Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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But forgiveness is not an emotion... Forgiveness is an act of will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.

   - Corrie Ten Boom

 

Communication with God - prayer - is a two-way conversation! It is not just the voice of praise and petitions, but often communion . Sitting in silence with God, listening for whatever God may want to say. Simply enjoy the fact that He is, and you are, and you have a relationship with Him. These special moments with God are when His fresh breezes can enter your heart and refresh you.

- Anonymous

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Dont be afraid!

to spend time with your parish priest

https://catholicexchange.com/dont-afraid-spend-time-priest?mc_cid=0cd7a9ea72&mc_eid=419cf29043

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Excerpt: "Do not let fear or assumptions get in the way of the good of your parish priest’s company. Think about it this way, new relationships always have a level of awkwardness in the beginning. We all have to get our footing in new relationships whether it be co-workers, friends, or priests. These things take time to develop naturally, but they can’t develop if we stay locked up in fear or our own preconceived notions. Pray for fortitude and then find out the best way to set up dinner or some other event with them. It’s a great good for both the laity and the priests. Remember to be patient in the process with them and yourself. If we get out of the way, God will bless us immensely in the process."

 

Being now a woman who lives alone, I don't invite my parish priest to a meal.  A vastly different situation from when I was married, when Father was a dinner guest every week.

Edited April 20, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

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(I thought that the above was an excellent symbol for holiness i.e. through the cross)

 

"Holiness, always personal and over against the world"

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1546

By Dr. Jeff Mirus - Apr 20, 2018

Excerpt: "Note that the Pope speaks of happiness, not satisfaction. Holiness is always personally costly and always over against the world. This must be grasped in the Biblical sense, that is, in contrast to the dominant worldly opinions from which we derive so much reassurance and pride—and through which we are seduced into distancing ourselves ever further from the Kingdom of God."

(I was happily surprised too to see Catholic Culture come out in at least some support anyway of Pope Francis)

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Daily Reflection – April 21 - St Vincent de Paul Society

“A fault may serve for our advancement when it serves to humble us.”
– St. Louise de Marillac

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Only those who try to live near God and have formed thehabit of faithfulness to Him in the small things of ourdaily 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)

Edited April 22, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

I really liked the above - it gave me a big smile in a day of

plenty of mea maxima culpas!

 

 

Catechism in a Year

Subscribe: http://flocknote.com/catechism

Notice the important phrase below "in union with The Pope"

Quote

182. What is the mission of the Pope?

The Pope, Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Saint Peter, is the perpetual, visible source and foundation of the unity of the Church. He is the vicar of Christ, the head of the College of bishops and pastor of the universal Church over which he has by divine institution full, supreme, immediate, and universal power.

Further reading: CCC 880-882, 936-937

183. What is the competence of the college of bishops?

The college of bishops in union with the Pope, and never without him, also exercises supreme and full authority over the Church.

Further reading: CCC 883-885

184. How do the bishops carry out their mission of teaching?

Since they are authentic witnesses of the apostolic faith and are invested with the authority of Christ, the bishops in union with the Pope have the duty of proclaiming the Gospel faithfully and authoritatively to all. By means of a supernatural sense of faith, the people of God unfailingly adhere to the faith under the guidance of the living Magisterium of the Church.

Further reading: CCC 888-890, 939

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

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Instead of allowing yourself to be so unhappy, just let your love grow as God wants it to grow. Seek goodness in others. Love more persons more—love them more impersonally, more unselfishly, without thought of return. The return, never fear, will take care of itself. 

… Henry Drummond (1851-1897)

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We have forgotten that evil is infectious, as infectious as small-pox; and we do not perceive that if we allow whole departments of our life to become purely secular, and to create and maintain moral or immoral standards on their own, in time the whole of life is bound to become corrupt.

… G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate

 

[Guest]

After 12 good years free of serious episodes of bipolar necessitating hospitalization, I now realise that I am faced with another major life challenge - a physical challenge.  My mobility is severely affected with constant pain at some level or other.  I am no saint, no hero, and despite prayer and hope, difficult for me episodes of pain are NOT met with an air of serene acceptance.

No way!   Not me!

Rather I get into foul moods which have a negative affect on those around me.   But I don't realise it until the event or events are over.  I would just have to portray the classic example of a bad tempered old lady.  So the goal I am setting myself prayerfully with hope is for the absolutely and totally unearned gift of serene acceptance making life easier on me but far more importantly easier on others.  It would be easier for me for the simple reason that the dreadful guilt I experience after an events or events of overt bad temper go very hard indeed on me.  Poor me.  My hope is that since to date I cannot bear any pain with serene acceptance, perhaps I can learn something about humility.  The thought just struck me that if I did bear the pain with serene acceptance, I might very well fall into the dreadful sin of pride.  Sort of a spiritual Catch 22, loss if you do and loss if you don't.   A spiritual paradox and we have plenty of them in Catholic spirituality. Well, anyway, I lean always on Divine Providence and undoubtedly Divine Providence has very good and sound reasons.  Amen.

My only very lonely plus and a totally unearned Gift of Grace, is that I do apologise to others once I realise what I have been doing that is..........although cold comfort for them after having to go through one of my episodes of bad temper.  I had a warm experience today when apologising to a young shop assistant who had witnessed one of my bouts.  When I first approached him, he looked afraid - when I apologised for my behaviour, a great big smile lit up his face.

Please say a prayer for me.

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After a quick Google looking for a patron saint for a bad temper, I discovered that St Vincent de Paul - of all things -  "was cantankerous" https://catholicexchange.com/st-vincent-de-paul-ordinary-saint

Edited April 26, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

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Let God operate in you; hand the work over to Him and do not disquiet yourself as to whether or no He is working with nature or above nature, for His are both nature and grace. 
- Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)

 

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“Don’t set your heart on something less valuable than you yourself are. If you do that, you surrender your dignity because—remember—people come to resemble what they love.” 

- Catherine of Siena 

 

 

 Venerable Pius XII, Pope from 1939 to 1958
Pius XII Radio message 23 March 1952 (20th April 1952, rev.)

Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, is the light of the conscience

 

The conscience is man’s most interior and intimate core. That is where he takes refuge with his spiritual faculties in complete solitude: alone with himself or, rather, alone with God whose voice is to be heard in the conscience. That is where he decides good or evil, that is where he chooses the path of victory or defeat. Even if he wanted to, man could not succeed in getting rid of it. With it, whether it approves or whether it condemns, he makes his way along the entire path of life, and again, with it, the truthful and incorruptible witness, he presents himself before the judgment seat of God.

Thus conscience is a sanctuary on the threshold of which everyone must halt, everyone, even fathers or mothers in the case of a child. Priests alone enter there as physicians of souls, but the conscience does not cease to be a jealously guarded sanctuary for all that, of which God Himself desires the privacy should be preserved under the seal of the most sacred of silences. In what sense can one speak of the education of conscience? Our divine Savior has brought his truth and his grace to ignorant and weak mankind: truth to show him the way that leads to his goal; grace to confer on him the strength for being able to attain it. Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, not just for everyone taken together but for each one individually.

From Daily Gospel.org

 

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The term spirit comes from the Old French word espirit from the Latin word spiritus meaning "soul, courage, vigour or breath", and is itself related to spirare, meaning "to breathe".

In the 4th century translation of the bible, the Latin word spiritus is .......... Read on HERE

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Genuflection

https://aleteia.org/2018/04/24/when-should-catholics-genuflect-in-a-church/

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Being Open to God in All Things:  https://catholicexchange.com/open-god-things?mc_cid=15dafdbf94&mc_eid=419cf29043

 

Ways to Be Open to The Holy Spirit: https://catholicexchange.com/10-ways-open-holy-spirit?mc_cid=15dafdbf94&mc_eid=419cf29043

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

Apr 27, 2018

It is easy to go from deficiency to excess of the virtues, from being just to becoming rigid, and from zealous to inconsiderate (II:84).

 

 

[Guest]

When I first read the above immediately after Morning Prayer, it harshly jolted me right down to my socks and with revulsion and I almost felt physically sick because I do not even remotely fit into the above description and "downright perfection" is nothing I understand even in contemporary terms.......which didn't stop me from taking note of the above being the words of a saint and pope - and so I asked myself "What exactly IS perfection?" and so jumped onto Mr. Google and asked the question again and a question I have asked over and over - over many years..

Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater :

Fr Thomas Keating is not a person I would in the ordinary course listen to in a video or read his writings.  I hold firmly to what the Church has to say about Centering Prayer and Fr Thomas is an advocate of CP.  Read about The Church and Centering Prayer HERE

However, I stumbled across this video in trying to ascertain what exactly perfection might be and why I started to watch Fr Thomas, I don't know because normally I would do anything but, except that, and quite possibly because, Fr T was speaking about St Therese of Lisieux.  I wanted to hear what he had to say about her.   As the video unfolded into several minutes, I began to think "This man really does have something to say".  However, what he had to say had nothing to do at all with Centering Prayer thankfully - rather it gave me insight into the parables by situating them in the context of their times and then drawing out of that context what it can mean to the modern person today (and Fr T does point out that his sharing is one aspect only of the bottomless treasury of Scripture and thus the Parables of Jesus).  His address, I thought, brings out just how important it can be to understand the parables in the context of their times - a real hobby horse of mine re Scripture.

As Fr T spoke, a personal spiritual jigsaw in the doldrums, began to make sense to me and pieces were falling into place.  As an aside to the address, I certainly have been in a place of total and absolute alienation from God that descended from I do not know where - an interior dejection and terrible loneliness, unbelievable and unendurable loneliness.  I was not in a state of mortal sin to my knowledge.  It was a place where one still believes and hopes but it offers absolutely no comfort no consolation whatsoever rather it increases the interior terrible loneliness as if no other person existed at all - thankfully it now seems like it was only for a very short time and such experiences or similar which might be negative or even positive, I write off to mental illness and leave it there and move on.

One thing that came across strongly to me from the video is that St Therese did not react to situations necessarily according to some book, rather she reacted from where she was at and did what she could and at least once we know of, that involved a complete retreat and running away from a situation because her emotions were so strong she felt she would give in to those emotions if she stayed in the situation.  Truly is St Therese a saint with a spirituality of imperfection Part 1 of 2 - "Therese - Spirituality of Imperfection"/Finding Strength in Weakness

In the closing minutes of Part 1, Fr K speaks about St Therese and her most remarkable and astounding perception of the Nature of God.

If only my memory would hold on to some of these gems I come across, but even a day or two would be remarkable for me.  I stumble along leaning on The Holy Spirit and Jesus and for The Glory of The Father - and never believing for a second I achieve any of it even remotely.

There is a Part 1 and 2 to Father Thomas's address and Part 2 is linked at the end of this post:

 

Part 2 is HERE

Edited April 30, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

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Just watched the closing minutes of Part 2 of Father Thomas Keating speaking about St Therese of Lisieux - and his words were quite profound, well worth the hearing 

What follows is very much paraphrased: to struggle with what is probably the most difficult for someone seeking God - i.e. to accept the humiliation of not being what you would like to be, to accept one's faults and even sins.  To trust to audacity in the Goodness of The Father, boundless confidence in the Love of God to heal oneself and others.........to show love and love will set in order Charity within us so that no matter our difficulties, we continue to show love and to forgive, to build instead of tearing down and to have mercy.

I thought Father Thomas's address was worth hearing re daily life especially...........while I reiterate that I reject centering prayer in most all its aspects.

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I don't know why the following came to mind - possibly the jumping from subject to subject of the bipolar mind.

I recall that when in college, Sister was talking to us about  religious life.  Because I was fixated on my vocation as religious life alone, I wasn't really listening to most of what she had to say.  But suddenly I really heard her: "God might call you to religious life as the only way you are going to save your soul".  That really got me thinking and tearing down my notions of a religious vocation as marking out those beloved by God and especially honoured by Him - i.e. the very holy ones in our midst.  And of course it is all that even if it is the only way I will save my soul............think about it  

 

 

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They who can no longer listen to one another will soon no longer be listening to God either; they will always be talking even in the presence of God. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there will be nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words … never really speaking to others. 
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together 

 

First steps to a healthy spiritual life

according to St Francis de Sales

HERE (scroll down)