To grow joy in your heart, nurture hope

+JMJ+

 



Several weeks ago during prayer ministry, I asked for the people praying for me to pray for an increase in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity in my heart, especially the virtue of hope.  It was something a bit more specific than other times where I did not know what to ask for, except to ask for healing.  I trusted that God answered those prayers for healing even if it did not seem evident right away.  Looking back over the months, it is true that much healing has occurred.

When  asking specifically for the virtue of hope, He started answering me amost right away.  It's hard to put into words all that He is teaching me, but I want to share just a little of how He is working in my heart.  I am thankful for the grace of asking for hope because it is during Advent specifically that this virtue is nurtured.  We wait in expectant hope for the celebration of His birth and to receive Christ in His Glory when He comes at the end of time.  The gift the Holy Spirit gave during that prayer ministry over me was to open in a new way my ears, eyes, and heart to Him, so He could teach me about hope.  He is shepherding me ever closer to His Heart.  Even in the darkness I know His light is here, and He is teaching me to listen to His voice.  His voice speaks to me through prayer, reading His Word, Holy Mass (both in prayer and in the priest's words), through spiritual reading, and in people and circumstances I encounter.

Over the past weeks, much violence has occurred in our own community, in our nation, and the world.  Along with that, there have been deep disappointments in my own life this past week.  It is tempting to despair in the face of such evil and in the face of our own suffering and trials.  But with Christ in us, we do not despair; we hope in Him; we know His presence; we trust His great love for us and intimate knowledge of our suffering.  We know His presence in the hearts of those who gave their lives in order to save others.  He is God with us, Emmanuel.  

Father Andrew has a beautiful homily at Catholic Vision on our need for joy in the midst of suffering and how Mary, coming as Our Lady of Guadalupe, teaches us.  I have prayed for an increase of joy before, but it seems as though abiding joy is fleeting in my heart, even absent such suffering.  Now I somewhat understand why.  Perhaps my desire for hope is a fruit of praying for joy?  Being an engineer, I understand that in order to do calculus, you must first know easier forms of math.  Not to say that the virtue of hope is easier than joy, but I am learning that hope is necessary for joy.  In nurturing hope, I trust God will give me joy.

How do I nurture hope?  In Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI tells us, "A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer."  He goes on to say the following:

Saint Augustine, in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. “By delaying [his gift], God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul and by expanding it he increases its capacity [for receiving him]”. Augustine refers to Saint Paul, who speaks of himself as straining forward to the things that are to come (cf. Phil 3:13). He then uses a very beautiful image to describe this process of enlargement and preparation of the human heart. “Suppose that God wishes to fill you with honey [a symbol of God's tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined.

A great resource on prayer is The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 4, Christian Prayer, particularly Section 1, Chapter 3: The Life of Prayer (CCC 2697-2758).  "We cannot pray at all times if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it" (CCC 2697). 

As we pray, we realize that this hope is not meant for us alone.  Pope Benedict XVI also tells us,

When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well.

Like Mary, our hope is to be shared, to bring the light we have been given to others.  And so, it is through prayer that God is nurturing hope in my heart.  By His grace, the hope He gives me, I share with others through action.  And it is with expectant hope, I await His abiding joy.

Mary, Mother of Hope, Bearer of Hope, pray for us!


  

Hope

+JMJ+

The world desperately needs hope.  Hope that only Christ can give.  He is the way, the truth and the life, and the only way to the Father is through Him.  My first major conversion of heart occurred in college when a dear friend Andrea brought the light of Christ to me straight from the boldness, and humility, of her own heart.  The light of Christ living in her and in her family showed me Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.  The love they had for eachother and for others, and particularly me, was life-changing.  We met while working together as freshmen, and I am so thankful to God for that particular grace.  She invited me to Church with her, and when I was 19, I was baptized.  I am so glad she loved me enough to invite me and to continue to invite me.  Although my heart is constantly being converted as I realize my identity in Christ as a daughter of God, it was that first conversion where God found me, His prodigal daughter, His lost sheep.  His love came to me through another person, through that friendship with Andrea. 

Thank You Jesus for Andrea, for her family and especially for You, living in our hearts.  Thank you for finding me and bringing me home to Our Father.  Let Your love shine through me and my family; may we bring Your light into the darkness.  Mary, Mother of Hope, teach us to live as you, with boldness and humility, always pointing to Jesus, proceeding in haste, and always magnifying His Glory.  My spirit rejoices in You God, my Savior. In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

Advent Jesse Tree Day 3: Mother of All Living

For she is an aura of the might of God

and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty;

therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.

 

For she is the refulgence of eternal light,

the spotless mirror of the power of God,

the image of His goodness.

 

And she, who is one, can do all things,

and renews everything while herself perduring;

And passing into holy souls from age to age,

she produces friends of God and prophets.

 

For there is nought God loves, be it not

one who dwells with Wisdom.

 

For she is fairer than the sun,

and surpasses every constellation of the stars.

 

Compared to light she takes precedence;

for that; indeed, night supplants,

but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.

 

~Wisdom 7: 25-30

 

Mary, I give you my will. Conform it to the will of your Son. In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

+JMJ+

 

Jesse Tree Advent Day 3:  Mother of All Living (Mary)

From Genesis: The Lord God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Genesis 3:14a, 15, 20

From Luke:  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth… And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you! … And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”… And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.  Luke 1: 25, 28, 31, 38

From John: When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.  John 19: 26-27

From Revelation: And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.  Revelation 12: 1-2, 17a

Advent Jesse Tree Day 2: The Fall

Do you trust God or do you trust the serpent?

 

Lord, draw us closer to Your Sacred Heart, so that it is Your voice we hear.  Dispel all the lies that we believe so that only Your truth remains. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

 

+JMJ+

Advent Jesse Tree Day 2:  The Fall (represented by apple and serpent)
 

From Genesis:

But God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.  But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  ~Genesis 3: 3-6, 9-11

 From First Corinthians:

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  ~1 Corinthians 15: 21-22

From Romans:                                

Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned. ….Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.  But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if many through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ~Romans 5: 12, 14-15

Advent Jesse Tree Day 1: In the beginning

Advent is one of the most beautiful times of the Church year, a time to examine and prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord Jesus, both in His Nativity and in His glorious return at the end of the present world.  We ask God to prepare us, and we say, Come Lord Jesus!

God's promises to His beloved people are throughout His Word.  He is faithful, and we can trust Him and His Fatherly promises.  He is our Shepherd, and we are His people.  One of the ways that God has drawn me to Him is in studying the Old Testament and seeing the beauty of His plan for His people and for us, His children.  He loves us and draws us close to His heart throughout our lives.  May we call to our Shepherd in our brokenness, listen, hear His voice, and know His presence.  He comes to find us when we are lost, and in the darkness, we hear His voice calling us closer to Him.  Come, Lord Jesus, find us, heal us, and prepare us to receive You ever more.

+ JMJ+

Jesse Tree Day 1:  In the beginning (represented by planet Earth ornament)

 

From Genesis 1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1: 1-3, 27, 31

From John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. John 1: 1-5, 14

Excellent post from Vultus Christi: Thoughts of peace, and not of affliction

In case you missed it, here is an excellent post from Fr. Mark at Vultus Christi:

Thoughts of peace, and not of affliction

If you want me to

I will therefore go to meet Him with confidence and humility

God has taught me so much about confidence the past several years, especially through the words and intercession of St. Gertrude, my favorite Saint, whose feast day is today.  St. Gertrude has unlimited confidence in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Love.  A little booklet about St. Gertrude that a friend gave me has been such a gift from God in my life, teaching me that self-confidence is nothing, but confidence in God is everything. 

The book says, "The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified."  In these times of trial, let us not lose hope, and let us have unlimited confidence in our Lord, Jesus Christ.  I trust in His Mercy and Love laboring for good within my heart.  St. Gertrude, pray for us!

What will it avail me to hesitate? Even if a thousand years were given me, I could nevertheless not prepare myself fittingly. I will therefore go to meet Him with confidence and humility, and when my Lord sees me from afar, He will send in advance a garment wherein I may be fittingly clad to be presented to Him.
~St. Gertrude the Great
 

from Saint Gertrude the Great Herald of Divine Love (TAN Books):

TAN Books

 

 

The Breadbox Letters: Trust...

Beautiful words from St. Augustine via Nancy at The Breadbox Letters:

Trust the past
to God's mercy;
the present
to God's love;
and the future
to God's providence.

St. Augustine

Refreshment for Our Souls (originally posted 11/8/11)

Originally posted 11/8/11:

One of the many things I love about our Catholic faith is the beauty of the liturgical year and various liturgical seasons and special monthly devotions providing a prayerful rhythm for our daily lives. November is a month we especially remember our beloved dead. This past week was the first time I had ever offered special prayers during the first week of November for our beloved souls in purgatory. Our Lord revealed to St. Gertrude:

"I accept with highest pleasure what is offered to Me for the poor souls, for I long inexpressibly to have near Me those for whom I paid so great a price. By the prayers of thy loving soul, I am induced to free a prisoner from purgatory as often as thou dost move thy tongue to utter a word of prayer!"

Four centuries before devotion of Our Lord's Most Sacred Heart was given to the world, Our Lord revealed to St. Gertrude His adorable Heart,

"at one time as a treasury in which all riches are contained; at another time as a harp which is played upon by the Holy Spirit, the sweetness of whose tones ravished the Blessed Trinity and all the heavenly court. Once it was represented to her as a fountain, the delicious and plentiful waters of which refresh the souls in purgatory, strengthen and enrich the just on earth, and fill the blessed in heaven with inebriating delights."

I love the way He revealed His Sacred Heart to St. Gertrude, with the imagery of the fountain providing for the Church Suffering, Church Militant, and Church Triumphant. We are all one Body and what a beautiful gift we have to offer prayers through Christ for one another. It was a blessing to be able to pray with you, and with Our Lady, in a special way last week for indulgences for our beloved souls.


UPDATE: Remember Me is a beautiful remembrance book available for purchase here. Here is a description from the website:

Remember Me is a family heirloom that is sure to be used again and again. It serves as a constant reminder to pray for loved ones who have gone before you. It is our hope that Remember Me will become a focal point of prayer for you and your family each and every month. As you use it, you will be filled with comfort and special memories — so that the souls of our faithful departed will live on and never be forgotten.

Daniel's Prayer

Daniel pouring out his heart to God for himself and his people in exile (exile- to be placed physically where your heart is spiritually: far away from God):

Daniel 9: 3-19

I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.  I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed, "Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.  We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.  Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.  O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.  BUt yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!  Yet, we rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, O Lord, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants and prophets.  Because all Israel transgressed your law and went astray, not heeding your voice, the sworn malediction, recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, was poured out over us for our sins.  You carried out the threats you spoke against us and against those who governed us, by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that has ever occurred under heaven.  As it is written, in the law of Moses, this calamity came full upon us.  As we did not appease the Lord, our God, by turning back from our wickedness and recognizing his constancy, so the Lord kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us.  You, O Lord, our God, are just in all that you have done, for we did not listen to your voice.

Now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and made a name for yourself even to this day, we have sinned, we are guilty.  O Lord, in keeping with all your just deeds, let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain.  On account of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become the reproach of all our neighbors.  Hear, therefore, O God, the prayer and petition of your servant; and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary.  Give ear, O my God, and listen; open your eyes and see our ruins and the city which bears your name.  When we present our petition before you, we rely not on our just deeds, but on your great mercy.  O Lord, hear! O Lord, pardon! O Lord, be attentive and act without delay, for your own sake, O my God, because this city and your people bear your name!

Amen!


Draw our hearts to You O Lord.  Keep us safe in the shadow of Your wings.  Let Your mercy be on us O Lord, as we place our trust in You. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

Confession

If letting go is hard to do, staying put is even harder

Just a quick thank you to all of you out there reading and praying for me.  It seems like I come here and write what is in my heart and then just sort of leave and don't come back for awhile.  This is where I write some of my most personal thoughts about life,  and it is a gift to have you to read and to pray with me, even if most of us have never met face to face. 

Right now, I am really struggling with staying where God wants me.  Even if I am home with my children, sometimes, many times, I am not truly present to them.  With God, I am trying to remain faithful.  Having a family is a wonderful gift, but I am learning that being an authentic wife and mother does not allow me to hide away what is really going on in my heart, and it is just very overwhelming at times. Like I said in my last post, my fight or flight instinct kicks in, and it just does not work.  Only surrender to God does.  God is healing me, one step at a time, and I need to be patient with His time, with my weaknesses, and with my family.  So, even though not as much is written here right now, a lot is happening, and it is all good, even if it is difficult.

Thank you for being good online friends and thank you also to those I have met face to face for reading here and for your friendship.  God is good.

I will pray for your intentions too.  God knows what they are. 

But what do you do when you are drowning?

This morning I was up earlier than normal and read a blog post about a facebook / pinterest meme that I had not seen yet.  Jennifer Fulwiler wrote an excellent blog post about how this meme proves that we are living in a culture of death.  She also referred to Mindy Goorchenko's also excellent post pointing out "flaws in the analogy."  I highly recommend reading both of these posts.

Maybe I should have stayed in bed, or maybe I should not have gone online and prayed instead because that facebook meme is really bothering me.  Jennifer and Mindy make very good points of which I am in wholehearted agreement.  But that meme really hits home, and I believe that is why it is so insidious.  Comparing the "birth of a baby to a horrible form of death" is so insidious because it is a twisting of a beautiful truth.  Getting married and having children is a death, but not a horrible form of death that brings destruction.  Getting married and having children is a death to self that brings about life.  And if you do not know about death that brings life, that brings redemption, you will drown.   

"It stuns the conscience," as Jennifer says.  It stuns my conscience because it just so happens that right now in my life, I feel like I am drowning.  Sometimes drowning just in dishes and laundry and little people needing me at every minute of the day, but also in a deeper way drowning in emotions, and hurts and trying to find healing.  Sometimes I go through times where I feel dry and parched, especially in prayer, and this can bring desolation.  Other times desolation comes because I feel overwhelmed, like I am drowning.  It is in these dark moments where I think how could we possibly handle another child or how could I possibly stay here and be  a wife to my husband and a mother to my children.  And my fight or flight instinct kicks in and I either run away for a period of time or fight my way to the surface just trying to get a breath.  Neither really works.  Only surrender does. 

The answer is not to stay out of the water.  The answer is not to put on a temporary life jacket.  The answer is not to take swimming lessons.  The real answer is to let go and surrender and let the grief, sadness, hurt, and yes, death, come.  Because there is new life that is better than anything we can imagine.  Do not be afraid, Christ will rescue you.  He will bring you to the surface.

UPDATE:  Elizabeth Foss has a fantastic post Overwhelmed by the Everyday that really helps!  Surrender to God, listen to Him, and say yes to Him!

 

Word on Fire: Prayer for the New Evangelization

I really like this prayer from Word on Fire, Fr. Barron's ministry, a prayer for the new evangelization:

Lord Jesus Christ, You have given Your Chruch the mission to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations.

May our efforts to fulfill this mission be guided by the Holy Spirit so that we might be a leaven of new life, salt of the earth and a light of the world - worthy missionaries and faithful to You.

Make us valiant witnesses to the Faith of the Church, and inspire us to speak the truth with love.

Help us to communicate to others the joy that we have recieved.

Permit us to be united, but not closed; humble, but not fearful; simple, but not naive, thoughtful, but not overbearing; contemporary, but not superficial; respectful of others, but boldly Your disciples.

May we bear into the world the hope of God, Who is Christ the Lord, Who rose from the dead and lives and reigns with Father and Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!
St. Peter and St. Paul, pray for us!
St. Therese, Patroness of Missionairies, pray for us!
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

Prayer to Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

This is a beautiful prayer from my son's school work this morning!

 

+JMJ+

 

Heart of Jesus, I adore Thee.

Heart of Mary, I implore Thee.

Heart of Joseph, pure and just.

In these three Hearts, I place my trust.

Why Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have my vote.

I'll be the first to admit that when it was evident that Romney was going to win the Republican presidential nominee, I felt a bit hopeless for our country.  I had read many reports, watched the videos of his changing position on life issues, and just felt a general lack of trust for Romney.  That has changed and here's why. 

Romney's pick of Ryan started to soften my general unease about Romney, as it did with many pro-life people.  Although there have been bumps since that decision, and there will probably be more, I am no longer a Romney skeptic but a Romney supporter.  Perhaps I read too much Hotair or Drudge Report and not enough Shea, but I'd like to think my intellect and heart are more capable than that.  My instinct now is that Mitt Romney is a good man, and God has taught me to trust my instincts.  I don't think my instinct changed, I just think I was ignorant about the man Mitt Romney before this.  You know, I was against him before I was for him ;)  I guess time will tell, but regardless, my hope is in the Lord, not the man.

I got to know Mitt a little bit by listening to some of those who know him closest, particularly his wife.  Nothing like a wife to soften the hearts of people about her guy.  What became evident to me is that Mitt Romney, for all his failures on life issues in the past, is a man who celebrates family, and celebrates life.  To Mitt Romney, a baby is a cause for celebration, a cause to praise God, a beautiful testament to the love of our Creator, of God, our Father.  A baby is not viewed as a threat or a punishment, a baby is viewed as a dignified creation of God.  And he obviously has a talent for bringing prosperity out of adversity, and this is a grace from God that we need desperately in our country right now.

It is evident that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan both care and have a deep respect for women, from the way that they speak of the women in their lives, their moms, their wives, and the women who have worked with them.  Romney has shown his respect for women by action, from the women he has mentored to his deep respect for both working women and women who choose to stay home to care for their children at home.  I believe, perhaps wrongly, that his desire to help women may have been what prompted his grave error on life issues in the past.  Many of us were indoctrinated/lied to/tricked into believing that abortion is a women's rights issue.  The truth is that not only does abortion kill a human being, but it devastates a woman's heart, body, and mind as well.  Because this truth is being realized more and more around the world, people's hearts are changing about abortion, and I believe Mitt Romney is one of those people.

Mitt Romney never supported abortion because he believed that a baby was a punishment or because he believed a baby is a threat.  That is what our current President believes.  More children stand in the way of progress in Obama's mindset, a baby or a child is only to be celebrated if it is wanted and fits into a nice little agenda of making sure it does not stifle a woman's career or exhale too much carbon dioxide.  Yes, he does purport to care about the poor, and the life of a child born into poverty, but honestly, the solution is not to eliminate the child, the solution is to provide opportunity and love for that child.  Every child, EVERY child is a gift, no matter what circumstances into which they were born, and I believe with all my heart that Romney knows that too and will enact policies to strengthen families and protect the dignity of life.

So that is why I fully suppport the Romney/Ryan ticket.  I no longer feel hopeless about our country. I have never lost hope in God and His care for us, but after seeing all those children from the Romney and Ryan families run after the balloons at the end of the convention, I feel a little bit more spring in my step regarding the direction of our country.  Whatever happens, with or without Obama, with or without Romney, God has given each one of us special talents and my heart is full of gratitude for those gifts God gives us.  I believe Romney and Ryan are also both deeply thankful to God for His Grace.  And that is our true hope.

Scroll to about 43:10 in the video below to see the beautiful scene of all the children in the Ryan and Romney families coming out and playing with the balloons. It's priceless! Thank You God for these families! 




Our hope is in You Lord, we accept Your Divine Will. May we cooperate with Your Divine Will, by supporting and encouraging each other to celebrate the beautiful gift of life and families.  Amen.

A Prayer for our Priests

We thank You, God our Father, for those who have responded to Your call to priestly ministry.  Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf:  Fill Your priests with the sure knowledge of Your Love.  Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.  Lead them to new depths of union with Your Son.  Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, Your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder Your Word and follow Your Will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ and our Mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.  Intercede for our priests that, offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

St. John Vianney, pray for us and for our priests.



So thankful for our priests!

This is Beauty, You O Lord, have ravished my heart

+JMJ+

Tonight as I was praying in the Chapel with Jesus in the tabernacle, beauty is what was on my heart, only it felt heavy, thinking of how beauty is distorted and ignored and discarded and degraded in our world right now.  I had just read Marc Barnes' post, Dappled Things My Dear Readers.  True Beauty elevates our hearts and minds to God and His Glory.

In my facebook newsfeed this afternoon, one right after another was first a picture posted by Endow on the Dignity of Women and Feminine Genius and then another picture from a feminist group whose name I do not even want to type here, shared by a friend.  The contrast was so startling that it jarred me into realizing how the beauty of feminine dignity is so much under attack, even by those who profess to be all about giving voice to women.  It makes me so sad for my sisters that do not know their true dignity as beloved daughters of God.  Another quote that that was on my newsfeed was from Dignitas Magazine:

"True beauty emanates from a woman who boldly and unabashedly knows who she is in Christ."~Jen Smidt

True beauty is shown in these women making their Final Profession of Vows with the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.  They sing, "The joy I feel in my soul comes from knowing You."  That is Beauty.

But, I am human, and my heart became heavy once again thinking of how, I, myself, do not feel beautiful.  Right there in quiet, peace, and tranquility, I forgot myself the dignity I have as a daughter of God.  So I began focusing on myself, rather than Christ and the beauty emanating from women who boldly and unabashedly know who they are in Christ. 

I feel spiritually beat up, bruised, tired, worn out, and just plain not beautiful.  It has been a difficult week, and I am probably too hard on myself, but really, being a wife and mother is hard work, and just plain messy.  This is especially true with young children that all have minds of their own along with a mom who is trying to figure it all out herself and often forgets who she is in Christ.  My heart has a long way to go to find healing and I just found myself thinking how can I ever be beautiful, how can spiritually beat up, bruised, tired, worn out ever be beautiful?  I feel more like a worn out wife, and definitely not a bride.  How could that be beautiful?

And then something miraculous happened.  I looked up from the tabernacle to the Crucifix, and then I realized that beat up, bruised, tired, and worn out is Beautiful, but only on the Cross.  I often contemplate the Cross when I come to pray, but I think that there must be some new lighting on the Cross in our Chapel.  It seemed brighter, and even the shadow cast by Christ hanging on the Cross, pouring out His life for me was beautiful.  Beautiful beyond words.  And He poured Himself out like that, took on the ugliness and harshness of the Cross, out of Love for me, to reconcile me to Our Father.  That is true Beauty.

From a poem I wrote a few years ago:

We weep here at His Cross, we cry out in anguish.
He has overcome all by His Love and Mercy.
This is Beauty, You O Lord, have ravished my heart
by Your Love and Mercy. Your Cross has set me free.

Amen.

Forgiveness Again

God is asking me to forgive, and I have said I forgive, but it seems as though my heart is not there yet.  Recently, I was hurt by a friend.  It really should not have been such a big deal, but for reasons I cannot quite understand, it hurt me deeply, and I am having a hard time with the whole situation.  Forgiveness keeps coming up over and over in one form or another, but really, I just want to run away and never trust anyone.  I really think the sadness I have probably has less to do with this particular situation and more to do with hurts from my childhood.  Like I said, it shouldn't be such a big deal, but it is, and God is laboring in my heart over this in ways that are very painful.  The good news is that God does not ever abandon me, even if it feels like He has.  I trust that He is laboring in Love over me, His beloved daughter, even if I feel desolate.  And I am trying not to let my past govern my present, but being human, I often fail at this.  Perhaps God is asking me to trust Him more.

A few years ago, I read Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI and posted our Holy Father's thoughts on forgiveness back then, but wanted to post it again today because it resonates once again with my heart today, especially in regards to our petition for forgiveness in the Our Father:

"while we must acknowledge day by day how little our capacities suffice for that task, and how often we ourselves keep falling into guilt, this petition gives us the great consolation that our prayer is held safe within the power of his love- with which, through which, and in which it can still become a power of healing."

Here is the post from September 2010:

Having recently read Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth, these words of the Holy Father still resonate deeply in my heart, and I want to share them with you. This is the part of the chapter where our Holy Father discusses the petition of "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" and how we encounter the mystery of the Cross of Christ in this petition (from Ch5 - The Lord's Prayer, pp 158-160, emphasis mine):

"If we want to understand the petition fully and make it our own, we must go one step further and ask: What is forgiveness, really? What happens when forgiveness takes place? Guilt is a reality, an objective force; it has caused destruction that must be repaired. For this reason, forgiveness must be more than a matter of ignoring, of merely trying to forget. Guilt must be worked through, healed, and thus overcome. Forgiveness exacts a price- first of all from the person who forgives. He must overcome within himself the evil done to him; he must, as it were, burn it interiorly and in so doing renew himself. As a result, he also involves the other, the trespasser, in this process of transformation, of inner purification, and both parties, suffering all the way through and overcoming evil, are made new. At this point, we encounter the mystery of Christ's Cross. But the very first thing we encounter is the limit of our power to heal and to overcome evil. We encounter the superior power of evil, which we cannot master with our unaided powers. Reinhold Schneider says apropos of this that "evil lives in a thousand forms; it occupies the pinnacles of power...it bubbles up from the abyss. Love has just one form- your Son" (Das Vaterunser, p. 68).

"The idea that God allowed the forgiveness of guilt, the healing of man from within, to cost him the death of his Son has come to seem quite alien to us today. That the Lord has "borne our diseases and taken upon himself sorrows," that"he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities," and that "with his wounds we are healed" (Is 53:4-6) no longer seems plausible
to us today. Militating against this, on one side, is the trivialization of evil in which we take refuge, despite the fact that at the very same time we treat the horrors of human history, especially of the most recent human history as an irrefutable pretext for denying the existence of a good God and slandering his creature man. But the understanding of the great mystery of expiation is also blocked by our individualistic image of man. We can no longer grasp substitution because we think that every man is ensconced in himself alone. The fact that all individual beings are deeply interwoven and that all are encompassed in turn by the being of the One, the Incarnate Son, is something we are no longer capable of seeing. When we come to speak of Christ's Crucifixion, we will have to take up these issues again.

"In the meantime, the idea of Cardinal John Henry Newman may suffice. Newman once said that while God could create the whole world out of nothing with just one word, he could overcome men's guilt and suffering only by bringing himself into play, by becoming in his Son a sufferer who carried this burden and overcame it through his self-surrender. The overcoming of guilt has a price: We must put our heart- or, better, our whole existence- on the line. And even this act is insufficient; it can become effective only through communion with the One who bore the burdens of us all.

"The petition for forgiveness is more than a moral exhortation- though it is that as well, and as such it challenges us anew every day. But, at its deepest core, it is- like the other petitions- a Christological prayer. It reminds us of he who allowed forgiveness to cost him descent into the hardship of human existence and death on the Cross. It calls us first and foremost to thankfulness for that, and then, with him, to work through and suffer through evil by means of love. And while we must acknowledge day by day how little our capacities suffice for that task, and how often we ourselves keep falling into guilt, this petition gives us the great consolation that our prayer is held safe within the power of his love- with which, through which, and in which it can still become a power of healing."

God, thank You for these words of the Holy Father. Please watch over him and protect him in his travels. Thank You for giving us a wise and holy shepherd. Jesus, thank You for Your Love and Mercy. Open our hearts to receive You and all You give us. Open our hearts to forgive as You forgive and to Love as You Love. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

My Mother Mary

+JMJ+

My Mother Mary

Conceived by Grace,

All Grace in Grace.
Purity whole and Love to welcome
All Love in Love, your heart awaits.

To you, all innocence and beauty,

God’s messenger beckons, and
Your yes heaven awaits.
His Love He gives and you receive.

All Beauty while Incarnation rests,

You give yourself complete to Love.
Proceeding in haste to where He calls,
His Glory magnified by your willing heart.

Oh, the gift of His life,

As you await His sweet embrace
To hold His hand Divine while
Pondering His sweet face.

He depends on you,

His mother He trusts.
You give Him all of your mother’s heart
As you await the Cross Divine.

By your consent

His Heart opens to mine.
And you give your sorrowful heart
To him who knows his Love’s heartbeat.

By your yes again, you invite His bride

To rest in your Motherly Love
And in His grace Divine,
Make our hearts like unto thine.

His Fire in you, He gives us too.

All Love in Love,
All Grace in Grace
That we may ponder His sweet face.

And when your earthly walk dims

You surrender yourself wholly
And He brings you home
To dwell with Him.

~KS

Mere Orthodoxy: When Your Social Media Feed Gets You Down

Great post from Brett McCracken at Mere Orthodoxy!  Here's an excerpt:

It’s just that in everything we do in this Christian life, humility makes things better. Try it. Christ increases when we decrease. He becomes greater when we become lesser. The world opens up in glorious new ways when we diminish; when we relinquish our insistence on being at the center of it. The jasmine smells sweeter and the wine tastes smoother; the faces of strangers across from us in Starbucks–or behind the avatars to which we tweet–become more real and beloved. The cadences of Emily Dickinson poems and summer rainstorms take on greater beauty.

Read it all here.

h/t Tina Korbe

Out of the mouths of babes

:) Today at lunch, when Michael was sharing his food with Luke:

Luke: "I think Michael is going to be a priest when he grows up."
Me: "Really, do you think so? Why?"
Luke: "Because he is always sharing."

So true! :) And Luke shares a lot too!

Lord, let them all be open to your will for their lives in whatever vocation you have planned for them! Amen.

Restless Heart From Ignatius Press Films

This looks really good:

Young women need justice, not drugs.

Spiritual Warfare Prayer

A friend shared this on facebook:

Spiritual Warfare Prayer

Lord Jesus, I ask You today to cover me and my family, the whole world, especially our military and our priest, with Your Precious Blood and protection.  Uncover any hidden plot of the enemy before it has a chance to take root or effect or do any harm.  Alert us to any hidden plots against us and provide in advance a peaceful solution to any damage the enemy tries to do.  Bind and make mute any evil spirits that try to manifest or attach themselves to us in any way.  We ask You to please hide from the enemy the personal plans and ministries You have for us, so he has no access or knowledge of them.  Let no weapon formed against us be able to prosper.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke any curses, hexes or spells sent against us.  I bind all interplay, interaction and communication of evil spirits, and I claim the protection of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on  _________.  I ask You, Lord, to please send St. Michael, the Archangel, to drive out all the evil spirits who roam the earth and give St. Michael the authority to send all evil spirits straight to the recesses of hell, where they will remain forever.

Lord Jesus, I also ask You to please let the waters of our baptism flow back through our bloodlines to cleanse us of any evil or unwanted tendencies or traits that we may have inherited from our ancestors.  And lastly, Lord, I ask You to please bless my enemies by sending Your Holy Spirit to lead them to repentance and conversion.

We thank You, Lord, and we praise You, Lord, for Your boundless Mercy and protection.  Amen.

Chastity: The Seventh Lively Virtue | Crisis Magazine

Must read:

Chastity: The Seventh Lively Virtue | Crisis Magazine

Problems with twitter

Hi, just going to make this blog available by login only for a short time while I sort through some issues with twitter...... it will be open again soon hopefully, in the meantime, all of you dear readers should be able to access previous posts by whatever you use for managing feeds.  So sorry this is happening!  :(  Please pray for God's will in all of this.

UPDATE:  I have no idea what is going on and am pretty frustrated with the lack of real communication by twitter.  Just went ahead and allowed anyone to read here again because I think it is just a general problem with twitter.  Ugh.  Maybe I should go back to no twitter, no facebook, and only blog :)  You would probably hear from me more here then!

Well, off to tackle the rest of the day!  Have a great rest of your week :)

"Fasting detaches you from this world, prayer reattaches you to the next world"

I trust in You Jesus. 

We have been given an amazing opportunity to witness to the hope that we have been given in Jesus Christ. Our hope is in Him, not in men, not in princes.  He gives Himself completely to us in the Sacraments, and thanks be to God, we still can receive Him without fear in our country.  Hope in Jesus Christ is our anchor and He will not abandon us during this current storm, even if things get decidedly worse.  It is going to take a lot of trust on our part, and He will give us fortitude and courage to speak when we need to, take action when called for, and to stand firm in silence when necessary.

Each one of us has been born at this time for a particular reason.  In our ordinary lives, we are called to love in an extraordinary way.  There is a lot going on in our world and country, and it is very discouraging at times.  But God has not abandoned us.  We may be chastised a bit, but we trust in His Love for us and in His Divine Providence.  He gives and He takes away.  In all, is His Grace.  In this time, I can choose to become overwhelmed with the things of the world or I can choose to place all my trust in Him.  Trusting in Him does not mean complacency or ignoring what is going on around me.  There is a battle going on, and we must remain engaged.  Trusting in Him means giving myself completely to Him in relationship as His beloved daughter and knowing He will call me to action where I am needed in the battle.  The only way to remain grounded in Him right now is through prayer and fasting.  As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said,

"Fasting detaches you from this world, prayer reattaches you to the next world."  

It takes discernment to hear what God is telling us, and with too much indulgence (non only food, but information and material goods) comes fog, but with fasting comes clarity.  May we discern where God wants us to be in this battle, equipped with all the virtues, especially the theological and cardinal:  faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.

Lord, have mercy on us as we place our trust in You.  Mary, our Mother, watch over us.  I give you my will, conform it to the will of Your Son.  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.  Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.  St. Joseph, pray for us.  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.  In Your Most Holy Name, Amen.

Vultus Christi: Thou hast set Thy Heart on us

Thou hast set Thy Heart on us

From Father Mark Kirby at Vultus Christi:

"This he learned not by searching far and wide,
but by abiding there with Mary near the cross,
there to gaze on the 'one whom they have pierced' (Jn 19:37).
This he learned, John the eagle,
gazing unblinking into the Sun
that rose each day before his eyes
in the Breaking of the Bread.
"This is My Body which is given for you.
Do this for a commemoration of Me.
In like manner the chalice also,
after He had supped, saying:
'This is the Chalice, the new testament in my blood,
which shall be shed for you'" (Lk 22:19-20).

Teach us, John of the seeing heart,
how to gaze with unveiled faces
on the Face here veiled,
that we may discern in the Bread broken and given
the Eucharistic Heart, the water and the blood (cf. Jn 19:34)."

Read the rest here.  Thank you Father Mark.

Teach us, St. John, to abide with Mary near the cross, today in honor of her Immaculate Heart, and all days in His Eucharistic Heart.  In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

Beginning to Pray: The Heart of Christ - Our Hope for Holiness

Dr. Lilles at Beginning to Pray has a beautiful post about the Heart of Christ and what happens when we "say 'yes' to the Sacred Heart in the midst of our defeats and failures."  Read it here.  Thank you Dr. Lilles!

He will cause fair fruits to ripen on the tree of your soul...

Just started reading The Diary of a Country Priest by George Bernanos for a book club.  There is a beautiful quote in the introduction by Remy Rougeau from St. Therese of Lisieux:

Offer to God the sacrifice of never gathering any fruits. If He will that throughout your whole life you should feel a repugnance to suffering and humiliation – if He permit that all the flowers of your desires and of your good will should fall to the ground without any fruit appearing, do not worry [repine]. At the hour of death, in the twinkling of an eye, He will cause fair fruits to ripen on the tree of your soul.

Right from the Heart of God

Recently, I was visiting my grandfather in the hospital.  He has been very sick, so I would also ask for your prayers for him.  He is on the road to recovery, but a difficult recovery at 83 years old.  It was a last minute trip down to Texas to help my grandma while grandpa was in the hospital.  He took a turn for the worst the day Michael (our baby) and I arrived in Texas.  Originally, I had planned to come and help out in between times when my dad and aunts and uncles would be there, but when things took a turn for the worst, everyone came back, including many cousins I had not seen in many years, to be with grandpa.  Although this reunion was not under the best of circumstances, it was so good to see everyone again and to be a part of something bigger than my own day to day world. 

Grandma and I spent a lot of time together, and it was so good to be able to just be with her.  I was blessed to be the one to bring her to the hospital every day and take her home again at night.  Please keep her in prayer too as all of this has taken its toll on her health as well.  My grandparents have been like second parents to me.  I lived with them my last three years of high school, and they have always been there for me.  It is such a blessing to have a close relationship with my grandma and grandpa and extended family.  During all the ups and downs of life, which I touched on in my last post, my extended family, and especially my grandparents have been a true gift from God.  He has loved me through their fidelity and care for their family.  Grandma and  Grandpa came when our first two children were born, and Grandma loved me by making sure I got enough rest and did not have to cook one single item (she is the best cook in the world!!!!), and Grandpa made sure I had enough hugs, and when our 2nd was born, read the same books over and over and over to our daughter.  As their health has started to decline, they haven't been able to come make the visit up here any more, but we still love to go home to visit them.  To me, my childhood home is wherever they are.  When I lived with them, they were in Tennessee, but now they are back in Texas, which is where I was born.

During that time, it was so moving to see Grandma sitting by my Grandpa's side holding his hand and caring for him.  They will be married 64 years this month.  It was a gift to witness this after going to the women's conference the weekend before and hearing Father talk about the desire of children to be caught up in the love that created them in the first place, ultimately God's Love.  Watching and being a part of Grandma sitting by Grandpa's side in the hospital was a true gift from God, filling the hole in my heart.  The moment I saw them together, I knew that their love and faithfulness to each other comes right from the Heart of God and reaches out into the darkness of the world, bringing light and hope where it is desperately needed.  As we all have experienced in our own lives, Grandma and Grandpa have had their ups and downs in their married life, but through it all have remained faithful to their vows.  This is what a true sacramental marriage is, a husband and wife coming together and remaining together in the Love of God.  The children that come from their marriage are a both a natural and supernatural manifestation of the love that brings them together, eternal souls created to be light and love in the world.

After being away from the Church for a very long time, Grandpa came back into the Catholic Church about 15 years ago, and Grandma with him.  This was about the same time I converted to Catholicism.  God is good.  As grandpa was in the ICU and not really responsive, I held his hand with his rosary beads intertwined and prayed with him.  He moved his fingers over the beads while we prayed, just the way he does when he prays the rosary, which he had done every day since his return to the Church.  With grandma, we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet too.  Even though he had not been responding by talking, I stroked his hair and whispered in his ear, "I love you"  and he said back, "I love you too."  These were the first words he had spoken in days.  My aunt and I looked at eachother in shock and joy, and she also told him she loved him and he told her back that he loved her too.  When I had to say good bye to Grandpa several days later, I whispered to him again, "I love you."  He moved his mouth and tried so hard to get the words out, and finally, whispered, with much effort, "I love you." 

I did not know if it would be the last time to see him here on this earth, but he is now responding and was just moved to a rehabilitation center in the last few days.  Please pray for him, for my grandma, and for all of our family.  Pray for our family that God's love will penetrate our hearts, heal the hurts and sustain us all.



 

My Only Love - Matt Maher

HT @RCYouthWorker

I know your heart and it is good, and I love you.

A Heart Full of Gratitude

My heart is full of gratitude this Mother's Day weekend.  I was able to go to a Conference for Women last night and today.  What a blessing!  I almost did not go, but am so thankful that we were able to slog through all the obstacles and I was able to go.  Wow.   Thank you to my husband for being a good husband and father and for God giving me the peace of mind to know that our kids are in good hands with their dad.

If you are planning to go spend some time with God without distraction, there will be obstacles.  Don't let the doubt or discouragement or mountains of tasks keep you away from Him.  Just do it.  Of course, He is with you wherever you are, but to be with Him without distraction is a gift.  And a necessity if you want to grow in relationship with Jesus.  God is good and He always blesses these times away with Him with great healing and Love.

Thank You Lord for the retreat center staff and for the priests who shepherd us.  Your Love O Lord is evident in all of their work and care to provide for us and our spiritual growth.  Thank You Lord for our Bishop and his care for his flock.  May Your Love guide him and all the priests of our diocese.  Thank You Lord for placing my husband and I here in this place at this time.  In Your Holy Name, Amen.

Holding the Finding of the True Cross in My Heart

This year, my patron saint is St. Helen. From Father Mark at Vultus Christi, in his post Finding the Cross in Paschaltide:

The Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross Although the Feast of the Finding (or Invention) of the Holy Cross on 3 May was removed from more recent liturgical books, it remains in the 1934 edition of the Benedictine Antiphonale that is still widely used, and continues to be celebrated in not a few Benedictine monasteries. While the Office is substantially the same as on 14 September (The Exaltation of the Holy Cross), on 3 May it is shot through and through with alleluias. It presents a vision of the Passion and Cross of the Lord in the light of the Resurrection. Theologically, mystically, and catechetically the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross on 3 May is a liturgical piece of genius.

The feast commemorates Saint Helena's finding of the Cross in Jerusalem, and the signs and wonders that accompanied it and verified its authenticity. Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, carried part of the Cross back to Rome, where it was enshrined in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, on the site of the Sessorian palace.

The entire Mass and Office of the Finding of the Holy Cross deserve to be meditated and held in the heart. The liturgical texts of the feast demonstrate and support that, far from being inappropriate during Paschaltide, the contemplation and celebration of the mysteries of the Lord's Passion and Cross emerge, in the light of these fifty days of jubilation, as an inexhaustible wellspring of healing and of hope.

With joy we keep the feast of the Finding of the Cross, whose light shineth over all the world, alleluia. (Antiphon at Matins)

Beautiful Things

Emptying

Only God can receive all of me.  Lord, I lay all of my life down before You.  Lord, I lay all of myself at Your feet.  I offer all of my desires, joys, weaknesses, gratitude, sorrows, burdens, sadness, gifts, successes, failings, fears, sins, all of it to You, my Lord.  Lord, take all of me and empty my life for You. No one else can receive all of this, only You can.  I come to Your feet and give it all to You.  Empty my heart, my soul, my body, my mind.  Create me anew, Lord.  Make me Yours and Yours alone.  Keep me close always to Your Loving Heart and to the most pure Heart of Your Mother.  Blessed Virgin Mary, my Mother, show me the way to receive the new life of Your Son, Our Lord.  Saint Joseph, help me to be a good daughter, a good wife, a good mother, and a good friend.  In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.   

He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Ora di Maria

It is here on Holy Saturday, where I find my Mother Mary.  I find her love for me and for all the Church in her quiet hope, though grief-stricken.  Here I cling to my Mother Mary, and while I desire to console her, it is Mary who consoles me.  It is Mary's heart directing me into the beauty of Christ's passion, into trusting Christ's mercy, into the hope of Christ's salvation.

The Greek Orthodox have a great devotion to this Great and Holy Saturday.  Here is a most moving part of the beautiful Ode 9 in the Canon of the Great and Holy Saturday (find a variation here, pdf file).

Must Read: A Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and the Next America

Archbishop Charles Chaput's newly released Heart on Fire:  Catholic Witness and the Next America is a must read!  I highly recommend reading this, regardless of your beliefs.  It is a fantastic perspective on what is happening in our American public square right now.

The best part is that it is available electronically for just 99 cents!  Find it here or here.  Download it and read it!  It is only 19 pages long.

From In Caritate Non Ficta: A Great Witness

From Philip Gerard Johnson at In Caritate Non Ficta

A Great Witness

Seminarians from the Pontifical College Josephinum wearing their house cassocks (which identify them with their particular seminary), and praying outside of an abortion clinic:

In Caritate Non Ficta

HT Courageous Priest

What a beautiful and amazing witness!  Let's pray for these future priests.

Triumph of the Cross

THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS 

St. Louis de Marie Montfort

I
The Cross in mystery
Is veiled for us below;
Without great light to see,
Who shall its splendor know?
Alone the lofty mind
Shall this high secret trace;
And none shall heaven find
Who grasps it not by grace.

II
Nature the Cross abhors;
Reason gives it a frown;
The learned man ignores It.
Satan tears it down.
Despite a pious art,
Even the fervent soul
Oft takes it not to heart,
But plays the liar's role.

III
Essential is the Tree,
And we who know its cost
Must mount to Calvary
Or languish and be lost.
As Saint Augustine states
With outcry ominous,
We all are reprobates
Unless God chastens us.

IV
Its Necessity

One road to Heaven runs:
The highway of the Cross.
It was the royal Son's,
His road to life from loss.
And every stone of it
That guides the pilgrim's feet
Is chiseled fair to fit
In Zion's holy street.

V
Vain is the victory
Of him who, conquering
The world, lacks mastery
Of self through suffering;
Vain if he has not Christ,
Slain Christ, for exemplar,
Or spurns the Sacrificed
For dread of wound and scar.

VI
Its Victories

Christ's Cross, restraining Hell,
Has conquered Eden's curse,
Stormed Satan's citadel,
And won the universe.
Now to His faithful band
He gives that weapon bright
To arm both heart and hand
Against the evil sprite.

VII
In this auspicious Sign
Thou shalt be conqueror,
Said He to Constantine,
Who that proud Standard bore;
A glorious augury,
Of whose prodigious worth
The records all agree
In Heaven and on earth!

VIII
Its Glory and Merit

Despite deceitful sense
And reason's fickle shift,
The Cross with confidence
We take as Truth's own gift.
A princess there we see
In whom, let faith confess,
We find all charity,
Grace, wisdom, holiness.

IX
God's love could not resist
Such beauty or its plea,
Which bade Him keep a tryst
With our humanity.
Coming to earth, He said:
This, Lord, and nothing more:
Thy saving Cross imbed
Here in My bosom's core.

X
He took it, found it fair,
An object not of shame
But honor, made it share
His love's most tender flame.
From childhood's morning hour
His longing kept in sight
As beauty would a flower
The Cross of His delight.

XI
At last in its caress
Long sought for eagerly,
He died of tenderness
And love's totality.
That dear supreme baptism
For which His heart had cried,
The Cross became His chrism,
Love's object undenied.

XII
Christ called the Fisherman
A Satan scandalous
When he but winced to scan
What Christ would bear for us.
Christ's Cross we may adore,
His Mother we may not.
O mystery and more!
a marvel beyond thought!

XIII
This Cross, now scattered wide
On earth, shall one day rise
Transported, glorified,
To the celestial skies.
Upon a cloudy height
The Cross, full-brillianted,
Shall, by its very sight,
Judge both the quick and dead.

XIV
Revenge, the Cross will cry
Against its sullen foes;
Pardon and joy on high
And blessedness for those
Of proved fidelity
In the immortal throng,
Singing its victory
With universal song.

XV
In life the Saints aspired
To nothing but the Cross;
'Twas all that they desired,
Counting all else but loss.
Each one, in discontent
With such afflictions sore
As chastening Heaven sent,
Condemned himself to more.

XVI
St. Peter, prison-chained,
Had greater glory there
Than when at Rome he gained
The first Christ-Vicar's chair.
Saint Andrew, faithful, cried:
O good Cross, let me yield
To thee and in thee hide,
Where death in Life is sealed.

 XVII
See how the great St. Paul
Depicts with meagre gloss
His rapture mystical,
But glories in the Cross.
More admirable far,
More merit-rich is he,
Behind his dungeon bar
Than in his ecstasy.

XVIII
Its Effects

Without a Cross, the soul
Is cowardly and tame;
Like fire to a coal
The Cross sets it aflame.
One who has suffered not,
In ignorance is bound;
Only in pain's hard lot
Is holy wisdom found.

XIX
A soul untried is poor
In value; new, untrained,
With destiny unsure
And little wisdom gained.
O sweetness sovereign
Which the afflicted feels
When pleased that to his pain
No human solace steals!

XX
'Tis by the Cross alone
God's blessing is conferred,
And His forgiveness known
In the absolving word.
He wants all things to bear
The mark of that great seal;
Without it, nought is fair
To Him, no beauty real.

XXI
Wherever place is given
The Cross, things once profane
Become instinct with Heaven
And shed away their stain.
On breast and brow, God's sign,
Worn proudly for His sake,
Will bless with Power Divine
Each task we undertake.

XXII
It is our surety,
Our one protection,
Our hope's white purity,
Our soul's perfection.
So precious is its worth
That Angels fain would bring
The blest soul back to earth
To share our suffering.

XXIII
This Sign has such a charm
That at the altar-stone
The priest can God disarm
And draw Him from His throne.
Over the sacred Host
This mighty Sign he plays,
Signals the Holy Ghost,
And the Divine obeys.

XXIV
With this adorable Sign
A fragrance is diffused
Most exquisite and fine,
A perfume rarely used.
The consecrated priest
Makes Him this offering
As incense from the East,
Meet crown for Heaven's King.

XXV
Eternal Wisdom still
Sifts our poor human dross
For one whose heart and will
Is worthy of the Cross,
Still seeks one spirit rare
Whose every pulse and breath
Is fortitude to bear
The Christ-Cross until death.

Ardent Apostrophe

XXVI
O Cross, let me be hushed;
In speech I thee abase.
Let my presumption, crushed,
Its insolence erase.
Since thee I have received
Imperfectly, in part,
Forgive me, friend aggrieved,
For my unwilling heart!

XXVII
Dear Cross, here in this hour,
I bow to thee in awe.
Abide with me in power
And teach me all thy law.
My princess, let me glow
With ardor in thine arms;
Grant me to chastely know
The secret of thy charms.

XXVIII.
In seeing thee so fair,
I hunger to possess
Thy beauty, but I dare
Not in my faithlessness.
Come, mistress, by thy will
Arouse my feeble soul
And I will give thee still
A heart renewed and whole.

XXIX
For life I choose thee now,
My pleasure, honor, friend,
Sole object of my vow,
Sole joy to which I tend.
For mercy's sake, print, trace
Yourself upon my heart,
My arm, my forehead, face;
And not one blush will start.

XXX
Above all I possess
I choose thy poverty;
And for my tenderness
Thy sweet austerity.
Now be thy folly wise
And all thy holy shame
As grandeur in my eyes,
My glory and my fame.

XXXI
When, by your majesty,
And for your glory's sake,
You shall have vanquished me,
That conquest I shall take
As final victory,
Though worthy not to fall
Beneath thy blows, or be
A mockery to all.

English Rendition by Clifford J. Laube, Litt.D.

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We Grow Old By Deserting Our Ideals

From TFP Student Action:

Youth
by Samuel Ullman

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair . . .
these are the quick equivalents of the
long years that bow the head and turn
the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether 70 or 16, there is, in every being’s heart the love of
wonder, the sweet amazement of the stars, and the star-like
things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events,
the unfailing childlike appetite for “What Next?”

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt,
as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear,
as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

So long as your heart receives messages of
beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from
the earth, from man and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When all the wires are down, and all the
central places of your heart are covered with
the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism,
then, and only then, are you grown old indeed,
and may God have mercy on your soul.

More on the Movie, For Greater Glory, from Rome Reports

H/T Catholic Media Review


the

How I got my kids to not complain about my loud music...

Told them that my good friend, our neighbor, and one of my son's dearest friend's mom is the DJ! 

She DJs here at our local University radio station from 9 - 11am every Wednesday.  And she likes similar music as me, plus expands my horizons too!  Pray for her, she is a great gal.  Her name is Jen.

So Wednesdays are my favorite.  We take a little break from school and go to Adoration, then for coffee and donuts and now loud cool music, with no complaining!

Smiles all around here!

Thank You Jesus!

For Greater Glory - Film Trailer

Has anyone heard about this movie? It looks like it will be good. I pray it accurately portrays the Catholic Church and that hearts are converted from watching this movie.