s hard to do what is right.

Give us yourself, Lord. Because our hearts were made for you, and we will not rest until we rest in you. Mark Link, S.J.

Universal Prayer for Peace

Lead me from death to life,

From falsehood to truth.

Lead me from despair to hope,

From fear to trust.

Lead me from hate to love,

From war to peace.

Let peace fill my heart, my world, my universe. Amen

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

For Peacefulness

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing frighten you

Everything is changing

God alone is changeless

Patience attains the goal

One who has God lacks nothing

God alone fills our needs.

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Lord help each day of this New Year to respond to Your grace in leading me to You!