Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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LAUGHTER

The great saints who in their lives reflected the life of the Lord knew the value of laughter and good humor.  Only those inclined to a pessimistic spirituality would condemn laughter.  St. Teresa of Avila, one of the great mystics of our Church, once looked around the chapel and saw all of the serious looking sisters; she blurted-out, “Lord, save me from these sullen-faced saints!”  St. Teresa was also able to laugh at life and herself:  once she commented about convent life, “Experience has taught me what a house full of women is like.”   http://catholicstraightanswers.com/about/

 

 

 

Church bulletin bloopers

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

The Honeymooners are now having bile studies each Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m.

The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.

Thursday at 5:00 pm, there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his private study.

(For the group of ladies called Moms Who Care and pray for the children in school). When their meeting was cancelled one week: "There will be no Moms who care this week."

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Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Society

“Who are we to believe that we should be exempt from public calamities? Is it not reasonable that we should suffer with the rest?”
– St. Louise de Marillac

O God, times of trouble are inevitable. How easy it is to forget that those times can be a source of growth if borne patiently. Fill me with the trust and confidence I need to make it a positive experience.

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Saint Peter Chrysologus (c.406-450), Bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church
Sermon 50, 1.2.3 ; PL 52, 339-340
 

"The boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading"

 

Christ got into the boat: for was it not he who uncovered the sea's bed after dividing its waters so that the people of Israel could pass through dry-shod as though through a valley? (Ex 14:29). And was it not he who made the waves of the sea firm beneath Peter's feet so that the water could provide a solid and stable path for his feet? (Mt 14:29).

He got into the boat. Christ got into the boat of his Church so that he might pass through the sea of this world until the end of time, leading those who believe in him to their heavenly homeland with a peaceful crossing and making into citizens of his Kingdom those with whom he communicates in his humanity. It is true that Christ has no need of the boat, but the boat has need of Christ. Indeed, if it were not for this pilot from heaven, the Church's boat, tossed about by the waves, would never reach its harbor.

(From Daily Gospel.org)

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APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION - GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE
OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
ON THE CALL TO HOLINESS
IN TODAY’S WORLD

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html

 

What follows are excerpts only

Signs of Holiness in Today’s World (Chapter IV)

Perseverance, Patience and Meekness

112. The first of these great signs is solid grounding in the God who loves and sustains us. This source of inner strength enables us to persevere amid life’s ups and downs, but also to endure hostility, betrayal and failings on the part of others. “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom 8:31): this is the source of the peace found in the saints. Such inner strength makes it possible for us, in our fast-paced, noisy and aggressive world, to give a witness of holiness through patience and constancy in doing good. It is a sign of the fidelity born of love, for those who put their faith in God (pístis) can also be faithful to others (pistós). They do not desert others in bad times; they accompany them in their anxiety and distress, even though doing so may not bring immediate satisfaction.

 

Joy and a Sense of Humour

126. Christian joy is usually accompanied by a sense of humour. We see this clearly, for example, in Saint Thomas More, Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Philip Neri. Ill humour is no sign of holiness. “Remove vexation from your mind” (Eccl 11:10). We receive so much from the Lord “for our enjoyment” (1 Tim 6:17), that sadness can be a sign of ingratitude. We can get so caught up in ourselves that we are unable to recognize God’s gifts.[101]

 

Boldness and Passion

139. Let us ask the Lord for the grace not to hesitate when the Spirit calls us to take a step forward. Let us ask for the apostolic courage to share the Gospel with others and to stop trying to make our Christian life a museum of memories. In every situation, may the Holy Spirit cause us to contemplate history in the light of the risen Jesus. In this way, the Church will not stand still, but constantly welcome the Lord’s surprises.

 

In Community

The common life, whether in the family, the parish, the religious community or any other, is made up of small everyday things. This was true of the holy community formed by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, which reflected in an exemplary way the beauty of the Trinitarian communion. It was also true of the life that Jesus shared with his disciples and with ordinary people.

 

In Constant Prayer

I do not believe in holiness without prayer, even though that prayer need not be lengthy or involve intense emotions.

148. SaintJohn of the Cross tells us: “Endeavour to remain always in the presence of God, either real, imaginative, or unitive, insofar as is permitted by your works”.[109] In the end, our desire for God will surely find expression in our daily lives: “Try to be continuous in prayer, and in the midst of bodily exercises do not leave it. Whether you eat, drink, talk with others, or do anything, always go to God and attach your heart to him”.[110]

 

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

April 14

"There is no means of profiting by preaching if one does not preach from the depths of compassion" (I:526).

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"Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude, but delight to be alone and single with Omnipresence."

- Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), Christian Morals

 

"All of man's misfortune comes from one thing, which is not knowing how to sit quietly in a room."

- Blaise Pascal

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"...to surrender to too many demands,

to commit oneself to too many projects,

to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence."  

- C. S. Lewis, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

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I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness, I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves. 
- Max Lucado, Upwords 

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In the final analysis our greatest problem with holiness is not that our concepts of holiness are feeble, but that our hearts are rebellious. We are selfish, that’s our problem. And the fact that we often won’t admit our selfishness shows how deep the pride goes.

- Floyd McClung

 

To me, the greatest barrier to holiness is not feeble concepts, rebellious hearts or selfishness and pride, it is failing to admit and fully own these dispositions and humbly asking of God His Mercy and His Strength to go on desiring holiness and in the face of any all failures - effort will fall into the wake.  The nun who taught me said it is not so much the failure or the seriousness of the failure, it is the failure to repent with sorrow and Confession if necessary and getting up and going on as if nothing at all had happened............and I would very humbly add to go on with Peace and with Joy which is to celebrate The Lord and His Love, His Mercy and His Strength - these are The Source.

 

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Despite having much to catch up on since coming home from interstate, and even gradually getting there and beginning to see some daylight, I have been able to pretty much maintain this thread.  The thread view count is still healthy.

Laudate Dominum Deo Gratius.

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"Hundreds of priests flock to Vatican for exorcism classes"

http://cathnews.com/cathnews/31826-hundreds-of-priests-flock-to-vatican-for-exorcism-classes

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Excerpt: “The number of exorcisms has definitely increased over the years, as the requests to carry out exorcisms has increased,” said Professor Giuseppe Ferrari, an organiser of the Course on Exorcism and the Prayer of Liberation at the Vatican-approved Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome.

“This course is useful because it prepares the priests who carry out exorcisms to have a complete vision, a multi-disciplined view of the situation,” he added."

 

 

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"A first hand account of what made Christians counter-cultural in Rome"

https://aleteia.org/2018/04/17/this-is-how-christians-lived-in-the-2nd-century/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en

 

https://catholicexchange.com/beyond-countercultural-catholicism

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Excerpt: Our culture, no less than that of first-century Rome, needs to hear the message of the Beatitudes. I do not mean some fashionable, artificially-politicized interpretation of them. I mean the teaching of Jesus Himself – deep as an ocean, hard as a diamond, always and everywhere subversive...................

..............................The Church is different because, by God’s grace, she knows Jesus Christ. We are countercultural insofar as we have the mind of the One under whose judgment all cultures stand. We can see history’s landscape through Jesus’ eyes, and traverse it in his footsteps.

The essence of “Catholic counterculture” is the life and worldview of the Beatitudes. By faith, we find God even – or especially – in all that the world calls worthless and miserable.

What is most countercultural is not this or that particular Church teaching, but the divinely-inspired attitude of faith, hope, and love in the face of life’s painful limitations – the outlook summed up by the Beatitudes, and verified by the Resurrection.....................

......................This deeper counterculturalism is summed up by Pope St. Pius X, in his 1908 catechism.

“The world calls those happy who abound in riches and honors, who lead a pleasant life, and who meet with no occasions of suffering,” the Pope states. “Jesus Christ proposed the Beatitudes to us to make us detest the maxims of the world, and to invite us to love and practice the maxims of the Gospel.”

 

 

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Australian E Journal of Theology

Australian Catholic University

"A Wilderness Journey: In Search of Mental Health" (Emma Pierce)

http://aejt.com.au/2007/issue_10?article=378125

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Excerpt: The significant difference between change and transformation is the apparent contradiction between psychological and spiritual perceptions of redemption. Change can be effected by human intellect and will. Transformation is divine initiative. They do not necessarily contradict one another. Change may facilitate transformation, but cannot implement or control it. Collaboration between psychology and theology in a context of pastoral care would bring insights currently ‘lying on the surface’ waiting, not so much to be discovered, as to be recognised. Why a context of pastoral care? Pastoral care operates out of a context of love. This would eliminate the shuffle for supremacy that can occur when two sciences seek to collaborate.

Psychology has valuable expertise in freeing the human person from slavery; the slavery of what was once called sinful habits. Psychology has rolled up its sleeves, so to speak, and fully involved itself in the messiness of the human condition. It does not throw failure and inadequacy into the ‘too hard’ basket of prayer, as theology has tended to do.

But psychology can only take us out of the ‘land of Egypt’ into the wilderness, where our own exhausting, eternal vigilance is needed to maintain hard won freedom. It is not surprising that so many are tempted, and sadly all too often surrender, returning themselves to the land of slavery. Only theology can lead us forward to the Promised Land where transformation – redemption – does indeed make the yoke easy, and the burden light.

Redemption is not just something we will experience at the end of this life, but something that is here and now, a reality we need only acknowledge to make the kingdom of God visible on earth.

To be mentally healthy is to see that kingdom.

 

 

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All I really need do now is some filing and then I have caught up.  I am really surprised at how quickly I got things done once I began to address them.  Yesterday I was able to buy some painting materials at really cheap prices and I can begin to paint again.

The issue of my front boundary has been addressed by my Housing Manager and the front boundary has been established where I had been hoping it would be.  Also the issue of my difficult neighbours has been addressed too and Peace reigns here at last - the issue has been handled very well indeed, most professionally, by my Housing Manager without cause for upset with anyone at all. 

Next spring, I will complete the front now I can be confident about the boundary  and it will be a case of less is more. Once the front is done, my whole garden is complete and only requires maintaining with all plants almost being drought tolerant.  The whole garden too is an easy care garden.  I think that St Francis of Assisi would be very happy, lover of God's creation that Francis is - and in all the diversity and beauty of creation from the most minute to the very greatest.

I am prepared and happy to kick the bucket whenever the bucket might appear    It is just an expression of that quite weird phenomena I can experience.  One moment I am eager to go, the next I am loathe to do so.   One moment the task is complete, while in the next I haven't even started. 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!" Philippians Chapter 4 .................and I do! .........when I am not down in the dumps for some reason that is

Deo Gratius Laudate Dominum. 

Blessed Frederic Ozanam

Founder of St Vincent de Paul Society

https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/About/History/Founder_of_the_St_Vincent_de_Paul_Society/

 

 

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Although I am no longer officially a member of St Vinnies in the parish, I am an available volunteer wherever I can help out and that includes for the parish too.

 

 

 

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“God’s compassionate glance and His desire to live in total communion with us opens our hearts to the hope that each sin and each failure inflicted on man by his great enemy, Satan, will be looked upon with the eyes of a loving and accepting Father. Therefore, let us live full of hope.”

—Fr. Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist Explains the Demonic

 

 

Mea maxima culpa