it’s as if you can taste the sweetness that pours forth,
like a bright cherry popsicle on a hot summer day!
“When we contemplate the blessings of faith even now, as if gazing at a reflection in a mirror, it is, as if we already possessed the wonderful things which our faith assures us we shall one day enjoy.” (CCC163)
“The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”
Jeremiah 1:4-5
The Gift of Love
“Brothers & sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 12:31- 13:13
“In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice rescue me, and deliver me: incline your ear to me, and save me. Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress.” Psalm 71: 1-2, 3
“For you are my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. On you I depend from birth; from my mothre’s womb you are my strength.” Psalm 71: 5-6
“My mouth shall declare your justice, day by day your salvation. O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeeds.” Psalm 71: 15, 17
What were the blessings you received today?
3hugs n’ blessings to all the popsicle eaters, no matter which flavor you enjoyed!
The recent canonization of Saint Mother Teresa has inspired me to publish a post which has sat in my ‘draft’ file for quite some time. My spiritual director (whom I adore) encouraged me to publish previously, but also left me with the encouragement that God would provide the peace necessary at the appointed time.
I feel blessed that God’s whisper, and the peace only He can provide, came through the message of a multifaceted woman who made an indelible impact on untold numbers of people during her life.
“Each of us is merely a small instrument. When you look at the inner workings of electrical things, often you see small and big wires, new and old, cheap and expensive lined up. Until the current passes through them there will be no light. That wire is you and me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, produce the light of the world. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread.” Saint Mother Teresa
Life size Statue of Saint Mother Teresa, St. Veronica Parish in Herndon, Va.
Previously written….
“What we need is to love without getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking, of speaking, and of acting.” Saint Mother Teresa
Remaining silent through the difficulties of life *we have no control over, as my spiritual mentors have shown me, is a powerful exercise of trust! I wish I could say I was perfect at this or that I embrace the opportunity to suffer; however, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Gerard Majella, Saint Mother Teresa (recently canonized a Saint on September 4th 2016) all have lovingly shown me, through the examples of their ‘life-lived-out,’ what it means to believe, “Pain is never permanent.” – St. Teresa of Avila
“”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
I must attest that there is always great peace restored through the practice of this form of Silence.
Because
Only He truly knows the depth of it all.
Only He can offer the necessary strength to remain weak.
Only He can bring joy to the words, “it is finished.“
The month of August is one of my favorite Internal Control of the Soul examens, as written by Saint Faustina. And because of this it is perfect that “I cry out to You my God,” (who already know the answer to all the many questions) and release what has laid silent …once & forever;
with a still, quiet, tranquil voice
into Your earbecause I do trust…
“Jesus, You know.”
Hush……
as I will only say this once,
“All we knew how to do was to love.“
“Love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34
And this scared them.
They didn’t know how to receive it.
They didn’t understand it was a gift.
They were afraid of an expectation to reciprocate.
And this frightened them most.
For how do you give something without measure
when you have already portioned it out?
So instead they wrapped up
blame,
games,
deceit,
lies,
slander,
&
mockery
to be handed out
in love’s place.
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” Matthew 5:11
And yet,
“All we knew how to do was to love.”
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
His cross was never requested.
We never asked to be the ones who would help to carry it.
And still,
“All we knew how to do was to love.”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Matthew 5: 43-45
And if you were to ask us,
“What was the deepest wound suffered at the pillar of condemnation?”
It was when they proclaimed to the crowd of listeners they arranged:
“They hide behind their faith!”
“If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” 1Peter 4:14
For to us
our faith is not, what we do, but rather…
Who we are trying to be.
Because…
All we know Him to be…
is love.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teaching we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15
And so it is that we continue to praise & adore You, that through Your mercy & grace
the guile has ended
and all that remains is this one final thing to say…
“All we will continue to do is to love.”
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”
John 14:27
“Peace begins with a smile.“
Saint Mother Teresa
The end.
these 3hugs&blessingsgo out to:
all those who carry a cross of judgement in this earthly world,
May you remember how loved by God (and countless others) you are, especially when the cross becomes its heaviest.
to all those who stand by jeering in the crowd, watching the cross go by, that Mercy itself restore their peace when the scales fall from their eyes,
“Father, forgive them they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
and an EXTRA-special hug to those who know never to remain silent in the face of evil for *remaining silent in the face of injustice is the same as supporting it.
“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”John 3:20
“Suffering will never be completely absent from our lives. So don’t be afraid of suffering. Your suffering is a great means of love, if you make use of it, especially if you offer it for peace in the world.” Saint Mother Teresa
“Only if God is great is humankind also great. With Mary, we must begin to understand that this is so. We must not drift away from God but make God present; we must ensure that he is great in our lives. Thus, we too will become divine; all the splendour of the divine dignity will then be ours. Let us apply this to our own lives.
Thus, Mary speaks with us, speaks to us, invites us to know the Word of God, to love the Word of God, to live with the Word of God, to think with the Word of God. And we can do so in many different ways: by reading Sacred Scripture, by participating especially in the Liturgy, in which Holy Church throughout the year opens the entire book of Sacred Scripture to us. She opens it to our lives and makes it present in our lives.
The Assumption of Mary, Photo courtesy of Pinterest
Mary is taken up body and soul into the glory of Heaven, and with God and in God she is Queen of Heaven and earth. And is she really so remote from us?
While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people. Being in God, who is close to us, actually, “within” all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God. Being in God and with God, she is close to each one of us, knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness and has been given to us, as the Lord said, precisely as a “mother” to whom we can turn at every moment.
She always listens to us, she is always close to us, and being Mother of the Son, participates in the power of the Son and in his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother, who is not far from any one of us.
On this feast day, let us thank the Lord for the gift of the Mother, and let us pray to Mary to help us find the right path every day. Amen.”
MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION
OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Parish Church of Castel Gandolfo
Monday, 15 August 2005
“We never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek – Jesus, her Son.”
–Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”
–Saint Maximilian Kolbe
“Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence” St. Francis de la Sales
hugsnblessings 