My sisters and brothers, today’s podcast is about God’s Calling us, and our podcast song is ‘Here I Am Lord’. I know you also must have heard other songs with that same title. There’s two beautiful ones I can think of which I’ve heard sung in church, one is by Dan Schutte and the other is by Michael Ward, (no, no relation to me, that I know of). You may have also heard sermons or teachings, or Scripture readings with the words here I am, in them. The Bible has many Scripture verses with them.

One day many years ago during the silence of my centering prayer, which led me into contemplative prayer, I heard soft Whispers Calling to me. Sometimes I would hear, ‘my small one’, sometimes the Whispers would say, ‘my little one’, sometimes ‘my child’, or ‘my own, or daughter, or friend, or my name sheila’, but no matter how the Whispers would Call out to me, I would answer, here I am Lord. Then, God’s presence and action truly would bring me into an un-awareness of anything outside my own being. These prayers are truly so powerful. I have been praying Centering Prayer for a very long time, ever since my Spiritual Directors, Father Bill McCathy and Sister Bernadette Sheldon taught me this way of praying. Centering Prayer is a Christian silent prayer that prepares oneself into contemplative prayer. During this prayer, you receive and experience God’s presence deep within you, deeper than breathing and even deeper than consciousness itself, for you are truly and clearly aware of everything taking place within you, while at the same time you are also unaware of anything outside your own body, you become enveloped into a truly mystic experience. Oh how I longed for these to never end. During this Contemplative prayer, I experienced in the deepest part of me, singing prayers to the Lord, and hearing the beginning creation of my song, ‘Here I Am Lord’. In this song, I am longing for that oneness with God. My friends, Meditate on the Word of God daily, talk to Him in your prayers. Listen for His soft Whispers in the silence of your prayers. Breathe in and out the Holy Name of Jesus. This practice will bring you into deeper relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My dear sisters and brothers, Trust In Jesus (with every Beat of your Heart). This is our podcast song today. And the question is, do we really trust in Jesus? Do I trust in Him with every Beat of my Heart? We’ll come back to that question. 

How about a child of God. If I am a child of our Heavenly Father, then shouldn’t I trust in the Lord as I did with my own earthly Father? When we where children, did we not trust that our parents would do the very best for us? Did we not trust our parents completely? As children we do, we trust in the one who takes care of us, the one who feeds us, who cloths us, who comforts us, who dries our tears and heals our wounds. As we can imagine the list truly is endless, but you see where I’m going with this. As a child, we do trust, in our parents or whoever is taking care of us and we trust with our whole being. Now, that question in the beginning, do we really trust in Jesus? Do I trust in Him with every Beat of my Heart who gives me life? By the way, with every beat of my heart is not a mistake. The reason behind the beat is, a beating heart, every Beat is our Father’s Love. Through the grace and mercy of God, His Love is in every breath I breathe. 

NOW, what was that question again? Oh yes, do I really trust in Jesus with every Beat of my Heart? I do, with my whole being. Jesus came to me in my heart, assuring me He will never leave me. He will never leave you either. He reached out for me and I reached for Him. He’s reaching for you also. I did not depend on my own strength, for it was in my weakness where He gave me His strength. He will be your strength too. He brought me out of darkness and into His light, and keeps me safe. He will bring you out from the dark and into the light and keep you safe. I talk to the Lord in prayer, and He answers me, He knows my heart. Talk to the Lord in your prayers, He hears your heart. I do and forever will put All my Trust in Jesus, with every Beat of my Heart. Trust in Jesus my friends. God is Love! And this is how this song was written. Through the Holy Spirit, through God’s Love, amen.

My dear sisters and brothers, before we continue today, I wanted to bring into detailed clarity the process of putting my songs from the 70s and 80s onto music sheets from the cassette  recordings. I think I’ve mentioned my special friend Gwen to you before. Gwen, besides being my Spiritual sister and being spiritually instrumental in helping me grow in prayers and prayer groups, she also has tremendously helped me with my music. Yes, I had a piano so finding the notes was easy, and yes, with the guitar that I received from Santa one year, the chords too were familiar, but putting it on music sheets, from a voice recording, well, that took professionalism. And that is not me. Gwen helped me transfer my recording tapes onto music sheets, with the key signature, the time signature, the chord arrangements, all the different kinds of notes including triplets, and all that was needed. Then they were ready for copyright, and even more importantly, ready for a musician, like Gwen, to play them, and she played my songs so beautifully, as I would hear them within my own soul. Gwen and her husband Joe, have been and are truly deep blessings in my life. Thank you Gwen, thank you Joe!

God is so good, He not only gives us life, but He provides for all our needs. We may not always realize this at the time, but if we, you and I, examine our own lives, we will begin to see a pattern, and if we open our minds to the deep discoveries, wow, we barely will be able to hold back our tearful eyes from the awesomeness of God’s Love! Now this is exactly what happened to me in the year of 1982.

The song is, ‘I Look at my Life Lord’ and the story behind this song is nothing less than amazing. Within this song is the Twist of Faith, an awakening of God’s Love.

My sisters and brothers, today is yet a another podcast that brings us back to my yesteryears with a song called, Your Will would be done, written of course, through God’s Grace and mercy and the Inspirations of the Holy Spirit. The story behind this song tells a time of troublesome in our world. Back in those days I was attending weekly Holy Spirit Breakfast. These meetings would have guest speakers giving witness, and later we would continue with teachings from Father Bill and Sister Bernadette, and somewhere in between we had praising songs. Now this was called the Holy Spirit Breakfast because it was our inner spirits being fed and lifted with food for our minds. Although these meeting would start with coffee, tea and pastries, the real deal as we all know, were the rest of the stories and teachings. This song also brings my thoughts to how it wasn’t only the seventies and eighties that my heart would sing to Jesus or Blessed Mary, but it was all through my life. I was always somewhere either in the backyard woods, or on a small mountain, or hiking, or biking, but what ever it was that I was doing, I was usually alone and singing to the Lord His praises, or just speaking to the Lord or Blessed Mother Mary in song. I never gave much thought on what I was doing, I just did what came natural to me. Isn’t that what children do, what they naturally enjoy doing? That’s it. Plus this is where I found my Joy. It was later in my life, more like the seventies, where I would actually start singing my own songs on recording tapes so as to be able to later put them on music sheets. At that time, I had no musical instruments, so I could not add music with my singing. I do not remember if my thoughts went any further than that. I only knew that inside me I was feeling this was what I should do, and so I did.

Little by little, as I was going to these teachings, I found my ears being opened more and more, and my understanding was growing, and my eyes were also beginning to open wider, so much so that my heart was feeling the sufferings of this troublesome world we live in. I suppose if we walk around with blinders, we become deaf to the cry’s of people around us. It’s so sad how we may not see the pain of others, its like being immune to our surroundings. My friends, have you carried these burdens, or burdens like these, such as I have? We need more than ever, to bring His Gospel to the world. In a sense, to live the Gospel, not only speak the Gospel but to live the Gospel, going from Gospel to life and life to Gospel. This my friends, is what Jesus calls you and me to be. Amen.

My sisters and brothers, for sure, this journey is one of Faith. Today our podcast song is, my ‘Prayer of Abandonment’ called I Love Thee, and this podcast is on abandonment, abandonment of self to God’s Will. These past few weeks have brought me back to the times and places of where I was in my life, where my thoughts were, and how I could feel the changes taking place in me. Jesus was slowly removing the twisted knots from my past that was causing me inner suffering, and replacing them with His Love, His Peace, His Forgiveness and His Joy. I remember walking one day with one of my special friend and cousin, Terri, on a street near to her home. (Terri is married to my close cousin, Roland, and their family were and are a special part of our very large family of cousins.) I remember wanting to tell her all about the changes that seemed to be taking root in me. I knew that the views we once shared were becoming different from the dreams we looked forward to. We shared similar dreams that included a love for horses, and though I do love horses, I no longer shared the dream of owning any, while Terri grew in her desires and dreams. I wanted so to share with her how my life was changing, but I didn’t know how. At that time I was but a baby Christian with not enough knowledge about Jesus. I hungered for the knowledge of Jesus, how can I not, for the more I would go to Father Bill’s and Sister Bernadette’s teachings on Jesus, the more my heart desired to know Jesus and the ways of Jesus. The more I became aware of the ways of Jesus, the more I found myself speaking softer to my children and doing all I could do for them. The more I found myself loving Jesus, the more I loved my children and my family. I found myself singing these words to Him, ‘I love Thee’, and I kept singing until this song was written, ‘I Love Thee’. This is my Prayer of Abandonment of myself to Jesus. It is my surrendering to God prayer. Amen.

My brothers and my sisters, this past week brought back to me so much memories as I was recording this song and prayer, ‘Do with me as You Will’. Although it is true, all these songs brings me back to the time and place of writing them.

This song was written in the years of my growing in the Lord, of saying my yes to the Lord’s calling, but not of knowing what lay ahead of me.

I was being prepared for the new chapter that was to come into my life. The uncertainties of this road that I would be traveling was a great weight on my heart, and only through the grace and mercy of God, the one thing that I was certain about, is my complete trust in Jesus.

My sisters and brothers, our podcast is about the story behind this hymn ‘Mother Mary’, the Hail Mary Prayer, and our podcast song is ‘Mother Mary’. Now the music used for ‘Mother Mary’ was originally written for ‘Blessed Mary of Seven Sorrows’ in 1978. In that same year our ‘Ave Maria Ave Ave’ was written for Worship and Praise Concerts, large groups and gatherings. This hymn also has the Hail Mary Prayer included, with a few words revised. Now one decade later, 1988, the original music for Blessed Mary of Seven Sorrows, also was used for Mother Mary, which The Hail Mary Prayer is part of. This music belongs to our Blessed Mary, and it seems as though our Blessed Mother Mary herself desires her music to be used again for her prayer. And so, it is. I played my 12 string Ovation and we sang this hymn to our Blessed Mother Mary throughout our ministry mission journey, but it didn’t get recorded until 2007 at which time it was produced as a song/video for our Mother Mary prayer/hymn, and later published in YouTube.

When my mom first heard me sing and play this prayer/hymn at our parish Church in Enterprise, AL. in 1995, it became her favorite hymn, it was already her favorite prayer. When my mom was very young, she was one of the children of the ‘Congregation Of The Children Of Mary’, at her Church in Lewiston ME, and she always held a very special place in her heart for our Blessed Mother Mary. My mom is no longer with me on earth, but the memory of her last hour when I saw the most beautiful peaceful Love in her smile, this is with me, and will be forever inspiring my heart to keep singing this special prayer. This hymn/prayer is dedicated to both, my mom, and our Blessed Mother Mary.

Thank you to my dear Franciscan sister, Huguette Dube, a special sister and duet singing partner, for agreeing to sing this Mother Mary hymn with me at many Church Services, concerts and special events.

My sisters and brothers, our podcast song is, ‘You are Bread of Life’, and our podcast is about Jesus, our Bread of Life. The Gospels are the life of Jesus. Years ago when I received teachings on these stories in the Bible, Jesus became alive in my thoughts. I remember how important the Gospels became to me. One day I was reading and meditating on the Gospel of John, chapter 9, verses 1 - 7. I began reading about the time that Jesus healed the blind. Reading about the blind, I wanted to also know how Jesus healed the lame. So I read the Gospel of John, Chapter 5, verses 2 - 9. I continued to read the 6th Chapter of John, verses 8-13, about the 5 loaves of bread and the two fish. I couldn’t stop myself. Again I continued reading chapter 6, verses 50-52. And this is how our song, You are Bread of Life, was created, it is all based on our meditation on these Scriptures.

My sisters and brothers, today our podcast is about the Power on inner prayer. Our podcast song is, Help Me To Remember Lord. Speaking of remembering, I remember the first time I heard teachings on the Power of inner prayer. It was the year of 1978, Father Bill and Sister Bernadette were giving teachings on the Power of inner prayer, the many ways to hear God speaking to us, daily readings from the Bible, praying the scriptures, the importance of keeping a spiritual journal, God speaking in our thoughts, and having a personal relationship with Jesus! This touched me deeply; these were simple yet powerful teachings I could not live without. The more I received, the more I needed to receive.” And I so much desired this. At that time I was just a ‘baby Christian, and of course I wanted all of these, now. I was in a hurry to learn as much as I could and as quickly as I could, like maybe, just leaping over, and jumping right into the depths of this Inner prayer?

Well, this is the story of how our song, ‘Help Me To Remember Lord’ was actually created. You see, I needed to remember that with a true heart commitment, I should not be skipping prayer time, but I thought I had no time to pray, after all, I needed to get to the prayer meeting. Right? Right! Or, being so much in a hurry to hear teachings on Jesus, yet, thinking I had no time to sit and talk with Jesus in my own prayer time? Wow, A little ironic, yes. Praise God He understands us, and He understood me more then even I understood myself.

My song was written more as a wake up call. You see, if your life gets clutter as mine was, then yes, you will miss God speaking to you, not because Jesus won’t speak to you, but because, you won’t hear His soft WHISpers through all the clutter. I needed a more simpler way of life. Alone at home one day, I was pondering these words to my Lord. “Help me to remember Lord, when I have no time to pray that’s when I have no time not to pray. Help me to remember Lord, when I have no time to sit and talk with You that’s when I have no time not to”. After crying out to the Lord these words that became my prayer, our song, ‘Help Me To Remember Lord’, the Lord heard my cry, and He did help me to remember. He gently rescued me from myself, and brought me to Himself. I had to slow down so that I could get to where the Lord was leading me. He slowed me down. Strangely enough, slowing down actually gave me more time to do all I needed to do. I had more prayer times, and most importantly, more times to sit and talk with Jesus. Yes, I was living a simpler life, the Lord was scrapping away the clutter, and in its place was His over flowing Peace inside me.

My sisters and brothers, today we will be speaking on the Salt of the earth and the light of the world. The title of our song is, Salt of the Earth light of the World. It was around the year of 1982 when I was on a ministry team at the Immaculata Retreat House in Willimantic, Connecticut. Young adults, in their teen years, were arriving for a weekend retreat. It was a recommended retreat for their Conformation classes from the churches near by. They made their way in, registered, and found their way into the large gathering room, where they helped themselves to the table with juices, cookies and fruits. After a while, they found themselves talking with friends they knew, and friends did not know. Soon they were greeted with some of the music members of our team, Bill and Kathy, Danny, and myself. After a few songs, Father Ray came in and welcomed them all, and our program began. We all went into the nearby room with chairs, took our places and listened to some stories from the Bible. That weekend was very uplifting for our young adults, for me too, and for all of us there. The young adults gathered in groups, each with a team member from the ministry. All groups were given sheets that were passed out to the team members, and on these sheets, each different from the other, were a few words on it, and these words were to be their assignment used as the topic or theme for their presentation. They were all given the rest of that day for it, and it would be presented the following morning after breakfast.The assignment that my group received had these words ‘Salt and Light’ written on it. As we talked about salt and light, we read that passage in Matthew again. After breakfast the following day, my group with such happy smiles, presented their topic with the song, You are salt of the Earth, You are Light of the World!