Silent Insight

[The following is part two of a ten part series of meditations based on insights and excerpts from the book He Leadeth Me by American Jesuit Father Walter Ciszek. The book details his faith journey as spent for 23 years in Soviet prisons and labor camps of Siberia. A truly amazing testament of faith and wisdom!!] Consider the following excerpt:

“The simple soul who each day makes a morning offering of ‘all the prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day’ – and who then acts upon it by accepting unquestioningly and responding lovingly to all the situations of the day as truly sent by God-has perceived with an almost childlike faith the profound truth about the will of God.”

p. 39, He Leadeth Me, By Father Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.

Be Still | Read | Contemplate It | Listen | Dialogue | Close With Praise and Thanks

Daily Catholic Meditations for Faith, Listening, and Peace (www.SilentInsight.com)

[The following is part one of a ten part series of meditations based on insights and excerpts from the book He Leadeth Me by American Jesuit Father Walter Ciszek. The book details his faith journey as spent for 23 years in Soviet prisons and labor camps of Siberia. A truly amazing testament of faith and wisdom!!] Consider the following excerpt:

“our sole purpose… was to do the will of God. Not the will of God as we might wish it, or as we might have envisioned it, or as we thought it in our poor human wisdom it ought to be.  But rather the will of God as God envisioned it and revealed it to us each day in the created situations with which he presented us. His will for us was the twenty-four hours of each day: the people, the places, the circumstances he set before us in that time.  Those were the things God knew were important to him and to us at that moment, and those were the things upon which he wanted us to act…”

p. 38, He Leadeth Me, By Father Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.

Be Still | Read | Contemplate It | Listen | Dialogue | Close With Praise and Thanks

Daily Catholic Meditations for Faith, Listening, and Peace (www.SilentInsight.com)

Consider the will of God and the words below.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

- Romans 8:31


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Daily Catholic Meditations for Faith, Listening, and Peace (www.SilentInsight.com)

Touch of the Master’s Hand

T’was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who’ll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar," then, two! Only two?
"Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?
"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three . . . "But no,
From the room, far back, a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of a master’s hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;
A game, and he travels on.
He is "going" once, and "going" twice,
He’s "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought
By the touch of the Master’s hand.

- Myra Welsh

Be Still | Read | Contemplate It | Listen | Dialogue | Close With Praise and Thanks

Daily Catholic Meditations For Faith, Listening, and Peace (www.SilentInsight.com)