By: Ivonne J. Hernandez

I remember the days of my youth, when summertime meant freedom; freedom from schoolwork and busy schedules, freedom for rest and relaxation. I remember waking up with nothing on my schedule but calling up my neighbor and inviting her to go outside and play. I remember spending hours lying down on our driveway, staring at the clouds in the sky, watching as they formed recognizable silhouettes that slowly drifted away. We would come up with all sorts of games and just enjoy spending time together with friends. Those were the days!
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Summertime now is much different. As a mother in charge of others, I don’t get to wake up with nothing to do but play, even in July. Yet, the need for rest is still there. I was hoping we could escape to the mountains for a couple of weeks this summer, but so far, we have not been able to get away. As the weeks pass on by and the “Back to School” ads start to popup, I catch a restlessness creeping in; the thought that I will not get the rest I desire. What amazes me is that, when I remember watching the clouds go by, when I place myself in that moment of my childhood, I feel peace, and my weary soul finds rest. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). The peace I feel points to the reality that there was something greater than some random clouds on a summer day, and through the gift of memory, the grace of that moment is available to me today.

“Come away to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mk 6:31). We might not always be able to go physically to a deserted place (as much as we would often love to!), but we can always enter into our inner room, deserted from all external influences, and rest a while. It is in this place where God will speak to our hearts and will remind us of all the moments of grace available to us. He is the Alpha and the Omega; in Him there is no time. In that place the silhouettes of our burdens will disappear like the clouds, and the sun will shine through. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28).

By: Laura Worhacz

By: Ivonne J. Hernandez

I was pondering today on the greatness and vastness of the universe, on how it is like a giant playground for human ingenuity and imagination; how it pulls us through its mystery and invites us to explore and learn more about it, and through that, learn more about ourselves…and about God. When I look at this glorious creation, and how, even every hidden detail is meticulously, and lovingly, crafted, I can only think of the loving hand behind it all. Like an Art student who learns to discern the artist’s invisible fingerprint on every work of art created, we can learn to see God’s hand in everything He created. When I look at a diagram of the known universe, and at the tiny dot our world is within it, I can’t help but wonder if it is all created just for us.

I am a big sci-fi fan and have enjoyed many hours of great imaginative shows of other worlds and civilizations in the far recesses of this universe; yet, the more I ponder the more I wonder. God’s love is so extravagant. The same God who upholds every corner of this vast universe, knows when I sit and when I stand, and understands my thoughts from afar (Ps 139:2). The same God who created the stars we see, meticulously created a tiny flower, hidden in a valley, who no one else but He would ever see; yet I can’t help but think, He made it just for me.
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Because if I know He created that flower, who’s beauty and fragrance would only please Him, then I can know that my innermost heart, was also made just for Him. And this universe so vast, so extravagant so perfect, then perhaps fulfills its purpose when it makes me think of Him. Like a lover leaving clues for His loved one to pursue, everywhere I look I hear Him say, “Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come!” (Song 2:10). Come and see how much I love you. Come and see what I have done for you.
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By: Laura Worhacz