Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

[BarbTherese]

Attended the Pain Clinic and they have decided to put me back on a slightly increased dose of Nor-span Patches.  Hopefully to eliminate the itch, I will be having Cortisone Cream to rub on my skin a couple of hours before applying the patch.  I am hoping it will work as the only reason Nor-span patches were stopped was because of the itch - seems I am allergic to elastic - other than that the patches were really working for my pain factor.

  

                                 

FROM Divine Office

Monday 6th March 2023

 

Morning Prayer - Lauds - https://www.universalis.com/1030/lauds.htm

 

Evening Prayer - Vespers - https://www.universalis.com/1030/vespers.htm 

 

                                       Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                                Monday 6th March 2023

 

From the Catecheses by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop

Christ and Moses

The Israelites witnessed marvels; you also will witness marvels, greater and more splendid than those which accompanied them on their departure from Egypt. You did not see Pharaoh drowned with his armies, but you have seen the devil with his weapons overcome by the waters of baptism. The Israelites passed through the sea; you have passed from death to life. They were delivered from the Egyptians; you have been delivered from the powers of darkness. The Israelites were freed from slavery to a pagan people; you have been freed from the much greater slavery to sin.

  Do you need another argument to show that the gifts you have received are greater than theirs? The Israelites could not look on the face of Moses in glory, though he was their fellow servant and kinsman. But you have seen the face of Christ in his glory. Paul cried out: We see the glory of the Lord with faces unveiled.

  In those days Christ was present to the Israelites as he followed them, but he is present to us in a much deeper sense. The Lord was with them because of the favour he showed to Moses; now he is with us, but not simply because of your obedience. After Egypt they dwelt in desert places; after your departure you will dwell in heaven. Their great leader and commander was Moses; we have a new Moses, God himself, as our leader and commander.

  What distinguished the first Moses? Moses, Scripture tells us, was more gentle than all who dwelt upon the earth. We can rightly say the same of the new Moses, for there was with him the very Spirit of gentleness, united to him in his inmost being. In those days Moses raised his hands to heaven and brought down manna, the bread of angels; the new Moses raises his hands to heaven and gives us the food of eternal life. Moses struck the rock and brought forth streams of water; Christ touches his table, strikes the spiritual rock of the new covenant and draws forth the living water of the Spirit. This rock is like a fountain in the midst of Christ’s table, so that on all sides the flocks may draw near to this living spring and refresh themselves in the waters of salvation.

  Since this fountain, this source of life, this table surrounds us with untold blessings and fills us with the gifts of the Spirit, let us approach it with sincerity of heart and purity of conscience to receive grace and mercy in our time of need. Grace and mercy be yours from the only-begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; through him and with him be glory, honour and power to the Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and always and for ever. Amen.

 

[BarbTherese]

                                   

From Divine Office (General Calendar)

Tuesday 7th March 2023 

 

Morning Prayer - Lauds - https://www.universalis.com/20230307/lauds.htm

Evening Prayer - Vespers - https://www.universalis.com/20230307/vespers.htm

  

                                     Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                                Tuesday 7th March 2023

 

A commentary of St Augustine on Psalm 140

The passion of the whole body of Christ

Lord, I have cried to you, hear me. This is a prayer we can all say. This is not my prayer, but that of the whole Christ. Rather, it is said in the name of his body. When Christ was on earth he prayed in his human nature, and prayed to the Father in the name of his body, and when he prayed drops of blood flowed from his whole body. So it is written in the Gospel: Jesus prayed with earnest prayer, and sweated blood. What is this blood streaming from his whole body but the martyrdom of the whole Church?

  Lord, I have cried to you, hear me; listen to the sound of my prayer, when I call upon you. Did you imagine that crying was over when you said: I have cried to you? You have cried out, but do not as yet feel free from care. If anguish is at an end, crying is at an end; but if the Church, the body of Christ, must suffer anguish until the end of time, it must not say only: I have cried to you, hear me; it must also say: Listen to the sound of my prayer, when I call upon you.

  Let my prayer rise like incense in your sight; let the raising of my hands be an evening sacrifice.

  This is generally understood of Christ, the head, as every Christian acknowledges. When day was fading into evening, the Lord laid down his life on the cross, to take it up again; he did not lose his life against his will. Here, too, we are symbolised. What part of him hung on the cross if not the part he had received from us? How could God the Father ever cast off and abandon his only Son, who is indeed one God with him? Yet Christ, nailing our weakness to the cross (where, as the Apostle says: Our old nature was nailed to the cross with him), cried out with the very voice of humanity: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

  The evening sacrifice is then the passion of the Lord, the cross of the Lord, the oblation of the victim that brings salvation, the holocaust acceptable to God. In his resurrection he made this evening sacrifice a morning sacrifice. Prayer offered in holiness from a faithful heart rises like incense from a holy altar. Nothing is more fragrant than the fragrance of the Lord. May all who believe share in this fragrance.

  Therefore, our old nature in the words of the Apostle, was nailed to the cross with him, in order, as he says, to destroy our sinful body, so that we may be slaves to sin no longer.

[BarbTherese]

 

 

 

   

It can be forgotten that Jesus in His Sufferings, His Passion and Death, was a shocking blood covered sight to behold.  Closer to Holy Week, I will be posting an account of Roman Crucifixion again from the Catholic Culture website, and researched and compiled by the following professionals in their respective fields: by William D. Edwards, MD, Wesley J. Gabel, Mdiv, Floyd E. Hosmer, MS, AMI. From the Departments of Pathology (Dr. Edwards) and Medical Graphics (Mr. Hosmer), Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; and the Homestead United Methodist Church, Rochester, Minn., and the West Bethel United Methodist Church, Bethel, Minn. (Pastor Gabel).

                                                              oOo

"What appears below in the quotation box is taken from a long article on Catholic Culture - this long article is often quite technical and for professionals probably - in my estimation anyway.

"Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, delivered this address on mental illness at a conference held in Australia as part of the celebration for the World Day of the Sick on February 11, 2006"

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https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6824

Excerpt only:

(The Mentally ill - a) Faithful Image of God

Therefore, once the mental illness has caused such a disorder as to take away from the mentally ill patient any responsibility for his actions, qualifying them as separation from the divine will —as a sin— the mental patient cannot separate from God. In other words, the image of God in him cannot be distorted. In this case his knowledge or his volitive option are no longer sufficient to motivate any human action that separates him from God. His bodily and psychic conditions do not allow him to commit a grave sin, given that in his state of disequilibrium he does not have that full knowledge and ability of assent required to sin.

If we approach the argument from this point of view, whereby the mentally ill patient does not have the knowledge or the faculty of full consent required to commit a mortal sin, his is not a deformed image of God, since that image can only be deformed by sin. Certainly, it is the suffering image of God, but not a deformed image. He is a reflection of the mystery of the victorious Cross of the Lord. Inspired by the image of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 53, 1-7) we are drawn to a conscious act of faith in the suffering Christ.

 

The Suffering Servant

Isiah https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PP0.HTM

Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him.

He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.  Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.

We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.

Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people,

[BarbTherese]

I enjoy researching the times of Jesus.  I think of The Gospels more as theological documents, teaching documents, not strict historical records.......generally speaking anyway:

 

 

[BarbTherese]

                          

From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

Wednesday 8th March 2023 - 2nd Week LENT

 

Morning Prayer - Lauds - https://universalis.com/20230308/sext.htm

Evening Prayer - Vespers - https://universalis.com/20230308/vespers.htm

  

                                     Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                                Wednesday 8th March 2023

From the treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus

Israel was learning reverence for God and perseverance in his service

From the beginning God created man out of his own generosity. He chose the patriarchs to give them salvation. He took his people in hand, teaching them, unteachable as they were, to follow him. He gave them prophets, accustoming man to bear his Spirit and to have communion with God on earth. He who stands in need of no one gave communion with himself to those who need him. Like an architect he outlined the plan of salvation to those who sought to please him. By his own hand he gave food in Egypt to those who did not see him. To those who were restless in the desert he gave a law perfectly suited to them. To those who entered the land of prosperity he gave a worthy inheritance. He killed the fatted calf for those who turned to him as Father, and clothed them with the finest garment. In so many ways he was training the human race to take part in the harmonious song of salvation.

  For this reason John in the book of Revelation says: His voice was as the voice of many waters. The Spirit of God is indeed a multitude of waters, for the Father is rich and great. As the Word passed among all these people he provided help in generous measure for those who were obedient to him, by drawing up a law that was suitable and fitting for every circumstance.

  He established a law for the people governing the construction of the tabernacle and the building of the temple, the choice of Levites, the sacrifices, the offerings, the rites of purification and the rest of what belonged to worship.

  He himself needs none of these things. He is always filled with all that is good. Even before Moses existed he had within himself every fragrance of all that is pleasing. Yet he sought to teach his people, always ready though they were to return to their idols. Through many acts of indulgence he tried to prepare them for perseverance in his service. He kept calling them to what was primary by means of what was secondary, that is, through foreshadowings to the reality, through things of time to the things of eternity, through things of the flesh to the things of the spirit, through earthly things to the heavenly things. As he said to Moses: You will fashion all things according to the pattern that you saw on the mountain.

  For forty days Moses was engaged in remembering the words of God, the heavenly patterns, the spiritual images, the foreshadowings of what was to come. Saint Paul says: They drank from the rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. After speaking of the things that are in the law he continues: All these things happened to them as symbols: they were written to instruct us, on whom the end of the ages has come.

  Through foreshadowings of the future they were learning reverence for God and perseverance in his service. The law was therefore a school of instruction for them, and a prophecy of what was to come.

[BarbTherese]

  

  

 

 

 

[BarbTherese]

                                  

                                 From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

                           Thursday 9th March 2023 - 2nd Week LENT

 

Morning Prayer - Lauds - https://universalis.com/20230309/lauds.htm

Evening Prayer - Vespers - https://universalis.com/20230309/vespers.htm

  

                                     Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                                Thursday 9th March 2023

 

From a treatise on the psalms by Saint Hilary of Poitiers

The meaning of "the fear of the Lord"

Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. Notice that when Scripture speaks of the fear of the Lord it does not leave the phrase in isolation, as if it were a complete summary of faith. No, many things are added to it, or are presupposed by it. From these we may learn its meaning and excellence. In the book of Proverbs Solomon tells us: If you cry out for wisdom and raise your voice for understanding, if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. We see here the difficult journey we must undertake before we can arrive at the fear of the Lord.

  We must begin by crying out for wisdom. We must hand over to our intellect the duty of making every decision. We must look for wisdom and search for it. Then we must understand the fear of the Lord.

  “Fear” is not to be taken in the sense that common usage gives it. Fear in this ordinary sense is the trepidation our weak humanity feels when it is afraid of suffering something it does not want to happen. We are afraid, or made afraid, because of a guilty conscience, the rights of someone more powerful, an attack from one who is stronger, sickness, encountering a wild beast, suffering evil in any form. This kind of fear is not taught: it happens because we are weak. We do not have to learn what we should fear: objects of fear bring their own terror with them.

  But of the fear of the Lord this is what is written: Come, my children, listen to me, I shall teach you the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord has then to be learned because it can be taught. It does not lie in terror, but in something that can be taught. It does not arise from the fearfulness of our nature; it has to be acquired by obedience to the commandments, by holiness of life and by knowledge of the truth.

  For us the fear of God consists wholly in love, and perfect love of God brings our fear of him to its perfection. Our love for God is entrusted with its own responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his laws, to trust his promises. Let us hear what Scripture says: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God and walk in his ways and love him and keep his commandments with your whole heart and your whole soul, so that it may be well for you?

  The ways of the Lord are many, though he is himself the way. When he speaks of himself he calls himself the way and shows us the reason why he called himself the way: No one can come to the Father except through me.

  We must ask for these many ways, we must travel along these many ways, to find the one that is good. That is, we shall find the one way of eternal life through the guidance of many teachers. These ways are found in the law, in the prophets, in the gospels, in the writings of the apostles, in the different good works by which we fulfil the commandments. Blessed are those who walk these ways in the fear of the Lord.

[BarbTherese]

 

 

 

                                                                     o0o

I do not believe that God creates in order to destroy, to fully subject His creation to final death i.e. destruction at death.

In the Acts of The Apostles, a sheet is lowered FROM HEAVEN with every kind of animal in it "He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all the earth's four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky." https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PY4.HTM

 

[BarbTherese]

 

 

 

 

                                                              o0o

 

 

                                                                  o0o

  

 

[BarbTherese]

 

There are a few ways of referring to The Divine Office": i.e. "Liturgy of The Hours" and "Opus Dei or Work of God" 

When Catholic Answers forums were active and I a member, another member said he had six cassette tapes of Thomas Merton addressing novices in Gethsemane Monastery.  He offered to send them to me and I happily, in due course, received them.  Each cassette was on a different spiritual subject.

 

                                                           

                                                              o0o

    

For a while, I will be going through a fair bit of pain.  It will be about another 4 days or so before the Home here receives the patches and then another week or two before pain reducing properties click in; hence, I am not in much of a mood for writing due to pain.  Well, anyway, that's my story and I plan to stick to it! 😁

Not only the above but due to my age and disability, with pain despite patch-pain-reducing properties, my life seems pretty much at a standstill to me.  I can merely sit in my cell until my cell tells me what to do  

So it seems!  Oh, incidentally, from now on I will be including Night Prayer - Compline - into my daily "From The Divine Office" posts, as well as a link to Eucharistic Adoration online.

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               Eucharistic Adoration Online from Melbourne Australia: HERE

  

 

[BarbTherese]

                      

                         From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

                           Friday 10th March 2023 - 2nd Week LENT

 

Morning Prayer - Lauds - https://universalis.com/20230310/lauds.htm

Evening Prayer - Vespers - https://universalis.com/20230310/vespers.htm

Night Prayer - Compline -https://universalis.com/20230310/compline.htm 

  

                                     Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                                Friday 10th March 2023

From the treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus

The covenant of the Lord

Scroll down: https://universalis.com/20230310/readings.htm

 

  

 

               EUCHARISTIC ADORATION LIVE ONLINE: HERE

 

[BarbTherese]

  

 

 

                                                 English translation of
                                                 Veni Creator Spiritus
                                                   Come, Holy Ghost

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
and in our hearts take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heav'nly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O Comforter, to Thee we cry,
Thou heav'nly gift of God most high,
Thou Fount of life, and Fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.

O Finger of the hand divine,
the sevenfold gifts of grace are thine;
true promise of the Father thou,
who dost the tongue with power endow.

Thy light to every sense impart,
and shed thy love in every heart;
thine own unfailing might supply
to strengthen our infirmity.

Drive far away our ghostly foe,
and thine abiding peace bestow;
if thou be our preventing Guide,
no evil can our steps betide.

Praise we the Father and the Son
and Holy Spirit with them One;
and may the Son on us bestow
the gifts that from the Spirit flow.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth

 

Psalm 50 in Catholic Bible Translation

Psalm 51 is the 51st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Have mercy upon me, O God". In the Greek Septuagint version of the bible, and the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 50 in a slightly different numbering system. In Latin, it is known as Miserere, especially in musical settings. Psalm 51 (or 50) is one of the penitential psalms. It is traditionally said to have been composed by David[3] as a confession to God. The psalm is a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant liturgies. Its deeper meaning lies in the sacrifice and offering of the lower nature (bulls = egos), in order to gain a new refined and divine spirit as well as heart.

_________________________________________

Translation:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies remove my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin.
I knowingly confess my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee only have I sinned, and done evil before Thee: that they may be justified in Thy sayings, and might they overcome when I am judged.
But behold, I was formed in iniquity: and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, Thou desirest truth in my innermost being: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, make me whiter than snow.
Open my ears and make me hear of joy and gladness: and my bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.
Turn away Thy face from my sins: and remember not all my misdeeds.
Create in me a clean heart, O God: and make anew a righteous spirit within my body.
Do not cast me away from Thy presence: and take not Thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
I will teach those that are unjust Thy ways: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips: and my mouth shall spring forth Thy praise.
For Thou desirest no sacrifice, where others would: with burnt offerings Thou wilt not be delighted.
Sacrifices of God are broken spirits: dejected and contrite hearts, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Deal favorably, O Lord, in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with small and large burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon your altar.

[BarbTherese]

                         

                                            

                                From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

                           Saturday 11th March 2023 - 2nd Week LENT

 

Morning Prayer - Lauds -https://universalis.com/20230311/lauds.htm 

Evening Prayer - Vespers - https://universalis.com/20230311/vespers.htm

Night Prayer - Compline - https://universalis.com/20230311/compline.htm

  

                                     Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                                Saturday 11th March 2023

From the treatise on Flight from the World by Saint Ambrose, bishop

Hold fast to God, the one true good

Where a man’s heart is, there is his treasure also. God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one. Since he is good, and especially to those who are faithful to him, let us hold fast to him with all our soul, our heart, our strength, and so enjoy his light and see his glory and possess the grace of supernatural joy. Let us reach out with our hearts to possess that good, let us exist in it and live in it, let us hold fast to it, that good which is beyond all we can know or see and is marked by perpetual peace and tranquillity, a peace which is beyond all we can know or understand.

  This is the good that permeates creation. In it we all live, on it we all depend. It has nothing above it; it is divine. No one is good but God alone. What is good is therefore divine, what is divine is therefore good. Scripture says: When you open your hand all things will be filled with goodness. It is through God’s goodness that all that is truly good is given us, and in it there is no admixture of evil.

  These good things are promised by Scripture to those who are faithful: The good things of the land will be your food.

  We have died with Christ. We carry about in our bodies the sign of his death, so that the living Christ may also be revealed in us. The life we live is not now our ordinary life but the life of Christ: a life of sinlessness, of chastity, of simplicity and every other virtue. We have risen with Christ. Let us live in Christ, let us ascend in Christ, so that the serpent may not have the power here below to wound us in the heel.

  Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.

  Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquillity.

  Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For the fountain is God himself.

 

  

    

 

               EUCHARISTIC ADORATION LIVE ONLINE: HERE

[BarbTherese]

                              

                                From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

                           SUNDAY 12th March 2023 - 3rd Week LENT

 

Suddenly, I am unable to post links to The Hours on Universalis.  It just could be my computer - setting up this new computer has caused and is causing one problem after another.  I might have to call in my IT man.  If you Google ''universalis.com" and then click into any Hour under Liturgy of The Hours; finally, go to the far right margin on the page, the various dates will appear.

  

                                     Second Reading Office of Readings 

                                               Sunday 12th March 2023

From a treatise on John by St Augustine

A Samaritan woman came to draw water

A woman came. She is a symbol of the Church not yet made righteous. Righteousness follows from the conversation. She came in ignorance, she found Christ, and he enters into conversation with her. Let us see what it is about, let us see why a Samaritan woman came to draw water. The Samaritans did not form part of the Jewish people: they were foreigners. The fact that she came from a foreign people is part of the symbolic meaning, for she is a symbol of the Church. The Church was to come from the Gentiles, of a different race from the Jews.

  We must then recognise ourselves in her words and in her person, and with her give our own thanks to God. She was a symbol, not the reality; she foreshadowed the reality, and the reality came to be. She found faith in Christ, who was using her as a symbol to teach us what was to come. She came then to draw water. She had simply come to draw water; in the normal way of man or woman.

  Jesus says to her: Give me water to drink. For his disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore says to him: How is it that you, though a Jew, ask me for water to drink, though I am a Samaritan woman? For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.

  The Samaritans were foreigners; Jews never used their utensils. The woman was carrying a pail for drawing water. She was astonished that a Jew should ask her for a drink of water, a thing that Jews would not do. But the one who was asking for a drink of water was thirsting for her faith.

  Listen now and learn who it is that asks for a drink. Jesus answered her and said: If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” perhaps you might have asked him and he would have given you living water.

  He asks for a drink, and he promises a drink. He is in need, as one hoping to receive, yet he is rich, as one about to satisfy the thirst of others. He says: If you knew the gift of God. The gift of God is the Holy Spirit. But he is still using veiled language as he speaks to the woman and gradually enters into her heart. Or is he already teaching her? What could be more gentle and kind than the encouragement he gives? If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” perhaps you might ask and he would give you living water.

  What is this water that he will give if not the water spoken of in Scripture: With you is the fountain of life? How can those feel thirst who will drink deeply from the abundance in your house?

  He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet understand. In her failure to grasp his meaning, what was her reply? The woman says to him: Master, give me this drink, so that I may feel no thirst or come here to draw water. Her need forced her to this labour, her weakness shrank from it. If only she could hear those words: Come to me, all who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Jesus was saying this to her, so that her labours might be at an end; but she was not yet able to understand.

 

     

   

 

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[BarbTherese]

 

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I am still struggling with pain factor and it may continue for some time - perhaps a month or more until the patches click in - hopefully.