Elizabeth Scalia shared an image of the Sacred Heart at Word on Fire that spoke to my heart. You can see the full image here.
Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus it is a moment to focus on the all-consuming, passionate, compassionate, sweet, refreshing love of Jesus for us. I was excited that we had the second reading (weekdays are normally a reading, psalm, and the Gospel). Bonus: we prayed the Penitential Act, and the Creed.
Entrance Antiphon: “The designs of his Heart are from age to age, to rescue their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”
Just before the beginning of the Liturgy I sat, journal in one hand, fountain pen in the other, pouring my heart out: remembering friends and needs in prayer, bringing to Our Lord the things in my heart, having the conversation about why I quilt. (No, I’m not going to stop quilting.) What am I seeking, why do I do what I do? And then…
The homily though, spoke so deeply to my coeur that the tears spilled down my face. God’s love is reckless, relentless, passionate, compassionate, overwhelming, sweet, refreshing. His Heart yearns for us, for me. In the moment of this homily my heart opened, ready to receive the gift contained therein, and then the Eucharist, Jesus Presence. He is alive, and we can know him, we can be LOVED by him.
As quilters we pour our hearts into our work, doing our very best to enter the creative process, and to make this thing well. We’re truly afraid, often with good reason, that our work will be rejected by the recipient, or the crowds at the show, or by those we admire and want to see our work, to accept, and enjoy our work. Our work isn’t for them. Our work is a conversation between us, and the One who loves us passionately. Over time our work changes, God’s love remains the same – passionate.
A couple of weeks ago Martina Kreitzer of Catholic Sisters posted a call to review the Catholic Day Book for the 2018/2019 Academic Year. Never one to miss an opportunity to review product, and fabric lines I responded. On the website I learned there is a second Day Book that begins with the Liturgical Year. Oh yes!
The Catholic Day Book takes all the elements I love in my Franklin Planner, and adds all the things: beautiful artwork, common prayers, readings of the day, the Mysteries of the Rosary (with indications of which mystery to pray on which day), and ways to grow spiritually. Having this handy in one place, at my finger tips, in paper form is a gift.
I do think the feature that sings to this quilters soul is the Spiritual Sketch as a way of continuing to develop our prayer life, determining goals, and take action on those goals. God made us creative for a reason, and this is one way of entering into that creative place. Martina’s example has a mind-mapping way about it.
A couple of weeks ago as the mini-tidy up of 2018 commenced in the sewing room one of the address books showed up on a lower shelf. The Catholic Day Book has an address book built in, giving quicker access to the the people I love. The next pages dove tail into birthdays and anniversaries by month.
The to do list has three action spaces: Gotta Get Done Today, Can Wait Til Tomorrow, and Think Tank. It gives a bit of a different look at our priorities, giving room for thinking/praying more about certain tasks. Each month has a particular Devotion: Sacred Heart, Immaculate heart of Mary. Going further the beginning of each month offers an opportunity to reflect on the previous month, how that devotion made a difference for us, and time to begin thinking about the current month, nurturing our home and spiritual life.
I do love, and appreciate how the Catholic Day Book reminds us that our life is all of it: family, work, faith, hobbies, obligations. The more we can integrate our faith into our daily life, the more at peace we will be when life’s rocky moments happen and have remembrances of the beauty of the daily life.
God bless,
Teri
A Quilter's Heart 
