[caption id="attachment_5732" align="alignright" width="233"] Blog by Sr. Amy McFrederick, OP[/caption]
Last Saturday, our Vocation/Formation Teams, women in formation, a couple of other Dominican Sisters of Peace (including me), enjoyed a short cruise on the Good Times III Ship on Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River. It featured the Bridges of Cleveland.
As we slowly made our way through the harbor, and down the river around “Collision Corner” and back, the Captain of the ship pointed out important buildings and landmarks, named sights and bridges spanning the river, and narrated historic events pertinent to the area.
Probably most interesting to me was seeing and experiencing the different kinds of draw bridges that both allowed trains, cars, and pedestrians to pass over the river, but also could either raise, lift, or swing to the side to allow approaching larger boats and ships to pass, then return to their usual function as a bridge for land travelers.
Being a native Kansan, I had never seen draw bridges until I traveled to Louisiana, New York, Ohio and elsewhere. I was fascinated by the overall design of these amazing feats of engineering and cooperative work of humans.
I got to thinking about the importance of bridges in our lives, and not only bridges spanning rivers, swamps, lakes, and other wetlands, but turnpike, interstate, city and rural highway overpasses that avoid busy railroad tracks and congested areas and facilitate traffic flow. Praise God for bridges!
With bridges still on my mind as I read and prayed with the Gospel Reading for Sunday July 8, (Mark 6:1-6), the line that caught my attention was: (Jesus) “was not able to perform any mighty deed there (in his home town), apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Faith was the missing “bridge” that could have connected Jesus’ hometown folks to his mighty deeds.
I thought of the Luke 8:43-48 story about the woman who “touched the hem of Jesus’ garment”, believing she would be healed of her affliction and WAS healed. Jesus told her “your faith has made you well.”
Her faith in Jesus connected her to the healing power emanating from Him. Though crowds were surrounding and pressing in on Him, she was the only one healed, and Jesus wanted it to make it known that her faith opened a way for divine healing power to flow to her.
Our FAITH in Christ is the bridge opening us to God’s loving power flowing to us!
When has your faith been a bridge to grace, healing, light, and gift flowing in/to/through you?
Blog by Sr. Amy McFrederick, OP[/caption]
Last Saturday, our Vocation/Formation Teams, women in formation, a couple of other Dominican Sisters of Peace (including me), enjoyed a short cruise on the Good Times III Ship on Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River. It featured the Bridges of Cleveland.
As we slowly made our way through the harbor, and down the river around “Collision Corner” and back, the Captain of the ship pointed out important buildings and landmarks, named sights and bridges spanning the river, and narrated historic events pertinent to the area.
Probably most interesting to me was seeing and experiencing the different kinds of draw bridges that both allowed trains, cars, and pedestrians to pass over the river, but also could either raise, lift, or swing to the side to allow approaching larger boats and ships to pass, then return to their usual function as a bridge for land travelers.
Being a native Kansan, I had never seen draw bridges until I traveled to Louisiana, New York, Ohio and elsewhere. I was fascinated by the overall design of these amazing feats of engineering and cooperative work of humans.
I got to thinking about the importance of bridges in our lives, and not only bridges spanning rivers, swamps, lakes, and other wetlands, but turnpike, interstate, city and rural highway overpasses that avoid busy railroad tracks and congested areas and facilitate traffic flow. Praise God for bridges!
With bridges still on my mind as I read and prayed with the Gospel Reading for Sunday July 8, (Mark 6:1-6), the line that caught my attention was: (Jesus) “was not able to perform any mighty deed there (in his home town), apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Faith was the missing “bridge” that could have connected Jesus’ hometown folks to his mighty deeds.
I thought of the Luke 8:43-48 story about the woman who “touched the hem of Jesus’ garment”, believing she would be healed of her affliction and WAS healed. Jesus told her “your faith has made you well.”
Her faith in Jesus connected her to the healing power emanating from Him. Though crowds were surrounding and pressing in on Him, she was the only one healed, and Jesus wanted it to make it known that her faith opened a way for divine healing power to flow to her.
Our FAITH in Christ is the bridge opening us to God’s loving power flowing to us!
When has your faith been a bridge to grace, healing, light, and gift flowing in/to/through you?