Category: QUOTES on JOY

Posted in ADVENT REFLECTIONS, CARMELITES, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on PRAYER, St JOSEMARIA Escriva and Opus Dei, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The NATIVITY of JESUS, The O ANTIPHONS, The WORD

Advent Reflection – Saturday of Advent 21 December – ‘Joy is prayer, joy is strength, joy is love.’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Advent Reflection – Saturday of Advent 21 December, Readings: Isaiah 7:10-14, Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 1:26-38

The Lord is at hand, come let us adore Him.

“Mary set out… in haste” … Luke 1:26

REFLECTION – “Our Lady’s strength was her gaiety and joy.   This is what made her God, her son’s attentive servant, because as soon as He came to her she “set out in haste.”   Joy alone could have given her the strength to set out in all haste across the hill country of Judah to become the servant of her cousin.   It is just the same for us.   Like her, we must be true servants of the Lord and after holy communion each day we must hurry over the mountains of the difficulties we encounter, offering our service to the poor with all our heart.   Give to Jesus in the poor, as a servant of the Lord.joy alone could have given her - st mother teresa 21 dec 2019.jpg

Joy is prayer, joy is strength, joy is love.   It is love’s net with which to catch souls.   “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7).   Those who give with joy give twice over.   If you meet up with difficulties and accept them with joy, with a big smile, in this, as in many other things, people will realise that your works are good and the Father will be glorified in them.   The best way, of showing God and others your gratitude, is to accept everything with joy.   A joyful heart comes from a heart that is burning with love.” … St Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) – Founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity – Jesus, the Word to Be Spoken

MEDITATION – “A soul united to Jesus, is a living smile that radiates Him and, gives Him.” … St Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)a-sol-united-to-jesus-is-a-living-smile-that-radiates-him-and-gives-him-st-elizabeth-of-the-trinity-8-nov-2019 and 21 dec 2019.jpg

ADVENT ACTION – “God is interested in even the smallest events in the lives of His creatures – in your affairs and mine — and He calls each of us by name.   This certainty that the faith gives, enables us to look at everything in a new light.   And everything, while remaining exactly the same, becomes different, because it is an expression of God’s love.  god is interested in even the smallest events in the lives of His creatures - st josemaria - 31 may 2018 - the visitation.jpgOur life is turned into a continuous prayer, we find ourselves with good humour and a peace that never ends and everything we do is an act of thanksgiving, running through all our day.   ‘My soul magnifies the Lord,’ Mary sang, ‘and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.’” …St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) – “To Jesus through Mary,” Christ is Passing By, 144

PRAYER

O Radiant Dawn,
splendour of eternal light, sun of justice!
Come and shine on those
who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.

o-radiant-dawn-21-dec-2017, 2018 and 2019.jpg

Posted in IGNATIAN/JESUIT SJ- Reflections, Jesuit Saints and more, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on EVANGELISATION, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on MISSION, QUOTES on PRAYER, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 3 December – St Francis Xavier

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Quote/s of the Day – 3 December – The Memorial of St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552)

“Leave your country, your people
and your father’s household
and go to the land I will show you.”

Genesis 12:1genesis 12 1 - leave your country your people - st francis xavier 3 dec 2019.jpg

“I am in a country
where all the niceties of life are lacking.
But I am filled with many inner consolations.
Indeed, I run the risk of crying my eyes out
because of my tears of joy”i am in a country - st francis xavier 3 dec 2019.jpg

“When trying to evangelise,
no tool is more effective,
than that of personal witness.
…People can argue with points of doctrine
but no-one can argue,
with a personal testimony!”when-trying-to-evangelise-st-francis-xavier-3-dec-2018.jpg

“Prayer is powerful!
It fills the earth with mercy,
it makes the Divine clemency
pass from generation to generation,
right along the course of the centuries.
wonderful works have been achieved.
through prayer.”

St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552)prayer-is-powerful-st-francis-xavier-3-dec-2018.jpg

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on MISSION, QUOTES on MUSIC/SINGING, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SANCTITY, SAINT of the DAY

Thought for the Day – 22 November – Sing to God with Songs of Joy

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Thought for the Day – 22 November – The Memorial of St Cecilia (died 3rd Century) Virgin Martyr – Patron of Musicians

Sing to God with Songs of Joy

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

An excerpt from his Discourse on Psalm 32

Praise the Lord with the lyre, make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings!   Sing to Him a new song.   Rid yourself of what is old and worn out, for you know a new song.   A new man, a new covenant—a new song.   This new song does not belong to the old man. Only the new man learns it, the man restored from his fallen condition through the grace of God and now sharing in the new covenant, that is, the kingdom of heaven.   To it all our love now aspires and sings a new song.   Let us sing a new song not with our lips but with our lives.

Sing to Him a new song, sing to Him with joyful melody.   Everyone of us tries to discover how to sing to God.   You must sing to Him but you must sing well.   He does not want your voice to come harshly to His ears, so sing well, brothers!

If you were asked, “Sing to please this musician,” you would not like to do so without having taken some instruction in music, because you would not like to offend an expert in the art.   An untrained listener does not notice the faults a musician would point out to you.   Who, then, will offer to sing well for God, the great artist whose discrimination is faultless, whose attention is on the minutest detail, whose ear nothing escapes?   When will you be able to offer Him a perfect performance that you will in no way displease such a supremely discerning listener?

See how He Himself provides you with a way of singing.   Do not search for words, as if you could find a lyric which would give God pleasure.   Sing to Him “with songs of joy.” This is singing well to God, just singing with songs of joy.

But how is this done?   You must first understand that words cannot express the things that are sung by the heart.   Take the case of people singing while harvesting in the fields or in the vineyards or when any other strenuous work is in progress.   Although they begin by giving expression to their happiness in sung words, yet shortly there is a change.   As if so happy that words can no longer express what they feel, they discard the restricting syllables.   They burst out into a simple sound of joy, of jubilation.   Such a cry of joy is a sound signifying that the heart is bringing to birth what it cannot utter in words.

Now, who is more worthy of such a cry of jubilation than God Himself, whom all words fail to describe?   If words will not serve and yet you must not remain silent, what else can you do but cry out for joy?   Your heart must rejoice beyond words, soaring into an immensity of gladness, unrestrained by syllabic bonds.   Sing to Him with jubilation.

Saint Cecilia, Pray for Us!let us sing a new song not with our lips but with our lives - st cecilia 22 nov 2019.jpg

Posted in CARMELITES, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FRANCISCAN OFM, GOD is LOVE, PRAYER WARRIORS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE, SACRAMENTS, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY EUCHARIST, The HOLY TRINITY

Quote/s of the Day – 8 November – United to You

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Quote/s of the Day – 8 November – The Memorial of Blessed John Duns Scotus OFM (c 1265-1308) and St Elizabeth of the Trinity O.Carm (1880-1906)

O Lord our God!
You are one in nature.
You are one in number.
Truly have You said
that besides You there is no God.
For though many may be called gods
or thought to be gods,
You alone are by nature God.
You are the true God from whom,
in whom
and through whom,
all things are,
You are blessed forever.
Amen!

Blessed John Duns Scotus (c 1265-1308)o-lord-our-god-bl-john-duns-scotus-8-nov-2018 and 2019.jpg

“A soul united to Jesus,
is a living
smile
that radiates Him
and,
gives Him.”a sol united to jesus is a living smile that radiates him and gives him - st elizabeth of the trinity 8 nov 2019

“I have found
heaven on earth,
since heaven is God
and God is in my soul.”

St Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)i have found heaven on earth - st elizabeth of the trinity 8 nov 2019

Posted in ARMOUR of CHRIST, MARIAN QUOTES, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on DESPAIR, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, SAINT of the DAY, St Pope JOHN PAUL, The HOLY ROSARY/ROSARY CRUSADE, The HOLY SPIRIT

Quote/s of the Day – 22 October – St John Paul the Great

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Quote/s of the Day – 22 October – The Memorial of St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

“Never,
as in the Rosary,
do the life of Jesus
and that of Mary,
appear so deeply joined.
Mary lives
only in Christ
and
for Christ!”never-as-in-the-rosary-st-john-paul-no-15-rosarium-virginis-mariae-7-oct-2019.jpg

“Not only the devil is involved in spiritual warfare
but the Holy Spirit is equally involved, or more involved in it,
bringing men and women of goodwill,
the ability to overcome evil in their lives,
so that they too can say:
“Where evil abounded, grace super-abounded!” (Rom 5:20).”

St John Paul II (The Holy Spirit (Dominum Et Vivificantem – 1986)not-only-the-devil-st-jp-22-oct-2017 and 2019.jpg

“Let the eyes of our faith

never wander
from the Cross of Calvary.”let-the-eyes-of-our-faith-st-pope-john-paul-29-may-2018-and 22 oct 2019.no-2

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair.
We are the Easter people
and
hallelujah
is our song.”

St Pope John Paul the Great (1920-2005)

More here:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/10/22/quote-s-of-the-day-22-october-the-memorial-of-st-pope-john-paul-ii-1920-2005/
and here:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/10/22/quotes-of-the-day-22-october-the-memorial-of-st-pope-john-paul-ii-1920-2005/do not abandon yourselves to despair we are the easter people - 22 oct 2019 st john paul the great.jpg

Posted in QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SILENCE, SAINT of the DAY

Thought for the Day – 6 October – ‘A Secret Harbour’

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Thought for the Day – 6 October – Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 17:5–10 and the Memorial of St Bruno O.Cart. (c 1030-1101)

This saint has the honour of having founded a religious order which, as the saying goes, has never had to be reformed because it was never deformed.   No doubt, both the founder and the members would reject such high praise but it is an indication of the saint’s intense love of a penitential life in solitude.

Bruno was born in Cologne, Germany, became a famous teacher at Rheims and was appointed Chancellor of the Archdiocese at the age of 45.   He supported Pope Gregory VII in his fight against the decadence of the clergy and took part in the removal of his own scandalous Archbishop, Manasses.   Bruno suffered the plundering of his house for his pains.

He had a dream of living in solitude and prayer and persuaded a few friends to join him in a hermitage.   After a while, he felt the place unsuitable and through a friend, was given some land which was to become famous for his foundation “in the Chartreuse”—from which comes the word Carthusians.   The climate, desert, mountainous terrain and inaccessibility guaranteed silence, poverty and small numbers.

Bruno and his friends built an oratory with small individual cells at a distance from each other.   They met for Matins and Vespers each day and spent the rest of the time in solitude, eating together only on great feasts.   Their chief work was copying manuscripts.

Hearing of Bruno’s holiness, the pope called for his assistance in Rome.   When the pope had to flee Rome, Bruno pulled up stakes again and after refusing a bishopric, spent his last years in the wilderness of Calabria.

Bruno was never formally Canonised, because the Carthusians were averse to all occasions of publicity.   However, Pope Clement X extended his feast to the whole Church in 1674.

If there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the contemplative life, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians, but this ‘into the silence and solitude’ is the perfect environment to touch God.

St Bruno wrote to his Carthusians:

“Rejoice, my dearest brothers, because you are blessed and because of the bountiful hand of God’s grace upon you.   Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world.   Rejoice, because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbour.   Many wish to come into this port and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it.   Indeed many, after reaching it, have been thrust out, since it was not granted them from above.   By your work you show what you love and what you know.   When you observe true obedience with prudence and enthusiasm, it is clear, that you wisely pick the most delightful and nourishing fruit of divine Scripture.”

May we mirror Bruno’s quest for holiness and unity with God.

St Bruno, Pray for Us!st bruno - pray for us no 3 - 6 oct 2018.jpg

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION, PAPAL Apostolic EXHORTATIONS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on JOY, SAINT of the DAY, SAINT Pope PAUL VI, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 5 October – Christian joy

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One Minute Reflection – 5 October – Saturday of the Twenty Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 10:17–24 and the Memorial of St Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938)

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” … Luke 10:17in that same hour he rejoiced luke 10 17 5 oct 2019

REFLECTION – “Christian joy is, essentially, a spiritual participation in the boundless joy, at the same time both divine and human, in the heart of Jesus Christ glorified… Let us now pause to contemplate the person of Jesus during His earthly life.   In His humanity, He had experienced our joys.   He has manifestly known, appreciated and celebrated a whole range of human joys, those simple daily joys within the reach of everyone.   The depth of His interior life did not blunt His concrete attitude or His sensitivity.   He admires the birds of heaven, the lilies of   the field. He immediately grasps God’s attitude towards creation at the dawn of history.   He willingly extols the joy of the sower and the harvester, the joy of the man who finds a hidden treasure, the joy of the shepherd who recovers his sheep or of the woman who finds her lost coin, the joy of those invited to the feast, the joy of a marriage celebration, the joy of the father who embraces his son returning from a prodigal life and the joy of the woman who has just brought her child into the world.

For Jesus, these joys are real because for Him they are the signs of the spiritual joys of the kingdom of God, the joy of people who enter this kingdom return there or work there, the joy of the Father who welcomes them.   And for His part Jesus Himself manifests His satisfaction and His tenderness when He meets children wishing to approach Him, a rich young man who is faithful and wants to do more, friends who open their home to Him, like Martha, Mary and Lazarus.   His happiness is, above all, to see the Word accepted, the possessed delivered, a sinful woman or a publican like Zacchaeus converted, a widow taking from her poverty and giving.   He even exults with joy when He states that the little ones have the revelation of the kingdom which remains hidden from the wise and able.   Yes, because Christ was “a man like us in all things but sin,” (PE 4) He accepted and experienced affective and spiritual joys, as a gift of God.   And He did not rest until “to the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation…and to those in sorrow, joy.” … St Paul VI (1897-1978) Pope from 1963-1978 – Apostolic exhortation on Christian joy ‘Gaudete in Domino’ (PE 4; cf Lk 4:10).christian joy is - st paul vi - gaudete in domino 5 oct 2019.jpg

PRAYER – Lord God, You called St Faustina to serve You in a life of complete communion with Your Son and your people.   Amidst this world’s changes, help us, by her prayers, to set out hearts always on You. Heavenly Father, let me realise that You guide our lives through Your Providence, Your Word, Your Mercy and Sacraments.   Help me to be obedient to the rules for my state in life and so be obedient to Your will for me.   Grant that the prayers of St Faustina may assist us as we strive to grow in humility and in joy! Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.st faustina pray for us 5 oct 2019