Voice of Wisdom

I will remember how St. Peter, at a blast of wind, began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I will do as he did:  Call upon Christ and pray to him for help.  And then I trust he will place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.

~Saint Thomas More~

~~~*~~~

If it is true for Saint Peter and St. Thomas More, it will be no different for me.  I too will be lifted up and emboldened.  I will see that all things are possible for those who believe and I will believe.  I will hope!!!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Thought For the Day

In our daily work, let us practice charity, affection, and humility through the accomplishment of our normal duties, and then let us come to the feet of Jesus with all that.  He will know how to see all, to accept all, and will transform what needs to be improved in us.  

~~Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur~~

So today, I will try to make myself more aware of those around me.  When it is easy to be uncharitable towards another let me respond with kindness and generosity.   And in so doing I will be open to the changes required in me! 

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton

This is one of the most recent reflections I have used this Advent Season and I want to share it with you.   It comes from the book, Advent and Christmas, Wisdom from G. K. Chesterton edited by The Center for the Study of . S. Lewis and Friends.

It is commonly in a somewhat cynical sense that Men have said, "Blessed is she that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed."  It was in a wholly happy and enthusiastic sense that Saint Francis said, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall enjoy everything."  It was by this deliberate idea of starting from zero, from the dark of nothingness of his own deserts, that he did come to enjoy them.  

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

The Gift of God

This is what I have seen to be good.  It is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the tois with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is ou lot.  Like wise all to whom God give wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil--this is the gift of God.  For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives,because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

Prayer

Lord, our days are short, but we have done nothing to deserve even the few years of live that you give us.  Teach is to be grateful for small things--food and drink and work--by remembering you servant Saint Francis, who truly expected nothing and enjoyed everything he had.

Advent Action

Each time you sit down to eat today, pause a little long than you normally do.  Meditate on the words from Ecclesiastes,  "it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment."  allow yourself to fill with thanks, to be thank-full.

May you all continue to enjoy this  Holy Season and may your Christmas be one of happiness and thanksgiving to our Creator who loves us without end!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

This and other books in this series Advent and Lent are published by Liguori.

Simply Profound!

 Saint Meinrad Archabbey

February, 2010

Simple, yet profound.

A single opinion cannot overturn the unanimous tradition of the
whole Church, which has spread to the ends of the earth.
~Saint John of Damascus~

This is the Church that has the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit as its guide!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Advent Offering Today

Winter, 2009

I want to share with you this Christmas Novena sent to me by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

It is said that this novena was traditionally prayed 15 times a day from the Feast of Saint Andrew, the
Apostle, November 30, until Christmas.  Praying it along with my other prayers seems a reasonable way to incorporate this into my Advent devotions.  And as it was offered to me so I offer it to you.

Hail and blessed be

The hour and moment 

In which the Son of God

was born of the
Most pure Virgin Mary,

At midnight, in Bethlehem,

In the piercing cold.

I beseech Thee, 

O my God, 

To hear my prayers and

grant my desires,

[there mention your request]

Through the merits of 

Our Savior Jesus Christ,

and of His Blessed Mother.

Amen.

Wishing you all a grand day and may all your prayers be fulfilled in their asking!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Advent, the Journey

The Journey Begins on Page ONE

It is a grand time of the year.  Again I am offered a chance to reflect on the past and pursue the future in the celebration of Advent.  One of the books I like to use during this season is Advent and Christmas ~Wisdom from G. K. Chesterton, edited by the Center for the Study of C. S. Lewis and Friends.

It is currently said that hope goes with youth, and lends to your its wings of a butterfly; but I fancy that hope is the last gift given to man, and the only gift not given to youth...But the power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged; God has kept that good wine until now.  IT is from the backs of the elderly gentlemen that the wings of the butterfly should burst.

Charles Dickens: Last of the Great Men

G. K. Chesterton

It is a great source of inspiration and it challenges me to actively enter into the season.  This is a season of hope and that is what I have found to be most important to me of late.  And so it is that I look to  Advent seeing it as a season full of Hope.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

The Rosary

The rosary is my favorite prayer.  A marvelous prayer!  Marvelous in its simplicity and in its depth.  In the prayer we repeat many times the words that the Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel, and from her kinswoman Elizabeth.  (Address, Rome, 1978) ~~Pope John Paul II, His Essential Wisdom, Edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi

 ~~~^j^~~~

My favorite prayer too.  

Thanks be to God!