Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Celtic Cross

Long before I was Catholic I was enthralled with Celtic knotwork, including crosses. I didn’t collect crosses but I admired them. Looking intently at the weaving, the criss crossing where two lines meet. Knotwork is a most appropriate description. I look at the twists and the turns and the loops and all I can picture is a knotted rope. Thick, muslin colored, braided rope, fringed and frayed at the ends but the beauty in the center never ending. Never ending, like a circle, but more elaborate, each one different from the other.

Look at any Celtic cross and tell me how it’s not the perfect blending of artistry and spirituality.

It’s a good note to end this week on.

Triple Triquetra

Rosaries

My Shrine Visit

I’m still not sure what to call my Shrine visit. Since I live so close, about an hour, it feels odd to call it a pilgrimage, but really what else was it? Retreats have leaders and in my mind, they last more than one day or part of one day. It was a few weeks ago that I went on a day pilgrimage to the Shrine of North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY [Technically, it’s the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs]. I couldn’t believe how close it was, practically in my backyard. It is so much of what I run away from home looking for and all the things I picture a shrine should be: pastoral, bucolic, natural, historic. Should I use serene? That seems cliche but it does fit. Strolling the grounds costs nothing but time, and it’s beautiful and quiet, and yes, serene, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. It is the perfect place to think and to pray and to reflect and contemplate on anything; everything.

Gishwhes is – – –

When I named this week artistry and spirituality, one of the first things that came to mind for that theme was my time with gishwhes. At first glance, gishwhes is ridiculously crazy, non stop thinking and doing and creating, but somehow in the middle of that is this low-key baseline of calm. There really is something very spiritual about being on a team and contributing to others, both in tangible ways and in encouragement. The underlying mission of gishwhes is to create art and do good.

Gishwhes is just as much random acts of crazy as it is random acts of kindness. It is all things, but it is different things to each participant, and that is one of the things that makes it so spiritual. Each year, I discover more about myself than the year before, and I grow in the good ways. I get to leave my self imposed box; my comfort zone goes on holiday while I step up and step out.

Started in 2012 by actor Misha Collins, gishwhes is a week long international scavenger hunt/competition. Teams are made up of fifteen people from all over the world. often coming together as strangers and leaving as friends, gishwhes is a way to test yourself, find yourself, and be yourself.

Monday’s Good for the Soul – Back to School

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:13

“Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.”

Deuteronomy 32:2

Thursday Travels – Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs

These grounds are a reliquary to the North American Martyrs, St. Isaac Jogues and his Companions, St. Rene Goupil and St. John LaLande. In 1642, the same year Rene Goupil was martyred, the first known recitation of the Rosary was prayed here. This was also the birthplace ten years later after St. Jogues and St. Lalande’s martyrdoms, of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

The view of the Mohawk Valley and River from the Shrine Grounds

Three Crosses bearing the names of the North American Martyrs at the Entrance, at the edge of what was the Mohawk village.

Monday’s Good for the Soul – Shrines

Unfortunately, I’ve been ill all morning so I wasn’t able to post what I intended today; the reflection from my visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs. I am hoping to push my usual dailies down by a day, and start my week tomorrow.

Taking its place today then is a link to the Top 10 Catholic Shrines in the US, one of which is the one I visited.

Here is also a virtual tour supplied by Acevedo Homeschoolers on You Tube: