Guest Posted February 4, 2021 Posted February 4, 2021 “God can redeem our past. It is quite mysterious how He can take any terrible thing and make something far more beautiful out of it than we ever could have imagined.” -Julie Onderko, Discover Your Next Mission from God Quote HERE Nearly 200 people – the maximum allowed due to COVID-19 restrictions – attended the Mass of Christian Burial which was held in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral yesterday. Principal Celebrant Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan welcomed Archbishop Wilson’s family members from New South Wales, multi-faith and Government representatives and other invited guests to what was a moving tribute to the eighth Archbishop of Adelaide. Concelebrating were deacons, priests, and bishops from the archdiocese and interstate, as well as Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Melbourne Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli. During the service Papal Nuncio Adolfo Tito Yllana delivered a message of condolence from the Pope. In his homily, Bishop Emeritus Greg O’Kelly SJ spoke from the heart about his friend’s priestly service which spanned over 45 years, and the difficulties he had faced in recent years. “Philip lived his faith, he stated it in his homilies and it supported him, especially in these last times.” Bishop O’Kelly said while these last years of new circumstances and illness affected him greatly, “there was never any word of self-pity at what had happened to him”. “There was a quietness of persistence and a sense that he was in communion with the Christ of the Cross, not denying it and seeming to accept that he had to embrace the cross he was given, always sure that our most authentic response is to accept whatever God’s will is for us.”
Guest Posted February 6, 2021 Posted February 6, 2021 Biography Blessed Mary Teresa - Foundress: Sisters of St Francis of Perpetual Adoration ( I counted 44 novices !!! )
Guest Posted February 7, 2021 Posted February 7, 2021 The Peace of Christ vs Worldly Peace: https://philstromain.podbean.com/e/spiritual-peace-versus-worldly-peace/ Walking in Union with God
Guest Posted February 7, 2021 Posted February 7, 2021 Mother of Perpetual Help, with the greatest confidence we come before your holy picture to be inspired by the example of your life. You plead for us in all need to The Will of God We think of you at that moment when, full of faith and trust, you accepted God’s call to be the mother of his Son. Help us, your children, to accept with joy our own calling in life. When you learned that your cousin Elizabeth was in need you immediately went to serve her and offer your help. Help us, like you, to be concerned for others. Please ask Your Son, Prince of All Mercy, To fly to the aid of our world in its hour of dire need Materially, temporarily and, most of all, spiritually We think of you, Mother, at the foot of the cross. Your heart must have bled to see your Son in agony. But your joy was great when he rose from the dead, victorious over the powers of evil. Mother of Sorrows, help us through the trials and disappointments of life. Help us not to lose heart. May we share with you and your Son the joy of having courageously faced up to all the challenges of life. Conform our wills we plead, Mother of God. to the Will of God Amen. (Drawn from https://www.redemptoristslimerick.ie/pray-with-us/pray-with-our-mother-of-perpetual-help/)
Guest Posted February 8, 2021 Posted February 8, 2021 The Imitation of Christ spiritual treatise of the 15th century Book II, ch. 5-6 Excerpt: "The Christian puts care for himself above all other things; and he who tends himself with care is not inclined to gossip. You will never be inward and devout till you are silent about others and specially watchful over yourself (…) The soul that loves God, under God it spurns the universe. Only God is eternal and immense; the fulfillment of all things, the comfort of the soul and the heart's true joy. (…) You will sweetly repose if your heart does not rebuke you. Rejoice at nothing but only your good deeds. Bad men have never a true joy, nor feel inner peace; for “there is no peace for the wicked” (Is 57:21). (…) He is easily calmed and contented whose conscience is clean. Praise makes you not more holy nor insult more worthless. What you are you are; what God knows of you is all than can be said for you. If you will only look at what you truly are, you will not care what men say of you. “Man looks at the appearance but God looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7)." "Yes, there is good news even in a life that is drudgery" https://aleteia.org/2021/02/07/yes-there-is-good-news-even-in-a-life-that-is-drudgery/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en Excerpt: "God has not been absent. It would be a mistake to believe that the spiritual life has been on pause, simply waiting for the situation to change. The truth is that God has been with us, despite every obstacle, every inconvenience, every sorrow, every death."
Guest Posted February 8, 2021 Posted February 8, 2021 Sometimes life can seem like trying to push a heavy boulder up a steep hill (seem being operative). Jesus is with us at all times, no matter the weather - and sometimes it can seem that He is not (seem being operative again). Sometimes, one knows how to respond and has a victory and sometimes one does not and has a failure (and that is just life, and life only ........... in every journey!) So much to be grateful for, so very much!
Guest Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) https://www.sosj.org.au/reflection-mmk-feb-21/ February 8, 2021 In his Apostolic Letter With a Father’s Heart (Patris Corde) Pope Francis has proclaimed this year as the Year of St Joseph. Reflecting with Mary MacKillop. St Joseph is Patron of The Church. An important year to ask St Joseph for prayers for The Church especially. Edited February 9, 2021 by BarbaraTherese
Guest Posted February 15, 2021 Posted February 15, 2021 “Overcomers are not perfect. They fail just like the rest of us, but they keep on getting up, keep on repenting, and keep on being willing to surrender themselves to Christ and letting Him, who is the only perfect One, work through them.” ― Nancy Missler, The Kingdom, Power, & Glory Quote We are not called to be doormats. It is certainly a virtue to be praised highly to accept humiliation, for example, in life with meekness and docility. We are not called to do so in all instances however. We are called, however, to be non-violent in response. Researching into meanings in the times of Jesus is something of an investment of mine - especially understanding the words of Jesus in His Times - what He is really saying.) " https://www.massexplained.com/dont-be-a-doormat/ (My comment: I am only quoting an excerpt from this article. It is a very interesting read. We do need to understand Jesus and His Gospel in the context of His own times. Certainly, left and right had distinct reasons. Also, for evil or wrong to abound even increase, for one, all it takes is for good people to do nothing.) 1. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. 2. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. 3. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. These three illustrations (...), are blueprints for the nonviolent resistance Jesus want us to exercise. Wink supports this by offering historical context. 1. Jesus is quite specific as to which cheek he is referring. In his illustration, someone has been struck on the right cheek. Jesus demands that he or she now offer the left. Why? In ancient Middle eastern societies, the left hand was used for hygienic purposes (read bathroom) and hardly ever used for anything else. Eating, shaking hands, etc was done with the right. Assuming you cannot use your left hand, the only way you could stand in front of someone and strike their right cheek is by slapping them with the back of your right hand. This type of buffet is not intended to injure, but to humiliate. This is how a master would reprimand a slave. Slaves made a large part of Jesus’ audience and he directs them to offer their left cheek so that the aggressor (their master) would treat them as a peer–an equal–and realize that they are abusing their power. This makes the master cognizant of his sins. Slaves and masters are the same in God’s eyes–there is no class distinction. A perfect example of loving your enemy into repentance.
Guest Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 Five Green Traffic Lights, please https://aleteia.org/2021/02/26/st-joseph-in-art-an-enigmatic-and-elusive-figure/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en
Guest Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 "Faith and The Future" Kindle - $16.44 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Author) Increasingly, the future is becoming a theme for theological reflection. In the background we can detect a growing concern among many people for the future of faith. Does faith have any future at all, and, if so, where in all the confusion of today's trends will we discover its embryo? But the problem of the future assails not only the believer. In the ever more rapidly advancing process of historical evolution, man is confronted with enormous opportunities, but also with colossal perils. For him, the future is not only hope, but sorrow—a nightmare, indeed. He cannot avoid asking what part faith can play in building tomorrow's world. Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, approaches this problem of universal concern from a variety of angles, bringing his deep personal faith and theological brilliance to bear on these serious questions. Quote Excerpt "Faith and The Future" : https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/spiritual-life/the-church-will-become-small.html The church will become small CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes . . . she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members.... It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek . . . The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain . . . But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret. And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.
Guest Posted March 6, 2021 Posted March 6, 2021 Just paid what I thought would be $49 something, but when converted cost me $62.91 for a year's subscription to WordPress.com. My hope is that since I have paid for it, I will make the effort to learn about how to write a blog...........but success or failure remains to be seen. St Francis de Sales, please say a prayer for me. At this point, I feel as if I have bought something while blindfolded. And then on taking the blindfold off, I have no idea what I have bought
Machine_Washable Posted March 6, 2021 Posted March 6, 2021 17 minutes ago, BarbaraTherese said: Just paid what I thought would be $49 something, but when converted cost me $62.91 for a year's subscription to WordPress.com. My hope is that since I have paid for it, I will make the effort to learn about how to write a blog...........but success or failure remains to be seen. St Francis de Sales, please say a prayer for me. At this point, I feel as if I have bought something while blindfolded. And then on taking the blindfold off, I have no idea what I have bought I don’t work with Wordpress. But listening to people who have I believe it is essentially a more robust platform for making webpages without having to do the coding yourself. If you can do some coding you can get some additional functionality. A company I worked for used Wordpress before we just built our own website from scratch. If you only want to blog it may be overpowered. But if you want to blog and also maybe have some additional functionality it is probably a good choice.
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