Merry Christmas

Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the bosom of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ.~~Saint Paul of the Cross

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Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks be to God!  

Cathy

His Holy Will

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Let us adore the designs of this good master and be resigned to his holy will.

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin

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Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Jesus Has Time...

Jesus always has time;

he is always ready to listen to us.

~Saint Mother Theodore~

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Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy 

Season of Advent

Advent is a time of expectation. . .As the season for commemorating Christ's birth approaches something stirs in us, something deep and profound, as if we are expecting a great miracle.  ~~Catherine Doherty

And so we are.  Enjoy this season of anticipation, expectation and joy!  Celebrate Advent!!!

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy 

Poverty

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Recipe for life

Love infinitely the most sweet Lord Jesus Christ; do everything for him alone, and spend your life in works of mercy and of love.   ~~Blessed Maria of Jesus Crucified Petkovic

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy 

Endless Love

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Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures.  It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home.~~Saint Rose of Viterbo

I read this verse and look at the picture and can imagine the endless love God has for us all.  Endless love!!! 

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Thanks be to God

Cathy

Making A House A Home

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To offer a home to the homeless Christ, start by making your own homes places where  peace, happiness and love abound, through your love for each member of your family and for your neighbors.  ~~ Saint Teresa of Calcutta

It occurred to me as I read this quote that Mother Teresa was right, so very right!!!  I feel so badly for the homeless in the world!  I want to make it better for them!  I want to take them in and care for them.  But this doesn't happen just because I want to do it. 

An opportunity arose 35 years ago, during a snow storm, in Eastern Oklahoma where we lived at the time.  It was one of those storms that happens so rarely there that we were all left quite unprepared.  When we went into town to get gas for the van we found two Mexican families stranded by the side of the road.  They were traveling back to Chicago after visiting family in Mexico for Christmas.  We took them in and in the midst of this  gathering the presence of God and our Savior was truly felt.  It is such a long story that I will not go into it here but Providence did provide!!!

Truly if we had not had the peace and harmony and love in our hearts and in our home it would have been an ordeal!!!  IT WAS NOT!

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Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy 

Giving Thanks

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Know that gratitude for God's benefits is one of the riches of the soul, and that ingratitude dries up the fountain of divine graces.  Give your tribute of gratitude often to the most loving Jesus.

~~Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

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Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

Summit of Perfection

Keep your gaze fixed on the summit of perfection, where Christ awaits you. ~~Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini

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Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy 

Intimacy with God

Intimacy with the Lord is not a matter of physical kinship; rather it is achieved by cheerful readiness to do the will of God.  ~~Saint Basil the Great

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Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

The Way

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Alpacas at The Woods

When you consider creatures, and even yourself you cannot help knowing they  have not made themselves; therefore they have been made by another, more grand, more  powerful.

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Picture taken at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, 10/2/2013 of the alpacas and the babies!  Visit WhiteViolet Center for Eco-Justice at www.WhiteViolet.org.

Quiet Reflection

Words of the Fathers

If we were to think each day that we had to die that day we would never sin at all.  If in the morning we imagined that we would never last till evening, and if at evening we thought that we would never see morning, we would never sin       .~~Saint Athanasius

Words worth reflecting upon.

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy 

Monday of Passion Week

HOLY WEEK IS A SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN LIVING

The mysteries of the liturgical cycle no only bring new outpourings of the salvific waters of grace; they also enlighten our minds with insights into the ways of God, ever ancient and ever new.  They teach us more of Christ, they show us more of the meaning of our life in Him, they make us grow in Him, they transform us into Him.  Indeed, the liturgy is the great school of Christian living and the transforming force which reshapes our souls and our characters in the likeness of Christ.

By Thomas Merton

Seasons of Celebration, 53

From Lent and Easter, Wisdom from Thomas Merton

compiled by The MertonInstitute for Contemplative Living

 published by Liguori

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Palm Sunday Reflection

Saint Meinrad, IN Archabbey

Saint Meinrad, IN

Hail, Queen Wisdom!

May the Lord protect You,

with your Sister, holy pure Simplicity!...

Holy Wisdom confounds

Satan and all his cunning.

Pur holy Simplicity confounds

all the wisdom of this world

and the wisdom of the body. 

Saint Frances of Assisi,

"ASalutation of the Virtues," 164-165

From Lent and Easter, Wisdom from St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi

compiled by JohnV. Kruse, published by Liguori

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Thanks be to God!!

Cathy