by Merry Cardinal del Val, secretary of state to Pope Saint Pius X
from the prayer book for Jesuits, 1963
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Monday, October 21, 2013
Litany of Humility
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Catch me I'm fallin'...........
Fallin' in love!!
With our return to the Church and Faith has come a newer, deeper capacity to love. Sometimes it's *almost* like I've never felt love before. I love my husband, kids, family, friends, chocolate....but once I started truly loving God, love feels even deeper. Not only that, but I get this feeling of 'falling in love' when I hear a wonderful sermon, or read an amazing Bible passage, or many other things. My heart truly feels ready to explode.
One of the first times I felt this love was at Mass. It was a warm, wrap me up, cushion my entire body kind of love. It was confusing at first; what is this feeling? I've loved, been in love, been loved...but this was different. I've had that feeling when reading Scripture, too. It's like God has personally Himself sent me a personal love letter. Next, in prayer, and then in daily life. God has given me love in all parts of it. Sometimes it's not in the form I might expect it to be, but once you open your heart, you can't dodge it. Even when I look at my children and husband, I feel this renewed joy and love. Truly, the more I give it away, the more He gives me. When I show strangers kindness, out of my love for others...He rewards me. He has rewarded me in many areas, but the true Joy is from sharing His Love.
Take the Love that He has given to you, and share it with others. Now, I don't imagine we can hug strangers, or tell them we love them; we can show it in other ways. We can be patient, kind, understanding, generous, fair, just. We can offer our place in line to the person behind us, especially if it's someone cranky or having a bad day. We can give everyone a smile. Don't let those compliments about others stay inside....tell them.
1 Corinthians 13 (NRSVCE)
The Gift of Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly,[b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 NRSVCE
For the woman whose love knew no boundaries, whose heart knew no limits; she truly loved more than I thought possible. RIP GMG 10/20/2009
With our return to the Church and Faith has come a newer, deeper capacity to love. Sometimes it's *almost* like I've never felt love before. I love my husband, kids, family, friends, chocolate....but once I started truly loving God, love feels even deeper. Not only that, but I get this feeling of 'falling in love' when I hear a wonderful sermon, or read an amazing Bible passage, or many other things. My heart truly feels ready to explode.
One of the first times I felt this love was at Mass. It was a warm, wrap me up, cushion my entire body kind of love. It was confusing at first; what is this feeling? I've loved, been in love, been loved...but this was different. I've had that feeling when reading Scripture, too. It's like God has personally Himself sent me a personal love letter. Next, in prayer, and then in daily life. God has given me love in all parts of it. Sometimes it's not in the form I might expect it to be, but once you open your heart, you can't dodge it. Even when I look at my children and husband, I feel this renewed joy and love. Truly, the more I give it away, the more He gives me. When I show strangers kindness, out of my love for others...He rewards me. He has rewarded me in many areas, but the true Joy is from sharing His Love.
Take the Love that He has given to you, and share it with others. Now, I don't imagine we can hug strangers, or tell them we love them; we can show it in other ways. We can be patient, kind, understanding, generous, fair, just. We can offer our place in line to the person behind us, especially if it's someone cranky or having a bad day. We can give everyone a smile. Don't let those compliments about others stay inside....tell them.
1 Corinthians 13 (NRSVCE)
The Gift of Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly,[b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 NRSVCE
For the woman whose love knew no boundaries, whose heart knew no limits; she truly loved more than I thought possible. RIP GMG 10/20/2009
Friday, October 18, 2013
Don't get caught up in acting Christian....
Don't get caught up in acting Christian.
Get caught up in BEING Christian.
I pulled into the driveway just as I was listening to the Divine Mercy hour on the Drew Mariani show at 3:00 PM. I love praying along with the thousands of other listeners for their intentions as well as my own.
I looked over, and there were my neighbors. I thought of rushing inside so I could get my phone charged so I could continue to listen and pray along. But as I glanced my neighbor in his neck brace, who also suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, along with his wife, who was mowing the lawn for the second time in her life, I realized that God didn't want me just to pray, or profess to be Christian. I needed to BE a Christian, which meant getting out of the car, and away from my 'wants' (even though they were prayerful and powerful), to tend to someone else.
I'm so glad I didn't miss that opportunity...I missed the prayer, but I lived His Love and Command instead. The prayer will be said after....but that moment of 'living' was more of praising Him, than it would have been to rush on inside and praying.
Get caught up in BEING Christian.
I pulled into the driveway just as I was listening to the Divine Mercy hour on the Drew Mariani show at 3:00 PM. I love praying along with the thousands of other listeners for their intentions as well as my own.
I looked over, and there were my neighbors. I thought of rushing inside so I could get my phone charged so I could continue to listen and pray along. But as I glanced my neighbor in his neck brace, who also suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, along with his wife, who was mowing the lawn for the second time in her life, I realized that God didn't want me just to pray, or profess to be Christian. I needed to BE a Christian, which meant getting out of the car, and away from my 'wants' (even though they were prayerful and powerful), to tend to someone else.
I'm so glad I didn't miss that opportunity...I missed the prayer, but I lived His Love and Command instead. The prayer will be said after....but that moment of 'living' was more of praising Him, than it would have been to rush on inside and praying.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Act of Contrition
Such a beautiful prayer. Praying it is like falling through the clouds after a tough climb to the top on a path covered by rocks which clawed and scraped you as you went through, and knowing that the Lord has you in His arms, wrapped up and safe...enjoy the ride! :)
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Hungry....
I was late for Mass last week, for circumstances beyond my control (a quick 3 hour drive turned into 4 hours due to car issues and such). I don't like being late to anything but especially Mass. We chose a different parish because of its location and the talk that was being given after Mass. I arrived 24 minutes late! OH MY!!! But surely, I was there in time for the Eucharistic Prayers....ummmm, no. Wow. But that's not what this is about. I missed the Liturgy of the Word completely.
I always thought that the 'main' portion was the Liturgy of the Eucharist portion. But I still felt somewhat like I had missed something. I am so used to receiving both the Word and Eucharist liturgies, that I hadn't contemplated one without the other. I felt incomplete, to a point. I depend on the Liturgy of the Word more than I had realized. The Eucharist fills me, but the Word prepares me. I've heard of, but never been to, 'communion services'.
I went again to Mass the next day, and again with my BFF on Wednesday. I just didn't feel complete without the full gift of Mass. I love that we have clearly defined portions of Mass.
I always thought that the 'main' portion was the Liturgy of the Eucharist portion. But I still felt somewhat like I had missed something. I am so used to receiving both the Word and Eucharist liturgies, that I hadn't contemplated one without the other. I felt incomplete, to a point. I depend on the Liturgy of the Word more than I had realized. The Eucharist fills me, but the Word prepares me. I've heard of, but never been to, 'communion services'.
I went again to Mass the next day, and again with my BFF on Wednesday. I just didn't feel complete without the full gift of Mass. I love that we have clearly defined portions of Mass.
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