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Delivered Monday through Friday!
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August 25,
2008
Amazing Grace
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Joy from the Monastery |
Thoughts from Sister Patricia
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Quote for the Day:
Who could have given me our Lord, but the Virgin Mary. It
was easy to pray to her, repetitious though it may seem. Saying
the rosary as I did so often. I felt that I was praying with the
people of God, who held on to the physical act of the rosary as
to a lifeline.
Dorothy Day
Quote from the book, "101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer"
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 Tony's soap dish
Sister Rita Louise (cook and Abbess) was saying today that she thinks of Tony often when she uses it as well. And then it occurred to me today... that that simple, ordinary soapdish is Tony's legacy. He never wrote a book I don't even think he ever wrote more than two or three cards or letters in his whole life. He didn't do anything in his lifetime to make a sort of MARK on the world.. and yet by just being Tony - he left us a legacy with that soap dish.
Isn't it funny? We struggle so hard to do something of importance, be someone of something to someone - and it happens - just by being who we are. We touch each other just by being alive.. .just by walking down the street. We are so connected to each other - even when ... we might feel very disconnected.
I've been reading more of that book, "Finding Your Way Home" by Kenneth A Schmidt. .... and it sort of helps me to break through ideas like that. I just finished it tonight which I'm glad because I want to start it over again from the beginning. Here is the link to it on Amazon if you want to check it out.
Another thought that I had after reading some more of the book.. (was remembering something I had read somewhere else) that to be saint is to be lovable. Not loving... but lovable. Letting ourselves be loved. That I think is the clue to why children get into heaven so easily ... they are lovable. So we just need to lighten up with ourselves. It's not how many rosaries we pray or sacrifices we suffer through... the bottom line is that we let ourselves be loved. That we just be who we are .. and somehow.. someone... and especially God ... will love us for being who we are. Just plain, slightly overweight (okay maybe more than sllightly), grumpy at times.. moody, tired and mixed up and messed up. Hair doesn't go right, shoes need shinning, all the whole package of being human 24 hours a day...and yet... still ... lovable.
Saint Francis had a life changing experience when he embraced the leper. Somehow we have to realize that we are the leper in our own lives. We need to let God love us.. warts and wrinkles .... just where we are and who we are today. Not when we lose ten pounds, not when we finally get our desk cleaned and our work caught up... nope.. we need to let God love us today.. Right Now... right this minute.
I think this is why I love going to the Nursing home where my mom is. When you get to be ninety years old... you are just so YOU.. so authentic... so lovable without pretense and polish.
I'm still working on this.. but wouldn't it be nice.. to love ourselves without trying to be MORE than we are just at this moment? Maybe tomorrow or the next day or the next year we will be thinner, smarter, nicer, but let's don't let that stop us from being lovable today.
As you can tell - this is a sermon to myself and I'm just letting you in on it...as our Spiritual directory Fr. Jim Van Vurst, OFM would say.
Blessings of Peace and All Good,
Sister Patricia
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Sr. Patricia and Oprah
Saint of the day
Reverend Fun
Motivational
Meditation
from Greatday.com
My Everything
Christian and the Lion
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Father Tom's Blessing
MaryAnn Holak
Beverly, Massachusetts
z
In 1982, at the age of twenty-eight, I had to face the terrible diagnosis
of advanced endometrial cancer. My treatments included aggressive
radiation and surgeries. I survived the cancer but was left with deep
emotional scars from the experience and the painful reality that I would
never conceive a child.
As I wrestled with the many physical side effects of my cure, I prayed
for guidance on the question of motherhood. I chose my seat at Mass in
front of the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I prayed to her fervently
for an answer to my heart's desire to love and raise a child.
Many years later, in 1992, I completed an adoption home study and
began to wait and pray that I would be blessed with a child who needed
a home. I prayed that my home would be the best and perfect place for
that child. The wait was very long, yet I never ceased my prayers for
motherhood.
More
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/monasticmoments/archives/147076.asp
From the book 101 Inspirational Stories of the Power of Prayer
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Blogs Supporting 101 Prayer |
The Daily Grotto
Danielle Bean
Friends for Jesus
Cause of Our Joy
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Rejoice in Me
by Msgr. David E. Rosage
God's Saving Presence in Our Distress
We are pilgrims on our way to the Father. We must cross over stormy seas and through the desert. We struggle with our sinfulness.
But in his bountiful love, God rescues us from any danger which may threaten. Jesus promised that he would never leave us orphans, but that he and the Father would make their dwelling place with us.
During this week let us prayerfully recall some of the Lord's goodness. The psalmist reminds us four different times how we should respond: "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness and his wondrous deeds to the children of men."
(Ps 107:8, 15, 21, 31)
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A Smile from Home - Danielle Bean
Today's Thought
Visit Danielle's Blog to see
pictures and links to go with this text.
Impressive
Me: Wow, this is an amazing picture you drew, Gabby. I didn’t even know you could draw hearts … You can draw hearts?
Gabby: Oh yeah. Easy. I’ve been drawing hearts since I was, like, four or something.
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Greetings from London with Sister Janet Fearns, FMDM
Pause for Prayer
Visit Janet's Blog to see pictures to go with this text.
On a personal note…
True riches
There is an American expression, ‘bait and switch’, or something to that effect, that describes the business practice used to tempt prospective customers to buy a product, only for there to be a ‘sting in the tail’, some unexpected complication that will inevitably cost money, to the disadvantage of the customer and the advantage of the company.
A spyware programme on my computer, the free accompaniment to a free programme that I temporarily required, pointed out that I had not scanned the computer for the past few days. I agreed. With an excellent, free, regularly-updated programme provided by several universities, I rarely have problems with viruses, especially as I do not open ‘spam’.
More
http://pauseforprayer.stblogs.com/2008/08/25/true-riches/
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Spiritual Blessings from Father Rory Pitstick
A Virtual Retreat
Reflections following the Daily Liturgical cycle
Visit Fr. Rory's Blog
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2 Thes 2: 1-3a. 14-17
Ps 95(96): 10. 11-12. 13
Mt 23: 23-26
Daily Readings
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Aug 26 Tue: Ordinary Weekday
From today's readings:
“Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.... The Lord comes to judge the earth.... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites....”
Here He Comes!
As Christians, we faithfully await the Parousia, Christ’s coming in glory at the end of earthly time. Jesus Himself, in the days before His crucifixion, spoke about His future coming at quite some length, although He purposely omitted many details, such as the precise date He would return!
From the earliest times, there thus has been wild speculation about those details which Christ, for reasons He knows best, chose not to reveal. Writing to the Thessalonians in the mid 50's, St. Paul insisted that faithful Christians need to be on guard against preposterous preoccupation with the Parousia, and disastrous delirium about the end times.
Paul’s warning is not to say, of course, that Christians should just forget about preparing for the Day of the Lord - in fact, it’s crucial that such preparation be done by every follower of Christ, but always, as St. Paul maintains, in the spirit of hope and with the commitment to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”
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