Our Gift To Him

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Martha

1391970_568939809822247_1815335477_n“They prostrated themselves and did Him homage.  Then they opened their coffers and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  Matthew 2:11

After receiving the gift of His own Son; after receiving such a gift of enormous love from our Heavenly Father, what can we offer in return?  The three wise men brought Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but what have we that could compare?  What have we to give that could possibly be of real value to Him who has everything, Him who created everything?  What does He want?  Need?  Expect?

I believe the true message of Christmas is as simple as love freely given and received.  I also believe the gift we have to give Him is equally as simple.  We give Him our heart.

First, we open our heart to receive Him within.  We nurture Him through prayer.  We shelter Him with love.  We allow Him to abide in our heart.

Second, we open our heart to share Him.  We love deeper, stronger.  We see others and love others through Him in our heart.  We allow Him to radiate outwardly from our heart.

Third, we open our heart in praise and thanksgiving.  We honor Him.  We sing His praises.  We thank Him for the gift of Eternal Live.  We allow His Glory to shine forth from within our heart.

Our gift may not be as elaborate as those of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but our heart is truly the gift He wants, needs, and expects as Our Lord, Savior, and King.  If you haven’t done so already, give Him your Heart today, and make sure He knows you have.

God Bless.

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Advent, A Time of Hope

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Martha

“My soul doth magnify the Lord.  And my spirit rejoiceth in God my Savior. … Because He hath done great things for me and Holy is His name.”  Luke 1: 46-49

Advent is a time of Hope.  As Christians, we are a people of hope and our hope is in The Lord.  Without hope in our lives a reason for living ceases to exist.  It could be said we exist for love.  In reality we exist because of love, the Divine Love of God our Creator.

What is love without hope?  Love IS hope; the hope our love is received; the hope our love is returned; the hope our love is shared, thereby making the earth a better place for all mankind.  We love God our Creator and hope in the saving grace of His Son, Jesus our Savior, that we might one day live in Love Eternal.  We hope for the Life to come!

Hope begins in our soul, spreads to our heart, and softly sings to our mind.  It is from the mind our hope springs forth into action.  To nuture an attitude of hope we must feed the mind.  We need to fill it with reminders to look for and live in hope, lest we forget who we are … a people of hope.  We prepare oursevles for the Life to come by spending time in the greatest story of hope there is, God’s Word, The Holy Bible.  In doing so we enlighten our mind with a proper diet, which in turn enlivens our heart, which then nurtures our soul, thus enabling the entire cycle of hope to continue.  It radiates from our soul to our heart, to our mind, outward to the universe, ultimately to God, and then back to our soul.  What we put out in the universe comes back to us tenfold.

Advent is the perfect time to rediscover or reinforce hope in our lives.  It is a time of preparation; for getting to know our true selves better; for expanding our vision of hope to include all those around us.  Daily reading in and meditating on the Gospels, and supplementing it with prayer and stillness before God prepares us in the best way possible for the coming of Jesus, not only into our own hearts and lives but into the world.  If we have hope others will too.  We become a channel of Hope to all.  We prepare the Way of The Lord.

We can begin our own personal preparation by starting in God’s Word.  Start with a simple prayer:  “Through you most Holy Word, Lord, I invite you into my heart.  Transform me according to you will.”  If you are new to this, at first try reading only one paragraph, or only one verse.  A good place to begin is with John 1:1-9, “In the beginning there was the Word…”  Read slowly, stopping to envision it in your mind as if you are there.  Read it again; maybe even aloud.  Meditate a minute or two on what this means to your own life, or think of God’s great love for us.  Thank God for this time to grow in hope and love, then go about your day.  Over time He will transform you.  A few minutes a day, repeated again and again, becomes a habit, becomes something to look forward to … spending time with Our Lord.  Dare I say, you will be hoping for more?

On choosing a time, and a place:  Bibles come in all sizes, even on line, even on phone apps.  If a quiet moment and place at home are out of the question, then possibly in the car before going into work, or on line at your desk during break time.  Find a few minutes that work for you.  God will be there whenever and wherever it is!

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Stop, Look, and Listen

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Martha
Annunciation mosaic on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins

Annunciation mosaic on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins

“The Word became human and lived among us.  We saw His glory – the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father – and he was full of grace and truth.”  John 1:14

     When we look in a mirror we see an image of ourselves.  We see ‘what’ we look like, but not ‘who’ we are.  When others see us, they see what we look like, but they can also see who we are.  If they stop, look. and listen, they can read it in our eyes and in our body language.  They can hear it in our words and see it in our actions.

When Jesus walked the earth, many did not stop, look, and listen.  Maybe they did not like what they heard; maybe it was a call to action or change that was just too hard for them.  They tuned Him out.  They walked the earth at the same time as Him and never knew the Truth, the Joy to be had.

His call is still heard today, over two thousand years later, and many still ignore it.  However, all is not lost, for in His enormous love for us He gives us another chance to stop, look, and listen.  Actually, the opportunity is ever present every minute of every day, and even more so during Advent and Christmas.  At this time He puts His story, Himself, right in front of us.  He makes it very hard for us to ignore Him.

Make it a priority to stop, look, and listen this Advent.  Spend time in His Word; spend time in His presence.  Prepare your heart and then look in the mirror.  You will like what you see.  So will others; so will He.

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Words of Wholeness; Healing

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Martha

Sacred HeartSo many hang back from life, from Jesus, because 0f feeling unworthy, unloved, unwanted, or unsure. These heartfelt words from Blessed Mother Teresa may be the most important you will ever read. I pray you do read them, and that they touch your very soul, very deeply…
“Be careful of all that can block that personal contact with the living Jesus. The Devil may try to use the hurts of life, and sometimes our own mistakes — to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you. This is a danger for all of us. And so sad, because it is completely opposite of what Jesus is really wanting, waiting to tell you. Not only that He loves you, but even more — He longs for you. He misses you when you don’t come close. He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don’t feel worthy. When not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes — He is the one who always accepts you. My children, you don’t have to be different for Jesus to love you. Only believe — you are precious to Him. Bring all you are suffering to His feet — only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are. He will do the rest.”

May God bless us all.

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Not Just Words

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Martha
Mary and the Child, Jesus. Statuary on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins

Mary and the Child, Jesus. Statuary on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins

“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance- for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  Proverbs 1:5-7

Introduction to the Devout Life, by Saint Francis DeSales, is a book I have spent much time in and gained much inspiration from.  Below are my thoughts, written in my personal spiritual journal, Journey Through The Stillness, after having read the section ‘On Hell’ in Introduction to the Devout Life.

July 26, 2013 – ‘On Hell’ (Introduction to the Devout Life)  My Thoughts:  The words Eternal Damnation aren’t just words.  They are the horribly frightening proclamation sentencing a soul to death, death to Life, forever.  The words Eternal Life are easily spoken; they seem to roll off the tongue with a lilt.  They are not just words either.  Once proclaimed, they hold, for a saved soul, the keys to The Kingdom of God, the keys to open the door between death and Life, forever.  Too little time is spent by most pondering these seemingly simple, yet indispensably provocative words.  We hear and read them quite often, with great familiarity and ease.  We either hear them so often we become complacent, or even numb as to their real consequences, or we don’t hear them often enough, that we forget them and their consequences.  Jesus saves!  Yes, but one must cooperate with salvation, with His Saving Grace.  One must be transformed, which doesn’t sound easy or fun to most of us.  It sounds like work, and let’s face it, we would all like the easy way out, or should I say, the easy way in, in to Heaven.  Self-examination, self-discovery and control, can be all together intimidating.  It is certainly easier to hide behind the apron strings of ignorance than to face even our own self-judgment, let alone allow others to witness or judge us.   Therein lies the rub.  Most of us are willing to impede our own progression to holiness out of fear, fear of others and ourselves.  What will they think?  How will I look to them?  We are willing to postpone judgment until the very end; it is easier.  The rub is that the final judgment is before our Creator and it is final; no pleadings, no I am sorrys, no do-overs.  The damnation is not for a moment, an hour, or even a few days.  It is forever.  It is eternal in the worst use of the word.  Yet, many are willing to enjoy the ride now, thinking the final destination is far over the horizon.  Most don’t spend time envisioning themselves damned, in fire, in hell, with no escape, ever.  On the flip side, most don’t spend time envisioning themselves deliriously happy, languishing in our joy, in Heaven, forever.  Mostly they just live in the here and now.  Why worry about tomorrow; it may never come.  Exactly.

Self-examination and transformation take courage, strength.  It takes both failing and unfailing determination; for it is in failing we come to know our true selves.  It is in conquering our failings we become our true selves.  It is our true selves, as children of God, saved by His one true Son, Jesus Christ, that we are able to throw off the chains of eternal damnation and thus inherit His Kingdom to share in Life Eternal with God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit, forever.

My Prayer:  “Only You, O Lord, can save me.  Only You can protect me from the snares of the evil one.  Only with You, through You, and in You will I conquer sin and rise from death to Life.  Help me, O Lord, to be free of the chains that bind me to my sins.  Help me, O Lord, every moment of my worldly existence to choose You, to forsake the world, to seek only Eternal Life.  Hear my pleas and strengthen me for the battle, O Lord.  May all glory, honor, and praise be forever Yours.  Amen.”

 

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Love All

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Martha

 

Taken in the Vatican Museum by Martha McDuff Wiggins, 2012

Taken in the Vatican Museum by Martha McDuff Wiggins, 2012

 

 (An excerpt from Journey Through The Stillness, my personal spiritual journal)  {May 2, 2010 – “Love all you come into contact with.  Make them feel your joy to just be in their presence.  Continue to pray for all.  Continue to pray for those you do not know, but see, and feel a need to say a prayer for.  You have always done this, Martha.  You just didn’t know that I was prompting you to pray; the homeless person on the corner, the disabled person you pass by, all those you see each time at Moffitt, and those you see that seem normal, and yet your heart tugs at you to say a prayer for them.  Continue, Martha, for without your prayer lifting them up to Me for help, they may never find Me.  You are writing this so that others will feel my tug at their hearts to do the same.  Remember, I want EVERY soul and, Martha, remember, it is I who prepare the way you go.”}

Have you ever seen somebody you don’t even know, and yet, something about them tugs at you?  You are not sure what or why, but you feel you should help them in some way.  If action clearly presents itself, such as a need for money or a meal, you may easily handle it and then dismiss it from your mind.  But often, there are those people that no action presents itself, and yet, you feel you need to do something.  These are the times where a prayer on their behalf may do more good than any money or food.  As in the Stillness entry above, Jesus prepares the way for us.  He puts people in our path and nudges us.  If we are paying attention, we notice others.  We can see their need within our heart, or perceive that we should lift them up spiritually to God.  This is something I have done as long as I can remember.  I may never see or think of these people again, but in that moment I link their soul to God, through mine.  I can then go on about my day knowing that they are in God’s loving, capable hands.  All is well.

Look around you today.  As you go by others, pay attention to your heart.  Lift all He sends your way up to Him in prayer.  Love them all right where they are, from right where you are.  Trust the Lord to love them also.

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From Eternity To Eternity

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Martha
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Peter Wenzel, taken by Martha Wiggins, Vatican Museum, 2012

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Peter Wenzel, taken by Martha Wiggins, Vatican Museum, 2012

“Before the mountains were born, before the earth and the world came to birth, from eternity to eternity you are God.  Psalm 90:2

I find such great comfort in knowing God has no beginning and no end.  He always was, always is, and always will be.

In our earthly life we have a beginning, and we have an end.  On the home page at Martha’s Orbit.com, I give my spin on it:  Webster’s dictionary defines orbit as the path of a satellite around a celestial body.  I personally define orbit as the individual life path around the celestial body of God, Our Heavenly Father.  We are placed into our orbit by God at birth … and retrieved by him at death.  We live, breathe, and grow in our orbit … in our orbit is harmony (God’s will for our life).  When we deviate from our orbit’s path … chaos ensues.  We are held in our orbit by Faith (our intimate relationship with God)… Faith in Jesus, The Son of God.

God not only has no beginning and no end, He is the beginning and He is the end.  Everything that exists does so because of Him.  Everything is of Him and for Him.  Without God, we do not exist.  No God, no us!

We live solely because of His Love, and by His Grace.  It is exactly for this reason I find great comfort in knowing He is God from eternity to eternity.  He created me and was there when I was ‘launched’ into my orbit at birth.  He is there while I live in my orbit according to His will.  He will be there when my orbit ends at my physical death, and will be there to welcome me home into Eternity with Him.  This is the same for every living being since the beginning of time as we know it.  Billions of others have existed in the same way, and barring the end of our world, billions more will again.

For me, it would be much more difficult to believe there is no God.  If there is no God, I have no reason for existing.  With God my reason for existing is Love!  And, I am here by His grace.

“Teach us to count up the days that are ours, and we shall come to the heart of wisdom.”  Psalm 90:12

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Buttons To Bandit

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Martha

“Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.”  Psalm 107:43

Alfred Lord Tennyson, an English author and poet, wrote, “God gives us love.  Something to love, He only lends us.”

For years I kept this quote on my refrigerator, until it became a yellow, tattered, sliver of newsprint.  Having loved and lost a number of faithful pets, it ever reminded me to cherish the love of all that God ‘lent’ me.  I never expected to someday draw an inner strength from it to help our young daughter learn one of life’s most important lessons … never be afraid to love.

When just a toddler she had to say good bye to our beloved cat, Rocky.  A few months afterward, I overheard her conversation with God on her play telephone.  She told God if He would let Rocky come home to play with her for one day she would promise to send him back.  She knew Rocky could only be well in heaven with God; the doctors here on earth could not make him well.  Then again, when she was four years old, she had to say good bye to our beautiful Siamese cat, Nicki.  Both losses seem to hit our daughter especially hard.

Fortunately, at that time we had two other wonderful cats, Mindy and Sandy, and our beloved beagle, Buttons.  Having other pets to love somehow made the hurt more bearable for the whole family.  Our daughter was only six when our Buttons died at almost 16 years old.  So, by the ripe old age of six, our little girl’s nightly prayers had become a long list of heartaches remembered.

I knew we all needed time to grieve, time for the hurt to lessen.  Whenever the children talked of getting a new dog their description of what they wanted was always the same … Buttons.  About six months later I went looking for that special beagle to heal our hearts.  There was a beautiful little puppy with the same markings that looked just like our Buttons.  Beagle puppies’ markings change over the course of the first year, but at least for a short time, the children would have their Buttons back.  Meanwhile they would grow to love this puppy in her own right.  We named our new puppy Bandit.  She had stolen my heart immediately.

The younger two children were thrilled, completely accepting her into their young hearts without hesitation.  However, I wasn’t prepared for our daughter’s reaction.  She wanted to know why I had bought that puppy.  She wanted to know if I could take it back! It almost broke my heart.  I told her the seller would probably let us return her, but I had already fallen in love with Bandit, and so had the rest of us.  I told her I was afraid I just couldn’t return her.

I asked her why she didn’t want the new puppy, but she couldn’t tell me.  Maybe her young mind wasn’t able to put it into words; she just stood there looking so small and fragile.  After searching my soul for the answer, I understood.  All these months she had been silently waiting for the next pet to die, knowing it would do no good to ask God for them back, as she had tried that once before.  Now, seeing the new puppy, she was afraid to love again.  She was afraid to love and lose, afraid to experience that pain once again.

When I asked her if it was that she was afraid to love the puppy, she tumbled into my arms, sobbing that if she loved her she would die too.  Both of us had a good cry, and holding her close, I tried to explain about living, loving, and dying.  How it is far better to have loved, even if we must say good bye to that love at some point.  To help her more fully understand, I asked her if she wished we would never have had Buttons, knowing full well what the answer would be.  I told her that Bandit did not want to be Buttons or replace her; that if she gave Bandit some time, I was sure she would come to love her.

During all of this, she had been cautiously watching Bandit at play in the yard and the boys petting and playing with her.  Now and then a flicker of a smile had started at the corners of her mouth, but was held tightly back in fear of letting go.  Then, after a few minutes, she threw her arms around me and skipped off to play with her new little friend.  I saw a lilt in her skip that hadn’t been there in quite a while.  I knew then, that even more than the rest of us, she needed this puppy to heal the hurt in her heart, and to renew the cycle of love in her life.  After all, that is what life is: a cycle of love, both given and received.  And something to love, God only lends us.

Scout and Sierra

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Prayer Before A Crucifix

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Martha
One of the Stations of The Cross inside the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 2011, taken by Martha Wiggins

One of the Stations of The Cross inside the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 2011, taken by Martha Wiggins

“A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones.” Psalm 22:16-17

I have a prayer book, a Catholic Missal, that was given to me as a child.  I have favorite prayers in it that I pray daily.  One of them is entitled, “Prayer Before A Crucifix.”  (See the words to this beautiful prayer at the bottom of this post.)  This special prayer has been close to my heart from a very young age.  I have always prayed it right after receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.

I know the prayer by heart and no longer turn to that particular page in my missal.  Instead, I often open it to a page that has a larger rendition of Jesus on The Cross.  Bookmarking this page is a beautiful little holy card with an image of Jesus, The Shepherd, holding a lamb.  Today, I am struck by the stark difference between the two images side by side.  One is the loving, guiding, healing Shepherd of His flock, His people.  The other is the tortured, ravaged, bloodied body of that same Shepherd, killed by His own people.

The realization of the startling opposing images, side by side in my prayer book, moves me in several thought provoking ways.  One being empathy; empathy for Jesus and His story – His rise to fame from His most humble birth; His healing and teaching ministry to lead His people;  and then the ultimate betrayal of the very same people He sought to serve, His own people.

I also feel an overwhelming compassion, and sadness for His sufferings, His Passion – being beaten and scourged, a crown of thorns brutally pushed deep into His skull; being forced upon and unmercifully nailed to The Cross; and then His side and Heart pierced by the angry thrust of the lance.

Most of all, I feel sorrow.  I feel sick with sorrow that my own sins contributed to His pain and suffering, that I am one of those He died such a horrific death for.  I feel uncontrollable sorrow and remorse, and a deep desire to repent for my sins.

However, even through these very strong emotions of empathy, compassion, and sorrow, I feel joy.  When I see the image of the Shepherd and the Crucifix side by side, I feel infused with a deep sense of inner joy.  These images remind me that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me enough to send His only begotten Son as a sacrifice on my behalf.  They remind me that His Son, Jesus, is ever there to show me the Way, and the Truth, that I might share in Life Eternal with Him.

This deep inner joy comes from knowing Jesus as both my Shepherd and my Savior.  My prayer is that you too can know Him in the same way.

Prayer Before A Crucifix

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiment of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment.  Meanwhile , I contemplate with great love and tender mercy Thy five most precious wounds, pondering over them within me, calling to mind the words which David in prophecy made Thee say concerning Thyself, my Jesus: “They have pierced My hands and feet; they have numbered all My bones.”

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Lord, You Are Honor

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Martha
Statuary on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins

Statuary on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins

Lord, You are Honor.

     Forgive me, Lord, when I fail to honor You in all things; You from whom all ideas, joys, and blessings flow.  Forgive my pride.  Never let me take the joys, talents, and ideas from You for granted; never let me think they are only mine.

     Thank You, Lord, for hearing and answering me.  Help me follow through on the insights you provide, but only if I can keep them about your greater Glory.

All Glory, Honor, and Praise are Yours.  Amen.

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