Book Club::Story of a Soul
Happy Wednesday ladies! I always heard time flies when you’re having fun, but this is ridiculous…it’s already the end of January…2013! Remember when we were all realizing the world was still here and operating the end of January 2000? Anyway; it is the end of January, we are wrapping up any thoughts and reflections we have on St Therese’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul
We’re also checking in on our memorization verses, Ephesians 4:25-32. Do you remember being back in high school, writing page after page of verb conjugations so you could memorize the endings for the regular verbs or the conjugations themselves for the irregular verbs? Or maybe all the way back to elementary when we wrote our spelling words three, four, five or more times so we would have them memorized for the test? Well I do and I am going to have to resort back that practice.
I regret to inform you, I do not have my verses memorized. I could blame it on all sorts of things: nursing momma brain, sleep deprivation, lack of motivation, lack of time, or my new favorite–”Work related_____” memory loss, hearing loss, you name it. And maybe that’s some of it, but some of it has to do with priority and my Scripture memorization just did not make it to the top of that list this month.
Ouch, that looks pretty bad and felt even worse typing it out.
But I am not going to beat myself silly or let the devil do the same. I’m going to make it a priority, move it to the top of my list and catch up with you all in February.
I’m pretty sure after confessing I did not get my scripture verses memorized, you won’t be surprised to know I also did not finish the book. I know…really?! But that’s not keeping me from discussing it and it shouldn’t you either. Don’t sit there with something to share and not share it. I am positive we would benefit from your perspective. As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago my small parish had a women’s book club and I rarely read the book, but that did not stop me from attending the discussions, enjoying the company of other women and their thoughts on a book I had not read, but could still contribute to the conversation and enjoy the snacks. So please jump in and let’s learn from each other.
Even at that age I loved far-stretching views, sunlit
spaces and stately trees; in a word, all nature charmed me and
lifted up my soul to Heaven.
–St Therese the Little Flower
A few years ago I was really struggling, I mean really struggling. I called a friend, a kind soul I refer to as my soul sister. She told me to make myself a scrambled egg sandwich, go sit outside and get some sun on my legs, arms, and face. Being the piglet (and Rabbit) temperament that make me, me…I worried about skin cancer but worried more about me if I did not heed her advice. The above passage reminds me of that day. “…all nature charmed me and lifted my soul to Heaven.” I’m also reminded of a recent post by Ginny at Small Things.
There is something very beatific about placing oneself in nature.
Another brief passage, this taken from St Therese’s recollection of her mother’s death and her sister Genevieve. St Therese is speaking of herself in the third person, “…for trials had matured and strengthened her soul, so that nothing on earth could make her grieve.” Pray for me sisters; I am not there. I still cry frequently over a rough 2012 having to leave our family parish home of almost 17 years. I grieve not sitting in the pews I sat in before the baptism of each of my children. I pray this trial is maturing me and strengthening my soul for Heaven, but most days it just leaves me in a sloppy puddle of tears for being misunderstood and maligned.
And that’s why Holy Mother Church has given us these holy examples found in the saints. They were so human that we can relate and yet so pious that we strive to imitate them.
?
Which saint do you strive to imitate and why?
The next passage I wish to discuss is her description of her first confession.
Shortly after this I made my first confession. It is a very sweet memory. Pauline had warned me: “Thérèse, darling, it is not to a man but to God Himself that you are going to tell your sins.” I was so persuaded of this that I asked her quite seriously if I should not tell Father Ducellier that I loved him “with my whole heart,” as it was really God I was going to speak to in his person. Well instructed as to what I was to do, I entered the confessional, and turning round to the priest, so as to see him better, I made my confession and received absolution in a spirit of lively faith–my sister having assured me that at this solemn moment the tears of the Holy Child Jesus would purify my soul. I remember well that he exhorted me above all to a tender devotion towards Our Lady, and I promised to redouble my love for her who already filled so large a place in my heart. Then I passed him my Rosary to be blessed, and came out of the Confessional more joyful and lighthearted than I had ever felt before. It was evening, and as soon as I got to a street lamp I stopped and took the newly blessed Rosary out of my pocket, turning it over and over. “What are you looking at, Thérèse, dear?” asked Pauline. “I am seeing what a blessed Rosary looks like.” This childish answer amused my sisters very much. I was deeply impressed by the graces I had received, and wished to go to confession again for all the big feasts, for these confessions filled me with joy.
St Therese the Little Flower
The Story of a Soul
As you’ve been reading through or just picking out snippets here and there, what words of this holy and little saint have made you stop and ponder?
Let’s discuss our little saint in the comments. Share the saints you strive to imitate and why. How did you do on our scripture memory?
Our theme for February is “Home” and we will be reading Splendor in the Ordinary: Your Home as a Holy Place
(Thanks to Angela in the comments for letting us know that Hallowed Be This House: Finding Signs of Heaven in Your Home
is the reprint.) We will be memorizing 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
A New Year’s Look at a Mother’s Work
Last week, an ordinary mother not unlike you, in fact perhaps very much like you, went with one of her older children to Confession.
And when I say ‘one of her older children’ I actually mean ‘young adult’ because although the aforementioned person will always be his mother’s ‘little boy’, he is in his early twenties, lives many miles away and was only home on vacation, so he of course isn’t a child any more. And when I say ‘went with’ what I really mean is ‘took’ because while this offspring of hers practices the faith of his childhood, he may quite possibly not have chosen to go to the sacrament that day, had the mother not said she was going and suggested that he tag along and that then they could stop for coffee afterwards. She is unsure about whether he needed this nudge or not but she is his mother and loves him fiercely and has a long history of risking nagging for the sake of the greater good. So she nudged.
This young adult, of course, is quite capable of managing his personal spiritual life, yet this mother still worries whether she is doing enough to support and encourage. You see she made a promise when the son was a newborn infant- a promise to help him grow in faith in every way she knows how, with all her strength until the day she dies. And she is not dead.
On that day she made that promise, she also begged God to watch over and protect this child morally, physically, emotionally, all the days of his life, and told God she will do whatever it takes – forever- to cooperate for this intention and help accomplish this. When she invited this son to Confession despite the fact that she had gone less than a week before, she was delighted that he had accepted.
Now, the mother and son are standing in line for Confession together:
The wait is long and the line is slow and the mother is secretly worried that her son will want to leave because the wait is long and the line is slow and he is quick-thinking, quick-deciding and not unlike her, somewhat impatient. In fact, after awhile, the mother herself wants to leave because the wait is long and the line is slow.
But she doesn’t.
They stay.
As the mother stands there waiting with her son (her own impatience growing, now she has something more to confess), she catches a glimpse of the exposed Blessed Sacrament, there on the altar, also waiting…for her. And suddenly, unexpectedly, something hits her like a roaring train on the tracks of an unsuspecting small town:
He is here.
She remembers and realizes the reality of Who is there and why He is there and the significance of Him- the Son- being there …while he – her son- is there, with her.
And she recognizes the opportunity present, and has a sudden urge of inspiration to re-dedicate this child to God and renew the plea for His protection of him.
Spontaneously, she whispers in a wave of emotion:
Here he is, Lord. I brought him to You today. Pierce his heart and soul with Your Love. Give him Your grace and courage and peace and strength. Keep him close to You and help him now and always…whatever it takes from me…whatever it takes….
This mother prays these ending words whatever it takes not because she thinks that God is a punishing God who only bestows gifts only for a trade-off of pain but she prays these words because she knows He is a loving God who allows His creatures the privilege of participation, and she knows the the beauty and restorative power of redemptive suffering that occurs when one, even if just a mother, unites her suffering to His. She does not know what her son needs but she knows whatever it is, God will provide it and she offers her life –spiritual and physical- again for him.
Because God is a loving and merciful Father, the mother who helps bring forth the physical life through birth to her children- is granted too the opportunity, indeed daily is granted the opportunity, to also bring them in part, in a very small way, to the threshold of God and eternal life, mysteriously, through her cooperation and merits. She and her life can become vessels of grace again and again.
Clearly, quietly and firmly in this mother’s heart she hears an answer to her spur-of-the-moment prayer: YES.
Yes! It is distinct and profound and quiet, very still. And she feels the warmth and presence and sweetness from the altar, the dwelling place of Him and she feels her heart will burst in the significance and renewal of this moment.
Then a door closes and the mother looks up. Her son has entered the confessional. Moments later she does too.
In the days that follow, the mother contracts the flu, just as the abovementioned young adult child is about to depart on a plane back to his place of residence and work thousands of miles away. She does not hug him goodbye nor stand and look face-to-face into his eyes before he leaves, as she normally does, for fear of exposing him to her illness and fever. Instead, she stands in the door of the room, 15 feet away, as he turns with his duffle bag and she ‘air hugs’ him. He air-hugs her back. She will probably not see him for months, but she remembers that even little sacrifices like foregone hugs can contribute to the good of those she loves when she unites these actions with Christ.
The days that follow her son’s departure are full of daily mundane challenges- and the now familiar thought of noble redemptive suffering punctuates itself in another inconvenience, when this mother discovers her email has been hacked. Hundreds of people have received messages about discounted Rolex watches from her account. And because this mother didn’t catch this hacking for several days (she has been sick and offline you know) her Twitter account has also been compromised, and shut down. But she deals with these problems, as well as mountains of laundry that have amassed in her illness, patiently and carefully, not because it is in her nature, but because there is a higher reason and an intention for which to pray, and she knows that work and suffering can be prayer. There is an acceptance because there is a purpose.
When the jury selection order appears in her mailbox, on the heels of this trying week right when she is scheduled to resume homeschool with her youngest three children, and when she calls the bailiff to ask for a deferral until summer so she can meet her state’s 180 day education requirement, and when the bailiff is cold and indifferent to her plight and is in fact rude when she finds out the mother homeschools, and denies her request, the mother does not succumb to frustration in the least. Because of an encounter earlier that week, in fact, she smiles.
This mother, this ordinary mother not unlike you, in fact perhaps very much like you, thinks about the new month of January, full of promise and opportunity and new beginnings. She thinks about the sacrament of Confession and its opportunity and new beginning as well. She thinks of Him, and him, and her. And how they are all intertwined in love and sacrifice. She thinks of how acceptance can be a gift.
And this mother ponders the turn of events in the previous week, amazed at the God who allows not just her but all mothers the opportunity to be living gifts to their families. They–we are not just gifts in physical ways such as doing the laundry and preparing meals and kissing boo boos of young children. No, they–we can be gifts in large and significant ways, united-in-redemptive suffering ways, in leading-our-children-to-Christ ways.
We can be gifts to our families in eternal ways by dedicating, praying, leading, suffering, accepting, and uniting in Christ what we do. The profound can indeed be quiet. The significant can be simple. And we need to remind one another of this, as ordinary mothers. The consequences of what we do can be everlasting.
Surrender: Find God
by Elizabeth Foss
originally posted at In the Heart of My Home, November 17, 2009
Good Morning Suscipio Ladies,
You know how generous Elizabeth Foss has been in opening her archives to Suscipio. As we head into a busy and often stressful time of year, I thought her message contained in this post, Surrender: Find God, was very timely and helpful. Do not think this post is only for homeschooler, it is for each one of us as we look around instead of up. Enjoy!
As I mentioned in my Daybook this week, I’ve scrapped the idea to write about depression. Ever since I mentioned burnout last summer, I’ve been struck by the emails I’ve received from mothers who were suffering burnout and even depression. They are not the same thing, but writing about burnout often prompts readers to tell me about depression. I’ve experienced both.
What was curious about my mail this summer, though, was that much of it — most of it — was from experienced, veteran homeschool moms who were looking at a new school year and struggling to find the joy and inspiration they’d always had for this way of life. It was as if some great plague was sweeping through the homes of established home educators and putting out all the lights. Dark and foreboding, this plague threatened to extinguish a great good in our society.
I believe in spiritual warfare. I believe that the good guys and the bad guys are duking it out up there ( out there?) and that evil prowls the world for the ruin of our souls. And that evil has a vested interest in our children and their future. Where better to fight the fight than at our kitchen tables and home libraries, on our field trips and nature walks? And how better to wage war than to zap the energy and enthusiasm of the mother who is laying down her life for this grand adventure in holy, alternative education?
Indeed. The Commander of Evil had a battle plan: Put doubt and discouragement in the hearts of the experienced mothers, the mentors, the teachers. Rob them of their joy; dry up the wellspring of their gratitude.
Instinctively, we turned to prayer. How, God, did we arrive in this barren place? Show us how. Give drink to thirsty souls who, despite the discouragement of our days, do long to joyfully do your will in our homes with the children you have entrusted to us.
We saw that discouragement and burnout creeps in little by little, one sleepless night at time. We have more children now and find that big kids rob us of sleep in an altogether different but no less exhausting way as small ones. And if we are blessed to have both big and small, sleep is a stranger indeed. Sometimes, we are so tired that we don’t even recognize that it is tiredness we feel. It’s a blurred line between fatigue and despondency. We are so weary we can’t even remember why we thought that this lifestyle was a good idea in the first place.
Burnout begins to erode the rhythm of our days when our guard is down and poor habits take root. The bright, fresh resolve we had as new homeschoolers frankly gets a little tarnished around the edges. We get a little lazy. We are still working hard, but yes, if we are honest, we see sloth in the corners and crevices. It’s time to fine tune the habit training for everyone in the household, time to commit again to the principles we know to be true.
Discouragement is allowed to fill the rooms of our heart when emptiness leaves space for it. A curious thing seems to happen in the middle years of home education. Loneliness. Co-ops become much trickier to navigate because they don’t fill the needs of varied ages. Mom’s Night Out is given over to carpooling teenagers. Time alone with our husbands becomes such a precious commodity that we guard it with our lives and rarely sacrifice it for time for female fellowship. Inevitable differences in philosophies of education further separate us from each other. And so very many of our comrades choose school in the middle years. The ranks dwindle. We are increasingly alone.
What to do?
Pray.
That’s all. Find God. In the beginning, we can be carried through the challenges of this lifestyle on the shoulders of great ideas and good friends. But that’s not enough for the long haul.
Because God knows that this is our vocation and that vocation is all about becoming more like Him. He must increase. I must decrease. I must let go of my notions of magazine-cover homeschooling success. I must let go of my dreams of children growing up in a community of completely like-minded families, never to be challenged by the world or left alone by a bosom buddy. I must let go of my idea of what this is all supposed to look like. Less of me. More of Him. Until it’s all Him. We’re climbing Calvary here and it’s getting steep all of a sudden.
My prayer must be the listening kind. Not the wish list kind. What is it, God? What are you telling me?
+Let go of the failures. You see that child who did something you never thought a child of yours would do? You see that test score that is so not what you imagined? You see that house that doesn’t look at all like the one you envisioned? You see failure? I see grace. My grace is sufficient. My plan is perfect. I will take those apparent failures and in the broken emptiness, I will pour abundant grace. I will grow there. Not you.
+Don’t listen to the sideline conversation about the excellent education at the topnotch private schools, the promises of intellectual rigor and growth in virtue. Don’t hear the women talking about all the good they are doing in the world outside their homes. Don’t even incline your ear towards the glowing reports of homeschooling success. Quit comparing. Take joy-genuine joy–in knowing that others are doing God’s good work. But don’t compete. And don’t compare. I want to see you improve and you will only improve if you fix your focus on me, not them.
+Be prepared to set aside your plans. Oh, dear, I know you love those plans! They give you great pleasure, crafting them and sharing them and envisioning how they will come to life and bless your children. But be prepared– because life will happen. And your plans will be cast aside. I will force you to bend until you break. And into your brokenness, I will pour my grace. First though, you will have to be emptied and laid bare, without the crutch of your own design. My plans are bigger, better. My plans are for salvation.
+Finally, know that you will be be scorned. When you receive only reproaches and blame, when the world looks aghast at the work of your hands, if you can know that you have done my will, you will know peace. And you will know joy. Real joy. The kind that sustains you and lifts you and lights the darkness and warms the cold, tired emptiness. Do my will. Live for me. Do you trust me? Can you surrender?
Missionary Rosary
Colleen | Blessed Are the Feet
Over the past weeks, I shave been sharing about the Church’s devotions during the month of October to the Most Holy Rosary and to the missions around the world and the missionaries who serve them.
And I also have been sharing meditations for the missions rosary in which each decade is prayed for one area of the world, the needs of its people, and the Church’s missionary outreaches in that area. One decade is recited for each of the following areas: Africa, Oceania, Europe, the Americas and Asia. This week, we will continue praying that rosary, adding the meditations for the fourth decade, dedicated to Oceania.
We will also continue to pray for the missionary intention for the month, chosen by Pope Benedict XVI–World Mission Day: That the celebration of World Mission Day may result in a renewed commitment to evangelization.
World Missions Sunday was celebrated this past Sunday. You can here the Pope’s homily for Wold Mission Sunday. And this week, we celebrate the feast of Blessed John Paul II, father of the new evangelization and champion of missionary outreach. What a grace to be able to live these devotions together with the universal Church.
You can find the meditations for the earlier decades here: Africa, Americas, Europe.
And we continue with Oceania.
Fourth Decade: Oceania
Lord, bless your children living on the islands of Oceania – on the islands of Indonesia and Micronesia, in the cities and the outback of Australia, those tying up boats on the beaches of Tonga and Fiji and Samoa, and those tending sheep in the hills of New Zealand, those greetings tourists in tiny airports and big cruise ship ports and those who know nothing more than life on their little dot of earth. Let their seas teem with life and protect them from the destruction wreaked by blindness and a refusal to see how our conveniences affect the lives of others. Keep the storms at bay and the waves calm dear Father, that their islands may be havens of peace, safe from disaster. Open our ears to Your Word, Father, that the distant shores and the islands may see Your light . Send us out to islands of Oceania to bring your glory to these brothers and sisters. [tweetherder]Give us zeal for the hearts of their orphans and widows, sick and poor, refugees and lonely. [/tweetherder]Protect those who live in persecution and violence, fear of martyrdom for their faith, Sweet Savior. Let us stand by their sides ready to proclaim you at all costs. Lord, move my heart for the brothers and sisters on the islands of Oceania, real people living real lives in places that are but pencil dots on my map. Help me to pray fervently that they will all come to call you Savior and be baptized into the hope of eternal joy, and that those who already know you will be comforted and consoled by the solidarity of a universal Church. Send missionaries to stand with them where they are, Lord. To love them and walk with them and hold them. To call them friend, brother, sister, and to mean it. May You be glorified in the islands of Oceania now and forever. Amen.
• First Hail Mary: For the islands of Oceania where Christians are persecuted at risk of martyrdom
• Second Hail Mary: For the protection of the natural resources and seas surrounding the islands of Oceania
• Third Hail Mary: For the missionaries to inculturate with the native people of Oceania in genuine love and bring them the Good News
• Fourth Hail Mary: For the protection of the islands from the ferocity of their seas and for the development of infrastructure that will save lives in the event of such disaster
• Fifth Hail Mary: For the abandoned and neglected children, the lonely, the old, the sick and the imprisoned in Oceania to see a glimpse of His light rising on earth
• Sixth Hail Mary: For those on the islands of Oceania who are victims of trafficking, slavery and sexual exploitation, that God will send someone to rescue them and heal their pain
• Seventh Hail Mary: For the poor Churches in Oceania that lack a dignified place to worship Christ the Lord, that compassion may move the hearts of the American Church to provide for their needs
• Eighth Hail Mary: For those in the tourism industry on the islands of Oceania, to act with compassion, justice and social responsibility in their use of natural and human resources on the islands
• Ninth Hail Mary: For the bishops, priests and religious who serve the islands of Oceania
• Tenth Hail Mary: For many missionaries to be called forth and sent from the Australian Church to their brothers and sisters on neighboring islands who do not yet know the saving love of Christ
• After the Glory Be: Blessed John Paul second, father of the new evangelization, pray for us.
If you would like to be reminded of the beautiful faces waiting for His word at the ends of the earth to aid your meditation, you can follow Colleen’s Ends of the Earth Pinterest board.
If you would like to help Colleen as she begins a new outreach providing meaningful work for women in Costa Rica and making a lovely version of the missionary rosary available for your prayer, read more about the Blessed Zelie Martin Initiative of the St. Bryce Foundation.
Missionary Rosary Part 2 ½
Third Decade: Europe
Lord, bless your children living in Europe, in her ancient cities and rolling hills, in her icy north and her sunny south, on her islands and in her mountain ranges, in every one of her unique cultures, speaking each of her unique tongues, those with filled with an age-old faith and those searching for truth, those who want to believe and those who want to deny. Open their eyes, Lord, to your beauty in the land in which they live and your story in the history of their peoples. Bring an end to rapid rise of atheism, unbelief and hopelessness that consumes their continent, Lord. [tweetherder]Preserve the faith of those who have begun to doubt and waver, Father, and strengthen, bless, enliven those who serve you in spite of difficulty and persecution.[/tweetherder] Accompany always, Lord, those living in poverty – those who lack not only food and resources, but love, hope, faith and fellowship. Protect those who live in violence, fear, neglect and slavery, Sweet Savior. Lord, move my heart for my brothers and sisters who live in Europe. Help me to pray fervently for the faithful in Europe and those who do not yet know you, who have rejected you or who deny you in their own pain and brokenness. [tweetherder]Raise up missionaries who will give to the poor and the broken and those losing faith, Father, and not count the cost[/tweetherder], who will walk in the footsteps of earliest saints and Church fathers and preach the Gospel in season and out. Send them missionaries who will love them and offer mercy for all their pains, Merciful Heart of Jesus. May You be glorified in the Europe now and forever. Amen.
• First Hail Mary: For persecuted Christians in Europe
• Second Hail Mary: For the leaders of European nations, that they will protect the precious heritage of the faith
• Third Hail Mary: For Europe’s impoverished, abandoned, hurting and lonely
• Fourth Hail Mary: For those living in doubt, despair, apathy and darkness in Europe
• Fifth Hail Mary: For the old, the sick, the homeless and those in need of material help in Europe
• Sixth Hail Mary: For slaves and trafficking victims, prostitutes, orphans and widows in Europe
• Seventh Hail Mary: For those who preach the Good News and strive to preserve the faith in Europe, for those who live in service to Christ and those called to serve who are yet afraid to say “yes”
• Eighth Hail Mary: For the wealthy in Europe to live with their eyes, ears and hearts open to the needs of their brothers and sisters
• Ninth Hail Mary: For protection for Europe from wars, tyrants, destruction and disasters
• Tenth Hail Mary: For the conversion of hearts and the constant revitalization of the Catholic faith in Europe
• After the Glory Be: St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of missions, pray for us.
If you would like to help Colleen as she begins a new outreach providing meaningful work for women in Costa Rica and making a lovely version of the missionary rosary available for your prayer, read more about the Blessed Zelie Martin Initiative of the St. Bryce Foundation.
Photos from the St. Bryce Foundation’s work in Costa Rica.
Missionary Rosary Part 2
Colleen | Blessed Are the Feet
Last week, I shared that that the month of October is the month the Church dedicates to the Most Holy Rosary and also to remember the missions around the world and the missionaries who serve them.
And I also began sharing about the missions rosary. In this rosary, each decade is prayed for one area of the world, the needs of its people, and the Church’s missionary outreaches in that area. One decade is recited for each of the following areas: Africa, Oceania, Europe, the Americas and Asia. This week, we will continue praying that rosary, adding the meditations for the next two decades.
We will also continue to pray for the missionary intention for the month, chosen by Pope Benedict XVI–World Mission Day: That the celebration of World Mission Day may result in a renewed commitment to evangelization.
We began with Africa last week and this week move on to the Americas and Europe.
Second Decade: The Americas
Lord, bless your children living on the Americas, in every North, Central and South America and in the Caribbean islands – in the suburbs and the inner cities, in the high mountains and on sun-kissed shores, in warm family homes, in cold lonely mansions and in garbage heaps and orphanages, in the rain forests and jungles and in the streets of the cities. Show us, Lord, how to live in such a way that those who have much are always a blessing to those who have little. Bring an end to the blind consumerism and progression that oppresses and enslaves our brothers and sisters. Open our ears to Your Word, Father and our eyes to one another, help us to see how you would have us live as your children, one family. Heal the hearts of orphans, widows and refugees and find them a place to call home. Accompany always, Lord, those living in poverty – those who lack not only food and resources, but love, hope, faith and fellowship. Protect those who live in violence, fear, neglect and slavery, Sweet Savior. Lord, move my heart for the brothers and sisters who share my home. Help me to pray fervently that they will all come to call you Savior and be baptized into the hope of eternal joy, and that those who already know you will rise up to serve you will zeal. Send missionaries to the poor and the broken and those losing faith, Father, missionaries who meet them where they find them and love them, walk with them until they are home with you. And, Lord, open their ears to your calling, and raise up an army of missionaries who will bring the Good News to their next door neighbors and to the ends of the earth. May You be glorified in the Americas now and forever. Amen.
• First Hail Mary: For the nations of North America
• Second Hail Mary: For the nations of Central America
• Third Hail Mary: For the nations of South America
• Fourth Hail Mary: For the Caribbean islands
• Fifth Hail Mary: For the unborn, the old and the sick in the Americas whose lives are daily threatened by the culture of death
• Sixth Hail Mary: For slaves and trafficking victims, orphans and widows, the homeless and the hopeless in the Americas
• Seventh Hail Mary: For those who have dedicated themselves to a life of service to Christ in the Americas and for many missionaries to go out from the Americas to serve and bring the Good News
• Eighth Hail Mary: For the rich in the Americas who live in selfishness and blindness, for the rich who do not realize their wealth, for the rich who live in hopelessness, despair, addiction and pain
• Ninth Hail Mary: For protection for the Americas from natural disasters, especially the most vulnerable of her peoples
• Tenth Hail Mary: For the conversion of hearts and the constant revitalization of the Catholic faith in the Americas
• After the Glory Be: St. Francis Xavier, patron of missions, pray for us.
A Measure of Grace
Theresa::My Desert Heart
God is always ready to sustain us…with His Grace.
He understands our weaknesses and trials, our temptations and our struggles. In every one of these situations, God gives us the exact measure of grace needed to conquer…to overcome.
When we are *in the storm* so to speak…in the chaos and mess of it all, it is hard to be aware of this grace. It’s almost as if hidden from us. Nevertheless, we can be certain the grace is there.
A measure of grace is given…to complete errands after a night of insomnia.
A measure of grace is given…to restrain my temper when I want to scream at the dogs.
A measure of grace is given…to stop to chat with elderly neighbor when I am in a rush.
A measure of grace is given…to forgive my son when he has hurt me in anger.
A measure of grace is given…to spend time with daughter when I just want to be left alone.
“Do you know how to recognize in which Our Lord visits your soul? A word read or heard, perhaps even by chance, an edifying example, an interior inspiration, a new light which makes you see your faults more clearly and opens new horizons of virtue and of good–all are visits from Jesus. And you? How do you correspond? Is your soul sensitive to these lights, to these admonitions? Do you not sometimes turn your gaze away, fearing that the light you have glimpsed may ask you for sacrifices which are too painful for your self-love?
Oh! If you has always recognized the moment in which the Lord visited you! If you had always been open to his action! Try then to begin again today, resolve to commence anew each time that you happen to give into nature…your good, your sanctification, are precisely here, in this continual adherence to the impulses of grace.”
(Excerpt from Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Every Day of the Liturgical Year
by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene OCD)
Doing What We Were Supposed to Do
“You must live the life you were born to live.” -Mother Superior, The Sound of Music
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” –John 6:37-38 (NRSV)
John 6 is known most often as the chapter that contains the feeding of the five thousand (vv.1-14) and the “Bread of Life” discourse, that makes up most of the rest of the chapter, where Jesus tells the gathered crowd that He is the Bread of Life (v. 35). Since this chapter gives us a lot of Biblical evidence regarding Catholics belief in the Eucharist and Transubstantiation, I’ve read this chapter a lot, when debating with Protestants about whether or not the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ, or just a symbol. (Now, I’d use Flannery O’Connor, too: “If it’s just a symbol, to Hell with it.”)
But during my lectio this week, the verse I quoted above caught my eye. Jesus says, “I have come down from Heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”
We’ve probably all seen The Sound of Music 
Mother Superior doesn’t let her do it: “These walls were never meant to keep out problems,” she tells her. “You must live the life you were born to live.”
Just because we know what we’re supposed to do doesn’t mean we want to do it. Maria needs a good dose of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” before she heads back to the family. Jesus, in his garden agony, asks if the cup can pass from Him.
God isn’t one that hands us crosses or vocations–sometimes one in the same!–to watch us squirm like ants beneath a curious kid’s magnifying glass. We have a God who became flesh, lived among us, and died for us, who knew every facet of human experience. Later on in the Gospel of John, Jesus weeps at the tomb of his friend, Lazarus. (Jn. 11:35) He knows our weaknesses, because He lived among us, and felt those moments too.
Jesus’ love for us was so great that He did what he did not want to do. Peter would do the same thing, when he was crucified in Rome for preaching the gospel. We are probably not called to martyrdom like this, but rather, martyrdom of self. We don’t want to do it, right? We don’t want to take up the cross, take up this life. We want to do something grand and fascinating. We want to live a life of passion and great housekeeping that is House Beautiful worthy.
What we want and what God wants are not always in opposition. But what we have to do is try to transform our will to His, so we can do what He is asking for us. Because, like parents who enforce bedtimes, make kids eat their vegetables, and insist that Cocoa Puffs do not a sustainable diet make, God has our best interests at heart. He has a plan that only He can see. And even though most of the time I want a burning bush outside my door (well, OK, maybe only slightly flaming–I have neighbors) that says “Go Down Moses” (or whatever), I’m trying to reconcile myself to no burning bush or glaring apparitions. I probably just need to shut up, sit down, and read my Bible, and maybe then I’ll get the hit on the head I’m looking for.
We were all put here for a specific purpose that only we can accomplish. And God has a plan for all of us, even if, right now, we are not seeing it. (And I’ve had lots and lots of days like that.) Remembering that Jesus had these days too might help.
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