Espoused to Him

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

2012-02-14T06:33:00.005-06:00

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

~1 Corinthians 13

Happy Valentine's Day, my dear family and friends! May our hearts forever rejoice in the One True Love who never fails, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! May He make us grow in His love and in our love for each other, to the praise and glory of the Father! Amen!!! Alleluia!!!

More Counting it All Joy

2012-02-13T03:44:00.008-06:00

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials. ~James 1:2

Ave Maria! Today's first reading (James 1:1-11) is most dear to me as it begins with my motto of many years: "Count it all joy." Of course, temptations, trials, hardships, sufferings and all the myriad difficulties of life are not themselves a joy. However, they can bring us true gladness because they can lead us to the wellspring of eternal joy, Jesus Christ, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2).

So we have our dear Lord's example, especially when, during His agony in the garden, his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground and He prayed the longer: "Not my will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42-44). To do His Father's will was always His greatest joy. And far more than our Lord's example, we have His ready help in all our adversities, both large and small. But we must remember what our Master told us -- "Until now you have not asked nothing in my name; ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). Let us ask, then, and, as St. James advises, let us ask "in faith, not doubting" (James 1:6). And let's not be timid about calling upon the One who alone can save us! Rather, let us be persistent like that troublesome widow who kept wearying the judge (Luke 18:1-5) and insistent like the blind man of Jericho who shouted ever more loudly as Jesus passed by (Luke 18:35-43).

Today, as always, with the grace of my dear Lord, who loves me so much, I will strive to ask in faith, receive in gladness, and count it all joy.

But I will rejoice in the Lord:

and I will joy in God my Jesus.

Habakkuk 3:18

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2012-02-12T04:17:00.003-06:00

He sent the leper away, and he was cured. ~The Gospel of Mark

However great our sinfulness, each one of us can be healed by God every day. We have only to worship him with humility and love, and wherever we are to say with faith: Lord, if you want to you can make me clean. It is by believing from the heart that we are justified, so we must make our petitions with the utmost confidence, and without the slightest doubt of God’s power.

If we pray with a faith springing from love, God’s will need be in no doubt. He will be ready and able to save us by an all-powerful command. He immediately answered the leper’s request, saying: I do want to. Indeed, no sooner had the leper begun to pray with faith than the Savior’s hand began to cure him of his leprosy.

This leper is an excellent teacher of the right way to make petitions. He did not doubt the Lord’s willingness through disbelief in his compassion, but neither did he take it for granted, for he knew the depths of his own sinfulness. Yet because he acknowledged that the Lord was able to cleanse him if he wished, we praise this declaration of firm faith just as we praise the Lord’s mighty power.

For obtaining a favor from God rightly depends as much on having a real living faith as on the exercise of the Creator’s power and mercy. If faith is weak it must be strengthened, for only then will it succeed in obtaining health of body or soul.

The Apostle’s words, purifying their hearts by faith referred, surely, to strong faith like this. And so, if the hearts of believers are purified by faith, we must give thought to this virtue of faith, for, as the Apostle says, Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea.

A faith shown to be living by its love, steadfast by its perseverance, patient by its endurance of delay, humble by its confession, strong by its confidence, reverent by its way of presenting petitions, and discerning with regard to their content -- such a faith may be certain that in every place it will hear the Lord saying: I do want to.

Pondering this wonderful reply, let us put the words together in their proper sequence. The leper began: Lord, if you want to, and the Savior said: I do want to. The leper continued: You can make me clean, and the Lord spoke his powerful word of command: Be clean.

All that the sinner’s true confession maintained with faith, love and power immediately conferred. And in case the gravity of his sins should make anyone despair, another Evangelist says this man who was cured had been completely covered with leprosy.

For all have sinned and forfeited the glory of God. Since, as we rightly believe, God’s power is operative everywhere, we ought to believe the same of his will, for his will is that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

~Paschasius Radbertus

My dearest Lord,

I want what You want.

You want to make me clean.

Please do!

Amen!

"Be it done unto me..."

2012-02-11T03:59:00.002-06:00

"Be it done unto me according to thy word" surrenders yourself and all that is dear to you to God, and the trust which it implies does not mean trusting God to look after you and yours, to keep you and them in health and prosperity and honor.

It means much more, it means trusting that whatever God does with you and with yours is the act of an infinetely loving Father...

When Our Lady stood up, a queenly child, and uttered her fiat to the Angel of God, her words began to make Christ's voice. Those first words of consent had already spoken Christ's last words of consent; her "I commit myself to you, do whatever you like with me" were already spoken by Christ in her; they were one and the same with His: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"...

God asks for extreme courage in love; the Bride of the Spirit must respond with strength like His own strength.

Our Lady did this.

~Caryll Houselander in The Reed of God

Dearest Mary, Handmaid of the Lord,

grant me a share of the courage
and the strength of your fiat.

Amen.

Dear ones, as some of you know, Caryll Houselander is one of my favorite authors. I read her book The Reed of God in 1966, and she has been my soul sister ever since. Happy to report, there's much good stuff about her out there in cyberspace, including excerpts from some of her writings. For a real feast for your soul, go here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Counting it all joy

2012-02-08T03:59:00.003-06:00

Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials. ~James 1:2

Ave Maria! In His infinite wisdom and loving kindness, God is giving me many opportunities to "count it all joy" these days. A nasty little tumble that I took at my beloved church last Friday has left me with a broken collarbone, as I learned yesterday when I saw an orthopedist. I'm in a sling and must not use my right arm for at least 6 weeks, maybe more. Six weeks will be the feast of St, Joseph, so I am already praying to him in a special way. Yes, I am right-handed. I am also slow typing with one hand. OK, reality check: I'm slow doing EVERYTHING with one hand! I am absolutely committed to obeying my doctor's orders and may not be blogging much in the days ahead. We'll see... But I will be praying lots, more than ever, and especially for each one of you, my dear family and friends and readers. God is so good and loves us so much, each one of us as if we were the only one, according to St. Augustine. Because of Him, we can indeed "count it all joy"! DEO GRATIAS!

Many would be willing to have afflictions

provided that they not be inconvenienced by them.

~St. Francis de Sales

Where is God?

2012-02-07T04:04:00.004-06:00

Cygnus-X: The Inner Workings of a Nearby Star Factory

Q: Where is God?
A: God is everywhere.

~The Baltimore Catechism, 1891

I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house;

and the place where thy glory dwelleth.

~Psalm 26:8

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2012-02-05T03:51:00.004-06:00

Rembrandt van Rijn (1609–1669)
The Healing of the Mother-in-Law of Saint Peter

He cured many who suffered from diseases of one kind or another. ~Mark 1:34

Those who have listened attentively to today’s gospel will have learnt why the Lord of heaven, by whom all creation was renewed, entered the houses of his servants on earth. Nor should it surprise us that he so courteously adapted himself to every situation, since his motive in coming among us was to bring mercy and help to all.

You can easily see what drew Christ to Peter’s house on this particular occasion; it was no desire to sit down and rest himself, but compassion for a woman stricken down by sickness. He was prompted not by the need to eat but by the opportunity to heal, his immediate preoccupation being the performance of a work which only his divine power could carry out, rather than the enjoyment of human company at table.

In Peter’s house that day it was not wine that flowed, but tears. Consequently Christ did not enter to obtain sustenance for himself, but to restore vitality to another. God wants human beings, not human goods. He desires to bestow what is heavenly, not to acquire anything earthly. Christ came to seek not our possessions but us.

As soon as Jesus crossed the threshold he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying ill in bed with a fever. On entering the house he immediately saw what he had come for. He was not interested in the comfort the house itself could offer, nor the crowds awaiting his arrival, nor the formal welcome prepared for him, or the assembled household. Still less did he look for any outward signs of preparation for his reception. All he had eyes for was the spectacle of a sick woman, lying there consumed with a raging fever.

At a glance he saw her desperate plight, and at once stretched out his hands to perform their divine work of healing; nor would he sit down to satisfy his human needs before he had made it possible for the stricken woman to rise up and serve her God.

So he took her by the hand, and the fever left her.

Here you see how fever loosens its grip on a person whose hand is held by Christ’s; no sickness can stand its ground in the face of the very source of health. Where the Lord of life has entered, there is no room for death.

~St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 18: PL 52, 246-49

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed:
save me, and I shall be saved,
for thou art my praise.
~Jeremiah 17:14

Candlemas

2012-02-02T03:40:00.013-06:00

Beewise we gather our wax all year
From bramble sorrow and thistle tear,
Briar sadness and spine of pain:
Bitter flowers that bloom again!
But deadest winter brings a day
When thorns have lovelier bloom than May;
When candles are fashioned and lit by One
Who fashioned her wax to be lit by the Sun,
Then watched her Candle burn: the price
Of sin-consuming sacrifice.
Today she shares the Flame anew
To make us priest-and-victim too.

And Mary-mothered flames and Flame
Live their sacrificial Name.

~Rev. John D. Boyd, S.J.

Today's beautiful feast goes by different names. The Roman Missal calls it The Presentation of the Lord. It's also called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, and Candlemas. An excellent article on the meaning and history of this feast can be found here.

In Thy light we shall see light! ~Psalm 35(36):10

A Prayer That the Will of God May Be Done

2012-02-01T03:36:00.003-06:00

Most kind Jesus, grant me Your grace, I pray; let it dwell in me, work in me, and abide in me to the end. Grant me always to will and desire whatever is most pleasing and acceptable to You. Let Your will be mine, and let my will ever follow and be conformed wholly to Your own. Let me ever will and not will in union with Yourself, and be unable to will otherwise than You will or do not will. Grant that I may die to all things in this world, and for Your sake love to be despised and unknown. Grant me, above all else, to rest in You, that my heart may find its peace in You lone; for You are the heart's true peace, its sole abiding place, and outside Yourself all is hard and restless. In this true peace that is in You, the sole, supreme, and eternal Good, I will dwell and take my rest. Amen.

~ from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, Book 3, Chapter 15

My soul doth magnify the Lord,

and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.

~Luke 1:46-47

St. John Bosco

2012-01-31T18:14:00.007-06:00

And God gave to Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart as the sand that is on the sea shore. ~1 Kings 4:29

Ave Maria! Today the Church honors St. John Bosco. In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the above verse from Scripture is the Introit, or what is called the Entrance Antiphon in the Novus Ordo. How aptly it describes St. John Bosco, who dedicated his life to helping the young! The Salesian family that he began with 17 men in Italy during 1859, now, 152 years later, numbers in the hundreds of thousands and is spread throughout the entire world. Its three largest groups are the Salesians of Don Bosco, priests and brothers who serve in 128 countries; the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians (also known as the Salesian Sisters), consecrated women religious who serve in 85 countries; and the Salesian Cooperators, married and single lay men and women who live their Catholic faith and the Salesian spirit in the normal situations of their life and work, according to their lay state. While numbers can be impressive, of far greater importance is the love that wisdom, understanding and largeness of heart generate, the love of God and of all His people that we see so clearly in the life, witness and ministry of St. John Bosco and the Salesian family today.

O God, who raised up the Priest Saint John Bosco as a father and teacher of the young, grant, we pray, that, aflame with the same fire of love, we may seek out souls and serve you alone. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ~The Roman Missal, Collect, St. John Bosco

Corrections and Admonitions

2012-01-30T03:31:00.002-06:00

A true sign that one loves the virtue he is striving to acquire is to appreciate the corrections and admonitions received for the defects committed against this virtue. This is a great indication of advancing toward perfection. – St. Francis de Sales

Ave Maria! What a gift it is to have people in our lives who correct and admonish us! They are my true friends who point out to me my faults, especially those weaknesses of mine that I so blithely ignore or proudly deny. With an honesty born of love, they help me to keep growing in the ways of our Lord and in the true freedom of the children of God. Admittedly, sometimes I don't want to hear what these companions of mine have to say, but I know that I can trust them because they also are striving for holiness and wholeness. Through their kindness to me, my shortcomings become stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks as together we advance in God's grace and glory. Thanks be to God!

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. ~Psalm 141:5

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2012-01-29T02:32:00.007-06:00

This is a new kind of teaching -- he speaks with authority! ~Mark 1:27

But Christ really saw, and ever saw, the face of God, for He was no creature of God, but the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. From eternity He was with Him in glory, as He says Himself, dwelling in the abyss of the infinite greatness of the Most High. Not for forty days, as Moses on the mount in figure, but for ever and ever was He present as the Counsellor of God, as His Word, in whom He delighted. Such was He of old; but at the time appointed He came forth from the Father, and showed Himself in this external world, first as its Creator, then as its Teacher, the Revealer of secrets, the Mediator, the Off-streaming of God's glory, and the Express Image of His Person. Cloud nor image, emblem nor words, are interposed between the Son and His Eternal Father. No language is needed between the Father and Him, who is the very Word of the Father; no knowledge is imparted to Him, who by His very Nature and from eternity knows the Father, and all that the Father knows. Such are His own words, "No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27). Again He says, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9); and He accounts for this when He tells us, that He and the Father are one (John 10:30); and that He is in the bosom of the Father, and so can disclose Him to mankind, being still in heaven, even while He was on earth.

Accordingly, the Blessed Apostle draws a contrast between Moses and Christ to our comfort; "the Law," he says, "was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" [John 1:17). In Him God is fully and truly seen, so that He is absolutely the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. All our duties are summed up for us in the message He brings us. Those who look towards Him for teaching, who worship and obey Him, will by degrees see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in His face," and will be "changed into the same image from glory to glory." And thus it happens that men of the lowest class and the humblest education may know fully the ways and works of God; fully, that is, as man can know them; far better and more truly than the most sagacious man of this world, to whom the Gospel is hid. Religion has a store of wonderful secrets which no one can communicate to another, and which are most pleasant and delightful to know. "Call on Me," says God by the prophet, "and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not of" (Jeremiah 33:3). This is no mere idle boast, but a fact which all who seek God will find to be true, though they cannot perhaps clearly express their meaning. Strange truths about ourselves, about God, about our duty, about the world, about heaven and hell, new modes of viewing things, discoveries which cannot be put into words, marvellous prospects and thoughts half understood, deep convictions inspiring joy and peace, these are a part of the revelation which Christ, the Son of God, brings to those who obey Him. Moses had much toil to gain from the great God some scattered rays of the truth, and that for his personal comfort, not for all Israel; but Christ has brought from His Father for all of us the full and perfect way of life. Thus He brings grace as well as truth, a most surprising miracle of mercy from the freeness of the gift, as well as a true wisdom from its fulness.

~Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, 1801-90
Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 7, Sermon 9

The light of thy countenance O Lord, is signed upon us:

thou hast given gladness in my heart. ~Psalm 4:6

...to the Tabernacle...

2012-01-27T04:24:00.006-06:00

Go perseveringly to the Tabernacle, either bodily or in your heart, so as to feel safe and calm: but also in order to feel loved ... and to love.

~ St. Josemaria Escriva

O Lord of Hosts, one day within Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. My greatest blessing, my deepest joy is to dwell always with You, my King and my God. Amen. (cf. Ps 84)

What's my measure?

2012-01-26T03:41:00.008-06:00

The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. ~ Mark 4:24

Ave Maria! This verse from today's gospel (Mark 4:21-25) is a sobering one. I get as much or as little as I give. And the choice is always mine -- I can be either a spendthrift or a tightwad in the matters of the heart. If I love lavishly, then my entire being will continually expand more and more to welcome and receive the God who so ardently longs to give each one of us His entire being. And still more will be given to us! If I love meagerly -- which really isn't love at all -- then I've pretty much closed the door of my heart to my prodigal God, whose love alone is the source of my love.

St. Francis de Sales, whose feast day we celebrated earlier this week on January 24, got it right when he proclaimed, "The measure of our love is to love without measure." Or, as the Lutheran radio preacher and author Paul Scherer noted in his book Love is a Spendthrift: Meditations for the Christian Year, "Love is a spendthrift, leaves its arithmetic at home, is always 'in the red.'"

Today, in the Spirit of Love, I make the following prayer by author Flora Larsson the meditation and cry of my heart.

I want to be a spendthrift, Lord,
A spendthrift of my time and strength
Giving instead of withholding,
Sowing instead of wanting to reap.

Don’t let me be a miser, Master,
Cuddling myself to myself,
Careful of every effort,
Counting each step,
Hoarding my physical resources
For the demands of a tomorrow that might never come.

Make me a glad spendthrift, Lord:
Joyously giving my love and care,
Opening the sluice-gate of my small reserves,
Pouring out what little I have to give
Without measure or stint,
Without anxious debate,
And trusting You for tomorrow.

Don’t let me shelter myself in a glass case,
Fearful lest the light of day should fade me,
Dreading that the hand of time should touch me,
Shrinking from effort that might drain me,
Saving myself up for what?
To look nice in my coffin?

Let me give what I have to give with open hands,
Offering myself to You each day for service,
Happy to be used as long as life shall last,
Living for You as a glad spendthrift.
For at the end, Lord
You will not ask me what I have saved,
But what I have given.

To go forward with such a spirit is what I intend to do!

The Conversion of St. Paul

2012-01-25T04:01:00.007-06:00

Conversion of St. Paul by Roy Ruiz

[But] whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and [the] sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ~ Phil 3:7-11

This turning point in [St. Paul's] life, this transformation of his whole being was not the fruit of a psychological process, of a maturation or intellectual and moral development. Rather it came from the outside: it was not the fruit of his thought but of his encounter with Jesus Christ. In this sense it was not simply a conversion, a development of his "ego", but rather a death and a resurrection for Paul himself. One existence died and another, new one was born with the Risen Christ. There is no other way in which to explain this renewal of Paul. None of the psychological analyses can clarify or solve the problem. This event alone, this powerful encounter with Christ, is the key to understanding what had happened: death and resurrection, renewal on the part of the One who had shown himself and had spoken to him. In this deeper sense we can and we must speak of conversion. This encounter is a real renewal that changed all his parameters. Now he could say that what had been essential and fundamental for him earlier had become "refuse" for him; it was no longer "gain" but loss, because henceforth the only thing that counted for him was life in Christ. ~ Pope Benedict, 9/3/08, General Audience on the Conversion of St. Paul

Smite me, Lord, with Thy bright light

even though it gives me fright.
Quickly now I take my flight

from every shadow of the night.

Forevermore by love and might
Thou alone my sweet delight.

Amen.

Choose Life!

2012-01-24T04:13:00.001-06:00

"...at the origin of every human being there is not something haphazard or chance, but a loving plan of God." ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Ave Maria! God's plan for us is life. Why, then, would we choose anything else, anything less? Yet we do, every single one of us, at one time or another. Perhaps we don't deliberately end people's lives, but in many small ways we fail to respect their being, to recognize their dignity, and to uphold their God-given right to life. Or so it seems to me when I come before the Lord of All Being, the Giver of Life, and examine my conscience according to His gospel.

As we all know, yesterday was the 39th annual March for Life in Washington, DC. You can read all about it on the Web, so there's nothing for me to say. However, I do want to include this powerful image that appears today on the Washington Post Web site in its coverage of the March. I also want to direct you here to one mother's thoughts as she gladly marched yesterday for life. She begins her reflection by saying: "Today I marched...I marched for my daughter and the dignity of her life. The worlds says she is a burden, my mother's heart says she is the heart of our home and we would not know who we are without her." How utterly amazing by the world's standards! Mary's daughter Courtney, who is profoundly disabled, is the heart of their home! And Mary, her husband and their son wouldn't know who they are without her! The world's standards, did I say? But we, through the grace of God, have the mind of Christ! (1 Cor 2:16). Thanks be to God! And many, many thanks to all those individuals who yesterday reminded us of this in their March for Life.

And be not conformed to this world;

but be reformed in the newness of your mind,

that you may prove what is the good,

and the acceptable,

and the perfect will of God.

~ Romans 12:2

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

2012-01-23T02:05:00.000-06:00

"This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:15

In today’s gospel, beloved, we heard the exhortation to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now the kingdom of heaven is Christ, who, as we know, is the judge of good and evil and scrutinizes the motives for all our actions.

We should therefore do well to forestall God’s judgement by freely acknowledging our sins and correcting our wrongheaded attitudes; for by failing to seek out the needful remedies and apply them, we place ourselves in danger.

And our knowledge that we shall have to account for the motives behind our shortcomings makes the need for such a change of heart even greater.

We must recognize the greatness of God’s love for us; so generous is it that he is willing to be appeased by the amends we make for our evil deeds, provided only that we freely admit them before he has himself condemned them. And though his judgments are always just, he gives us a warning before he passes them, so as not to be compelled to apply the full rigor of his justice.

It is not for nothing that our God draws floods of tears from us; he does so to incite us to recover by penance and a change of heart what we had previously let slip through carelessness. God is well aware that human judgment is often at fault, that we are prone to fleshly sins and deceitful speech.

He therefore shows us the way of repentance, by which we can compensate for damage done and atone for our faults. And so to be sure of obtaining forgiveness, we ought to be always bewailing our guilt.

Yet no matter how many wounds our human nature has sustained, we are never justified in giving ourselves over to despair, for the Lord is magnanimous enough to pour out his compassion abundantly on all who need it.

But perhaps one of you will say: "What have I to fear? I have never done anything wrong." On this point hear what the apostle John says: If we claim to be sinless, we deceive ourselves and are blind to the truth. So let no one lead you astray; the most pernicious kind of sin is the failure to realize one’s own sinfulness.

Once let wrongdoers admit their guilt and repent of it, and this change of heart will bring about their reconciliation with the Lord; but no sinner is more in need of the tears of others than the one who thinks he has nothing to weep for. So I implore you, beloved, to follow the advice given you by holy Scripture and humble yourselves beneath the all-powerful hand of God.

As none of us can be wholly free from sin, so let none of us fail to make amends; here too we do ourselves great harm if we presume our own innocence. It may be that some are less guilty than others, but no one is entirely free from fault; there may be degrees of guilt, but no one can escape it altogether.

Let those then whose offenses are more grievous be more earnest in seeking pardon; and let those who have so far escaped contamination by the more heinous crimes pray that they may never be defiled by them, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

~ Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-543)

Occasions of Merit

2012-01-20T03:31:00.008-06:00

When life gets prickly, keep on blooming!

From me is thy fruit found. ~ Hosea 14:9

Never let pass a single occasion of merit from which you can gain some spiritual profit as, for example, some harsh little word someone might say, an obedience asked of you against your will, a chance to humiliate yourself, to practice charity, meekness and patience. All these occasions are profitable to you and you yourself should look for them. And you should go to sleep quite content on the day you have had more occasions of merit, just as the businessman does when he has had the opportunity of realizing a profit, for on that day business went well for him. ~ St. Ignatius of Loyola

My dear Lord, help to look for and make the most of all the occasions of merit you will give me today, not only for my spiritual profit but also -- and most importantly! -- for the praise of Your glory. Amen.

Attend to yourself

2012-01-19T04:51:00.001-06:00

If you really want to become perfect, you must firmly hold to the counsel of the Apostle (St. Paul): Attend to yourself, which implies two things. The first is not to look at the affairs of others nor at their defects. For the one who wishes to do his duty well and correct his own faults certainly has enough to do. The second is to strive for your own perfection and work incessantly for it, without worrying whether or not the others are doing so. ~Abbot Pastore

Ave Maria! What excellent advice for all of us! Attend to myself. Cultivate my own garden. Mind my own business. Take the log out of my own eye. Thomas à Kempis comes to mind: "Do not be concerned overmuch who is with you or against you, but work and plan that God may be with you in all that you do" (Imitation of Christ, Bk 2, Ch 2). Sounds like a very good plan for me today -- and every day! Thank you, my dear Lord!

Those Who Challenge Us

2012-01-16T15:33:00.003-06:00

Bless those who challenge us for they remind us of doors we have closed and doors we have yet to open. ~Native American Prayer

Ave Maria! This little prayer made me smile today when it appeared in my email box. I immediately thought of various people in my life who sometimes challenge me -- individuals such as my sweet sister Annie, my spiritual father, a small group of older women whom I lovingly call "my elders," and a few special girlfriends who are truly my soul sisters. I welcome their challenges, which for me are an invitation to clarify my thoughts, beliefs and actions as well as a summons to "come up higher, my friend" (Luke 14:10). Because I know that these challenges are born of love, I need not be afraid. I can and do trust these dear friends of mine -- and, yes, I bless them and thank God for them with all my heart for they are His precious gift to me. Alleluia!

P.S. Of course, not everyone who challenges us does so out of love. Perhaps I'll write about them later...!

O Lamb of God, I come!

2012-01-15T04:34:00.004-06:00

They saw where Jesus lived, and they stayed with him. ~John 1:39

Spurred on by the testimony of John the Baptist, the glorious apostle Andrew left his teacher and ran to the one pointed out by him. John’s words were his signal, and, moving more swiftly than John could speak, he approached the master with obvious longing, his companion, John the Evangelist, running beside him. Both had left the lamp to come to the sun.

Andrew was the first to become an apostle. It was he who opened the gates of Christ’s teaching. He was the first to gather the fruits cultivated by the prophets, and he surpassed the hopes of all by being the first to embrace the one awaited by all. He was the first to show that the precepts of the law were in force only for a limited time.

He was the first to restrain the tongue of Moses, for he would not allow it to speak after Christ had come.

Yet he was not rebuked for this, because he did not dishonor the teacher of the Jews, but honored more the sender than the one sent.

In fact Andrew was seen to be the first to honor Moses, because he was the first to recognize the one he foretold when he said: The Lord God will raise up for you from among your kindred a prophet like myself. Listen to him.

Andrew set the law aside in obedience to the law. He listened to Moses who said: Listen to him. He listened to John who cried out: Behold the Lamb of God, and of his own accord went to the one pointed out to him.

Having recognized the prophet foretold by the prophets, Andrew led his brother to the one he had found. To Peter, who was still in ignorance, he revealed the treasure: We have found the Messiah for whom we were longing.

How many sleepless nights we spent beside the waters of the Jordan, and now we have found the one for whom we longed! Nor was Peter slow when he heard these words, for he was Andrew’s brother. He listened attentively, then hastened with great eagerness.

Taking Peter with him, Andrew brought his brother to the Lord, thus making him his fellow-disciple. This was Andrew’s first achievement: he increased the number of the apostles by bringing Peter to Christ, so that Christ might find in him the disciples’ leader. When later on Peter won approval, it was thanks to the seed sown by Andrew.

But the commendation given to the one redounded to the other, for the virtues of each belonged to both, and each was proud of the other’s merits. Indeed, when Peter promptly answered the master’s question, how much joy he gave to all the disciples by breaking their embarrassed silence!

Peter alone acted as the mouthpiece of those to whom the question was addressed. As though all spoke through him, he replied clearly on their behalf: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In one sentence he acknowledged both the Savior and his saving plan.

Notice how these words echo Andrew’s. By prompting Peter the Father endorsed from above the words Andrew used when he led Peter to Christ. Andrew had said: We have found the Messiah.

The Father said, prompting Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, almost forcing these words on Peter.

“Peter,” he said, “when you are questioned, use Andrew’s words in reply. Show yourself very prompt in answering your master.

Andrew did not lie to you when he said: We have found the Messiah.

Turn the Hebrew words into Greek and cry out: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

~Caesarius of Arles

My dearest Jesus, I have found You whom my soul loves. May I always hold You and never let You go! Amen. (cf. Song of Solomon 3:4)

Living in the World as a Consecrated Virgin

2012-01-13T04:28:00.001-06:00

"The destiny of each of us is linked to that of everyone else."
~Pope Benedict XVI, 1/12/12

Ave Maria! The Holy Father made the above point yesterday in an audience which you can read more about here. He affirmed that we are called to live in relation with other people and with God, Who alone "is capable of welcoming man unconditionally and of giving him infinite love." We are not alone! We have God and each other! This is both comfort and challenge. Being a high introvert, it's so easy for me to unintentionally withdraw from the people around me. Solitude has always come naturally to me, even as a child, and it is an absolute priority for me in my life of prayer and contemplation as a consecrated virgin. But precisely because I have been consecrated as a virgin "living in the world," I must constantly venture forth from my solitude to be, as Pope John Paul II exhorted us to be, the hands and feet of the Church, the Bride of Christ. The love of Christ impels me (2 Cor 5:14). And in giving, I receive -- blessedly and abundantly so!

Thank you, my dear Jesus, for binding us together in Your wondrous Love! Amen.

The Epiphany of the Lord

2012-01-08T02:57:00.006-06:00

"The Adoration of the Magi" by Andrea Mantegna

We have come from the East to worship the king. ~Matthew 2:2

Dearly beloved, the day on which Christ first showed himself to the Gentiles as the Savior of the world should be held in holy reverence among us. We should experience in our hearts the same joy as the three wise men felt when the sign of the new star led them into the presence of the king of heaven and earth, and they gazed in adoration upon the one in whose promised coming they had put their faith.

Although that day belongs to the past, the power of the mystery which was then revealed has not passed away; we are not left with a mere report of bygone events, to be received in faith and remembered with veneration. God’s bounty toward us has been multiplied, so that even in our own times we daily experience the grace which belonged to those first beginnings.

The gospel story specifically recalls the days when, without any previous teaching from the prophets or instruction in the law, three men came from the far east in search of God; but we see the same thing taking place even more clearly and extensively in the enlightenment of all those whom God calls at the present time.

We see the fulfillment of that prophecy of Isaiah which says: The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all nations, and the whole world has seen the salvation that comes from the Lord our God. And again: Those who have not been told about him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand.

When we see people being led out of the abyss of error and called to knowledge of the true light, people who, far from professing faith in Jesus Christ, have hitherto devoted themselves to worldly wisdom, we can have no doubt that the splendor of divine grace is at work.

Whenever a shaft of light newly pierces darkened hearts, its source is the radiance of that same star, which impresses the souls it touches by the miracle of its appearance and leads them forward to worship God.

If on the other hand we earnestly ask ourselves whether the same threefold oblation is made by all who come to Christ in faith, shall we not discover a corresponding gift offering in the hearts of true believers?

To acknowledge Christ’s universal sovereignty is in fact to bring out gold from the treasury of one's soul; to believe God’s only Son has made himself truly one with human nature is to offer myrrh, and to declare that he is in no way inferior to his Father in majesty is to worship him with frankincense.

St. Leo the Great, c. 400-61

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

2011-12-27T04:31:00.006-06:00

Today a Savior has been born for you. ~Luke 2:11

Today, in the city of David, the Savior of the world is born for us: he is Christ the Lord. That city is Bethlehem. We must run there as the shepherds did when they heard these tidings, and so put into action the words we traditionally sing at this season: They sang of God’s glory, they hastened to Bethlehem.

And this shall be a sign for you: you will find the child wrapped in swaddling bands and lying in a manger. Now this is what I say: you must love. You fear the Lord of angels, yes, but love the tiny babe; you fear the Lord of majesty, yes, but love the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes; you fear him who reigns in heaven, yes, but love him who lies in the manger.

What sort of sign were the shepherds given? You will find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It was by this that they were to recognize their Savior and Lord. But is there anything great about being wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a stable—are not other children also wrapped in swaddling clothes? What kind of sign, then, can this be?

Indeed it is a great one, if only we understand it rightly. Such understanding will be ours if this message of love is not restricted to our hearing, but if our hearts too are illuminated by the light which accompanied the appearance of the angels. The angel who first proclaimed the good tidings appeared surrounded by light to teach us that only those whose minds are spiritually enlightened can truly understand the message.

Much can be said of this sign; but as time is passing, I shall say little, and briefly.

Bethlehem, the house of bread, is holy Church, in which is distributed the body of Christ, the true bread.

The manger at Bethlehem is the altar of the church; it is there that Christ’s creatures are fed. This is the table of which it is written, You have prepared a banquet for me.

In this manger is Jesus, wrapped in the swaddling clothes which are the outward form of the sacraments. Here in this manger, under the species of bread and wine, is the true body and blood of Christ.

We believe that Christ himself is here, but he is wrapped in swaddling clothes; in other words, he is invisibly contained in these sacraments.

We have no greater or clearer proof of Christ’s birth than our daily reception of his body and blood at the holy altar, and the sight of him who was once born for us of a virgin daily offered in sacrifice for us.

And so let us hasten to the manger of the Lord. But before drawing near we must prepare ourselves as well as we can with the help of his grace; and then, in company with the angels, with pure heart, good conscience, and unfeigned faith, we may sing to the Lord in all that we do throughout the whole of our life: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

~Aelred of Rievaulx (1109-67), Sermon 2 on Christmas

Beloved:

What was from the beginning,

what we have heard,

what we have seen with our eyes,

what we looked upon

and touched with our hands

concerns the Word of life --

for the life was made visible;

we have seen it and testify to it

and proclaim to you the eternal life

what was with the Father and was made visible to us --

what we have seen and heard

we proclaim now to you,

so that you too may have fellowship with us;

for our fellowship is with the Father

and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

~1John 1:1-4

O Adorable Jesus, Blessed and Holy Bread of Life, with all my heart I give You thanks for You alone are my life and my joy! Amen! Alleluia!

Feast of St. Stephen

2011-12-26T04:32:00.005-06:00

Lullaby by Wislawa Kwiatkowska

Ave Maria! Today I am posting the above image by Wislawa Kwiatkowska of our Blessed Mother with the Divine Child because it ties in so well with today's feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr for Christ. If you look carefully at the background behind Jesus and Mary, you will see at least half a dozen crosses. The Child of Joy, whose birth gladdens our hearts, does not wipe out the sorrow and suffering of the world. He will grow into the Man of Sorrows and die upon a common cross, redeeming us of all our sinfulness and evil. Only those who are willing to die for him as St. Stephen did will be able to say with Christ's first martyr, "Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). Most of us will not be stoned to death with the sort of huge boulders that crushed and killed Stephen, but we will have to endure the pebbles and other smaller rocks of the sufferings that will befall us as we strive to live a life in keeping with our Lord's Gospel. Jesus warns us that we will be hated because of his name (Matt 10:22), and often those who persecute and hurt us the most will be those within our own family and church. But we also have Christ's blessed assurance that if we to endure to the end, we will be saved (Matt 10:22). And we have St. Stephen's shining example to help us keep calling out to our Savior as he did: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" (Acts 7:59).

Nails, spear shall pierce him through,

The Cross be borne for me, for you;

Hail, hail the Word Made Flesh,

The babe, the son of Mary!

Grant, Lord, we pray, that we may imitate what we worship, and so learn to love even our enemies, for we celebrate the heavenly birthday of a man who knew how to pray even for his persecutors. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ~Collect, Mass for the Feast of St. Stephen

Christmas Joy and Blessings to One and All!!!

2011-12-25T16:36:00.009-06:00

The Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst

Today a light will shine upon us,

for the Lord is born for us;

and he will be called

Wondrous God,

Prince of Peace,

Father of future ages:

and his reign will be without end.

The Nativity of the Lord

Entrance Antiphon, At the Mass at Dawn

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that, as we are bathed in the new radiance

of your incarnate Word,

the light of faith,

which illumines our minds,

may also shine through in our deeds.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

The Nativity of the Lord

Collect, At the Mass at Dawn

VENITE ADOREMUS DOMINUM!

P.S. Isn't that lovely, the happy smile on the young shepherd's face as he turns excitedly to the shepherd behind him who is doffing his hat?

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T18:14:00.004-06:00

VENITE ADOREMUS DOMINUM!

For the Night of Christmas

Let us ask the Lord
to grant us the grace
of looking upon the crib this night
with the simplicity of the shepherds,
so as to receive the joy
with which they returned home.
Let us ask him to give us the humility and the faith
with which St. Joseph looked upon the child
that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Let us ask the Lord to let us look upon him
with that same love with which Mary saw him.
And let us pray that in this way
the light that the shepherds saw will shine upon us too,
and that what the angels sang that night
will be accomplished throughout the world:
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men
with whom he is pleased."
Amen!

~Pope Benedict XVI

The Prayer of the Donkey

2011-12-24T04:35:00.003-06:00

O God, who made me
to trudge along the road
always,
to carry heavy loads
always,
and to be beaten
always!
Give me great courage and gentleness.
One day let somebody understand me --
that I may no longer want to weep
because I can never say what I mean
and they make fun of me.
Let me find a juicy thistle --
and make them give me time to pick it.
And, Lord, one day, let me find again
my little brother of the Christmas crib.
Amen.

~from Prayers from the Ark by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold

The flowers appear on the earth. Songs 2:12

2011-12-21T04:42:00.007-06:00

Tulip by Ann L. Krumrein

Holding fast like Mary, with Mary...

2011-12-20T04:29:00.004-06:00

O God, eternal majesty,
whose ineffable Word
the immaculate Virgin received
through the message of an Angel
and so became the dwelling-place of divinity,
filled with the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant, we pray, that by her example
we may in humility hold fast to your will.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

~Collect for December 20 from The Roman Missal
Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, teach me your humility that I may always hold fast to the Father's will. Amen.

"Your prayer has been heard..."

2011-12-19T03:23:00.004-06:00

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John." ~Luke 1:13

Ave Maria! When I came to the above verse from today's Gospel (Lk 1:5-25), I recalled the catechesis on prayer that Pope Benedict XVI gave last Wednesday (view here), in which he reflected on the prayer of Jesus in the story of Lazarus, who had died and for whom our Lord grieved and prayed. This prayer of Jesus, the Holy Father teaches us, "is a prayer that manifests once again His unique relationship of knowledge and communion with the Father." Pondering Christ's filial relationship with the Father, the Holy Father continues:

"Dear brothers and sisters, in reading this narrative each one of us is called to understand that in the prayer of petition to the Lord, we must not expect an immediate fulfillment of our requests, of our will; rather, we must entrust ourselves to the Father’s Will, interpreting each event within the perspective of His glory, of His design of love, which is often mysterious to our eyes.

"This is why -- in our prayer -- petition, praise and thanksgiving should coalesce, even when it seems to us that God is not responding to our concrete expectations. Abandonment to God’s love, which precedes and accompanies us always, is one of the attitudes at the heart of our conversation with Him. The Catechism of the Catholic Church comments in this way on Jesus’ prayer in the account of the raising of Lazarus: 'Jesus’ prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the gift is given, Jesus commits Himself to the One who in giving gives Himself. The Giver is more precious than the gift; He is the "treasure"; in Him abides His Son’s heart; the gift is given "as well"' (Matthew 6:21 and 6:33) (2604).

"This seems to me to be very important: before the gift is given, to adhere to Him who gives; the Giver is more precious than the gift. Also for us, then, beyond what God gives us when we call upon Him, the greatest gift He can give us is His friendship, His presence, His love. He is the precious treasure we should ask for and treasure always."

We really don't know much about Zechariah and his own prayer, other than the fact that his prayer was indeed answered -- and magnificently so! -- but that he also doubted for he did not believe the angel's words that his prayer had been heard. In our "Zechariah moments," it is good to recall the Holy Father's reminder that "Jesus’ example teaches us that in our own prayers we must always trust in the Father’s will and strive to see all things in the light of his mysterious plan of love."

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, teach me to trust in the Father's will as you did. Amen.

4th Sunday of Advent

2011-12-18T04:11:00.004-06:00

You shall conceive and bear a son. ~Luke :31

Today’s reading of the gospel calls to mind the beginning of our redemption, for the passage tells us how God sent an angel from heaven to a virgin.

He was to proclaim the new birth, the incarnation of God’s Son, who would take away our age-old guilt; through him it would be possible for us to be made new and numbered among the children of God.

And so, if we are to deserve the gifts of the promised salvation, we must listen attentively to the account of its beginning.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

What is said of the house of David applies not only to Joseph but also to Mary. It was a precept of the law that each man should marry a wife from his own tribe and kindred.

Saint Paul also bears testimony to this when he writes to Timothy: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, as preached in my gospel. Our Lord is truly descended from David, since his spotless mother took her ancestry from David’s line.

The angel came to her and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.”

The angel refers to the kingdom of the Israelite nation as the throne of David because in his time, by the Lord’s command and assistance, David governed it with a spirit of faithful service. The Lord God gave to our Redeemer the throne of his father David, when he decreed that he should take flesh from the lineage of David.

As David had once ruled the people with temporal authority, so Christ would now lead them to the eternal kingdom by his spiritual grace. Of this kingdom the Apostle said: He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever. The house of Jacob here refers to the universal Church which, through its faith in and witness to Christ, shares the heritage of the patriarchs. This may apply either to those who are physical descendants of the patriarchal families, or to those who come from gentile nations and are reborn in Christ by the waters of baptism.

In this house Christ shall reign for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

During this present life, Christ rules in the Church. By faith and love he dwells in the hearts of his elect, and guides them by his unceasing care toward their heavenly reward.

In the life to come, when their period of exile on earth is ended, he will exercise his kingship by leading the faithful to their heavenly country. There, for ever inspired by the vision of his presence, their one delight will be to praise and glorify him.

~from a homily on Advent by St. Bede

Mary, "a kind of sacrament"

2011-12-17T04:45:00.002-06:00

Mary is the woman who does not see herself, unless it be in Christ and, through Him, in humanity; by giving birth to Jesus, who is the Son of God and the Son of Man, she gave birth to humanity. In the fiat of the Annunciation is the adherence of every one of us.

That is why no being is as permeable to the love of Christ as is the Blessed Virgin. That is why, as Dante says, she is the daughter of her Son. She is born of her Son, according to divine life, and that is why she was born of Him as He could be born of her.

This is precisely the reason why the Most Blessed Virgin remains a way of light to Jesus for us. It is a fact that it is impossible not to love the Blessed Virgin when we love Christ...

The Most Blessed Virgin is a kind of sacrament, the sacrament of God's tender love for us, for God is as much a father as a mother; and besides, she is especially the Mother of Christ in us.

For Mary's motherhood is not a motherhood in time, it is a motherhood in eternity because she conceived in a total and absolute gift of herself, because she adopted us all in this acceptance of Jesus within her entire being. There is no end to her motherhood. She is the one who is the Mother of Christ in our lives; that is her role throughout eternity.

Hence, it is absolutely natural for us to expose ourselves to the radiant influence of the Blessed Virgin in order to receive from her this Christ she is eternally responsible for bring to life in us. This is a wonderful and infallible gesture. It is impossible to turn ourselves to the Blessed Virgin without reaching Christ through her for, since she has nothing, she can only lead us to Him.

To follow that road is to follow the very order of the Incarnation since it is through Mary that Jesus entered the world. It is always through Mary that Christ will enter into our souls; and the most amazing part of our trust in this inexhaustible motherhood of the Blessed Virgin is that we can at every moment avail ourselves of the love of the Blessed Virgin and offer it to our Lord.

~Father Maurice Zundel in With God in Our Daily Life

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, I follow you because I know you will lead me to your beloved Son, Jesus, whom you carried in your womb with love beyond all telling. Amen.

Feast Day of St. John of the Cross

2011-12-14T04:28:00.002-06:00

Never fail, whatever may befall you, be it good or evil, to keep your heart quiet and calm in the tenderness of love. ~St. John of the Cross in The Living Flame of Love

Ave Maria! This morning I woke up remembering the above words from the writings of St. John of the Cross. They've been stored in my spiritual survival kit for over 30 years now, and they speak more than ever to my inmost heart. St. John suffered terribly at the hands of his brothers in religious life who vehemently opposed his reformations to the Carmelite Order. They even captured him and threw him into prison, where he wrote one of the world's greatest and most famous spiritual poems, "The Dark Night of the Soul." Later, this remarkable mystic of burning love wrote a treatise on this poem, all of which can be found here. I don't easily gravitate to some of what St. John says, but I always listen to him because his words were purified by that Living Flame of Love which consumed his entire being, Christ Crucified, his only Lord and Master.

Forget creation,
Remember the Creator,
Seek within,
There forever be loved by the Lover.

~St. John of the Cross

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, teach me to seek within that I may find the true Lover. Amen.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

2011-12-12T02:39:00.007-06:00

Hear and let it penetrate into your heart, my dear little son: Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Also, do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?

~Words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego, Dec. 12, 1531

Dearest Mary, thank you for being our Mother Most Wonderful! Amen! Alleluia!

Third Sunday of Advent

2011-12-11T22:13:00.004-06:00

There stands among you, unknown to you, the one who is coming after me. ~John 1:26

Into the theological plan of his gospel John the evangelist draws John the Baptist; deep calls to deep at the utterance of divine mysteries. We hear the evangelist relating the story of the forerunner, the man whose gift it was to know the Word as he was in the beginning, speaking to us of the one who was commissioned to go ahead of the Word made flesh.

There was, says the evangelist, not simply a messenger of God, but a man.

This he said in order to distinguish the man who shared only the humanity of the one he heralded from the man who came after him, the man who united godhead and manhood in his own person.

The evangelist’s intention was to differentiate between the fleeting voice and the eternally unchanging Word. The one, he would suggest, was the morning star appearing at the dawning of the kingdom of heaven, while the other was the Sun of Justice coming in its wake.

He distinguished the witness from the one to whom he testified, the messenger from him who sent him, the lamp burning in the night from the brilliant light that filled the whole world, the light that dispelled the darkness of death and sin from the entire human race.

So then, the Lord’s forerunner was a man, not a god; whereas the Lord whom he preceded was both man and God. The forerunner was a man destined to be divinized by God’s grace, whereas the one he preceded was God by nature, who, through his desire to save and redeem us, lowered himself in order to assume our human nature.

A man was sent. By whom? By the divine Word, whose forerunner he was.

To go before the Lord was his mission. Lifting up his voice, this man called out: The voice of one crying in the wilderness! It was the herald preparing the way for the Lord’s coming.

John was his name; John to whom was given the grace to go ahead of the King of Kings, to point out to the world the Word made flesh, to baptize him with that baptism in which the Spirit would manifest his divine sonship, to give witness through his teaching and martyrdom to the eternal light.

~John Scotus Erigena (c. 810-77)

Dear Jesus living in Mary, let me be Your voice, let me reflect Your light. Amen.

Waiting in Mary-darkness

2011-12-10T18:18:00.001-06:00

I live my Advent in the womb of Mary,
And on one night when a great star swings free
from its high mooring and walks down the sky
to be the dot above the Christus i,
I shall be born of her by blessed grace.
I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,
with hope’s expectance of nativity.

I knew for long she carried me and fed me,
guarded and loved me, though I could not see.
But only now, with inward jubilee,
I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:
someone is hidden in this dark with me.

~"Advent" by Jessica Powers aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.

Ginger and Stormy

2011-12-09T02:04:00.001-06:00

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2011-12-08T19:55:00.000-06:00

As a merciful Mother, Mary is the anticipated figure and everlasting portrait of the Son. Thus, we see that the image of the Sorrowful Virgin, of the Mother who shares her suffering and her love, is also a true image of the Immaculate Conception. Her heart was enlarged by being and feeling together with God. In her, God's goodness came very close to us.

Mary thus stands before us as a sign of comfort, encouragement and hope. She turns to us, saying: "Have the courage to dare with God! Try it! Do not be afraid of him! Have the courage to risk with faith! Have the courage to risk with goodness! Have the courage to risk with a pure heart! Commit yourselves to God, then you will see that it is precisely by doing so that your life will become broad and light, not boring but filled with infinite surprises, for God's infinite goodness is never depleted!"

On this Feast Day, let us thank the Lord for the great sign of his goodness which he has given us in Mary, his Mother and the Mother of the Church. Let us pray to him to put Mary on our path like a light that also helps us to become a light and to carry this light into the nights of history. Amen.

~Pope Benedict XVI, 12/8/05
Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, grant me a share of your courage that, like you and with you, I may dare with God, whose "infinite goodness is never depleted." Amen! Alleluia!

Memory and Hope

2011-12-07T05:11:00.000-06:00

"Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.…It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope."

~Pope Benedict XVI

I think of the days of long ago,
and remember the years long past.
At night I muse within my heart.
I ponder, and my spirit questions.
~Psalm 77(76):6-7

In you I hope all day long
because of your goodness, O Lord.
~Psalm 25(24):5

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, awaken in me the memory of your Divine Child, the Dayspring from on High, whose birth is the dawn of everlasting hope. Amen.

How beautiful...!

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000-06:00

Ave Maria! As with all its issues, the December 2011 Magnificat is packed with spiritual goodies in abundance. These two petitions from today's "Prayer for Morning" particularly caught my attention:

For those who have lost sight of your guiding light amid the lesser lights of the commercial Christmas season: lead us all into the light of your presence and the path of your promise.

For those who have been deafened to your word by the clamor of other voices: open their hearts to hear and follow your voice.

And then, this lovely verse from the song for "Prayer for Morning," which can be sung to the tune used for "All Glory, Laud and Honor":

How beautiful His footsteps
Upon the mountainside.
The King comes for His kingdom,
The Bridegroom for His bride.
How radiant His aspect!
How steady is His gaze!
How silent all rebellion!
How loud the angels' praise.

~From Hymns for the Liturgical Year, CanticaNOVA Publications

If you don't subscribe to Magnificat, please do consider giving yourself a subscription as a Christmas gift that you can unwrap, enjoy and savor all year long. It is truly a magnificent spiritual feast for the soul!

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, who carried the Divine Child in your womb with love beyond all telling, help us to seek His light, to listen for His voice. Amen.

Second Sunday of Advent

2011-12-04T02:33:00.007-06:00

Prepare a way for the Lord. ~Isaiah 40:3

Let us examine the scriptural texts foretelling the coming of Christ. One such prophecy begins with a reference to John the Baptist: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. What follows, however, applies directly to our Lord and Savior, since it is by Jesus rather than by John that every valley has been filled in.

You have only to recall the kind of people you were before you put your faith in the Lord to see yourselves as deep valleys, as pits plunging precipitously into the lowest depths. But now that the Lord Jesus has come and has sent the Holy Spirit in his name, all your valleys have been filled in with good works and the Holy Spirit’s fruits.

Love no longer tolerates the presence of valleys in your lives; if peace, patience, and goodness find a home in you, not only will each of you cease to be a valley but you will actually begin to be a mountain of God.

Among the pagans we daily see this prophetic filling of every valley realized, just as among the people of Israel, now deprived of their former privileged status, we see the overthrowing of every mountain and hill. But because of their offense, salvation has come to the pagans, to stir Israel to emulation.

If you prefer you can visualize these fallen mountains and hills as the hostile powers that formerly raised themselves up in opposition to the human race. Such an interpretation is legitimate because, in order to fill in the kind of valleys we have been speaking of, the enemy powers—the mountains and hills—must be laid low.

Now let us turn to that part of the prophecy which also concerns the coming of Christ and see whether this too has been fulfilled. The text continues: Every crooked way shall be straightened. Each one of us was once crooked; if we are no longer so, it is entirely due to the grace of Christ. Through his coming to our souls all our crooked ways have been straightened out.

If Christ did not come to your soul, of what use would his historical coming in the flesh be to you? Let us pray that each day we may experience his coming and be able to say: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Jesus my Lord has come, then. He has smoothed out your rough places and changed your disorderly ways into level paths, making in you an even unimpeded road, a road that is absolutely clear, so that God the Father may walk in you and Christ the Lord make his dwelling in you and say: My Father and I will come and make our home in them.

~Origen, 183-253, one of the greatest thinkers of ancient times, became head of the catechetical school of Alexandria at the age of eighteen. In 230 he was ordained priest by the bishop of Caesarea. His life was entirely devoted to the study of Scripture and he was also a great master of the spiritual life. His book On First Principles was the first great theological synthesis. Many of his works are extant only in Latin as a result of his posthumous condemnation for heterodox teaching. Nevertheless, in intention he was always a loyal son of the Church.

Dear Jesus, living in Mary, strengthen me to do whatever road work You ask of me this Advent so that I may prepare Your way. And let me leave aside my hard hat so that You may penetrate not only my head but also my heart, filling every valley of mine with Yourself, our Emmanuel. Amen.

Learning to Pray

2011-12-02T03:32:00.008-06:00

"In our catechesis on prayer, we now turn to Jesus, who by his own example most fully reveals the mystery of Christian prayer. A significant moment in this regard is Jesus’ prayer following his Baptism, which expresses his both his deepest identity as the Son of God and his solidarity with the sinful humanity whom he came to save. Jesus’ prayer reflects his complete, filial obedience to the Father’s will, an obedience which would lead him to death on the Cross for the redemption of our sins. With his human heart, Jesus learned to pray from his Mother and from the Jewish tradition, yet the source of his prayer is his eternal communion with the Father; as the incarnate Son, he shows us perfectly how to pray as children of the heavenly Father. Jesus’ example of fidelity to prayer challenges us to examine the time and effort we devote to our own prayer. While prayer is a gift of God, it is also an art learned through constant practice. Jesus teaches us to pray constantly, but also to bear witness before others of the beauty of prayer, self-surrender and complete openness to God."

~Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 11/30/11

Ave Maria! The Holy Father says something that I tend to forget: "With his human heart, Jesus learned to pray from his Mother." As a child, I learned to pray from my parents, from my dear Mummie and Daddy. And I am still learning to pray for I am still a child -- childlike, that is, not childish. So why would I not let Mary, the Mother of Jesus and my own "Mother Most Wonderful," along with her Beloved Son, teach me to pray? We frequently say, "Lord, teach us to pray," but how often do we ask the same of our Blessed Mother?

Dearest Jesus and Mary, thank you for teaching me to pray. Please help me to eagerly and gladly keep learning from you the gift and the art, the beauty and the joy of prayer, of eternal communion with the Father who loves us so much. Amen.

The Silence of Mary

2011-12-01T04:48:00.001-06:00

Holy Mary, Mother of God, you who treasured all things and pondered them carefully in your heart, teach us that deep, interior silence which enfolded you throughout your lifetime ~

the silence of the Annunciation, of faith, mission and obedience;

the silence of the Visitation, of humility, service and praise;

the silence of Bethlehem, of birth, incarnation and wonder;

the silence of the flight into Egypt, of perseverance, hope and trust;

the silence of Nazareth, of simplicity, intimacy and communion;

the silence of Mt. Calvary, of courage, death and abandonment;

the silence of Easter, of resurrection, jubilation and glory;

the silence of Ascension, of fulfillment, transformation and new crea-tion;

the silence of Pentecost, of peace, power and love.

Dearest Mary, in your wisdom, teach us that silence which enables us to listen to the small, still voice of our God; which compels us to worship Him alone in spirit and in truth; which empowers us to acknowledge our nothingness and exult confidently in our Savior; which frees us to lose ourselves in unceasing adoration of the God who is Infinite Love. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and always, that we may enter into that silence of yours which unites us to Jesus, your Son, in the mystery of His silence before the Father of mercies. Amen.

Copyright 1993 ~ Alice Claire Mansfield

An Advent Prayer for Our Priests

2011-11-30T04:29:00.001-06:00

In this time of special Grace, this blessed season of Advent, we pray to you, O Holy Virgin Mary, for our priests. Give them a heart that is able to relive Christ's coming in their lives, a heart able to contemplate the way in which the Son of God, on the day of their Ordination, radically and definitely marked their entire existence immerging them in His priestly heart. May Christ renew them daily in the Eucharistic Celebration so that their own lives become transfigured into His coming for humanity. Give our priests an attentive heart able to recognize the signs of Jesus' coming in the lives of every man, especially to the young who are entrusted to them, so that they are able to recognize the sign of that special coming which is the vocation to the Priesthood.

~Adapted from the 2011 Advent message given to priests by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

Ave Maria! Cardinal Mauro's message, which can be accessed here, is worthy of our attention and reflection, even if we are not members of the clergy. Our Lady is, as Cardinal Mauro calls her, the Icon and Model of the Church, and all of us can learn from her to live as she did, "in vigilance, filled with loving and grateful wonder." Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, pray for us as we journey with you to Bethlehem. Amen.

First Tuesday of Advent

2011-11-29T04:52:00.001-06:00

Mary the New Eve
Statue from Ecuador

I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. ~Luke 10:21

Advent has a twofold character, for it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the son of God to humanity is remembered, and likewise a time when, by remembrance of this, minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ's Second Coming at the end of time. For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.

~from The Roman Missal, Third Edition
"Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar"

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, teach me the devout and expectant delight of Advent that was yours as you sheltered in your womb the Divine Child, for whom you longed "with love beyond all telling." Amen.

First Monday of Advent

2011-11-28T02:53:00.006-06:00

Through the tender mercy of our God,
the dayspring from on high will visit us
to shine on those who sit in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet
into the path of peace.
~see Luke 1:78

Mary,
Virgin of expectation and Mother of hope,
revive the spirit of Advent
in your entire Church,
so that all humanity may start out anew
on the journey towards Bethlehem,
from which it came,
and that the Sun that dawns upon us
from on high
will come once again to visit us,
Christ our God.
Amen.

~Pope Benedict XVI, Homily of 12/1/07

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, with you I wait in expectation and hope for the birth of Eternal Light. Amen.

First Sunday of Advent

2011-11-27T04:17:00.004-06:00

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,

the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ

with righteous deeds at his coming,

so that, gathered at his right hand,

they may be worthy to possess the Kingdom.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

~Collect for the First Sunday of Advent, The Roman Missal

Stay awake! You never know when the Lord will come. ~Mark 13:33

Our God will come openly; our God will come and will not keep silent. The first coming of Christ the Lord, God’s Son and our God, was in obscurity; the second will be in sight of the whole world.

When he came in obscurity no one recognized him but his own servants; when he comes openly he will be known by both good people and bad. When he came in obscurity, it was to be judged; when he comes openly it will be to judge. He was silent at his trial, as the prophet foretold: He was like a sheep led to the slaughter, like a lamb before his shearers. He did not open his mouth.

But, Our God will come openly; our God will come and will not keep silence. Silent when accused, he will not be silent as judge. And he is not silent now. By no means; when people of today recognize his voice and despise him, Scripture assures us that he will not be silent, he will not hold his hand.

Nowadays when the divine commands are spoken of, some people begin to jeer. They are not at present shown what God promises, they do not see what he threatens—so they laugh at his commands. After all, good people and bad enjoy this world’s so-called happiness; good people and bad suffer from what are deemed this world’s misfortunes.

Those whose lives are geared to the present rather than the future are impressed by the fact that this world’s blessings and sufferings fall to the lot of good and bad without distinction. If wealth is their ambition, they see it being enjoyed not only by decent folk, but also by people of the worst kind. If they are in dread of poverty and all the other miseries of this world, they also see that the good and the bad both suffer from them.

Therefore they say to themselves, “God does not care about human affairs, he exercises no control over them. On the contrary; he has sent us into the abyss of this world, and simply abandoned us to its sufferings. He shows no sign of his providence.” Consequently, seeing no evidence of anyone being called to account, such people hold God’s commands in derision.

Nevertheless, each person would do well to take thought even now, because when he wills to do so, God looks, and he judges; he will not tolerate an hour’s delay. When he wills to do so, he waits.

Why does he do this?

Surely if he never passed judgment in this present life, some people would think he does not exist. But if he always gave sentence here and now, there would be nothing reserved for the Day of Judgment. That is why much is kept for that day; but in order to put the fear of God into those whose cases are deferred, and so convert them, some judgments are made here and now.

For it is clear that God takes no pleasure in condemning. His desire is to save, and he bears patiently with evil people in order to make them good.

Yet we have the Apostle’s warning: The wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and God will reward each one according to his deeds.

The Apostle takes scoffers to task by asking them: Do you think lightly of God’s abundant goodness and his forbearance? Do you despise him and think his judgment a matter of no account because he is good to you, because he is long-suffering and bears with you patiently, because he delays the day of reckoning and does not destroy you out of hand?

Do you not know that the patience of God is meant to lead you to repentance? By the hardness of your heart you are storing up wrath against yourself on that Day of Retribution, when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed and he will give every one the reward his or her deeds deserve.

~St. Augustine, 354-430

A short prayer after a long week...

2011-11-26T17:40:00.007-06:00

Deliver me, dear Lord, from everything

that I need deliverance from~~ especially myself!

Forbearance, continued

2011-11-25T04:03:00.001-06:00

Ave Maria! I've been thinking a lot about forbearance since my post on it the other day. I looked it up in the dictionary and learned that the word "forbear" comes from the Middle English "forberen," which comes from Old English "forberan," which means "to endure." Various dictionaries define forbearance as kindness, favor, permission, indulgence, gentleness, leniency, tolerance, self-control, patience, longanimity, refraining, resignation, long-suffering, and temperance.

When I think about a specific virtue, I automatically look to the saints and other holy men and women to see how they've lived out that particular aspect of the life of Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Because they've "been there, done that," I can and do learn much from them. Here's what I'm learning from some of them.

Forbearance is ...

... St. Thérèse of Lisieux delaying her own meager meal to daily walk to the refectory a cranky old nun who constantly and bitterly berated her ...

... Bl. Francis Libermann, C.S.Sp., accepting harsh rejection by his father for converting from Judaism to Catholicism ...

... Elisabeth Leseur listening to the endless caustic rantings of her rabidly anti-Catholic husband ...

... St. John of the Cross bearing being kidnapped by some of his confreres, locked in a six-by-ten-foot cell, and cruelly beaten three times weekly by them ..

... St. Faustina resolving in the face of ongoing persecution from her sisters in religious life, "I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness" ...

And all of this forbearing was done with enormous love, for true forbearance is born of love. Indeed, it is the love of Christ Himself who, hanging on the Cross, uttered the greatest words of forbearance ever known when He prayed from the depths of His heart, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:24).

Jesus, meek and humble of heart,

make my heart like unto Thine!

Thanksgiving Blessings!!!

2011-11-24T04:13:00.002-06:00

O MY GOD,

Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects, my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.

I love thee above the powers of language to express,
for what thou art to thy creatures.

Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

from The Valley of Vision,
A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

The Lord has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy!

Psalm 126:3

Forbearance

2011-11-22T04:52:00.002-06:00

Our neighbor. Most of us have a good deal to put up with from our neighbors, yet we generally forget what they have to put up with from us.

Still, we have difficulties even with very good people. They are not omniscient, they often make mistakes, and they treat us according to their ideas. It is a part of the way in which God wishes to sanctify us.

Conceited as we are, we should be much worse if we were not corrected by others. There are many excellent parts in our characters, but some dreadful gaps. We are like trees that have not grown straight. If we would let our Lord have His way, and bear with what He does for us through our neighbor, we should grow more symmetrical.

Why are we not more considerate? Why do we form such harsh judgments? Here have we great scope for true austerity.

~from Confidence in God by Rev. Daniel Considine, S.J.

Dear Jesus, so gentle and humble of heart, teach me Your way of forbearance. And thank you for the myriad opportunities You give me to be forbearing like You. Amen.

Pro Orantibus Day

2011-11-21T02:17:00.002-06:00

Ave Maria! Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Mary. It is also the Church's Pro Orantibus Day, an annual day of solidarity and support for cloistered and monastic religious throughout the world. "Pro orantibus" means "for those who pray." In 1997 Blessed John Paul II asked that this ecclesial event observed worldwide on November 21, the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, as a special day to thank those in the cloistered and monastic life for serving as "a leaven of renewal and of the presence of the spirit of Christ in the world." It is also a day to remind us that we need to provide spiritual and material support to these men and women who who have devoted their whole lives, hidden in the world, to God through unceasing prayer and sacrifice. Practically speaking, these communities depend on God's Providence, working through people like you and me, to provide them with the necessities of daily living. So let us remember them when we pull out both our rosaries and our checkbooks!

Pope Benedict XVI speaks often of the tremendous value of the cloistered, contemplative life. Here is one of the Holy Father's previous statements on the occasion of Pro Orantibus Day. It is his Angelus Message of November 19, 2006, and it explains beautifully the enormous need we have for and the great debt we owe to our cloistered brothers and sisters.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The day after tomorrow, 21 November, on the occasion of the liturgical Memorial of the Presentation of Mary, we will be celebrating Pro Orantibus Day, dedicated to remembering cloistered religious communities. It is an especially appropriate opportunity to thank the Lord for the gift of the numerous people in monasteries and hermitages who are totally dedicated to God in prayer, silence and concealment.

Some may wonder what meaning and value their presence could have in our time, when there are so many situations of poverty and neediness with which to cope.

Why "enclose oneself" for ever between the walls of a monastery and thereby deprive others of the contribution of one’s own skills and experience? How effective can the prayer of these cloistered Religious be for the solution of all the practical problems that continue to afflict humanity?

Yet even today, often to the surprise of their friends and acquaintances, many people in fact frequently give up promising professional careers to embrace the austere rule of a cloistered monastery. What impels them to take such a demanding step other than the realization, as the Gospel teaches, that the Kingdom of heaven is “a treasure” for which it is truly worth giving up everything (cf. Mt 13: 44)?

Indeed, these brothers and sisters of ours bear a silent witness to the fact that in the midst of the sometimes frenetic pace of daily events, the one support that never topples is God, the indestructible rock of faithfulness and love. "Everything passes, God never changes", the great spiritual master Teresa of Avila wrote in one of her famous texts.

And in the face of the widespread need to get away from the daily routine of sprawling urban areas in search of places conducive to silence and meditation, monasteries of contemplative life offer themselves as "oases" in which human beings, pilgrims on earth, can draw more easily from the wellsprings of the Spirit and quench their thirst along the way.

Thus, these apparently useless places are on the contrary indispensable, like the green "lungs" of a city: they do everyone good, even those who do not visit them and may not even know of their existence.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us thank the Lord, who in his Providence has desired male and female cloistered communities. May they have our spiritual and also our material support, so that they can carry out their mission to keep alive in the Church the ardent expectation of Christ’s Second Coming.

For this, let us invoke the intercession of Mary, whom we contemplate on the Memorial of her Presentation in the Temple as Mother and model of the Church, who welcomes in herself both vocations: to virginity and to marriage, to contemplative life and to active life.

Praised be Jesus Christ, who calls us to life on high with Him!

P.S. The Web site Cloistered Life, a treasure trove of information about this life "hidden with Christ," offers the following prayer for Pro Orantibus Day:

Prayer in Support of the Cloistered Life

Eternal Father, we praise and thank you for those sisters and brothers who have embraced the gift of the cloistered and monastic life. Their hidden presence in our world is indispensable to the Church’s life and mission.

As we celebrate Pro Orantibus Day, let us honor the holiness and glory of the Blessed Virgin. May she intercede so that many young people might dedicate themselves entirely to Your divine service by living lives of prayer and sacrifice.

May all of us always be mindful of the spiritual and material needs of those who commit their lives to seeking God by fixing their gaze on those things which are eternal.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Solemnity of Christ the King

2011-11-20T05:11:00.005-06:00

The Son of Man will take his seat on his throne of glory and will separate people from one another. ~Matthew 25

As the holy gospel clearly proclaims, the Son of Man will gather together all nations. He will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The sheep he will place at his right hand, the goats at his left. Then he will say to those at his right: Come, my Father’s blessed ones, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Come, you lovers of poor people and strangers. Come, you who fostered my love, for I am love. Come, you who shared peace, for I am peace.

Come, my Father’s blessed ones, inherit the kingdom prepared for you who did not make an idol of wealth, who gave alms to the poor, help to orphans and widows, drink to the thirsty, and food to the hungry.

Come, you who welcomed strangers, clothed the naked, visited the sick, comforted prisoners, and assisted the blind.

Come, you who kept the seal of faith unbroken, who were swift to assemble in the churches, who listened to my Scriptures, longed for my words, observed my law day and night, and like good soldiers shared in my suffering because you wanted to please me, your heavenly King.

Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Look, my kingdom is ready, paradise stands open, my immortality is displayed in all its beauty. Come now, all of you, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Then, astounded at so great a wonder—at being addressed as friends by him whom the angelic hosts are unable clearly to behold—the righteous will reply, exclaiming: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Master, when did we see you thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you, whom we hold in awe, naked and clothe you? When did we see you, the immortal One, a stranger and welcome you? When did we see you, lover of our race, sick or in prison and come to visit you?

You are the Eternal, without beginning like the Father, and co-eternal with the Spirit. You are the One who created all things from nothing; you are the King of angels; you make the depths tremble; you are clothed in light as in a robe; you are our maker who fashioned us from the earth; you are the creator of the world invisible. The whole earth flies from your presence. How could we possibly have received your lordship, your royal majesty, as our guest?

Then will the King of Kings say to them in reply: Inasmuch as you did this to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me. Inasmuch as you received, clothed, fed, and gave a drink to those members of mine about whom I have just spoken to you, that is, to the poor, you did it to me.

So come, enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; enjoy for ever the gift of my heavenly Father, and of the most holy and life-giving Spirit. What tongue can describe those blessings? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard nor human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.

~Hippolytus, a Roman priest, c. 170-236

"Crown him the King to whom is given

The wondrous name of Love!"

The Seven Last Words

2011-11-18T18:33:00.007-06:00

Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear.
~Ephesians 4:29

Ave Maria! As I contemplated the above exhortation from St. Paul, which was part of today's Scripture reading in Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, the words of Christ on the cross came to mind. Every word that our Lord spoke to us while He was on this earth is worthy of our devout attention and serious reflection, but these final words or phrases from our crucified Savior dying on the Cross have always been a special source of prayer and meditation for men and women throughout the ages. Myriad sermons have been preached on Jesus' last testament, scores of music have been composed, countless artistic works rendered, and numerous articles and books have been written. They are seven, these parting words from the Word Himself:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. ~Luke 23:34

Amen I say to thee: This day you will be with me in paradise. ~Luke 23:43

Woman, behold your son...Behold your mother. ~John 19:26-27

My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? ~Matthew 27:46

I thirst. ~John 19:28

It is finished. ~John 19:30

Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit. ~Luke 23:46

Did St. Paul recall these words of our Master when he instructed the Ephesians to speak only that which would "impart grace to those who hear"? Surely these words of Jesus bestow grace in abundant measure for He, Word made flesh and splendor of the Father, is Himself grace and truth (see Jn 1:14). Seven last words -- somewhat like the seven sacraments, effecting a new creation here and now with the promise of infinitely more to come in eternity. Seven last words -- signs and symbols of forgiveness, hope, compassion, abandonment to the Father, longing for Him, confidence in Him, surrender to Him. Precious and pure words -- without alloy, the Psalmist says, as silver tried by fire, purged from the earth and refined seven times (see Ps 12:8). Self-emptying words leading through death to life. Humble words, holy words, heart-breaking words for who can truly hear them and not have her heart pierced by the two-edged sword of Unutterable Love (see Heb 4:12)? Yes, as St. Paul counseled, edifying words, fitting words, grace-imparting words -- words that are spirit and life! What kind of words will I speak this day? The choice is mine, as always.

Dear Jesus, whose word I praise (Ps 56:5), may I make Your words my own. May they be my heritage for ever, the joy of my heart always (Ps 119:111). Only then will the spoken words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing and acceptable to You and bring grace to all. Amen.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

2011-11-17T04:31:00.003-06:00

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

Ave Maria! I meant to post this image yesterday, but time flew by. You could say that I was busy chasing parades! It looks as though these horses might be thundering to a parade as well. I can just feel the excitement, see the dust they're kicking up, and smell their earthy odor. All you creatures, bless the Lord! Praise and exalt Him above all for ever! HALLELUJAH!

Another parade chaser...

2011-11-15T05:08:00.002-06:00

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. ~Luke 19:4

Ave Maria! In today's gospel (Luke 19:1-10), we meet up with Zaccheus. Ah, another parade chaser! And a most resourceful one at that! He wanted to see the Lord, who intended to come through the town, but, being of short stature, this view was blocked by the crowd. Unwilling to let his limitations get in his way, Zaccheus ingeniously took action, running ahead and climbing a sycamore tree, "in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way." Not only did the Lord see him, He also called Zaccheus by name and told him to come down immediately for He was going to stay at his house. "And he came down quickly and received him with joy."

What am I willing to do to see Jesus? How inventive will I be today in seeking Him out? And how zealous to receive Him when He arrives and calls me by name? May the song of the psalmist be mine: "My heart is ready, O Lord; my heart is ready" (Psalm 57:7)

Dear Lord Jesus, whom I long to see, please make me adroit in seeking You and eager in welcoming You, always and everywhere. Amen.

Passing by...

2011-11-14T04:21:00.008-06:00

Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. ~Luke 18:37

Ave Maria! As my sweet Annie indicated this past summer in "The Other Mansfield Girl," her lovely reflection on our dear father, Daddy was a parade chaser. At the first sound of a drum beating, a horn tooting, or a crowd gathering, he was off and running -- and we were right beside him, full of exhilaration at the endless possibilities to be encountered just around the corner. not wanting to miss a single moment of the glorious adventure sure to be.

Will there be a parade today? Of course there will be! Can't you tell? Don't you sense the excitement, the thrill of it all? Sound the trumpet! Jesus of Nazareth is passing by! "Be jubilant, my feet!" Praise Him with timbrel and dance, with strings and pipes! And, today and always, "O let all that is in me adore Him!" Amen! Hallelujah!

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-11-13T04:00:00.006-06:00

Because you have proved trustworthy in managing a small amount, come and share your master’s joy. ~Matthew 25:21, 23

In the parable of the talents the Master entrusted money to his servants and then set out on a journey. This was to help us understand how patient he is, though in my view this story also refers to the resurrection. Here it is a question not of a vineyard and vine dressers, but of all workers. The Master is addressing everyone, not only rulers, or the Jews.

Those bringing him their profit acknowledge frankly what is their own, and what is their Master’s. One says: Sir, you gave me five talents; another says; You gave me two, recognizing that they had received from him the means of making a profit. They are extremely grateful, and attribute to him all their success.

What does the Master say then? Well done, good and faithful servant (for goodness shows itself in concern for one’s neighbor). Because you have proved trustworthy in managing a small amount, I will give you charge of a greater sum: come and share your Master’s joy.

But one servant has a different answer. He says: I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not winnowed; and I was afraid, and hid your talent. Here it is — you have back what belongs to you.

What does the Master say to that? You wicked servant! You should have put my money in the bank, that is, “You should have spoken out and given encouragement and advice.” “But no one will pay attention.” “That is not your concern. You should have deposited the money” he says, “and left me to reclaim it, which I should have done with interest,” meaning by interest the good works that are seen to follow the hearing of the word. “The easier part is all you were expected to do, leaving the harder part to me.”

Because the servant failed to do this, the Master said: Take the talent away from him, and give it to the servant who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have enough and to spare; but the one who has not will forfeit even the little he has.

What is the meaning of this? That whoever has received for the good of others the ability to preach and teach, and does not use it, will lose that ability, whereas the zealous servant will be given greater ability, even as the other forfeits what he had.

~St. John Chrysostom, c.347-407
Grant us, we pray, O Lord, our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ~Collect for 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, from The Roman Missal, 3rd edition

Holy Midwifery

2011-11-12T05:37:00.004-06:00

Our souls must give birth,
not outside themselves
but inside themselves,
to the sweetest, gentlest
and most beautiful male child imaginable.
It is Jesus whom we must bring to birth
and produce in ourselves.
You are pregnant with him,
my dear sister,
and blessed by God who is his Father.
~St. Francis de Sales

"Holy Midwife"

Every day a little birthing awaits us,
An opportunity pregnant with possibility.
Some of these spiritual birthings go easy.
Others are long, difficult, and agonizing.
You, Holy Midwife, attend each delivery
And urge us toward expectant growth.
Remind us that we must do our part.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Let go. Let go.
Trust the painful contractions of labor
Preceding the precious life that follows.

Today: I listen to Holy Midwife urging my growth.

by Sr. Joyce Rupp, S.S.M.

O Jesus living in Mary, thank You for giving me Your mother to be my holy midwife. When I listen to her, I hear her say, "Do whatever He tells you" Jn 2:5). With her wise and loving help, may I gladly give birth to You today, wherever You want and however You want. Amen.

Feast Day of St. Leo the Great

2011-11-10T05:13:00.001-06:00

Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife. ~St. Leo the Great

My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations. James 1:2

Thank you, my Jesus, for all the temptations You so lovingly allow me to experience. Through Your goodness and mercy, may they bring me closer to You and help me to grow in virtue, all for the Father's praise and glory. Amen.

Delicious Autumn!

2011-11-09T05:04:00.001-06:00

Fall Bouquet by Ann L. Krumrein

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot, English novelist and journalist, 19th century

Busy day?

2011-11-08T04:43:00.005-06:00

Lord, temper with tranquility
Our manifold activity,
That we may do our work for thee
With very great simplicity.

~Ascribed to a 17th-century medieval monk

Ave Maria! What a terrific little prayer for a very busy day! It's a good one for me on any day, particularly when I'm feeling harried and overwhelmed. I'm a bit amused that this was written in the 17th century. I mean, how busy could people have been back then, especially in a monastery? On the other hand, precisely because they didn't have our current labor-saving devices, they were undoubtedly swamped with chores at times. But imagine, no interruptions from the various and sundry electronic devices that beckon us around the clock unless -- gasp! -- we dare to turn them off and deliberately opt to live instead "with very great simplicity."

Dear Lord, today and always, keep me tranquil and simple in You. Amen.

Fellowship of the Unashamed

2011-11-07T03:43:00.002-06:00

I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God’s hands. I am finished and done with low living, small planning, the bare minimum, smooth knees, mundane talking, frivolous living, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, applause, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, the best, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith. I lean on Christ’s presence. I love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with the power of God’s grace.

My face is set. My gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, and my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and spoken up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, speak out until all know, and work until He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no difficulty recognizing me. My banner is clear: I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

Patrick Madrid

He has taken me to the banquet hall,

and his banner over me is love.

~Song of Songs 2:4

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-11-06T02:31:00.003-06:00

Look, the bridegroom comes. Go out to meet him. ~Matthew 25:6

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, since purity of heart leads to perfection. Two things are contained within the heart — goodness which is natural to it and evil which is unnatural. This latter gives rise to such passions of the soul as murmuring, envy, detraction, and all the rest.

Goodness, on the other hand, promotes knowledge of God and rids the soul of all these passions. If people honestly try to root out vice and avoid evil, if they repent with tears and sighs, devoting themselves humbly to a life of prayer, fasting, and watching, the Lord in his goodness will come to their aid and free them from all sinful inclinations.

Many who have lived a celibate monastic life for a long time have failed to learn what purity of heart is, because instead of studying the teaching of the fathers, they have followed their own wayward desires. So evil spirits and rebel marauders of the air have prevailed against them, hurling invisible darts by day and night, and thus preventing them from finding rest anywhere. Moreover they fill their hearts with pride, vanity, jealousy, criticism, raging anger, strife, and any number of other passions.

Such people are to be reckoned with the five foolish virgins because they have spent their time foolishly. They have not controlled their tongues nor cleansed their eyes and bodies from concupiscence, neither have they purged their hearts of lust and other deplorable defilements. It was enough for them merely to wear a woolen garment signifying virginity. Consequently they lack the heavenly joy which would kindle their lamps, and the Bridegroom does not open the door to them but repeats what he said to the foolish virgins: Truly I say to you, I know you not.

My only reason for writing you this letter is my desire for your salvation. I want you to be free and faithful and pure brides of Christ, the Bridegroom of all holy souls; as Saint Paul says: I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste bride to Christ.

Let us awake, then, while we are still in this body, and grieve overourselves, lamenting day and night from the bottom of our hearts, so that we may escape the bitter torment, the weeping, wailing, and remorse that will have no end.

We must beware of entering through the wide gate and taking the easy road that leads to perdition, for many go that way. Instead we must enter by the narrow gate and take the path of sorrow and affliction that leads to life. Few people enter this gate, but those who do are real workers who will have the joy of receiving the reward of their labors and will inherit the kingdom.

If any are prepared to set out I do beg them not to delay and waste time, for they may be like the foolish virgins and find no one willing to sell them oil. These virgins burst into tears and cried out: Lord, open to us. But he answered: Truly I say to you, I know you not. And this happened to them simply because of their laziness.

I beg you by the grace of God to obey me as I also will obey you; and may we all obey the Lord who said by the tongue of the Prophet: Who longs for life and desires to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil talk and your lips from deceitful speech. Turn away from evil and do good; seek and strive after peace.

~Attributed to Anthony

Dearest Jesus, kindle the lamp of my life with the joy of Your Holy Spirit, that it may always burn brightly in welcome of You, my Beloved Bridegroom. Amen.

Separation from Those We Love

2011-11-04T04:04:00.003-05:00

Nothing can fill the gap when we are away from those we love, and it would be wrong to try to find anything. We must simply hold out and win through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time it is a great consolation, since leaving the gap unfilled preserves the bonds between us. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God does not fill it, but keeps it empty so that our communion with another may be kept alive, even at the cost of pain. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

Now and then...

2011-11-03T04:45:00.002-05:00

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
~1 Corinthians 13:12

All Souls

2011-11-03T03:47:00.001-05:00

Unto Your faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away.

The 1962 Roman Missal

Solemnity of All Saints

2011-11-01T03:37:00.003-05:00

Ave Maria! Today is the splendid solemnity of All Saints. Hallelujah! What a gloriously triumphant feast! As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out in his General Audience of April 13, 2011, "the whole of the Church’s history is marked by these men and women who with their faith, with their charity, and with their life have been beacons for so many generations, as they are for us too. The saints expressed in various ways the powerful and transforming presence of the Risen One. They let Jesus so totally overwhelm their life that they could say with St Paul 'it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me' (Gal 2:20)."

In today's second reading from 1 John 3:1-3, the apostle urges us to "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God" and then declares: "Yet so we are." Because the saints so deeply and so intimately knew the Father's love, they were able to let His Beloved Son Jesus "totally overwhelm their life." When we, like the saints, truly realize that "we are God's children now," then we will be able to say with St. Augustine: "my life shall be a real life, being wholly filled by you." Emptied by God Himself of all that is not His, of everything that is not Him, we will be filled with the holiness of Him of whom and to whom we sing: "For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen!"

Hallelujah indeed!

Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. ~Revelation 7:12

Eve of All Saints

2011-10-31T04:08:00.004-05:00

Ave Maria! It's Halloween today, and already I'm anticipating tomorrow's glorious solemnity of All Saints Day. In particular, I'm reflecting upon Baron von Hügel's observation that "All Saints' Day is the feast of every heroic soul, every heroic act inspired by God since God made man on earth... The day also of the saintly bit, the saintly moments, the beginnings of sanctity in souls otherwise not saints at all." I'm thinking about the heroism of everyday life, which is where most of us are given the opportunity to become saints rather than upon the major battlefields of life. Our liturgy of the hours is in the daily grind, where we offer our little sacrifices of love and praise bit-by-saintly-bit, thus making our mundane moments saintly ones by the power of God's amazing grace. The traditional Halloween jack-o'-lantern is an excellent sign of the saintly life: the willingness to surrender all we have and are in order to be emptied out and carved into a new creation -- God's creation! -- and to let Him fill us with His goodness and truth and light. Only then can we "let all God's glory through" (Gerard Manley Hopkins). Only then can we shine in the perverse and crooked world like bright stars, holding forth the Word of Life (Phil 2:15-16). Thanks be to God who calls us and enables us to become His holy and blessed saints!

"Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart."

2011-10-30T04:43:00.002-05:00

They do not practice what they preach. ~Matthew 23:3

Christ is called master, or teacher, by right of nature rather than by courtesy, for all things subsist through him. Through his incarnation and life upon earth we are taught the way to eternal life. Our reconciliation with God is dependent on the fact of his being greater than we are.

Yet, having told his disciples not to allow themselves to be called master, or to love seats of honor and things of that kind, he himself set an example and was a model of humility. It is as though he said:

Even as I do not seek my own glory (though there is One who seeks it), so neither must you love to be honored above others, or to be called master. Look at me: The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life for many.

This was said not only for the instruction of his disciples, but also of those who are teachers in the Church.

None of them must seek positions of honor; whoever wishes to be greater than the rest must first become the servant of all, as Christ himself did. If anyone wants a high office let him want the labor it entails, not the honor it will bring him.

He should desire to serve and minister to everyone, and not expect everyone to serve and minister to him. For the desire to be served comes from the supercilious attitude of the Pharisees; the desire to serve from the teaching of Christ.

Those who canvass for positions of honor are the ones who exalt themselves; and similarly it is those who of their own accord humble themselves who will be exalted by the Lord.

After specifically reserving the office of teaching to himself, Christ immediately went on to give as the rule of his teaching that whoever wants to be greatest should be the servant of all.

And he gave the same rule in other words when he said: Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart.

Anyone therefore who wants to be Christ’s disciple must hasten to learn the lesson he professes to teach, for a perfect disciple will be like his master. Otherwise, if he refuses to learn the master’s lesson, far from being a master himself, he will not even be a disciple.

~St. Paschasius Radbertus

Dear Jesus, meek and humble of heart, grant me the grace to be Your humble servant so that in serving others I may truly exalt You. Amen.

The rosary helps me to be a child...

2011-10-29T20:03:00.003-05:00

Ave Maria! In October 1973, on the occasion of the 4th centenary of the Feast of the Rosary, the future Pope John Paul I, Albino Luciani, then Patriarch of Venice, gave a homily suited to the occasion. He concluded his homily with these words:

"When we speak of 'adult Christians' in prayer, at times we exaggerate. Personally when I speak tête-à-tête with God or with the Blessed Virgin Mary, more than an adult I prefer to think of myself as a child. The mitre, skullcap and ring disappear; I give a holiday to the adult and the bishop and also to heavy burdens, sober and pondered, and let myself go with the spontaneous tenderness of a child in front of his papá or mamma. To be – at least for half an hour – before God as I truly am with my wretchedness and also with the best of myself: to feel rising from the depths of my being the child of other days who wants to talk and chat with the Lord and love him and who sometimes feels the need to cry that he may be granted mercy, all this helps me to pray. The rosary, a simple and easy prayer, helps me to be at times a child again and of this I am not in the least ashamed.

"The rosary a prayer of repetition? Père de Foucauld used to say: 'Love is expressed in a few words, always the same, repeated time and time again.'"

Dearest Mary, Mother Most Wonderful, how good it is to be your child!

No longer strangers and sojourners

2011-10-28T04:40:00.000-05:00

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God. ~Ephesians 2:19

Ave Maria! I find such comfort and joy in knowing that I am no longer a stranger and sojourner on this earth. Through the ineffable love of God, by the sacrifice of His Beloved Son Jesus Christ, I am blessed to be a member of His household. Through His cross and resurrection, our Lord has brought me home to the Father, where all the holy ones live forever in the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph 1:23). Even here and now, in the shadow of His wings I rejoice for I know that when this earthly tent is destroyed, I have " a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven" (2 Cor 5:1). My citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20), the city of the living God (Heb 12:12)! "And so, my rejoices, my soul is glad; even my flesh shall rest in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to hell, nor let your holy one see corruption. You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand, bliss for ever" (Ps 16:9-11). ALLELUIA!

Suffering for Peace

2011-10-27T04:23:00.001-05:00

In all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. ~Romans 8:37

Ave Maria! Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI gave a magnificent homily at a liturgy in preparation for today's day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace in Assisi. The Holy Father spoke of suffering and martyrdom, the way of our Lord Jesus who conquers the world "with the strength of the Cross, which is victory's true guarantee." He also spoke of St. Paul, who gladly picked up "the sword of the sufferer" for the sake of his Crucified Master and His new kingdom of peace. I quote below just a few lines from the Holy Father's homily, which can be found in its entirety here. May God make us worthy to be instruments of His peace! Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Christians must never yield to the temptation to become wolves in the midst of wolves; it is not with power, with force or with violence that Christ's kingdom of peace is extended, but with the gift of self, with love taken to the extreme, even toward our enemies. Jesus does not conquer the world with the strength of armies, but with the strength of the Cross, which is victory's true guarantee. Consequently, for the one who desires to be the Lord's disciple -- His messenger -- this means being ready for suffering and martyrdom, being ready to lose one's life for Him, so that good, love and peace may triumph in the world. This is the condition for being able to say, upon entering into any circumstance: "Peace be to this house!" (Luke 10:5).

In front of St. Peter's Basilica there stand two great statues of Sts. Peter and Paul, which are easily identifiable: St. Peter holds keys in his hands, and Paul instead holds a sword. One who is unfamiliar with the story of the latter might think he is a great captain who commanded powerful armies and subjected peoples and nations with the sword, procuring for himself fame and riches by others' blood. Instead it is exactly the opposite: The sword he holds is the instrument with which Paul was put to death, with which he underwent martyrdom and shed his own blood. His battle was not one of violence and of war but of martyrdom for Christ. His only weapon was the proclamation of "Jesus Christ and Him Crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). His preaching was not based "on plausible words and wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power" (Verse 4). He dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel's message of reconciliation and peace, spending all his energy in order that it might resound to the very ends of the earth.

And this was his strength: He did not seek a tranquil, comfortable life, far from difficulties and contradictions; rather, he wore himself out for the sake of the Gospel, he gave himself entirely and without reserve, and in this way he became the great messenger of Christ's peace and reconciliation.

The sword that St. Paul holds also recalls the power of truth, which can often wound, can hurt: the Apostle remained faithful to this truth to the end; he served it; he suffered for it; he gave over his life for it. This same logic holds true also for us if we want to be bearers of the kingdom and peace announced by the Prophet Zechariah and fulfilled by Christ: We must be willing to pay personally, to suffer in the first person misunderstanding, rejection, persecution. It is not the sword of the conqueror that builds peace, but the sword of the sufferer, of he who knows how to give his very life.

~Pope Benedict XVI

Partridge Wing

2011-10-26T04:49:00.011-05:00

Partridge Wing by Ann L. Krumrein

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

Cecil F. Alexander

Ave Maria! As some of you know, I went on a private retreat this past weekend at the Cenacle Retreat House here in Houston. It was a time of marvelous rejuvenation for me. I came home to find this stunning partridge wing in my email box, from my sweet Annie, of course. It took my breath away. It also reminded me of the many peacocks that were constantly strolling the Cenacle grounds, contentedly roosting here and there and sometimes even having a little snooze. Such magnificent creatures! They were so friendly that I could get almost close enough to touch them. I never tried though, because this was their home and I was their welcome guest. So I honored their presence with great delight and found much joy in simply gazing upon them, marveling at their God-given beauty.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul! Lord God, how great you are, clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as with a robe!" (Ps 103:1)

Roots and Wings

2011-10-21T04:33:00.001-05:00

"According to a saying attributed to a great poet from my own country, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, there are two things that children should receive from their parents: roots and wings. From our holy Mother, the Church, we too receive both roots and wings: the faith of the Apostles, handed down from generation to generation, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, conveyed above all through the sacraments of the Church." ~Pope Benedict XVI, 10/19/11, greeting at the celebration of the opening of Domus Australia in Rome

Dear Lord, thank you for our holy Mother, the Church, who gives such beautiful and lasting gifts to us, her children! Amen.

"Remembering the Lord's goodness"

2011-10-20T02:20:00.005-05:00

O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures for ever. ~Psalm 136:1

And this is also important for us: remembering the Lord's goodness. Remembering becomes the strength of hope. Remembering tells us: God is; God is good, and His mercy is eternal. And thus, remembering opens the road to the future -- even in the darkness of a day, of a moment in time, it is the light and star that guides us. Let us, too, remember the good; let us remember God's eternal, merciful love.

~Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Message of 10/19/11, catechesis on Psalm 136 (135)

My dear Jesus, whose goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life, may my remembering of You become my eternal hymn of praise to Your glory. Amen! Alleluia!

Happy Birthday to me!!!

2011-10-19T02:41:00.001-05:00

A Tip by Ann L. Krumrein

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any -- lifted from the no
of all nothing -- human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e. e. cummings (1894 - 1962)

"God's Tribute Money"

2011-10-18T02:43:00.008-05:00

We are made in the image and likeness of God. So you, O Christian, because you are a human being, are God’s tribute money — a little coin bearing the image and likeness of the divine emperor. ~St. Lawrence of Brindisi, 1559-1619

Let my soul spend itself in Your praise, rejoicing for love. ~Imitation of Christ, Bk 3, Ch 5

Dear God, who lovingly created me out of nothing and marvelously fashioned me in Your image and likeness, let me spend myself freely, generously, even recklessly -- all for You and for You alone. Amen.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-10-16T03:26:00.007-05:00

Render Unto Caesar by Paul Ruben

Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. ~Matthew 22:21

In today’s gospel we find two questions: one put to Christ by the Pharisees, and the other put by him to them.

The Pharisees’ question concerns this world alone, while Christ’s has an entirely heavenly and other-worldly sense. Their question derived from profound ignorance and perversity; his stemmed from perfect wisdom and goodness.

Whose likeness and inscription is this? Caesar’s, they reply. Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. To each, he says, must be given what belongs to him. This, surely, is a judgment full of heavenly wisdom and instruction. For it teaches that authority is twofold, having an earthly and human aspect, and a heavenly and divine aspect. It teaches that we owe a twofold duty of obedience: to human laws and to the law of God.

The coin bearing Caesar’s likeness and inscription must be given to Caesar, and the one stamped with the divine image and likeness must be given to God. We bear the imprint of your glorious face, O Lord.

We are made in the image and likeness of God. So you, O Christian, because you are a human being, are God’s tribute money — a little coin bearing the image and likeness of the divine emperor. Therefore with Christ I ask, whose likeness and inscription is this? Your answer is, God’s. To which I reply, Then why not give God what belongs to him?

If we really want to be God’s image, we must be like Christ, for his is the image of God’s goodness and the perfect copy of his nature, and God foreordained that those he has chosen should take on a likeness to his son.

Christ undoubtedly gave Caesar what was Caesar’s and God what was God’s. He fulfilled to perfection the precepts of both tablets of the law, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross, and he was most highly endowed, both inwardly and outwardly, with every virtue.

In today’s gospel the reply, most wise and discreet, by which Christ sidestepped his enemies’ trap shows his great prudence. His teaching that each must be given what belongs to him, and also the example he gave by being willing to pay the temple tax and giving a shekel for himself and Peter, shows his justice.

His declaring it to be a duty to pay taxes to Caesar, openly teaching the truth without fear of the Jews who would be offended, shows his fortitude. For this is God’s way, of which Christ is the authentic teacher.

Those therefore who resemble Christ in their lives, conduct, and practice of the virtues, they are the ones who truly manifest the divine image; for the way to recover this image is by being absolutely just. Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s; that is, give each what belongs to him.

~St. Lawrence of Brindisi, 1559-1619

My dear Jesus, by your obedience unto death on the cross, You show us what belongs to God, what we must give Him if we are to be like You: everything, absolutely everything. O Christ, ever greater, let me satisfied with nothing less. Amen.

Mary's Way -- the Rosary

2011-10-15T04:31:00.003-05:00

The Rosary...offers the “secret” which leads easily to a profound and inward knowledge of Christ. We might call it Mary's way. It is the way of the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and his Blessed Mother: the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of his Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for she lives from him and through him. By making our own the words of the Angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the "blessed fruit of her womb" (cf Lk 1:42).

~Bl. John Paul II
Rosarium Virginis Mariae, #24

Ave Maria, gratia plena! Oh dear Blessed Mother, teach me the secret of your rosary, the sure way to your Beloved Son Jesus, who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen.

"But God knew best..."

2011-10-14T17:18:00.004-05:00

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. ~1 Cor. 1:25

Ave Maria! That "Lithuanian connection" popped up again when I read Lowell Grisham's post at Speaking to the Soul today.

I want to think a bit about Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky who is commemorated today. His is an amazing story.

A native of Lithuania, he was studying for the rabbinate when he became interested in Christianity. He moved to the U.S., eventually graduating from my seminary, the General Theological Seminary in New York City. (1859) He responded to a call for missionaries to China and learned to write Chinese during the voyage on ship. (That's remarkable.) Starting in Peking, he translated the Bible and parts of the Prayer Book into Mandarin. In 1877 he became Bishop of Shanghai and began translating the Bible into Wenli. He founded St. John's University in Shanghai. (That school is a fascinating story as well. Look it up.)

In 1883, at the age of 52, he was stricken with paralysis. For most of the rest of his life he lived in Japan where he continued his translation work, typing some 2,000 pages with the middle finger of his partially crippled hand. He lived until 1906.

Four years before his death, he said this: "I have sat in this chair over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted."

That quote humbles and awes me.

It humbles and awes me, too. It makes me think of the thorn in St. Paul's flesh, in which he took pleasure for the sake of Christ because then, in his very weakness, he knew the power and strength of his Crucified and Risen Lord (2 Cor 12:10). He is the One, St. Paul reminds us, as does Bishop Schereschewsky, who "was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God" (2 Cor 13:4) -- and so shall we if we but walk in faith the Way of the Cross with Him.

O God, in your providence you called Joseph Schereschewsky from his home in Eastern Europe to the ministry of this Church, and sent him as a missionary to China, upholding him in his infirmity, that he might translate the Holy Scriptures into languages of that land. Lead us, we pray, to commit our lives and talents to you, in the confidence that when you give your servants any work to do, you also supply the strength to do it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ~The Book of Common Prayer, 1979

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

2011-10-13T05:18:00.001-05:00

Eartha and Moon by Ann L. Krumrein

Paying the Ultimate Price

2011-10-11T04:07:00.004-05:00

"No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." John 15:20

They didn't just persecute Jesus; they crucified Him! How is it that you and I think we will be treated any better? You may be thinking this doesn't happen today. Yet it has been estimated by the World Christian Encyclopedia that more than 45 million men and women were put to death for their faith in Jesus Christ during the twentieth century! In recent years the estimate has averaged between 160,000 and 171,000 per year. Imagine! That's more than 10,000 Christians dying for their faith every month! More than 400 per day! While you and I are getting up in the morning, trying to decide what to wear and what to eat and where we will spend our vacation, somewhere in the world someone is paying the ultimate price for his or her relationship with Jesus! And I ask myself, would I be willing to do the same?

~Anne Graham Lotz, "Paying the Ultimate Price"

My dearest Jesus, our Crucified Lord and Savior, I beg of You the grace to be willing to die for You in whatever way You choose for me. And let me not pass by the little opportunities to die to myself that You will give me today for the praise of Your glory. Amen.

The Hummingbird

2011-10-10T17:38:00.004-05:00

One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air. "What are you doing?" asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall."

The elephant laughed cruelly. "Do you really think," he said, "that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?"

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do."

— A Chinese Folktale

Dear Lord, I may indeed be just a tiny hummingbird, but may that never stop me from happily and confidently doing my part to help hold up the sky. Amen.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-10-09T04:03:00.004-05:00

Whomsoever you find invite to the wedding. ~Matthew 22:9

All believers are familiar with the story of the wedding of the king’s son and the banquet that followed it, and of how the Lord’s table was thrown open to all comers.

When everyone was seated the master of the house came in to see his guests, and among them he noticed one without a wedding garment. So he said to him, "My friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?"

Now what precisely does this mean? Let us try to find out what it is that some believers have, but which the wicked lack, for that will be what the wedding garment is.

Can it be one of the sacraments? Hardly, for these, as we know, are common to good and bad alike. Take baptism for example. It is true that no one comes to God except through baptism, but not every baptized person comes to him.

We cannot take this sacrament as the wedding garment, then, for it is a robe worn not only by good people but also by wicked people. Perhaps, then, it is our altar that is meant, or at least what we receive from it. But we know that many who approach the altar eat and drink to their own damnation.

Well, then, maybe it is fasting? The wicked can fast too. What about going to church? Some bad people also go to church.

Whatever can this wedding garment be, then? For an answer we must go to the Apostle, who says: The purpose of our command is to arouse the love that springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith.

There is your wedding garment. It is not love of just any kind. Many people of bad conscience appear to love one another, but you will not find in them the love that springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith. Only that kind of love is the wedding garment.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, says the Apostle, but have no love, I am nothing but a booming gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, if I have all knowledge and understand all mysteries, if I have faith strong enough to move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing.

In other words, even with all these gifts I am nothing without Christ. Does that mean that prophecy has no value and that knowledge of mysteries is worthless?

No, they are not worthless but I am, if I possess them but have no love. But can the lack of one good thing rob so many others of their value? Yes, without love my confession of the name of Christ even by shedding my blood or offering my body to be burnt will avail me nothing, for I may do this out of a desire for glory.

That such things can be endured for the sake of empty show without any real love for God the Apostle also declares. Listen to him: If I give away all I have to the poor, if I hand over my body to be burnt, but have no love, it will avail me nothing. So this is what the wedding garment is.

Examine yourselves to see whether you possess it. If you do, your place at the Lord’s table is secure.

~St. Augustine (354-430)

Dear Lord, above all else, let me clothe myself in Your love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col. 3:14) and which alone will gain me entrance into Your eternal wedding feast. Amen.

Our Lady of Vilnius

2011-10-08T04:15:00.009-05:00

Theotokos, and Mother of all mankind. Pray for your children in their times of suffering and need. Mother of Peace and Truth, Mother of our Savior, Queen of heaven and earth, pray that we imitate your Son in our lives and in our deaths. Spouse of the Holy Spirit, obtain for us the graces of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit that we may claim our eternal inheritance after living a holy life. Be with us always as we conform ourselves to the will of God. Amen. ~Author Unknown

Ave Maria! This icon of Our Lady of Vilnius is especially dear to my heart because of its Lithuanian connection. Our dear mother , Gladys Yurkevicz Mansfield, was Lithuanian, and her parents lived there before coming to America. The Congregation of the Sisters of Merciful Jesus provide some information about this icon here.

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

2011-10-07T03:22:00.008-05:00

AC's Rosary for Annie
by Ann L. Krumrein

Ave Maria! Today's lovely feast is all about Mary, the Mother of Christ, and, therefore, it's all about her Beloved Son Jesus, the fruit of her womb. For a while there after Vatican II, many people abandoned the rosary for a variety of reasons. Now, some 50 years or so later, it seems that more people than ever have discovered the power and beauty of this ancient Gospel prayer and have made it a vital part of their everyday lives. Author and educator Alice Camille has written a brief but packed article on the history and spirituality of the rosary called "Full of grace: Reclaiming the Rosary," which I highly recommend (go here). Or pick up a copy of her book, The Rosary: Mysteries of Joy, Light, Sorrow and Glory, which contains the above information as well as reflections on each mystery of the rosary along with drawings by Sr. Mary Southard, C.S.J. You will not be disappointed!

Alice Camille notes that Pope Pius XII called the rosary a "compendium of the entire gospel," which Bl. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have often affirmed. She also quotes Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, who said that the rosary is a way of "holding in our hands all that we believe" -- she humorously adds that "it’s a whole lot easier to put a rosary in your pocket than, say, The Catechism of the Catholic Church!"

Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Germany explained this some years ago to a group of Catholics in East Germany who were being persecuted for their faith and were forbidden to carry any books, particularly the Gospel.

They asked: "What must we believe and pass on to our children in order to reach our eternal goal?' Pressing a Rosary into their hands, the Cardinal told them: "On the end of the Rosary hangs the Cross. St. Thomas Aquinas said: 'The Cross is the book that we can never come to the end of studying.' On the Cross we pray the Creed. This is our Rule of Faith. Then come the first three Ave's with the three theological Virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity. This is our Rule of life. Finally, in a threaded sequence, in a sort of Braille, there follows the entire New Testament, decipherable only by the praying hands of the believer. The Rosary contains all that I need to believe and live by." Thereupon a man in the group, deeply moved, held up his Rosary and said: "So here I hold the entire Faith of the Church in my hand."

Hail Mary, full of grace, through the holy rosary, lead us to your Beloved Son Jesus and bring us into the fullness of our faith, which is His precious gift to us. Amen.

St. Faustina Kowalska

2011-10-06T05:14:00.003-05:00

Ave Maria! Yesterday, October 5, was the feast day of St. Faustina Kowalska, the well-known and much-loved apostle of Divine Mercy. Dear St. Faustina continues to teach me so much about God's wondrous love and boundless mercy. My paperback copy of her diary, Divine Mercy In My Soul, is always close at hand and is pretty tattered after 18 years of constant use. I sure was glad to recently discover that her entire diary is available on the Web here!

One of my most favorite prayers of St. Faustina is the one she prayed during the Mass on the day of her perpetual vows. I've longed since memorized it and pray it each morning as I prepare for daily Mass. "Today I place my heart on the paten where Your Heart has been placed, O Jesus, and today I offer myself together with You to God, Your Father and mine, as a sacrifice of love and praise. Father of Mercy, look upon the sacrifice of my heart, but through the wound in the Heart of Jesus." How marvelous it is to be able to offer my poor, little heart on the paten with the magnificent, all-loving Sacred Heart of my Beloved Spouse!

Yesterday afternoon I was delighted to read on the Web site "Rome Reports" that seven cardinals have written to Pope Benedict XVI asking him to begin the process of making St. Faustina a Doctor of the Church. In the long history of the Catholic Church, we have only 34 doctors, three of whom are women -- St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Therese of Lisieux. During World Youth Day in Madrid this summer, the Holy Father announced that the next saint to be made a doctor is Spaniard San Juan de Avila. St. Faustina may or may not join their ranks, but for those of us who know and love her, it doesn't really matter. For us as for her, all that matters is praising and proclaiming Divine Mercy Himself and, through His goodness and mercy, becoming more and more like Him.

Dear Lord, with your Apostle of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina, I beg of you: "Let every beat of my heart be a new hymn of thanksgiving to You, O God." Amen! Alleluia!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T05:11:00.002-05:00

Shed Interior by Ann L. Krumrein

Marian Prayer for Vocations

2011-10-04T04:35:00.001-05:00

Mary, humble servant of God Most High,
the Son to whom you gave birth has made you the servant of humanity.
Your life was a humble and generous service.
You were servant of the Word when the angel
announced to you the divine plan of salvation.
You were servant of the Son, giving him life
and remaining open to his mystery.
You were servant of Redemption,
standing courageously at the foot of the Cross,
close to the Suffering Servant and Lamb,
who was sacrificing himself for love of us.
You were servant of the Church on the day of Pentecost
and with your intercession you continue to generate her in every believer,
even in these, our difficult and troubled times.
Let the young people of the third millennium look
to you, young daughter of Israel,
who have known the agitation of a young heart
when faced with the plan of the Eternal God.
Make them able to accept the invitation of your Son
to give their lives wholly for the glory of God.
Make them understand that to serve God satisfies the heart,
and that only in the service of God and of his kingdom
do we realize ourselves in accordance with the divine plan,
and life becomes a hymn of glory to the Most Holy Trinity.
Amen.

~Blessed John Paul II

Ave Maria! What a beautiful prayer for vocations this is! Blessed John Paul II wrote it for the 2003 World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and it's a real keeper. I especially like how it describes Our Lady's role as servant of humanity -- of the Word, of the Son, of Redemption, and of the Church. Oh, to become more and more like her, always and everywhere "our life, our sweetness and our hope"! Blessed be Jesus, living in Mary!

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

2011-10-02T03:02:00.002-05:00

Christ the True Vine

He leased his vineyard to other farmers. ~Matthew 21:33

You need only to look at the vine to be reminded of your own nature, that is, if you observe it intelligently.

No doubt you remember the image used by the Lord in which he says that he is the vine and the Father the vinedresser. Each of us who have been grafted onto the Church by faith he calls branches, and he urges us to bear much fruit so as not to be rejected as useless and thrown onto the fire.

Throughout the Scriptures the Lord continually likens human souls to vines. He says for instance: My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; and again: I planted a vineyard and put a hedge round it. Clearly it is human souls that he calls his vineyard, and the hedge he has put round them is the security of his commandments and the protection of the angels; for the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him.

Moreover, by establishing in the Church apostles in the first place, prophets in the second, and teachers in the third, he has surrounded us as though by a firmly planted palisade.

In addition, the Lord has raised our thoughts to heaven by the examples of saints of past ages. He has kept them from sinking to the earth where they would deserve to be trampled on, and he wills that the bonds of love, like the tendrils of a vine, should attach us to our neighbors and make us rest on them, so that always climbing upward like vines growing on trees, we may reach the loftiest heights.

He also requires that we allow ourselves to be weeded. To be spiritually weeded means to have renounced the worldly ambitions that burdened our hearts.

Anyone who has renounced the love of material things and attachment to possessions, or who has come to regard as despicable and deserving of contempt the poor, wretched glory of this world, is like a weeded vine. Freed from the profitless burden of earthly aspirations, that person can breathe again.

Finally, following out the implications of the comparison, we must not run to wood, or, in other words, show off or seek the praise of outsiders. Instead, we must bear fruit by reserving the display of our good works for the true vinedresser.

~St. Basil the Great, c.330-379

God of hosts, turn again, we implore;

look down from heaven, and see.

Visit this vine and protect it;

the vine your right hand has planted,

the son of man you have claimed for yourself.

~Psalm 80:15-16

A Way of Living

2011-09-30T15:00:00.002-05:00

You will show me the path of life,

the fullness of joy in your presence,

at your right hand happiness for ever.

~Psalm 15:11

The way of the cross has become more than a way of dying. It has spawned a devotion all its own, instructing us in a way of living. Within the Stations of the Cross, as they have become known, we focus on the "stations," those freeze-frame stops along the Good Friday road, unpacking each final lesson Jesus was teaching. We might also remember that the proper term for this devotion is The Way of the Cross, with its emphasis not on stopping but on pilgrimage. The journey toward the tomb teaches us well, precisely because we are all presently taking that journey. The Way of the Cross, in one form or another, is everyone's way. That's why Jesus, in his great mercy, was moved to take it ahead of us.

...How do we undertake our own Way of the Cross? Do we accept our sufferings under duress? Do we turn our unexpected and conscripted service into a life of discipleship? Do we recognize the pain of others as our own pain, because it is first of all the suffering of Christ, of whose Body we are a part? Can we find the courage to reveal the compassion of Christ, even in places where it is unwelcome and perhaps dangerous?

~from The Rosary by Alice Camille

Dear Lord, may I always rejoice to walk the Way of the Cross with You, our Crucified and Risen Savior. Amen.

Feast of the Archangels

2011-09-29T04:39:00.003-05:00

Ave Maria! Today is the glorious Feast of the Archangels -- St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael. Each of these messengers from God performs a different mission: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. And they are all quite busy in our lives, day and night, powerfully and unceasingly assisting us in our journey with Christ to the Father. We are not alone! The archangels are with us! Glory Hallelujah! As this Greek icon beautifully depicts:

"Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels: 'When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him' (Mt 25:31). They belong to him because they were created through and for him: 'for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities--all things were created through him and for him' (Col 1:16). They belong to him still more because he has made them messengers of his saving plan: 'Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?' (Heb 1:14)" (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, cf. #328-354)

Thank you, dear St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael for your loving, abiding presence in my life. May your song of praise to our God Most High always be my own: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY! Amen. Alleluia!

"In spite of my littleness..."

2011-09-28T03:21:00.008-05:00

In spite of my littleness I can give to God my most tender affection. ~St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Dear Lord, may I gladly give You all the tender affection of my poor little heart. My Jesus, I love You! Amen.

Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

2011-09-25T04:33:00.002-05:00

He went out moved by regret. The tax collectors and prostitutes will precede you into the kingdom of God. ~see Matthew 21:28-32

The doors are open for all who sincerely and wholeheartedly return to God; indeed, the Father is most willing to welcome back a truly repentant son or daughter. The result of true repentance, however, is that you do not fall into the same faults again, but utterly uproot from your souls the sins for which you consider yourself worthy of death.

When these have been destroyed God will again dwell within you, since Scripture says that for the Father and his angels in heaven the festal joy and gladness at the return of one repentant sinner is great beyond compare. That is why the Lord cried out: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice.

I desire not the death of a sinner but his conversion. Even if your sins are like crimson wool I will make them as white as snow; even if they are blacker than night I will wash them as white as wool.

Although only God has power to forgive sins and cancel transgressions, the Lord commands us also to forgive our repentant brothers and sisters every day.

So if we who are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more generous must be the Father of mercies, the good Father of all consolation, who is full of compassion and mercy, and whose nature it is to be patient and await our conversion!

Genuine conversion, however, means ceasing to sin without any backward glances.

God pardons what is past, then, but for the future we are each responsible for ourselves. By repenting we condemn our past misdeeds and beg forgiveness of the Father, the only one who can in his mercy undo what has been done, and wipe away our past sins with the dew of his Spirit.

And so, if you are a thief and desire to be forgiven, steal no more. If you are a robber, return your gains with interest. If you have been a false witness, practice speaking the truth. If you are a perjurer, stop taking oaths. You must also curb all the other evil passions: anger, lust, grief, and fear.

No doubt you will be unable all at once to root out passions habitually given way to, but this can be achieved by God’s power, human prayers, the help of your brothers and sisters, sincere repentance, and constant practice.

~St. Clement of Alexandria (c.150-2l5)

Abiding in Christ

2011-09-24T05:01:00.003-05:00

Abide in me. ~John 15:4

Ave Maria! As we know, Pope Benedict XVI is in Germany through Sunday on an official state visit. Yesterday he celebrated Mass in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. In his homily, which can be found here, he reflected upon the parable of the vine and the branches (Jn 15:1-9). Recalling our Lord's words "Without me you can do nothing" (v5), he stressed how crucial it is for us to abide in Christ, to remain with Him. "Every one of us is faced with this choice" of abiding in Christ or setting ourselves apart from Him, the Holy Father said, adding that "The Lord reminds us how much is at stake as he continues his parable: 'If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned' (Jn 15:6). The decision that is required of us here makes us keenly aware of the existential significance of our life choices."

To chose the vine life -- that is, life in Christ -- is to truly live. As St. Paul proclaimed (Phil 1:21), "For me to live is Christ!" Our Lord Jesus came that we might have life to the full (Jn 10:10), and His abundant life is all ours for the choosing and the abiding. If we have any doubts about the wisdom and rightness of the vine life, we need only reflect upon these further words from the Holy Father's homily.

"…the image of the vine is a sign of hope and confidence. Christ himself came into this world through his incarnation, to be our root. Whatever hardship or drought befall us, he is the source that offers us the water of life, that feeds and strengthens us. He takes upon himself all our sins, anxieties and sufferings and he purifies and transforms us, in a way that is ultimately mysterious, into good wine. In such times of hardship we can sometimes feel as if we ourselves were in the wine-press, like grapes being utterly crushed. But we know that if we are joined to Christ we become mature wine. God can transform into love even the burdensome and oppressive aspects of our lives. It is important that we 'abide' in Christ, in the vine. The evangelist uses the word 'abide' a dozen times in this brief passage. This 'abiding in Christ' characterizes the whole of the parable. In our era of restlessness and lack of commitment, when so many people lose their way and their grounding, when loving fidelity in marriage and friendship has become so fragile and short-lived, when in our need we cry out like the disciples on the road to Emmaus: 'Lord, stay with us, for it is almost evening and darkness is all around us!' (cf. Lk 24:29), then the risen Lord gives us a place of refuge, a place of light, hope and confidence, a place of rest and security. When drought and death loom over the branches, then future, life and joy are to be found in Christ."

Thank you, dear Lord, for Your abundant life. May my greatest joy be to abide in You, now and forever. Amen.

Gloria!

2011-09-22T04:14:00.004-05:00

Praised be Your holy Name, not mine. I will praise Your name, but not my own; I will esteem Your doings, not my own: I will bless Your holy Name. I desire no share in the praises of men. You alone are my glory. You alone are the joy of my heart. I will offer You praise and glory every hour of the day; but for myself, I will glory in nothing, unless it be in my own weakness...I will seek the glory that God alone can give. For all human glory, all this world's honors, all earthly titles, compared with Your eternal glory, are mere vanity and foolishness. O blessed Trinity, my God, my Truth, my Mercy, to You alone let all things ascribe all praise, honor, power, and glory throughout endless ages.

~The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 40

Let my mouth be filled with praise,

that I may sing thy glory,

thy greatness all the day long.

~Psalm 71:8

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-21T04:25:00.001-05:00

Blue Heron by Ann L. Krumrein

Can we reach God?

2011-09-20T02:04:00.002-05:00

Ave Maria! In anticipation of his visit to Germany, his homeland, this Thursday through Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI recorded a message for German public television. The Holy Father concludes his message,which can be viewed here, with these words:

"Perhaps you will ask me: 'But does God exist? And if he exists, does he care about us? Can we reach him?' It is true of course that we cannot put God on the table, we cannot touch him like a utensil or take him in hand like any object. We must again develop the capacity to perceive God, a capacity that exists in us. We can intuit something of God's grandeur in the grandeur of the cosmos. We can use the world through technology because it is made in a rational manner. In the great rationality of the world we can intuit the creator spirit from which it comes, and in the beauty of creation we can intuit something of the beauty, of the grandeur and also the goodness of God. In the Word of sacred Scriptures we can hear the words of eternal life that do not come merely from men, but that come from him, and in them we hear his voice. And, finally, we glimpse God too in encounters with persons who are touched by him. I am not thinking only of the great ones: from Paul to Francis of Assisi to Mother Teresa; but I am thinking of the many simple people of whom no one speaks. And yet, when we meet them, there emanates something of goodness, sincerity, joy, and we know that God is there and that he touches us too. So, in these days we want to try to return to seeing God, to return to being persons through whom the light of hope might enter the world, a light that comes from God and helps us to live."

Yes, we can reach God! Nature has always been a very special and particular place where I can stretch out my hand and almost touch His face. This runs in my family. It's in my blood and in my sister's as well -- it's part of our being "Dick Mansfield's girls." I continue to be astonished by the fact that, as Gerard Manley Hopkins so powerfully penned, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God." With Joseph Mary Plunkett, I too "see His blood upon the rose" and hear His voice in "the thunder and singing of the birds." For me as for Ralph Waldo Emerson, "beauty is God's handwriting--a wayside sacrament." Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "Renascence" resounds within my own heart, and her glorious exultation is my frequent song: ""God, I can push the grass apart and lay my finger on thy heart"!

And now, a word from the other Mansfield girl, my big sister Ann L. Krumrein. No, a thousand words and even more. Whoever said that one picture is worth a thousand words must have had foreknowledge of Annie's many wonderful gifts and talents. After crouching in a field for over an hour, "waiting for this moment," she captured this magnificent full Harvest Moon, aka Barley Moon or Corn Moon.

Full Harvest Moon by Ann L. Krumrein

Thank you, Annie, for sharing your Harvest Moon with us! Thank you, Holy Father, for reminding us that we can intuit the beauty, grandeur and goodness of God in nature. Most of all, thank you, dear God, for giving us such a beautiful world! Amen! Alleluia!