Offer It Up!

Thoughts for today

2010-01-08T21:04:00.003-05:00

I am reading an article called Choice Theory and Emotional Dependency by Joan Hoogstad.

She states, "Dependent individuals have not acquired the effective behaviors they need to satisfy their need for power, largely because the choices they make involve all or some of the disconnecting habits they learned as a child. Disconnecting habits are blaming, complaining, nagging, punishing, threatening, criticizing and rewarding in order to control."

I love reality therapy and choice theory the best so far of all the therapeutic models I learned this semester.

Happy New Year!!

2009-12-31T22:51:00.000-05:00

Many of God's choicest blessings to each of you!

I just don't know what to do to keep busy?

2009-12-27T17:13:00.002-05:00

Anyone? Now I have a few weeks off before next semester. I was able to get my grades on Christmas Day. Wooooooo hoooooo! Straight A's. I already can't wait till next semester. So what is everyone doing? My inquiring mind wants to know. lol.

Leave some love please!
Linda

One more class to go this semester

2009-12-17T06:45:00.001-05:00

Miss you all! I will try to catch up next week.

What was I thinking?

2009-09-27T17:52:00.002-04:00

Hello friends,
It has been a very busy last couple of weeks with adjusting to college after ten years. I must say alot has changed. They used to hand you a book and tell you to memorize it. Not anymore. They want to "see" the learning. So lots and lots of papers and research on top of the book. lol.

Anyway, I really am enjoying my classes if my head does not explode first. I am taking 5 courses. yes! you are reading correctly.

I just thought I would let you all know I am still here but have not had time to post anything and I will try to see what you all have been up too!!

Hugs!
Linda

College Bound

2009-09-04T11:20:00.001-04:00

Thank you Jesus!
I will be going to college next week. I am so excited.

Thank you all for your prayers!

Hugs!

Great Blog post!

2009-09-04T05:57:00.001-04:00

This post really struck a cord within me.
From Adrienne's Catholic Corner
Titled "We are all abused children". Worth a read.

God bless

Disappontments!

2009-09-02T17:30:00.003-04:00

My disappointments lately....
I still have not heard from financial aid so as of tomorrow I will have to drop my classes. I can try again for the Spring. I still have not found a job. I thought I had a chance where my Daughter works but they don't hire family in the same building. We have 12.9 percent unemployment rate. I still have no hot water in over 2 months now and still owe the plumber who came to TRY and fix it. I just wish the Lord could pick me up and plop me where he wants me. So confusing.

Those words from last week keep coming to my mind when I said, "Forgive Us Our Grumbling". I am trying Lord! REALLY I am trying not to complain and offer up my little disappointments.

Prayers are always welcome my friends.

Suffering

2009-09-02T06:56:00.001-04:00

SUFFERING

MEN who love God are so far from complaining of their sufferings, that their complaint and their suffering is rather because the suffering which God's will has assigned them is so small. All their blessedness is to suffer by God's will, and not to have suffered something, for this is the loss of suffering. This is why I said, Blessed are they who are willing to suffer for righteousness, not, Blessed are they who have suffered.

All that a man bears for God's sake, God makes light and sweet for him.

If all was right with you, your sufferings would no longer be suffering, but love and comfort.

If God could have given to men anything more noble than suffering, He would have redeemed mankind with it: otherwise, you must say that my Father was my enemy, if he knew of anything nobler than suffering.

True suffering is a mother of all the virtues.

Eckhart

Weakness

2009-08-31T06:22:00.001-04:00

I was distressed at my want of courage, and Soeur Therese said to me:
"You are complaining of what should be your greatest happiness. If you
fought only when you felt eagerness, where would be your merit? What
does it matter, even if you are devoid of courage, provided you act as
though you possessed it? If you feel too lazy to pick up a bit of
thread, and yet do so for love of Jesus, you acquire more merit than
for a much nobler action done in a moment of fervor. Instead of
grieving, be glad that, by allowing you to feel your own weakness, Our
Lord is furnishing you with an opportunity of saving a greater number
of souls."
St. Therese: The Little Flower

The Lowest Place

2009-08-30T19:59:00.001-04:00

"The one thing which is not open to envy is the lowest place. Here
alone, therefore, there is neither vanity nor affliction of spirit.
Yet, 'the way of a man is not his own,' [172] and sometimes we find
ourselves wishing for what dazzles. In that hour let us in all humility
take our place among the imperfect, and look upon ourselves as little
souls who at every instant need to be upheld by the goodness of God.
From the moment He sees us fully convinced of our nothingness, and
hears us cry out: 'My foot stumbles, Lord, but Thy Mercy is my
strength,' [173] He reaches out His Hand to us. But, should we attempt
great things, even under pretext of zeal, He deserts us. It suffices,
therefore, to humble ourselves, to bear with meekness our
imperfections. Herein lies--for us--true holiness."
St. Therese the Little Flower

It is a Mystery!

2009-08-29T15:50:00.002-04:00

All this rain! I have no idea how it got into the back seat floor of my car.

Any suggestions? Windows and doors are tightly closed but I have a flood.
I also forgot about my friend's house warming party today. Kiara will be
soon because my daughter and her husband are going on one of those murder
mystery shows while they eat dinner. They also pick people in the audience
to play parts. It was part of her Birthday present. My part is watching Kiara
overnight so they can enjoy the evening.

Can you really tell I have no words of wisdom today? Nothing, empty, Nada!

Have an awesome evening!

To My Son: I miss you on your Birthday

2009-08-27T22:18:00.003-04:00

To My Son

Remembering:

Somewhere under all the pain,
within all those walls
Is my beautiful son!

Remember the Rain?
Remember how good it feels
as it pours down on you?

Refreshing the soul
Refreshing the innermost of our being.

I carried you with human cords
The cords were severed.
They can be repaired,
Perhaps they will never be the same.
So true! But they can be healed.

Deep within, the real Self is hidden.
scared, broken, filled with grief
and sorrow.

Each beat of your heart
Each tear from your eyes
I was there!
The beating of my heart was with you
The tears that I shed was with you.

Yes, I remember the times you
reached out and noone was there for you?
I was there, deep within calling your
name.

"For when you are weak, I am strong"
I love you!

A funny email I received Today

2009-08-27T21:22:00.000-04:00

Let me get this straight.

Obama's health care plan will be
written by a committee whose head says he
doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it,
signed by a president who smokes,
funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,
overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and
financed by a country that is nearly broke.
What could possibly go wrong?

Marians of the Immaculate Conception

2009-08-20T06:15:00.004-04:00

My friend John Luth:
Made his First Vows as an MIC.
John was a member of Our Third Order of Carmelites. He is now Brother John and will someday be a priest.

The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception welcomed four new members into the Congregation during a Mass celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, Aug. 15. Eight Marian brothers also renewed their vows.

May Our Lord and Our Lady of the Immaculate conception bless them!

http://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3696

God In Basic Training!

2009-08-01T08:46:00.004-04:00

Humorous story of my first day in boot camp.

Sister on another blog said to me the other day that life is like bootcamp for Jesus. It got me thinking of a my first day in basic training for the U.S.A.F. But before I can tell the story I have to back up a little to what was going on in my life before basic training.

Life was what seemed like a standstill. I was working 2 jobs, broke up the my boyfriend *again*, no car, could not go to college because I had no money. My job in the house was to clean the bathroom every Saturday morning. This one particular day while cleaning the bathroom, my dad came in to do his weekly white glove check. Seriously he did do this. Then he told me to put the toilet seat up in the bathroom because I was complaining about the boys (my brothers) peeing on the seats and floor. So I did something really stupid.... I argued with my dad. I took some toilet paper from the toilet paper holder and wiped off the pee on the floor and threw it at my dad; and told him that I am not going to lift the seat for those lazy boys. Now if you knew my dad you would realize that I am in for a beating of my life. But this time my dad stood there in amazement or something and tears came from his eyes. Oh No, I am in big trouble now, so I did the next best thing..... I ran out of the house for dear life.

So now what am I going to do? I can't go home because I will be dead. I jump on the city bus which I never took before and headed downtown Providence. I had no clue what I was going to do there and it was not a good place to be going at only 17 and alone. I saw a Dunkin Donuts and grabbed a coffee and went for a walk. There was this amazing world that I never knew. Then I start to think about and pray to God what am I going to do? I pass this sign in a window that says, Aim High the Air Force! God is this where you want me? But I felt courageous and free at this moment, peace filled my heart, so I walked in. It was so easy, sign a few papers and left.

Then I realize and fear came upon me.... I still have to go home. I walk through the door with my head down trying to avoid eye contact with my dad. Nothing happened when I got home; all was quiet and then I give my parents the good news!

Now let us go forward to my first day in Basic Training. So many feelings come over you when you realize that you are now owned by the Government. You are only a Social Security number and you don't know what is going to happen next. We meet our Training Instructors and they show us around, get our teeth checked, etc. etc. Finally back to the barracks and our TI's give us our new chores to do and get settled.

So here I am headed with a few other woman and the TI who enters the Latrine. My job you ask for the next 6 weeks you may ask? You guessed it; clean the bathrooms! This gets even better if you are still with me here.....
drum roll please.......... *Put the toilet seats up at Attention*. You are reading correctly we had to put the toilet seats up after each use. Call it what you will, but I burst out laughing so loud and I could not hold it in, tears are running down my face, everyone is looking at me; and I look up to God and think, "God DOES have a sense of humor" and he answered me back interiorly, He said, "Next time listen to your father". O my gosh! I was so paying for my sins that day but also God was telling me that he was with me then, he is with me now and will be all my days.

I have so many stories of God with me in basic training. But one thing is for sure, I learned obedience and discipline from the service; we also have to work together as a team!

Update on Little Matthew

2009-08-01T06:38:00.001-04:00

Little baby Matthew is with Our Heavenly Father.
See God's Canvas blog. My prayers go out to the family of this blessed little angel.

Release that Person who hurt you!

2009-07-31T10:29:00.002-04:00

Release that Person who hurt you into the Lord's hands. Jesus please wash away any negativity that may be rooted in my soul by accepting this person's abuse or betrayal. I surrender this person to the Lord Jesus and ask Jesus to break any unhealthy ties to my soul.

Jesus please place your love and forgiveness into my heart and cleanse me of all resentment and negativity. Jesus into your hands I commend my spirit. I am your child Father God and I want to be free to be what you intended me to be. Amen

Betrayal

2009-07-30T22:59:00.002-04:00

I am so excited! God filled in the blank tonight at the prayer meeting I went to. Remember a few posts ago I published about my "Confuzed Day" and I said please fill in the blank for me because I could not think of the word. Well tonight Father talked all about Betrayals. From Judas to all those betrayals we suffer each day.

One final note he told us to pray for healing. lol. O my Jesus, through the suffering you endured by Judas, grant me healing from all those who like Judas betray me. That with your meekness and love you showed to your disciple may I too be meek and full of the same love. Please forgive me of all those times I too was Judas. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like your heart.

Day Six: Novena of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-12T07:22:00.001-04:00

Sixth Day

Mary, untiring seeker of God

Listening to the Word: The finding in the temple (Lk 2: 41-50)

Reflection: Mary and Joseph are distressed at the loss of their
son, Jesus. They set out to search for him and find him after
three days. In our life sometimes it seems that Jesus hides
himself from us and leaves us alone. What do we do?
Do we despair? Do we turn towards other goods?
Or do we set out in search of Jesus so as not to loose
him ever again. Mary and Joseph teach us to be untiring
seekers of God, because he has made us for himself and
our heart is restless until it rests in him (St. Augustine).

Prayer: Dear Mary, untiring seeker of God,
give us the strength you had in seeking your Jesus
who was lost in the temple.

Dear Mary, untiring seeker of God, guide our steps
so that on life's journey we may always follow Jesus,
lighthouse that enlightens us.

Dear Mary, Mother most pure, be our faithful
companion on the journey towards Jesus.

My commitment is to pray more in times when
Jesus seems to have abandoned me.

Flower of Carmel
Vine blossom-laden,
splendor of heaven,
Child-bearing yet maiden,
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,
whom no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
thy favours bestow,
Star of the sea.

When Shall I see Him Face to Face? Conclusion Spiritual Desolation

2009-07-12T07:19:00.001-04:00

Finally, we should be united to God’s will in regard to the time and
manner of our death. One day St. Gertrude, while climbing up a small
hill, lost her footing and fell into a ravine below. After her
companions had come to her assistance, they asked her if while falling
she had any fear of dying without the sacraments. “I earnestly hope and
desire to have the benefit of the sacraments when death is at hand;
still, to my way of thinking, the will of God is more important. I
believe that the best disposition I could have to die a happy death
would be to submit myself to whatever God would wish in my regard. For
this reason I desire whatever kind of death God will be pleased to send
me.”

In his “Dialogues”, St. Gregory [73] tells of a certain priest, Santolo
by name, who was captured by the Vandals and condemned to death. The
barbarians told him to choose the manner of his death. He refused,
saying: “I am in God’s hands and I gladly accept whatever kind of death
he wishes me to suffer at your hands; I wish no other.” This reply was
so pleasing to God that he miraculously stayed the hand of the
executioner ready to behead him. The barbarians were so impressed by
the miracle that they freed their prisoner. As regards the manner of
our death, therefore, we should esteem that the best kind of death for
us which God has designed for us. When therefore we think of our death,
let our prayer be: “O Lord, only let me save my soul and I leave the
manner of my death to thee!”

We should likewise unite ourselves to God’s will when the moment of
death is near. What else is this earth but a prison where we suffer and
where we are in constant danger of losing God? Hence David prayed:
“Bring my soul out of prison [74] .” St. Teresa too feared to lose God
and when she would hear the striking of the clock, she would find
consolation in the thought that the passing of the hour was an hour
less of the danger of losing God.

St. John of Avila was convinced that every right-minded person should
desire death on account of living in peril of losing divine grace. What
can be more pleasant or desirable than by dying a good death, to have
the assurance of no longer being able to lose the grace of God? Perhaps
you will answer that you have as yet done nothing to deserve this
reward. If it were God’s will that your life should end now, what would
you be doing, living on here against his will? Who knows, you might
fall into sin and be lost! Even if you escaped mortal sin, you could
not live free from all sin. “Why are we so tenacious of life,” exclaims
St. Bernard, “when the longer we live, the more we sin [75] ?” A single
venial sin is more displeasing to God than all the good works we can
perform.

Moreover, the person who has little desire for heaven shows he has
little love for God. The true lover desires to be with his beloved. We
cannot see God while we remain here on earth; hence the saints have
yearned for death so that they might go and behold their beloved Lord,
face to face. “Oh, that I might die and behold thy beautiful face!”
sighed St. Augustine. And St. Paul: “Having a desire to be dissolved
and to be with Christ [76] .” “When shall I come and appear before the
face of God [77] ?”exclaimed the psalmist.

A hunter one day heard the voice of a man singing most sweetly in the
forest. Following the sound, he came upon a leper horribly disfigured
by the ravages of his disease. Addressing him he said: “How can you
sing when you are so terribly afflicted and your death is so near at
hand?” And the leper: “Friend, my poor body is a crumbling wall and it
is the only thing that separates me from my God. When it falls I shall
go forth to God. Time for me is indeed fast running out, so every day I
show my happiness by lifting my voice in song.”

Lastly, we should unite ourselves to the will of God as regards our
degree of grace and glory. True, we should esteem the things that make
for the glory of God, but we should show the greatest esteem for those
that concern the will of God. We should desire to love God more than
the seraphs, but not to a degree higher than God has destined for us.
St. John of Avila [78] says: “I believe every saint has had the desire
to be higher in grace than he actually was. However, despite this,
their serenity of soul always remained unruffled. Their desire for a
greater degree of grace sprang not from a consideration of their own
good, but of God’s. They were content with the degree of grace God had
meted out for them, though actually God had given them less. They
considered it a greater sign of true love of God to be content with
what God had given them, than to desire to have received more.”

This means, as Rodriguez explains it, we should be diligent in striving
to become perfect, so that tepidity and laziness may not serve as
excuses for some to say: “God must help me; I can do only so much for
myself.” Nevertheless, when we do fall into some fault, we should not
lose our peace of soul and union with the will of God, which permits
our fall; nor should we lose our courage. Let us rise at once from this
fall, penitently humbling ourselves and by seeking greater help from
God, let us continue to march resolutely on the highway of the
spiritual life. Likewise, we may well desire to be among the seraphs in
heaven, not for our own glory, but for God’s, and to love him more;
still we should be resigned to his will and be content with that degree
of glory which in his mercy he has set for us.

It would be a serious defect to desire the gifts of supernatural
prayer—specifically, ecstasies, visions and revelations. The masters of
the spiritual life say that souls thus favored by God, should ask him
to take them away so that they may love him out of pure faith—a way of
greater security. Many have come to perfection without these
supernatural gifts; the only virtues worth-while are those that draw
the soul to holiness of life, namely, the virtue of uniformity with
God’s holy will. If God does not wish to raise us to the heights of
perfection and glory, let us unite ourselves in all things to his holy
will, asking him in his mercy, to grant us our soul’s salvation. If we
act in this manner, the reward will not be slight which we shall
receive from the hands of God who loves above all others, souls
resigned to his holy will.

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Canning Season!

2009-07-11T20:15:00.004-04:00

What I accomplished today!
I picked some blackberries and raspberries from my yard and made 8 half-pints of blackberry jam and 7 half-pints of raspberry jam.

Then I made 5 pints of salsa.
Monday is the first day of blueberry picking and I can't wait. Yummy!

Spiritual Desolation: Part IV

2009-07-11T06:34:00.001-04:00

Rodriguez cites the case of a person who persevered forty years in
prayer despite aridity, and experienced great spiritual strength as a
result of it; on occasion, when through aridity he would omit
meditation he felt spiritually weak and incapable of good deeds. St.
Bonaventure and Gerson both say that persons who do not experience the
recollection they would like to have in their meditations, often serve
God better than they would do if they did have it; the reason is that
lack of recollection keeps them more diligent and humble; otherwise
they would become puffed up with spiritual pride and grow tepid, vainly
believing they had reached the summit of sanctity.

What has been said of dryness holds true of temptations also. Certainly
we should strive to avoid temptations; but if God wishes that we be
tempted against faith, purity, or any other virtue, we should not give
in to discouraging lamentations, but submit ourselves with resignation
to God’s holy will. St. Paul asked to be freed from temptations to
impurity and our Lord answered him, saying: “My grace is sufficient for
thee [72] .”

So should we act when we find ourselves victims of unrelenting
temptations and God seemingly deaf to our prayers. Let us then say:
“Lord, do with me, let happen to me what thou wilt; thy grace is
sufficient for me. Only never let me lose this grace.” Consent to
temptation, not temptation of itself, can make us lose the grace of
God. Temptation resisted keeps us humble, brings us greater merit,
makes us have frequent recourse to God, thus preserving us from
offending him and unites us more closely to him in the bonds of his
holy love.

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Mary, Lady of the Offering: Day Five of Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-11T06:26:00.003-04:00

Fifth Day

Mary, Lady of the offering

Listening to the Word: The presentation at the temple (Lk 2: 22-32)

Reflection:
Let us try to stand as spectators at this event:
Mary, Joseph and Jesus, a family that goes to the temple
to offer the child to the Lord. If we wish to translate this
event into our terms, it is a little like a family that prepares
to take a child for baptism. We have so often taken part in
festivities of this kind. However, let us try to examine the
Mother's heart: she wholeheartedly offers to God the child
to whom she gave birth.

Are we capable of imitating her in our daily life?

Prayer:
Daughter of Sion, Lady of the offering,
envelop our hearts so that we may belong to Jesus completely.
Daughter of Sion, Lady of the offering,
free our hearts so that without any fear we may be exclusively His property.
Daughter of Sion, Mother so tender, make our hearts like yours.

My commitment
is to detach myself from something to which
I am greatly attached and offer it to someone
I particularly do not like.

This is so that I may imitate the Mother of my Lord
who offered Her Son with a pure heart.

Flower of Carmel
Vine blossom-laden,
splendour of heaven,
Child-bearing yet maiden,
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,
whom no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
thy favours bestow,
Star of the sea.

More from Carmelite Site Here

The Word

2009-07-11T06:11:00.000-04:00

The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever in everlasting silence: and in silence the soul has to hear it. - St. John of the Cross

Heaven on Earth

2009-07-10T16:48:00.002-04:00

My Reception
July 20, 2002
I am standing next to my husband. And my sister in Carmel Margaret with Father John Randall.

Spiritual Desolation: Part III

2009-07-10T13:39:00.001-04:00

It is well to remember, however, that aridity is not always a
chastisement; at times it is a disposition of divine providence for our
greater spiritual profit and to keep us humble. Lest St. Paul become
vain on account of the spiritual gifts he had received, the Lord
permitted him to be tempted to impurity: “And lest the greatness of the
revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an
angel of Satan to buffet me [70] .”

Prayer made amid sensible devotion is not much of an achievement:
“There is a friend, a companion at the table, and he will not abide in
the day of distress [71] .” You would not consider the casual guest at
your table a friend, but only him who assists you in your need without
thought of benefit to himself. When God sends spiritual darkness and
desolation, his true friends are known.

Palladius, the author of the “Lives of the Fathers of the Desert,”
experiencing great disgust in prayer, went seeking advice from the
abbot Macarius. The saintly abbot gave him this counsel: “When you are
tempted in times of dryness to give up praying because you seem to be
wasting your time, say: ‘Since I cannot pray, I will be satisfied just
to remain on watch here in my cell for the love of Jesus Christ!’
“Devout soul, you do the same when you are tempted to give up prayer
just because you seem to be getting nowhere. Say: “I am going to stay
here just to please God.” St. Francis de Sales used to say that if we
do nothing else but banish distractions and temptations in our prayers,
the prayer is well made. Tauler states that persevering prayer in time
of dryness will receive greater grace than prayer made amid great
sensible devotion.

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Novena: Day Four of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-10T13:37:00.000-04:00

Mary, contemplative woman

Listening to the Word: The visit of the Magi (Mt 2: 1-12)
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.'"

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Reflection: What would Mary and Joseph have thought when they saw these mysterious men coming from afar to see their little Jesus? And yet, the Son of God became man for all, also for these people who came from "afar". Mary immediately understands and shows Jesus to them too. Mary is the true contemplative, that is, the one who can see reality with the eyes of God. Are we contemplatives? Do we see reality with the eyes of God? Are we capable of giving Jesus to those we meet, those we know and those we don't know, our co-citizens and strangers, rich and poor?

Prayer: Blessed Mary, contemplative woman, teach us to keep in our hearts the situations of every day so that we may then see them with the eyes of God.
Blessed Mary, contemplative woman, teach us to see in the people we meet the face of your Son and not discriminate in any way.
Blessed Mary, child-bearing yet maiden, take us to Jesus.

My commitment is not to judge the people I meet during the day, but to see in each of them the face of the Lord.

Flower of Carmel
Vine blossom-laden,
splendour of heaven,
Child-bearing yet maiden,
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,
whom no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
thy favours bestow,
Star of the sea.

Wise as Serpents and Simple as Doves

2009-07-10T10:06:00.002-04:00

Matthew 10:16. Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.

Ver. 16. Wise as serpents, &c. It is a proverbial way of speaking; and an admonition to
be circumspect and discreet, but harmless, innocent, sincere in all our actions and
dealings. (Witham) ---

Simple. That is, harmless, plain, sincere, and without guile.
(Challoner) ---

In the midst of wolves. Although Christ sent his apostles not only
against wolves, but even into the very midst of wolves, still he commands them to
behave with the meekness of sheep, and simplicity of doves. Thus he evinces the
greatness of his power, in overcoming the wolves by the sheep, which were continually
exposed to be devoured and torn in pieces by them, still never failing to change the
fierce nature of the ravenous wolf into their own nature, in mildness and innocence.

As long as we retain the nature of sheep, we easily overcome our adversaries; but no
sooner are we changed into wolves, than we become the derision of our enemies: the
supreme Pastor, who superintends the sheep, not the wolves, withdrawing from us the
powerful protection of his grace, and leaving us to the misery of our own weakness. ---

Our Savior, in his infinite wisdom, knew full well the nature of things; passion was not
to be overcome by passion, but by meekness only. Thus the apostles did, when the
Jews having apprehended them, said, Have we not again and again commanded you
not to teach in this name? (Acts, Chap. iv.) Though they had the power of working the
greatest miracles, yet they let nothing harsh, nothing severe, escape them, either in
words or actions. With simplicity they made answer, Judge ye, if it be just to hear you
rather than God; and at the same time shewed their prudence, saying, We cannot but
speak what we have heard and seen. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxxiv.) ---

As sheep, &c. He compares them to sheep, not only because of their innocence, but also
because they were sent unarmed and destitute of all human support. (Menochius) ---

Wise, &c. That you may guard against the snares of your enemies. The prudence of
the serpent is celebrated, because when it cannot escape, it strives at least to preserve
its head free from hurt, whilst it leave the rest of its body exposed. Thus Christians,
who have Christ for their head, must preserve his faith and religion, though with the
loss of every thing else. (Menochius)

Have you ever experienced God slowing down time?

2009-07-09T21:48:00.002-04:00

Well let me say what a night tonight was.....
I left early to go to the Monastery in Barrington for the annual Novena. I left early thinking I would pray the Liturgy of the Hours, (which I neglected all day) while waiting for Mass to start at 7:30 pm. It is 6:15 and my car is having electrical problems and my lights are going on and off inside the car and the car locks are unlocking and locking and squealing and just awful noise.
Okay "Lord help me deal with this noise please". Get down Airport Road when all the traffic is blocked and we are redirected through the back roads. The traffic was so slow and all of us wondering what the problem was. Seems that Vice President Biden is in town but that is only a rumor. Anyway, finally get on the freeway and it is already going on 7pm. I'm thinking of turning back and going home between the noise in my car and all the traffic jams. Nope! I am too stuborn for that and God knows it. lol

Miss the ramp to get on the freeway and had to turn around. Get on the freeway and lots and lots of traffic.

One other thing I need to remember is do not listen to my husband but the Holy Spirit prompting me. Because now we have a new overpass to the exit to Barrington. My head tells me one thing and my husband said another. "You got it! I listened to hubby and had to turn around again and find my way back to the exit I needed earlier. Now at this point I have 5 minutes to get to Mass on time. I truely believe that God slowed down time for me because there is no way to get to my destination at the Monastery in 5 minutes. But now as I was getting closer and closer to the Monastery I am thinking this is so do-able. Truely a God moment for me. I get to the Monastery, my car still making all kinds of noises. They were just starting the First Reading and I must say it was so well worth it.

Our celebrant was Fr. John Vidmar, o.p. from Providence College and he was just awesome. I could have listened all night long. Thank you Father God for all you have given me, especially Jesus in the blessed Sacrament, Our Mother Mary, and the miracle of slowing down time for me. And Father God please bless Fr. John for truely he blessed us all tonight. In Jesus precious name we pray!

God bless,
Linda

Mercy My God Prayer

2009-07-09T08:58:00.003-04:00

Jesus of Nazareth has triumphed over death,
His reign his eternal, He is coming to conquer the world and time.

You are living in the time when every event is the sign of the written word.

Jesus of Nazareth has triumphed over death His reign is eternal.
He is coming to conquer the world and time.

MERCY MY GOD,
on those who blaspheme Thee; forgive them, they know not what they do.

MERCY MY GOD,
for the scandal in the world; deliver them from the spirit of satan.

MERCY, MY GOD,
on those who run away from Thee:give them appreciation for the Holy Eucharist.

MERCY, MY GOD,
on those who will come repentant to the Glorious Cross:
may they find there Peace and Joy in God our Saviour.

MERCY , MY GOD,
so that Thy Kingdom may come, but save souls,
there is still time…for the time is drawing near,
see I am coming.Amen.

COME LORD JESUS,
LORD, pour out on the whole world the treasures of Thy infinite Mercy.

Day Three of Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-09T06:47:00.003-04:00

Third Day

Mary, the mother who clothes us with the Scapular

Reflection: Luke, the Evangelist, relates the affectionate and
motherly gesture of Mary who wraps little Jesus in swaddling clothes.
A gesture made by every mother as a sign of protection and care.
We too are wrapped in swaddling clothes by Mary, our Mother and
Sister; through the Scapular she looks after us and protects us.
She wraps us so that we may grow strong and robust in the school of her Son.

Prayer: Virgin Mary, you who wrap your Jesus in swaddling clothes,
teach us to be always small so that we may "be carried in God's arms".
Virgin Mother, who wrap your Jesus in swaddling clothes, help us to clothe
ourselves with your Son, so that each day we may be a sign of God's love.
Virgin Mary, Splendor of heaven, hold us tight under your mantle.

My commitment is to clothe myself with the Scapular so that I may witness,
even externally, to my love for Jesus and Mary. Above all, I wish that the
Scapular may remind me to live every day in the school of Jesus,
after the example of the Virgin.

Flower of Carmel
Vine blossom-laden,
splendour of heaven,
Child-bearing yet maiden,
None equals thee.

Mother so tender,
whom no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
thy favours bestow,
Star of the sea.

Spiritual Desolation: Part II

2009-07-09T06:42:00.003-04:00

The time of spiritual desolation is also a time for being resigned.
When a soul begins to cultivate the spiritual life, God usually showers
his consolations upon her to wean her away from the world; but when he
sees her making solid progress, he withdraws his hand to test her and
to see if she will love and serve him without the reward of sensible
consolations. “In this life,” as St. Teresa used to say, “our lot is
not to enjoy God, but to do his holy will.” And again, “Love of God
does not consist in experiencing his tendernesses, but in serving him
with resolution and humility.” And in yet another place, “God’s true
lovers are discovered in times of aridity and temptation.”

Let the soul thank God when she experiences his loving endearments, but
let her not repine when she finds herself left in desolation. It is
important to lay great stress on this point, because some souls,
beginners in the spiritual life, finding themselves in spiritual
aridity, think God has abandoned them, or that the spiritual life is
not for them; thus they give up the practice of prayer and lose what
they have previously gained. The time of aridity is the best time to
practice resignation to God’s holy will. I do not say you will feel no
pain in seeing yourself deprived of the sensible presence of God; it is
impossible for the soul not to feel it and lament over it, when even
our Lord cried out on the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me [69] ?” In her sufferings, however, the soul should always
be resigned to God’s will.

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

2009-07-09T06:42:00.001-04:00

Is your Love, "Too Ardent"?

2009-07-09T06:37:00.001-04:00

This is me! Since I was a teenager.

St. Therese writes this:

My heart, sensitive and affectionate as it was, would have easily surrendered had it found a heart capable of understanding it. I tried to make friends with little girls my own age, and especially with two of them, I Loved them and they, in their turn, loved me insofar as they were capable, But alas! How narrow and flighty is the heart of creatures! Soon I saw my love was misunderstood..... I felt this and I did not beg for an affection that was refused............... How can I thank Jesus for making me find "only bitterness in earth's friendships". With a heart such as mine, I would have allowed myself to be taken and my wings to be clipped, and then how would I have been able to "fly and be at rest?" (Ps. 54:7). How can a heart given over to the affection of creatures be intimately united with God? I feel this is not possible. Without having drunk the poisoned cup of a too ardent love of creatures, I feel I cannot be mistaken. I have seen so many souls, seduced by this false light, fly like poor moths and burn their wings, and then return to the real and gentle light of Love, that gives them new wings which are more brilliant and delicate, so that they can fly toward Jesus, the Divine Fire" which burns without consuming" [John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, 2: 2-4]. Ah! I feel it? Jesus knew I was too feeble to be exposed to temptation.... I encountered only bitterness where stronger souls met with joy, and they detached themselves from it through fidelity. I have no merit at all, then, in not having given myself up to the love of creatures. I was preserved from it only through God's mercy!

Story of a Soul,

Chapter IV

The Man Nobody Knows

2009-07-08T21:22:00.002-04:00

The Man Nobody Knows........

I copied this from my friend Latina's blog post.
The author is Bruce Barton....I will be buying more of his books......this is great food for thought......

There are two seas in Palestine. One is fresh, and fish are in it. Splashes of green adorn its banks. Trees spread their branches over it and stretch out their thirsty roots to sip its healing waters.....The River Jordan makes this sea with sparkling water from the hills. So it laughs in
the sunshine. And men build their houses near to it, and birds their nests; and every kind of life is happier because it is there.

The River Jordan flows on south into another sea.

Here is no splash of fish, no fluttering leaf, no song of birds, no children's laughter. Travelers choose another route, unless on urgent business. The air hangs heavy above its water, and neither man nor beast nor fowl will drink.

What makes this mighty difference in these neighbor seas? Not the River Jordan. It empties the same good water into both. Not the soil in which they lie; not in the country round about.

This is the difference. The sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the Jordan. For every drop that flows into it another drop flows out. The giving and receiving go on in equal measure.

The other sea is shrewder, hoarding its income jealously. It will not be tempted into any generous impulse. Every drop it gets, it keeps.

The Sea of Galilee gives and lives. This other sea gives nothing. It is named the "DEAD".

There are two kinds of people in this world. There are two seas in Palestine.

after reading these lines he goes on to say that we all must be gentle to ourselves....that we all must go out of our way to say hello to the most lonely person you know...let some one that has made a difference in your life...let them know how much of a difference they made in your life and what it means to you.....the lesson........... giving gives life...not only to others but to your self........I know that I "give" to others....sometimes what I give is only what can be beneficial to me...of course I do "give"......sincerely and with all I have...but I am very choosy who I "give" to......I think that it is time that I re-evaluate some things.......I must acknowledge that there have been many that have and do...."given" to me...with out being choosy......this is again......something else that has been in front of me..... that I choose not see......... that I refused to look at from a different perspective....all due from past pains.....due from seeing others being insincere....due from others not appreciating what has been given from the heart.......Let me know what you think.............

I thought this was such a beautiful post and I hope she doesn't mind me copying it here.

God's Guidance

2009-07-08T20:39:00.002-04:00

4. Wherefore, to the end that all, whether beginners or proficients,
may know how to commit themselves to God's guidance, when His Majesty
desires to lead them onward, we shall give instruction and counsel, by
His help, so that they may be able to understand His will, or, at the
least, allow Him to lead them. For some confessors and spiritual
fathers, having no light and experience concerning these roads, are
wont to hinder and harm such souls rather than to help them on the
road; they are like the builders of Babel, who, when told to furnish
suitable material, gave and applied other very different material,
because they understood not the language, and thus nothing was done.
Wherefore, it is a difficult and troublesome thing at such seasons for
a soul not to understand itself or to find none who understands it. For
it will come to pass that God will lead the soul by a most lofty path
of dark contemplation and aridity, wherein it seems to be lost, and,
being thus full of darkness and trials, constraints and temptations,
will meet one who will speak to it like Job's comforters, and say that
it is suffering from melancholy, or low spirits, or a morbid
disposition, or that it may have some hidden sin, and that it is for
this reason that God has forsaken it. Such comforters are wont to
declare immediately that that soul must have been very evil, since such
things as these are befalling it.

St. John of the Cross
Prologue to Ascent of Mount Carmel

Spiritual Desolation: Part I

2009-07-08T06:27:00.002-04:00

We ought to view in the light of God’s holy will, the loss of persons
who are helpful to us in a spiritual or material way. Pious souls often
fail in this respect by not being resigned to the dispositions of God’s
holy will. Our sanctification comes fundamentally and essentially from
God, not from spiritual directors. When God sends us a spiritual
director, he wishes us to use him for our spiritual profit; but if he
takes him away, he wants us to remain calm and unperturbed and to
increase our confidence in his goodness by saying to him: “Lord, thou
hast given me this help and now thou dost take it away. Blessed be thy
holy will! I beg thee, teach me what I must do to serve thee.”

In this manner too, we should receive whatever other crosses God sends
us. “But,” you reply, “these sufferings are really punishments.” The
answer to that remark is: Are not the punishments God sends us in this
life also graces and benefits? Our offenses against God must be atoned
for somehow, either in this life or in the next. Hence we should all
make St. Augustine’s prayer our own: “Lord, here cut,
here burn and spare me not, but spare me in eternity!”

Let us say with Job: “Let this be my comfort, that afflicting
me with sorrow, he spare not [67] .”
Having merited hell for our sins, we should be consoled that God
chastises us in this life, and animate ourselves to look upon such
treatment as a pledge that God wishes to spare us in the next. When God
sends us punishments let us say with the high-priest Heli: “It is
the Lord, let him do what is good in his sight [68] .”

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

[67] Job, 6:10.

[68] 1 Kings, 3:18.

Novena: Day Two of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-08T06:16:00.002-04:00

Second Day

Mary, wonderful in her service

Listening to the Word: The Visitation (Lk 1: 39-45)

Reflection: Soon after hearing the Angel's message, the Mother of the Lord goes to her cousin Elisabeth who is old and expects a child. The Gospel says that she left in a hurry to place herself at the service of the needy. The Virgin does not allow the fact that the hope of Israel will be fulfilled in her "go to her head", but in utter humility she leaves to serve through small and simple house tasks.

Prayer: Mother Mary, expert servant, help us understand that it is only by being each other's servants that we can be true followers of your Son.
Mother Mary, expert servant, enable us to be always available to those whom we meet in our daily life.
Mother Mary, Vine blossom laden, help us compete in being charitable

My commitment is to serve those who are close to me. In imitation of the Virgin Mary, I shall try to serve ever better those who are least pleasing to me.

Flower of Carmel
Vine blossom-laden,
splendour of heaven,
Child-bearing yet maiden,
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,
whom no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
thy favours bestow,
Star of the sea.

You will find the Gospel Reflection here

Summary and Selected Paragraphs from Pope's New Encyclical

2009-07-08T06:08:00.002-04:00

My friend Paul posted some selected paragraphs from the Pope's New Encyclical and may be found here at Commentarius de Prognosticis
I can't wait to get my copy!

Blessings,
Linda

A Full and Lasting Joy

2009-07-07T10:55:00.002-04:00

By uniting themselves to the divine will, the saints have enjoyed
paradise by anticipation in this life. Accustoming themselves to
receive all things from the hands of God, says St. Dorotheus, the
men of old maintained continual serenity of soul. St. Mary Magdalene of
Pazzi derived such consolation at hearing the words “will of God,” that
she usually fell into an ecstasy of love. The instances of
jangling irritation that are bound to arise will not fail to make
surface impact on the senses. This however will be experienced only in
the inferior part of the soul; in the superior part will reign peace
and tranquility as long as our will remains united with God’s. Our
Lord assured his apostles: “Your joy no man shall take from you . . .
Your joy shall be full [John, 16:22 & 24] .” He who unites his will to God’s
experiences a full and lasting joy: full, because he has what he wants,
as was explained above; lasting, because no one can take his joy from
him, since no one can prevent what God wills from happening.

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-07T09:40:00.002-04:00

O Mary, Queen and Mother of Carmel, I come today to consecrate myself to you, for my whole life is but a small return for the many graces and blessings that have come from God to me through your hands. Since you regard with an eye of special kindness those who wear your Scapular I implore you to strengthen the darkness of my mind with your wisdom, to increase in me faith, hope and charity that I may render, day by day, my debt of humble homage to you.

May your Scapular keep your eyes of mercy turned towards me and bring me your special protection in the daily struggle to be faithful to your Divine Son and to you. May it separate me from all that is sinful in life and remind me constantly of my duty to behold you and clothe myself with your virtues. From henceforth I shall strive to live in the sweet companionship of your spirit, to offer all to Jesus through you and to make my life the mirror of your humility, charity, patience, meekness and prayerfulness.

O dearest Mother, support me, by your never-failing love that I, an unworthy sinner, may come one day to exchange your Scapular for the wedding Garment of heaven and dwell with you and the saints of Carmel in the kingdom of your Son. Amen

Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2009-07-07T05:53:00.003-04:00

Novena of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Starts Tuesday July 7th ends on July 16th the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

This is a link to my favorite Novena To Our Lady from the Carmelite Order
You can find it here:

Reflection: The Gospels begin by presenting Mary as a woman who embraces God's plan. In an attitude of prayer, she listens, meditates, consents and answers "yes" to God who calls her. In a word she is welcoming. It is this welcoming that gives birth to Life in her. "And the Word was made flesh."

Prayer: Holy Mary, welcoming woman, lead us to imitate you so that every day we may give birth to Jesus in the situations of life where we find ourselves.
Holy Mary, welcoming woman, teach us to meditate the Word of God like you, so that at every moment of our lives we may welcome it and allow ourselves to be guided by it.
Holy Mary, flower of Carmel, hear our pleading.

My commitment is to read a page of the Gospel and reflect on it to try and discover what God wishes of me in my daily life.

Flower of Carmel
Vine blossom-laden,
splendour of heaven,
Child-bearing yet maiden,
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,
whom no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
thy favours bestow,
Star of the sea.

The Essence of Perfection

2009-07-06T19:56:00.003-04:00

The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things,
prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to
unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite
themselves to God’s will when things go wrong and are painful to
self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of
God. St. John of Avila used to say:“One ‘Blessed be God’ in times of
adversity, is worth more than a thousand acts of gratitude in times of
prosperity [20] .”

Uniformity With God's Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Catholic Spiritual Direction: I am struggling with the violent content of psalms – can you provide me with insight on how you deal with this?

2009-07-06T09:07:00.001-04:00

This was a great post and wanted to share it with you!

Catholic Spiritual Direction: I am struggling with the violent content of psalms – can you provide me with insight on how you deal with this?

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

2009-07-06T08:49:00.003-04:00

Your bodies are the members of
Christ....and the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Man consists of soul and body; by baptism he
is made a member of that same mystical body, the Church,
of which Christ is the head:
In baptism both the soul and body are consecrated to God:

they are made the temple of the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as the
spirit and grace of God inhabits in men, who are sanctified.

Christ redeemed both our souls and bodies, both which he designs to
sanctify, and to glorify hereafter in heaven;
so that we must look upon both body and soul
as belonging to Christ, and not as our own. ---

Shall I, then, taking the members of
Christ, make them the members of an harlot,
by a shameful and unlawful commerce? ---
Fly fornication.

Such sins are chiefly to be avoided by flight, and by avoiding the
occasions and temptations. Other sins are not committed by such an injury done to the
body, but by an abuse of something else, that is different from the body, but by fornication
and sins of uncleanness, the body itself is defiled and dishonoured, whereas the body
ought to be considered as if it were not our own, being redeemed by our Saviour Christ,
consecrated to him, with an expectation of a happy resurrection, and of being glorified in
heaven. Endeavour, therefore, to glorify God in your body, by employing it in his service,
and bear him in your body by being obedient to his will. (Witham)

How God's Providence includes Everything: Part 16 "On Cleaving to God"

2009-07-06T06:55:00.002-04:00

How God's Providence includes everything
St. Albert of Jerusalem
Conclusion: "On Cleaving to God"

Certainly if we are to come directly, safely and nakedly to our Lord
God without hindrance, freely and peacefully, as explained above, and
be securely joined to him with even mind in prosperity or adversity,
whether in life or in death, then our job is to commit everything
unhesitatingly and resolutely, in general and individually, to his
unquestionable and infallible providence. This is hardly surprising
since it is he alone who gives to all things their being, their
capacity and their action - that is, their strength, operation, nature,
manner and order in number, weight and measure. Especially since just
as a work of art presupposes a prior operation of nature, in the same
way the operation of nature presupposes the work of God, creating,
sustaining, ordering and administering it, for to him alone belong
infinite power, wisdom, goodness and inherent mercy, justice, truth,
love, and unchanging timelessness and omnipresence.

So nothing can exist or act by its own power unless it acts in the power
of God himself, who is the prime mover and the first principle, who is the
cause of every action, and the actor in every agent. For so far as the
nature of the order of things is concerned, God provides for everything
without intermediary right down to the last detail. So nothing, from
the greatest to the smallest things, can escape God's eternal
providence, or fall away from it, whether in matters of the will, of
causal events, or even of accidental circumstances outside of one's
control. But God cannot do anything which does not fall under the order
of his own providence, just as he cannot do anything which is not
subject to its operation. Divine providence therefore extends to
everything, in general and in particular, even including a man's
thoughts. On which subject Scripture has this to say, Cast all your
worries upon him, for he takes care of you. (1 Peter 5.7) And again the
prophet says, Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will feed you.
(Psalm 55.22) And, Look at the nations of men, my son, and see that no
one ever put his trust in the Lord, and was disappointed. For who has
been faithful to his commandments and been abandoned? (Sirach 2.22) And
our Lord himself said, Do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat?
(Matthew 6.25) So whatever and however much we can hope from God, we
shall undoubtedly receive, as Deuteronomy says, Every place where you
feet tread shall be yours. (Deuteronomy 11.24) For a man shall receive
all that he is able to desire, and so far as he can reach with his foot
of faith, even so much shall he possess. That is why Bernard says,
"God, the maker of everything is so abounding in mercy that whatever
size grace cup of faith we are able to hold out to him, we shall
undoubtedly have it filled." And so Mark has it, All that you ask in
prayer believing that you will receive it, will be given you. (Mark
11.24)

So the stronger and the more vehement our faith in God is, and
the more reverently and persistently it is offered up to God, the more
surely, the more abundantly and the quicker what we hoped for will be
accomplished and obtained. Indeed if in doing this our faith in God is
weak and slow to rise to God on account of the multitude and magnitude
of our sins, we should remember this, that everything is possible with
God, and that what he wishes is bound to take place, while what he does
not wish cannot possibly happen, and that it is as easy for him to
forgive and cancel countless sins, however enormous, as to do it with a
single sin. While a sinner cannot, of himself, rise from innumerable
sins, and free and absolve himself from them, and not even from just
one sin. For we are unable not only to do, but even to think anything
good, of ourselves, but this is from God. Nonetheless it is much more
dangerous, other things being equal, to be ensnared in many sins than
in a single one, since no sin is left unpunished, and every mortal sin
deserves infinite punishment, and this by the rigour of justice since
any such sin is against God who is indeed worthy of infinite reverence,
dignity and honour. What is more, according to the Apostle Paul, God
knows his own (2 Timothy 2.19), and it is impossible for any of them to
perish by the whirlwinds and floods of any error, scandal, schism,
persecution, heresy, tribulation, adversity or temptation, for he has
foreseen from eternity and unchangeably the number of his elect and the
extent of their merits in such a way that everything good and bad, what
is theirs and not theirs, prosperity and adversity, all work together
for them for good, except indeed that they appear even more glorious
and commendable in adversity.

So let us commit everything with full assurance, in general
and in particular, confidently and unhesitatingly
to divine providence, by which God permits however much and whatever
sort of evil to happen to us. For it is good and will lead to good,
since he permits it to exist, and it would not exist unless he
permitted it to exist. Nor could it exist otherwise or more than he
permits it to, because he knows how to, has the power to, and wills to
change and convert it into something better. For just as it is by
operation of providence that all good things exist, so it is by its
permission that all bad things are changed into good. In this way in
fact God's power, wisdom and mercy are shown forth through Christ our
redeemer - his mercy and his justice, the power of grace and the
weakness of nature, the beauty of everything in the association of
opposites, the approval of the good, and the malice and punishment of
the wicked.

Similarly the contrition of the converted sinner, his
confession, and penitence, the kindness of God, piety, charity and his
praise and goodness (all show forth God's power and wisdom). Yet it
does not always lead to good in those who do ill, but, as is usually
the case, to great danger and extreme evil, in the loss, that is, of
grace and their place in glory, and in the incurring of guilt and
punishment, sometimes even eternal punishment, from which may Jesus
Christ defend us. Amen.

My Angel of Satan

2009-07-05T13:25:00.003-04:00

Today's Second Reading is so very close to my heart.
On July 9th 2000 I felt so broken inside. I was literally on the floor crying and asking the Lord what did I do to deserve all this suffering. I "thought" I was doing everything right. I was going to Church, confession, praying..... but still I was tormented by my ex-husband. When I heard interiorly (not with a voice or sound but inside of my spirit these words 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and then I heard because I love you). I pulled out my bible sitting on the kitchen counter and just started to cry. Now arguing with God saying to Him, "Because you love me? I suffer so much because you love me? Still feeling so broken yet also felt God's love within me all of a sudden I went to morning Mass across the street. I was so shocked and in awe that these same words the Lord just revealed to me at home were the same readings the church was saying and then more to come. The Priest whom was now saying the homily kept repeating these words and I sat there in my pew just crying and crying. He the Priest said, "Because I love you! Because we must endure our crosses in life because Jesus loves us. It was like the priest was just talking to me.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10

In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, ‘My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.’ So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.

I made an appointment with the priest that very morning. I had no doubt in my mind that God loved me. He revealed himself to me in all my misery. Even though I was wollowing in self pity that day, God had mercy on my brokenness. My thorn of Satan was my ex husband. He was not going to releave me of this burden, the insults, hardships, agonies. But he did give me the grace to carry on. I found peace within me again. Peace within that I had not had in a very long time. I had to forgive myself and my ex-husband. And the day I forgave him in my heart was the day he went away. So when we are weak Jesus is strong. When we cry out to God, he does hear us.
So this weekend I am not only celebrating the 4th of July but freedom of spirit. Freedom not to be held bound by what another has done to me. We must be set free and this can only be done with Jesus. God's grace is there for us, we just need to ask for it.

God bless you all this weekend,
Linda

When I Call for Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women

2009-07-05T08:52:00.002-04:00

When I Call for Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women

Tenth Anniversary Edition

A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops

"When I Call For Help" Presentation
Download "When I Call For Help" PowerPoint Presentation

Issued by USCCB, November 12, 2002
Copyright © 2002, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. All rights reserved.

This article is very long and for those suffering abuse or know someone suffering abuse learn here what the Catholic Church teaches on Abuse. I have a friend suffering such abuse and at times I just don't know what to tell her. So here you may find the words to bring help to your loved one suffering abuse.

Click this link for what to do to help those Living With Domestic Violence

Touch of Our Savior's Hand

2009-07-04T21:38:00.004-04:00

What was your God moment this week? Karinann has a beautiful blog and she asked us this question this week. When have we experienced Our Savior's Touch? Well I already tried to post a reply to this and my computer shut off completely. Must be a good one since the evil one is at work in trying to stop me..... but as I try again to continue this I was thinking of those moments like the woman at the well that we asked Jesus to give us this "life giving water"? I think that the most water is given to us when we thirst for other souls. At those moments when I feel this immense love within me that I know I am so undeserving of, this love is meant for me to give to others. That is what I do, at each moment when I feel this loving thirst for others, one of my children or a neighbor who is suffering I send to them in my prayers this love, this thirst for their salvation. I feel I can never repay Our Lord for all the suffering he has endured for us, and so much mercy he has given to me in my life, that this same love is given to each of us. All we have to do is ask for it, like the woman at the well. Well before my post disappears I am going to post this as it is.

God bless you and may we all experience Jesus' Touch in our lives.
Linda

Mary and Elijah: Presence, Inspiration and Guide

2009-07-04T20:48:00.002-04:00

From the Rule of Life for Lay Carmelites

Mary and Elijah: Presence, Inspiration and Guide

34. Like Mary, first among the humble and the poor of the Lord, lay Carmelites discover that they are called to sing of the wonders that the Lord has performed in their lives. With her, the image and first flowering of the Church, they learn to measure the often tortuous ups and downs of daily life against the Word of God. They learn from her to welcome the Word, to be open to it and to embrace it fully. Mary, in whom the Word was made flesh, inspires lay Carmelites to be faithful to their mission, to actions which are animated by charity and by a spirit of service and to practical co-operation in the work of salvation. Together with Mary, they travel along the paths of history, alert to authentic human needs, ready always to share with the Lord the sacrifice of the Cross and to experience with him the peace of new life. Mary is a singular and eminent member of the Church. In her own way she has shared increasingly in the unique mediation between God and humanity, made real in Jesus Christ, and which today the Church carries and mediates in history. Lay Carmelites let themselves be accompanied by Mary in gradually taking on responsibility for co-operation in salvation and for the communication of grace given in the Church. In Carmel, this was traditionally seen in terms of the motherly love of Mary for Carmel. Carmelites are aware of being loved by such a great and tender mother and cannot but love her in return.Hence comes the idea of losing oneself in God, in the maternal warmth of the Blessed Virgin.

35. Lay Carmelites also share the zeal of the prophet Elijah for the Lord and his law. They are ready to defend the rights of those who are downtrodden. They learn from the prophet to leave everything to go into the desert in order to be purified, made ready for their meeting with the Lord and to welcome his word. They feel impelled, like the prophet, to support true religion against false idols. Together with Elijah, lay Carmelites learn to feel the presence of the Lord which comes to humanity with strength and gentleness. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Strengthened by this transforming and life-giving experience, lay Carmelites are able to face the realities of the world, confident that God holds the destiny of each one and the whole of history itself.

The Rule of life

Third Order Carmelites

2009-07-04T20:36:00.000-04:00

The Third Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel is an association of lay people who, in response to a call from God promise to live the Gospel in the spirit of the Carmelite Order and under its guidance.

As well as lay people, diocesan priests, who find in the Carmelite charism help for their spiritual lives and their mission in the Church and the world, may be members of the Carmelite Third Order.

The Third Order member is connected to the Carmelite Order by means of the promise which he or she makes. It is possible, following a very ancient custom, to make private vows of chastity and obedience according to one's state in life in order to be consecrated more closely to God.

Lay Carmelites, filled with the spirit of the Order, seek to live their own vocation by silently listening to the Word of God (Lectio Divina). According to the constant tradition of Carmel, they will especially cultivate prayer in all its forms.

More information about Third Order Carmelites Here

On Cleaving to God: Part 15 of 16

2009-07-04T11:54:00.002-04:00

We are almost through with this little Treaty from St. Albert of Jerusalem

How contempt of himself can be produced in a man, and how useful it is

Furthermore the more a man recognises his own insignificance, the more
he fully and the more clearly he becomes aware to the divine majesty,
and the more a man is low in his own eyes for the sake of God, the
truth and justice, the more precious he is in the eyes of God. For this
reason let us strive with the whole strength of our desire to consider
ourselves the lowest of all and to consider ourselves unworthy of any
favor.

We should strive to be displeasing to ourselves and pleasing
only to God, while regarded as low and unworthy of consideration by
others. Above all not to be moved by difficulties, afflictions and
insults, and not to be upset by those who inflict such things on us, or
entertain evil thoughts against them or be indignant, but to believe
steadfastly and with equanimity in all insults, slights, blows and
dereliction that it is only appropriate. For in truth he who is really
penitent and grieving before God hates to be honoured and loved by all,
and does not try to manipulate things so as to avoid being to some
degree hated, neglected and despised right to the end, so that he can
be truly humbled and sincerely cleave to God alone with a pure heart.

Indeed, for loving God alone and hating oneself more than anything, and
desiring to be despised by others we do not require external work or
physical strength, but rather physical solitude, the labour of the
heart, and peace of mind so that, as it were, by labour of the heart
and the disposition of the inmost mind, one may rise up, casting off
from oneself lower and physical things, and so soar up, ascending to
things heavenly and divine. For indeed in so doing we are changed into
God, and this will especially take place when without judgement,
condemnation or contempt of our neighbour, we choose rather to be
considered as scum and a disgrace by everyone and to be despised as
unclean filth by everyone than to experience all sorts of different
delicacies or to be honoured and exalted by men, or enjoy all sorts of
transitory physical forms of well-being and comfort.

We should not desire any pleasure of this present, mortal and physical
life but rather to mourn, bewail and lament our offenses, faults and sins
without ceasing, and to perfectly despise and annihilate ourselves, and
from day to day to be considered more and more abject by others, while
in all our insignificance we become worthless even in our own eyes, so
that we can be pleasing to God alone, love him alone, and cleave to him
alone. We should not wish to be concerned about anything except the
Lord Jesus Christ himself who alone should reside in our affections,
and we should not be concerned or anxious about anything except him on
whose dominion and providence everything in general and individually
depends. So from now on it should not be your aim to seek enjoyment but
to truly mourn with all your heart.

For that reason, if you do not mourn, mourn for that, while
if you do mourn, mourn especially that you have brought the
cause of your pain on yourself by your own great
offences and infinite sins. For just as a condemned man on receiving
his sentence does not concern himself about the seating of the
spectators, so he who laments and is genuinely mourning is not
interested in pleasures, resentment, fame or wrongs or things of that
sort. And just as townsfolk and contemned criminals have different
accommodation, the state and position of those who are mourning and
have committed offences deserving punishment ought to be completely
different from those who are innocent and under no obligation.
Otherwise there would be no difference between the guilty and the
innocent in matters of punishment and reward. The result would be great
dereliction of duty, and evil behaviour would have more freedom than
goodness.

So everything must be renounced, everything despised,
everything rejected and avoided, so that we can lay a firm foundation
of penitent grieving. Then, loving Jesus Christ in reality, yearning
for him, and holding him in one's heart, in reality experiencing pain
for one's sins and faults, in reality seeking to know the coming
Kingdom, while with true faith bearing in mind the reality of the
torments and eternal judgement, and firmly and fully taking up the
recollection and fear of one's own death, we should be aware of nothing
else, and not care or be worried about anything else. For that reason,
he who hurries towards the blessed state of impassibility and towards
God should reckon himself to have experienced great loss every day that
he is not insulted and despised. Impassibility after all is freedom
from vices and passions and purity of heart and the adornment of all
virtues.

So consider yourself as already dead since there is no doubt
that you have got to die. And as a final thought let this be the test
for you of whether any thought, word or action of yours is of God,
whether you are made more humble because of it, more inward and more
recollected and established in God. If you find it is otherwise in
yourself, you should be suspicious about it, whether it be not
according to God, unacceptable to you and not to your benefit.

More from The Doctors of the Church:

On Cleaving to God: Part 14 of 16

2009-07-03T06:53:00.003-04:00

That we should seek the verdict of our conscience in every decision

While we should strive for spiritual perfection of mind, purity and
peace in God, it will be found to be not a little beneficial to this
that we should return quietly into the inner secret place of the mind
in the face of everything said, thought or done to us. There, withdrawn
from everything else and completely recollected within ourselves, we
can place ourselves in the knowledge of the truth before us and
undoubtedly discover and understand that it does us absolutely no good,
and rather the contrary, when we are praised or honoured by others
while we recognise by the knowledge of the truth about ourselves within
that we are blameworthy and guilty. And just as nothing is any help if
externally people praise someone if his conscience internally accuses
him, in the same way on the contrary it does a man no harm to be
despised, maligned and persecuted when he remains internally just as
innocent, blameless and without fault. On the contrary he has all the
more good reason to rejoice in the Lord with patience, in peace and
silence. After all no adversity can do any harm where evil is not in
control, and just as no evil goes unpunished, so no good goes
unrewarded. Nor should we wish a reward with hypocrites or expect and
receive profit from men, but from the Lord God alone, not in the
present, but in the future, and not in fleeting time, but in eternity.
It is clear therefore that nothing is greater, and nothing better than
to enter into the inner secret place of the mind always and in every
tribulation and occurrence, and there to call upon the Lord Jesus
Christ himself, our helper in temptations and tribulations, and to
humble ourselves there by confession of sin, and praise God and Father
himself, the giver of correction and the giver of consolation.

Above all one should accept everything, in general and individually, in
oneself or in others, agreeable or disagreeable, with a prompt and
confident spirit, as coming from the hand of his infallible Providence
or the order he has arranged. This attitude will lead to the
forgiveness of our sins, the deliverance from bitterness, the enjoyment
of joy and security, the outpouring of grace and mercy, introduction
and establishment into a close relationship with God, abundant
enjoyment of his presence, and firm cleaving and union with him.

But let us not copy those who from hypocrisy and Pharisaism want to appear
better and different from what they are, and to make a better
impression and appearance before men of being something special, than
they know in truth inside to be so. For it is absolute madness to seek,
hunger for and aspire to human praise or renown, from oneself or
others, when one is in spite of it all inwardly full of cravings and
serious faults. And certainly the good things we have talked about
above will flee him who chases such vanities, and he will merely bring
disgrace on himself.

So always keep your faults and your own incapacity
before your eyes, and know yourself, so that you can be humbled and not
try to avoid being held as the lowest, vilest and most abject scum by
everyone when you are aware of the grave sins and serious faults in
yourself. For which reason consider yourself compared to others as
dross to gold, weeds to the wheat, chaff to the grain, a wolf to the
sheep, Satan to the children of God. And do not seek to be respected by
others and given precedence before others, but rather flee with all
your heart and soul the poison of this disease, the venom of praise,
the concern for boasting and vanity, lest, as the prophet says, The
wicked is praised in his own heart's desires, (Psalm 10.4) and Isaiah,
They who speak good of you, deceive you and destroy the way of your
feet, (Isaiah 3.12) and the Lord in Luke, Woe to you when men speak
well of you! (Luke 6.26).

You will find this lovely book from St. Albert of Jerusalem Here

Cleaving To God: Part 13 of 16

2009-07-02T06:32:00.002-04:00

The nature and value of prayer, and how the heart should be recollected
within itself

Besides this, since we are incapable of ourselves for this and for any
other good action whatsoever, and since we can of ourselves offer
nothing to the Lord God (from whom all good things come) which is not
his already, with this one exception, as he has deigned to show us both
by his own blessed mouth as well as by his example, that we should turn
to him in all circumstances and occasions as guilty, wretched, poor,
beggarly, weak, helpless, subject servants and sons. And that we should
beseech him and lay before him with complete confidence the dangers
that are besetting us on all sides, completely grief-stricken in
ourselves, in humble prostration of mind, in fear and love, and with
recollected, composed, mature, true and naked, shamefaced affection,
with great yearning and determination, and in groaning of heart and
sincerity of mind. Thus we commit and offer ourselves up to him freely,
securely and nakedly, fully and in everything that is ours, holding
nothing back to ourselves, in such a complete and final way, that the
same is fulfilled in us as in our blessed father Isaac, who speaks of
this very type of prayer, saying, Then we shall be one in God, and the
Lord God will be all in all and alone in us when his own perfect love,
with which he first loved us, will have become the disposition of our
own hearts too. This will come about when all our love, all our desire,
all our concern, all our efforts, in fact everything we think,
everything we see, speak and even hope will be God, and that unity
which now is of the Father with the Son, and of the Son with the
Father, will be poured into our own heart and mind as well, in such a
way that just as he loves us with sincere and indissoluble love we too
will be joined to him with eternal and inseparable affection. In other
words we shall be united with him in such a way that whatever we hope,
and whatever we say or pray will be God. This therefore should be the
aim, this the concern and goal of a spiritual man - to be worthy to
possess the image of future bliss in this corruptible body, and in a
certain measure experience in advance how the foretaste of that
heavenly bliss, eternal life and glory begins in this world. This, as I
say, is the goal of all perfection, that his purified mind should be
daily raised up from all bodily objects to spiritual things until all
his mental activity and all his heart's desire become one unbroken
prayer. So the mind must abandon the dregs of earth and press on
towards to God, on whom alone should be fixed the desire of a spiritual
man, for whom the least separation from that summum bonum is to be
considered a living death and dreadful loss. Then, when the requisite
peace has been established in his mind, when it is free from attachment
to any carnal passion, and clings firmly in intention to that one
supreme good, the Apostle's sayings are fulfilled, Pray without
ceasing, (1 Thessalonians 5.17) and, Pray in every place lifting up
pure hands without anger or dispute. (1 Timothy 2.8) For when the power
of the mind is absorbed in this purity, so to speak, and is transformed
from an earthly nature into the spiritual or angelic likeness, whatever
it receives into itself, whatever it is occupied with, whatever it is
doing, it will be pure and sincere prayer. In this way, if you continue
all the time in the way we have described from the beginning, it will
become as easy and clear for you to remain in contemplation in your
inward and recollected state, as to live in the natural state.

Saint Albert of Jerusalem: For more on Reading on Cleaving to God
or other Doctors of the Church Click Here

Crying, Abba, Father!

2009-07-01T19:51:00.002-04:00

In What Sense the Holy Spirit Solicits for Us, Crying, Abba, Father.

And this especially since “we know not what to pray for as we ought,” says the apostle, “but the Spirit Himself make's intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered; and He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to God.”( Rom. iii. 26.)

What is “the Spirit Himself maketh intercession,” but, “causes to make intercession,” “with groanings that cannot be uttered,” but “truthful,” since the Spirit is truth? For He it is of whom the apostle says in another place, “God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, “crying, Abba, Father!” (Gal. iv. 6. )And here what is the meaning of “crying,” but “making to cry,” by that figure of speech whereby we call a day that makes people glad, a glad day? And this he makes plain elsewhere when he says, “For you have not received the Spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the Spirit of the adoption of sons, in whom we cry, Abba, Father.” (Rom. viii. 15.) He there said, “crying,” but here, “in whom we cry;” opening up, that is to say, the meaning with which he said “crying,”—that is, as I have already explained, “causing to cry,” when we understand that this is also itself the gift of God, that with a true heart and spiritually we cry to God.

Let them, therefore, observe how they are mistaken who think that our seeking, asking, knocking is of ourselves, and is not given to us; and say that this is the case because grace is preceded by our merits; that it follows them when we ask and receive, and seek and find, and it is opened to us when we knock. And they will not understand that this is also of the divine gift, that we pray; that is, that we ask, seek, and knock. For we have received the spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry, Abba, Father. And this the blessed Ambrose also said. (Ambrose, Commentary on Isaiah.) For he says, “To pray to God also is the work of spiritual grace, as it is written, No one says, Jesus is the Lord, but in the Holy Spirit.”

Saint Augustine

How Powerful the love of God Is

2009-07-01T10:02:00.001-04:00

How powerful the love of God is

All that is said above and whatever is necessary for salvation cannot
be better, more immediately and more securely achieved than by love,
through which whatever is lacking of what is necessary for salvation
can be made good. In love we possess the fullness of all good and the
realisation of our highest longing is not denied us. After all it is
love alone by which we turn back to God, are changed into God, cleave
to God, and are united to God in such a way that we become one spirit
with him, and are by him and through him made blessed here by grace and
hereafter in glory.

Now love is such that it cannot rest except in the
beloved, but it does when it wins the beloved in full and peaceful
possession. For love, which itself is charity, is the way of God to men
and the way of man to God. God cannot house where there is no love. So
if we have love, we have God, for God is love. Furthermore nothing is
sharper than love, nothing is more subtle, nothing more penetrating. It
will not rest until it has by its very nature penetrated the whole
power, the depth and the totality of the loved one. It wants to make
itself one with the beloved, and itself, if it were possible, to be
what the beloved is too. Thus it cannot bear that anything should stand
between itself and the beloved object, which is God, but presses
eagerly towards him. As a result it never rests until it has left
everything else behind and come to him alone.

For the nature of love is
of a unitive and transforming power which transforms the lover into
what he loves, or alternatively, makes the lover one with the other,
and vice versa, in so far as is possible. This is manifest in the first
place with regard to the mental powers, depending on how much the
beloved is in the lover, in other words depending on how sweetly and
delightfully the beloved is recalled in the mind of the lover, and in
direct proportion, that is, with how much the lover strives to grasp
all the things that relate to the beloved not just superficially but
intimately, and to enter, as it were, into his innermost secrets. It is
also manifest with regard to the emotional and affective powers when
the beloved is said to be in the lover, in other words when the desire
to please the beloved is found in the will and established within by
the happy enjoyment of him. Alternatively, the lover is in the beloved
when he is united with him by all his desire and compliance in
agreement with the beloved's willing and not willing, and finds his own
pleasure and pain in that of the beloved. For love draws the lover out
of himself (since love is strong as death), and establishes him in the
beloved, causing him to cleave closely to him. For the soul is more
where it loves than where it lives, since it is in what it loves in
accordance with its very nature, understanding and will, while it is in
where it lives only with regard to form, which is even true for animals
as well.

There is nothing therefore which draws us away from the
exterior senses to within ourselves, and from there to Jesus Christ and
things divine, more than the love of Christ and the desire for the
sweetness of Christ, for the experience, awareness and enjoyment of the
presence of Christ's divinity. For there is nothing but the power of
love which can lead the soul from the things of earth to the lofty
summit of heaven. Nor can anyone attain the supreme beatitude unless
summoned to it by love and yearning. Love after all is the life of the
soul, the wedding garment and the soul's perfection, containing all the
law and the prophets and our Lord's teaching. That is why Paul says to
the Romans, Love is the fulfilling of the law, (Rom. 13.8) and in the
first letter to Timothy, The end of the commandment is love. (1 Timothy
1.5)
Visit my website on more of Saint Albert of Jerusalem and other
doctors of the Church.

Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come

2009-07-01T09:57:00.000-04:00

CHAPTER 30
Describes the importance of understanding what we ask for in prayer. Treats of
these words in the Paternoster: "Sanctificetur nomen tuum, adveniat regnum
tuum." [105] Applies them to the Prayer of Quiet, and begins the explanation of
them.

We must now come to consider the next petition in our good Master's
prayer, in which He begins to entreat His holy Father on our behalf,
and see what it is that He entreats, as it is well that we should know
this.

What person, however careless, who had to address someone of
importance, would not spend time in thinking how to approach him so as
to please him and not be considered tedious? He would also think what
he was going to ask for and what use he would make of it, especially if
his petition were for some particular thing, as our good Jesus tells us
our petitions must be. This point seems to me very important. Couldst
Thou not, my Lord, have ended this prayer in a single sentence, by
saying: "Give us, Father, whatever is good for us"? For, in addressing
One Who knows everything, there would seem to be no need to say any
more.

This would have sufficed, O Eternal Wisdom, as between Thee and Thy
Father. It was thus that Thou didst address Him in the Garden, telling
Him of Thy will and Thy fear, but leaving Thyself in His hands. But
Thou knowest us, my Lord, and Thou knowest that we are not as resigned
as wert Thou to the will of Thy Father; we needed, therefore, to be
taught to ask for particular things so that we should stop for a moment
to think if what we ask of Thee is good for us, and if it is not,
should not ask for it. For, being what we are and having our free will,
if we do not receive what we ask for, we shall not accept what the Lord
gives us. The gift might be the best one possible--but we never think
we are rich unless we actually see money in our hands.

Oh, God help me! What is it that sends our faith to sleep, so that we
cannot realize how certain we are, on the one hand, to be punished,
and, on the other, to be rewarded? It is for this reason, daughters,
that it is good for you to know what you are asking for in the
Paternoster, so that, if the Eternal Father gives it you, you shall not
cast it back in His face. You must think carefully if what you are
about to ask for will be good for you; if it will not, do not ask for
it, but ask His Majesty to give you light. For we are blind and often
we have such a loathing for life-giving food that we cannot eat it but
prefer what will cause us death--and what a death: so terrible and
eternal!

Now the good Jesus bids us say these words, in which we pray that this
Kingdom may come in us: "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come in us."
Consider now, daughters, how great is our Master's wisdom. I am
thinking here of what we are asking in praying for this kingdom, and it
is well that we should realize this. His Majesty, knowing of how little
we are capable, saw that, unless He provided for us by giving us His
Kingdom here on earth, we could neither hallow nor praise nor magnify
nor glorify nor exalt this holy name of the Eternal Father in a way
befitting it. The good Jesus, therefore, places these two petitions
next to each other. Let us understand this thing that we are asking
for, daughters, and how important it is that we should pray for it
without ceasing and do all we can to please Him Who will give it us: it
is for that reason that I want to tell you what I know about the matter
now. If you do not like the subject, think out some other meditations
for yourselves, for our Master will allow us to do this, provided we
submit in all things to the teaching of the [Holy Roman] Church, as I
do here. In any case I shall not give you this book to read until
persons who understand these matters have seen it: so, if there is
anything wrong with it, the reason will be, not wickedness, but my
imperfect knowledge.

To me, then, it seems that, of the many joys to be found in the kingdom
of Heaven, the chief is that we shall have no more to do with the
things of earth; for in Heaven we shall have an intrinsic tranquillity
and glory, a joy in the rejoicings of all, a perpetual peace, and a
great interior satisfaction which will come to us when we see that all
are hallowing and praising the Lord, and are blessing His name, and
that none is offending Him. For all love Him there and the soul's one
concern is loving Him, nor can it cease from loving Him because it
knows Him. And this is how we should love Him on earth, though we
cannot do so with the same perfection nor yet all the time; still, if
we knew Him, we should love Him very differently from the way we do
now.

It looks as though I were going to say that we must be angels to make
this petition and to say our vocal prayers well. This would indeed be
our Divine Master's wish, since He bids us make so sublime a petition.
You may be quite sure that He never tells us to ask for
impossibilities, so it must be possible, with God's help, for a soul
living in that state of exile to reach such a point, though not as
perfectly as those who have been freed from this prison, for we are
making a sea-voyage and are still on the journey. But there are times
when we are wearied with travelling and the Lord grants our faculties
tranquillity and our soul quiet, and while they are in that state He
gives us a clear understanding of the nature of the gifts He bestows
upon those whom He brings to His Kingdom. Those to whom, while they are
still on earth, He grants what we are asking Him for receive pledges
which will give them a great hope of eventually attaining to a
perpetual enjoyment of what on earth He only allows them to taste.

If it were not that you would tell me I am treating of contemplation,
it would be appropriate, in writing of this petition, to say a little
about the beginning of pure contemplation, which those who experience
it call the Prayer of Quiet; but, as I have said, I am discussing vocal
prayer here, and anyone ignorant of the subject might think that the
two had nothing to do with one another, though I know this is certainly
not true. Forgive my wanting to speak of it, for I know there are many
people who practise vocal prayer in the manner already described and
are raised by God to the higher kind of contemplation without having
had any hand in this themselves or even knowing how it has happened.
For this reason, daughters, I attach great importance to your saying
your vocal prayers well. I know a nun who could never practise anything
but vocal prayer but who kept to this and found she had everything
else; yet if she omitted saying her prayers her mind wandered so much
that she could not endure it. May we all practise such mental prayer as
that. She would say a number of Paternosters, corresponding to the
number of times Our Lord shed His blood, and on nothing more than these
and a few other prayers she would spend two or three hours. She came to
me once in great distress, saying that she did not know how to practise
mental prayer, and that she could not contemplate but could only say
vocal prayers. She was quite an old woman and had lived an extremely
good and religious life. I asked her what prayers she said, and from
her reply I saw that, though keeping to the Paternoster, she was
experiencing pure contemplation, and the Lord was raising her to be
with Him in union. She spent her life so well, too, that her actions
made it clear she was receiving great favours. So I praised the Lord
and envied her her vocal prayer. If this story is true--and it is--none
of you who have had a bad opinion of contemplatives can suppose that
you will be free from the risk of becoming like them if you say your
vocal prayers as they should be said and keep a pure conscience. I
shall have to say still more about this. Anyone not wishing to hear it
may pass it over.
__________________________________________________________________

[105] "Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come."

Visit my website for more on Saint Teresa of Avila "The Way of Perfection"

Offer God a Good Will!

2009-06-30T13:50:00.002-04:00

Saint Albert today is saying to me to offer God my good will. St. Albert tells us
that there is nothing more valuable than to offer up our will to do good. Resisting
temptations and although we may fail at times to offer up our good intentions
to do what is pleasing to Him.....

Indeed we can offer God nothing more valuable than a good will, since a
good will in the soul is the source of all good things, and the mother
of all virtues. If any one is beginning to possess that good will, he
undoubtedly has what is necessary for leading a good life.

God bless,
Linda

On Cleaving to God: Part 11 of 16

2009-06-30T13:31:00.001-04:00

How one should resist temptations and bear trials

Now there is no one who approaches God with a true and upright heart
who is not tested by hardships and temptations. So in all these
temptations see to it that even if you feel them, you do not consent to
them, but bear them patiently and calmly with humility and long
suffering. Even if they are blasphemies and sordid, hold firmly on to
this fact in everything, that you can do nothing better or more
effective against them than to consider all this sort of fantasy as a
nothing. Even if they are the most vile, sordid and horrible
blasphemies, simply take no notice of them, count them as nothing and
despise them. Don't look on them as yours or allow yourself to make
them a matter of conscience. The enemy will certainly take flight if
you treat him and his company with contempt in this way. He is very
proud and cannot bear to be despised and spurned. So the best remedy is
to completely ignore all such temptations, like flies flying around in
front of your eyes against your will. The servant of Jesus Christ must
see to it that he is not so easily forced to withdraw from the face of
the Lord and to be annoyed, murmur and complain over the nuisance of a
single fly, that is, a trivial temptation, suspicion, sadness,
distraction, need or any such adversity, when they can all be put to
flight with no more than the hand of a good will directed up to God.
After all, through a good will a man has God as his defender, and the
holy angels as his guardians and protectors. What is more, any
temptation can be overcome by a good will too, like a fly driven away
from a bald head by one's hand. So peace is for men of good will.
Indeed we can offer God nothing more valuable than a good will, since a
good will in the soul is the source of all good things, and the mother
of all virtues. If any one is beginning to possess that good will, he
undoubtedly has what is necessary for leading a good life. For if you
want what is good, but cannot do it, God will make good the deed. For
it is in accordance with this eternal law that God has established with
irrevocable firmness that deserts should be a matter of the will,
whether in bliss or torment, reward or punishment. Love itself is a
great will to serve God, a sweet desire to please God, and a fervent
wish to experience God. What is more, to be tempted is not a sin, but
the opportunity for exercising virtue, so that temptation can be
greatly to a man's benefit, since it is held that the whole of a man's
life on earth is a testing. (Job 7.1)

Link here to read more of this little book from St. Albert of Jerusalem

Message From A Mom To Her Child

2009-06-29T17:56:00.004-04:00

Message From A Mom To Her Child

I gave you life, but cannot live it for you.
I can give you directions, but I cannot be there to lead you.
I can take you to Church, but I cannot make you believe.
I can buy you beautiful clothes, but I cannot make you beautiful inside.
I can give you love, but I cannot force it upon you.
I can teach you to share, but I cannot make you unselfish.
I can teach you respect, but I cannot force you to show honor.
I can advise you about friends, but cannot choose them for you.
I can advise you about sex, but I cannot keep you pure.
I can tell you about alcohol and drugs, but I cannot say "no" for you.
I can tell you about loft goals, but I cannot achieve them for you.
I can teach you about kindness, but I cannot force you to be gracious.
I can pray for you, but I cannot make you walk with God.
I can tell you how to live, but I cannot give you eternal life.
I can love you with unconditional love all of my life... and I will.

Author Unknown

Cleaving To God: Part 10 of 16

2009-06-29T17:51:00.001-04:00

That one should not be concerned about feeling tangible devotion so much as
about cleaving to God with one's will

Furthermore you should not be much concerned about tangible devotion,
the experience of sweetness or tears, but rather that you should be
mentally united with God within yourself by a good will in your
intellect. For what pleases God above everything is a mind free from
imaginations, that is images, ideas and the representations of created
things. It befits a monk to be indifferent to everything created so
that he can turn easily and barely to God alone within himself, be
empty for him and cleave to him. For this reason deny yourself so that
you can follow Christ, the Lord your God, in nakedness, who was himself
poor, obedient, chaste, humble and suffering, and in whose life and
death many were scandalised, as is clear from the Gospel accounts.
After all, a soul which is separated from the body pays no attention to
what is done to its abandoned body - whether it is burned, hanged, or
reviled, and is in no way saddened by the afflictions imposed on the
body, but thinks only of the Now of eternity and the One Thing which
the Lord calls necessary in the Gospel. So you too should treat your
body as if you were no longer in the body, but think always of the
eternity of your soul in God, and direct your thoughts carefully to
that One Thing of which Christ said, For one thing is necessary. (Luke
10.42) You will experience because of it great grace, helping you
towards the acquisition of nakedness of mind and simplicity of heart.
Indeed this One Thing is very much present with you if you have made
yourself bare of imaginations and all other entanglements, and you will
soon experience that this is so - namely when you can be empty and
cleave to God with a naked and resolute mind. In this way you will
remain unconquered in whatever may be inflicted on you, like the holy
martyrs, fathers, the elect, and indeed all the saints who despised
everything and only thought of their souls' security and eternity in
God. Armed in this way within, and united to God through a good will,
they spurned everything of the world as if their souls were already
separated from their bodies. Consider from this how much a good will
united with God is capable of, when by means of its pressing towards
God the soul is effectively separated from the body in spirit and looks
on its outward man as it were from a distance, and as not belonging to
it. In this way it despises everything that is inflicted on itself or
on its flesh as if they were happening to someone else, or not to a
human being at all. For He that is united with the Lord is one Spirit,
(1 Corinthians 6.17) that is with him. So you should never dare to
think or imagine anything before the Lord your God that you would blush
to be heard or seen in before men, since your respect for God should be
even greater than for them. It is a matter of justice in fact that all
your thoughts and thinking should be raised to God alone, and the
highest point of your mind should only be directed to him as if nothing
existed but him, and holding to him may enjoy the perfect beginning of
the life to come.

Wanting of the Sufferings of Christ

2009-06-28T14:08:00.002-04:00

Colossians 1:24.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:

Ver. 24. And fill up those things....in my flesh for his body, which is the church.[5]
Nothing was wanting in the sufferings or merits of Christ, for a sufficient and
superabundant redemption of mankind, and therefore he adds, for his body, which is the
church, that his sufferings were wanting, and are to be endured by the example of Christ
by the faithful, who are members of a crucified head. See St. John Chrysostom and St.
Augustine. (Witham) --- Wanting. There is no want in the sufferings of Christ himself as
head; but many sufferings are still wanting, or are still to come in his body, the Church,
and his members, the faithful. (Challoner) --- St. John Chrysostom here observes that
Jesus Christ loves us so much, that he is not content merely to suffer in his own person,
but he wishes also to suffer in his members; and thus we fill up what is wanting of the sufferings of Christ. (St. John Chrysostom) --- The wisdom, the will, the justice of Jesus
Christ, requires and ordains that his body and members should be companions of
his sufferings, as they expect to be companions of his glory; that so suffering with him,
and after his example, they may apply to their own wants and to the necessities of others
the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, which application is what is wanting, and
what we are permitted to supply by the sacraments and sacrifice of the new law.

Contemplation of God is to be preferred

2009-06-28T13:38:00.003-04:00

On Cleaving to God
Part 9
Saint Albert of Jerusalem
How much the contemplation of God is to be preferred to all other exercises

Now since all things other than God are the effect and work of the Creator himself, their having ability and being is a limited power and existence, and being as they are created out of nothing, they are circumscribed by the effects of their nothingness, while their tendency of themselves towards nothingness means that we receive our existence,
preservation and activity moment by moment from the Creator himself, along with whatever other qualities created things may have, just as we receive their insufficiency to any action of themselves, both with regard to themselves and to others, in relation to him whose operation they are, they remain as a nothing before something which exists, and as something finite before what is infinite. For this reason let all our actual contemplation, life and activity take place in him alone, about him, for him and towards him who is able and capable to produce with a single nod of his will things infinitely more perfect than any that exist now. No contemplation and fruition of love, whether
intellectual or affective, is more useful, more perfect and more satisfying than that which is of God himself, the Creator, our supreme and true Good, from whom, through whom and to whom are all things. He is infinitely satisfying both to himself and to all others, who contains within himself in absolute simplicity and from all eternity
the perfection of all things, in whom there is nothing which is not himself, before whom and through whom remain the causes of all things impermanent, and in whom dwell the unchanging origins of all changing things, while even the eternal reasons of all temporal things, rational and irrational, abide in him. He brings everything to completion, and fills all things, in general and in particular, completely and essentially with himself. He is more intimately and more really present to everything by his being than each thing is to itself, for in him all things are united together, and live in him eternally. What is more, if someone, out of weakness or from lack of intellectual practice, is
detained longer in the contemplation of created things, this supreme, true and fruitful contemplation may still be seen as possible for mortal man, so that there may take place an upward leap in all his contemplations and meditations, whether about created things or the Creator, and the appreciation of God the Creator himself, the One and Three, may surge up within so that he come to burn with the fire of divine love and the true life in himself and in others, in such a way as to make him deserving of the joy of eternal life. Even in this one should bear in mind the difference between the contemplation of faithful Catholics and that of pagan philosophers, for the contemplation of the philosophers is for the perfection of the contemplator himself, and consequently it is confined to the intellect
and their aim in it is intellectual knowledge. But the contemplation of the Saints, and of Catholics, is for the love of him, that is of the God they are contemplating. As a result it is not confined in the final analysis to the intellect in knowledge, but crosses over into the will through love. That is why the Saints in their contemplation have the
love of God as their principal aim, since it is more satisfying to know and possess even the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually through grace than physically or even really but without grace. Furthermore, while the
soul is withdrawn from everything and is turned within, the eye of contemplation is opened and sets itself up a ladder by which it can pass to the contemplation of God. By this contemplation the soul is set on fire for eternal things by the heavenly and divine good things it experiences, and views all the things of time from a distance and as if they were nothing. Hence when we approach God by the way of negation, we first deny him everything that can be experienced by the body, the senses and the imagination, secondly even things experience able by the intellect, and finally even being itself in so far as it is found in created things. This, so far as the nature of the way is concerned, is the best means of union with God, according to Dionysius. And this is the cloud in which God is said to dwell, which Moses entered, and through this came to the inaccessible light. Certainly, it is not the spiritual which comes first, but the natural, (1 Corinthians 15.46) so one must proceed by the usual order of things, from active work to the quiet of contemplation, and from moral virtues to spiritual and contemplative realities. Finally, my soul, why are you uselessly
preoccupied with so many things, and always busy with them? Seek out and love the one supreme good, in which is all that is worth seeking, and that will be enough for you. Unhappy therefore is he who knows and possesses everything other than this, and does not know this. While if he knows everything as well as this, it is not from knowing them that he is better off but because of This. That is why John says, This is eternal life, to know Thee, etc. (John 17.3) and the prophet says, I will be satisfied when your glory becomes manifest. (Psalm 17.15)

Website Link on Saint Albert of Jerusalem

Commentary on The Cleansing of the Leper

2009-06-26T11:01:00.002-04:00

8:2. And behold a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

8:3. And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him,
saying: I will, be thou made clean. And forthwith his
leprosy was cleansed.

8:4. And Jesus saith to him: See thou tell no man: but go,
shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses
commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Ver. 2. As the three evangelists relate the cure of the leper in nearly the same
words, and with the same circumstances, we may conclude they speak of the same
miracles. St. Matthew alone seems to have observed the time and order of this
transaction, viz. after the sermon of the mount; the other two anticipate it. The Bible
de Vence seems to infer, from the connection St. Matthew makes between the
sermon of the mount and the cure of the leper, that it was not the same leper as that
mentioned, Mark i. 40. Luke v. 12. (Bible de Vence) --- Adored him. In St. Mark it is
said, kneeling down, chap. i. 40. In St. Luke, prostrating on his face. It is true, none
of these expressions do always signify the adoration or worship which is due to God
alone, as may appear by several examples in the Old and New Testament; yet this
man, by divine inspiration, might know our blessed Saviour to be both God and man.
(Witham) --- "Make me clean;" literally, "purify me;" the law treated lepers as impure.
(Bible de Vence) --- The leper, by thus addressing our Saviour acknowledges his
supreme power and authority, and shews his great faith and earnestness, falling on
his knees, as St. Luke relates it. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxvi.) Our prayer
should be such with great faith and confidence, qualified with profound humility, and
entire diffidence of self.

Ver. 3. Jesus, stretching forth his hand, touched him. By the law of Moses,
whosoever touched a leper, contracted a legal uncleanness: but not by touching in
order to heal him, says Theophylactus. Besides, Christ would teach them that he
was not subject to this law. (Witham) --- "Touched him." To shew, says St. Cyprian,
that his body being united to the Divinity, had the power of healing and giving life.
Also to shew that the old law, which forbad the touching of lepers, had no power over
him; and that so far from being defiled by touching him, he even cleansed him who
was defiled with it. (St. Ambrose) --- When the apostles healed the lame man, they
did not attribute it to their own power, but said to the Jews: Why do you wonder at
this? But when our Saviour heals the leper, stretching out his hand, to shew he was
going to act of his own power, and independently of the law, he said: "I will. Be thou
clean;" to evince that the cure was effected by the operation of his own divine will.
(St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxvi.)

Ver. 4. For a testimony to them. That is, when the priest finds thee truly cured, make
that offering which is ordained in the law. (Witham) --- He did this to give us an
example of humility, and that the priests, by approving of his miracle, and being
made witnesses to it, might be inexcusable, if they can still call him a transgressor
of the law, and prevaricator. He moreover gives this public testimony to them of his
divine origin. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxvi.) St. John Chrysostom, in his third
book on the priesthood, says: "the priests of the old law had authority and privilege
only to discern who were healed of leprosy, and to denounce the same to the people;
but the priests of the new law have power to purify, in very deed, the filth of the soul.
Therefore, whoever despiseth them, is more worthy to be punished than the rebel
Dathan and his accomplices." Our Saviour willeth him to go and offer his gift or
sacrifice, according as Moses prescribed in that case, because the other sacrifice,
being the holiest of all holies, viz. his body, was not yet begun. (St. Augustine, lib. ii. &
Evang. ii. 3. & cont. adver. leg. & Proph. lib. i. chap. 19, 20.)

May we pray for the Great Faith and confidence in Our Lord as the Leper shows us in today's Gospel Reading From Matthew. Jesus is the supreme and Divine Healer of Our Souls if only we step out and ask him.
Lord, if thou wilt you thou can make me clean. And Jesus does will it for each of us. So be bold and courageous in Faith.

Commit to God in all Circumstances

2009-06-26T08:19:00.002-04:00

How a religious man should commit himself to God in all circumstances
whatsoever

I am now completely convinced that you will recognise from these
arguments that the more you strip yourself of the products of your
imagination and all worldly and created things, and are united to God
with your intellect by a good will, the closer you will approach the
state of innocence and perfection. What could be better? And what could
be more happy and joyful? Above all it is important for you to keep
your mind bare - without imaginations and images and free of any sort
of entanglement, so that you are not concerned about either the world,
friends, prosperity or adversity, or anything present, past or future,
whether in yourself or in others - not even your own sins. But consider
yourself with a certain pure simplicity to be alone with God outside
the world, and as if your mind were already in eternity and separated
from the body so that it will certainly not bother about worldly things
or be concerned about the state of the world, about peace or war, about
good weather or rain, or about anything at all in this world, but with
complete docility will turn to God alone, be empty for him and cleave
to him. So now in this way ignore your body and all created things,
present or future, and direct the high point of your mind and spirit
directly, as best you can, naked and unencumbered on the uncreated
light. And let your spirit be cleansed in this way from all
imaginations, coverings and things obscuring its vision, like an angel
(not) tied to a body, who is not hindered by the works of the flesh nor
tangled in vain and wandering thoughts. Let your spirit therefore arm
itself against all temptations, vexations, and injuries so that it can
persevere steadily in God when attacked by either face of fortune. So
that when some inner disturbance or boredom or mental confusion come
you will not be indignant or dejected because of it, nor run back to
vocal prayers or other forms of consolation, but only to lift yourself
up in your intellect by a good will to hold on to God with your mind
whether the natural inclination of the body wills it or not. The
religious-minded soul should be so united to God and should have or
render its will so conformed to the divine will that it is not occupied
with any created thing or cling to it any more than before it was
created, and as if nothing existed except God and the soul itself. And
in this way it should accept everything confidently and equally, in
general and in particular, from the hand of divine providence, agreeing
in everything with the Lord in patience, peace and silence. The thing
is that the most important thing of all for a spiritual life is to
strip the mind of all imaginations so that one can be united in one's
intellect to God by a good will, and conformed to him. Besides, nothing
will then be intermediary between you and God. This is obvious, since
nothing external will stand between you when by the vow of voluntary
poverty you will have removed the possession of anything whatsoever,
and by the vow of chastity you will have abandoned your body, and by
obedience you will have given up your will and your soul itself. And in
this way nothing will be left to stand between you and God. That you
are a religious person is indicated by your profession, your state, and
now your habit and tonsure and such like, but whether you are only a
religious in appearance or a real one, you will find out. Bear in mind
therefore how greatly you have fallen away and sin against the Lord
your God and all his justice if you behave otherwise and cling with
your will and love to what is created rather than to the Creator
himself, putting the created before the Creator.

How the heart should be gathered within itself

2009-06-25T06:58:00.001-04:00

How the heart should be gathered within itself

What is more, as is said in the book On the Spirit and the Soul (of St.
Augustine), to ascend to God means to enter into oneself. He who
entering within and penetrating his inmost nature, goes beyond himself,
he is truly ascending to God. So let us withdraw our hearts from the
distractions of this world, and recall them to the inner joys, so that
we can establish them to some degree in the light of divine
contemplation. For this is the life and peace of our hearts - to be
established by intent in the love of God, and to be sweetly remade by
his comforting. But the reason why we are in so many ways hindered in
the practical enjoyment of this matter and are unable to get into it is
clearly because the human mind is so distracted by worries that it
cannot bring its memory to turn within, is so clouded by its
imaginations that it cannot return to itself with its understanding,
and is so drawn away by its desires that it is quite unable to come
back to itself by desire for inner sweetness and spiritual joy. Thus it
is so prostrate among the sense objects presented to it that it cannot
enter into itself as the image of God. It is therefore right and
necessary for the mind to raise itself above itself and everything
created by the abandonment of everything, with humble reverence and
great trust, and to say within itself, He whom I seek, love, thirst for
and desire from everything and more than anything is not a thing of the
senses or the imagination, but is above everything that can be
experienced by the senses and the intellect. He cannot be experienced
by any of the senses, but is completely desirable to my will. He is
moreover not discernable, but is perfectly desirable to my inner
affections. He cannot be comprehended, but can be loved in his fullness
with a pure heart, for he is above all lovable and desirable, and of
infinite goodness and perfection. And then a darkness comes over the
mind and it is raised up into itself and penetrates even deeper. And
the more inward-looking the desire for it, the more powerful this means
of ascent to the mysterious contemplation of the holy Trinity in Unity
and Unity in Trinity in Jesus Christ is, and the more interior the
yearning, the more productive it is. Certainly in matters spiritual the
more inward they are the greater they are as spiritual experiences. For
this reason, never give up, never stop until you have tasted some
pledge, as I might say, or foretaste of the future full experience, and
until you have obtained the satisfaction of however small a first
fruits of the divine joy. And do not give up pursuing it and following
its scent until you have seen the God of gods in Sion. Do not stop or
turn back in your spiritual journey and your union and adherence to God
within you until you have achieved what you have been seeking. Take as
a pattern of this the example of those climbing an ordinary mountain.
If our mind is involved by its desires in the things which are going on
below, it is immediately carried away by endless distractions and side
tracks, and being to some extent divided against itself, is weakened
and as it were scattered amongst the things which it seeks with its
desires. The result is ceaseless movement, travel without an arrival,
and labour without rest. If on the other hand our heart and mind can
withdraw itself by its desire and love from the infinite distraction
below of the things beneath it, can learn to be with itself, abandoning
these lower things and gathering itself within itself into the one
unchanging and satisfying good, and can hold to it inseparably with its
will, it is correspondingly more and more gathered together in one and
strengthened, as it is raised up by knowledge and desire. In this way
it will become accustomed to the true supreme good within itself until
it will be made completely immovable and arrive securely at that true
life which is the Lord God himself, so that it can now rest in him
within and in peace without any changeability or vicissitude of time,
perfectly gathered within itself in the secret divine abode in Christ
Jesus who is the way for those who come to him, the truth and life.
Part 7 of "On Cleaving to God" Saint Albert of Jerusalem
Have a blessed day,
Linda

Cleave to God with Naked Undersanding and Will

2009-06-24T06:00:00.002-04:00

That the devout man should cleave to God with naked understanding and will

The more you strip yourself of the products of the imagination and
involvement in external, worldly things and the objects of the senses,
the more your soul will recover its strength and its inner senses so
that it can appreciate the things which are above. So learn to withdraw
from imaginations and the images of physical things, since what pleases
God above everything is a mind bare of those sorts of forms and
objects, for it is his delight to be with the sons of men, that is
those who, at peace from such activities, distractions and passions,
seek him with a pure and simple mind, empty themselves for him, and
cleave to him. Otherwise, if your memory, imagination and thought is
often involved with such things, you must needs be filled with the
thought of new things or memories of old ones, or identified with other
changing objects. As a result, the Holy Spirit withholds itself from
thoughts bereft of understanding. So the true lover of Jesus Christ
should be so united through good will in his understanding with the
divine will and goodness, and be so bare of all imaginations and
passions that he does not even notice whether he is being mocked or
loved, or something is being done to him. For a good will turns
everything to good and is above everything. So if the will is good and
is obedient and united to God with pure understanding, he is not hurt
even if the flesh and the senses and the outer man is moved to evil,
and is slow to good, or even if the inner man is slow to feel devotion,
but should simply cleave to God with faith and good will in naked
understanding. He is doing this if he is conscious of all his own
imperfection and nothingness, recognises his good to consist in his
Creator alone, abandons himself with all his faculties and powers, and
all creatures, and immerses himself wholly and completely in the
Creator, so that he directs all his actions purely and entirely in his
Lord God, and seeks nothing apart from him, in whom he recognises all
good and all joy of perfection to be found. And he is so transformed in
a certain sense into God that he cannot think, understand, love or
remember anything but God himself and the things of God. Other
creatures however and even himself he does not see, except in God, nor
does he love anything except God alone, nor remember anything about
them or himself except in God. This knowledge of the truth always makes
the soul humble, ready to judge itself and not others, while on the
contrary worldly wisdom makes the soul proud, futile, inflated and
puffed up with wind. So let this be the fundamental spiritual doctrine
leading to the knowledge of God, his service and familiarity with him,
that if you want to truly possess God, you must strip your heart of all
love of things of the senses, not just of certain creatures, so that
you can turn to the Lord your God with a simple and whole heart and
with all your power, freely and without any double-mindedness, care or
anxiety, but with full confidence in his providence alone about
everything.

More here from Saint Albert on Cleaving to God
So for today let us all pray: "Father your will be done"

Demons Entering a Herd of Swine

2009-06-23T09:51:00.001-04:00

St. John Chrysostom says that our Savior permitted the devils to enter the swine,
not for their own sakes, but for our instruction. 1. That we might know how very
desirous the enemy of our salvation is to bring upon us the greatest evils. 2. That the
devil has not any power, even over swine, without the permission of God. And, 3. That
these cruel fiends would, if the Almighty allowed them, inflict still more grievous
torments on their unhappy slaves. (Hom. xxix.) Jesus Christ here confutes the
Sadducean doctrine, which denies the existence of spirits, good or bad. (Haydock)

Demons Entering a Herd of Swine

8:28. And when he was come on the other side of the water,
into the country of the Gerasens, there met him two that
were possessed with devils, coming out of the sepulchres,
exceeding fierce, so that none could pass by that way.

8:29. And behold they cried out, saying: What have we to do
with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to
torment us before the time?

8:30. And there was, not far from them, a herd of many
swine feeding.

8:31. And the devils besought him, saying: If thou cast us
out hence, send us into the herd of swine.

8:32. And he said to them: Go. But they going out went into
the swine, and behold the whole herd ran violently down a
steep place into the sea: and they perished in the waters.

8:33. And they that kept them fled: and coming into the
city, told every thing, and concerning them that had been
possessed by the devils.

8:34. And behold the whole city went out to meet Jesus, and
when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart
from their coast.
Read more of the Commentary Here

Jesus Stilling the Storm

2009-06-23T09:45:00.001-04:00

Jesus Stilling the Storm

8:23. And when he entered into the boat, his disciples
followed him:

8:24. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that
the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep.

8:25. And they came to him, and awaked him, saying: Lord,
save us, we perish.

8:26. And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye of
little faith? Then rising up, he commanded the winds, and
the sea, and there came a great calm.

8:27. But the men wondered, saying: What manner of man is
this, for the winds and the sea obey him?
Ver. 23. This bark is the Catholic Church. The sea denotes the world, the winds and
tempests shew the attempts of the wicked spirits to overturn the Church. The Lord
seems to sleep, when he permits his Church to suffer persecution and other trials,
which he permits, that he may prove her faith, and reward her virtue and merits. (St.
John Chrysostom, hom. xxiii. in Mat. viii.) The apostles had followed their divine
Master. They were with him, and executing his orders, and it is under these
circumstances they are overtaken with a storm. If their obedience to Jesus Christ, if
his presence did not free them from danger, to what frightful storms do those persons
expose themselves, who undertake the voyage of the present life without him? What
can they expect but to be tossed to and fro for a time, and at last miserably to founder?
Faithful souls ought, from the example here offered them, to rise superior to every
storm and tempest, by invoking the all-powerful and ever ready assistance of heaven,
and by always calling in God to their help before they undertake any thing of moment.
(Haydock)

Ver. 25. Should God appear to sleep, with the apostles, we should approach nearer to
him, and awaken him with our repeated prayers, saying: "Lord, save us, or we perish."
(Haydock) --- Had our Saviour been awake, the disciples would have been less afraid,
or less sensible of the want of his assistance: he therefore slept, that they might be
better prepared for the miracle he was about to work. (St. John Chrysostom, hom.
xxviii.)

Ver. 26. Why are you fearful, having me with you? Do you suppose that sleep can take
from me the knowledge of your danger, or the power of relieving you? (Haydock) --- He
commanded the winds. Christ shewed himself Lord and Master of the sea and winds.
His words in St. Mark (iv. 39,) demonstrate his authority: Rising up he rebuked the
wind, and said to the sea: Peace, be still. (Witham) --- As before our Lord restored
Peter's mother-in-law on the spot, not only to health, but to her former strength; so here
he shews himself supreme Lord of all things, not only by commanding the winds to
cease, but, moreover, by commanding a perfect calm to succeed. (St. John
Chrysostom, hom. xxiv.) How many times has he preserved his Catholic Church,
when (to all human appearance, and abstracting from his infallible promises) she has
been in the most imminent danger of perishing? How many times by a miracle, or
interposition of his omnipotence, less sensible indeed, but not less real, has he
rescued our souls, on the point of being swallowed up in the infernal abyss?
(Haydock) --- He commands the mute elements to be subservient to his wish. He
commands the sea, and it obeys him; he speaks to the winds and tempests, and they
are hushed; he commands every creature, and they obey. Man, and man only, man
honoured in a special manner by being made after the image and likeness of his
Creator, to whom speech and reason are given, dares to disobey and despise his
Creator. (St. Augustine, hom. in Mat.)
From this allegory of the ship and the storm, we may take occasion to speak of the
various senses in which the words of Scripture may be occasionally taken. ... The
sense of Scripture is twofold, literal and spiritual. The literal is that which the words
immediately signify. The spiritual or mystic sense is that which things expressed by
words mean, as in Genesis xxii, what is literally said of the immolation of Isaac, is
spiritually understood of Christ; and in Colossians ii. 12, by the baptism of Christ, St.
Paul means his burial. The spiritual sense in its various acceptations, is briefly and
accurately given in the following distich:
Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria,
Moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.
Jesus Still the Storm

On Purity of Heart

2009-06-23T07:02:00.002-04:00

On purity of heart which is to be sought above all things

If your desire and aim is to reach the destination of the path and home
of true happiness, of grace and glory, by a straight and safe way then
earnestly apply your mind to seek constant purity of heart, clarity of
mind and calm of the senses. Gather up your heart's desire and fix it
continually on the Lord God above. To do so you must withdraw yourself
so far as you can from friends and from everyone else, and from the
activities that hinder you from such a purpose. Grasp every opportunity
when you can find the place, time and means to devote yourself to
silence and contemplation, and gathering the secret fruits of silence,
so that you can escape the shipwreck of this present age and avoid the
restless agitation of the noisy world. For this reason apply yourself
at all times to purity, clarity and peace of heart above all things, so
that, so far as possible, you can keep the doors of your heart
resolutely barred to the forms and images of the physical senses and
worldly imaginations by shutting off the doors of the physical senses
and turning within yourself. After all, purity of heart is recognized
as the most important thing among all spiritual practices, as its final
aim, and the reward for all the labors that a spiritual-minded person
and true religious may undertake in this life. For this reason you
should with all care, intelligence and effort free your heart, senses
and desires from everything that can hinder their liberty, and above
all from everything in the world that could possibly bind and overcome
you. So struggle in this way to draw together all the distractions of
your heart and desires of your mind into one true, simple and supreme
good, to keep them gathered within yourself in one place, and by this
means to remain always joined to things divine and to God in your mind,
to abandon the unreliable things of earth, and be able to translate
your mind continually to the things above within yourself in Jesus
Christ. To which end, if you have begun to strip and purify yourself of
images and imaginations and to simplify and still your heart and mind
in the Lord God so that you can draw and taste the well of divine grace
in everything within yourself, and so that you are united to God in
your mind by a good will, then this itself is enough for you in place
of all study and reading of holy scripture, and as demonstration of
love of God and neighbour, as devotion itself testifies. So simplify
your heart with all care, diligence and effort so that still and at
peace from the products of the imagination you can turn round and
remain always in the Lord within yourself, as if your mind were already
in the now of eternity, that is of the godhead. In this way you will be
able to renounce yourself through love of Jesus Christ, with a pure
heart, clean conscience and unfeigned faith, and commit yourself
completely and fully to God in all difficulties and eventualities, and
be willing to submit yourself patiently to his will and good pleasure
at all times. For this to come about you must repeatedly retreat into
your heart and remain there, keeping yourself free from everything, so
far as is possible. You must always keep the eye of your mind clear and
still. You must guard your understanding from daydreams and thoughts of
earthly things. You must completely free the inclination of your will
from worldly cares and cling with all your being to the supreme true
good with fervent love. You must keep your memory always lifted up and
firmly anchored in that same true supreme good and only uncreated
reality. In just this way your whole mind gathered up with all its
powers and faculties in God, may become one spirit with him, in whom
the supreme perfection of life is known to consist. This is the true
union of spirit and love by which a man is made compliant to all the
impulses of the supreme and eternal will, so that he becomes by grace
what God is by nature. At the same time it should be noted that in the
very moment in which one is able, by God's help, to overcome one's own
will, that is to cast away from oneself inordinate love or strong
feeling, in other words so as to dare simply to trust God completely in
all one's needs, by this very fact one becomes so pleasing to God that
his grace is imparted to one, and through that very grace one
experiences that true love and devotion which drives out all
uncertainty and fear and has full confidence in God. What is more,
there can be no greater happiness than to place one's all in him who
lacks nothing. So why do you still remain in yourself where you cannot
stay. Cast yourself, all of yourself, with confidence into God and he
will sustain you, heal you and make you safe. If you dwell on these
things faithfully within, they will do more to confer a happy life on
you than all riches, pleasures and honours, and above all the wisdom
and knowledge of this present deceitful world and its life, even if you
were to excel in them all that ever lived.
http://doctors.godworkin.us/albert_C5.html
St. Albert of Jerusalem

Purely in the Intellect

2009-06-22T07:02:00.001-04:00

How man's activity should be purely in the intellect and not in the senses

Happy therefore is the person who by continual removal of fantasies and
images, by turning within, and raising the mind to God, finally manages
to dispense with the products of the imagination, and by so doing works
within, nakedly and simply, and with a pure understanding and will, on
the the simplest of all objects, God. So eliminate from your mind all
fantasies, objects, images and shapes of all things other than God, so
that, with just naked understanding, intent and will, your practice
will be concerned with God himself within you. For this is the end of
all spiritual exercises - to turn the mind to the Lord God and rest in
him with a completely pure understanding and a completely devoted will,
without the entanglements and fantasies of the imagination. This sort
of exercise is not practised by fleshly organs nor by the exterior
senses, but by that by which one is indeed a man. For a man is
precisely understanding and will. For that reason, in so far as a man
is still playing with the products of the imagination and the senses,
and holds to them, it is obvious that he has not yet emerged from the
motivation and limitations of his animal nature, that is of that which
he shares in common with the animals. For these know and feel objects
by means of recognised shapes and sense impressions and no more, since
they do not possess the higher powers of the soul. But it is different
with man, who is created in the image and likeness of God with
understanding, will, and free choice, through which he should be
directly, purely and nakedly impressed and united with God, and firmly
adhere to him. For this reason the Devil tries eagerly and with all his
power to hinder this practice so far as he can, being envious of this
in man, since it is a sort of prelude and initiation of eternal life.
So he is always trying to draw man's mind away from the Lord God, now
by temptations or passions, now by superfluous worries and pointless
cares, now by restlessness and distracting conversation and senseless
curiosity, now by the study of subtle books, irrelevant discussion,
gossip and news, now by hardships, now by opposition, etc. Such matters
may seem trivial enough and hardly sinful, but they are a great
hindrance to this holy exercise and practice. Therefore, even if they
may appear useful and necessary, they should be rejected, whether great
or small, as harmful and dangerous, and put out of our minds. Above all
therefore it is necessary that things heard, seen, done and said, and
other such things, must be received without adding things from the
imagination, without mental associations and without emotional
involvement, and one should not let past or future associations,
implications or constructs of the imagination form and grow. For when
constructs of the imagination are not allowed to enter the memory and
mind, a man is not hindered, whether he be engaged in prayer,
meditation, or reciting psalms, or in any other practice or spiritual
exercise, nor will they recur again. So commit yourself confidently and
without hesitation, all that you are, and everything else, individually
and in general, to the unfailing and totally reliable providence of
God, in silence and in peace, and he will fight for you. He will
liberate you and comfort you more fully, more effectively and more
satisfactorily than if you were to dream about it all the time, day and
night, and were to cast around frantically all over the place with the
futile and confused thoughts of your mind in bondage, nor will you wear
out your mind and body, wasting your time, and stupidly and pointlessly
exhausting your strength. So accept everything, separately and in
general, wherever it comes from and whatever its origin, in silence and
peace, and with an equal mind, as coming to you from a father's hand
and his divine providence. So render your imagination bare of the
images of all physical things as is appropriate to your state and
profession, so that you can cling to him with a bare and undivided
mind, as you have so often and so completely vowed to do, without
anything whatever being able to come between your soul and him, so that
you can pass purely and unwaveringly from the wounds of his humanity
into the light of his divinity.
St. Albert
Cleaving to God, Ch 4
http://doctors.godworkin.us/albert_C4.html

Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

2009-06-19T05:41:00.001-04:00

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

I, __________, give myself and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, pains, and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being save to honor, love, and glorify the Sacred Heart.

This is my unchanging purpose, namely, to be all His, and to do all things for the love of Him, at the same time renouncing with all my heart whatever is displeasing to Him.

I therefore take Thee, O Sacred Heart, to be the only object of my love, the guardian of my life, my assurance of salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for all the faults of my life and my sure refuge at the hour of death.

Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God Thy Father, and turn away from me the strokes of His righteous anger. O Heart of love, I put all my confidence in Thee, for I fear everything from my own wickedness and frailty; but I hope for all things from Thy goodness and bounty.

Do Thou consume in me all that can displease Thee or resist Thy holy will. Let Thy pure love imprint Thee so deeply upon my heart that I shall nevermore be able to forget Thee or to be separated from Thee. May I obtain from all Thy loving kindness the grace of having my name written in Thee, for in Thee I desire to place all my happiness and all my glory, living and dying in true bondage to Thee.

Happy Feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

2009-06-19T05:38:00.001-04:00

THE BLESSING OF THE SACRED HEART

May the grace and blessing of the Sacred Heart be with you, the peace of the Sacred Heart encompass you! May the merits of the Sacred Heart plead for you, the love of the Sacred Heart inflame you! May the sorrows of the Sacred Heart console you, the zeal of the Sacred Heart animate you, the virtues of the Sacred Heart shine forth in your every word and work! And may the joys of the Beatific Vision be your eternal recompense!

Some Assembly Required!

2009-06-18T17:18:00.002-04:00

Have you every tried too put together something without the directions. Christmas time is a good example. All those toys for the kids and you decide you can do it without directions. I think we all do this as Christians too. We think we can do it on our own without any help. One day you are so confused and puzzled with life. We need to pull out those directions again.

Today's Gospel reading is about Jesus giving us those directions. It is written and in our souls but do we really read His Word, His directions?

He tells us in Matthew 6: 7-15,
In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

This is how you are to pray:
"Our Father who are in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from Evil.

Now the next few lines are the really tricky part and so need too pull out those directions .......
"If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive other, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

Now I don't know about you all, but that last verse you better pull out those tools, because the some assembly required is going to take a lot of work. It is going to take prayer, sweat, tears, dirty knees and yes we need to take out the directions, the Word Jesus.

Okay so now next time to see those words "Some Assembly Required" I hope you remember to pull out the directions, and that takes humility too!
God bless you,
Linda

Pure Evil!

2009-06-18T17:14:00.002-04:00

Just read this on my friend Jennifer's Blog. Please read about what is happening now in the Pro Life Agenda. I tell you this is pure evil.

I will send more later on.

This is my body: Eminent writers of the first five centuries

2009-06-15T19:56:00.002-04:00

This is my body.
Matthew 26 Commentary

To shew how these words have been interpreted by the primitive Church, we shall here subjoin some few extracts from the works of some of the most eminent writers of the first five centuries.

First Century.

St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who was a disciple and contemporary with some of the apostles, and died a martyr, at Rome, in a very advanced age, An. 107, speaking of certain heretics of those times, says: "They abstain from the Eucharist and from oblations, because they do not confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins." See epis. genuin. ad Smyrnæos. --- He calls the Eucharist the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death, by which we always live in Christ. --- In another part he writes: "I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, and for drink, his blood." Again: "use one Eucharist; for the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ is one, and the cup is one in the unity of his blood. There is one altar, as there is one bishop with the college of the priesthood," &c.

Second Century.

St. Justin, the philosopher, in an apology for the Christians, which he addressed to the emperor and senate of Rome, about the year 150, says of the blessed Eucharist: "No one is allowed to partake of this food, but he that believes our doctrines are true, and who has been baptized in the laver of regeneration for remission of sins, and lives up to what Christ has taught. For we take not these as common bread, and common drink, but in the same manner as Jesus Christ, our Saviour, being incarnate by the word of God, hath both flesh and blood for our salvation; so we are taught that this food, by which our flesh and blood are nourished, over which thanks have been given by the prayers in his own words, is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus." Apology ii. in fin. he calls it, Panem eucharistisatum Greek: ton arton eucharistethenta, the bread blessed by giving thanks, as he blessed and miraculously multiplied the loaves, Greek: eulogsen autous.

Third Century.

St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who suffered martyrdom in 258, says: "the bread which our Lord delivered to his disciples, was changed not in appearance, but in nature, being made flesh by the Almighty power of the divine word."

Fourth Century.

St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, who was born in the commencement of the 4th century, and died in 386, explaining the mystery of the blessed Eucharist to the newly baptized, says: "Do not look upon the bread and wine as bare and common elements, for they are the body and blood of Christ; as our Lord assures us. Although thy senses suggest this to thee, let faith make thee firm and sure. Judge not of the thing by the taste, but be certain from faith that thou has been honoured with the gift of Christ's body and blood. When he has pronounced and said of the bread, this is my body, who will after this dare to doubt? And when he has assured, and said, this is my blood, who can ever hesitate, saying it in not his blood? He changed water into wine at Cana; and shall we not him worthy of our belief, when he changed wine into blood? Wherefore, let us receive them with an entire belief, as Christ's body and blood; for under the figure of bread, is given to thee his body, and under the figure of wine, his blood; that when thou hast received Christ's body and blood, thou be made one body and blood with him; for so we carry him about in us, his body and blood being distributed though our bodies." (St. Cyril, cathech.) --- St. Ambrose, one of the greatest doctors of the Latin Church, and bishop of Milan, who died in 396, proving that the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, is really possible to God, and really take place in the blessed Eucharist, uses these words: "Will not the words of Christ have power enough to change the species of the elements? Shall not the words of Christ, which could make out of nothing things which did not exist, be able to change that, which already exists, into what it was not? It is not a less exertion of power to give a new nature to things, than to change their natures. Let us propose examples from himself and assert the truth of this mystery from the incarnation. Was it according to the course of nature, that our Lord Jesus Christ should be born of the Virgin Mary? It is evident that it was contrary to the course of nature for a virgin to bring forth. Not this body, which we produce, was born of the virgin. Who dost thou seek for the order of nature in the body of Christ, when our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. (St. Ambrose, lib. de initiandis, chap. ix)

Fifth Century.

St. John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, who died in 407, does not speak less clearly on this subject. "He," (i.e. Jesus Christ,) says the holy doctor, hom. l. in Matt. "has given us himself to eat, and has set himself in the place of a victim sacrificed for us." And in hom. lxxxiii.: "How many now say they could wish to see his form, his garments, &c.; you wish to see his garments, but he gives you himself not only to be seen, but to be touched, to be eaten, to be received within you. Than what beam of the sun ought not that hand to be purer, which divides this flesh! That mouth, which is filled with this spiritual fire! That tongue, which is purpled with this adorable blood! The angels beholding it tremble, and dare not look thereon through awe and fear, on account of the rays, which dart from that, wherewith we are nourished, with which we are mingled, being made one body, one flesh with Christ. What shepherd ever fed his sheep with his own limbs? Nay, many mothers turn over their children to mercenary nurses; whereas he feeds us with his own blood!" --- On another occasion, to inspire us with a dread of profaning the sacred body of Christ, he says: "When you see Him exposed before you, say to yourself: this body was pierced with nails; this body which was scourged, death did not destroy; this body was nailed to a cross, at which spectacle the sun withdrew his rays; this body the Magi venerated." --- "There is as much difference between the loaves of proposition and the body of Christ, as between a shadow and a body, between a picture and the reality." Thus St. Jerome upon the epistle to Titus, chap. i. See more authorities in the notes on St. Mark's Gospel, chap. xiv, ver. 22, on the real presence, and also in the following verses and alibi passim.

Practice of the Presence of God

2009-06-15T09:59:00.002-04:00

Brother Lawrence
FOURTH CONVERSATION

The manner of going to God. * Hearty renunciation. * Prayer and
praise prevent discouragement. * Sanctification in common business.
* Prayer and the presence of God. * The whole substance of religion.
* Self-estimation * Further personal experience.

He discoursed with me very frequently, and with great openness of
heart, concerning his manner of going to GOD, whereof some part is
related already.

He told me, that all consists in one hearty renunciation of everything
which we are sensible does not lead to GOD; that we might accustom
ourselves to a continual conversation with Him, with freedom and in
sim- plicity. That we need only to recognize GOD intimately present
with us, to address ourselves to Him every moment, that we may beg His
assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful, and for rightly
performing those which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them
to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.

That in this conversation with GOD, we are also employed in praising,
adoring, and loving him incessantly, for His infinite goodness and
perfection.

That, without being discouraged on account of our sins, we should pray
for His grace with a perfect confidence, as relying upon the infinite
merits of our LORD. That GOD never failed offering us His grace at each
action; that he distinctly perceived it, and never failed of it, unless
when his thoughts had wandered from a sense of GOD's Presence, or he
had forgot to ask His assistance.

That GOD always gave us light in our doubts, when we had no other
design but to please Him.

That our sanctification did not depend upon changing our works, but in
doing that for GOD's sake, which we commonly do for our own. That it
was lamentable to see how many people mistook the means for the end,
addicting themselves to certain works, which they performed very
imperfectly, by reason of their human or selfish regards.

That the most excellent method he had found of going to GOD, was that
of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men, [Gal. i.
10; Eph. vi. 5, 6.] and (as far as we are capable) purely for the love
of GOD.

That it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to
differ from other times. that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to
GOD by action in the time of action, as by prayer in its season.

That his prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of GOD,
his soul being at that time insensible to everything but Divine love:
and that when the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no
difference, because he still continued with GOD, praising and blessing
Him with all his might, so that he passed his life in continual joy;
yet hoped that GOD would give him somewhat to suffer, when he should
grow stronger.

That we ought, once for all, heartily to put our whole trust in GOD,
and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him, secure that He would
not deceive us.

That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of
GOD, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which
it is performed. That we should not wonder if, in the beginning, we
often failed in our endeavours, but that at last we should gain a
habit, which will naturally produce its acts in us, without our care,
and to our exceeding great delight.

That the whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and charity; by
the practice of which we become united to the will of GOD: that all
beside is indifferent and to be used as a means, that we may arrive at
our end, and be swallowed up therein, by faith and charity.

That all things are possible to him who believes, that they are less
difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who loves, and
still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three
virtues.

That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this
life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we
hope to be through all eternity.

That when we enter upon the spiritual we should consider, and examine
to the bottom, what we are. And then we should find ourselves worthy of
all contempt, and such as do not deserve the name of Christians,
subject to all kinds of misery, and numberless accidents, which trouble
us, and cause perpetual vicissitudes in our health, in our humours, in
our internal and external dispositions: in fine, persons whom GOD would
humble by many pains and labours, as well within as without. After
this, we should not wonder that troubles, temptations, oppositions and
contradictions, happen to us from men. We ought, on the contrary, to
submit ourselves to them, and bear them as long as GOD pleases, as
things highly advantageous to us.

That the greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it
is upon Divine grace.

Being questioned by one of his own society (to whom he was obliged to
open himself) by what means he had attained such an habitual sense of
GOD? he told him that, since his first coming to the monastery, he had
considered GOD as the end of all his thoughts and desires, as the mark
to which they should tend, and in which they should terminate.

That in the beginning of his novitiate he spent the hours appointed for
private prayer in thinking of GOD, so as to convince his mind of, and
to impress deeply upon his heart, the Divine existence, rather by
devout sentiments, and submission to the lights of faith, than by
studied reasonings and elaborate meditations. That by this short and
sure method, he exercised himself in the knowledge and love of GOD,
resolving to use his utmost endeavour to live in a continual sense of
His Presence, and, if possible, never to forget Him more.

That when he had thus in prayer filled his mind with great sentiments
of that infinite Being, he went to his work appointed in the kitchen
(for he was cook to the society); there having first considered
severally the things his office required, and when and how each thing
was to be done, he spent all the intervals of his time, as well before
as after his work, in prayer.

That, when he began his business, he said to GOD, with a filial trust
in Him, "O my GOD, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience
to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee
to grant me the grace to continue in Thy Presence; and to this end do
Thou prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess
all my affections."

As he proceeded in his work, he continued his familiar conversation
with his Maker, imploring His grace, and offering to Him all his
actions.

When he had finished, he examined himself how he had discharged his
duty; if he found well, he returned thanks to GOD; if otherwise, he
asked pardon; and without being discouraged, he set his mind right
again, and continued his exercise of the presence of GOD, as if he had
never deviated from it. "Thus," said he, "by rising after my falls, and
by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I am come to a state,
wherein it would be as difficult for me not to think of GOD, as it was
at first to accustom myself to it."

As Bro. Lawrence had found such an advantage in walking in the presence
of GOD, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to others; but
his example was a stronger inducement than any arguments he could
propose. His very countenance was edifying; such a sweet and calm
devotion appearing in it, as could not but affect the beholders. And it
was observed, that in the greatest hurry of business in the kitchen, he
still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He was never
hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its season, with an even
uninterrupted composure and tranquility of spirit. "The time of
business," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer;
and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are
at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as
great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed
Sacrament."

http://carmelites.godworkin.us/conversation4.html

Spiritual Communication

2009-06-15T09:35:00.001-04:00

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux States:

So whenever you hear or read that the Word and the soul converse together, and contemplate each other, do not imagine them speaking with human voices nor appearing in bodily form. Listen, this is rather what you must think about it: The Word is a spirit (Jn 4:24), the soul is a spirit; and they possess their own mode of speech and mode of presence in accord with their nature. The speech of the Word is loving kindness, that of the soul, the fervor of devotion..... When the Word therefore tells the soul, "You are beautiful," and calls it friend (Son 1:14), he infuses into it the power of love, and to know it is loved in return.... The speech of the Word is an infusion of grace, the soul's response is wonder and thanksgiving."

Song of Songs

Vol II Sermon 45

Cleaving To God: Saint Albert

2009-06-14T20:04:00.001-04:00

Chapter 2
How one can cling to and seek Christ alone, disdaining everything else

Certainly, anyone who desires and aims to arrive at and remain in such
a state must needs above all have eyes and senses closed and not be
inwardly involved or worried about anything, nor concerned or occupied
with anything, but should completely reject all such things as
irrelevant, harmful and dangerous. Then he should withdraw himself
totally within himself and not pay any attention to any object entering
the mind except Jesus Christ, the wounded one, alone, and so he should
turn his attention with care and determination through him into him -
that is, though the man into God, through the wounds of his humanity
into the inmost reality of his divinity. Here he can commit himself and
all that he has, individually and as a whole, promptly, securely and
without discussion, to God's unwearying providence, in accordance with
the words of Peter, cast all your care upon him (1 Peter 5.7), who can
do everything. And again, In nothing be anxious (Philippians 4.6), or
what is more, Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you.
(Psalm 55.22) Or again, It is good for me to hold fast to God, (Ps.
73.28) and I have always set up God before me. (Psalm 16.8) The bride
too in the Song of Songs says, I have found him whom my soul loves,
(Canticle 3.4) and again, All good things came to me along with her.
(Wisdom 7.11) This, after all, is the hidden heavenly treasure, none
other than the pearl of great price, which must be sought with
resolution, esteeming it in humble faithfulness, eager diligence, and
calm silence before all things, and preferring it even above physical
comfort, or honour and renown. For what good does it do a religious if
he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul? Or what is
the benefit of his state of life, the holiness of his profession, the
virtue of his habit and tonsure, or the outer circumstances of his way
of life if he is without a life of spiritual humility and truth in
which Christ abides through a faith created by love. This is what Luke
means by, the Kingdom of God (that is, Jesus Christ) is within you.
(Luke 17.21)

Why we pray so intensely

2009-06-14T19:18:00.002-04:00

We must train ourselves a great deal in prayer and penance, because the world has a great need of souls who pray, of spirits who are given to sacrifice, of hearts who are committed, valiant, prudent and full of love. Our prayer must be total and sincere, not in hoping for delights, congratulations or rewards. If we take faith for our companion all the rest is insignificant. It is useful and necessary to possess and love faithfully. In faith we know we possess God who is loved by the will, reaffirmed by the mind, and witnessed to by our actions. We must not be preoccupied with the tribulations, the dryness, the dark nights of the soul. These trials we all must pass through. God dwells in the hidden, dark nights. We must work tirelessly, even in the obscurity of these trials, because this is our sanctification, our purification.

The compassion of Jesus

2009-06-13T14:05:00.002-04:00

The compassion of Jesus.

Earthly parents, father and mother,
in our flesh, are wont to feel great compassion and sympathy for their
offspring; and if they find them afflicted with pain of any kind, or
any bodily inconvenience, are ready enough to spend both themselves and
their fortunes, should reason so require, for their children's recovery
to ease and soundness. Ofttimes, too, many dumb animals even do not
shrink from facing death itself for their young; and only too willingly
go to meet it, that their offspring may escape it, Whence, now, comes
this to man and to the brute? Whence comes this natural sympathy, but
from Him who is the Father of sympathy and compassion; who wills not
that any should perish, and rejoices not in the destruction of them
that die? Our Creator, therefore, the Fountain of compassion, the
Fountain of mercy, when He sees us His children stained with any sinful
contagion, or hurt well nigh to death with the many and deep wounds
that crime has made, displays towards us greater devotion in curing our
sins, in healing our sickness, in cleansing away the leprosy and filth
of our misdeeds, in wiping out the soils of our vain thoughts, than
does earthly father for his children, or reasonless brute for its
young. Nor is it enough for Him simply to cure our sicknesses, and so
dismiss us; when we are healed, He makes us His own close familiars,
and afterwards folds us tenderly in His arms as His own dearest
children; ay, He embraces us and kisses us, and then soothes and
consoles away all our infirmities, and all the sinful leprosy we had
contracted by our folly, and entirely forgets all the injuries we once
did Him by spurning Him in His consolations. He clothes us with honour
in this present life, and crowns us with glory in the next; He makes us
kings; and, as to our soul, her He makes a queen, whence He admonishes
us as kings, already made so in the psalm: And now, O ye kings,
understand; receive instruction, you that judge the earth' (Ps. ii.
10). For we then are kings indeed, when we rule our inordinate motions,
and reduce them to reason and the will of our Creator; we receive
instruction when we judge the earth, that is to say, when, if we see
that our heart desires earthly things, we compel it to contemn the
earthly and to love the heavenly. Our soul becomes a queen; for arrayed
in varied robes--that is to say, adorned with divers virtuous
gifts--she is wedded in mind's continuous act and habit to Christ her
Spouse who is in heaven, even whilst she sojourns here on earth. It was
not enough for our Creator to create us, and to govern us when created,
and to send angels, as often as need was, to defend us; but He in His
own Person, taking our form to Him, taking our nature to Him, out of
pity for the work of His hands, came down to us, looked carefully at
our wounds, touched them, felt them; and, moved with pity for the
misery which He saw enthralled us, grieved over us, and sighed in His
inmost soul. He pitied, grieved, and sighed for us; and then of that
very Flesh which He had assumed for our sake, made as it were a healing
ointment, and applied it to our griefs, and restored us from our
sickness back to perfect health. And, that He might in this mystery
show how much He loved us, He gave us that very Flesh which He had
assumed for us, that we might eat It; and onwards to this day fails not
to administer It to us in the sacrifice of His altar.

Thou, then, my soul, consoled and animated by the sweet recollection of
all these mercies, pray to thy Lord, pray to thy Creator; invoke all
His saints to thy assistance, that, aided and consoled by their
intercession, thou mayest gain of Him who made thee grace so to live in
this thy present state, so to purge away thy iniquities by true
repentance and confession, as that, thy transitory passage run, thou
mayest merit to mount up to joys eternal; by His help who liveth and
reigneth God to eternal ages. Amen.

ST. ANSELM'S
Book of Meditations and Prayers.

Uniformity With God's Will

2009-06-13T13:45:00.002-04:00

Uniformity With God’s Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguor

“Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: ‘Charity is the bond of perfection;’
and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s.”

St. Alphonsus

http://doctors.godworkin.us/liguori_uniformity.html
Excellence of this Virtue
Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: “Charity is the bond
of perfection [2] ;” and perfect love of God means the complete union
of our will with God’s: “The principal effect of love is so to unite
the wills of those who love each other as to make them will the same
things [3] .” It follows then, that the more one unites his will with
the divine will, the greater will be his love of God. Mortification,
meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all
certainly pleasing to God—but only when they are in accordance with his
will. When they do not accord with God’s will, he not only finds no
pleasure in them, but he even rejects them utterly and punishes them.

This is my hope

2009-06-10T09:27:00.002-04:00

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine

"Lord, you know me. Let me know you. Let me come to know you even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; enter it and make it a place suitable for your dwelling, a possession without spot or blemish. This is my hope and the reason I speak. In this hope I rejoice, when I rejoice rightly. As for the other things of this life, the lamented; and the more they deserve tears, the less likely will men sorrow for them. For behold, you have loved the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the light. I wish to do this truth before you alone by praising you, and before a multitude of witnesses by writing of you."

God secretly teaches the Soul

2009-06-09T19:18:00.002-04:00

God has an immense desire to work in your soul, to lead you to sanctity and to union with Himself, provided we commit ourselves into His hands. The Lord Jesus comes to our assistance with purifying trials in order to empty us of self, to detach us from creatures, and to immerse ourselves in true humility. God secretly teaches the soul and instructs it in the perfection of love.

I have been studying lately the Doctors of the Church. And well it all comes down to one thing, pray and study the Word of God. The more we meditate on Scripture the more God works in our souls.

Coming soon I am working on a website on the Doctors of the Catholic Church. I have many, many, homilies from the great Saints. A treat that will be coming soon.
But if you want a sneak peak then go here. I have more coming this weekend.
http://godworkin.us/doctrine/index.html

God bless,
Linda

A Woman's Soul

2008-08-11T14:07:00.000-04:00

Every Trial Borne With Patience

2008-05-15T13:13:00.002-04:00

In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled; the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded palace. In that day persevering patience will count more than all the power in this world; simple obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of more weight than every treasure on earth.
Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip.
Then holy works will be of greater value than many fair words; strictness of life and hard penances will be more pleasing than all earthly delights.
Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity. Prove here what you can bear hereafter. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will hell fire do? In truth, you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign with Christ.
If your life to this moment had been full of honors and pleasures, what good would it do if at this instant you should die? All is vanity, therefore, except to love God and to serve Him alone.
He who loves God with all his heart does not fear death or punishment or judgment or hell, because perfect love assures access to God.
It is no wonder that he who still delights in sin fears death and judgment.
It is good, however, that even if love does not as yet restrain you from evil, at least the fear of hell does. The man who casts aside the fear of God cannot continue long in goodness but will quickly fall into the snares of the devil.

Wheat

2008-04-29T17:52:00.003-04:00

He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. (Psalm 147:14)

A Woman's Soul

2008-04-25T13:03:00.000-04:00

Woman's soul is fashioned to be a shelter in which other souls may unfold. Both spiritual companionship and spiritual motherliness are not limited to the physical spouse and mother relationships, but they extend to all people with whom it comes in contact." St. Edith Stein

Are you dead yet?

2008-04-23T18:07:00.000-04:00

DYING TO SELF

When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely ignored, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, or any annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility - and endure as Jesus endured,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any garment, any interruption by the will of God,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record your own good works, or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature then yourself, and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF

Are you dead yet? The Spirit will remind us that resurrection cannot be accomplished on a live person. For a truly victorious resurrected Life-in-Christ, we must die to self!

Can you control God?

2008-04-20T08:19:00.000-04:00

"Ask, and it will be given to you" (Matthew 7:7). "If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:4)

Don't get too involved in the outcome of your prayers. The idea is to bring your problems and petitions to God and let him solve them according to His Will. He certainly can handle them better than we can.

A Pillow?

2008-04-15T06:09:00.002-04:00

Question:
Can you offer up a pillow?

Answer: Yes you can and this is why!

Well if you were married to my husband....when I wake up in the morning there is this stentch of what I call the "brown breeze". It is my husband's pillow. I have tried everything to get rid of it. He sweats so bad that it gets so wet and stinky. He tells me that his pillow smells like sweet petunias in a nice summer day blowing in the breeze. Well I haven't smelled petunias but I can guarantee they don't smell like this.

I have even tried covering his pillows with plastic bags and put the pillowcase over it. But the smell goes right through the pillow. I buy new ones for him and within a week, the smell is back again. So one day I decided that I would just "Offer It Up" for all my sins. It must have some value; for suffering is involved especially when I wake up to this every morning! Then I thank God that my husband is still next to my side!

Have a wonderful day everyone! Remember: "Offer it Up"!

Linda

Why offer it up?

2008-04-13T17:28:00.001-04:00

I say these words so much that my husband says he is going to offer me up! Geesh!