Learning to Lean on God -The Spirit of Poverty

"What is the essence of poverty? True poverty is first and foremost an acknowledgement, a realization of who we are. We are creatures, meaning, in the Christian context, that we have been created by God and are totally dependent upon Him... We are the anawim, "the poor men of Yahweh,", the "poor men of the beatitudes." To be an anawim is to be a person who knows that he is a creature, that he depends totally upon God. It is to be a person who "leans" on God, knowing that without God he can do nothing... and which acts, therefore, always according to His Will. But to act according to God's Will, one must empty oneself of all self-centeredness, selfishness, egotism. Positively, one must have a listening heart that is free, poor, one that listens to the quiet voice of God and follows it."
Catherine Doherty in "The Gospel Without Compromise", Ave Maria Press, Indiana, 1976, pp105-106

posted by Holly at 5:40 PM 1 comments

Monday, July 07, 2008

When Loving Him is Hard...

"The failure of the other to conform to my hopes is not necessarily the fault of the other... [but] frequently the result of my having assigned some definite,determinate quality to the other person, or defined [him] in terms of characteristics that, it turns out, [he] does not possess... It demonstrates clearly that I, from the outset, was engaged in a relationship to my idea of the other - which has proved to be wrong - rather than with the other [himself]. That is to say that this encounter was not with the other, but with myself. If I am injured by the failure of the other to conform to an idea that I had of [him]... it is the result of my inappropriate attempt to determine [him] by insisting that [he] conform to my idea...

"Such situations invariably tempt me to reevaluate [my original commitment] and to reassert the question of durability concerning the affective element of my availability to the other... [Remaining faithful] consists in actively maintaining ourselves in a state of openness [to the other's goodness]... in willing ourselves to remain open to the other... When I commit myself, I grant in principle that the commitment will not again be put into question, and this...[is] an essential element... [the] vicissitudes of [believing in him] are a temptation to infidelity and are to be seen in terms of a test of the self rather than in terms of a betrayal by the other... If fidelity fails, it is my failure rather than the failure of the other...

"Where does one find the strength... to meet the demands of fidelity? ... the ground of fidelity... necessarily seems precarious... The only way in which an unbounded commitment on the part of the subject is conceivable is if it draws strength from something more than itself, from an appeal to something greater, something transcendent..."
Gabriel Marcel, excerpts, from "#13. Creative Fidelity" at
Gabriel Marcel

posted by Holly at 3:50 PM 1 comments

Sunday, April 20, 2008

We Can't Saturate Ourselves

"If we're living the gospel, we don't get every need, every help, every preference, every luxury met. If we don't deny ourselves, we're not living in an awareness of the rest of the world and the situation of the people around and beyond our neighborhood... There [exists] a world of not having enough, that lacks the basics. We reinforce our blindness when we buy and accumulate what we don't need, what isn't particularly helpful, what should be occasional. Luxury is [meant to be] an occasional boon, not a constant indulgence...
"In examining our needs in the light of the gospel, we find this: if you have all of your needs met, all of [what] helps [you] met, most of your preferences met and most of your luxuries met, you are not living a gospel life. You are blind to the real world, especially the poor.
"We can't saturate ourselves with what other people need for basics and still be living a gospel life. We never really heard that passage "If somebody has no coat, give him yours and your shirt as well." We didn't really hear those messages if we fulfill every eating desire. It doesn't take long or seem hard to understand this process, but you may find some real emotional blocks as you try to carry it out, especially in this area of food. Mostly in our society, we eat too much."
Sr. Jose Hobday in "Simple Living: The Path to Joy and Freedom", Continuum Publishing Company, NY, 1999, p33

posted by Holly at 12:08 PM 1 comments

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Our Obligation to Give so Others Can Live

"In wealthier nations, when hard times hit, we cut back on discretionary spending. We eat out less frequently, we cut back on movies, we are more careful with our energy usage... The destitute, who are already barely existing on less than one or two dollars a day, are faced with enormous price increases on the staple foods on which their very survival depends. What do they cut back on?"
Food for the Poor , http://www.foodforthepoor.org/newshaitiemail

posted by Holly at 12:59 PM 1 comments

Friday, March 07, 2008

Martha and Mary

"...the contemplative life and the active life have always been contrasted as springing from contrary thoughts and aspirations. Contemplation gathers in, action gives out; the one seeks for light, the other longs to bestow its possession on others... but real life does not admit of such a separation... Thought and action have the same Father... The monk works with his hands or undertakes some apostolate; the great doctor has his hospitals; the artist his exhibitions... Action should have a limit and give place to solitude, because external action disturbs the soul while silence calms it. But carried too far, silence in its turn has a disturbing effect... [one can] lose one's balance.."
A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., 'The Intellectual Life" trans. Mary Ryan, Washington, DC, The Catholic University of America Press, 1998, pp62-63

posted by Holly at 2:44 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Three Paths to Easter

"The Church has set out for Easter. It is a journey of penitence, or of deep review of our life. We are called to examine our practical acceptance of the Gospel... To help us in this effort, the Church points out to us a path that can be summarized in three words: prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

Prayer can have many expressions, personal and communal. But we must above all live its essence, listening to God who speaks to us... In addition to being an external practice, fasting, which consists in the moderation of food and life-style, is a sincere effort to remove from our hearts all that is the result of sin and inclines us to evil. Almsgiving, far from being reduced to an occasional offering of money, means assuming an attitude of sharing and acceptance. We need only to open our eyes to see beside us so many brothers and sisters who are suffering materially and spiritually. Thus Lent is a forceful invitation to solidarity."
John Paul II, 16 February 1997 Angelus, http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP970216.HTM

posted by Holly at 5:40 PM 1 comments

Saturday, January 26, 2008

The Rule of the Missionaries of Charity

"A typical day in the life of a sister:

04:30 am Arise
05:00 am Morning Prayer
06:00 am Meditation
07:00 am Mass
07:30 am Breakfast
08:00 am Cleaning
09:00 am Missionary duties
12:00 pm Prayer
12:30 pm Lunch
01:30 pm Rest
02:00 pm Tea
02:30 pm Missionary duties
05:00 pm Adoration
07:00 pm Laundry
07:30 pm Supper
08:00 pm Recreation
09:00 pm Prayer
09:30 pm Retire"
from http://home.comcast.net/~motherteresasite/addresses.html

posted by Holly at 2:47 PM 1 comments

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Real, Not Imagined, Intimacy With Christ

"Christ: My child, many would like to live a more prayerful daily life. They desire the peace which comes from a closer union with me. Still, they will not do what it takes to reach this heavenly peace. Let me tell you how to achieve this:

Limit your activities to a few useful projects, and abandon all useless interests. To do this, you will have to control some of your present desires. When you have limited your interests, you will have more time to turn your attention to Me... This deliberate separation from all useless interests is necessary for you if you are to come closer to Me. Such interests are like chains around your mind. They tie down your attention and prevent you from turning easily to Me throughout the day. To few know how to give me their full attention for any length of time. Too many people are continually absorbed in unnecessary distractions."
Fr Anthony J. Paone SJ, in "My Daily Bread", Brooklyn, NY, Confraternity of the precious Blood, 1954, pp243-244

posted by Holly at 1:50 PM 1 comments

Friday, December 28, 2007

On The Way to Simplicity of Life and Heart

"Ask yourself if your stuff makes you feel good, if you really need it, if it's outdated, if it inspires you, if your life will change if you let it go. "
Katherine Gibson, author of "Unclutter Your Life", quoted in "You Can Be A Clutter Cutter" in Reader's Digest, Montreal, QC, January 2008, p98

posted by Holly at 3:25 PM 3 comments

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Setting Our Hearts on Fire

"Faith seeks understanding. It is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith and to understand better what He has revealed; a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love. The grace of faith opens the eyes of your hearts ..."
Catechism of the Catholic Church #158

posted by Holly at 2:14 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Be Converted Anew - Every Day

"We must all be converted anew every day... If we have the duty of helping others to be converted, we have to do the same continuously in our own lives. Being converted means...meditating on the infinite goodness and love of Christ, Who has addressed each of us and, calling us by name, has said, "Follow me." Being converted means continually 'giving an account' before the Lord of our hearts about our service, our zeal and our fidelity, for we are Christ's servants...Being converted also means 'giving an account' of our negligences and sins, of our timidity, of our lack of faith and hope, of our thinking only 'in a human way' and not in a 'divine way'...[we must be] always beginning anew and every day progressing, overcoming ourselves, making spiritual conquests, giving cheerfully, for 'God loves a cheerful giver.' Being converted means 'to pray continually and never lose heart.' In a certain way, prayer is the first and last condition for conversion, spiritual progress and holiness."
Pope John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis 8, trans. Vatican Polygot Press (Boston, St Paul editions

posted by Holly at 9:44 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Neglecting Our Own Needs - A No-No!

"...he who devotes himself to the conversion of souls and forgets the wants of his own soul falls into a...dangerous illusion. God wills that we should love our neighbour as ourselves, but not more than ourselves; that is, our love of neighbour should not induce us to neglect ourselves...
Bernard of Clairvaux wrote the following words to Pope Eugenius III: "If you are devoted to everybody, be also devoted to yourself. Otherwise what would it profit you to devote yourself to everyone, if you were to be lost? Reserve also some time, some care for yourself... Begin by first taking care of yourself. In vain would you devote yourself to the care of others, if you were to neglect your ownself. Care for yourself first and last..." "
from "Inner Strength for Active Apostles" byFr Jean-Baptiste Chautard, SophiaInstitute Press, Manchester, NH, 2003, pp34-35.

posted by Holly at 4:01 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Exercising Our Proper Freedom...

"The highest freedom then, depends upon a person choosing rightly in terms of what a human being should be. True liberty will not be found in the libertine, who enslaves himself to his animal instincts. It will not be found in the men who refuse commitment for fear of losing their freedom, for these men have already chosen, and what they have chosen is nothingness. Neither will it be found in the men who have chosen wealth and power as their fulfillment, for history tells us how easy it is for them to pervert their freedom to egoistic and vicious ends, so that while outwardly free, they are inwardly slaves to vice, greed, pride and ambition.
True freedom is found only in the man who has mastered himself, so that neither the constraint of instinct from within nor the pressure of force from without can make him deviate from the line of his conscience; it is the freedom of the man who has freed himself from the chains of ignorance and vice.... The manner in which we employ our freedom determines the kind of persons we are. "We are our loves," says St Augustine...."
from "An Introduction to Philosophy: The Perennial Principles of the Classical Realist Tradition" by Daniel J Sullivan, Tan Books & Publishers, Rockford Illinois, , c 1957, pp100-101

posted by Holly at 11:51 PM 1 comments

Monday, October 01, 2007

The Little Way of St Therese

"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul."
St Therese of the Child Jesus

posted by Holly at 2:52 PM 1 comments

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Do I Work for God or for Self?

"...because when a man does something solely for the glory of God, he is not disquieted even when the undertaking fails. He has already attained his purpose which was to please God. God is please because the man worked with a pure intention. Here are some signs or marks showing that one engaged in a spiritual undertaking is working solely for God:

1) He is not disturbed if the work fails. Since God does not will its success, neither does he.
2) He is quite happy when others succeed as when he does so himself.
3) He does not desire one assignment rather than another, but cheerfully accepts what his superiors decide upon.
4) When he has finished his task he does not look for thanks or approval, and so if ever his work is criticized and belittled, he is not afflicted. God is pleased and that is all he asks. If on the other hand the world applauds, he is not puffed up.

If we have the happy lot to be found worthy to do something that gives pleasure to God, what greater reward could we desire? It has been said that the pure intention of acting only for the purpose of pleasing God is the heavenly alchemy that transforms iron into gold; that is, the most trivial actions, such as eating, working, playing, sleeping, when done for God, are changed into the gold of holy love."

St Alphonsus Liguori, in "Love God and Do What You Please" adapted by M.J.Huber, Liguori Publications, Liguori MO, 1970, pp46-47.

posted by Holly at 10:51 AM 2 comments

Thursday, July 26, 2007

A Rule Assists

"...[a] Rule of Life also assures... of a regular life and of fidelity to the spirit of the [Carmelite] Order. Many people today want to live a spiritual life, but often find that they do not know how to organize their lives in a regular way. The Rule of Life helps create a setting of constancy of purpose and disciplined, orderly living. The Rule is a protection against inconstancy and haphazardness, and assists your concentration on the goal of prayerful union with God..."
from 'The Teresian Charism' by Michael D. Griffin OCD, in "Welcome to Carmel", Teresian Charism Press, Wisconsin, 1990, p30.

posted by Holly at 10:19 AM 1 comments

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Jesus Asks for Some Small Effort

"It is very significant for our spiritual life that Jesus always asked for some small effort from his followers before He performed His miracles. The blind man was told to wash in the pool before he could see, the loaves and the fishes had to be brought to Jesus before He fed the multitutde, and at Cana, the earthen vessels had to be filled with water, which was turned into wine. God does not transform the world or individual souls through miracles alone. He expects our cooperation. He only asks for works that are possible for everyone - small deeds done with great love. The very simplicity of the deed itself is part of our humbling experience. We are made fully aware that it is not our insignificant actions, but the power of God that is at work in us..."
from 'Welcome to Carmel' by Peggy Wilkiinson, OCDS, in "Welcome to Carmel", Teresian Charism Press, Wisconsin, 2006, p2-3.

posted by Holly at 8:03 AM 1 comments

Friday, June 22, 2007

Persuading Our Families to Love God

"When as a superior it was necessary for [St John of the Cross] to correct his subjects, he was cautious lest through impatience or anger he would succeed only in saddening or discouraging them. "He made his corrections with much gentleness and charity and always saw to it that the one being corrected would not leave his presence sad." His method of governing was not one of harshness. "Who has ever seen men persuaded to love God by harshness?" he used to ask. And he said that when Religious are brought up with such irrational severity, they become pusillanimous [ie: cowardly; faint-hearted; timid] in undertaking things of great virtue. Another characteristic of his "wonderfully gracious" manners was his custom of asking his subjects for their opinions in various matters or problems which arose. All of this created a holy environment of serenity and joy in the relationship of the friars to their superior."
from "The Collected Works of St John of the Cross", trans. Kavanaugh & Rodriguez, ICS Publications, Washington, DC, 1979, p29

posted by Holly at 8:20 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Turning Mother's Work into Holy Work

"We must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives - that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with Him. The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will."
- Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (source unknown at this time...)

posted by Holly at 2:41 PM 2 comments

Sunday, March 11, 2007

A Dictatorship of Relativism - Affecting Mothers?

"... Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be 'tossed here and there, carried by every wind of doctrine', seems the only attitude that [our society thinks] can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires. We however, have a different goal: The Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, homily at the Mass "Pro Eligendo Romano Pontiface", St Peter's Archbasilica, 18th April 2005.

posted by Holly at 2:22 PM 1 comments

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ask Whatever You Will, and It Shall be Done...

"When God is loved, He very readily answers the requests of His lover. This He teaches through St John: If you abide in Me, ask whatever you desire and it shall be done unto you.[John 15:7] A person can truthfully call God Beloved when he is wholly with Him, does not allow his heart attachment to anything outside of Him, and thereby ordinarily centers his mind on Him... Some call the Bridegroom beloved, whereas He is not really their beloved because their heart is not set on Him... They do not obtain their request until through perseverance in prayer they keep their spirit more continually with God and their heart with its affectionate love more entirely set on HIm. Nothing is obtained from God except by love."
John of the Cross in "The Spiritual Canticle", in "The Collected Works of St John of the Cross, Trans. K. Kavanaugh & O. Rodrigues, ICS Publications, Washington D.C. 1979, p421

posted by Holly at 10:38 PM 4 comments

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Children Belong to Themselves...and to God

"Parents, teachers,educators, ministers and priests must all remember that our responsibility is not to form, change or transform young people, but to be good shepherds. Our role is not to manipulate people or to make people in our own image. We are gardeners. We put water on the seed and remember that the seed has it's own life... Our responsibility is to help people find their inner freedom. People belong to themselves before they belong to their parents. They belong to God."
Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, in "Jean Vanier, Images of Love, Words of Hope", Lancelot Press, Hansport Nova Scotia, 1991, p57

posted by Holly at 8:43 PM 1 comments

Friday, February 09, 2007

Children Are Terribly Intuitive

"A number of years ago I visited a hospital for children with severe handicaps. In the middle of the hospital ward was a television which the nurses watched while attending to the children. Children are terribly intuitive. They sense what is happening around them. These children knew the nurses were more interested in the television than in them... A person knows when he or she is valued and loved. We give value to people by the way we look at them, by the way we listen to them, by the way we touch them and care for them. We give value to them by the way we are present to them."
Jean Vanier, founder of L'arche in "Jean Vanier, Images of Love, Words of Hope" , Lancelot Press, Hantsport Nove Scotia, c1991, p11-12

posted by Holly at 3:38 PM 1 comments

Friday, February 02, 2007

Trained in the Way They Should Go...

"I am seeing children who are being raised to be children all of their lives. They are being trained, but not in the way they should go... In another twenty years, the entertainment-focused Christian youth of today will be the entertainment-focused adults who act much like they did in their teen years... If the years of one's youth mean one fun activity or sport after another, when do children learn to enjoy work? Must our children always have great fun while being educated? Will it spoil their childhood if they don't have lots of playtime?... The essence of Proverbs 22:6 is that we reap what we sow."
Steven Maxwell in "Preparing Sons, to provide for a single-income family", Communication Concepts Inc, USA, c2001, p53-54

posted by Holly at 6:53 PM 3 comments

Friday, January 12, 2007

Holiness Thru the Very Performance of Our Tasks...

"Laymen should make such use of these helps [prayer, sacraments & liturgy] that, while meeting their human obligations in the ordinary conditions of life, they do not separate their union with Christ from their ordinary life; but through the very performance of their tasks, which are God's will for them, actually promote the growth of their union with him. This is the path along which laymen must advance, fervently, joyfully, overcoming difficulties with prudent patient efforts. Family cares should not be foreign to their spirituality, nor any other temporal interest; in the words of the Apostle: "Whatever you are doing, whether speaking or acting, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to the Father through him" (Col 3:17)"
Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem, 18 November 1965, #4a

posted by Holly at 11:01 PM 1 comments

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Suffering and Sanctity

"My children must take heart in remembering the lives of my saints who endured all manner of trials for the love of Me and my most holy Church. Indeed, it must be this way in order for you to truly follow in My footsteps. Carrying the cross is meant to be difficult in order for it to bear much fruit. The degree of your suffering will indicate the degree of the sanctity you are attaining through grace..."
Apostolate of Holy Motherhood, The Riehle Foundation, Ohio, 1991, p64

posted by Holly at 11:01 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

The Old "I Don't Have Time" Excuse :-)

" "I don't have time." Oh, how often I've heard this one. Listen folks, if you sleep eight hours a night, you have sixteen waking hours a day. Subtract eight hours for working and two for eating and hygiene and you still have six hours left. In those six hours, there is no way you can't find half an hour for exercise. For other things that are important to you, you simply find or make time, and this should be the same... "I'm too lazy." This is usually the real reason, and I can hardly criticize you with a straight face, since for much of my life, I've been guilty myself..."
Dr. Robert C. Atkins, MD in "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution", Avon Books, a division of Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2002, p289

posted by Holly at 3:19 PM 1 comments

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Setting Fire to Dry Prayer...

"...St Teresa [of Avila]... emphatically insisted that the primary need for beginners [to further their prayer life] was not to find the ideal *method**, but to do God's will from moment to moment throughout the day... "The whole aim of any person...should be that he work and prepare himself with determination and every effort to bring his will into conformity with God's will... It is the person who lives in more perfect conformity who will receive more from the Lord and be more advanced...This King doesn't give Himself but to those who give themselves entirely to Him." " (emphasis mine)
St Teresa of Avila, as quoted in Fr Thomas Dubay's "The Fire Within", Ignatius, San Francisco, 1989, p112*

posted by Holly at 10:43 PM 1 comments

Sunday, November 26, 2006

But I Don't Want To...

"When you think of the word discipline, what comes to mind? For many it is an overdemanding teacher or a controlling parent. Try to set aside that notion of discipline and think of the discipline an athlete freely chooses to bring the best out of himself or herself...
"The problem is that we don't want discipline. We want someone to tell us that we can be happy without discipline. But we can't. In fact, if you want to measure the level of happiness in your life, measure the level of discipline in your life. The two are directly related.
"Think about it. Americans spend $30 billion [each] year on diet products. The only diet most of us need is a little bit of discipline. But we don't want discipline... We want someone to get on television and tell us if we take this little pill twice a day we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want, and as much as we want, and still look like supermodels. It is another of the great myths of our modern popular culture, the idea that we can be happy without discipline. It's a lie, it's a myth, it's an illusion, and somewhere deep inside, we know that."
Matthew Kelly in "The Seven Levels of Intimacy", A Fireside Book, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2005, pp60, 62-63.

posted by Holly at 1:22 PM 3 comments

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Just Listen to Jesus...

"But how can we become saints, friends of God? An initial response to this question is this: To be saints it is not necessary to perform extraordinary deeds and works, nor is it necessary to possess exceptional charisms. But this only tells us what sainthood is not. The positive answer is that to become a saint it is above all necessary to listen to Jesus and then to follow him and not lose heart in the face of difficulties."
Benedict XVI's Homily for All Saints' Day; "Holiness Demands a Constant Effort", Vatican City Nov. 1, 2006
http://www.zenit.org/english/

posted by Holly at 9:44 AM 1 comments

Friday, October 27, 2006

Relationship Building...

"Relationship building is an end in itself... The starting point and the primary goal in all our connections with [our] children ought to be the relationship itself, not conduct or behavior... "When I look at how I speak with my daughter, most of the time it's to get her to do something, or to teach her something, or somehow to change her behavior. It's rarely about just being together and enjoying her." "
Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate, in "Hold On To Your Kids", Ballantine Books, New York, c2004, p180-181

posted by Holly at 3:54 PM 1 comments

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Mortifying Fear...

"The greatest weakness in an apostle is fear. What gives rise to fear is lack of confidence in the power of the Lord."
Cardinal Wyszyñski in "Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way" by Pope John Paul II

posted by Holly at 3:26 PM 2 comments

Friday, October 06, 2006

Seeking Tranquility...

"The enemy of tranquility in the hearts of God's people is confusion. A confused person cannot think straight. Today we have a tremendous number of confused Christians... How does one get confused? By allowing disorder to enter one's mind and heart. How does one get 'unconfused'? By seeking first the order of the kingdom. This means taking time out from activity, from even 'doing good', and entering into the great silence of the Lord. Alone in that silence, bible in hand, slowly the terrible noise inside us will die, and the voice of God will be heard. The [Scriptures]...are another incarnation of Christ, [which] will speak to us in depth, and we shall clearly see which are the first items on our agenda. Unless we do this, it is to be feared that we shall be drowned in our own inner noise..."
Catherine Doberty in "The Gospel Without Compromise", Ave Maria Press, Indiana, 1976, pp40-41

posted by Holly at 2:10 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

To Consciously Impose Order on Our Lives

"When there are lots of things to do you have to establish priorities, to get organised. Many difficulties stem from downright disorder. There are women who do hundreds of things and all of them well because they are well organised and have courageously imposed order on all their work. They know how to concentrate at each moment on what they have to do, without getting worried about what is round the corner, or what they might have been able to do before. Others are overwhelmed by all that there is to do, and because they are overwhelmed, they do nothing."
From: Conversations with Msgr. Jose Maria Escrivá de Balaguer, no. 88
Jose Maria Escriva's Writings

posted by Holly at 4:27 PM 1 comments

Monday, August 28, 2006

On Marital Submission...

{referring to Ephesians 5:21-32 Women, submit to your husbands...}:

"Reading Paul's words with modern eyes, one immediately sees a difficulty. Paul recommends to husband that they "love" their wives (and this is good), but he also recommends to women that they be submissive to their husbands, and this -- in a society strongly (and justly) conscious of the equality of the sexes -- seems unacceptable... On this point St. Paul is conditioned in part by the mentality of his age. However, the solution is not in eliminating... the word "submission," but, perhaps, in making it mutual, as love must also be mutual... not only must husbands love their wives, but wives must also love their husbands. Not only must wives be subject to their husbands, but also husbands to their wives, in mutual love and mutual submission.

In this case, to be subject means to take into account the wishes, opinion and sensitivity of one's spouse; to discuss, not to decide on one's own; to be able to give up one's own point of view. In short, to remember that both are "spouses," that is, literally, persons who are under "the same yoke," freely chosen. The Apostle gives Christian spouses as model the relationship of love that exists between Christ and the Church, but he explains immediately in what such love consisted: "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her." True love is manifested in "giving" oneself to the other."
Fr Raniero Catalamessa, preacher to the Pontifical Household, 25 August 2006, as quotes at http://www.zenit.org/english/

posted by Holly at 4:26 PM 1 comments

Monday, July 31, 2006

Immersing Ourselves in Our Motherhood...

"I wish for the apostolate of motherhood to begin very soon... [Mothers] will rise to holiness through this means(:)
They will learn to offer up their daily duty in a most efficacious way and help to atone for much of the sin in the world. They will learn to use their time wisely and it will be well spent in prayer, not superficial or superfluous prayer, but prayer that will pierce the Heart of [Jesus] because of it's genuineness and love. They will love their children and their husbands and their homes above all else except God... and they will be shining examples to all those around them. Their interest will be in the home, and they will not seek to aspire to anything except perfection in this most noble way. They will put their children far before themselves and all others, and they will love their husbands deeply in a holy Christian love. They will love the Church and seek to do all for the salvation of souls...They will work for peace by their example and prayer, but not through activism which would detract from the purity of their vocation... They must be self-sacrificing examples and models of love and kindness to all whom they meet."
Apostolate of Holy Motherhood, Riehle Foundation, Milford, OH, 1991, pp33-34

posted by Holly at 8:54 AM 12 comments

Friday, July 28, 2006

The Mature Response vs the Emotional Reaction...

"Look at the word responsibility - "response-ability" - the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people... do not blame circumstances, conditions or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling... The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people are driven by values - carefully thought about, selected and internalized values."
Stephen R. Covey, in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic", Simon and Schuster Publishers, NY, 1989, p71-72

posted by Holly at 6:51 PM 3 comments

Monday, July 17, 2006

The Greatest Enemy - A Divided Heart...

"The greatest enemy of any vocation is a divided heart. Yet, how many parents have a "whole heart?" Or to put it another way, how many parents are wholeheartedly occupied with and concerned about fulfilling this vocation of theirs, as it should be filled - by serving God through it? If they were so concerned, then problem children, problem youth, and marital problems would almost vanish and, as the parents grew in holiness - which is love - these problems would vanish indeed. What do I mean by a divided heart?...I simply mean trying to straddle what cannot be straddled..."
Catherine de Hueck Doherty in "Dear Parents: A Gift of Love For Families", Madonna House Publications, Combermere Ontario, Canada, 1997, p2

posted by Holly at 10:40 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

We Must Do Our Part...

"As my humble, faithful and daily motherly action in the little and poor house of Nazareth made possible the fulfillment of the Father's plan, which was realized in the human growth of the Son... so too I am calling you to second the plan of the Father, which is being realized through your human collaboration and by means of your daily work. You must do your part, as the Heavenly Father does his. Your action must be espoused to that of divine providence..."
To The Priests: Our Lady's Beloved Sons, Fr Stephano Gobbi, 18th English Edition, USA, 2000, ##358l-m

posted by Holly at 11:55 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Renouncing Unwillingness & Murmuring...

"...what is commanded is to be done, not fearfully, tardily, nor coldly, nor with murmuring, nor with an answer showing unwillingness, for the obedience...is given to God..."
St Benedict at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10459a.htm

posted by Holly at 10:52 PM 2 comments

Monday, June 05, 2006

Do Not Be Ashamed...

"Part of the littleness of [St.] Benedict's Rule is how mundane it is.... sixteen chapters deal with minutiae like: how the monks should sleep, how much food and drink they should have, when they should eat, what their clothing and footwear should be like, and how they should use the tools of their monastery. The Rule deals with how kitchen work should be done, how boys should be disciplined, and who should look after those in the infirmary.This hardly sounds like one of the most exalted spiritual texts of all time; but it is in this attention to ordinary detail that Benedict is showing the heart of his little Rule. By focusing on the mundane matters of everyday life Benedict points to a deeper truth: that these details are the stuff of reality, and that by paying attention to the details of ordinary life we will find our way to heaven..."
Dwight Longenecker in "St Benedict and St Therese: The Little Rule and the LIttle Way", Indiana, Our Sunday Visitor Press, 2002.

posted by Holly at 8:24 AM 3 comments

Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Two Great Temptations: Feeling Overwhelmed and Being Distracted

"We should not want to practice many exercises [or changes] at the same time and all of a sudden .. The enemy often tries to make us attempt and start many projects so that we will be overwhelmed with too many tasks and therefore achieve nothing and leave everything unfinished...
Sometimes he even suggests the wish to undertake some excellent work that he foresees we will never accomplish. He does not care how many plans and beginnings we make, provided nothing is finished. Very often, the evil one deludes us, and to distract us from achieving some good, he proposes another that seems better. After we have started the second one, to divert us from completing it, he presents us with a third.
Among Christians, it is not so much the beginning as the ends that counts. As soon as we have deliberated and resolved [upon something]- in this and every other matter which concerns God's service - we must be firm and unchanging - we must never let ourselves be shaken by any show whatsoever of a greater good.
St Francis de Sales in Finding God's Will For You, SOphia Institute Press, Manchester, NH, 1998, selections pp52-54

posted by Holly at 12:03 AM 2 comments

Friday, February 03, 2006

The Peace Which Eludes Us...

"...One can know reality [objective truth] , but remain at odds with it by failing to interiorize it...but such a person lives an illusion in which peace eludes him. For a person to be at peace with himself and the world, he must not only know the truth, he must interiorize it, feel it, experience it, and freely embrace it as his own. To do so, he must trust the truth wholeheartedly, to have an impassioned love for the objective good and abandon himself to it fearlessly. This is only possible if truth is perfect love, which is only possible if truth itself is a perfect person. Truth is. Truth's name is Jesus Christ."
Christopher West in "Theology of the Body Explained", Pauline Books & Media, Boston MA, 2003, p42-43

posted by Holly at 1:09 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

"And their love will grow cold..."

"The violence against persons that offends our moral sensibilities can be...[subtle]. Everyone knows the experience of encountering other persons only under the aspect of how they intersect with our projects, and of noticing them only insofar as we have to notice them in order to interact with them as we pursue our goals. But from time to time we realize more keenly that the other with whom we are dealing is a person, and then we feel the irreverance and the arrogance of our attitude. We become aware of a certain violence with which we have been treating other persons; we realize we have to draw back and grant them a space in which to be themselves as persons, and that we have to cease seeing them exclusively in relation to our projects."
Dr John F Crosby, in "The Selfhood of the Human Person", The Catholic University Press of America, Washington, DC, 1996, p13

posted by Holly at 8:58 PM 1 comments

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Crossing the Threshold of Hope

"The 'signs of the times' show that we stand at a critical moment in the human drama. The many negative factors of today's world can breed pessimism. But John Paul II insists that "this feeling is unjustified: we have faith in God our Father and Lord and in his mercy... God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see it's first signs." Humanity must now cross the 'threshold of hope'. We must now 'passover' from a culture of death to a culture of life. And only in this context will we understand JPII's Theology of the Body."
Christopher West, "Theology of the Body Explained", Pauline Books & Media, USA, 2003, p1-2

posted by Holly at 4:25 PM 4 comments

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Catholic Formation of our Children is a "Personal Encounter"

"...[we need to] to devote ever greater attention to the education of young people in the faith. We know that [this education] is not only a matter of didactics, of perfecting methods of transmitting knowledge, but also has to do with an education based on the direct, personal encounter with the person, on witness - that is, on the authentic transmission of faith, hope and charity and the values that directly derive from these - from one person to another. Thus, [Catholic education] is an authentic meeting with another person who should first be listened to and understood. JohnPaul II was a perfect model for us of this encounter with the person."

Pope Benedict XVI, Ad limina Address to Polish Bishops Saturday, 26 November 2005 - as quoted in L'Osservatore Romano N.49 - 7 Dec 2005, p5

posted by Holly at 3:52 PM 1 comments

Monday, November 28, 2005

Possessions & Spiritual Bonding

"...for us wounded human beings, possessing [something] imperceptibly slips into [our] being possessed. No sooner do I have a watch of some quality than I begin to be reluctant to part with it, even if someone needs it more than I do. This means that it, a mere thing, has taken a hold on my heart. It is not only the miser who is possessed by his money. He is merely a stong case of all of us... One of the most rapid ways to upset a man is to suggest that he ought to part with the superfluous material things he enjoys. Rare too is the woman who takes readily to the idea that her jewellry or extensive wardrobe should be disposed of for the benefit of the poor. Having wealth is damaging to the pursuit of the kingdom becuase the very having does something to one's inner life, one's very ability to love God for his own goodness and others in and for him..."
Fr Thomas Dubay, in "Happy Are You Poor: The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom", Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2003, p59

posted by Holly at 8:21 AM 3 comments

Friday, November 25, 2005

Recognizing Sloth in Our Lives

"Sloth in general... is a voluntary and culpable repugnance to work, to effort, and consequently a tendency to idleness, or at least to negligence... Sloth is not the languor or torpor in action which comes from poor health; it is an evil disposition of the will and of the sensible appetites, by which one fears and refuses effort, wishes to avoid all trouble... It has often been remarked that the slothful man is a parasite, who lives at the expense of others, as tranquil as a woodchuck when he is undisturbed in his idleness, and ill-humored when an effort is made to oblige him to work. This vice begins with unconcern and negligence in work, and manifests itself by a progressive dislike for all serious, physical and mental labor.

When idleness affects the accomplishment of the religious duties necessary to sanctification, it is called acedia... It is an evil sadness: opposed to spiritual joy, which is the fruit of generosity in the love of God. Acedia is a disgust for spiritual things, a disgust which leads one to perform them negligently, to shorten them, or to omit them under vain pretexts. It is the cause of tepidity.

This sadness, which is radically opposed to that of contrition, depresses the soul and weighs it down because it does not react as it should. Then it reaches a voluntary disgust for spiritual things, because they demand too much effort and self-discipline. Whereas devotion, which is the promptness of the will in the service of God, lifts the soul up, spiritual sloth weighs down and crushes the soul and ends by causing it to find the yoke of the Lord unbearable and to flee the divine light, which reminds it of its duties. St. Augustine says: "Light which is so pleasant to pure eyes, becomes hateful to infirm eyes which can no longer bear it."

This depressing sadness, the result of negligence, and this disgust, which is at least indirectly voluntary, are quite different from the sensible or spiritual aridity which, in divine trials, is accompanied by true contrition for our sins, by fear of offending God, by a keen desire for perfection, by a need of solitude, of recollection, and of the prayer of simple gaze."

from "The Three Ages of the Interior LIfe" by Fr Garrigou Lagrange, Online book found at
http://www.christianperfection.info/tta41.htm#bk2

posted by Holly at 10:01 AM 1 comments

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Toward Spouse and Children...

"Any bitterness or bad temper or anger or shouting or abuse must be far removed from you - as must every kind of malice. Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ... take Him as your pattern, and follow Christ by loving as He loved you, giving Himself up for us...."
Ephesians 4:31-5:1a

posted by Holly at 1:07 PM 2 comments

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Fidelity in the Little & the Great...

"If you stand firm, if you are faithful , whether your task is 'small' or 'large', you will bear much good fruit in the world, though it will not be on your own terms. The concept of small and large, great and insignificant, is generally skewed in modern thinking, and we must admit that these measurements often infect believers as much as non-believers... But [what is] great and small? If we pay attention to everything Christ has taught us, the great is not necessarily what we think of as great by human standards, nor is the small. Greatness has nothing to do with having one's name on a book cover or one's presence being felt in the forums of the world. Genuine greatness may be to labor at humble and humiliating tasks unnoticed by anyone other than God himself. Such tasks put to death within us the core of selfishness in human nature. Indeed, a lifetime of hiddenness, of anonymity and of being considered to be of little or no consequence, if lived in union with Christ, will lead you to a day when you pass through the gates into Paradise and find, to your astonishment, that you are great in the eyes of the Father. "

Michael O'Brien, Catholic author & artist, in "Are We Living in Apocalyptic Times?" , http://studiobrien.com/site/index.php? , 20 September 2005.

posted by Holly at 7:45 PM 1 comments

Monday, October 10, 2005

Conformity to the Divine Will

"Through conformity to the Divine Will, we unite our will to that of Jesus Christ whose food was to do the will of His Father. Like Jesus and with Jesus we desire but what He wills and that, all day long. This is the fusion of two wills. We are one with Him, we adopt his views, His sentiments, His choices... and soon, we can make our own the word of St Paul: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."
Fr Adolphe Tanquerey, in the Spiritual Life, Desclee & Co Publishers, Tournai Belgium, 1931, p241-242

posted by Holly at 10:30 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

A Happier & Holier Life

"If nothing changes, nothing changes..."

Profound words of wisdom from a friend of mine, Joe

posted by Holly at 9:21 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Real Holiness for the Sake of Our Children

"Those who have to educate...must themselves be striving for some higher excellence, and must believe and care deeply for the things they teach. For no one can be educated by maxim and precept; it is the life lived and the things loved and the ideals believed in by which we tell [what is important].... If we want [to see in our children] integrity of character, steadiness, reliability, courage, thoroughness, all the harder qualities that serve as a backbone, we , at least, make others want them also, and strive for them by the power of example... not set as a deliberate good example, for that is as tame as precept; but the example of the life that is lived, and the truths that are honestly believed in."

Janet Erskine Stuart, in "The Education of Catholic Girls", Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1911, pp38

posted by Holly at 8:32 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

For Only 15 Minutes a Day...

We complain because God is silent; we get discouraged because He isn't helping us; We go the wrong way for what seems like a lack of grace...

But how would you like to be given special graces just when you need them? To have guaranteed protection from heaven for you and your family life - protection from demonic temptation, from vices, from sin and heresy? To be specially helped by God in all you do, and to have all your most important needs met just because you asked? For only 15 minutes a day....

posted by Holly at 10:25 AM 2 comments

Sunday, July 31, 2005

In a Silent Heart God Whispers...

"We live in an age that is activist, filled with endless noise. I wouldn't call this age so much "the nuclear age" or "the computer age" as I would call it "the age of noise". We live under a constant bombardment of the mind, and of the very cells of our flesh, by all the sources of noise in our world... There is simply too much stimuli and information pouring in all the time... There is not enough silence in our own hearts. We are busy about many urgently needed tasks: heroic tasks, holy tasks, often prophetic tasks... And so the temptation or the tendency grows, to become busier and busier, to do more, and more, and more..."

Michael O'Brien, at http://studiobrien.com, Talk Transcript from National Pro-Life Convention, Toronto, 25-27 Nov 1999: "Saving Lives-Saving Souls: A Spiritual Strategy for the Third Millenium"

posted by Holly at 10:49 AM 1 comments

Friday, July 29, 2005

Don't Give in to Discouragement

"Don't give in to discouragement...If you are discouraged, it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own powers. Never bother about people's opinions. Be humble and you will never be disturbed. It is very difficult in practice because we all want to see the result of our work. Leave it to Jesus..."

Mother Teresa in "Total Surrender", Ed. Bros Angelo Devananda, Michigan, Servant Publications, 1985, p119

posted by Holly at 9:28 AM 1 comments

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Our Mothering Work Is His...

"Never do the work carelessly...Remember, the work is His. You are [God's] co-worker. Therefore, He depends on you for that special work. Do the work with Him, and the work will be done for Him. The talents God has given you are not yours - they have been given to you for your use, for the glory of God. You may feel very bad, but feelings are not the measure of our love for Christ. It is our will and our work that matters. Be great, and use everything in you for the good Master..."

Mother Theresa in "Total Surrender", Ed. Bros Angelo Devananda, Michigan, Servant Publications, 1985, p119-120

posted by Holly at 9:38 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Work, Messy Homes & Complaining Kids...

"All around us we see the fruits,the evidence of work...Wherever we look, everything is the fruit of some work. If we take even the smallest sector of life, we see how progress has come through work. This very progress opens up new fields of activity. The job that we have already done makes the next one possible and makes its performance easier. The further we proceed with it, the quicker, the more skillful, fruitful and useful it becomes. We work more but we do it with greater ease."

Stephan Cardinal Wyszynski, in "All You Who Labor: Work and the Sanctification of Daily Life", New Hampshire, Sophia Institute Press, 1995, pp9-10

posted by Holly at 1:08 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

True Peace of Heart & Life

"Whether I know myself or not, whether I like my life or not, I and my life will be judged on one single issue of conformity. Am I one with God's will? ... Wanting what God wants is the only true peace, the only happiness worth having. If I want to be someone whom God has not thought of as me, I am heading away from true happiness and peace. I am heading away from my true self."
Dom Hubert Van Zellar, "How to Find God and Discover Your True Self in the Process", New Hampshire, Sophia Institute Press, 1957/1998, pp22-23

posted by Holly at 3:08 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Taking Time and Having Patience

[Difficulties] "in your personality make it difficult for you to achieve the order you would like to observe in your daily behavior...Though you may know better, you are inclined to act worse in order to relieve yourself from uneasiness, stress or frustration of the moment...Your main conflict will be within yourself rather than with others. It will be between your old, established undesireable habits and your new, desireable, but still weak motivations. Though God's grace is always at your disposal, you will still need time, practice and experience to establish new habits. Failure will be part of this experience..."
Fr Anthony Paone, SJ, in "My Daily Life", Brooklyn:Confraternity of the Precious Blood, 1970, pp169-170

posted by Holly at 9:34 AM 1 comments

Monday, May 16, 2005

"Let Thy Will be Done, Not Mine..."

"True union [with God] can very well be reached, with God's help, if we make the effort to obtain it by keeping our wills fixed on that which is God's will... Oh, how desirable is this union with God's Will! Happy the soul that has reached it! Such a soul will live tranquilly in this life and in the next as well... Oh, how many of us there are who will say we do this, and it will seem to us that we don't want anything else and that we would die for this truth, as I believe I have said! Well, I will tell you... that if what you say is true you will have obtained this favor [union] from the Lord..."

St Teresa of Avila in "The Interior Castle" in "The Collected Works of St Teresa of Avila Vol II" , Washington, DC, ICS Publications, 1980, p349

posted by Holly at 8:49 AM 5 comments

Monday, April 25, 2005

How To Change Bad Habits - Part Two

"A right philosophy of life is needed to complete the work, for evil habits cannot be overcome by the will alone; love is required as well. No alcoholic is cured until he finds something to value more highly than the attractions of alcohol. No other evil is renounced until the sinner finds some positive good he prizes above his sin... Evil habits are not driven out by our hate of them (for we do not always hate them properly). They are crowded out by the love of something else... [and] the new love that takes possession of us must be bigger than ourselves... for it is ourselves which need amendment."

Fulton Sheen, in "Way to Happiness", Greenwich Conn., Crest Book, 1961, p165

posted by Holly at 9:07 PM 1 comments

Friday, April 22, 2005

How to Change Bad Habits... Part One

"I have a bad temper," or... "I am lazy" are familiar complaints from those who still believe that nobility of character is an important goal. They would not make such admissions if they did not have a strong desire to break the chain of evil habits. They can realize this desire - any bad habit can be broken. But getting free of it requires 4 things:

1. Introspection - is necessary in order that we shall isolate the habit and see it clearly as sin...

2. Avoiding the Occasions of sin - keeping out of the situations that lead up to trouble

3. An Act of Will - we have acquired bad habits only... by a consent of the will, until they became automatic and perhaps even unconscious. To master them, we must reverse the process and use the will to break their automatic functioning

Quoted and paraphrased: Fulton J Sheen, in "Way to Happiness" , Greenwich Conn., Crest Book, 1961, p164-165

posted by Holly at 8:10 AM 1 comments

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