Since I am a little girl, I have always experienced what I call God Moments. Back then I did not understand what was going on, however as I grew older I realized what a gift it really was. What is a God Moment? This is when something beautiful happens that can only be explained as divine intervention. It is that moment when life stops for a brief moment and you say to yourself, “Did that really happen?”
I would like to share my God moment from this week. One of my very favorite church services of the year is Divine Mercy Sunday. Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the Sunday after Easter, the Octave Day of Easter. The feast day is observed by Roman Catholics as well as some Anglicans. It is originally based on the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy that Saint Faustyna Kowalska reported as part of her encounter with Jesus, and is associated with special promises from Jesus and indulgences issued by the Church. Although you may not be familiar with this feast day, you may have seen the picture which represents Divine Mercy Sunday.
A couple of years ago, I attended the Divine Mercy service. Father Chris delivered a beautiful homily and explained how powerful it was to make a meaningful confession during Divine Mercy Sunday. He said it is like leaving the heaviness of your sins at the base of the cross. I know for many of you who are not Catholic this is probably getting deeper than you were interested in but stick with me. I promise you will enjoy the story!
I was so moved by Father Chris’s words that I was inspired to create a special lesson plan for my religious education class. Each year during Lent I give my students a fist size rock. We then go to the area of our church’s property where there is an outdoor Stations of the Cross. We go to the 12th station – where Jesus dies on the cross. The students are asked to leave their rock at the base, take a deep breathe, bless themselves, and take a moment to feel how wonderful it is to no longer feel the weight of the rock (sins). 
Sounds simple but it is very powerful and gets the point across even to my second graders!
The winter of 2018 in the Hudson Valley was challenging (to say the least!) and taking the students outside during Lent this year was not an option. Since this is my last year teaching religious education at St. Columba, I needed to make my last year with my students a special one. I prayed and meditated on the subject and this is what I came up with.
I asked my assistant Catherine to write these three sentences on the board – Jesus I love you, Thank you Jesus, and Jesus you rock. I asked the students to read each sentence and choose the one that resonated with them best. After I gave them an example of which sentence meant the most with me, they then understood and wrote their sentence on their rock. They also wrote their first name on the rock and the year, 2018.
During this exercise, one of my students said he found a folded piece of paper on the floor and asked what to do with it. He asked if he could open it and I said yes. He handed me the piece of paper and tears came to my eyes. It was the Divine Mercy picture of Jesus.
Yes, it is a God Moment!
Take the time today to slow down, breathe, and allow the God moments in life to present themselves to you. It is very simple to do. The biggest step is realizing that you can do it. The hardest step is actually doing it!
BALANCE in our life is necessary so we can achieve our inner SHINE.
SHINE!
Betty 2018
Balance & Shine 