Success!

 The Boerne Book & Arts Fest was a smash! I met great people (including some previous customers), was interviewed for the local paper, and was offered a signing event by the Boerne Bookshop.

Authors and artists, I highly recommend this event, sponsored by the Boerne Library each fall.

 

Book Event!

 Dear Reader,

It's been too long... I hope that you and your family are well.

It's also time for the annual Boerne Book and Arts Festival, this Saturday, October 2 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I would be honored if you would come and see me and my books in the Children's Author tent. You can also learn about my new book, Blessed Chiara Badano: Her Secrets to Happiness, which is coming soon!

Have a blessed day,

Geri Guadagno

Peace

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;
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.
Amen.

Prayer of St. Francis

Judging the Chaos, Not the People

A friend asked me about judging today, saying that based on what's happening in our country, she couldn't help judging.

My answer is that we can judge a person's actions, but not their hearts. To delve into psychology for a moment, rather than spirituality, it's people who are hurt who then hurt others. The deeper or more grievous the wound, the more dangerously hurtful they can become. When they cannot directly strike the person who hurt them, they will hurt the nearest person or damage property, etc. (Haven't we all done this? We couldn't yell at the person who hurt us, so we yelled at our spouse or child, friend or coworker?)

People's actions are right or wrong. When they hurt others or break laws (and the basis of many laws is preventing hurt/protecting people and property), their actions must be stopped and they must be held accountable. But, we must also work to prevent or change those conditions which caused them to be so wounded and lash out in the first place.

I wish that I could wave a magic wand and transform every attitude, every action and every word that hurts people into one that helps them instead. Unfortunately, the best that I can do is to cultivate and have within myself the thoughts, words and actions of universal brotherhood: each person is my brother or sister in God's family. God's will is that I love each one of them and all of them, all the time. They were created to be a gift to me, and vice versa. Love (and mercy) doesn't mean that I let them get away with doing wrong or approve their actions, but it does mean that I try to understand the underlying cause of those actions.

When I have an opportunity to help someone, to listen to someone, to learn about someone, I try to do that right away and with love. And I pray, especially when I see so much pain being unleashed in the world. (Believe me, it breaks my heart.)

I pray for God's healing and mercy to change hardened hearts and minds, to heal wounded souls, to deliver us from the hatred (and the suffering) that is at the root of violence. I pray for peace in each mind and heart, and if there must be protests, for someone who will lead others in peaceful protests. In the past, we have had many leaders told us that violence and hatred are not the answers, but some people seem to have forgotten that.

On this Pentecost Sunday, let's pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit--the love between the Father and the Son--on everyone in the whole world. May God heal our deepest wounds and grant us peace.

Prayers to Medical Personnel and First Responders

To all Medical Personnel and First Responders,

I appreciate your self-sacrifice and dedication. You make a huge difference, and often save lives. I'm praying for you.

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Crater Lake Article Published!

Thank you to Guardian Angel Kids ezine for publishing my article, "From Volcano to Lake" this month!

Walking by Faith

I don't know about you, but sometimes, when I pray about a situation but see nothing changing, there's a temptation to think that my prayers are doing no good. I have to remind myself that God's thoughts and ways are far above mine (Isaiah 55:8-9), and I can't hope to understand His plans. Yesterday afternoon, as I prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, I told Jesus, "I trust in You, even if my eyes don't see your mercy." I made/renewed a conscious decision to believe in His infinite love and mercy, regardless of what I could or couldn't see.

Several minutes later, my friend M sent me a message. She was feeling so ill, she was unlocking her apartment door in case she needed to call EMTs. While wondering if I should go to her (40 minute drive one way and through construction), I asked friends for prayers and prayed another Chaplet of Divine Mercy again, just for her. Next I called T, a mutual friend who lives much closer to M, but T wasn't available to check on her. Then I got in the car.

I found M doing better. While I was driving there, L, another mutual friend, had called M "out of the blue" and suggested something to M that had helped her. So, I did see God's mercy at work. Very grateful that He showed M (and me) His goodness...

Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)