Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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God's Designs

& Human Reasoning

Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Society

 

Oct 23, 2016

“We must not judge the designs of God according to human reason, although our puny minds incline us to do so.” – St. Vincent de Paul

CHATTING

With sunshine and no rain yesterday and today, I have finished the ironing load and been out in the garden with plenty more to get done tomorrow and Wednesday.  Thursday I have an appointment with my brother - his daughter and my niece cuts our hair.  After that I have a GP appointment.  After the garden today, I had to go over to the shops as I was running low on cat and dog food - by the time I got home, I had had it completely.

The days cruise along in a very ordinary and even mundane type of fashion and there is nothing at the feeling level consoling that I am about anything remotely termed "valuable tasks", only Faith and dark Faith tells me that I am.  I must trust that I am, while on the feeling level I am being told I am some sort of looney tunes to imagine that such mundane type of matters have any value whatsoever. I think this is probably a pretty common sort of situation.  There is a temptation to become discouraged even to find life meaningless, but Faith will not allow it.  I sometimes do wonder (imagination) where I would be if Faith itself where put under stress and temptation, but I tell myself that if it should happen then I will have to deal with it then, at the actual time.  God does not often grant Grace to deal with imagination and imaginary situations, but I can be very sure that at the actual time no matter what is happening, Grace will never be lacking and as I engage in the struggles etc. of life - the down sort of times, Grace is there working with me too.   I am never alone - Faith tells me I am not.

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CHATTING

Had a dreadful day - a down time of major proportions for me.  I hope the sun just might shine tomorrow and the darkness of today disperse.  I mean, one does get through it for as long as "through it" might take.....usually that is.  Hope comes into play big time.

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FIRE & HOPE

Truth revealed must enter into the fires of testing, this is the only way that truth can be confirmed in the soul.

- Anonymous

 

“After a storm comes sunshine, and the good God, who casts down and raises up again, makes joy succeed affliction, and lets the effects of his power be in the measure of our hope founded on goodness.” – St. Vincent de Paul

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Chatting - Anger

Went off to sleep last night repeating continually "Please do not let the sunset on my anger".  Well for God's Good and Sound Reasons.........or more possibly my own failure to respond to Grace, the sun did set on my anger - but the sun rose to a calm and rational state of mind, a concerned state of mind but not augmented by emotional content.  Deo Gratius.

As yesterday rolled on with me trying to deal with a strong anger issue, I did continually remind myself not to make any decisions in such a state.

I do not choose most any emotional state at all - they just happen, they just are.  And so I do not upbraid myself for my negative emotions, nor give them a moral assessment.  It is very simply a question of what I do with an emotional state, of how I respond to it.  Yesterday in the heat of it all it was about not making any decisions (some pretty radical ones did cross my mind) and then trying to drift off to sleep with a cooled state of mind, which did not happen.

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STUMBLING ALONG

(St Therese - Letters of St Therese 1889)

http://www.pathsoflove.com/pdf/ThereseLetters.pdf "If you are willing to bear in peace the trial of not being pleased with yourself, you will be offering the Divine Master a home in your heart. It is true that you will suffer, because you will be like a stranger to your own house; but do not be afraid--the poorer you are, the more Jesus will love you. I know that He is better pleased to see you stumbling in the night upon a stony road, than walking in the full light of day upon a path carpeted with flowers, because these flowers might hinder your advance."

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CHRIST OUR STAR

St Vincent de Paul Society http://famvin.org/reflections/quote-day-october-28/

Vincent's Quote of the Day

Oct 28, 2016

Since God is the Master of the sea and the winds, I ask God to make them favorable to you, to steer the ship wherever you go, to be your guide and pilot, and, in a word, to lead you safely to your destination (V:37).

Daily Reflection

Oct 28, 2016

“Sometimes a work fails, not because a similar institution has been set up beside it and outdone it, but it has brought about its own ruin by making use of means contrary to the spirit of Christ in order to maintain itself in the first place.” – St. Vincent de Paul

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Comparing Oneself With Others

Famvin - St Vincent de Paul Society

Quote

 

http://famvin.org/reflections/daily-reflection-october-29-2/  

Daily Reflection – October 29

“In the name of God, let us have ever more and more confidence in Him; let Him guide our little barque; if it is useful and pleasing to Him, He will save it from shipwreck and no matter how the importance and variety of the works of others threatens to swamp it, it will sail with all the greater security, amidst so many good ships, so long as it keeps straight on its own course, and does not cross their track by deviating from its own path.”
– St. Vincent de Paul"

 

 

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Faith & Hope, Charity

“If you’re faithful to Me, your faith can’t be lessened by the unfaithfulness of those who want to do evil to you, nor can these same people lessen your hope once you’ve created it through love of Me. Your hope will be strengthened then, and your love will be proven in your affectionate kindnesses towards your neighbors.” 
- Catherine of Siena, Dialogue

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Divine Providence & Perseverance

Squeezing out a few tears

“Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.”

“God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres.”  

“One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer. “

                                  St Teresa of Avila
 

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ADVERSITY

St Vincent de Paul Society - Daily Reflection http://famvin.org/reflections/daily-reflection-october-31-2/

Daily Reflection – October 31

“Do you think this will discredit you? We would have to keep ourselves shut up in a box not to be exposed to some annoyance or other!”
– St. Vincent de Paul

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ALONE BUT NOT LONELY

St Vincent de Paul Society - Daily Reflection – November 5

 

Quote

 

http://famvin.org/reflections/daily-reflection-november-5-2/

“God communicates himself more fully to the soul deprived of human consolation.”
– St. Louise de Marillac

 

 

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CHATTING

The hernia in my upper abdomen seems to have grown a bit larger.  I tried to get in to see my specialist earlier, but the 21st November coming is the earliest and I will see her then.  I am not in any pain, but have acid reflux (never had it before) and I am a bit short of breath most all the time - Google tells me that these can happen with hernia so I am not too concerned.  My own GPO diagnosed it as a hernia and as long as I am not in pain to not be concerned and have my gynaecologist check it out on the 21st.

As a parish, we have not heard how our pp is doing post prostate surgery - the rumours going round might say "Doing well" and others "Not doing too good" - so I am not taking any notice at all of the rumour mills.  Insofar as we know as a parish, he has not had biopsy results as yet.

With the warmer weather beginning here, I have a fairly large garden for an old lady to care for (watering/sweeping paths) and I do love my garden.  This week too has been an ironing week as well as a couple of visits from the plumber about the flooding on the side of my unit in heavy rain.  No real damage is done, other than that the flooding water carries bark all over the place necessitating a clean up.

Other than the above, life cruises along as always with my duties around house and garden taking up most all the day along with various prayer times.  Now and then other calls might crop up.  Next Tuesday evening is the St Vinnies Meeting in the parish and so the following couple of days will be occupied largely with the Minutes.  Monday my foster son is here to help me with a big grocery shop and some tasks around Bethany I can no longer complete.

 A focused and committed spiritual life in the footsteps of The Gospel can transcend and transform the seemingly most mundane and ordinary into something rich and meaningful - and only "mundane and ordinary" to worldly or secular appearances.  It has much less to do with what one is doing per se, much more about how one is experiencing whatever one might be doing - an undeserved gift of Grace and Loving Mercy.

The Joy of The Mundane: http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2013/12/reinhard-the-joy-of-the-mundane/

.....and see "Abandonment to Divine Providence" (online) - Jean Pierre de Caussade: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/decaussade/abandonment

 

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Chatter

GETTING THINGS RIGHT/PERSEVERANCE

As the days pass, I notice the rhythm of a very ordinary life.  One day all is light and Joy thinking it will never pass, a few days later I can be down in the dumps in darkness and again, I can think it will never pass.  But there seems to me to be another 'level of consciousness' which does not reach my feeling level, nor even my ordinary conscious level, and in which I know that "all things pass" (St Teresa of Avila).   Such a see-saw might be an expression of a bipolar sufferer, but I am more inclined to think that it is the experience of all without exception.  It is not so important what I might be experiencing, as to how I am responding to what I am experiencing in every moment of every day.  To adjust my thinking, my perspective and attitude - that no matter what I am experiencing -  everything without exception is God's Gift to me and in that attitude and perspective the whole that is me is united.  True, the down times are a most mysterious type of gift, but gift it remains and to respond with thanksgiving and praise even as at times on the feeling level I remain down in the dumps and somewhat depressed and unable to lift myself out of that disposition; nevertheless, in my conscious will, I can still praise and thank God for The Mystery that He is - as are at times His Actions in my life.

So often, in various ways: "You are a God who lies hidden" (Isaiah 45:15).  I really do not think that God is a God who lies hidden, rather very often my concepts of who God is are challenged, even annihilated.  This gives a sense of God laying hidden - when God does not conform to my concepts of Him.

Why is it that when I write, I can seem to hit my nail right on the head, but then seem powerless to apply it at times - not so much powerless, rather forgetful.  That now reminds me of the words of St Paul "why is it that I do not do the things I want to do, rather I do what I do not want to do"

Or are my lapses of memory simply a gal moving right on in years?  Even this quandary and mystery to me is something for which I can thank and praise God.  For our God is a God who tells us "“Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives." (Luke 21)

Hence, it seems to me it is not at all about getting things all right and in their proper place as my consistent response, as persevering in Faith and trust in the ups and downs of life including when I am a massive disappointment to myself in any way whatever.  I can forget that repentance and renewal are the call of The Gospel too, intrinsic and foundational to The Gospel. 

After all, Jesus has told us that the righteous really have no need of Him.  He has come to call sinners.

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Post

MENTAL ILLNESS

Sometimes I will post into this thread posts of mine from other threads.  I don't think it is an infringement of any Phatmass rules, but if so I have no problems in moderator deletion.  Since I do suffer bipolar, which is a major mental illness, it very often has everything to do with who I am in a daily functioning sense and coping with any problems that might arise in my daily life.  While I have not suffered a serious psychotic type episode for probably 12 years now, I do recognise at times that some problem that have come up for me might be flowing from my bipolar condition, yet not sufficiently serious to interfere with my daily life, nor seek out the assistance of my psychiatrist - problems that I feel I can muddle through.  Be that as it may, I am not at all hesitant about contacting my psychiatrist if I feel I need to do so.  I have her pager number.

Probably one of the major reasons bipolar no longer has the power to trigger psychosis and a psychotic illness is that I have learnt how to cope with my particular brand of bipolar disorder.  I have learnt to recognise very early warning signs (possibly the earliest) and what to do should one or more of those signs be present.  This learning process has been with the assistance of my psychiatrist as well as recognizing early warning signs and what to do.  Most often the latter will avert a pending psychotic episode - but it is a journey, not an event.  I am prescribed psychiatric medication and I follow quite religiously my psychiatrist's instructions to the letter.

Initially, my psychiatrist would identify the early warning signs before I did and she would alert me.  However in these latter years, I can identify signs before they become sufficiently overt for her to sight them.

With my psychiatrist, we did attempt to take me off psychiatric medication, but the withdrawal symptoms I experienced, as well as interference with sleeping, were quite major; therefore, I did decide to go back on to the medication rather than to go any further with withdrawal.  I am not young at 71years and I feel that I can construct a contributing life on the medication.  Were I much younger, I just might have decided to go on with the withdrawal problems to see if I still needed medication, or whether I can come off it.  Some sufferers are able to come off medication successfully, others are not.  The reasons are probably complex and not fully known.

Psychiatric medication can be cruel, very cruel, in side effects.  However, after over 30 years or so on such medication, I have learnt to live with those side effects and as intrinsic to my experience of my life - rather than my life with side effects imposed upon it.  The devil I do know (and have learnt to cope with) might be far better than the one that I don't. 

My hope with a prayer is that posts of mine at times might be of some help to someone else, even if only a little helpful to one person.  If not, then certainly writing is quite cathartic for me: I have stated what I felt I needed to state and the subject can vanish from my markedly quite obsessive mind - and it does vanish, Deo Gratius!  Not only that, but as I write, I can be sorting out my own thoughts and equally cathartic - and Deo Gratius again ... and again.

"All is Grace" (St Therese of Lisieux)

 

Post into another thread in Open Mic "Midterms Are Horrid" : 

  Some Problems Related to Mental Illness & Being an Active Catholic

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LOVE & FEELINGS

 True Love and Feelings https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9375  (Excellent article from Catholic Culture "What is Love?" )
 

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Excerpt:  "Agape is an act of the will, not the feelings. That is why we are responsible for it, and commanded to do it, to choose it. We are not responsible for our feelings. Only an idiot would command us (That's why sexual feelings and desires, whether heterosexual or homosexual, are not sins in and of themselves. Feelings can be "disordered," but sins can come from acting on them.) We are responsible for our agape or lack of it, for agape comes from our free will, our deliberate choice, while feelings come from wind, weather, hormones, advertisements, and digestion. "Luv" comes from spring breezes; real love (agape) comes from the center of the soul, which Scripture calls the 'heart' (another word we have sentimentalized and reduced to feeling). Liking is a feeling. But love (agape) is more than strong liking. God does not merely like us; He saves us, He dies for us. Agape is a deed. Love is "the works of love."

Jesus had different feelings toward different people. But he loved them all equally and absolutely."

 

 

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THE POWERFUL NAME OF THE LORD IS HOLY

 

 

 

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Chat

UNITY

Today, 8pm in Adelaide Sth Aust 10th November 2016, we are probably (in hope) beginning to get over the surprise and shock for many probably of the election results in the USA.  The President elect, Mr. Donald Trump, has used the theme of unity for the USA.   Unity is dear to The Heart of Jesus and what He prayed ardently for at the last supper.  Almost anywhere and everywhere one can sight something of disunity.  I can sight disunity even within myself.  That disunity that can exist between who I am and who I might try to present, which strikes me as not only dishonest but manipulation.  Although sometimes there might be a rational reason for that disunity.  What I need to ask myself is "Is it justified in God's Eyes?"

I thought the following reflection on today's Reading was a particularly good one re unity and seeking out the means to unity. to work for it insofar as one can, to pray for it and to make some sort of sacrifice for it: it could be a meal, a donation somewhere, or even some effort to bring about unity somewhere.  Any kind of sacrifice(s) for the intention of unity.

https://wau.org/meditations/

Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Memorial)

Quote

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while. (Philemon 15)

 

While he was a prisoner in Rome, Paul wrote this rather personal letter to Philemon, a fellow Christian and owner of a slave named Onesimus. Onesimus had fled from his master and gone to Rome where he was converted under Paul’s ministry. Paul wanted the slave to return to Philemon, so he sent this letter along to help the two men reconcile.

As horrible as slavery is, it was an accepted part of the culture during Paul’s time. Paul didn’t attack the institution of slavery; small Christian communities in the Roman Empire were in no position to do so. Instead, Paul took a position that was revolutionary for his time. He asked his friend to receive Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother in the Lord (Philemon 16).

Paul saw how unity in the body of Christ cuts across worldly position, occupation, socioeconomic status, race, and nationality. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

We have been called to this same unity as brothers and sisters of the Lord. Tragically, slavery still exists in many parts of the world. Division and prejudice are everywhere—even within our parishes and our families. So often, we separate ourselves from others simply because of their race, nationality, occupation, politics, educational background, or social status. And each instance of division saddens the Lord a little bit more.

Paul encouraged Philemon to see Onesimus as his brother in Christ. We, too, need to see each other in the same way. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the barriers of sin that divide us have been broken down. And because Jesus has poured his Spirit into our hearts, it is now possible for all of us to come together.

How can you help make this dream of unity a reality? Maybe you can focus on one relationship that you can help to reconcile. Maybe you can ask God for a greater outpouring of the Spirit in your parish to bring people closer together. Maybe you can fast from one meal a week as a way of praying for unity between the churches.

“Jesus, you hate division. By your Holy Spirit, empower us to love one another. Lord, make us one.”

 

 

HIS YOKE IS SWEET, BURDEN LIGHT

Edited November 10, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

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WHO AM I?

"I" and "me" used to fascinate me.  Who am I?  Who is this entirely mysterious I that is the core of me - the mysterious centre, the I that chooses, thinks, speaks and does, chooses and lives out a role, fashioning the me.  Finally, I came to the conclusion that if anyone ever asked me "Who are you?", all I could in honesty state is "I am a human being". 

But I needed to investigate further and so I began to write a poem - searching my self:

WHO AM I?

 

But for fortune

some twists of fate? Not so

but for the past

            unasked

            and unperturbed

 

I am the sum of my experience

            of calm, of sun

some rough high seas

            perhaps some certain unasked gifts

                        earned elsewhere

 

I am but a windmill

shifting in the slightest breeze

South or east

            then north or west

 

words, thoughts, not here nor of fixed abode

            who spoke yesterday from thought

            then thought travels elsewhere

 

I am but a tapestry, once ended

            put aside

Soon enough forgotten

When the earth takes care of me

            Perhaps today

                        Or then tomorrow

 

I am a charity of constant donations

And ever in need

To some catharsis

To some disease

 

To some a flower

To some but a weed

I am your friend

Or else perhaps your enemy

 

I am the windmill

            Constantly turning

            in life’s breeze

            Soon asleep

            And then will die

            Perhaps life is but a dream

            And death awakens me

 

Who am I?

I am dirty and drunk in your gutter

I am unshaven and begging butts

I live one road over

I am adulteress and picking up every deadly stone

            Just to pass the time

I am drugged to create any sort of justly needed heaven

Or justly mad to escape the c r a p -  and endless hell

I am lowered into any grave all in time and space

            earthquake, flood, war, famine or disease –

Convict me anyway and I will justify it

My only gift or non possessing

I am sneered and judged useless

I sit next to you on any bus

            And in every journey

A creature of Creation

Of Life’s endless dance

The vast variety

 

Perhaps I am just a victim

          -  not so -  I am creator of all that I am 

            and will ever be

 

I am just another human being

And I am only me - am I -

But who are all the others - some

mercenary

            meretricious

                        mellifluous

Or untarnished and inculpable

 

All mendicants just like me

Produce of some disparate paradigm

Calling to flower where planted

Calling to holiness ever elusive

I am only me planted everywhere

 

all these endless pictures in my mind

 

 

                            

                                                Bethany South Australia

                                                16.6.05

Copyright held

 

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DEPENDANCE

Vincent's Quote of the Day - St Vincent de Paul Society (FAMVIN)

Nov 09, 2016

"Continue to offer God your work and to raise your heart to Him, asking Him to bless you and telling Him that you want to be faithful to Him always (V:160)."

6 WAYS TO CULTIVATE HUMILTY

(The following is not a long article in entirety)

Quote

 

Excerpt only: "Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist, there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.(St. Augustine) .....edit....be humble, then, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” 

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