Tag: st gregory of nyssa

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The WORD

Thought for the Day – 25 June -Manifesting Christ by St Gregory of Nyssa

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 25 June – Tuesday of the Twelfth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 7:6,12=14

Christ should be Manifest in our Whole Life

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–C 395)
Bishop and Father of the Church –
Brother of St Basil the Great (Father & Doctor)

An excerpt from his treatise On Christian Perfection

The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects –  deeds, words and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind.   Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived.  So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words and deeds are controlled by the divine ideal, the revelation of Christ.   For then our thoughts, words and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications.

What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the name of Christ?   Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed toward Christ or are turned away from Him.   This examination is carried out in various ways. Our deeds or our thoughts or our words are not in harmony with Christ if they issue from passion.   They then bear the mark of the enemy who smears the pearl of the heart with the slime of passion, dimming and even destroying the lustre of the precious stone.

On the other hand, if they are free from and untainted by every passionate inclination, they are directed toward Christ, the author and source of peace.   He is like a pure, untainted stream.   If you draw from Him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.if you draw from him - st gregory of nyssa - 25 jun 2019.jpg

For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical.  Christ’s purity, however, is the fountainhead, ours has its source in Him and flows out of Him.   Our life is stamped with the beauty of His thought.   The inner and the outer man are harmonised in a kind of music.   The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behaviour.   As I see it, Christian perfection consists in thiS – sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ’s name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.

I am the Way and the Truth and the Life…John 14:8

i am the way the truth and the life jon 14 8 31 march 2019 laetare sunday.jpg

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, GOD the FATHER, LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on FREEDOM, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 9 March – Where, then, is true freedom?

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 9 March – Saturday after Ash Wednesday “Come back to Me, with All your Heart” – Today’s Gospel : Luke 5:27-32 – The Calling of Matthewluke 5 28 leaving everything behind - calling of matthew - sat after ash wed lent 2019 9 march.jpg

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

Above the monastery some planes are cutting through the sky at tremendous speed.   The noise of the engines frightens the birds, who take shelter in the cypresses of our cemetery.   In front of the convent and crossing the land, is a tarred road along which lorries and carloads of tourists, for whom the sight of the monastery has no interest, run at all hours.   One of the principal Spanish railways also runs through the fields of the monastery…   People tell you that all this is freedom…   But the man who reflects a little will see how deluded the world is in the midst of what he calls freedom…

Where, then, is true freedom?   It is in the heart of one who loves nothing more than God. It is in the heart of one who is attached neither to spirit nor to matter but only to God.   It is in that soul which is not subject to the “I” of egoism, which soars above its own thoughts, feelings, suffering and enjoyment.   Freedom resides in the soul whose one reason for existence is God, whose life is God and nothing else but God.

The human spirit is small, impoverished, subject to a thousand changes of mood, ups and downs, depressions, disillusionments, etc and the body, to so much weakness.   Freedom, then, is in God and the soul which truly, in soaring above everything, makes her abode in Him, can say that she enjoys freedom, to the extent that is possible for one still in the world to do so.”

Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938)
Spanish Trappist monk

(Spiritual writings, 15/12/1936 (trans. ‘To know how to wait’, Mairin Mitchell)where then is true freedom st raphael arnaiz baron - lent 2019 - 9 march sat after ash wed.jpg

Daily Meditation:
A Saturday of Lent
and more on “True Fasting.”
Each of the Saturdays of Lent are more upbeat and “lighter” in tone.
We are preparing for Sunday.

Our reading from Isaiah 58 continues,
as does our self-examination
regarding what true fasting is for us this Lent.

What patterns will I change?

Closing Prayer:

God, heavenly Father,
look upon me and hear my prayer
during this holy Season of Lent.
Help me to discipline my body
and be renewed in spirit.

Without You, I can do nothing.
By Your Holy Spirit, help me to know what is right
and to be eager to do Your will.
Teach me to find new life through penance.
Keep me from sin and help me to live by Your commandments.
God of love, bring me back to You.

Father, our source of life,
I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand,
guide and lead me in Your gentle mercy.

Let me be aware of
the many ways you reach out to help me today
and let me stand in awe of the power
that You use in such loving ways.

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

“Christ is the artist, tenderly wiping away
all the grime of sin that disfigures the human face
and restoring God’s image to its full beauty.”

St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–C 395) Father of the Churchchrist-is-the-artist-st-gregory-of-nyssa- 9 march 2017.jpg

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on SIN, SACRED and IMMACULATE HEARTS, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 15 February – Nothing else, than the body that proved itself superior to death and became the source of our life.

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 15 February – Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Today’s First Reading: Genesis 3:1-8 and the Memorial of St Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682) Apostle of the Sacred Heart and Blessed Michal Sopoćko (1888-1975) Apostle of Divine Mercy

“The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom.   So she took some of its fruit and ate it and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her and he ate it.”...Genesis 3:6

REFLECTION – “Those who have been tricked into taking poison, offset its harmful effect, by another drug.   The remedy, moreover, just like the poison, has to enter the system, so that its remedial effect, may thereby spread through the whole body.   Similarly, having tasted the poison, that is the fruit, that dissolved our nature, we were necessarily in need of something to reunite it.   Such a remedy had to enter into us, so that it might by its counteraction, undo the harm the body had already encountered from the poison.   And what is this remedy?   Nothing else, than the body that proved itself superior to death and became the source of our life.”…St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–c395) Father of the Church (Catechetical Oration, 27)genesis 3 6 the woman saw that the fruit was good - those who have been tricked - st gregory of nyssa 15 feb 2019.jpg

PRAYER – Heavenly Father, Your great mercy, gave us Your Son!   Surely nothing can be a greater proof to us of Your unending love and mercy to Your lowly creatures, we who are dust.   Through Him, who died and rose for us, You have shown us the way of true mercy. Grant us this day that by the intercession of St Claude and Blessed Michal, we may take up our crosses with Him, never leaving the love of His Sacred Heart, so that we may join Your holy saints in eternal life.   Through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.st-claude-pray-for-us-15-feb-2018.jpg

bl michal sopocka pray for us - apostle of divine mercy 15 feb 2019.jpg

Posted in MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS

Quote of the Day – 30 April

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 30 April

“Love is the bond of life,
the mother of the poor
and the teacher of the rich.
It is the nurse of orphans,
the attendant of the elderly,
the treasure of the indigent
and the common port
of all the afflicted.”

St Gregory of Nyssa

ST GREGORY OF NYSSA - LOVE IS THE

Posted in QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 9 March

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 9 March

“Christ is the artist, tenderly wiping away
all the grime of sin that disfigures the human face
and restoring God’s image to its full beauty.”

“True perfection consists in having but one fear –
the fear of losing God’s friendship.”

St Gregory of Nyssa (Memorial 9 March)

CHRIST IS THE ARTIST-ST GREGORY OF NYSSATRUE PERFECTION-STGREGORYOFNYSSA

“Do you want many graces?
Go and visit the Blessed Sacrament often.”

“If I do not become a saint, I am doing nothing.”

St Dominic Savio (Memorial 9 March)

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“A married woman must, when called upon,
quit her devotions to God at the altar
to find Him in her household affairs.”

St Frances of Rome (Memorial 9 March)

A MARRIED WOMAN

Posted in MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 11 January

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 11 January

If you lavish your food on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom shall become like midday; then the LORD will guide you always and satisfy your thirst in parched places, HE will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never fail…….Isaiah 58:10-11

REFLECTION – “Love is the bond of life, the mother of the poor and the teacher of the rich.
It is the nurse of orphans, the attendant of the elderly, the treasure of the indigent and the common port of all the afflicted.”……..St Gregory of Nyssa.

PRAYER – O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through His poverty might be rich, deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired, by the devotion of Your servant St Theodosius the Cenobiarch, may serve You with singleness of heart and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. St Theodosius the Cenobiarch. Pray for us! Amen

isiah-58-10-11quote-gregory-nyssapray-for-us-st-theodosius