Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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SOME UNFOLDINGS SINCE LAST TIME

The unfoldings since my last chatty type post HERE.

I went to the 80th birthday celebration of our Vinnies member and it was a lovely afternoon.  Previously, I had a phone call from another member and there was no need to take individual gifts as it had been decided to buy a lovely bunch of flowers from our Conference (St Vinnies term for our groups in the parish).  The flowers were indeed impressive.

After next age pension payday on 22nd Feb, or I just might risk it this pay received today, I will be able to post off my grand niece's first birthday present..........belatedly.

I did get around to changing the batteries in my clocks after all - it was a stretch and hit and miss but I managed to do it.

The threatening bipolar episode is now, I think, in its dying stages.  Still just a bit of struggle just now and then, but thanks be to God and those who have prayed, I am quite confident at this point that I have negotiated the threatening episode and got the better of it without a serious psychotic episode.  Deo Gratius!

My foster son caused so many problems as a result of his stay here that he is not coming in future monthly to help me out with jobs I cannot do.  The stress he brought on me because of his stay and his dishonesty with me has caused real tension between us......but not forever.   Rather I have hired a handyman - he is a good worker and his price is very reasonable. It is something that will be a real financial stress and burden, but nevertheless not impossible.  I have halved my funeral insurance and cancelled my contents insurance; however, probably around May, I should be in a better financial position and if so will renew my contents insurance then.  I started out the way of life of Bethany with an old unreliable fridge, a wringer washing machine, a bed and a wardrobe.  I had no floor coverings, only bare untreated floorboards and sheets and blankets on the windows.  I am unafraid of returning to such a position and my trust always is confidently in The Lord.  At times of stress and real difficulty, I may not feel that trust and confidence, but I invest in it nevertheless without any feelings in support.

It is possible to feel nothing whatsoever even feelings to the contrary, to make an act of trust and confidence in The Lord with one's will - and to renew those acts of trustful confidence as one journeys along either lacking feelings in support, or even feelings that are anything but trustful and confident.  Feelings can be funny creatures, very often we do not choose them at all, rather quite to the contrary often, feelings simply are and are hence amoral i.e. neither right nor wrong, good nor bad.  They can arise from many matters beyond conscious control and choice of the will -  matters biological and/or unconscious over which we do not have control.  It is what the will chooses and desires that is the functioning level of our spirituality.............no matter the feeling level.  I just muddle through the difficulty and the feelings in rebellion (everywhere but where I would choose and desire them to be).  I tell The Lord that I do trust confidently in Him and His Will and will do what I can in the situation and muddle my way through it with His Help always, leaving the rest up to Him and His Will, His Decision (advice of St. Mary of The Cross MacKillop - our first Australian saint! - i.e. "do what you can and leave the rest to God")

Despite the fact that my current psychiatrist has been a wonderful help and support to me over many years, her rooms are now so far from where I live and inconvenient to my brother, who takes me there.  Since she is now only consulting two days weekly and from 2 - 4pm (even more inconvenient to my brother), I have located another psychiatrist.  He is very close to where I live, will bulk bill (meaning his consultations are free to me as an age pensioner) and is willing to take on another patient who is a sufferer of bipolar.  I rang his rooms to find out the position.  I see my current psychiatrist again on 16th Feb and will be speaking with her about the latter and obtaining a referral for continuing treatment by this new psychiatrist.  I will then have a couple of appointments to discern if I can work with him or not.  If I can't, I will return to my current psychiatrist......I have discussed it all with my brother and he is quite happy to fit in with whatever I decide, even if my current psychiatrist is inconvenient to him.

I am not too happy with my SD just now, although he just might be unaware of the problem in what he gave me.  He gave me a printed exercise to do of several parts and in the doing, I came across a statement that truly startled me and there I stopped dead, full stop - went no further.  I have sent him an email on the subject and will be moving into the unfoldings as they do unfold.

Just could/might be my journey is about to take a different direction on a couple of fronts.

"All is Grace" St Therese of Lisieux

Deo Gratius

Laudate Dominum in all things regardless

.............moving on in the journey..............

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...and what I forgot to post......

Reading back a bit and noting the many "I"s and "Me"s in my posts, I decided to simply make note of them and not permit them to shake up my 'apple-cart' bringing about discouragement -  and just move on with the unfoldings without undue concern and ask The Lord to inform and correct me if I am stumbling or off my path, and in falling to grant The Grace to rise again - along with the Grace to be neither startled nor surprised (never discouraged) at my many faults and failings.  I am hoping that writing these posts not only clarifies things in my own mind as nothing else other than writing will really, and that the posts will also communicate my own 'spirituality' (or whatever - i.e. what gets me by in my Faith, Hope & Love journey) and as I journey ........ as a quite ordinary Catholic in every way.  I also find the many spiritual quotes and texts I post helpful to me firstly -  and hopefully to any readers also

Faith, Hope and Love are known as the theological virtues gifted to us at Baptism. Sometimes Faith leads, sometimes Love or Hope - but no matter which virtue is in conscious emphasis, the other two are partnered equally with it.  The object of the theological virtues is always God, The Blessed Trinity, The Lord.  From the astounding Transforming Gift and vocation of our Baptism (with the theological virtues), flow all and any of the other virtues.

Good news is that my electricity account for the quarter arrived in my Inbox this morning and it was opened with no small trepidation.  It is down by $200 on the same time last year.  Gratitude overwhelms me abundantly!  More good news is that this would be the first day I have woken without a terrible feeling of anxiety without knowing the actual why precisely.  That anxiety would persist for most of the day.  It is a sort of free floating anxiety as a (temporary) state of existence most often related to acute (for me) stress.  As the days have unfolded the reasons for that acute stress are now largely dealt with and settled hence no logical reason for the anxiety that has persevered until this morning.  "All is Grace" St Therese of Lisieux

I did forget to post last chat that I went out on last Tuesday on my very first St Vinnies visit as a rostered visitor. My 'partner in crime'  (he has a vehicle) and I chatted and dropped off a parcel of food to a young struggling single mother with 2 children.  With the ironing now out of my way, I am rostered for weekly Tuesday visits as well as an emergency or on-call visitor every Friday if those rostered cannot attend.

Still trying to get my daily prayer routine to fall into place ............ some success..........more failures.  Still trying.

....... try ..........success or failure is The Lord's domain.....

Deo Gratius

Laudate Dominum in all things regardless

........... the journey.............

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Overcoming Shame Through Faith

http://catholicexchange.com/overcoming-shame-faith?mc_cid=7ba3c34032&mc_eid=365c5a299b

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Excerpt:..........".............Shame would have us remain in a place of stagnancy, wouldn’t it?  Whereas love beckons us to exit our safe cocoons, shame would rather we stay hidden.  If we want to become courageous people of faith, we must turn to what St. John of the Cross called obscure faith in order to overcome the shadows of shame.

Vulnerability through love without conditions is what leads us to obscure faith.  This is the most authentic and pure form of the theological virtue, because, though it is unclear, it remains certain – in a God who provides for every detail of our lives, in a God who will fulfill the work He has begun in us, in a God whose mercy is always available to us.  Obscure faith does not rely upon emotions, whether affirming or shameful.  Instead, it relies solely upon knowing who God is and believing in His love for us..........."..............

 

 

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[Guest]

 

All quotes are from my previous post: HERE

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 "move on with the unfoldings without undue concern and ask The Lord to inform and correct me if I am stumbling or off my path, and in falling to grant The Grace to rise again - along with the Grace to be neither startled nor surprised (never discouraged) at my many faults and failings." 

Do I feel any of the above? Nope, not one iota of any word of it do I actually feel on the feeling level.  I simply choose (will) to believe it and invest in what I will to believe.  To me, it is an investment in what Faith tells me.

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quite ordinary Catholic in every way

When I realised that I had no call nor vocation to religious life and that I had a quite serious mental illness that indications were would persevere and probably for life - at least a mental illness at times***, I was also then living in a very poor suburb of endless social problems and crime.  I wasn't there by choice, it was where the government housing authority offered me at last a roof over my head and one I could afford on the disability pension.   I was no longer a respected and valued parishioner as prior to the onset of bipolar. My marriage was finished, my then husband divorcing me.  My children had been taken from me.   I was no longer living in a quite affluent suburb but now in a poor suburb, I then heard the call to remain where I was among the very poor and rejected, marginalised, and to remain there trustfully.  From that point, the lifestyle I call "Bethany" unfolded although the seed of that lifestyle had been planted before I actually found myself among the very poor etc.  To my way of thought back then, that seed seemed to plant itself quite accidentally.  I have left it that way without much reflection at all, while Faith tells me that nothing is accidental nor coincidental.

***Probably a great source of confusion to others where bipolar is concerned is that the sufferer might have periods of complete normality in every way along with excellent coping skills.  Then suddenly they are gone and a psychotic bipolar state takes over.  This did lead many in my instance (and I am not alone) to conclude that I just needed to pull myself together.  There was even talk that my episodes of serious bipolar were simply an attention getter to be completely ignored (I am not alone either in those conclusions by others).

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Good news is that my electricity account for the quarter arrived in my Inbox this morning and it was opened with no small trepidation.  It is down by $200 on the same time last year.  Gratitude overwhelms me abundantly!  More good news is that this would be the first day I have woken without a terrible feeling of anxiety without knowing the actual why precisely.  That anxiety would persist for most of the day

More on the good news front.  I have just realised that from now until March 2017 our state government is sending out payments of $100 to those on low incomes to assist with living expenses.  I checked and I am on the list for that payment.

The other good news absolutely is that I am no longer waking up with that terrible felling of anxiety without really knowing the precise why of it logically.  I am very confident that probably the threatening episode of bipolar is now no longer a threat at all and I have returned to a quite normal state of existence.  Begs the question: "What IS normalcy?"

Deo Gratius

Laudate Dominum in all things regardless

...........tomorrow can look after itself...........

"Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."  Matthew Chapter 6

Edited February 12, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

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If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider “not spiritual work”

I can best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave,

when in truth it is the interest and exciting,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

… Amy Carmichael (Beware the religious or spiritual ego trip! God is present in all situations, and loving service in union with God is always possible.)

 

 

 

Are Christians called to win?   CATHOLIC EXCHANGE

 

 

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Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Society

14th February 2017

 

Writing to encourage establishment of conferences in Siena:

“........how strengthening to enervated hearts to show them the poor; that is,

to show them Jesus Christ

not only in images painted by the great masters,

but to show them Jesus Christ in the persons of the poor.”
– Bl. Frederic Ozanam

[Guest]

TO BOAST OR NOT TO BOAST

General Audience, February 1st 2017 / © PHOTO.VA - OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Even if growing up our parents said not to boast, there are times it’s permissible, affirmed Pope Francis during the General Audience of February 15, 2017.

Continuing his catecheses on Christian hope, the Pope meditated on how Saint Paul mentions two times it is ok to do so, which do not disrespect, but remind of God’s love.

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https://zenit.org/articles/general-audience-reflecting-on-hope-pope-tells-when-boasting-is-ok/

Pope Francis :.............

......... "Dear Brothers and Sisters: As children we were always taught that it is not good to boast. For when we boast about who we are or what we have, we disrespect those who are less fortunate.

Yet, Saint Paul surprises us by twice telling us to boast. First, he tells us to boast of the abundant grace we receive in Jesus Christ through the gift of faith. God has created all things as a gift of love, through which he makes known his plan of salvation fulfilled in Jesus. He invites us to make this grace the cause of all our praise and joy. When we do this, we know God’s peace, which flows into our lives and relationships.

But Saint Paul also tells us to boast of our afflictions. For God’s peace is not the absence of fears, disappointments, or suffering. Rather, it reminds us that God loves us and is always with us. This peace, Saint Paul says, bears patience, for even in the most difficult moments, we know that the mercy and goodness of the Lord remain with us, that nothing can separate us from God.

Christian hope then is not based on who we are or what we are capable of, but on God’s love for each one of us. May we be instruments of hope, so that our greatest boast will be of a Father who excludes no one, but opens his home to all. And may we be a people who sustain one another with this message of Christian hope.".......

(all formatting is mine)

 

 

[Guest]

On ‎12‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 1:21 PM, BarbaraTherese said:

I then heard the call to remain where I was among the very poor and rejected, marginalised, and to remain there trustfully

Re the above, I did not actually hear anything at all of course as "hear" is understood in the normal course.  What happened is that it clicked into place for me about the Doctrine of Divine Providence and that I was where I was in a very poor crime riddled suburb for God's totally mysterious and hidden reasons.  That same Doctrine informed me that I could trust fully and confidently that God had very good reasons for where I found myself.  Much later, very much later, I was able to realise that much as a religious might be shifted from one community to another, and as a priest from one parish to another, I had been shifted from one experience of life into another totally different experience. Religious Life specifically (and as the state of perfection) can speak to all of us in the laity ... with a bit of creative thinking and without removing us from the temporal and secular which is our own particular call and vocation, mission.  I did not experience any of that as an actual consolation, rather as what seemed to me logical reasons I could understand at that time, rather than what I had initially experienced......i.e. that life can indeed be totally absurd and I was experiencing the absurdity of it.

Eventually I also grasped for myself that God's good reasons were both good for me and mysteriously good for all others at the very same time.  I began, I guess, to formulate for myself what I call "God's Economy" which, for me, means that when God acts for one person, in a most mysterious manner indeed, He is acting for the Good of The Universal Church on earth including mankind generally as well.  Baptism!  The Doctrine of The Mystical Body of Christ began to 'speak' to me - and of course not in terms of 'speak' as it is understood in the normal course.  The Doctrine began to have real meaning for me as I lived out my very ordinary day to day life of adjustment into a very poor community and suburb indeed and in every way - and as I began the journey of getting over feeling sorry for myself and my eyes began to open, as it were, to opportunity.  I needed to get over the notion that God was punishing me - and justly so.......which is an entirely negative outlook and in one aspect, totally unkind, unjust and false to a God who is Our Loving Father. I did think, mind you, that God had quite just reasons for any punishment, but I also felt that there had to be something positive in it all even perhaps simply to spare me some Purgatory (or even Hell itself) in the hereafter.  What my experience of mental illness, and the destruction that came in the wake of it, did reveal to me was that God indeed alone was stable and reliable in life, including in any and all negative experiences that life can possibly chuck at one, as it were.  

In all the above, which occurred to me as I journeyed along (hearing, reading, reflecting) began to take on a totally positive outlook..........opportunity.  Nothing occurred to me in a blinding flash of light as it were, quite the opposite in fact.  In many ways, perhaps even in all ways, it has been and is a journey of integrating what my Catholic Faith tells me into my day to day living.  On the one hand, there are the Doctrines and Dogmas of Faith and on the other hand, and at the very same time, are the attempts to allow them to speak and influence my attitudes and perspectives in my journey -  and in the Spirit and Way of Jesus and His Gospel in which they are rooted and from which they flow.

As all the above was very slowly taking place, I was also living eventually a way of life.  A way of life that just unfolded in the days due to presenting circumstances.  I lived it with total imperfection, stumbling along through success and failure, ups and downs, understanding and non understanding.  Formulating it into an actual way of life for myself I came to call "Bethany" was still a way ahead of me somewhere or other.

My particular gift has never been my actual journey, it has been a certain ability to put it into words - at times spot on, at other times a little or a lot off the mark.

Deo Gratius

Laudate Dominum in all things regardless.

.........God gifts and He takes away...........All is Grace (St Therese of Lisieux)...............

 

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ST TERESA'S BOOKMARK

 

http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/st-teresas-bookmark.html  "Is today driving you crazy? This prayer below, known as St. Teresa's Bookmark, can help you calm down. Is your stomach all tied up in knots with worries? Is your mind racing like a hamster in a cage going around and around on a wheel? Give yourself a break! Take a deep breath. St. Teresa’s Bookmark can give you some much needed perspective on things!"

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing;
God only is changeless.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.

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"St. Teresa experienced many hardships during her life, including illnesses and struggles both in her prayer life and in establishing her reformed Order. Still, she had an amiable disposition and a good sense of humor as well, as evidenced by a well-known story related to her.

Supposedly, Jesus said to St. Teresa after she experienced some trial, “That's how I treat my friends” to which she replied “and that’s why you have so few”! Actually, as to her real feelings, she wrote in The Interior Castle that “However many years life might last, no one could ever wish for a better friend than God.”

Keep in mind, in relation to this incident, that Jesus was not acting like some kind of killjoy here. Our Lord has called on mystics, religious and lay people alike to share their sufferings with His on the cross at Calvary for others' salvation, as discussed here. 

The line in St. Teresa's Bookmark about all things passing is both challenging and comforting. After all, neither the good things we experience in this world, nor the bad ones, last forever. We are challenged to share God's blessings with others rather than to hoard them for our own selfish desires. And we are comforted in the knowledge that whatever hardships and pains we experience, even the really bad ones, also pass away! (Or as St. Teresa herself once said, “Pain is never permanent”.)

St. Teresa's assertion that “God only is changeless” also brings to mind our Lord’s own words about what really lasts: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matt 24:35).

She also brings up the importance of patience in our journey towards Eternal Life. Indeed, patience is one of the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit! It can help us endure even the most difficult trials with God's grace. The patience we show others also reflects the love we have in our hearts. We can make a nice scriptural link here in trying to discern God's will for us. As St. John put it in one of his letters, “God is Love” (1 Jn 4:8). And, as St. Paul once wrote, “Love is Patient” (Cor 1:13:4).

Ultimately, the important thing, as St. Teresa's Bookmark reminds us, is to keep God front and center in our lives as much as possible, even with all the day-to-day distractions of making a living and providing for our families that can often threaten our peace of mind.

After all, didn't Jesus tell us in the Sermon on the Mount to “seek first the kingdom of God….and all these things [our material needs] shall be given you” (Matt 6:33)? St. Teresa's Bookmark echoes that wonderful sentiment in its last two lines. Hopefully this great prayer can help you keep your cool in troubling times!"

 

 

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St Vincent de Paul Society

Daily Reflection

 

“The poor person, the patient, must be conscious that he is acknowledged as an individual, that he is respected, loved, treated on an equal footing and capable of giving as much as he receives.”
– Rev. Joseph Jamet, C.M.

[Guest]

Searching for and Maintaining Peace

(Jacques Phillipe)

Available on Kindle

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"One of the principal obstacles one encounters on the way to perfection is the precipitous and impatient desire to progress and to possess those virtues that we feel we don’t have. On the contrary, the true means of solidly advancing, and with giant steps, is to be patient and to calm and pacify these anxieties.… Don’t get ahead of your guide for fear of getting lost and straying from the path that He indicates, because, if you do, instead of arriving safe and sound, you will fall into a pit.

Your guide is the Holy Spirit. By your struggles and worries, by your anxiety and haste, you overtake Him with the pretense of moving more quickly. And then what happens? You stray from the path and find yourself on terrain that is harder and rougher and, far from advancing, you go backwards; at a minimum, you waste your time."

 

 

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FOR LOVE ALONE

Without expectation, do something for love itself, not for what you may receive. Love in action is what gives us grace. We have been created for greater things - - to love and to be loved. Love is love - - to love a person without any conditions, without any expectations. Small things, done in great love, bring joy and peace. To love, it is necessary to give. To give, it is necessary to be free from selfishness.

- St. Teresa of Calcutta

BREAKING THE CIRCLE

https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-on-loving-our-enemies/

Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave today before and after praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

* * *

Before the Angelus

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 5:38-48) – one of those pages that expresses best the Christian “revolution” – Jesus shows the way of true justice through the law of love, which surmounts that of retaliation, namely, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This ancient rule imposed inflicting on transgressors punishments equivalent to the damages caused: death to one who killed, amputation to one who wounded someone, and so on. Jesus does not ask His disciples to suffer evil, rather, He asks them to react, but not with another evil, but with goodness. Only thus is the chain of evil broken: an evil leads to another evil, another evil leads to another evil …  This chain of evil is broken, and things truly change. Evil in fact is a “void,” a void of goodness, and it cannot be filled with another void, but only with “fullness,” namely, with goodness. Reprisals never lead to the resolution of conflicts. “You did it to me, I’ll do it to you”: this never resolves a conflict, nor is it Christian.

For Jesus the rejection of violence can also imply giving up a legitimate right; and He gives some examples: to give the other cheek, to give one’s cloak or one’s money, to accept other sacrifices (cf. vv. 39-42). However, this renunciation does not mean that the demands of justice are ignored or contradicted; on the contrary, Christian love, which manifests itself in a special way in mercy, represents a higher realization of justice. What Jesus wants to teach us is the clear distinction we must make between justice and retaliation – to distinguish between justice and retaliation. Retaliation is never just; we are permitted to ask for justice; it is our duty to practice justice. Instead, we are prohibited from vindicating ourselves and from fomenting retaliation in some way, in as much as <it is an> expression of hatred and of violence.

Jesus does not wish to propose a new civil rule, but rather the commandment to love our neighbor, which also includes love of enemies: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (v. 44). And this is not easy. This word is not understood as approval of the evil done by an enemy, but as an invitation in a higher, a magnanimous perspective, similar to that of the heavenly Father, who – Jesus says — “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (v. 45). In fact, an enemy is also a human person, created as such in the image of God, even if at present this image is obfuscated by unworthy conduct.

When we speak of “enemies” we must not think, perhaps, of those persons who are different and distant from us; we speak also of ourselves, who can enter in conflict with our neighbor, at times with our relatives. How many enmities there are in families, how many! Enemies are those also who speak badly of us, who calumniate us and do us wrongs. And it is not easy to digest this. We are called to respond to all of them with goodness, which also has its strategies, inspired by love.

May the Virgin Mary help us to follow Jesus in this demanding way, which truly exalts human dignity and makes us live as children of our Father who is in Heaven. May she help us to practice patience, dialogue, forgiveness, and thus be craftsmen of communion, craftsmen of fraternity in our daily life, especially in our family.

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BEING LED BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE

St Vincent de Paul Society - Quote of the Day

 

 

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Feb 20, 2017

This maxim of neither asking nor refusing anything, which keeps us dependent on God and His guidance,

can only be pleasing to God,

especially because it destroys human sentiments that,

under pretext of zeal and of the glory of God,

lead us often to undertake works that he neither inspires nor blesses (VI:331).

 

There was a time when the above quotation would have been quite obscure to me until I read "Abandonment to Divine Providence" Jean Pierre de Caussade SJ.  Reading that work (a spiritual classic) was like light flooding into a dark room and understanding with it.  It is available free online: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/decaussade/abandonment   The letters of de Caussade at the rear of the text are a very important contribution to the overall work.

Reading the lives of the saints especially, I used to wonder why they grasped almost instantaneously and so clearly (even in their early childhood) something that had been for many years completely obscure to me.  I came to the conclusion that first, I was no saint and secondly (and in the terms of Divine Providence - see CCC #302 onwards HERE) the following from the Invitatory Psalm to the Divine Office became very clear and held real meaning for me:

For the Lord is a great God,

  a king above all gods.

For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,

  and the peaks of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his: he made it;

  and his hands formed the dry land.

  Perhaps if I had grasped the Doctrine of Divine Providence earlier, my life's journey just might have taken a different course (that's a "what if" and never ever spiritually helpful).  But that work of de Caussade's also helped me to understand that God leads all without exception, and in His Divine Providence, howsoever He may, even through the darkest patches of life when one seems to be blind and groping around in the muck and the mire; that undoubtedly I could be confident that where I found myself (with all its problems. muck and mire) was where I was meant to be, where I was called to grow and unfold, to flower; that I was neither in the situation alone, nor would work through it alone.  Divine Providence.

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FREEDOM OF SPIRIT

When we are spiritually free, we do not have to worry about what to say or do in unexpected, difficult circumstances. When we are not concerned about what others think of us or what we will get for what we do, the right words and actions will emerge from the centre of our beings because the Spirit of God, who makes us children of God and sets us free, will speak and act through us. 
- Henri J. M. Nouwen

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Contemplative Prayer - Father Benedict Groeschel

 

https://youtu.be/oeMheOdUjd8

Edited February 21, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

Vincentian Spirituality

“If Jesus and His Gospel are the centre of your life, no words are necessary

Your mere presence will touch hearts.”

 

            (St Vincent de Paul)

 

“The poor have much to teach you. You have much to learn from them.”

(St. Vincent de Paul)

When we share in the life and goals of poor persons, we discover the presence of the Spirit of the Lord who renews us. As we speak with them, listen to them, and accompany them as the agents of their own way to liberation, we allow ourselves to be evangelized by them– we are inspired and humbled by their faith and hope in God under the worst of circumstances.

Secular Presence

From the beginning, the role of the laity was pivotal to our mission. The laity revealed the needs of the poor to Vincent. One could say that the laity led Vincent to the poor. Today the Vincentian Family still shares a secular character. The charism comes from an association with the laity

(Above has been taken from VinFormation http://vinformation.famvin.org/)

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DEPRESSED

Have had an lousy couple of days struggling with depression and probably related to bipolar since I cannot find anything to be depressed about.  Each of the problems that did come up have been resolved and no need to be depressed.  Just cruising along as I am able and trusting - not asking too much of myself nor making any decisions.  Nothing lasts forever and if St Teresa of Avila had not said it and therefore entirely reliable, I have plenty of evidence in my journey that indeed nothing is forever and The Lord is to be fully trusted in all things.  I may not feel it, which I don't, but I can live it.

Muddling along in a bit of muck and mire - and of my own making I think......somewhere in this psyche.............. or whatever the correct terminology might be.

I have been able, Deo Gratius, to get done what needs to be done and have been able, much gratitude again, to not burden others with whom I have had contact with my current little woes (including a couple of visits for St Vinnies) .  Other than, of course, unburdening myself in this thread which is a bit of a kaleidoscope of this's and that's.  Thank you for bearing my tiny burden "bear ye one another's burdens".  You are graced by The Lord for your kind and generous tolerance.......including very much dUSt.......our fearless leader and The Boss.

Who on earth am I writing to?.............no idea at all nor does it matter one iota!

Laudate Dominum in all things regardless

and.........Deo Gratius for "All is Grace" (St Therese of Lisieux)