QUOTES on CONVERSION – Page 12

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One Minute Reflection – 6 May – “Our first aim is to go to God…”

Posted on May 6, 2019May 6, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 6 May – Monday of the Third week of Easter, Gospel: John 6:22–29

“Do not labour for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you...”John 6:27

REFLECTION – “Someone who works frenziedly on Sundays, thinking he is going to earn more money or get more done, is making a mistake in his calculations! Can two or three dollars ever compensate for the harm he does himself by violating the law of God? You imagine everything depends on your work, but then an illness, an accident…! It takes so little: a storm, hail, frost… Do not work for food that perishes but for that which dwells in eternal life. What will you gain by having worked on Sunday? You leave the land just as it is when you depart; you do not carry anything away. Our first aim is to go to God, we are not on earth for anything but this! My brethren, we should die on Sundays and come back to life again on Mondays. Sunday belongs to God – it is His day, the Day of the Lord. He made all the days of the week and could have kept them all. He has given you six of them and has only held back the seventh for himself!”…St John Vianney (1786-1859)

PRAYER – King of heaven and earth, Lord God, rule over our hearts and bodies this day. Sanctify us and guide our every thought, word and deed, according to the commandments of Your law, so that now and forever, Your grace may free and save us. Let us walk in Your ways and be your lights and thus by our lives, help others to follow You. Grant that the prayers of our blessed Mother, the Mother of Jesus Your Son and St Francois Laval, who always lived for You alone, may help us, as we work through each day to reach our heavenly home. Through Jesus the Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.

st francois laval pray for us 6 may 2019.jpg

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One Minute Reflection – 30 April – My heart has become Your manger

Posted on April 30, 2019April 30, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 30 April – Tuesday of the Second week of Easter and the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of Africa (1840) and the Memorial of St Pope Pius V OP (1504-1572), The Pope of Lepanto

“…So that everyone who believes, may have eternal life in him”…John 3:15 jesus and nicodemus john 3 15 everyone who believes may have eternal life in him 30april2019.jpg

REFLECTION –
“My Lord, God,
You have led me by a long, dark path,
Rocky and hard.
Often my strength threatened to fail me.
I almost lost all hope of seeing the light.
But when my heart grew numb with deepest grief,
A clear star rose for me.
Steadfast it guided me- I followed,
At first reluctant, but more confidently later.

At last I stood at Church’s gate.
It opened. I sought admission.
From Your priest’s mouth Your blessing greets me.
Within me stars are strung like pearls.
Red blossom stars show me the path to You.
They wait for You at Holy Night.
But Your goodness
Allows them to illuminate my path to You.
They lead me on.
The secret which I had to keep in hiding
Deep in my heart,
Now I can shout it out:
I believe-I profess!
The priest accompanies me to the altar:
I bend my face-
Holy water flows over my head.

Lord, is it possible that someone who is past
Midlife can be reborn (Jn 3:4)?
You said so and for me it was fulfilled,
A long life’s burden of guilt and suffering
Fell away from me.
Erect I receive the white cloak,
Which they place round my shoulders,
Radiant image of purity!
In my hand I hold a candle.
Its flame makes known
That deep within me glows Your holy life.

My heart has become Your manger,
Awaiting You,
But not for long!
Maria, Your mother and also mine
Has given me her name.
At midnight she will place her newborn child
Into my heart.

Ah, no-one’s heart can fathom,
What You’ve in store for those who love You (1Cor 2:9).
Now You are mine and I won’t let You go.
Wherever my life’s road may lead,
You are with me.
Nothing can ever part me from Your love (Rm 8:39).”

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] OCD (1891-1942) Martyr

PRAYER – True Light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ, as You enlighten all men for their salvation, give us grace, we pray, to herald Your coming, by preparing the ways of justice and of peace. May the intercession of Your Mother and our Mother of Africa and St Pope Pius V, assist us on our journey to You. Who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever, amen. our lady mother of africa pray for us 30 april 2019

st pope pius V pray for us - 30 april 2019

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One Minute Reflection – 29 April – “A ray of sunlight shining on a smudgy window”

Posted on April 29, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 29 April – Monday of the Second week of Easter, Year C, Gospel: John 3:1–8 and the Memorial of St Peter of Verona OP (1205–1252)

“…that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”...John 3:6

REFLECTION – “We read in Saint John – No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. To be reborn in the Holy Spirit during this life is to become most like God in purity, without any mixture of imperfection. Accordingly, pure transformation can be effected – although not essentially – through the participation of union.

Here is an example that will provide a better understanding of this explanation. A ray of sunlight shining on a smudgy window, is unable to illumine that window completely and transform it into its own light. It could do this, if the window were cleaned and polished… The extent of illumination is not dependent on the ray of sunlight but on the window. If the window is totally clean and pure, the sunlight will so transform and illumine it, that to all appearances the window will be identical with the ray of sunlight and shine just as the sun’s ray. Although, obviously, the nature of the window is distinct from that of the sun’s ray, even if the two seem identical, we can assert, that the window is the ray or light of the sun by participation.

The soul on which the divine light of God’s being is ever shining, or better, in which it is ever dwelling by nature, is like this window. A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of creatures, by uniting its will perfectly to God’s, for to love is to labour, to divest and deprive oneself for God, of all that is not God. When this is done, the soul will be illumined by and transformed in God.”…St John of the Cross (1542-1591) Doctor of the Church

PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, grant that Your faithful people who were buried with Your Son in baptism, may by His Resurrection and intercession at Your right hand, obtain for us eternal life. Send Your Spirit upon Your adopted children and lead us in Your way. Grant that by the intercession of St Peter of Verona, our path may be straightened and glow with Your light. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen. st peter of verona pray for us 29 april 2019

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One Minute Reflection – 26 March 2018 – St Bernard – “The liquid myrrh of mercy”

Posted on April 15, 2019April 14, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 26 March 2018 – Monday of Holy Week, Gospel: John 12:1–11

Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard and with it, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment…John 12:3 john-12-3 mary ointments jesus feet.jpg

REFLECTION – “Anointing the feet of Christ with perfumed oil of compassion
I have already discussed two ointments with you – one of contrition, that takes account of numerous sins — it is symbolised by the perfumed oil with which the sinful woman anointed the feet of Lord: “the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil”, the other of devotion, that embodies numerous blessings… But there is another ointment, far excelling these two, to which I give the name, loving-kindness, because the elements that go into its making, are the needs of the poor, the anxieties of the oppressed, the worries of those who are sad, the sins of wrong-doers and finally, the manifold misfortunes of all people who endure affliction, even if they are our enemies. These elements may seem rather depressing but the ointment made from them, is more fragrant, than all other spices. It bears the power to heal, for “Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy” (Mt 5:7)

A collection therefore of many miseries, on which the eye rests with loving-kindness, represents the ingredients from which the best ointments are made… Happy the soul that has been wise enough to enrich itself with an assortment of spices such as these, pouring upon them the oil of mercy and warming them with the fire of charity! Who, in your opinion, is “the good man who takes pity and lends” (Ps 112:5), who is compassionate, quick to render assistance, who believes that there is “more happiness in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35), who forgives easily but is not easily angered, who never seeks to be avenged and in all things takes thought for his neighbour’s needs as if they were his own?

Whoever you may be, if your soul is thus disposed, if you are saturated with the dew of mercy, overflowing with affectionate kindness, making yourself “all things to all people” (1 Co 9:22) yet considering your deeds, like a discarded flask, in order to be always ready to supply to others what they need, in a word, so dead to yourself, that you live only for others — if this be you, then you possess the third and best of all ointments. Your hands have dripped with liquid myrrh that is utterly enchanting (cf Sg 5:5). It will not run dry in times of stress nor evaporate in the heat of persecution but God will perpetually “remember all your oblations and find your holocaust acceptable.” (Ps 20:4)”...Saint Bernard (1091-1153) Doctor of the Church

PRAYER – Almighty God, grant that we who are constantly betrayed by our own weakness, may draw the breath of new life from the passion and death of Your only-begotten Son. May our hands to drip with the liquid myrrh of mercy to all our neighbours and may our hearts be ever open to forgiveness. Listen, we pray, to the prayers of Your Holy angels and Saints and grant that the Blessed Virgin may guide our steps in this vale of tears. Through our Lord and Saviour, who suffered and died for us, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen. bl virgin mother of sorrows pray for us 15 april 2019.jpg

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One Minute Reflection – 11 April – So they took up stones

Posted on April 11, 2019April 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 11 April – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 8:51–59

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. ” So they took up stones to throw at him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple…John 8:58-59

REFLECTION – “The angry Jews replied, “Thou art not yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham?” And the Lord: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was made, I am.” Weigh the words and get a knowledge of the mystery. “Before Abraham was made.” Understand, that “was made” refers to human formation but “am” to the Divine essence. “He was made,” because Abraham was a Creature. He did not say, Before Abraham was, I was but, “Before Abraham was made,” who was not made save by me, “I am.” Nor did He say this, Before Abraham was made I was made, for “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;” and “in the beginning was the Word.” “Before Abraham was made, I am.” Recognise the Creator-distinguish the creature. He who spoke was made the seed of Abraham and that Abraham might be made, He Himself was before Abraham.
Hence, as if by the most open of all insults thrown at Abraham, they were now excited to greater bitterness. Of a certainty it seemed to them, that Christ the Lord had uttered blasphemy in saying, “Before Abraham was made, I am.” “Therefore took they up stones to cast at Him.” To what could so great hardness have recourse, save to its like? “But Jesus” [acts] as man, as one in the form of a servant, as lowly, as about to suffer, about to die, about to redeem us with His blood, not as He who is-not as the Word in the beginning and the Word with God. For when they took up stones to cast at Him, what great thing were it had they been instantly swallowed up in the gaping earth and found the inhabitants of hell in place of stones? It were not a great thing to God but better was it that patience should be commended than power exerted. Therefore “He hid Himself” from them, that He might not be stoned. As man, He fled from the stones but woe to those from whose stony hearts God has fled?”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor

PRAYER – Lord God, break the bonds of our sin which our weakness have forged to enchain us and in Your loving mercy, forgive Your people’s guilt. Never flee from us in our weakness O Lord and grant us Your salvation. Help us Holy Mother to be the imitators of your Son. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God for all time and eternity, amen. help us holy mother ora pro nobis pray for us 11 april 2019.jpg

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Lenten Reflection – 10 April – Do as Abraham did

Posted on April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Deuteronomy 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56; John 8:31-42

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God, this is not what Abraham did....John 8:39-40 john 8 39-40 if you were abrahams children - wedfifthweeklent 10 april 2019.jpg

Do as Abraham did

St John Chrysostom (345-407)
Doctor of the Church

Looking wholly to God’s promise and setting aside all human ways of looking at things, knowing God to be capable of accomplishments beyond nature to achieve, Abraham put his trust in the words addressed to him, he let no shadow of doubt cross his mind and did not waver as to the meaning he should give God’s words. For, it is in the nature of faith to put its trust in the power of the one who promises… God had promised Abraham that a posterity without number would be born of him. This promise exceeded the possibilities of nature and all purely human forms of perception and that is why his faith towards God “was credited him as righteousness” (Gn 15:6; Gal 3:6).

Well then, if we are on the watch, yet more wonderful promises have been made to us and we will be satisfied to an even greater extent, than human thought can dream. And for this we have only to put our trust in the power of Him who has made these promises to us, so as to merit the righteousness, that comes from faith and obtain the promised reward. For all those good things we are hoping for, far exceed all human conception and thought, so exceedingly wonderful is what we have been promised!

Indeed, these promises do not concern only the present, the flourishing of our lives and the enjoyment of visible goods but they are even more, about the time, when we have left this earth, when our bodies have become subject to corruption, when our remains have been reduced to dust. God promises us, that He will then raise them up and establish them in glorious splendour, “for that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility,” Saint Paul assures us (1Cor 15:53). More than this, after the resurrection of our bodies, we have received the promise, of enjoying the Kingdom and of obtaining, throughout endless ages, in the company of the saints, those ineffable goods that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard nor has it not entered the human heart” (1Cor 2:9). Do you grasp the superabundance of the promises? Do you grasp the greatness of these gifts?

Daily Meditation:
Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.
In our reflection, Jesus is about to face a fiery furnace,
which represents the full rejection of all our sins,
and the crushing defeat of death itself.
Praying the Stations again,
might help us grow in a sense that this is all “for me,” for my freedom.

We grow in a sense of repentance and deep sorrow.
We grow in a desire to celebrate
the glorious Light in the midst of all darkness.

Rid yourself of all your sins
and make a new heart and a new spirit.
Gospel antiphon, based upon Ezekiel 18:31

Closing Prayer:
Loving Creator,
I know in Your great love for me,
You see the deep sorrow in my heart.
Hear my prayers which are offered with such trust in You.

Be with me in both mind and heart
as I renew my life in Your spirit.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

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One Minute Reflection – 8 April – “I am the Light of the world”

Posted on April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 8 April – Monday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 8:12–20

“I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”...John 8:12

REFLECTION – “It would seem to me that the Lord’s words: “I am the light of the world” are clear enough for those with eyes that enable them to have a share in that light. But those who only have bodily eyes are astonished to hear it said by our Lord Jesus Christ – “I am the light of the world.” There may even be those who say: “Would Christ be the sun that determines the day by its rising and setting?”… No, Christ is not that. The Lord is not the created sun but Him by whom the sun was created. For “all things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (Jn 1:3). Therefore, He is the light who created the light we see. Let us love this light, understand it, desire it, that led by it we may in due course attain it and may live in it so as never to die…

So you see, my brethren, you see, if you have eyes that see spiritual things, what kind of light this is of which the Lord says: “Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness.” Follow that sun and let us see whether or not you walk in darkness. Behold how He arises and comes towards you. Following His course He makes His way westwards but you on your part, must walk towards the rising sun, the Christ.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church

PRAYER – Lord God, Your abounding grace has enriched us with every blessing. Transform us from our sinful condition to newness of life and prepare us for the glory of Your kingdom. Open our eyes to see by the light of Your Son, who always walks with us. Let us lift our eyes to Him, for even now He is preparing for us a place, in His Father’s house .Listen, we pray, to the prayers of all the angels and saints, who petition on our behalf and may our Mother Mary, keep ever close to our path. Through Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen. mater misericordiae mother of merct pray for us 8 april 2019.jpg

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Lenten Thoughts – 5 April ‘ But You God”

Posted on April 5, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 5 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

And now, my heavy laden soul,
what will you do?
You call with your lips and voice to
God most high,
God, who cares only for deeds and
is not taken in by words.
You, my soul, with a heart always turned toward Egypt,
how can I describe you?

Am I
a Sodom, to be punished likewise with destruction,
or the prosecutor of Ninevah, who was struck dumb?

Am I
more cowardly and barbarous than the
queen of the south,
lower than Canaan,
more stubborn than Amalek,
incurable as the city of idols,
a relic left behind from the rebellion of Israel,
a reminder of the broken covenant of Judah,
more reproachable than Tyre,
more shunned than Zidon,
more immoral than Galilee,
more unpardonable than faithless Capernaum,
maligned like Korazin,
slandered like Bethsaida?

Or am I
immodest as Ephraim as he prayed,
or a dove, whose gentleness seems due to
feeblemindedness and not to inner calm,
or an evil serpent born of lion’s cubs,
or the serpent’s egg filled with decay,
or like the last blow against Jerusalem?

Or am I
in the words of our Lord
and the sayings of the prophets,
an abandoned tabernacle about to collapse,
the unlatched doors of the stronghold,
my speaking edifice stained again,
having given up my rightful inheritance,
my home built by God,
as Moses, David and Jeremiah prophesied?
My thinking body now consumed by disease,
afflicted with carping counsel, rehabilitated by the law,
anointed with the clay of mildness,
incapable of finding my own salvation,
torn away from the maker’s hand,
expelled as just punishment
by order of the Almighty, to an unholy place,
rejected, exiled, greatly shunned, nothing spared,
having buried my gift in the ground,
like the one chastised in the Gospel by
losing his inheritance.

But You, God,
Lord of souls and all flesh,
in the words of one divinely graced,
You are long-suffering and abounding in mercy.
In the voice of blessed Jonah,
grant that I finish to Your delight
this book of prayers, now begun.
And having sown these words with tears
and set forth on this journey toward the dwellings You have prepared,
may I return joyfully in the time of harvest
with the bounty of atonement,
with sheaves of goodness and the fruits of delight.

St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Fathe & Doctor of the Church

“If you elevate yourself,
God distances Himself from you.
If you humble yourself,
He leans towards you.”

St Augustine (354-430)

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Lenten Reflection – 4 April – Fertile excuses and evasions

Posted on April 4, 2019April 4, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 4 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Exodus 32:7-14; Psalms 106:19-20, 21-22, 23; John 5:31-47

“…you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent.”...John 5:38 THURSDAYFOURTHERWEEKLENT - 4 APRIL 2018 JOHN 5 38.jpg

Fertile excuses and evasions
Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Next I observe that a civilised age is more exposed to subtle sins than a rude age. Why? For this simple reason- because it is more fertile in excuses and evasions. It can defend error and hence, can blind the eyes of those who have not very careful consciences. It can make error plausible, it can make vice look like virtue. It dignifies sin by fine names; it calls avarice proper care of one’s family, or industry, it calls pride independence, it calls ambition greatness of mind; resentment it calls proper spirit and sense of honour and so on.

…What all of us want more than anything else, what this age wants, is that its intellect and its will should be under a law. At present it is lawless, its will is its own law, its own reason is the standard of all truth . It does not bow to authority, it does not submit to the law of faith. It is wise in its own eyes and it relies on its own resources. And you, as living in the world, are in danger of being seduced by it and being a partner in its sin and so coming in, at the end, for its punishment. this-age-dignifies-sin-bljhnewman 10 march 2017.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Lead us to the joy of Easter.
We are still aware of our patterns.
We still are realigning our priorities.
We are still trying to simplify
and trying to eat in solidarity with others.
Most of all, we are still asking for a change of heart.

They made a calf in Horeb
and worshipped a molten image.
They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
Psalm 106:19-20

Closing Prayer:
Merciful Father, Loving Mother,
I know that the tiny sacrifices I make this Lent
can never serve as a real penance in my life.
But help me to make my whole life
one of following Your Son.
Listening to Him, seeking Him.
I am filled with Your love.
Let Your love shine out from within me
and guide my life in this sacred journey
toward the Easter joy You offer me.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, Thomas a Kempis

Lenten Thoughts – 2 April – “If you wish…” Thomas à Kempis

Posted on April 2, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 2 April – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

On the Fervent Amendment of our Whole Life

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

“When a certain anxious person, who often times wavered between hope and fear, once overcome with sadness, threw himself upon the ground in prayer, before one of the altars in the Church and thinking these things in his mind, said “Oh, if I only knew how to persevere,” that very instant he heard within him, this heavenly answer: “And if thou did know this, what would thou do? Do now what you would do and thou shall be perfectly secure.” And immediately being consoled and comforted, he committed himself to the Divine Will and his anxious thoughts ceased. He no longer wished for curious things, searching to find out what would happen to him but studied rather to learn what was the acceptable and perfect will of God for the beginning and the perfection of every good work.”

“If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments.
If you will know the truth, believe in Me.
If you will be perfect, sell all.
If you will be My disciple, deny yourself.
If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life.
If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth.
If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me.
For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.”

“MY CHILD, the more you depart from yourself,
the more you will be able to enter into Me.
As the giving up of exterior things, brings interior peace,
so the forsaking of self, unites you to God.
I will have you learn perfect surrender to My will,
without contradiction or complaint.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
The Imitation of Christ

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Lenten Reflection – 2 April – For Me!

Posted on April 2, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 2 April – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12; Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; John 5:1-16

“Without the Way, there is no going,
Without the Truth, there is no knowing,
Without the Life, there is no living.”

“Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Without the Way, there is no going.
Without the Truth, there is no knowing.
Without the Life, there is no living.
I am the Way which you must follow,
the Truth which you must believe,
the Life for which you must hope.
I am the inviolable Way,
the infallible Truth,
the unending Life.
I am the Way that is straight,
the supreme Truth,
the Life that is true,
the blessed, the uncreated Life.
If you abide in My Way you shall know the Truth
and the Truth shall make you free
and you shall attain life everlasting.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
The Imitation of Christ

follow-me-the-imitation-of-christ-for-lent-12-feb-2018.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Our embrace leads to praise.

This is second part of Lent.
We begin to feel the power of the Fourth Gospel.
The “forces” that are opposed in the gospel
have everything to do with the forces at work in my heart.
He is clearly about to embrace His passage – His passover – from death to life.
This paschal mystery is what we are preparing to celebrate.

As we grow in love and compassion for what Jesus is facing for us,
we ask to be prepared to embrace His way, His path,
the pattern of His dying and rising.
We ask that we would be prepared to proclaim this gift to others, with great joy

“It was because Jesus did things such as this on the Sabbath that they began to persecute him.” …John 5:16
For me!

Closing Prayer:
Joyful praise in Lent?
I’m not sure I always feel that.
I ask you to help me prepare to understand
and embrace the paschal mystery in my life.
I don’t always see the beauty and mystery of this season
and often I run from the pain.
Help me to see how Your saving grace
and Your loving touch in my life
can fill me with joyful praise of the salvation
You have sent to me.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen lent tues of the fourth week john 5 16 it was because 2 april 2019.jpg

CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on TRUTH, The LAST THINGS, The WORD

Lenten Thoughts – 31 March – Christ the Way

Posted on March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C

Christ is the Way to the Light, the Truth and the Life

Saint Augustine (354-430)
Great Western Father & Doctor of the Church

An excerpt from his Treatise on John

The Lord tells us – I am the light of the world, he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. In these few words He gives a command and makes a promise. Let us do what He commands so that we may not blush to covet what He promises and to hear Him say on the day of judgement: “I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?” If you say: “What did you command, Lord our God?” He will tell you: “I commanded you to follow Me. You asked for advice on how to enter into life. What life, if not the life about which it is written: With you is the fountain of life?”

Let us do now what He commands. Let us follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Let us throw off the chains that prevent us from following Him. Who can throw off these shackles without the aid of the one addressed in these words – You have broken my chains? Another psalm says of Him: -The Lord frees those in chains, the Lord raises up the downcast.

Those who have been freed and raised up follow the light. The light they follow speaks to them – I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness. The Lord gives light to the blind. Brethren, that light shines on us now, for we have had our eyes anointed with the eye-salve of faith. His saliva was mixed with earth to anoint the man born blind. We are of Adam’s stock, blind from our birth, we need Him to give us light. He mixed saliva with earth and so it was prophesied: Truth has sprung up from the earth . He himself has said: I am the way, the truth and the life.

We shall be in possession of the truth when we see Him face to face. This is His promise to us. Who would dare to hope for something that God in His goodness did not choose to promise or bestow?

We shall see face to face. The Apostle says: Now I know in part, now obscurely through a mirror, but then face to face. John the apostle says in one of his letters -Dearly beloved, we are now children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. This is a great promise.

If you love me, follow me. “I do love you,” you protest, “but how do I follow you?” If the Lord your God said to you: “I am the truth and the life,” in your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask Him to show you the way to reach them. You would say to yourself: “Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality; if only it were possible for my soul to find them!” i am the way the truth and the life jon 14 8 31 march 2019 laetare sunday.jpg

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Quote/s of the Day – 31 March -Laetare!

Posted on March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C

“There is more joy in heaven over a converted sinner
than over a righteous person standing firm.
A leader in battle has more love for a soldier
who returns after fleeing and who valiantly pursues the enemy,
than for one who never turned back
but who never acted valiantly either.
A farmer has greater love for land which bears fruitfully,
after he has cleared it of thorns, than for land
which never had thorns but which never yielded a fruitful harvest.”

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Father of the Fathers”

“The sun of our lives is the Eucharist.”

“The earth is filled with tabernacles – Praise Him!”

St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915)

“Real joy
seems to me,
almost as unlike
security or prosperity,
as it is unlike
agony.”

“You can’t go back
and change the beginning
but you can start where you are
and change the ending.”

“He died for us.
Why not live for Him?”

C S Lewis (1898-1963)

DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD the FATHER, LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 31 March – The Best of Fathers!

Posted on March 31, 2019March 30, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Joshua 5:9A, 10-12; Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 lent - laetare sunday 4th sun of lent 31 march 2019.jpg

But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him...Luke 15:20

“I shall get up and go to my father”

St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450)
Father & Doctor of the Church

If we do not care for this young man’s conduct, his departure horrifies us. Don’t let us ever abandon such a father! Simply the sight of the father causes sin to flee, banishes our faults, does away with all bad behaviour and temptation. Yet, if we have gone away, if we have wasted all our father’s inheritance in a life of debauchery, if we should happen to have committed some fault or misdeed or fallen into the mire of irreligiousness and complete dissipation, let us rise up for good and all and return to this best of Fathers, summoned by such a beautiful example.

“When the father saw him he ran to embrace him and covered him with kisses.” I ask you, where is there room for despair here? What pretext for excuse? What false reason for fear? Only, perhaps, if we dread meeting the father, if we are afraid of his kisses and embrace, only if we think that the father, when he takes his child by the hand, draws him to his breast and folds his arms around him, wants to seize the opportunity to make good his loss instead of welcoming in order to forgive. Such a thought, however, that destroys life and is contrary to our salvation, is fully overcome, wholly destroyed by what follows: “The father said to his servants: ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come to life again, he was lost and has been found.’”

When we have heard that, can we delay any longer? What more could we ask for to return to the Father?

Daily Meditation:
Laetare Sunday: Be joyful!
This Sunday has a joy-filled tone.
We enter into the second part of Lent with a spirit of eagerness.
Our celebration of the mercy and life given to us in Jesus is near.

All the readings are profound.
The letter to the Ephesians can be a meditation for the week.
We have been saved by our Lord, Jesus, the Christ.
That is consoling at this part of Lent. It is not the work we do that saves us.
It is God’s love – in the midst of our darkness.

We can ask to be “lifted up” with Jesus in His surrender with the Father,
lifted up on the cross and therefore, lifted up in Glory.
And, we can express our desire to be an instrument of His consoling love,
in the hearts of those to whom He sends us.

Look to him and be radiant,
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
Psalm 34:5

Closing Prayer:
Loving Father of mine,
I feel the pace quicken, the time draw near.
I am filled with joy as I move toward Easter
and the promised reconciliation with You.
Teach me to follow the example of Your Son,
to be worthy of being called one His people – a Christ-ian.
Help me to live each day as He did
turning hatred to love and conflict to peace.
I await the new life with eagerness, faith
and a deep gratitude.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 28 March – “Whoever does not gather with me scatters”

Posted on March 28, 2019March 27, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 28 March – Thursday of the Third Week of Lent, Year C

The Readings
Jeremiah 7:23-28; Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Luke 11:14-23 luke 11 23 whoever does not gather with me thurs3rdweeklent 28 march 2019.jpg

“Whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Luke 11:23

St Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022)
Catechesis 27

Your Master is not disturbed by mockery and do you get upset? He bears spittle, blows, strokes of the lash and can you not take a harsh word? He accepts the cross, a humiliating death, the torture of the nails and can you not undertake to carry out the lowliest of tasks? How can you become a sharer in His glory (1 Pt 5:1) if you will not consent to become a sharer in His humiliating death?

Your having forsaken your wealth is truly useless if you have no wish to take up the cross, as He Himself commanded with His word of truth. “Sell what you have and give to the poor,” stipulated Christ to the young man, as also to ourselves, “Take up your cross”, “Come, follow me” (Mt 19:21; 16:24). You may indeed have shared out your goods yet without consenting to take up your cross, that is to say, courageously enduring the attack of all kinds of trials. You have strayed on the path of life and, to your own misfortune, have parted from your most sweet God and Master.

I implore you, my brethren, let us observe all Christ’s commands, let us bear until death, for love of the Kingdom of heaven, the trials that assail us so that we may have communion with the glory of Jesus, share in eternal life and inherit the joy of those good things that cannot be expressed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

how can you become a sharer in his glory - 28 march 2019 st simeon the new theologian 28 march 2019.jpg

Daily Meditation:
May our love grow each day.

We are at the half-way point in our Lenten journey today.
There is so much yet to learn, to examine, to heal, to renew.
We have a sense of the patterns we are naming and a sense of the graces we are asking for,
as well as the ways God is working in us.

We want to be ready and our Lord wants us to be confident.
So we keep asking and we keep giving thanks, throughout our day.

‘Obey my voice and I will be your God
and you shall be my people
and walk in all the way that I command you,
that it may be well with you.’

Jeremiah 7:23

Closing Prayer:
Loving God,
I hear Your invitation, “Come back to me”
and I am filled with such a longing to return to You.
Show me the way to return.
Lead me this day in good works I do in Your name
and send Your Spirit to guide me and strengthen my faith.
I ask only to feel Your love in my life today.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

DOCTORS of the Church, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on SANCTITY

Lenten Thoughts – 27 March – Progress towards Perfection

Posted on March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 27 March – Wednesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C

Progress towards Perfection

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church

“We too often forget that maxim of the Saints which warns us to consider ourselves as each day recommencing our progress towards perfection. If we consider it frequently, we shall not be surprised at the poverty of our spirit, nor how much we have to refuse ourselves.

The work is never finished, we have continually to begin again and that courageously. What we have done so far is good but what we are going to commence, will be better and when we have finished that, we shall begin something else that will be better still and then another – until we leave this world to begin a new life that will have no end because it is the best that can happen to us.

It is not then a case for tears, that we have so much work to do for our souls, for we need great courage to go ever onwards (since we must never stop) and much resolution to restrain our desires. Observe carefully this precept that all the Saints have given to those who would emulate them – to speak little, or not at all, of yourself and your own interests.” the work is never finished - st francis de sales - 27 march 2019.jpg

LENT 2019, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on CONVERSION

Quote of the Day – 27 March – “You must do this. I can’t.”

Posted on March 27, 2019November 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 27 March – Wednesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C

We cannot discover our failure to keep God’s law, except by trying our very hardest (and then failing). Unless we really try, whatever we say, there will always be at the back of our minds, the idea that, if we try harder next time, we shall succeed in being completely good.
Thus, in one sense, the road back to God, is a road of moral effort, of trying harder and harder.
But in another sense, it is not trying that is ever going to bring us home.
All this trying leads up to the vital moment, at which you turn to God and say,
“You must do this. I can’t.”

C S Lewis (1898-1963)

ON the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HUMAN DIGNITY, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, SAINT of the DAY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS

Thought for the Day – 24 March – An Incarnational Faith must be expressed publicly

Posted on March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 24 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C and The Memorial of Bl Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917–1980) Martyr

The night before he was murdered while celebrating Mass, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador said on the radio:

“I would like to appeal in a special way to the men of the army and in particular to the troops of the National Guard, the police and the garrisons. Brothers, you belong to our own people. You kill your own brother peasants and in the face of an order to kill that is given by a man, the law of God that says ‘Do not kill!’ should prevail.

No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No-one has to comply with an immoral law. It is the time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin. . . . Therefore, in the name of God and in the name of this long-suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven every day more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you! In the name of God: ‘Cease the repression!’”

Simultaneously, Romero had eloquently upheld the gospel and effectively signed his own death warrant.

When a military junta seized control of the national government in 1979, Archbishop Romero publicly criticised the US government for backing the junta. His weekly radio sermons, broadcast throughout the country, were regarded by many as the most trustworthy source of news available.

Romero’s funeral was celebrated in the plaza outside the cathedral and drew an estimated 250,000 mourners.

His tomb in the cathedral crypt soon drew thousands of visitors each year. On 3 February 2015, Pope Francis authorised a decree recognising Oscar Romero as a martyr for the faith. His beatification took place in San Salvador on 23 May 2015. He was canonized on 14 October 2018. archbishop-romero-invites-us-to-good-sense-pope-francis-24-march-2019.jpg

Oscar Romero and many other Latin American martyrs for the faith were falsely accused of advocating a Marxist-inspired “theology of liberation.” Following Jesus always requires choices. Romero’s fiercest critics conveniently dismissed his choices as politically inspired. An incarnational faith must be expressed publicly.

St Oscar Romero, Pray for Us!

FATHERS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – “…A full and perfect patience”

Posted on March 24, 2019October 23, 2021 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C

Readings:
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-11; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9 (Different Readings apply for the Scrutinies Mass)

Daily Meditation:
Form a new heart within.

“And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure, And if it bears fruit next year, well and good and if not, you can cut it down.”...Luke 13:8-9 The third sunday - year C 24 march 2019.jpg

St Cyprian of Carthage – (c 200- c 258) Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church

The good of patience, 6, 7-8

“This, beloved brethren, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, did not teach by words only but he also fulfilled by His deeds… In the very hour of His passion and cross… what violent abuses He listened to with patience and what shameful insults He endured! He was even covered with the spittle of His revilers when but a short time before, He had cured the eyes of the blind man with His own spittle(Jn 9:6)… He who now crowns the martyrs with eternal garlands was Himself crowned with thorns, He who now gives true palms to the victors was beaten in the face with hostile palms; he who clothes all others with the garment of immortality was stripped of His earthly garments, He who has given us the food of heaven was fed with gall, He who has offered us the cup of salvation was given vinegar to drink. He the innocent, the just man, nay rather, Innocence itself and Justice itself, is counted among criminals and Truth is concealed by false testimonies. He who is to judge is judged and the Word of God, silent, is led to the cross. And although the stars are confounded at the crucifixion of the Lord, the elements are disturbed and the earth trembles… yet He does not speak, nor is He moved, nor does He proclaim His majesty, even during the suffering itself. He endures all things even to the end with constant perseverance so that in Christ, a full and perfect patience may find its realisation.

And even after such sufferings He still receives His murderers if they are converted and come to Him and, with a patience instrumental in saving man, this kind Master closes His Church to no-one. He not only receives and pardons those adversaries, those blasphemers, those persistent enemies of His name, provided they do penance for their offence and acknowledge the crime committed but He admits them to the reward of the kingdom of heaven. What can be called more patient, what more kind? Even he who shed the blood of Christ is given life by the blood of Christ. Such is the wonderful patience of Christ. And unless it were so wonderful, the Church would not have had Paul, the great Apostle.”

he not only receives and pardons - st cyprian - 24 march 2019 3rdsunlentyearc.jpg

This Sunday brings us closer to the font of renewing our baptismal commitment.
It is also the first of three Scrutinies for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

We are deeply aware that there is a struggle going on in us.
We turn to God, that we might not become discouraged.
We rely on God’s compassion and love for us.
We acknowledge who we are
– sinners who experience the consequences of our selfishness –
but we know we are loved and we desire to be filled with hope.

We go into this week renewed in our desire to continue our
prayer, fasting and generosity toward others.

Bless the Lord, O my soul
and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy…
Psalm 103:1-4

Closing Prayer:
Loving Father,
So many times I turn away from You
and always You welcome me back.
Your mercy and love gives me confidence
Thank You for the invitation to share, fast and pray
so that You can form a new heart within me.
Your powerful compassion for my weaknesses
leads me to ask for mercy
and await with great hope the Easter joy You share with us.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

MORNING Prayers, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HYPOCRISY, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 24 March – The invincible patience of Jesus!

Posted on March 24, 2019March 23, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 24 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure.”...Luke 13:7-8

REFLECTION – “Jesus invites us to change our heart, to make a radical about-face on the path of our lives, to abandon compromises with evil — and this is something we all do, hypocrisy…. I think that nearly all of us has a little hypocrisy — in order to decidedly take up the path of the Gospel. But again there is the temptation to justify ourselves. What should we convert from? Aren’t we basically good people? Unfortunately, each of us strongly resembles the tree that, over many years, has repeatedly shown that it’s infertile. But, fortunately for us, Jesus is like a farmer who, with limitless patience, still obtains a concession for the fruitless vine. The invincible patience of Jesus! Have you thought about the patience of God? Have you ever thought as well of His limitless concern for sinners? How it should lead us to impatience with ourselves! It’s never too late to convert, never. God’s patience awaits us until the last moment. It’s never too late to convert but it is urgent. Now is the time! Let us begin today.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 28 February 2016

PRAYER – Lord our God, Your Son so loved the world that He gave Himself up to death for our sake. Strengthen us by Your grace and give us a heart willing to live by that same love. We know His excuses for us and His broken heart at our neglect and sin, make us like unto Him O Father, that we might be holy and come to see His Face. May the prayers of the angels, saints and the Blessed Virgin be of assistance to us. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, amen. ave-maria-pray-for-us-28-sept-2018 and 24 march 2019 no 2.jpg

LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, The WORD

Lenten Thoughts – 22 March – “Now is the accepted time, now the day of salvation.”

Posted on March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C

“Now is the accepted time, now the day of salvation.”

“These are thoughts, I need hardly say, especially suited to this season.
From the earliest times down to this day, these weeks before Easter have been set apart every year, for the particular remembrance and confession of our sins. From the first age downward, not a year has passed but Christians have been exhorted to reflect how far they have let go their birthright, as a preparation for their claiming the blessing. At Christmas we are born again with Christ, at Easter we keep the Eucharistic Feast.

In Lent, by penance, we join the two great sacraments together. Are you, my brethren, prepared to say,—is there any single Christian alive who will dare to profess—that he has not in greater or less degree, sinned against God’s free mercies as bestowed on him, in Baptism without, or rather against his deserts? Who will say that he has so improved his birthright that the blessing is his fit reward, without either sin to confess, or wrath to deprecate?

See, then, the Church offers you this season for the purpose. “Now is the accepted time, now the day of salvation.”

Now it is that, God being your helper, you are to attempt to throw off from you the heavy burden of past transgression, to reconcile yourselves to Him who has once already imparted to you His atoning merits and you have profaned them.”

Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on VIOLENCE, The PASSION, The WILL of GOD

Lenten Reflection – 22 March –

Posted on March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C

“Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you
and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”...Matthew 21:43 lent - friday of the second week matthew 21 43 22 march 2019.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Help us open our hearts to you.

We hear of the vineyard owner whose tenants killed his servants and then his son.
Let us open our hearts and lives
to the challenge of Your Gospel.

“Let us serve God but let us do so according to His will.
He will then take the place of everything in our lives.
He will be our strength and the reward of our labours.”

St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)

“The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel” says the prophet (Is 5:7). We ourselves are this house… and, since we are His Israel, we are the vineyard. So let us take good care that grapes of wrath (Rv 14:19) rather than sweetness do not grow from our branches, so that no one may say to us: “I expected grapes but it yielded wild grapes” (Is 5:4). What fruitless soil! The soil that should have presented its master with fruits of sweetness, pierced Him with its sharp thorns. In the same way His enemies, who ought to have welcomed our Saviour with all the devotion of their faith, crowned Him with the thorns of His Passion. In their eyes this crown expressed insult and abuse but in the Lord’s eyes it was the crown of virtue…

My brethren, take good care that no one says with regard to you: “He expected it to yield grapes but it yielded wild grapes” (Is 5:2)… Let us be careful that our evil deeds do not rub against our Lord’s head like thorns. There are thorns in the heart that have even wounded the word of God, as our Lord says in the gospel when he relates how the sower’s seed fell among thorns that grew and choked what had been sown (Mt 13:7)… So take care that your vineyard does not bring forth thorns instead of grapes and your vintage produce vinegar instead of wine. Anyone who gathers in the grapes, without sharing them with the poor, is collecting vinegar instead of wine and anyone who stores his harvests, without sharing them with the needy, is not setting aside the fruit of almsgiving but the briars of greed.”

Saint Maximus of Turin (c 380-c 420)

Sermon for the feast of Saint Cyprian – CC Sermon 11

Closing Prayer:

Loving God, caring parent,
I am a child who so often turns my back
on Your love.
Please accept my small acts of sorrow today
and help to release me from the self-absorption
that closes my heart to You.
As I journey through Lent,
let me remember the feast You have prepared for me
in the resurrection
and let me be filled with gratitude to You.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The TRANSFIGURATION, The WORD

Lenten Thoughts – 17 March – The law was given through Moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ – St Leo the Great

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 17 March – The Second Sunday of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Luke 9:28-36

The law was given through Moses grace

and truth came through Jesus Christ

St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Bishop of Rome and Great Latin Father and Doctor of the Church

An excerpt from Sermo 51

The Lord reveals His glory in the presence of chosen witnesses. His body is like that of the rest of mankind but He makes it shine with such splendour that His Face becomes like the sun in glory and His garments as white as snow.

The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of His disciples and to prevent the humiliation of His voluntary suffering from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that lay concealed.

With no less forethought He was also providing a firm foundation for the hope of holy Church. The whole body of Christ was to understand the kind of transformation that it would receive as His gift. The members of that body were to look forward to a share in that glory which first blazed out in Christ their head.

The Lord had himself spoken of this when He foretold the splendour of His coming – Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Saint Paul the apostle bore witness to this same truth when He said – I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not to be compared with the future glory that is to be revealed in us. In another place He says: You are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

This marvel of the transfiguration contains another lesson for the apostles, to strengthen them and lead them into the fullness of knowledge. Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, appeared with the Lord in conversation with Him. This was in order to fulfil exactly, through the presence of these five men, the text which says – Before two or three witnesses every word is ratified. What word could be more firmly established, more securely based, than the word which is proclaimed by the trumpets of both old and new testaments, sounding in harmony and by the utterances of ancient prophecy and the teaching of the Gospel, in full agreement with each other?

The writings of the two testaments support each other. The radiance of the transfiguration reveals clearly and unmistakably the one who had been promised by signs foretelling Him under the veils of mystery. As Saint John says: The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. In Him the promise made through the shadows of prophecy stands revealed, along with the full meaning of the precepts of the law. He is the one who teaches the truth of prophecy through His presence and makes obedience to the commandments possible through grace.

In the preaching of the holy Gospel all should receive a strengthening of their faith. No one should be ashamed of the cross of Christ, through which the world has been redeemed.

No-one should fear to suffer for the sake of justice, no-one should lose confidence in the reward that has been promised. The way to rest is through toil, the way to life is through death. Christ has taken on Himself the whole weakness of our lowly human nature. If then we are steadfast in our faith in Him and in our love for Him, we win the victory that He has won, we receive what He has promised.

When it comes to obeying the commandments or enduring adversity, the words uttered by the Father should always echo in our ears – This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him. transfiguration - listen to him 17 march 2019.jpg

DOCTORS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on SANCTITY

Quote of the Day – 17 March – You have been created for …

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 17 March – The Second Sunday of Lent, Year C

“You have been created for the glory of God
and your own eternal salvation….
this is your goal,
this is the centre of your life,
this is the treasure of your heart.
If your reach this goal,
you will find happiness.
If you fail to reach it,
you will find misery.”

St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church

LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY

Lenten Thoughts – 14 March – Christ Calls Us Deeper Still – Bl John Henry

Posted on March 14, 2019March 14, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 14 March – Thursday of the First week of Lent, Year C, Today’s

Christ Calls Us Deeper Still

Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Called on from grace to grace
All through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in Baptism but afterwards also, whether we obey His voice or not, He graciously calls us still. If we fall from our Baptism, He calls us to repen,; if we are striving to fulfil our calling, He calls us on from grace to grace and from holiness to holiness, while life is given us.
Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat – we are all in course of calling, on and on, from one thing to another, having no resting-place but mounting towards our eternal rest and obeying one command only, to have another put upon us. He calls us again and again, in order to justify us, again and again—and again and again and more and more, to sanctify and glorify us.

Christ calls us right now!
It were well, if we understood this but we are slow to master the great truth, that Christ is, as it were, walking among us and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him.

We do not understand that His call is a thing which takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles’ days but we do not believe in it, we do not look out for it in our own case. We have not eyes to see the Lord, far different from the beloved Apostle, who knew Christ even when the rest of the disciples knew Him not. When He stood on the shore after His resurrection and bade them cast the net into the sea, “that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is the Lord” (John 21:7).

Do you accept Christ’s’ call?
There is nothing miraculous or extraordinary in His dealings with us. He works through our natural faculties and circumstances of life. Still what happens to us in providence, is in all essential respects, what His voice was to those whom He addressed, when on earth – whether He commands by a visible presence, or by a voice, or by our consciences, it matters not, so that we feel it to be a command. If it is a command, it may be obeyed or disobeyed, it may be accepted as Samuel or St Paul accepted it, or put aside after the manner of the young man who had great possessions.

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 13 March – “…Something greater than Jonah is here.”

Posted on March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 13 March – Wednesday of the First week of Lent, Year C

“…Something greater than Jonah is here.”…Luke 11:32

St Bernard (1091-1153)
Doctor of the Church

“Come back to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12)

“Be converted with all your heart,” the Lord says. My brothers, if he had just said “Be converted” without adding anything, perhaps we should have been able to reply – it’s done, now you can give us something else to do.

But if I understand correctly, Christ is speaking to us here about a spiritual conversion that does not come about in a day. May it even be achieved in our lifetime! So pay attention to what you love, what you fear, at what makes you happy or what makes you sad and you will sometimes see that, beneath your religious habit you are still a man of the world. Indeed, the heart is wholly contained in these four feelings and it is concerning them, I think, we must understand these words: “Be converted to the Lord with all your heart.”
May your loving be converted, in such a way, that you love nothing but the Lord, or rather that you love nothing except for God’s sake. May your fear also be turned towards Him, for any fear that makes us afraid of something apart from Him and not because of Him is bad. May your joy and your sadness be converted to Him, this is how it will be if you neither suffer nor rejoice except in Him. Thus, if you mourn for your own sins or those of your neighbour you do well and your sadness is salutary. If you rejoice in the gifts of grace, this joy is holy and you are able to enjoy it in peace in the Holy Spirit. In the love of Christ you should be glad of your brothers’ good fortunes and sympathise with their misfortunes according to this verse: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Rm 12:15) come back to me with all your heart - lent 2019

Daily Meditation:
Hear our prayer.

The Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent take on a more penitential tone.
Our longing intensifies.
We know we have to work hard to resist temptation
and to change some of our bad habits.
We know that spiritual renewal won’t come easily.
But we know that all we will ultimately be able to do
will come from God’s inspiration – as a gift.
So we ask from a deeper and deeper place in our hearts.

We listen to the wonderful story about Nineveh.
They responded to God’s word and repented.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Psalm 51

“And as Jonah was sacrificed for those endangered by the storm, so Christ was offered for those who are drowning in the storm of this world.”

St Augustine (354-430)

Closing Prayer:

Dear Lord,
I know You receive what is in my heart.
Let me be inspired by Your words
and by the actions of Your son, Jesus.
Guide me to make sacrifices this Lent
in the spirit of self-denial
and with greater attention to You
and to those around me.
Help me to believe that You will grant me this
because of the sacrifice Jesus made for me.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

LENT 2019, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, The WORD, Uncategorized

One Minute Reflection – 13 March – Something greater than Jonah is here

Posted on March 13, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 13 March – Wednesday of the First week of Lent, Year C – The Memorial of St Leander (c 534-c 600)

“The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”...Luke 11:32

REFLECTION – “The conversion of a great city like Nineveh stuns us! The message in any case is clear – collective choices are possible. Today, however, unfortunately, a collective choice is clearly manifested only when a country declares war on another. Emmanuel Kant recognised the strength of a community that was eager to share the same values, Margaret Mead that of a small group determined to change the world. The initiators of Congregations, of ecclesial movements, pious associations and social reforms shook the world with their community decisions. Jesus’s pain at resistance to His teaching has a lesson for those who put on the helmet of ‘indifference’ or the blinkers of ‘apathy’ – the LUKEWARM! Atheists and agnostics will rise from their graves to point to opportunities such people wasted. AWAKE! Lukewarmness is SIN!”…Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil SDB

PRAYER – Help me, my God and my Father, to discern through prayer and meditation what You truly want of me. Then enable me to offer it to You – and indeed to offer myself and all I have to You. St Leander, you were and are an example to all around you, please pray for us, amen! st-leander-pray-for-us-2.13 march 2018.jpg

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 12 March – “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” – St Leo the Great

Posted on March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 12 March – Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, C – Gospel Matthew 6:7–15 tuesday-of-the-first-week-of-lent-12 March 2019.jpg

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”

St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)

Father & Doctor of the Church

“Those who wish to receive the Paschal feast of the Lord in holiness of mind and body should strive, above all, to win that grace which contains the summit of virtues and “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4:8). So at the point of celebrating the greatest of all mysteries, that with which the blood of Jesus Christ wiped out our iniquities, let us first of all prepare the sacrifice of mercy.

Thus we shall return to those who have offended us what the goodness of God has granted us. May insults be cast into oblivion, wrongs ignore torture from now on and all offences be set free from fear of reprisal!… If someone should detain such prisoners… may he fully understand that he himself is a sinner and, so as to receive forgiveness, let him rejoice that he has found someone to forgive. In this way, when we say, according to the Lord’s teaching: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:12), we shall have no doubt that we receive God’s pardon as we formulate our prayer.” matthew 6 9 forgive us our debts - st pope leo - thus we shall return to those 12 march 2019.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Help us grow in our desire for you.

We are learning the intimate connection
between the “discipline” we choose these days,
and the growth of our desire.
If our desire for our Lord is weak,
if it has to compete with so many other desires that choke it out,
then we need to re-form our desiring.
We want to be disciples –
those who love Jesus, are with Jesus in our desires,
and choose to follow Jesus.

In today’s lesson we learn the Lord’s Prayer again.
As children, we turn to our Loving Father in prayer.

“I shall know You,
You who know me.
Virtue of my soul,
go deep into it
and make it fit for You,
so that You may have it
and possess it,
without stain or wrinkle.”

St Augustine (354-430)

Father & Doctor of the Church

Closing Prayer:
Father of my soul,
Mother of my heart,
I know Your love for me is limitless beyond imagining.
You care for me as a loving parent.
Through my smallest Lenten sacrifices,
help me to become less selfish
and more aware of Your ways.
Fan the flame of my desire
to draw ever closer to You.
Guide me to seek Your love.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

“Your faith will grow,
only in the measure,
that you give it away.”

Bishop Robert Barron

LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 9 March – “Leaving everything behind, the man got up and followed him”

Posted on March 9, 2019March 9, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Today’s Gospel : Luke 5:27-32 – The Calling of Matthew

“Leaving everything behind, the man got up and followed him”...Luke 5:28

REFLECTION – “Th exploiter Levi, changes his ways and becomes Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist, the bearer of the Good News. His entire life-story proclaims that God is for the wrongdoer, inviting him to change. Paul changed his ways, so did Augustine, so did Jerome. So can you! Ignatius the soldier, becomes Ignatius the saint, the founder of the Jesuits. What will you be? What will you do? For YOU are called too!”…Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil SDB

“Because the healing power of God, knows no infirmity that cannot be healed and this, must give us confidence and open our heart to the Lord, that He may come and heal us.”…Pope Francis – General Audience, 13 April 2016

PRAYER – Come my all-powerful, ever-living God, look with compassion on our frailty and for our protection, stretch out to us Your strong right hand. Grant that by the prayers of Mary, our Mother and all your angels and saints we may change our ways, leave everything behind, proclaim the glory of Your kingdom and come safely home to You. St Catherine of Bologna and St Frances of Rome, pray for us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen. st-frances-of-rome-pray-for-us - 9 march 2017.jpg

st catherine of bologna pray for us 9 march 2019

JESUIT SJ, LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The WORD

Thursday after Ash Wednesday – 7 March -“Let him take up his cross daily and follow Me”

Posted on March 7, 2019March 7, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Thursday after Ash Wednesday – 7 March

“Let him take up his cross daily and follow Me”

Lord, help us to see in Your Crucifixion and Resurrection an example of how to endure and seemingly to die in the agony and conflict of daily life, so that we may live more fully and creatively. You accepted patiently and humbly the rebuffs of human life, as well as the tortures of your Crucifixion and Passion. Help us to accept the pains and conflicts that come to us each day, as opportunities to grow as people and become more like You. Enable us to go through them patiently and bravely, trusting that You will support us. Make us realise that it is only by frequent deaths of ourselves and our self-centred desires, that we can come to live more fully,
for it is only, by dying with You, that we can rise with You.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

(A Gift for God – prayers and meditations)

Daily Meditation:
The Journey Begins

God has revealed Himself in Christ. Let us praise His goodness and ask Him from our hearts:
Remember us, Lord, for we are Your children.

Teach us to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Church,
– that it may be more effective for ourselves and for the world as the sacrament of salvation.
Lover of mankind, inspire us to work for human progress,
– seeking to spread Your kingdom in all we do.
May our hearts thirst for Christ,
– the fountain of living water.
Forgive us our sins,
– and direct our steps into the ways of justice and sincerity.

Closing Prayer:
Lord,
Let everything I do this day and in this season of Lent
come from You, be inspired by You.

I long to be closer to You.
Help me to remember, that nothing is important in my life
unless it glorifies You in some way.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day of my life and keep saying,
“Tomorrow, I will spend more time in prayer”
but now my longing meet Your love and I want to do it now.
Help me to rely on You for help.

Please, Lord, remind me that “perfection”
isn’t the crazy, “successful” way I try to live my life
but a perfection of my most authentic, real self.
My “perfection” might be holding my many flaws in my open hands,
asking You to help me accept them.

Make me whole Lord and help me to find You in the darkness of my life.
Let me reach out in this darkness and feel Your hand and love, there to guide me.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen. luke 9 23 thurs after ash wed - if any man will come after me - 7 march 2019.jpg

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On the Fervent Amendment of our Whole Life

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Christ is the Way to the Light, the Truth and the Life

Saint Augustine (354-430) Great Western Father & Doctor of the Church

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C S Lewis (1898-1963)

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St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church

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St Oscar Romero, Pray for Us!

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St Cyprian of Carthage – (c 200- c 258) Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church

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Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

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Saint Maximus of Turin (c 380-c 420)

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The law was given through Moses grace

and truth came through Jesus Christ

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