Category: DIVINE MERCY

Posted in DIVINE MERCY, POETRY, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, SAINT of the DAY, St JOHN HENRY Cardinal NEWMAN!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 7 November – ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’

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One Minute Reflection – 7 November – Thursday of the Thirty First week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 15:1–10 and the Memorial of Saint Vincenzo Grossi (1845-1917)

“‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’”… Luke 15:6

REFLECTION –
“I have wandered in the desert,
Gone astray in the wilderness,
One among a hundred
As in the parable of the sheep.

The wicked enemy tore it to pieces,
He covered it with incurable wounds,
Hence there is no other cure for the wound
But You, to heal it.

In floods of tears I implore You,
I lift up my cries to my Lord:
O Good Shepherd, come down from heaven,
Go in search of the little flock.

Lord, seek out the fallen coin,
Your image that was lost (Gn 1:26),
That I trampled in the vice of sin
And the stinking mud.

Wash me, Lord, from my filth,
Make my soul pure, as the whiteness of snow (Is 1:18).
Make up the number of the ten coins
As You did for the forty saints [of Sebaste].

Carry me on Your shoulders,
O You who bore the Cross,
Be pleased to raise up my fallen soul.
Give joy to the heavenly host of angels
At the return of a single sinner.” … Saint Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173), Armenian Bishopluke 15 6 rejoice with me for i have found - carry me on your shoulders - st nerses chnorhali 7 nov 2019

PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom, You created us, by Your providence You rule us, penetrate our inmost being with Your holy light, so that our way of life, may always be one of faithful service to You. With great love we thank You for the great gifts You shower upon us and for being our Father, who seeks and finds us when we are lost.   Grant that by the intercession of St Vincenzo Grossi, we may ever seek to stay true to our baptism. Through Jesus, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.st vincenzo grossi pray for us 7 nov 2019

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DIVINE MERCY, GOD is LOVE, HYMNS, MINI SERIES, PAPAL HOMILIES, POETRY, Pope BENEDICT XVI, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, St JOHN HENRY Cardinal NEWMAN!, The HOLY TRINITY, The WORD, VATICAN Resources

Thought for the Day – 29 October – How to speak about God?

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Thought for the Day – 29 October – Tuesday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 13:18-21

Again he said, …”To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in
with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” Luke 13:20

Excerpt – Part One
Year of Faith – How to speak about God?

Pope Benedict XVI
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 28 November 2012

The important question we ask ourselves today is – how can we talk about God in our time?   How can we communicate the Gospel so as to open roads to His saving truth in our contemporaries’ hearts — that are all too often closed — and minds — that are at times distracted by the many dazzling lights of society? Jesus, the Evangelists tell us, asked Himself about this as He proclaimed the kingdom of God – “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?” (Mk 4:30).

How can we talk about God today?   The first answer is that we can talk about God because He has talked to us, so the first condition for speaking of God is listening to all that God Himself has said.   God has spoken to us!   God is therefore not a distant hypothesis concerning the world’s origin, He is not a mathematical intelligence far from us.   God takes an interest in us, He loves us, He has entered personally into the reality of our history, He has communicated Himself, even to the point of taking flesh.   Thus God is a reality of our life, He is so great that He has time for us too, He takes an interest in us. In Jesus of Nazareth we encounter the face of God, who came down from His heaven to immerse Himself in the human world, in our world, and to teach “the art of living”, the road to happiness, to set us free from sin and make us children of God (cf. Eph 1:5; Rom 8:14).   Jesus came to save us and to show us the good life of the Gospel.

Talking about God means first of all expressing clearly what God we must bring to the men and women of our time, not an abstract God, a hypothesis but a real God, a God who exists, who has entered history and is present in history, the God of Jesus Christ as an answer to the fundamental question of the meaning of life and of how we should live. Consequently speaking of God demands familiarity with Jesus and His Gospel, it implies that we have a real, personal knowledge of God and a strong passion for His plan of salvation without succumbing to the temptation of success but following God’s own method.   God’s method is that of humility — God makes Himself one of us — His method is brought about through the Incarnation in the simple house of Nazareth; through the Grotto of Bethlehem, through the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

We must not fear the humility of taking little steps but trust in the leaven that penetrates the dough and slowly causes it to rise (cf. Mt 13:33).   In talking about God, in the work of evangelisation, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must recover simplicity, we must return to the essence of the proclamation – the Good News of a God who is real and effective, a God who is concerned about us, a God-Love who makes Himself close to us in Jesus Christ, until the Cross and who, in the Resurrection, gives us hope and opens us to a life that has no end, eternal life, true life. – To be continued/…

Firmly I believe and truly
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Firmly I believe and truly
God is three and God is On
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.
Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong
And I love, supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.

And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church, as His creation,
And her teachings, as His own.
And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here. 
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.firmly i believe and truly st john henry newman 29 oct 2019.jpg

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 October – Not as a son but as a hired servant

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 October – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 18:9–14

“For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled
and he who humbles himself
will be exalted.”

Luke 14:11for-everyone-who-exalts-himself-luke-14-11-1-sept-2019 27 oct 2019.jpg

‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

Luke 18:13god be merciful to me a sinner luke 18 13 27 oct 2019.jpg

“If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level.
If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height,
you will begin with the lowest foundation.
This is humility.
However great the mass of the building you may wish to design or erect,
the taller the building is to be, the deeper you will dig the foundation.
The building in the course of its erection, rises up high
but he who digs its foundation, must first go down very low.
So then, you see even a building is low before it is high
and the tower is raised, only after humiliation.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor (Sermon 69)if-you-wish-to-reach-high-then-begin-at-the-lowest-level-st-augustine-18-july-2019 27 oct 2019.jpg

“The three most important virtues are:
humility,
humility
and humility.”

St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
Doctor of the Churchthe-three-most-important-virtues-st-bernard-20-aug-2018-and-2019 and 27 oct 2019.jpg

“For it is well known, that,
on the spiritual road, not to go on,
overcoming self,
is to go backwards
and not to increase our gain,
is to lose.”

St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Doctor of the Churchon-the-spiritual-road-not-to-go-on-overcoming-self-st-john-of-the-cross-23-july-2019-27 oct 2019.jpg

“We are ever but beginning,
the most perfect Christian,
is to himself but a beginner,
a penitent prodigal
who has squandered God’s gifts
and comes to Him,
to be tried over again,
not as a son
but as a hired servant.”

St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)we-are-ever-but-beginning-bl-john-henry-newman-16-aug-2019 and 27 oct 2019.jpg

Posted in DIVINE MERCY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SIN, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 27 October – ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

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One Minute Reflection – 27 October – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 18:9–14

‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ … Luke 18:13

REFLECTION – “The Gospel of the two men praying in the temple, the Pharisee and the tax collector, reveals to what kind of prayer penetrates to God.
We notice a difference even in their respective postures.   The one stands “with unbowed head” as if the temple belongs to him, while the other “keeps his distance,” as if he has crossed the threshold of a house in which he really does not belong.
The first one prays “to himself,” really, not even praying to God but reviewing for himself the list of his virtues assuming that, when God Himself notices them, He will respect them and marvel at them.   Moreover, this man catalogues his virtues as a means of setting himself off from “other men,” none of whom have attained his level of perfection. He is travelling the road of “self-discovery,” which is precisely the path of “loss of God.” The other man can only discover sin in himself, can only find himself devoid of God, which, as he pleads, “be merciful to me,” turns into an empty place for God to occupy.  No-one, whose ultimate goal is his own perfection, will ever find God.
Anyone who has the humility to permit God’s perfection to take effect in his emptiness – not by being passive but by working with the talent He gives him – will be considered a “justified” person in the sight of God.” … Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988)luke 18 13 be merciful to me a sinner pharisee and tax collector - the first one prays to himself hans urs von blathasar 27 oct 2019 

PRAYER – Lord God, deepen our faith, strengthen our hope, enkindle our love and so that we may obtain what You promise, make us love what You command.   Mary, holy Mother, teach us complete humility and trust, help us to be a total fiat as you are.   We make our prayer, through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity, amen.blessed virgin mother mary pray for us - 27 oct 2019.jpg

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One Minute Reflection – 26 October – The fruitless tree

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One Minute Reflection – 26 October – Saturday of the Twenty Ninth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel:  Luke 13:1-9 and the Memorial of Blessed Bonaventura of Potenza OFM Conv (1651-1711)

And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?’…Luke 13:7

REFLECTION – “The Lord also has something very fitting to say about a fruitless tree, “Look, it is now three years that I have been coming to it.   Finding no fruit on it, I will cut it down, to stop it blocking up my field.”   The gardener intercedes.   This tree is the human race.   The Lord visited this tree in the time of the patriarchs, as if for the first year.   He visited it in the time of the law and the prophets, as if for the second year.   Here we are now, with the gospel the third year has dawned.   Now it is as though it should have been cut down but the Merciful One intercedes with the Merciful One.   He wanted to show how merciful He was and so He stood up to Himself with a plea for mercy.   “Let us leave it,” he says, “this year too.   Let us dig a ditch around it.”   Manure is a sign of humility. “Let us apply a load of manure, perhaps it may bear fruit.”   Since it does bear fruit in one part and in another part does not bear fruit, its Lord will come and divide it.   What does that mean, “divide it”?   There are good people and bad people now in one company, as though constituting one body.” … St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor (Sermon 254)luke-13-7-and-he-said-to-the-vinedresser-ST AUGUASTINE - 26 OCT 2019 THE LORD ALSO .jpg

PRAYER – Come to help us in our weakness, God of mercy, forgive the sins of Your people and as nothing we can do is worthy in Your sight, save us through the intercession of the Mother of our Lord, Jesus Christ.   May the prayers of all your saints and we entreat Your servant, Blessed Bonaventura of Potenza to add his prayers on our behalf.   We make our prayer through Jesus with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.bl bonaventura of potenza pray for us 26 oct 2019

Posted in DIVINE MERCY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, Papa FRANCIS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY SPIRIT, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 24 October – “I came to cast fire upon the earth”

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One Minute Reflection – 24 October – Thursday of the Twenty Ninth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 12:49-53 and the Memorial of St Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)

“I came to cast fire upon the earth” …Luke 12:49

REFLECTION – “The fire that Jesus speaks of, is the fire of the Holy Spirit, the presence living and working in us from the day of our Baptism.   It — the fire — is a creative force that purifies and renews, that burns all human misery, all selfishness, all sin, which transforms us from within, regenerates us and makes us able to love.   If we open ourselves completely to the action of this fire, … He will give us the boldness and the fervour to proclaim, to everyone, Jesus and His consoling message of mercy and salvation, navigating on the open sea, without fear.” … Pope Francis – Angelus, 14 August 2016i came to cast fire upon earth luke 12 49 - the fire which jesus speaks of - pope francis - 24 oct 2019

PRAYER –
O Spirit of God, Spirit of love and of mercy,
Who pours into my heart the balm of trust,
Your grace confirms my soul in what is good,
Giving it an invincible strength – constancy!

O Spirit of God, Spirit of peace and of joy,
Who comforts my thirsting heart,
Pour into it the living spring of divine love
And make it dauntless in battle.

O Spirit of God, my soul’s most lovable guest,
I, for my part, desire to be faithful to You
In days of joy, as much as in days of suffering.
Spirit of God, I desire to live always in Your presence.

O Spirit of God who penetrates my being
And lets me know Your divine and Trinitarian life,
You initiate me to Your divine Being;
Thus united with You, I have eternal life. … St  Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938)o spirit of god spirit of love and of mercy st faustina 24 oct 2019

St Anthony Mary Claret, Pray for us!   Amenst anthony mary claret pray for us 24 oct 2019.jpg

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Thought for the Day – 24 October – Pardon us, O Lord, Pardon us

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Thought for the Day – 24 October – The Feast of the Holy Redeemer

St John Paul II from ‘Redemptor Hominis’ his first Enycyclical, ‘The Redeemer of Humankind.’   In it he dealt with the core of our faith, the Person of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the World.

10 . The human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption

We cannot live without love.   We remain beings that are incomprehensible for ourselves, our lives are senseless, if love is not revealed to us, if we do not encounter love, if we do not experience it and make it our own, if we do not participate intimately in it.   This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer “fully reveals man to himself”, ‘fully reveals us to ourselves’.
If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption.   In this dimension we find again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to our humanity.
In the mystery of the Redemption we become newly “expressed” and, in a way, are newly created.   We are newly created!   “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”64.
If we wish to understand ourselves thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial and even illusory standards and measures of his being-we must with our unrest, uncertainty and even our weakness and sinfulness, with our life and death, draw near to Christ.   We must, so to speak, enter into Him with all His own self, we must “appropriate” and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find ourselves.   If this profound process takes place within us, we then bear fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at ourselves.
How precious must we be in the eyes of the Creator, if we “gained so great a Redeemer” and if God “gave his only Son “in order that we “should not perish but have eternal life”.

God does not leave us groping in the dark.   He has shown Himself to us as a man.   In His greatness, He has let Himself become small. ... Pope Benedict XVIjohn-14-9-he-who-seen-me-god-does-not-leave-us-groping-in-the-dark-pope-benedict-18-may-2019 and 23 oct 2019.jpg

Pardon us, O Lord, Pardon us
By William of Saint-Thierry OSB, O.Cist. (c 1075-1148)
Abbot, Monk, Theologian, Mystic, Writer
Friend of St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Pardon us, O Lord, pardon us.
We beg to shift the blame for our sins,
we make excuses.
But no-one can hide
from the Light of Your Truth,
which both enlightens those,
who turn to it and exposes those,
who turn away.
Even our blood and our bones
are visible to You,
who created us out of dust.
How foolish we are,
to think that we can rule our own lives,
satisfying our own desires,
without thought of You.
How stupid we are,
to imagine that we can keep our sins hidden.
But although we may deceive other people,
we cannot deceive You.
And since You see into our hearts,
we cannot deceive ourselves,
for Your Light reveals to us,
our own spiritual corruption.
Let us, therefore, fall down before You,
weeping with tears of shame.
May Your judgement,
give new shape to our souls.
May Your power, mould our hearts
to reflect Your love.
May Your grace, infuse our minds,
so that our thoughts reflect Your Will.
Amenpardon-us-o-lord-pardon-us-by-william-saint-thierry-20-april-2019-holy-sat adn 23 oct 2019.jpg