Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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Vincent's Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day – September 8

8.9.2016

 

   "Those persons who console you today may humiliate you tomorrow"                                                                                                  (IV:180). (St Vincent de Paul)

Edited September 8, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

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FORMAL PRAYER ROUTINE

In place of 15mins Private Prayer I pray The Chaplet of Mercy and on Saturdays, The Rosary - for those who have asked for my prayers, all those who need them and those for whom I should pray including all the intentions of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Each Saturday too, I read a few paragraphs of my rule of life.

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VOCATION - BEYOND THE NARROW VIEW

I have just initiated a thread into Open Mic with title as above HERE

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COMPARING OTHERS TO ONESELF

• The Way of Perfection, by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) Online Text
• - Chapter 41

Quote

 

Another source of harm is this: we may judge others unfavourably, though they may be holier than ourselves, because they do not walk as we do, but, in order to profit their neighbours, talk freely and without restraint. You think such people are imperfect; and if they are good and yet at the same time of a lively disposition, you think them dissolute.

This is especially true of those of us who are unlearned and are not sure what we can speak about without committing sin. It is a very dangerous state of mind, leading to great uneasiness and to continual temptation, because it is unfair to our neighbour. It is very wrong to think that everyone who does not follow in your own timorous footsteps has something the matter with her. Another danger is that, when it is your duty to speak, and right that you should speak, you may not dare to do so lest you say too much and may perhaps speak well of things that you ought to hate.

 

 

 

 

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CELIBACY AND THE LAITY WAY BACK WHEN

Quote

 

https://fathersofthechurch.com/2009/01/25/celibacy-and-the-laity-way-back-when/

Excerpt only "You’ve heard me go on about Father Michael Giesler’s trilogy of novels about the second-century Church — Junia, Marcus, and Grain of Wheat. Father Mike is a New Testament scholar by training, but he often ventures well into the era of the Fathers. For several years he’s been researching the practice of celibacy in the early Church. He published a summary of his findings in this month’s issue of Homiletic and Pastoral Review. Eventually, it will appear online in its fullness, with all its footnotes. But Father Mike (and HPR) gave permission for me to post it now. I think he’s doing important work, recovering a “lost” tradition that’s really been hidden in plain sight. (More on above link)"

 

 

Author of the above is Mike Aquilina - read about him here

[Guest]

BIG PROBLEM

Huge problem today.  Last night rain came down endlessly in sheets. When I got up this morning, there was bark all over my paths and onto my driveway and that of my neighbour.  My son thankfully put in all the bark to save water (for lawns) some years back.  We had not anticipated the problem I had this morning.

My brother came with his huge garden blower to blow all the bark back where it should be and save me a massive task.  We are now having a 'think tank' to discern what can be done to prevent the problem in the future and certainly before next winter.  More financial outlay I guess with Buddie over to the vet next Thursday for heartworm test and medications $120 roughly, dental work in October and ongoing around $450.  The bills just keep rolling in.

Gee, a money tree sure would be helpful - but then if I was meant to have one it would be good for me and I would have one!

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CHARITY IS NOT BEING A 'DOORMAT'

These are two rather lengthy articles on the above subject, but I found them informative and helpful reading by (what seems to me to be) quite learned authors:

"Turn The Other Cheek" (EWTN - Fr.Stephen F. Torraco)   HERE

I am not going to post the second article as yet.  Heading over to Open Mic to find out if the website and its author are a sound source of Catholic information.  If it is a sound source, I will then post the info.

 

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GREY AND OVERCAST

Today it is grey and overcast and with that, my spirits are in my boots as well as I cannot stop worrying about the garden bark washing on to paths and driveway, including my neighbours, in heavy rain.  My neighbours are not easy at all to get along with and I am waiting for complaints before I can solve the bark problem, although my brother called yesterday and with a garden blower, all the bark is back where it should be.

Whether the dull weather or the worrying is due to bipolar or whether these dispositions would occur even if I did not suffer bipolar is not really the point I have concluded.  The point is how to deal with it.  And so I have been saying to myself "No matter the cause, God has permitted it and for my betterment" - fast on the heels of that comes another thought: "Hold that thought!" and that gives me a giggle and nothing like laughter to relieve stress.......at least temporarily.  I am afraid that no matter the cause, I am affected by the weather and prone to be a worrier.  And so at this point today, I am rather dragging myself around................what a nothing sort of concern when I consider the many problems of many people - and far more serious indeed than I ever need to endure. 

All these types of thoughts help me to push on when on the feeling level, I would much rather curl up and go to sleep and forget today exists.

Saturday 10th September here - Vigil Mass tonight

.............and there's a mood swing for you..............

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Important to note I think that sometimes identifying cause can be a big help in identifying how to deal with a problem.

 

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OCD

Nope, Not Order of Carmel Discalced, rather Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  I have been told by a psychiatrist years back that I have a touch of OCD - in the main it is a help to me and that is the upside in that (for one) everything has its place and hence I don't spend time searching for things - well not often that is - rare.  The downside is that if I have a problem, I just cannot let it go and let it rest...........until I have a solution.  I am obsessive about it and compulsive.  I left a message for one of the brothers (the garden expert) to ring me yesterday.  I am hoping he can help me solve the wandering bark problem.  I don't know if it is OCD or not but it is starting to annoy me that he still has not rung me.......and I can't let go of that either...........well, "can't" may be a bit of stretch in that it is "seemingly I can't" at this point.

The really upside of all these very ordinary problems in a very ordinary life whether bipolar in origin or not, is that they do provide little involuntary penances/sufferings to be born as well as I can.  St Mary MacKillop "Do what you can and leave the rest to God".  I never used to know when I was doing my best.......but I sure know when I am doing what I can.

.......onya our Aussie St Mary of The Cross MacKillop!...........

The stunning thing for me is that Jesus abundantly loves and embraces these small life niggles and annoyances, inconveniences, born as well as one can united to Him, He is pleased and embraces them uniting them to His Cross - and hence life's tiny teeny problems become redemptive.  Stunning!

Edited September 10, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

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HIDDEN FRUITS OF LABOUR

Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul

Daily Reflection – September 10

Sep 10, 2016

“For very just reasons, God sometimes conceals from his servants the fruits of their labors,

even though he blesses them with very great results.”

– St. Vincent de Paul

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NO FEAR

 

"To be a child means accepting and using even your failings and your sins. "Look at kids," she writes to Celine, "they break things, they tear up paper, they fall even if they love their parents and their parents keep loving them all the same." To her missionary she writes : "We do not want to fall, ever! How stupid we are!!" "Make it clear, Mother, that if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence. I would feel that this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water cast into a blazing fire." If the dad calls him, the child does not bother to clean himself before running to embrace him. " http://www.fatherpius.littleway.ca/carm07.html

 

 

LABOURED SUFFERING & SACRIFICES

Diary of Saint Faustina
"At the beginning of my religious life, suffering and adversities frightened and disheartened me. So I prayed continuously, asking Jesus to strengthen me and to grant me the power of His Holy Spirit that I might carry out His holy will in all things, because from the beginning I have been aware of my weakness."......................

.........Jesus to Faustina: "Do not be afflicted if your heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in My eyes, will enhance it. Know that your body and soul will often be in the midst of fire. Although you will not feel My presence on some occasions, I will always be with you. Do not fear; My grace will be with you...[...] "O my Jesus, farewell; I must go already to take up my tasks.

But I will prove my love for You with sacrifice, neither neglecting nor letting any chance for practicing it slip by." http://www.religious-vocation.com/redemptive_suffering.html#.V9UCJR3r1LM

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EXCUSING GOD FOR HIS WEAKNESS

I think that we are God's weakness, every single human being and as individuals.  He just can't help Himself but Love us to abandon with untiring and always faithful Mercy no matter the content nor times we may fail and miserably.  When I think about it, God passionately wants us with Him so much, Loves us so desperately, that He is prepared to forgive absolutely anything whatsoever no matter content nor times committed.  He not only forgives, He forgets the offence(s) completely and once we repent and confess if necessary, we have an absolutely clean slate to move forward in our relationship with Him - and as if nothing had ever happened in the first place because that is God's now disposition in His relationship with us.

Every Sunday, cappie posts a short homily on the Sunday's Gospel.  A couple of points from his homily on Sunday 11th November sort of leapt out at me:
 

Quote

 

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Started by cappie

cappie's post HERE

"In all the parables that Jesus tells in this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-32), people end up rejoicing because something lost is found – a sheep, a coin, a son. Jesus is using three practical situations to illustrate God's way of relating to human beings. They give us an image of God "in human clothes." Jesus is saying this is how God acts! These are his reactions; this is his weakness! We need to take God as he is; we need to excuse God for his weakness because he finds joy in it.

...............We are not the ones who find our way back to God. God finds us and touches us with his mercy and love. What we call repentance happens when we have the sense to take the loving, forgiving, merciful hand that God stretches out to us.

The angels of heaven rejoice not because of what we do, but because of what God in his mercy continues to do for us."

 

 

_______________________________

Please note that 11th November, should read 11th September

Edited September 11, 2016 by BarbaraTherese

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MISERY, SUFFERING & DEATH MADE HOLY

 

Book III: Christ - Chapter 11: Nature of the Redemption

(Emile Merch SJ - Theology of the Mystical Body)

 

Quote

317. Christ took to Himself miseries, sufferings and human death; and behold, they are divinized in Him.

Quote

CNA "St Paul Explains The Meaning Of Suffering":........"There is this intimate bond between the cross, the epitome of the sufferings of Christ, and the suffering of the people which is a participation in the self-same cross. Thus participation in the cross through suffering is a way of obtaining grace, the power of God to participate in salvation. This is also why Paul can say elsewhere in Galatians: “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…Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (6:14, 17)."       here

 

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LINK TO THIS THREAD

I have posted in Catholic Answers discussion site a link to this thread in the hope that Google might pick up this thread since the CA thread title is "Private Vows" and in the CA Vocations forum.  I have sung the praises of Phatmass and dUSt specifically in the CA thread because I am indeed very grateful that the thread here on Phatmass has been allowed to continue to date.   If it should perhaps be locked or whatever, I would then have to seriously consider a blog.............which I dread - exceedingly!  These blogs confuse me no end and I really have no idea what I am doing.  But then I had no idea what I was doing with Catholic discussion sites either when first given this computer .... given time I did learn.

Catholic Answers thread "Private Vows"

A bit of a giggle about not knowing what one is doing when tapping away on a computer.  I decided to investigate Facebook quite some years ago now.  I set up the profile and noticed someone had asked "What are you thinking?" - and thought to myself that is a bit too personal - so I typed "Why do you want to know?"......the answer came back promptly "What are you thinking".  I thought, the cheek of the person!  He or she must be quite a nutter.  But I did type something back.  After about five exchanges while that other person kept on repeating "What are you thinking?", I woke up to what it was all about in reality.

Eventually I decided Facebook was an absolute "forget it" for me - I had no idea half the time what on earth I was doing.  And trying to cancel my membership was a nightmare and when I eventually found out how to do it, it still appeared until I did something or other, which I can no longer recall, and finally I was off Facebook...........forever.........for sure.  If anyone wants to contact me, I figure, there is email or phone, or just knock on the door.

 

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MENTAL ILLNESS AND VIOLENCE 

University of Washington:

http://depts.washington.edu/mhreport/facts_violence.php

-"People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime (Appleby, et al., 2001). People with severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population (Hiday, et al.,1999)."

The public is misinformed about the link between mental illness and violence.

A longitudinal study of American’s attitudes on mental health between 1950 and 1996 found, “the proportion of Americans who describe mental illness in terms consistent with violent or dangerous behavior nearly doubled.” Also, the vast majority of Americans believe that persons with mental illnesses pose a threat for violence towards others and themselves (Pescosolido, et al., 1996, Pescosolido et al., 1999).

 Inaccurate beliefs about mental illness and violence lead to widespread stigma and discrimination:

The discrimination and stigma associated with mental illnesses stem in part, from the link between mental illness and violence in the minds of the general public (DHHS, 1999, Corrigan, et al., 2002).

The effects of stigma and discrimination are profound. The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health found that, “Stigma leads others to avoid living, socializing, or working with, renting to, or employing people with mental disorders - especially severe disorders, such as schizophrenia. It leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking and wanting to pay for care. Responding to stigma, people with mental health problems internalize public attitudes and become so embarrassed or ashamed that they often conceal symptoms and fail to seek treatment (New Freedom Commission, 2003).”

 

Harvard University

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mental-illness-and-violence

Multiple interacting factors contribute to violent behavior.

"Public opinion surveys suggest that many people think mental illness and violence go hand in hand. A 2006 national survey found, for example, that 60% of Americans thought that people with schizophrenia were likely to act violently toward someone else, while 32% thought that people with major depression were likely to do so.

In fact, research suggests that this public perception does not reflect reality. Most individuals with psychiatric disorders are not violent. Although a subset of people with psychiatric disorders commit assaults and violent crimes, findings have been inconsistent about how much mental illness contributes to this behavior and how much substance abuse and other factors do."