Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

[BarbTherese]

 

...........because TDN thieves one away from the known, thereby opening one into the unknown, and God is The Unknown Unknowable.  Then one is no longer in the darkness of the so called known, but into The Light, The Unknown Unknowable.  The Reality.

Ahhh the bipolar mind.

   

 

                           

                               

  

Edited April 18, 2023 by BarbTherese

[BarbTherese]

  

[BarbTherese]

   

             “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”  - Charles F. Stanley

 

  

[BarbTherese]

  

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Ten Important Aspects of Saintliness

FR. ED BROOM, OMV

All of us are called to become saints. How do we know? Jesus commanded us: “Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy.” (Mt. 5:48) In other words: Become a saint! Most saints have not been officially canonized but are anonymous, unknown except by God alone.

Given that this is a serious command given by Jesus Himself, to be holy, to become a saint, let us briefly highlight ten of the most salient notes or characteristics of the saints. This will serve to motivate each and every one of us to become whom God has called us to be—a saint!

1. Antithesis of Saintliness: Sin

Let us start with the negative. Saints truly detest the one major evil in the world—the reality of sin. Modern culture glamorizes and even promotes sin; the saints fight against it! The motto of Saint Dominic Savio for his First Holy Communion was the following immortal assertion: Death Rather Than Sin!

2. Prayer

It is absolutely impossible to come across or read the life of any saint who did not take his prayer life seriously and spend sizable blocks of time dedicated to prayer, which is union and friendship with God. Face it, we can all improve in our prayer lives; we can pray more and we can always pray better. May the Holy Spirit enlighten and inspire us to upgrade our prayer life in our pursuit of holiness.

3. Humility

Saints are truly humble. By humility we mean the following: saints attribute all the good they have done to God who is the origin, author and end of all good. When complimented on any good done, almost spontaneously the saint responds: Thanks be to God!

4. Hunger for Holiness

Authentic saints have a real hunger and thirst for exactly that—holiness, to become a saint. If you like, the saint lives out the first verse of Psalm 42: “As the deer yearns for running waters, so my soul yearns for you, O Lord my God.” A saint admits that he is not a saint but really longs to be a saint one day. This longing, this yearning indeed is half the battle of attaining the crown of holiness, the triumph of winning the crown of saintliness.

Many yearn for money, power, pleasure, success and possessions. Not so for the saint: he yearns to love God fully and totally and unreservedly; he longs to be the saint that God has called him to be!

5. Charity

The saint is motivated to assimilate and to carry out in word and deed the greatest of all the Commandments—the command to love both God and neighbor. If you want to see a graphic image of charity, lift up your eyes to Jesus crucified, Jesus hanging from the cross—there you have a clear image of charity. We are called to love God totally and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

On one occasion, after Thomas Aquinas had achieved enormous accomplishments, Jesus appeared to him and asked the saint what gift he desired most. Immediately Aquinas responded: “Lord, grant me the grace to love you more and more each day.” 

Saint John of the Cross asserted: “In the twilight of our existence we will be judged on love.” Saint Francis de Sales adds to this in these words: “The measure with which we should love God is to love Him without measure.”

6. Zeal for the Salvation of Souls

Two saints met, one a youngster, the other a priest. The youngster looked up and saw on the wall a few words written in Latin and he asked the priest what the words were and what they meant. The priest responded by saying that those words were his motto and they were: “Give me souls and take all the rest away.” The priest was Saint John Bosco; the youngster was Saint Dominic Savio.

An authentic saint loves God and loves what God loves—the salvation of immortal souls. One soul is worth more than all of creation in the natural world! The reason for the excruciating pain that Jesus suffered in His Passion and the outpouring of His most Precious Blood on the cross was precisely this: to save immortal souls for all eternity. The stigmata for fifty years of Saint Padre Pio; the 13-18 hours daily in the Confessional in the life of the Cure of Ars, aka Saint John Vianney; the heroic sacrifices of the little children of Fatima; the victimhood of Saint Faustina, had one motivational reason and force: love of God and hunger and thirst for the salvation of souls.

7. Struggling Sinners Who Rise When They Fall

Many have been deceived into an artificial, sugar-sweet, somewhat romantic vision of the saint as exempt from human weaknesses and moral failures. Nothing could be further from the truth! Saints are born sinners. However, a common characteristic of the saint is that upon falling, sinner though he is, he resiliently bounces back; he returns to the Lord through Confession, good will, and a firm purpose of amendment. Venerable Bruno Lanteri taught Nunc Coepi—meaning if we fall, then we must rise immediately and trust all the more in the grace and mercy of the loving Heart of Jesus! No surprise that in the Diary of Saint Faustina, Jesus reminds us that the greatest sinner can be the greatest saint if he trusts fully in the mercy of Jesus.

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen reminds us that the first canonized saint was a murderer, an insurrectionist, and a thief who hung on a cross next to Jesus on Calvary. “Jesus said: ‘Truly I tell you, this day you will be with me in Paradise.’” (Lk. 23:43) As Sheen points out: “And he died a thief because he stole heaven.” Read and meditate on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, that can also be termed the Parable of the Merciful Father. (Lk. 15:11-32)

8. Fervent Love for the Source of All Holiness: the Holy Eucharist

The ultimate source of grace, purity, strength and holiness is Jesus Himself. The most efficacious means by which we unite ourselves with Jesus in His Mystical Body is through the Sacraments. The greatest of all the Sacraments is the Most Holy Eucharist for the simple but profound reason that the Eucharist actually is Jesus—His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity! Jesus is the Holy of Holies; He is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. 

Though it may sound trivial, there is a real truism behind this one liner: “You become what you eat!” Bad eating habits can produce health problems; good eating habits can contribute to health and longevity.

In a parallel but real sense, when we nourish our souls with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus with faith, devotion, fervor and love, then we start to think like Jesus, feel like Jesus, act like Jesus, become like Jesus, until we can say with Saint Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20)

9. Open and Docile to the Holy Spirit

Father Jacques Philippe wrote a short masterpiece on this topic with the title “In the School of the Holy Spirit.” In this short but inspiring book, Father Jacques constantly reminds his readers that holiness essentially depends on one basic attitude, action, and plan of life: being docile to the Holy Spirit and His heavenly inspirations. The Holy Spirit speaks gently but insistently to humble and docile souls, guiding them in the proper course of action that leads to holiness of life, that leads them to become the saints that we are all called and destined to become.

Saint Paul reminds us: “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with ineffable groans so that we can call out Abba, Father.” (Rom. 6:26) It is precisely for this reason that Pope Saint John XXIII stated: “The saints are the masterpieces of the Holy Spirit.”

10. Mary and the Saints

Our Lady, Mary most holy, is the Queen of Angels, the Queen of Virgins, the Queen of Confessors, the Queen of Martyrs, the Queen and beauty of Carmel, the Queen of the most Holy Rosary, and finally, Mary is the Queen of all of the Angels and Saints. After he died, Saint Dominic Savio appeared bathed in heavenly glory to Saint John Bosco and told the holy priest what gave him the greatest joy in his short life on earth. It was precisely this: his great love and confidence in the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Dominic ended this encounter with Saint John Bosco exhorting him to spread devotion to Mary to the greatest extent possible.

Mary inspires the saints to pray fervently. Mary inspires the saints to return to God after they sin. Mary encourages the saints to love Jesus with their whole being. Mary’s presence helps the saints to avoid moral dangers. Mary’s maternal and loving presence helps the saints to move from desolation to consolation. For that reason, the saints cry out to Mary in these words: “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.”

Conclusion

Our final prayer and hope is that all of our readers will become saints and great saints. Our hope and prayer is that all of you will one day be a very precious, resplendent and glorious jewel in the crown of Mary so as to contemplate and praise the Blessed Trinity for all eternity. 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us so that we can attain the grace to truly become the saint that God has destined us to become for all eternity. Amen!

 

 

[BarbTherese]

From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

 

                                             FRIDAY 21ST April 2023  

                                             SECOND WEEK EASTER            

 

Morning Prayer https://universalis.com/20230421/lauds.htm

Evening Prayer   https://universalis.com/20230421/vespers.htm       

 Night Prayer https://universalis.com/20230421/compline.htm 

 

 

 

Office Readings - Second Reading

                                                      From a sermon by Saint Theodore the Studite

                        The precious and life-giving cross of Christ

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How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

  This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the Lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brave warrior wounded in his hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree. What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world! The supreme wisdom that flowered on the cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom’s pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness.

  The wonders accomplished through this tree were foreshadowed clearly even by the mere types and figures that existed in the past. Meditate on these, if you are eager to learn. Was it not the wood of a tree that enabled Noah, at God’s command, to escape the destruction of the flood together with his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives and every kind of animal? And surely the rod of Moses prefigured the cross when it changed water into blood, swallowed up the false serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians, divided the sea at one stroke and then restored the waters to their normal course, drowning the enemy and saving God’s own people? Aaron’s rod, which blossomed in one day in proof of his true priesthood, was another figure of the cross, and did not Abraham foreshadow the cross when he bound his son Isaac and placed him on the pile of wood?

  By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The cross is the glory of all the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the sanctification of the saints. By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfolds of heaven.

 

     

                                         _

[BarbTherese]

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

Friday 21.4.23

 

 

20 Mysteries of The Rosary

https://www.marquette.edu/faith/prayers-mysteries.php

 

 

Chaplet of Mercy

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How to Recite the Chaplet

The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary Rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska and followed by a closing prayer.

1. Make the Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. Optional Opening Prayers

St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

(Repeat three times)
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!

3. Our Father

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.

4. Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

5. The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

6. The Eternal Father

Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

7. On the 10 Small Beads of Each Decade

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

8. Repeat for the remaining decades

Saying the "Eternal Father" (6) on the "Our Father" bead and then 10 "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion" (7) on the following "Hail Mary" beads.

9. Conclude with Holy God (Repeat three times)

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

10. Optional Closing Prayers

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Your mercy — to Your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth's exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our life and at death's hour. Let the omnipotence of Your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as Your children, await Your [Son’s] final coming — that day known to You alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven (Diary, 1570).

 

 

 

 

  

 

NINTH LETTER

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Enclosing a letter to a corresponding sister, whom he regards with respect tinged with fear. * His old theme concisely put.

THE enclosed is an answer to that which I received from - ; pray deliver it to her. She seems to me full of good will, but she would go faster than grace. One does not become holy all at once. I recommend her to you: we ought to help one another by our advice, and yet more by our good examples. You will oblige me to let me hear of her from time to time, and whether she be very fervent and very obedient.

Let us thus think often that our only business in this life is to please GOD, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity. You and I have lived above forty years in religion [i.e., a monastic life]. Have we employed them in loving and serving GOD, who by His mercy has called us to this state and for that very end? I am filled with shame and confusion, when I reflect on the one hand upon the great favours which GOD has done, and incessantly continues to do, me; and on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection.

Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in earnest, let us repair the lost time, let us return with a full assurance to that FATHER of mercies, who is always ready to receive us affectionately. Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is not Himself; He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him: I doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it, in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nothing but sin.

We cannot escape the dangers which abound in life, without the actual and continual help of GOD; let us then pray to Him for it continually. How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with Him but in thinking of Him often? And how can we often think of Him, but by a holy habit which we should form of it? You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing: it is true, for this is the best and easiest method I know; and as I use no other, I advise all the world to it. We must know before we can love. In order to know GOD, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure. This is an argument which well deserves your consideration.

 

 

 

 

LITANY

THE DIVINE PRAISES

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THE DIVINE PRAISES

 

Blessed be God.

Blessed be His Holy Name.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

Blessed be the Name of Jesus.

Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.

Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.

Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.

Blessed be her glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.

May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.

 

 

 

 

[BarbTherese]

 

 

The Catholic Chaplain came in today and I received Holy Communion.  Deo Gratius.  We had a rather long chat and discovered we were both in the same parish.  However she attended our Mother Church in the parish, while I attended a Mass Centre and much closer to me back then.

She is going to arrange for Father to come in and anoint me, bless my room and hear my Confession.  It is much too long since I have been to Confession.  I will ask Father if he could call in every three months or so to hear my Confession.  I don't like to ask for a shorter time span because our priests are already overloaded. 

Not only that! I am no Martin Luther who, when still a monk (he later married) annoyed heck out of his fellow monks as he laboured with terrible scruples and wanted a monk to hear his Confession sometimes a couple of times in a day.  I am not that keen !!!  I love Confession, but invariably come away with the feeling I have left something out.  I know I haven't, it is just a feeling I have, conscious as I am of my very real status as sinner, sinful.  Often more inclined/attracted towards vice than to virtue.

Gosh, ten years next September since my Home Mass and oh what a journey it has been.  Spirituality, living with The Lord, is the greatest adventure one could undertake.  It has been a struggle uphill, with failures and falls, struggling up again, His Grace lifting one up, and going on.  The daily struggle with bipolar and the almost daily struggle with temptation. Then the easy slide on the downhill grade that is actually an easy uphill (paradox! our spirituality is full of them).  But lo and behold, another hill looms up.  And so life is repetitive insofar as I can see.  It is a continual arriving that is departure,  departing once more.  Only Heaven can reveal final destination of it all.

But who knows what lay beyond this NOW as I type and tonight, tomorrow or the next day, week........or years.  That is something only the Good Lord knows.

That is the lesson of my history to date-............but it keeps on repeating anyway.

 

 

   

 

My theory is that that thing tempted Eve first because it knew she needed a very high intelligent being to be tempted and then she could handle Adam............a pushover, cinch for Eve.........easy peasy!

Healthy laughter and sense of the funny to me is a by-product of Joy in The Lord.

 

 

                                  

Fr James Martin's book Between Heaven and Mirth is now available on Kindle $13.99. https://www.amazon.com.au/Between-Heaven-Mirth-Laughter-Spiritual-ebook/dp/B005C6L1EG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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“Between Heaven and Mirth will make any reader smile. . . . Father Martin reminds us that happiness is the good God’s own goal for us.” —Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York

From The Colbert Report’s “official chaplain” James Martin, SJ, author of the New York Times bestselling The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, comes a revolutionary look at how joy, humor, and laughter can change our lives and save our spirits. 

A Jesuit priest with a busy media ministry, Martin understands the intersections between spirituality and daily life.  In Between Heaven and Mirth, he uses scriptural passages, the lives of the saints, the spiritual teachings of other traditions, and his own personal reflections to show us why joy is the inevitable result of faith, because a healthy spirituality and a healthy sense of humor go hand-in-hand with God's great plan for humankind. 

 

 

Sample from the book

https://www.amazon.com.au/Between-Heaven-Mirth-Laughter-Spiritual-ebook/dp/B005C6L1EG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&asin=B005C6L1EG&revisionId=b253bb63&format=1&depth=1

 

  

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by BarbTherese

[BarbTherese]

FULL MOVIE

[BarbTherese]

FULL MOVIE IN ENGLISH

 

From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

 

                                             SATURDAY 22ND April 2023  

                                             SECOND WEEK EASTER   

                            Saturdays are traditionally dedicated to Our Lady        

 

Morning Prayer https://universalis.com/20230422/lauds.htm

Evening Prayer  https://universalis.com/20230422/vespers.htm     

 Night Prayer  https://universalis.com/20230422/compline.htm

 

 

 

Office Readings - Second Reading

       From the constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council

                                         God's plan of salvation

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In his desire that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, God spoke in former times to our forefathers through the prophets, on many occasions and in different ways. Then, in the fullness of time he sent his Son, the Word made man, anointed by the Holy Spirit, to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted as the physician of body and spirit and the mediator between God and men. In the unity of the person of the Word, his human nature was the instrument of our salvation. Thus in Christ there has come to be the perfect atonement that reconciles us with God, and we have been given the power to offer the fullness of divine worship.

  This work of man’s redemption and God’s perfect glory was foreshadowed by God’s mighty deeds among the people of the Old Covenant. It was brought to fulfilment by Christ the Lord, especially through the paschal mystery of his blessed passion, resurrection from the dead and ascension in glory: by dying he destroyed our death, and by rising again he restored our life. From his side, as he lay asleep on the cross, was born that wonderful sacrament which is the Church in its entirety.

  As Christ was sent by the Father, so in his turn he sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. They were sent to preach the Gospel to every creature, proclaiming that we had been set free from the power of Satan and from death by the death and resurrection of God’s Son, and brought into the kingdom of the Father. They were sent also to bring into effect this saving work that they proclaimed, by means of the sacrifice and sacraments that are the pivot of the whole life of the liturgy.

  So, by baptism men are brought within the paschal mystery. Dead with Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, they receive the Spirit that makes them God’s adopted children, crying out: Abba, Father; and so they become the true adorers that the Father seeks.

  In the same way, whenever they eat the supper of the Lord they proclaim his death until he comes. So, on the very day of Pentecost, on which the Church was manifested to the world, those who received the word of Peter were baptized. They remained steadfast in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.

  From that time onward the Church has never failed to come together to celebrate the paschal mystery, by reading what was written about him in every part of Scripture, by celebrating the Eucharist in which the victory and triumph of his death are shown forth, and also by giving thanks to God for the inexpressible gift he has given in Christ Jesus, to the praise of God’s glory.

 

 

                                                     

[BarbTherese]

 

 

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

                                   Saturday 22nd April 2023

 

 

   

20 Mysteries of The Rosary - https://www.marquette.edu/faith/prayers-mysteries.php

 

 

How to Pray The Chaplet of Mercy https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet

 

 

PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

TENTH LETTER

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Has difficulty, but sacrifices his will, to write as requested. * The loss of a friend may lead to acquaintance with the Friend.

I HAVE had a good deal of difficulty to bring myself to write to M. -, and I do it now purely because you and Madam desire me. Pray write the directions and send it to him. I am very well pleased with the trust which you have in GOD: I wish that He may increase it in you more and more: we cannot have too much in so good and faithful a Friend, who will never fail us in this world nor in the next.

If M. - makes his advantage of the loss he has had, and puts all his confidence in GOD, He will soon give him another friend, more powerful and more inclined to serve him. He disposes of hearts as He pleases. Perhaps M. - was too much attached to him he has lost. We ought to love our friends, but without encroaching upon the love of GOD, which must be the principal.

Pray remember what I have recommended to you, which is, to think often on GOD, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone, who came to visit you: why then must GOD be neglected? Do not then forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian; in a word, this is our profession, if we do not know it we must learn it. I will endeavour to help you with my prayers, and am yours in our LORD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

[BarbTherese]

 

[BarbTherese]

                

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Then David said to his son Solomon: "Be firm and steadfast; go to work without fear or discouragement, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or abandon you before you have completed all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

Chronicles Ch 28

 

 

[BarbTherese]

 

[BarbTherese]

  

From Divine Office (General Calendar)   

 

                                           SUNDAY 23RD April 2023  

                                             THIRD WEEK EASTER   

       

 

Morning Prayer https://universalis.com/20230423/lauds.htm

Evening Prayer https://universalis.com/20230423/vespers.htm

Night Prayer https://universalis.com/20230423/compline.htm

 

 

 

Office Readings - Second Reading

        From the first apology in defence of the Christians by Saint Justin, martyr

                                   The celebration of the Eucharist

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No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that what we teach is true, unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of his sins, and unless he lives in accordance with the principles given us by Christ.

  We do not consume the eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Saviour became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving.

  The apostles, in their recollections, which are called gospels, handed down to us what Jesus commanded them to do. They tell us that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this in memory of me. This is my body. In the same way he took the cup, he gave thanks and said: This is my blood. The Lord gave this command to them alone. Ever since then we have constantly reminded one another of these things. The rich among us help the poor and we are always united. For all that we receive we praise the Creator of the universe through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.

  On Sunday we have a common assembly of all our members, whether they live in the city or the outlying districts. The recollections of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as there is time. When the reader has finished, the president of the assembly speaks to us; he urges everyone to imitate the examples of virtue we have heard in the readings. Then we all stand up together and pray.

  On the conclusion of our prayer, bread and wine and water are brought forward. The president offers prayers and gives thanks to the best of his ability, and the people give assent by saying, “Amen.” The eucharist is distributed, everyone present communicates, and the deacons take it to those who are absent.

  The wealthy, if they wish, may make a contribution, and they themselves decide the amount. The collection is placed in the custody of the president, who uses it to help the orphans and widows and all who for any reason are in distress, whether because they are sick, in prison, or away from home. In a word, he takes care of all who are in need.

  We hold our common assembly on Sunday because it is the first day of the week, the day on which God put darkness and chaos to flight and created the world, and because on that same day our saviour Jesus Christ rose from the dead. For he was crucified on Friday and on Sunday he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them the things that we have passed on for your consideration.

 

 

[BarbTherese]

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

                                                  Sunday 23 April 2023

 

   

                                   20 Mysteries of The Rosary

 

 

 

  

How to Pray The Chaplet of Mercy https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet

 

 

PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

                                                ELEVENTH LETTERTo one who is in great pain. God is the Physician of body and of soul. * Feels

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that he would gladly suffer at His wish.

I DO not pray that you may be delivered from your pains; but I pray GOD earnestly that He would give you strength and patience to bear them as long as He pleases. Comfort yourself with Him who holds you fastened to the cross: He will loose you when He thinks fit. Happy those who suffer with Him: accustom yourself to suffer in that manner, and seek from Him the strength to endure as much, and as long, as He shall judge to be necessary for you. The men of the world do not comprehend these truths, nor is it to be wondered at, since they suffer like what they are, and not like Christians: they consider sickness as a pain to nature, and not as a favour from GOD; and seeing it only in that light, they find nothing in it but grief and distress. But those who consider sickness as coming from the hand of GOD, as the effects of His mercy, and the means which He employs for their salvation, commonly find in it great sweetness and sensible consolation.

I wish you could convince yourself that GOD is often (in some sense) nearer to us and more effectually present with us, in sickness than in health. Rely upon no other Physician, for, according to my apprehension, He reserves your cure to Himself. Put then all your trust in Him, and you will soon find the effects of it in your recovery, which we often retard, by putting greater confidence in physic than in GOD.

Whatever remedies you make use of, they will succeed only so far as He permits. When pains come from GOD, He only can cure them. He often sends diseases of the body, to cure those of the soul. Comfort yourself with the sovereign Physician both of soul and body.

I foresee that you will tell me that I am very much at my ease, that I eat and drink at the table of the LORD. YOU have reason: but think you that it would be a small pain to the greatest criminal in the world, to eat at the king’s table, and be served by him, and notwithstanding such favours to be without assurance of pardon? I believe he would feel exceeding great uneasiness, and such as nothing could moderate, but only his trust in the goodness of his sovereign. So I assure you, that whatever pleasures I taste at the table of my King, yet my sins, ever present before my eyes, as well as the uncertainty of my pardon, torment me, though in truth that torment itself is pleasing.

Be satisfied with the condition in which GOD places you: however happy you may think me, I envy you. Pains and suffering would be a paradise to me, while I should suffer with my GOD; and the greatest pleasure would be hell to me, if I could relish them without Him; all my consolation would be to suffer something for His sake.

I must, in a little time, go to GOD. What comforts me in this life is, that I now see Him by faith; and I see Him in such a manner as might make me say sometimes, I believe no more, but I see. I feel what faith teaches us, and, in that assurance and that practice of faith, I will live and die with Him.

Continue then always with GOD: ’tis the only support and comfort for your affliction. I shall beseech Him to be with you. I present my service.