Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

A CHILD'S EXPLANATION OF GOD

Jesus is God's Son .  He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God.  They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him.  But He was good and kind, like His Father, and He told His Father they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them - and God said OK.

His Dad (God)appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore.  He could stay in Heaven.  So He did.  And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself, without having to bother God.  Like a secretary, only more important.

A CHILD'S EXPLANATION

OF SKIPPING MASS

Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun, like going to the beach.  This is wrong.

And besides, the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.

Edited February 9, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

I vowe to offer up in prayer a 40 day fast this lent on grains and such in minimal amounts and I don't give a stinking fluffy air extraction what anyone has to say because it has snapped the chains of satan around me twice before.

Thats what this child says.

GodblesS

[Guest]

"Only those who try to live near God and have formed the habit of faithfulness to Him in the small things of our daily life, can hope in times of need for that special light which shows us our path. To do as well as we can the job immediately before us, is the way to learn what we ought to do next."

- Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

3 hours ago, Tab'le De'Bah-Rye said:

I vowe to offer up in prayer a 40 day fast this lent on grains and such in minimal amounts and I don't give a stinking fluffy air extraction what anyone has to say because it has snapped the chains of satan around me twice before.

Thats what this child says.

GodblesS

God bless, Tab.  

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

21 minutes ago, BarbaraTherese said:

"Only those who try to live near God and have formed the habit of faithfulness to Him in the small things of our daily life, can hope in times of need for that special light which shows us our path. To do as well as we can the job immediately before us, is the way to learn what we ought to do next."

- Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

God bless, Tab.  

Lol barb, thanx, amen amen. That is my private vowe amongst friends.

GodblesS you too

[Guest]

Catechism in a Year http://flocknote.com/catechism

64. What kind of bond exists between created things?

There exist an interdependence and a hierarchy among creatures as willed by God. At the same time, there is also a unity and solidarity among creatures since all have the same Creator, are loved by him and are ordered to his glory. Respecting the laws inscribed in creation and the relations which derive from the nature of things is, therefore, a principle of wisdom and a foundation for morality.

Further reading: CCC 342, 354


65. What is the relationship between the work of creation and the work of redemption?

The work of creation culminates in the still greater work of redemption, which in fact gives rise to a new creation in which everything will recover its true meaning and fulfillment.
     
Further reading: CCC 345-349

[Guest]

 

Osteoarthritis has gone into my right wrist and thumb.  I see my doctor on Thursday.

 

[Guest]

Things might be a bit slow until early March sometime.  The next couple of weeks are busy and then I leave for interstate on 26th. February.  I have appointments all this week and next week appointments as well as packing for my trip.  My wrist is an up and down sort of matter - sometimes it is not too bad, other times it is a concern.

But I have not abandoned this thread, just focused elsewhere at least until early, or even to mid March perhaps.  See how I go, how things unfold.

[Guest]

We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. [If we center our attention on Him and draw our attention away from our surface selves] …we see it sometimes and we see it maybe frequently: that God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything — in people and in things and in nature and in events… He is everywhere, He is in everything, and we cannot be without Him… The only thing is that we don’t see it.” 
- Thomas Merton -

[Guest]

On ‎9‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 10:14 PM, Tab'le De'Bah-Rye said:

Lol barb, thanx, amen amen. That is my private vowe amongst friends.

GodblesS you too

 Thanks Tab

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Unbind our spiritual eyes, and ears oh lord that we may listen to what you have to say and show us and not that of our egos or the devil. Amen.

[Guest]

Saw my GP today and my right wrist is now in a brace (support with steel insert to hold wrist inert).  I have been referred to the spinal clinic, but will not be attending until I return from interstate.  I have to sleep with the brace and  splint on and also it is difficult to write and type, so I will be taking it off -  living alone it is impossible to keep the brace and splint on at all times.  My wrist is painful but the latter certainly lessens the pain in a major way.   Apparently the problem is tendonitis or perhaps carpal tunnel syndrome.  The spinal clinic will go back to my GP after my appointment with recommended treatment.   To date spinal injections have not helped much at all.  Deo Gratius.

I will be posting the reflection at some point from last Tuesday night's St Vinnies Parish Meeting as it is a quite short but very important reflection for lay people.

Deus Voluntas Tua

Laudate Dominum

[Pax17]

Barb, I had both my wrists in that type of splint after a car accident...the splint helped, but it was cumbersome, I remember that well.  I found it helpful to take it off for a bit every day.  I also have tendonitis in my arms from years spent at the computer (I was a corporate writer before I retired).  I have to watch how I use my arms, and limit my computer time.

Wishing you safe travels later this month.

[Guest]

The following is what I said I would post from our last Vinnies Conference Meeting Reflection:

“EVERY DEED IS HOLY”

 St John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation “Christifideles Laici”[2] (“Vocation and Mission of The Laity”) had this to say: “"The term secular must be understood in light of the act of God the creator and redeemer, who has handed over the world to women and men, so that they may participate in the work of creation, free creation from the influence of sin and sanctify themselves in marriage or the celibate life, in a family, in a profession and in the various activities of society"[39].For their work, prayers and apostolic endeavours, their ordinary married and family life, their daily labour, their mental and physical relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life if patiently borne-all of these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Pt 2:5). During the celebration of the Eucharist these sacrifices are most lovingly offered to the Father along with the Lord's body. Thus as worshipers whose every deed is holy, the lay faithful consecrate the world itself to God[23]. Pius XII once stated: "The Faithful, more precisely the lay faithful, find themselves on the front lines of the Church's life;”

                    The late spiritual theologian Father Jordan Aumann, O.P[3] (Dominican) insisted that there never has been any true restoration of the Church not preceded by a widespread return to the heights and depths of prayer. Such prayer brings life to the Church and enlivens theology so that it can  fulfil its vital role.”

 Deep prayer is the heartbeat, the life-blood, of the renewal of the Church.

______________________________________

[1] http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici.html

[2] Father Jordan Aumann OP (Dominican) is widely respected and accepted as a spiritual author of considerable note. He has authored numerous publications, located on this link with a short bio: http://opcentral.org/resources/2012/09/23/jordan-aumann-o-p-introduction/

 

 

[Guest]

Sound quality is not good in video on heroic virtue, too much background noise.  What I didn't embrace in the video is related to: "Bear ye one another's burdens".  If we do not share what the burden is, how can the other bear it?  Having shared the burden, one simply moves on in the unfoldings whatever they might be, detached from any investment in what the unfoldings might prove to be.

 

I woke this morning struggling with depression.  I sent off a prayer request to some Carmelite Nuns and very shortly after I hit SEND, the depression lifted and with much gratitude and thanksgiving on the run as I was able to get some things done that really needed doing.  This could be a direct action of God or it could be mind over matter in that I have great (huge, massive) confidence in Carmelite prayer.  No matter, The Lord is master of the direct and also of the indirect i.e. Divine Providence.   Nevertheless, I have contacted my psychiatrist.  "Common sense is the guide of the virtues" (St Albert, Ancient Rule of Carmel - Paragraph 24.) 

I thought the above video was a spot on very short summary indeed of the seven mansions of St Teresa of Avila.

Fiat Voluntas Tua

Laudate Dominum

Edited February 16, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Pax17 said:

Barb, I had both my wrists in that type of splint after a car accident...the splint helped, but it was cumbersome, I remember that well.  I found it helpful to take it off for a bit every day.  I also have tendonitis in my arms from years spent at the computer (I was a corporate writer before I retired).  I have to watch how I use my arms, and limit my computer time.

Wishing you safe travels later this month.

Thank you for sharing, Pax, with some really good advice.  "Common sense is the guide of all the virtues" (St Albert Ancient rule of Carmel Para 24)  Your tendonitis never healed completely then?  My sympathies indeed as it sounds as if it hasn't.  It is such a nuisance and I have a way to go before I can internalise what I do and do not do - and when and for how long.

The splint is cumbersome.  My annoying problem too seems to be that I was unable to get a black splint and had to buy an off white one - I have already had to wash it.  So I cut the fingers out of a pair of black gloves I have and that is protecting the splint from getting dirty too quickly, if it does prevent the breathing of the splint.

Thank you very much for the safe travel wishes.

Sharing a joke with you: If The Lord says to me "Depart from me, ye cursed", I am going to say "Now hang on a cotton pickin minute, Buster!"   And I do not think that I would be alone......perhaps only in the affront and cheekiness.  The nun that taught me used to say often to me: "You are as bold as brass and as brazen as you are bold".

God bless and thank you always for the input and sharing, the thoughtful wishes.

[Guest]

 

Perfection does not consist in the knowledge of God’s order, but in submission to it. The order of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God, grace—all these are one and the same thing in this life… Perfection is nothing else than the faithful cooperation of the soul with the work of God. This ultimate purpose of our life grows and increases in our souls secretly and without our knowledge.

… Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence

 

A life devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far from being dull, and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts in everything that we do.

… William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728]

[Pax17]

My splints were beige, and they still got dirty!  I like your idea with the gloves...as the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Unfortunately, the tendonitis does recur, but doesn't get in the way too much...I'm learning to sculpt, so I have to go slowly to not trigger a flare-up.

LOL...I like sister's comment.  Were you a bold, young thing? 

 

[Guest]

12 hours ago, Pax17 said:

My splints were beige, and they still got dirty!  I like your idea with the gloves...as the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Unfortunately, the tendonitis does recur, but doesn't get in the way too much...I'm learning to sculpt, so I have to go slowly to not trigger a flare-up.

LOL...I like sister's comment.  Were you a bold, young thing? 

 

My (foster) son has worked in age care and he told me about the black glove means of keeping the splint clean ... and it works!  And "beige" is a more apt description.  I am happy to read that your tendonitis while re-occurring is not overly problematic.  Sculpturing - I used to love it during my ill years - but now is many years since I attempted it.  Good luck and blessings on your lessons and I hope you will thoroughly enjoy the experience.  During my ill years in a psychiatric hospital, my psychiatrist used to sit and watch me work while talking to me.  My focus then was attempting to put the spirit of the parables into a sculpture in clay. I never learnt the art of preventing the sculpture from blowing up when being fired.

I never thought of myself as a "bold young thing", but if I had something to say then I said it no matter whom I was addressing, hindsight says.  If I was addressing Sister in class and she didn't like it, she would order me out the classroom to repeat her assessment and always the same one often. Another funny little tale is that I have the 'honour' of having been declared a heretic by an Archbishop to be:  The Archbishop at the time was a humble priest and inspector of schools.  Every question he posed, my hand shot up which is why Sister had put me at the very front.  But Father ignored me until finally, he walked up to me at my desk instructing me to stand up.  "Young lady, do you believe in transubstantion?"  I had never heard the word before and firmly replied "No, Father, I do not".  He replied "Sit down, heretic!".

My Mum had another short accusation she would often repeat: "You have more front than Foy and Gibsons".  I think I was probably full of confidence and outspoken back then.Those were the days when little children were expected in the main to be seen and not heard and Mum or Dad stating "Because I said so" was quite valid and accepted.

Edited February 17, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

 

 

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

Quote of the Day – February 16

 

Oh, what great reason people of good will have to be cheerful (I:145).

 

 

Importance of Laughter: http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2011/10/dr-demarco-on-the-importance-of-laughter/

"Why do we laugh?  Life can wear people down.  When it becomes too heavy, we need to counteract gravity with levity.  Laughter unlocks, though only momentarily, the chains of responsibility.  It lifts us from the weightiness of life.  “Man laughs because he has a soul,” wrote Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, “hence, the more spiritual a person is, the more enjoyment there is in [his] life.  In this sense, humor is closely related to faith;  it bids us not to take anything too seriously.”

Edited February 17, 2018 by BarbaraTherese