Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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Creation praises God faithfully because creation acts exactly as God creates it to act and therefore praises Him by never veering from His Will for it.  That is, creation cannot sin ( no matter the reason it cannot sin).  The only thing that separates we humans from God's Will is sin.  The Will of Our Creator is not like ours: i.e. my way or the highway.   If I am not committing sin in a situation, then I am about God's Will.   The words of St Francis above also tell me something about holiness - it is to become precisely what God created me to be - and the only thing that can abort that process is sin of any kind or degree.   Loosing that inclination (choosing my will rather than God's Will), the inclination would become towards a life of virtue - not by any effort of mine, but through God's Grace alone at every single step.

The above reminds me of an exchange between Jesus and the rich young man - this is followed by some confusion in the disciples:

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Matthew Chapter 19 "Then Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: Who then can be saved? And Jesus beholding, said to them: With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible. "

Can I make myself holy and saintly, never commit a sin of any kind or degree?  No I cannot!  It is absolutely impossible to me.

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First Letter of St John, Chapter 1 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

But what is absolutely impossible for me, is not impossible to God.  Therefore if only the perfect are saved, then only God's Love and Mercy can save - or fashion saints.

Deo Gratius Laudate Dominum.

It is always my two cents worth at times in this thread (I am a rickety armchair everything) and all without exemption are very welcome to comment, agree or disagree.  Don't be shy!  

It is through agreement and disagreeing with open minds that we might be able to approximate something of the reality/truth of any subject.

I am still taking space from general posting on Pham - and quite gingerly indeed posting even here. It doesn't take much at all to trigger anxiety again.  I will be seeing a psychologist in the future specifically to address anxiety and hopefully to develop skills in me to cope with it (my psychiatrist approves).  Just now, my priority (within reason) is to take care of myself.  If I become really ill, it affects not only me but other  people as well.  Also a psychotic bipolar episode can have long term to lifelong negative affects on one's lifestyle and relationships.  One carefully strives after an episode to rebuild, until the next episode potentially can take them apart again.  It is not really all that bleak.........sometimes as the result of a serious episode, a new door opens and new relationships come about.  Life can take a totally unexpected turn in either direction.  Fiat voluntas.

I always say a special prayer for those who labour and read right through my posts.  Heroic!

 

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

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Violin from the year 1566 accompanied by piano ...... beautiful..........

(From Aleteia website)

 

https://youtu.be/7N4bAhH5HVg

I learnt pianoforte theory and music for nine years - and did exceptionally well.  I attempted to learn violin ............ with ten thumbs - and gave up.

Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Society

 

Jul 15, 2017

 

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“There is no charity without justice,

nor does it permit us to do more than we reasonably can.”

– St. Vincent de Paul

 

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This almost brought me to tears - it struck me as a truly passionate cry from a grieving heart:

DailyGospel.org Meditation for Sunday, 16th July 2017

"Worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word"

Excerpt only: "O Lord my God, how you possess the words of eternal life, where all mortals will find what they desire if they want to seek it! But what a strange thing......."..more on above link.

 

 

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Now and then I am gingerly putting my foot into the waters of Pham and posting, whether I will keep it there, I don't know yet..........some problems still on the plate unresolved.  It really is literally one day only at a time.  Wake and ask The Lord's Help...........put my head on the pillow at night and thank Him.  It is really not that much drama at all - just the way it comes out to put whatever into words. 

First she will and then she won't, first she doesn't but then she does..............yep! that's me just now in a nutshell.  ...........heading off to take half an Oxazepam and night medication, anxiety heading for the ceiling.

Too close to the bone..........

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HELEN KELLER

 

“I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.

I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

- Helen Keller -

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HE WILL TEACH US

 

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ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

DAILY REFLECTION

 

Jul 18, 2017

 

“Let us patiently bear the contradictions and repugnances we encounter in the discharge of duty,

since our actions are thereby rendered more agreeable to God.”
– St. Louise de Marillac

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Faithfulness and Commitment, Fortitude under Stress

Life of St Teresa of Avila

Chapter XXXVI.

Teresa of Avila. The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (p. 203).  . Kindle Edition.

 O my God, how wretched is this life! No joy is lasting; everything is liable to change. Only a moment ago, I do not think I would have exchanged my joy with any man upon earth; and the very grounds of that joy so tormented me now, that I knew not what to do with myself. Oh, if we did but consider carefully the events of our life, every one of us would learn from experience how little we ought to make either of its pleasures or of its pains! Certainly this was, I believe, one of the most distressing moments I ever passed in all my life; my spirit seemed to forecast the great sufferings in store for me, though they never were so heavy as this was, if  it had continued. But our Lord would not let His poor servant suffer, for in all my troubles He never failed to succour me; so it was now. He gave me a little light, so that I might see it was the work of the devil, and might understand the truth,--namely, that it was nothing else but an attempt on his part to frighten me with his lies. So I began to call to mind my great resolutions to serve our Lord, and my desire to suffer for His sake; and I thought that if I carried them out, I must not seek to be at rest; that if I had my trials, they would be meritorious; and that if I had troubles, and endured them in order to please God, it would serve me for purgatory.

 

 

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Comment

St Teresa of Avila was a great saint, mystic and Doctor of The Church.  Probably very few, if any again, will be called and Graced as she was; however, reflecting on the above post it seemed to me that no matter the stress and sufferings one might go through in life - be they mild or severe, the attitudes and perspectives St Teresa wrote about in the previous post would help anyone at all to persevere through a difficult period.

Sometimes too in stress and difficulty one can experience all sorts of temptations and we too can look on this as " I might see it was the work of the devil, and might understand the truth,--namely, that it was nothing else but an attempt on his (the devil's) part to frighten me with his lies".

Most of all St Teresa was a person of prayer.  I read somewhere that prayer is a time when The Holy Spirit will pour His Graces into a soul - and myriad indeed are the many Graces of The Holy Spirit - most especially in The Mass and Holy Communion, The Sacrament of Reconciliation.

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ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

DAILY REFLECTION

Jul 19, 2017

 

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“We must receive with respect whatever God presents to us, and then examine the situation with its circumstances in order to do what is most expedient.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

– In resolving situations in my work, Lord, nothing can be accomplished without objectivity and reflection. In those circumstances, quiet my mind and calm my anxiety so I can be a part of the solution and not the problem.

 

 

 

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Revelations of Divine Love

Julian of Norwich 

Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 40

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“God willeth that we endlessly hate the sin and endlessly love the soul, as God loveth it”

 

And [when] we give our intent to love and meekness, by the working of mercy and grace we are made all fair and clean. As mighty and as wise as God is to save men, so willing He is. For Christ Himself is [the] ground of all the laws of Christian men, and He taught us to do good against ill: here may we see that He is Himself this charity, and doeth to us as He teacheth us to do. For He willeth that we be like Him in wholeness of endless love to ourself and to our even-Christians: no more than His love is broken to us for our sin, no more willeth He that our love be broken to ourself and to our even-Christians: but [that we] endlessly hate the sin and endlessly love the soul, as God loveth it.

 

Then shall we hate sin like as God hateth it, and love the soul as God loveth it. And this word that He said is an endless comfort: I keep thee securely.

 

Comes from "A Daily Spiritual Seed"  http://shalomplace.com/seed/

 

 

What struck me in the above was "and love the soul as God loveth it".

Edited July 21, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

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Cruising along at the end of the "almost an episode", if not the problems and stress that triggered the onset of the process.......but it never quite got to an actual episode (early warning signs only).   How was an actual episode avoided? (In hope I am not speaking up far too early and only time can tell, Laudate Dominum). 

How did I avoid the episode?   Close contact with my psychiatrist and following her advice........prayerfully and thankfully, along with taking medication and as prescribed.............prayerfully and thankfully.   A good doctor (psychiatrist) and medication that works for a person is God's Gift in the struggle against suffering.   Struggling against suffering is not the struggle to avoid suffering - rather it is to fully engage with suffering and work through it as one can.........leaving all the rest to God.  Deo Gratius.

Confident trust and the prayer of those who do care.

Prayer for all who might suffer in any way at all.

It is not by reaching out to His saints and His holy ones that Jesus reveals the extent of His Love and Mercy, it is when He reaches down even to His very least, His most despised and lost that one can come to realise the extent of His Faithful and Abundant Beyond Measure, the Infiniteness and Boundlessness, His Love and His Mercy actually is and for all time will forever and always be - and to all who humbly ask of Him with perseverance and faithful trust.  It is not a perseverance and faithful trust that always strides resolutely along the journey, rather it can stumble and struggle along a quite darkened and lonely way.  It might fall and need to return to that light that is the dark way again and again - and perhaps lifelong.  "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us" (Romans Chapter 8).

"And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them." (Isaiah Chapter 42)

 Deo Gratius - Laudate Dominum

 

Edited July 21, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

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Integral to a life of perseverance is to persevere in sorrow for sin and failings

 

First Letter of St John Chapter 8 ..........."If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. "