Unconquerable Gladness

SOURCE:  https://www.coachloya.com/unconquerable-gladness/

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/S&S_Prayers.htm

KEYWORDS:  FDR, prayer, gladness, joy, trouble, overcome, strength, faith

"Franklin D. Roosevelt had a sign on his desk that read: 'Let unconquerable gladness dwell.' The sign was a source of encouragement for America’s thirty-second president...

Franklin D. Roosevelt served his country during a difficult period in its history. He was challenged by a Great Depression, a Great World War, and a not-so-great personal battle with polio. It doesn’t take much to see the need for the sign that sat on his desk.

The origin of Roosevelt’s sign came from a prayer book distributed to soldiers in WWII. The actual passage in the book included several preceding words: 'At the heart of all our trouble and sorrow let unconquerable gladness dwell.'"

From A Prayer Book for Soldiers and Sailors (1941)

FOR CHRISTIAN GLADNESS

O God, Author of the world‘s joy, Bearer of the world‘s pain; At the heart of all our trouble and sorrow let unconquerable gladness dwell; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

COFFEE CUP TRANSFORMATION

SOURCE:  https://x.com/sitsio/status/1820188789777502668

KEYWORDS: transformation, baptism, conversion, spirit, communion, eucharist, supper, 

During the 70s, some priests were becoming rather casual with the liturgy. One afternoon, a priest came into the soup kitchen that Dorothy Day was working at. He wanted to offer a liturgy for the homeless. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a mug to use for the chalice. 

Dorothy, although frustrated at the irreverent use of houseware for the liturgy, prayed throughout the mass with the priest. After the liturgy ended, she quietly got up and started to cleanse the vessels. Then, she walked outside with the mug and a shovel. 

A man followed her and asked her what she was doing. It is said she kissed the mug and then buried it. She told him that it was no longer a mug, but a chalice. It was no longer suited for coffee- it had held the Blood of Christ. She didn’t want anyone to mistake it for a mug again. Once something holds the Body of Christ, it is no longer what it was. When the mug held the Blood of Christ, it changed its vocation forever. It could no longer hold anything less than Christ again.

We were common mugs. Simple, functional, practical, and good people. We had a capacity to hold good things. But when Christ entered our lives, we became more. We became Chalices. We started to hold divinity Himself within our hearts. Now that we have held the Body of Christ within our bodies, we are no longer common, but rather extraordinary.

May you know the transformation God has placed in your heart. May you trust that you are truly made new and be extraordinary today.

Pictured: Dorothy Day holding a different mug.