Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

[Guest]

Have had a dreadful day but more about that perhaps later.  Certainly, the little booklet on St John's poetry is a welcome relief and highlight.

I have found another very short poem by St John -
 

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"Concerning the Divine Word"

The virgin carries walking

The Word in her womb

Could you not give her

place in your room?"

 

John's poetic wording gives voice to the profound humility and gentleness of Mary and the appealing of her very human heart to us on behalf of her Son.  Mary always leads unfailingly to her Son.  It is with Jesus that Mary is fully and totally united as Mary is the perfect spouse of The Holy Spirit to The Glory of The Father.

Many years ago I read about holiness and sanctity that one common denominator is devotion to Our Lady.

[Guest]

Watching on and off a documentary on Foxtel Go on Churchill and Hitler.  It relates that at one point in Churchill's career a woman of some note said to him: 

"Mr Churchill, if I was your wife I would put poison in your coffee"

Churchill replied "Madam, if I was your husband I would drink it"

[Guest]

[Guest]

This is a fascinating and educational document to read: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html#top

The link contains copies of the handwriting of Sr Lucia followed by a translation, including for the Third Secret.  It is lengthy but worth the wading through, including the long theological commentary at the end.

 

 

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Message of the Day

Shalom Place, Dominican Sisters of Peace
 

Quote

 

It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found -- not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater.
- Teresa of Avila

(The larger context for this one is "risk-taking." How am I being called to risk these days?)

 

 

 

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[Guest]

Just realised that the documentary I have been watching on FoxtelGo might be on You Tube.......which it is:

 

 

Part 2 is easily accessible on the You Tube site.

Wherever the commentator states "circumstances allowed",  "fate indicated", "the turning point was accidental" and such expressions..........we know that it is no such thing, rather Divine Providence at work.  There is no such thing as coincidence, fate, accidents etc., and an invention of the secular mindset.  There is only ever The Holy Spirit at work.  The eyes of Faith see this with much clarity.

Sometimes in Hitler I could see hard and staring, passionately fanatical eyes, also marked at times by concern and even a certain gentleness - other times what seemed fanatical hatred.  In Churchill I sometimes saw gentle eyes, marked by concerns and a hint and glimmer of more than a little mischievousness and wit, humour.   And one cannot miss that quite marked jutting and determined chin of his.   But then I am biased totally    Towards the end of Part 2, both styles of leadership come out in a marked way and it is obvious why Hitler lost the war and his own doing in actuality.

Among the final words of Hitler "We may go down, but we will take everyone with us".  With the near on total destruction of Berlin "Don't ask me to weep for the people, I will not shed a tear.  They do not deserve to win".  May The Lord grant him pardon and Peace and to his victims of any and all kinds, directly and indirectly back then and now, Peace and consolation.

May The Lord grant our military and military everywhere Peace, earthly and spiritual consolations and salvation.  "12This is My commandment, that you love one another as I loved you. 13Greater love has  no one than this, that he  (or she) lay down his  (or her) life for his  (or her) friends." John Chapter 15.  "Many sins are forgiven

 

I ran out of editing time - we don't get much time at all and accidentally deleted the last words of the concluding quote: "Many sins are forgiven her (or him) because she (or he) has loved much."

Edited September 12, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

The above words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene instructing her to tell the apostles they were to "Meet Me in Galilee" have particular meaning for me.  Galilee in the time of Jesus was a mixture of Jews and pagans and the "most pagan of the Jewish Provinces":

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Galilee was not just geographically far from Jerusalem; it was considered spiritually and politically far, too. Galilee was the most pagan of the Jewish provinces, located as it was at the northernmost tier of Palestine. This distance from Zion was not only geographic; Galileans were considered by Judaeans to sit rather loosely to the law and to be less biblically pure than those in or near Jerusalem. http://www.travelujah.com/articles/entry/Who-were-the-Galileans-in-the-Days-of-Jesus-

 

The words of Jesus after His resurrection to meet Him in Galilee have long had meaning for me in my vocation out here in secular life and for secular life. I am called to it, to a modern day Galilee.  The words for me state that Jesus will meet me out here in secular life and for secular life.  This is indeed where I have found Him.

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Stuck as I am pretty much almost immobile until after surgery (probably why I am writing so much both to pass time and as a reliever of stress, which writing is for me), I had been feeling quite useless and a bit down about it.  But then I looked back at my whole life to date and reflected on all I had done and often at times achieved.  While I am not a person to rest on my past achievements at all, when I look at my almost 72year journey, I have not lived a useless type of life.  I have contributed and this is a real consolation for which I am grateful in my almost immobile state now.  Even through my over 20 years of serious bipolar illness, in my well times, I contributed.  All is Grace (Therese of Lisieux).  I even managed to contribute at times though I was as looney as a two bob watch    I think if one lives in the now as an habitual state, there is no real actual sense of one's past, certainly not of any guaranteed future.......... unless one makes an effort to reflect on past and future on the level of the intellect and memory.

I am not a believer in a spiritual plane and a human plane, although they do exist.  But they exist in united partnership and cannot exist in any other way.  They are united and cannot be separated on earth. They are created by God to be a partnership.  As for example, the soul cannot act here on earth without the body, nor can the body act without the soul.  Hence, for me the quite human element of life is important and not to be dismissed, while I know that the human part of me is created to be informed by the spiritual and the spiritual is created to be informed by the body.  As a simple example.  If I have toothache, the spiritual informs to bear it as one can and offer it up...........and bearing as one can and offering up would not exist without bodily pain......the body is informing the spiritual: "I am in pain".  The spiritual informs the body (the mind) how to respond to that pain.

I know what I mean anyway

I am continuing to email out the monthly meeting minutes along with a text for spiritual reflection at the meetings.  A fellow member is taking the minutes then emailing them to me, which I in turn polish if necessary and send out to members of our Parish Conference with a spiritual reflection for discussion.  I am continuing my adult art therapy and framing anything completed.  Someone called here last week and asked if I had done the artwork on the wall.  I replied laughing that I had and it was only adult art therapy.  He thought that the finished product framed and on the wall was impressive.  I find I can get into all sorts of mischief to pass immobile-time. 

Also, I received Holy Communion at home on Monday and have been advised I will be brought Holy Communion every Sunday, until after surgery I at last return to Mass attendance.  Deo Gratius.

Having written the above, I do so want to delete it all but I have strong total aversion to destroying what I might have created, no matter how bad it might be, no matter in the written word what a lousy revelation of the real me it might be.  That is all on the quite human level. I sit in silence for a bit with a quick prayer to make a decision but there is only silence in my soul.

Laudate Dominum

[Guest]

POETRY OF ST JOHN OF THE CROSS

"With a Divine Meaning"

(I have tried but cannot get single spacing)

Upheld, and yet without support,

darkness around, no light of day

while I am wholly burned away.

 

My soul is free and set apart

from every created thing,

lifted above itself to sing

of richer life delights the heart.

God is the rock to which I cling-

Now I can tell it as I ought:

the source of all my greatest bliss

to feel, to know that my soul is upheld,

and yet without support.

 

I walk along a shadowed way

of suffering in this life of night

and yet although I see no light

my sorrow's not without allay:

I know the heavenly life burns bright.

The blinder love is, I can say,

the greater is the life that flow,

holding the soul in peace that grows,

darkness around, no light of day.

 

Since Love began to work in me

His touch transforms me, this I know.

I see my soul translucent grow,

for at His pleasure, equally

both good and bad are changed and glow.

Filled with delight to be Love's prey

I feel His flame consume, and see

nothing is left, for rapidly

the whole of me is burned away.

 

[Guest]

Feast of the Exaltation of The Holy Cross

Closing Prayer - Vespers

God our Father,

  in obedience to your will

  your Only-Begotten Son endured the cross for our salvation.

Grant that as we have come to know the mystery of the cross here on earth,

  we may receive its rewards in heaven.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

  who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

  one God, for ever and ever.

 

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[Guest]

 

Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Society (FAMVIN)

Daily Reflection – September 13

Quote

 

“We must never be surprised when those upon whom we relied fail us; it is then that God steps in to do his work.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

 

 

[Guest]

Message of the Day

Shalom Place - Dominican Sisters of Peace

Quote

 

If you bless a situation,
it has no power to hurt you,
and even if it is troublesome for a time,
it will gradually fade out,
if you sincerely bless it.
- Emmet Fox

 

 

Blessed Guerric of Igny (c.1080-1157), Cistercian abbot

4th Sermon for the Assumption

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"From that hour the disciple took her into his home"

 

When Jesus was going round towns and villages preaching the Gospel, Mary was his inseparable companion, clinging to his footsteps and hanging upon his words as he taught, so much so that neither the storm of persecution nor dread of punishment could deter her from following her Son and Master. “By the Lord's cross there stood Mary, his Mother”. Truly a Mother, who did not abandon her Son even in the face of death. How could she be frightened of death, when “her love was as strong as death,” (Sg 8,6) or rather stronger than death? Truly she stood by Jesus' cross, when at the same time the pain of the cross crucified her mind and as manifold a sword pierced her own sou1 (Lk 2,35) as she beheld the body of her Son pierced with wounds. Rightly therefore was she recognized as his Mother there and by his care entrusted to a suitable protector, in which both the mother's unalloyed love for her Son and the Son's kindness toward his Mother were proved to the utmost...

Loving her as he did Jesus “Loved her to the end” (Jn 13,1), so as not only to bring his life to an end for her but also to speak almost his last words for her benefit. As his last will and testament he committed to his beloved heir the care of his mother... The Church fell to peter, Mary to John. This bequest belonged to John not only by right of kinship but also because of the privilege love had bestowed and the witness his chastity bore... It was fitting that none other than the beloved of her Son should minister to the mother of the Lord... Providence also arranged very conveniently that he who was to write a Gospel should have intimate conferences with her who knew about them all, for she had taken note from the beginning of everything that happened to her Son and “treasured up all the words concerning him, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2,19).

 

From http://dailygospel.org/M/AM/

[Guest]

POEMS OF ST JOHN OF THE CROSS

"A Pastoral"

Verses on Christ and the Soul

 

A lone young shepherd sorrowing apart

was far from comfort and in deep distress,

his thoughts were dwelling on his shepherdess,

and a deep wound of love had torn his heart.

 

Not from this burning wound of love his grief,

nor was his anguish from the pain it brought:

a deeper wound had torn his heart - the thought

that he had been forgotten passed belief!

 

His shepherdess remembered him no more.

So sharp his pain that in a far-off land

meekly he suffered men most harsh of hand

to wound the heart wounded by love before.

 

"Alas for him who from Love draws apart!"

the shepherd said. "He does not wish to know

joy in my presence, close to me, although

a deep wound of love for him tore my heart!"

 

At last he did what he alone could do:

mounting a tree, he stretched his arms out wide

and there remained in love until he died,

his heart by a deep wound of love pierces through.

[Guest]

Daily Reflection - St Vincent de Paul Society (FAMVIN)

Daily Reflection – September 15

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“The power to sin greatly increases our merit, if we abstain from offending God.”
– St. Louise de Marillac

 

 

 

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Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
No Greater Love (1997)
 

“Every tree is known by its own fruit”

 

One thing will always secure heaven for us: the acts of charity and kindness with which we have filled our lives. We will never know how much good just a simple smile can do. We tell people how forgiving, and understanding God is, but are we the living proof? Can they really see this kindness, this forgiveness, this understanding alive in us? Let us be very sincere in our dealings with each other and have the courage to accept each other as we are. Do not be surprised or become preoccupied at each other's failure; rather see and find the good in each other, for each one of us is created in the image of God.

Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore, let us be extremely patient with each other's faults and failures. Use your tongue for the good of others, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We have to possess before we can give. Those who have the mission of giving to others must grow first in the knowledge of God.   (From DailyGospel.org)

[Guest]

Today's Gospel (Sunday 17th September/24th Sunday Ordinary Time) HERE reflects to me the harsh judgement that can be passed by human beings on fellow human beings compared to the Loving Mercy of God on all of us, as follows:

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"When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan."

Notice how the master does not demand payment of the debt, rather the debt is completely wiped out.  Jesus not only forgives, He forgets too.  And here is how I can sometimes judge my fellows:
 

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When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt.

 

It is the Loving Mercy of God compared to the harsh judgement often metred out by human beings on their fellow human beings.

It also reminds me of the words in the Pater Noster "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".  Mercy will be granted only to the merciful.

 

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