Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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Prayer of Surrender

"Make me what Thou wouldst have me. I bargain for nothing. I make no terms. I seek for no previous information whither Thou art taking me. I will be what Thou wilt make me, and all that Thou wilt make me. I say not, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goes, for I am weak, but I give myself to Thee, to lead me any whither"
- John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Parochial Sermons, v.V.

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International Distrubutors (including Australia and NZ)  https://ascensionpress.com/pages/international-distributors

               

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I have read better explanations, but am unable to find one.  Basically, left and right had cultural meaning in the times of Jesus.  

Quote

 

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/unsystematictheology/2016/01/turn-the-other-cheek-explained-in-context/

 

"Turning the other cheek has been misunderstood in Western culture that thought there were only two alternatives—violence or passivity. But since Gandhi and King, we can appreciate Jesus’ teaching better.

In Jesus’ culture, “to be struck on the right cheek was to be given a hostile, back-handed insult” with the back of the right hand. In that culture, it was forbidden to touch or strike anyone with the left hand; the left hand was for dirty things (Stassen, Just Peacemaking, 64-65, 68-69). To turn the other cheek was to surprise the insulter, saying, nonviolently, “you are treating me as an unequal, but I need to be treated as an equal.” Jesus is saying: if you are slapped on the cheek of inferiority, turn the cheek of equal dignity (138

 

-139)."

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                                   WHY SCRIPTURE?

 

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm

                             I. CHRIST - THE UNIQUE WORD OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

101 In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness God speaks to them in human words: "Indeed the words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men."63

 

 

https://aleteia.org/2021/01/15/reasons-catholics-should-read-the-bible/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en

BY READING THE BIBLE, WE WILL KEEP FOCUSED ON WHAT MATTERS.

What if we spent as much time with Scripture as we do watching the news or listening to podcasts or scrolling social media? Christian life is fundamentally a fight to keep God at the center of our lives and stay focused on the things that matter. Reading Scripture regularly helps us to face life with God’s perspective at the forefront, able to rule out the kinds of things that vie for our attention, but in the end don’t really matter.

 

THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT WE CATHOLICS SHOULD SWIM IN SCRIPTURE.  THE BIBLE IS ABSOLUTELY CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH.. Expressing this, Pope Francis teaches,

The relationship between the Risen Lord, the community of believers and Sacred Scripture is essential to our identity as Christians. Without the Lord who opens our minds to them, it is impossible to understand the Scriptures in depth. Yet the contrary is equally true: without the Scriptures, the events of the mission of Jesus and of his Church in this world would remain incomprehensible.

 

I do think it is important that i try to understand the New Testament in the context of the culture in the times of Jesus (as well as our Catholic interpretation):      "An awareness of Jesus’ Jewish heritage is essential for us to understand the Gospels; Jesus was a Jew who knew the Torah very well, a scholar of the Torah who refers to images and words used in the Hebrew texts. Therefore, the New Testament writers who record the story of Jesus and his fledgling Church make many connections to the Old Testament. Like the Old Testament, some of the stories of Jesus began in an oral tradition that was passed on from eyewitnesses and finally recorded.

Therefore, the New Testament texts emerged from the lived experience of the believers."https://toliveinchristjesus.ceosale.catholic.edu.au/application/third_party/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Final Narrative Scripture Lens.docx.pdf

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                     Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Frail but Lucid

                                                                    Vatican News

Excerpt: "Following the release of images of his meeting with Pope Francis and the new cardinals last November, Archbishop Gänswein confirms that Ratzinger is physically frail but completely lucid: “From the physical point of view, he is very frail and can only walk a little with a walker. His voice is also weak. The time devoted to rest has increased, but we continue to go out every afternoon, despite the cold, to the Vatican Gardens. Every day I celebrate Mass and he concelebrates seated... We have prepared enlarged texts for his daily prayer so that he can follow the Liturgy of the Hours better, and we continue to take meals together as we always have.”

 

                       The Mater Ecclesia Monastery, Benedict XVI's residence in the Vatican 

                       

 

 

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https://dailygospel.org/AM/gospel?utm_source=newsletter

Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Carmelite, Doctor of the Church

The Spiritual Canticle B, Stanza 23, 1-3 (trans. K. Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., 1990, pp. 499-500)

 

"The bridegroom is with them"

Beneath the apple tree: (cf Ct 8:5) 

there I took you for my own,

there I offered you my hand, and restored you,

where your mother was corrupted

 

In this high state of spiritual marriage the Bridegroom reveals his wonderful secrets to the soul as to his faithful consort, with remarkable ease and frequency, for true and perfect love knows not how to keep anything hidden from the beloved.

The Bridegroom explains to the soul in this stanza his admirable plan in redeeming and espousing her to himself through the very means by which human nature was corrupted and ruined, telling her that as human nature was ruined through Adam and corrupted by means of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Paradise, so on the tree of the cross it was redeemed and restored when he gave it there, through his passion and death, the hand of his favor and mercy, and broke down the barriers between God and humans that were built up through original sin.

Thus he says: "Beneath the apple tree", that is: beneath the favor of the tree of the cross where the Son of God redeemed human nature and consequently espoused it to himself, and

then espoused each soul by giving it through the cross

grace and pledges for this espousal.

                            

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Short Biography of Bl. Laura Vicuna

 

 

               

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Edited January 22, 2021 by BarbaraTherese

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           ST ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY

...."......she (St Elizabeth of The Trinity) was convinced that this sweet intimacy with the Trinity was not just a luxury for her, as a Bride of Christ in the cloister. In letters to her mother, to sisters and friends, in advice to women expecting babies or raising small children, she returns again and again to this counsel: Find God in your soul and … enjoy!  What could possibly take away your peace if you know that He is there?

Here are five quick excerpts from her letters, letting us know that One with almighty power is just waiting to help us with our needs … and that once we realize He’s there, we’ll never be alone again:

 

1. Oh yes, may the God who is all love be your unchanging dwelling place, your cell, and your cloister in the midst of the world; remember that He dwells in the deepest center of our soul as if in a sanctuary where He wants always to be loved to the point of adoration. He remains there to fill you to overflowing with His graces, to transform you in Himself. Oh, when you sense your weakness, go to Him; He is the Strong One, the One who gives victory through the holiness at His right hand — Jan. 4, 1906 (?)
2. He is so offended in the world, for they want no more of Him; let us open ourselves to receive Him, and then let us not leave Him alone in that sanctuary of our soul; through everything let us remember that He is there and He needs to be loved. — Dec. 29, 1902
3. (After assuring her mother that her doctrine on the presence of God within us is not something she came up with, but rather what Scripture tells us, she clarifies:) You do not possess the Sacred Humanity as you do when you receive Communion; but the Divinity, that essence the Blessed adore in Heaven, is in your soul; there is a wholly adorable intimacy when you realize that; you are never alone again! — Around May 27, 1906
4. Guess where I’ll go to celebrate your feast? Quite simply, to Heaven, and I will meet you there, for, you see, this Heaven is quite close: “Wherever the King is, there is His court,” as our holy Mother Teresa said, and since He dwells in our souls, you can see that we don’t have to go very far to enter the City of peace, in the Heaven of the saints. — Jan. 27, 1904
5. (As she was close to death:) My beloved Antoinette, I leave you my faith in the presence of God, of the God who is all Love dwelling in our souls. I confide to you: It is this intimacy with him “within” that has been the beautiful sun illuminating my life, making it already an anticipated Heaven; it is what sustains me today in my suffering. I do not fear my weakness; that’s what gives me confidence. For the Strong One is within me and His power is almighty. It is able to do, says the Apostle, abundantly more than we can hope for! — end of October? 1906

https://aleteia.org/2016/10/16/if-you-havent-met-elizabeth-of-the-trinity-yet-heres-why-you-should/

Edited January 28, 2021 by BarbaraTherese