Guest Posted September 9, 2016 Posted September 9, 2016 BIG PROBLEM Huge problem today. Last night rain came down endlessly in sheets. When I got up this morning, there was bark all over my paths and onto my driveway and that of my neighbour. My son thankfully put in all the bark to save water (for lawns) some years back. We had not anticipated the problem I had this morning. My brother came with his huge garden blower to blow all the bark back where it should be and save me a massive task. We are now having a 'think tank' to discern what can be done to prevent the problem in the future and certainly before next winter. More financial outlay I guess with Buddie over to the vet next Thursday for heartworm test and medications $120 roughly, dental work in October and ongoing around $450. The bills just keep rolling in. Gee, a money tree sure would be helpful - but then if I was meant to have one it would be good for me and I would have one!
Guest Posted September 9, 2016 Posted September 9, 2016 CHARITY IS NOT BEING A 'DOORMAT' These are two rather lengthy articles on the above subject, but I found them informative and helpful reading by (what seems to me to be) quite learned authors: "Turn The Other Cheek" (EWTN - Fr.Stephen F. Torraco) HERE I am not going to post the second article as yet. Heading over to Open Mic to find out if the website and its author are a sound source of Catholic information. If it is a sound source, I will then post the info.
Guest Posted September 10, 2016 Posted September 10, 2016 GREY AND OVERCAST Today it is grey and overcast and with that, my spirits are in my boots as well as I cannot stop worrying about the garden bark washing on to paths and driveway, including my neighbours, in heavy rain. My neighbours are not easy at all to get along with and I am waiting for complaints before I can solve the bark problem, although my brother called yesterday and with a garden blower, all the bark is back where it should be. Whether the dull weather or the worrying is due to bipolar or whether these dispositions would occur even if I did not suffer bipolar is not really the point I have concluded. The point is how to deal with it. And so I have been saying to myself "No matter the cause, God has permitted it and for my betterment" - fast on the heels of that comes another thought: "Hold that thought!" and that gives me a giggle and nothing like laughter to relieve stress.......at least temporarily. I am afraid that no matter the cause, I am affected by the weather and prone to be a worrier. And so at this point today, I am rather dragging myself around................what a nothing sort of concern when I consider the many problems of many people - and far more serious indeed than I ever need to endure. All these types of thoughts help me to push on when on the feeling level, I would much rather curl up and go to sleep and forget today exists. Saturday 10th September here - Vigil Mass tonight .............and there's a mood swing for you.............. ____________ Important to note I think that sometimes identifying cause can be a big help in identifying how to deal with a problem.
Guest Posted September 10, 2016 Posted September 10, 2016 (edited) OCD Nope, Not Order of Carmel Discalced, rather Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I have been told by a psychiatrist years back that I have a touch of OCD - in the main it is a help to me and that is the upside in that (for one) everything has its place and hence I don't spend time searching for things - well not often that is - rare. The downside is that if I have a problem, I just cannot let it go and let it rest...........until I have a solution. I am obsessive about it and compulsive. I left a message for one of the brothers (the garden expert) to ring me yesterday. I am hoping he can help me solve the wandering bark problem. I don't know if it is OCD or not but it is starting to annoy me that he still has not rung me.......and I can't let go of that either...........well, "can't" may be a bit of stretch in that it is "seemingly I can't" at this point. The really upside of all these very ordinary problems in a very ordinary life whether bipolar in origin or not, is that they do provide little involuntary penances/sufferings to be born as well as I can. St Mary MacKillop "Do what you can and leave the rest to God". I never used to know when I was doing my best.......but I sure know when I am doing what I can. .......onya our Aussie St Mary of The Cross MacKillop!........... The stunning thing for me is that Jesus abundantly loves and embraces these small life niggles and annoyances, inconveniences, born as well as one can united to Him, He is pleased and embraces them uniting them to His Cross - and hence life's tiny teeny problems become redemptive. Stunning! Edited September 10, 2016 by BarbaraTherese
Guest Posted September 10, 2016 Posted September 10, 2016 HIDDEN FRUITS OF LABOUR Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Daily Reflection – September 10 Sep 10, 2016 “For very just reasons, God sometimes conceals from his servants the fruits of their labors, even though he blesses them with very great results.” – St. Vincent de Paul
Guest Posted September 11, 2016 Posted September 11, 2016 NO FEAR "To be a child means accepting and using even your failings and your sins. "Look at kids," she writes to Celine, "they break things, they tear up paper, they fall even if they love their parents and their parents keep loving them all the same." To her missionary she writes : "We do not want to fall, ever! How stupid we are!!" "Make it clear, Mother, that if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence. I would feel that this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water cast into a blazing fire." If the dad calls him, the child does not bother to clean himself before running to embrace him. " http://www.fatherpius.littleway.ca/carm07.html LABOURED SUFFERING & SACRIFICES Diary of Saint Faustina "At the beginning of my religious life, suffering and adversities frightened and disheartened me. So I prayed continuously, asking Jesus to strengthen me and to grant me the power of His Holy Spirit that I might carry out His holy will in all things, because from the beginning I have been aware of my weakness."...................... .........Jesus to Faustina: "Do not be afflicted if your heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in My eyes, will enhance it. Know that your body and soul will often be in the midst of fire. Although you will not feel My presence on some occasions, I will always be with you. Do not fear; My grace will be with you...[...] "O my Jesus, farewell; I must go already to take up my tasks. But I will prove my love for You with sacrifice, neither neglecting nor letting any chance for practicing it slip by." http://www.religious-vocation.com/redemptive_suffering.html#.V9UCJR3r1LM
Guest Posted September 11, 2016 Posted September 11, 2016 (edited) EXCUSING GOD FOR HIS WEAKNESS I think that we are God's weakness, every single human being and as individuals. He just can't help Himself but Love us to abandon with untiring and always faithful Mercy no matter the content nor times we may fail and miserably. When I think about it, God passionately wants us with Him so much, Loves us so desperately, that He is prepared to forgive absolutely anything whatsoever no matter content nor times committed. He not only forgives, He forgets the offence(s) completely and once we repent and confess if necessary, we have an absolutely clean slate to move forward in our relationship with Him - and as if nothing had ever happened in the first place because that is God's now disposition in His relationship with us. Every Sunday, cappie posts a short homily on the Sunday's Gospel. A couple of points from his homily on Sunday 11th November sort of leapt out at me: Quote TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Started by cappie cappie's post HERE "In all the parables that Jesus tells in this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-32), people end up rejoicing because something lost is found – a sheep, a coin, a son. Jesus is using three practical situations to illustrate God's way of relating to human beings. They give us an image of God "in human clothes." Jesus is saying this is how God acts! These are his reactions; this is his weakness! We need to take God as he is; we need to excuse God for his weakness because he finds joy in it. ...............We are not the ones who find our way back to God. God finds us and touches us with his mercy and love. What we call repentance happens when we have the sense to take the loving, forgiving, merciful hand that God stretches out to us. The angels of heaven rejoice not because of what we do, but because of what God in his mercy continues to do for us." _______________________________ Please note that 11th November, should read 11th September Edited September 11, 2016 by BarbaraTherese
Guest Posted September 12, 2016 Posted September 12, 2016 MISERY, SUFFERING & DEATH MADE HOLY Book III: Christ - Chapter 11: Nature of the Redemption (Emile Merch SJ - Theology of the Mystical Body) Quote 317. Christ took to Himself miseries, sufferings and human death; and behold, they are divinized in Him. Quote CNA "St Paul Explains The Meaning Of Suffering":........"There is this intimate bond between the cross, the epitome of the sufferings of Christ, and the suffering of the people which is a participation in the self-same cross. Thus participation in the cross through suffering is a way of obtaining grace, the power of God to participate in salvation. This is also why Paul can say elsewhere in Galatians: “Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world…Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (6:14, 17)." here
Guest Posted September 12, 2016 Posted September 12, 2016 LINK TO THIS THREAD I have posted in Catholic Answers discussion site a link to this thread in the hope that Google might pick up this thread since the CA thread title is "Private Vows" and in the CA Vocations forum. I have sung the praises of Phatmass and dUSt specifically in the CA thread because I am indeed very grateful that the thread here on Phatmass has been allowed to continue to date. If it should perhaps be locked or whatever, I would then have to seriously consider a blog.............which I dread - exceedingly! These blogs confuse me no end and I really have no idea what I am doing. But then I had no idea what I was doing with Catholic discussion sites either when first given this computer .... given time I did learn. Catholic Answers thread "Private Vows" A bit of a giggle about not knowing what one is doing when tapping away on a computer. I decided to investigate Facebook quite some years ago now. I set up the profile and noticed someone had asked "What are you thinking?" - and thought to myself that is a bit too personal - so I typed "Why do you want to know?"......the answer came back promptly "What are you thinking". I thought, the cheek of the person! He or she must be quite a nutter. But I did type something back. After about five exchanges while that other person kept on repeating "What are you thinking?", I woke up to what it was all about in reality. Eventually I decided Facebook was an absolute "forget it" for me - I had no idea half the time what on earth I was doing. And trying to cancel my membership was a nightmare and when I eventually found out how to do it, it still appeared until I did something or other, which I can no longer recall, and finally I was off Facebook...........forever.........for sure. If anyone wants to contact me, I figure, there is email or phone, or just knock on the door.
Guest Posted September 12, 2016 Posted September 12, 2016 MENTAL ILLNESS AND VIOLENCE University of Washington: http://depts.washington.edu/mhreport/facts_violence.php -"People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime (Appleby, et al., 2001). People with severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population (Hiday, et al.,1999)." The public is misinformed about the link between mental illness and violence. A longitudinal study of American’s attitudes on mental health between 1950 and 1996 found, “the proportion of Americans who describe mental illness in terms consistent with violent or dangerous behavior nearly doubled.” Also, the vast majority of Americans believe that persons with mental illnesses pose a threat for violence towards others and themselves (Pescosolido, et al., 1996, Pescosolido et al., 1999). Inaccurate beliefs about mental illness and violence lead to widespread stigma and discrimination: The discrimination and stigma associated with mental illnesses stem in part, from the link between mental illness and violence in the minds of the general public (DHHS, 1999, Corrigan, et al., 2002). The effects of stigma and discrimination are profound. The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health found that, “Stigma leads others to avoid living, socializing, or working with, renting to, or employing people with mental disorders - especially severe disorders, such as schizophrenia. It leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking and wanting to pay for care. Responding to stigma, people with mental health problems internalize public attitudes and become so embarrassed or ashamed that they often conceal symptoms and fail to seek treatment (New Freedom Commission, 2003).” Harvard University http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mental-illness-and-violence Multiple interacting factors contribute to violent behavior. "Public opinion surveys suggest that many people think mental illness and violence go hand in hand. A 2006 national survey found, for example, that 60% of Americans thought that people with schizophrenia were likely to act violently toward someone else, while 32% thought that people with major depression were likely to do so. In fact, research suggests that this public perception does not reflect reality. Most individuals with psychiatric disorders are not violent. Although a subset of people with psychiatric disorders commit assaults and violent crimes, findings have been inconsistent about how much mental illness contributes to this behavior and how much substance abuse and other factors do."
Guest Posted September 13, 2016 Posted September 13, 2016 FREE ONLINE COURSES YALE UNIVERSITY My Carmelite prioress sent me an email that Yale University has free online courses. So I immediately got on to Yale to investigate. There is a fascinating array of courses: http://oyc.yale.edu/courses These courses might be helpful to those who are house bound for some reason as well as others.
Guest Posted September 14, 2016 Posted September 14, 2016 RAIN, GARDEN BARK & SVP BADGE DAY Heaps of rain here last night, very heavy rain and winds. I got up through the night to check on the bark hoping heavy rain had not carried bark on to my neighbour's drive and into our common area. Deo Gratius, there was very little indeed easy to sweep off when bark dries out a bit. This morning earlier had another check and it is the same. I am very grateful. Plumber called yesterday and thankfully I had taken videos of the mess the rain carrying bark created (Thursday night 8 Sept.16). The result is that he is putting in a request for a sump in my backyard (I am a government housing tenant). If they will do this, it will be a relatively small matter once the sunshine spring weather settles in for my brothers to do something or other out the front to stop the bark wandering onto both my and my neighbour's front common ground. The plumber was quite correct. The problem I did have with the seriously flowing rain which carried bark everywhere was "freak weather". Deo Gratius. One of my brothers called today for coffee and said to put it all out of my mind as he and my other brother (overseas just now) will fix it all up for me, if the government housing authority will not help. My foster son will, I know, act as quite willing labour assistance if needed. I am very grateful that my brothers and sons are consistent faithful and loyal channels of God's Goodness and Care. Amen. Friday I will be on duty at a local shopping centre in the morning for a St Vinnies Badge Day. Checked the weather forecast (SA Bureau of Meteorology) and it looks like no rain and sunshine. Deo Gratius again. PRIVATE VOWS http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/132845-home-mass-private-vows/
Guest Posted September 14, 2016 Posted September 14, 2016 CHANNELS OF GOD'S GOODNESS Goodness whether minor or major has God as Alpha and Omega - The Beginning and The End. My concept is that all and any goodness has God for it's Origin and we are a channel only ideally for His Goodness to enter His world (in many instances). God is the Omega or The End when we give all glory and thanksgiving to God for goodness, whether He has channelled it through oneself, or through others. Wherever there is goodness it is for God's Glory and to Him we give thanks as Alpha, The Origin, and certainly giving thanks for the channel as well through which that goodness has become visible in His world through someone's free will assenting to goodness. God never forces us - and so without our free will assenting to His Goodness? I wrote a poem yonks ago and it ran something like: "He chose us to be His gates into His world, and if I close those gates?" PRIVATE VOWS http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/132845-home-mass-private-vows/
Guest Posted September 14, 2016 Posted September 14, 2016 A FRUIT OF CHARITY Daily Reflection St Vincent de Paul Society Daily Reflection – September 14 “Charity is the cement that unites communities to God and individuals to each other, so that he who contributes to the union of hearts in a community binds it indissolubly to God.” – St. Vincent de Paul PRIVATE VOWS http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/132845-home-mass-private-vows/
Guest Posted September 16, 2016 Posted September 16, 2016 (edited) UNEASY, ALONE - TURN TO MARY OUR MOTHER (Click on icon next to "Reveal hidden text") According to Vatican Radio, the Pontiff gave this advice during his daily morning Mass, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, at Casa Santa Marta, as he stressed that in a “world that suffers the crisis of a great orphanhood,” we have a Mother that accompanies and defends us. Today’s Gospel, the Jesuit Pope stressed, brings us to Calvary, when all the Lord’s disciples fled, except for St. John and a few women. As Mary, Mother of Jesus, is at the foot of the Cross, Francis observes, “Everyone is looking at her, saying, ‘That’s the mother of this delinquent! That is the mother of this subversive!’” Never Denies “And Mary heard these things. She suffered terrible humiliation. And she also heard the dignitaries, even some priests, whom she respected, because they were priests, saying “You who are so good, come down! Come down!” With her Son, naked, there on the Cross. And Mary had such great suffering, but she didn’t go away. She didn’t deny her Son! He was her flesh.” The Argentine Pontiff recalled the poor women, who waited in Buenos Aires, to visit prisoners in the jails. “They were moms. But they were not ashamed: their flesh was there inside. And these women suffered not only the shame of being there – “Look at her! What did her son do?” — but they also suffer the ugly humiliation of the searches they had to undergo before entering. But they were mothers, and they went to find their own flesh. And so it was with Mary: she was there, with her Son, with that very great suffering.” Not to Be Left Orphans Jesus, the Pope said, has promised not to leave us orphans, and on the Cross he gives us His Mother as our Mother, who cares for and defends us. “We Christians have a Mother, Jesus’ [Mother]; we have a Father, Jesus’ [Father]. We are not orphans! And she gives birth to us in that moment with such great sorrow: She is truly a martyr. With a pierced heart, she accepts giving birth to all of us in that moment of sorrow. And from that moment she becomes our Mother, from that moment she is our Mother, the one who takes care of us and is not ashamed of us: she defends us.” Francis recalled how the mystics of the early centuries counsel us to take refuge under the mantle of the Mother of God in moments of spiritual turbulence: “The devil can’t enter there.” Under her protection, we are safe, he underscored. “In a world we could call an orphan, in this world that suffers the crisis” of a great experience of being orphaned,” Francis said, “perhaps our help lies in saying ‘Look to your Mother!’” “We have a mother “who defends us, teaches us, accompanies us; who is not ashamed of our sins. She is not ashamed, because she is our Mother,” Pope Francis concluded, praying, “May the Holy Spirit, this friend, this companion along the way, this Paraclete or advocate Whom the Lord has sent make us understand this very great mystery of The Maternity of Mary" POWER TO SIN CAN INCREASE MERIT Daily Reflection St Vincent de Paul Society 15th September 2016 (Click on icon next to "Reveal hidden contents" to read text) The power to sin greatly increases our merit, if we abstain from offending God.” – St. Louise de Marillac PRIVATE VOWS http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/132845-home-mass-private-vows/ Edited September 16, 2016 by BarbaraTherese
Guest Posted September 16, 2016 Posted September 16, 2016 MY LITTLE BIRD PAL I had put a thread into Prayer Forum asking for prayers for a little bird I had grown very fond of in my side yard. He is a just out of the baby stage but cannot fly. Just coming in dusk last night I went outside to check and since I could not see him anywhere, I presumed he had flown off and had learnt to fly. I went back to the Prayer Forum and put in a thread to thank those who prayed or would have prayed. Just went outside again and low and behold, my little pal is still there and still unable to fly. When he first appeared, I rang Fauna rescue who said not to worry that sometimes it can take days before a little bird learns to fly and most often they do not fly off from the nest, but from the ground. Adult birds do fly down now and then and check on him and Fauna Rescue said this is a sign he is ok, just still a learner in the flying department. I can keep my little dog away from him without problems, but my cat is presenting a problem while to date, I have been able to catch her before she goes to the side where "Little One" is (I'll call him that - about time he got a name from me). My cat is so clever and so quick, if I open a door to the outside, she is out as quick as a flash. I don't know where he must have hid last night and there are not many places to hide at all and I thought I had checked them all. He is still there in my side yard. If you read this post, please spare a prayer for him that he will learn to fly and soon. I am asking The Lord to accept those who prayed in the Prayer Forum, or who would have prayed, to be ongoing prayers for Little One until, finally, he flies off (I am not returning to the Prayer Forum for Little One)........and oh how I would love to witness it after watching him trying to learn the art. He keeps trying to flap his wings fully, but never quite gets there. But he does strut around my side yard quite happily - and once let me go right up to him and stroke him very gently. I wanted to get close to ensure he was not hurt. Apparently touching even a baby bird does not mean that the mother will reject it. That is MYTH Please fly away Little One and soon! Dear Lord please hear our prayers.
Guest Posted September 17, 2016 Posted September 17, 2016 (edited) TODAY'S SMILE - (THE VOLUNTEER COMEDIAN) A retired man, who volunteers to entertain patients in nursing homes and hospitals, went to Walton hospital in Liverpool and took his portable keyboard along. He told some jokes and sang some funny songs at patients' bedsides. When he finished he said in farewell, "I hope you all get better." One elderly gentleman replied, "I hope you get better too." Edited September 17, 2016 by BarbaraTherese
Guest Posted September 17, 2016 Posted September 17, 2016 (edited) FEELING SUFFERING WITH LOVE "We can feel the cross and love it at the same time". (Mary MacKillop "The Little Brown Book" P114) Comment: It is by facing difficulties of all kinds major and minor - accepted lovingly for Love of God that we can meet Jesus walking with us, who walks with all always and whose Love of all never changes - whether one is clean or dirty. Private Vows http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/132845-home-mass-private-vows/ Edited September 17, 2016 by BarbaraTherese
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