Sunday, November 30, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Jesus-Maria-Anna" From The Colettines Sisters
"Jesus-Maria-Anna" I pray that the Blessed Holy Spirit will always keep you in his holy grace and lead you at last to eternal glory.
May the Father in his Mercy,
the Son, by his holy Passion,
and the Holy Spirit, the fountain of peace, sweetness, love and all consolation come down upon you and remain with you always."
(The Blessing of St Colette).............
Dear Little hearts,
Every family home, monastery, and long established community has a potential awareness of not only those who are living, residing now, but of those who have already passed from this life into God....
In a family home their are memories of parents, grandparents, relatives, in a community memories of sisters who have lived the life before us.
In addition each family, community has ‘memory’ of their founder, foundreseses. In the garden, and within the monastery itself we are so aware of the spirit of Our Holy Mothers Clare and Colette, in some way they too are always with us.
As Poor Clare Colettines our community has a great love and devotion to Saint Colette so let us share together something of her life and spirit.
Saint Colette was a great letter writer she wrote to persons in every position and state in life, both low and high. Her letters and documents were sealed with wax , as was the custom of the time. This is a picture of her seal..it carries a powerful message, and one wonders what some of the recipients felt, or how many graces touched them through this short exhortation.
“Remember Death”....This reveals a whole attitude towards human existence, a living just not for the things and times of this world but looking to the world beyond.It is not a morbid focus amidst life, but it is facing the truth that it is a door that ultimately we must all pass through. Our whole life should be a prepration for death, and this means in our daily life surrending to the little deaths that circumstances bring us, they may seem small in themselves but they form us and prepare us.
May Our Holy Mother Saint Colette bless you all.
On the humble Seal that she used for her correspondence are inscribed the words My Sisters, remember death.
The relics of St Colette are in the monastery of Poligny in France
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
St. Martha
The Gospel of John tells us that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (11:5)—these three siblings were close friends of Jesus and he relied on them for support.
They lived in Bethany, a small town two miles outside of Jerusalem. When Jesus began preaching throughout Judea, he would stop at their house for rest during his travels. Scripture mentions Jesus stopping at their house in three different accounts.
Martha was oldest of these three siblings, and appears to have been in charge of the household. She is the main character in the famous story of Jesus’ visit when Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to him teach, while Martha works away in the kitchen. Martha gets exasperated that she’s the only one attending to the household work and complains to Jesus.
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me,” Martha says. He comforts her and encourages patience, saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:38-42).
Later, we see how well Martha learned this lesson from Jesus—that the only important thing is to cling to the Lord. When her brother, Lazarus died, she placed her trust in Jesus.
They lived in Bethany, a small town two miles outside of Jerusalem. When Jesus began preaching throughout Judea, he would stop at their house for rest during his travels. Scripture mentions Jesus stopping at their house in three different accounts.
Martha was oldest of these three siblings, and appears to have been in charge of the household. She is the main character in the famous story of Jesus’ visit when Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to him teach, while Martha works away in the kitchen. Martha gets exasperated that she’s the only one attending to the household work and complains to Jesus.
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me,” Martha says. He comforts her and encourages patience, saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:38-42).
Later, we see how well Martha learned this lesson from Jesus—that the only important thing is to cling to the Lord. When her brother, Lazarus died, she placed her trust in Jesus.
When Jesus arrived at Lazarus’ tomb, he told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11).
Martha is depicted in these stained glass windows from the Basilica, where she holds a cooking pot, and offers hospitality to Jesus. She is patron saint of cooks and kitchen staff, and her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Martha, patron saint of cooks, and the hospitable friend of Jesus who was busy about many things, pray for us!
Martha is depicted in these stained glass windows from the Basilica, where she holds a cooking pot, and offers hospitality to Jesus. She is patron saint of cooks and kitchen staff, and her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Martha, patron saint of cooks, and the hospitable friend of Jesus who was busy about many things, pray for us!
Norte Dame College
Thursday, July 24, 2014
From the Poor Clare Colettines TMD
From the monastery garden (18)
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
( 1 Peter)
Dear Little hearts,
What a precious, blessed gift of God is our faith. As you contemplate the beauty of creation, let the various colours yield their message to you.
The Gold of these herbs brought to mind the verse from 1 Peter, and yes our faith will be and is tried in so many ways. We may or may not be called upon to suffer martyrdom, in these difficult time, who can say, but we may well know through intimidation, abuse of others a bloodless martyrdom. Yes, our faith will be tested, through the circumstances, persons in our lives, through suffering and death. It is a testing, have courage and remain faithful to Him who created you and loves you.
Gold can buy things, faith can attain far, far more, Faith is the Victory that overcomes this world, seek the gold of His Love, and offer Him the gold of obedience.... He is worth it all.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Kateri Tekakwitha, “ The Lily of the Mohawks”.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin, was canonized on 10/21/2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Kateri was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was four years old when her mother died of smallpox. The disease also attacked Kateri and transfigured her face. She was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle. Kateri became converted as a teenager. She was baptized at the age of twenty and incurred the great hostility of her tribe. Although she had to suffer greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it. Kateri went to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. Here she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Every morning, even in bitterest winter, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at four and remained there until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus Crucified. She died on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. She is known as the "Lily of the Mohawks". Devotion to Kateri is responsible for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the United States and Canada. Kateri was declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 1943 and she was Beatified in 1980. Hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Kateri erected at both St. Francis Xavier and Caughnawaga and at her birth place at Auriesville, New York. Pilgrimages at these sites continue today.
(Catholic online) Carholic.org
Blessed Kateri’s chaplet is beautiful to pray, it consists of 24 beads ( the number of years of her life), the beads are one decade brown, one red, and one white or crystal. First you will find the text that explains how it is normally prayed after I will give you an alternative suggestion, both are potentially fruitful and worthwhile.
CHAPLET OF KATERI TEKAKWITHA
1. Kiss the Cross and make the Sign of the Cross with it, saying, "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." .
2. Recite an Our Father on each of the 8 Brown Beads; a Hail Mary on each of the 8 Red Beads; and a Glory Be on each of the 8 Crystal Beads.
3. Make the Sign of the Cross as above.
EXPLANATION AND MEANING OF THIS CHAPLET
THE CROSS
The cross is of Sturolite, nature's amazing wonder mineral found in the shape of tiny crosses in the Blue ridge Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, and New Mexico.
THE 24 BEADS
Kateri, whose name means, "Putting things in order" and "moving all things before her," was 24 when she departed from this world; the beads symbolize her 24 short but fruitful years on earth.
BROWN BEADS
Earth colors are popular with Indians and brown is the predominantly color of earth. Kateri's moccasins in which she walked the woods distributing her handmade crosses, were brown also.
RED BEADS
Red [Moonstone red] is the traditional color for love, symbolizing God's love for this sweet Saint and the love she bore Him in the Eucharist and for His Blessed Mother.
Ask Kateri's intercession to Mary to form this love in all our hearts and to lead us back to Christ when we fall away.
CRYSTAL BEADS.Represent the rivers and waters so loved of the indians
There is an Indian legend that on the day that Christ died on the Cross, the woodland animals wept, their tiny tears falling upon the earth and crystallizing into these tiny crosses.
Kateri’s Chaplet in Simplicity and Peace
Prayed in the company of Blessed Kateri, ex corde-from the heart.
The Brown Beads focus upon God as Creator and Father, giving thanks for the wonders of his hands, and thanking him for having created me, for loving me. On each bead I offer some ejaculation of love.... or even just Father, My Father.
The Red Beads, I focus upon Jesus and his supreme offering upon the Cross for me, for his tremendous love.... I recall the precious blood and his abiding presence in the Eucharist. On each bead I whisper his name, or offer some simple prayer from the heart.
The White or crystal beads, I focus upon the Great White Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the fount of living water, the light of life, and pray upon the beads, Come sweet Spirit of grace....
At the End I adore the Trinity and spend sometime in union with the Three.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Sowing the seeds of Faith
Gospel MT 13:1-23
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said,
“Why do you speak to them in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted,
and I heal them.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one
who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it,
and the evil one comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Usccb.org
Prayer
Dear Jesus,
I pray that all your words fall in the good soil of my heart,
so it can manifest itself and bear fruit, that through your goodness, I too, can plant the seeds of faith in others and they too may be fruitful and multiply.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Love will find a way, where there seems to be no way
Love will find a way, where there seems to be no way
From the Poor Clare Colettines TMD
Dear Little hearts,
Walking through the Garden of God, not only the plants, trees & flowers hold an inspiration a message but the even the very way a garden is laid out. In parts where it is overgrown and aged one sees a path, a narrow path through the foliage, this all has a message... That with God, with His grace, somehow there is always a way through every situation. Love will find a way... because the heart will not give up seeking the good.
God is with us, present in our lives... live totally in the present moment... be present to the Lord as He is present to you... and trust him, he will lead you through the ‘woods’ of all your lives.
Pope Francis: not working on Sunday is good for everyone
Dan Bergin
Posted: Monday, July 7, 2014 4:15 am
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Pope Francis lamented the introduction of Sunday working, saying it has a negative impact on families and friendships. Speaking during a day-long visit to Molise an agricultural region in southern Italy where unemployment is very high, he said poor people need jobs to have dignity, but opening businesses and stores on a Sunday as a way to create jobs wasn't beneficial to society. He said the priority should be "human not economic" and the stress should be on families and friendships, not commercial relationships. "Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves if working on Sundays is true freedom," he said. Spending Sundays with family and friends is "an ethical choice" for faithful and non-faithful alike.
Pope Francis arrived by helicopter and during his stay, visited a prison and had lunch with a group of poor people. He was full of energy and spoke off the cuff with people in the crowds. Last week Pope Francis cancelled a few appointments, citing a minor health problem. On Saturday he appeared back on form.
Thousands of people gathered for the outdoor Mass in the city of Campobasso. In his homily Pope Francis emphasized the dignity of the human person in the realm of work and the call of all members of the Church to service, both to God and to others,
“The Church is a people who serves God; the Church is a people who lives in the freedom that he gives,” he told the assembly. And this service, he continued, is realized through prayer, adoration, the proclamation of the Gospel and charity in the ordinary of everyday life.
There is much need for commitment in the service of others “in the face of situations of material and spiritual precariousness, especially in the face of unemployment, a plague that requires every effort and much courage on everyone’s part,” he said.
The challenges of work, he said, calls upon the particular responsibility of institutions and of the business and financial world.
“It is necessary to place the dignity of the human person at the centre of every prospect and every action. Other interests, even if legitimate, are secondary,” he said to applause. “At the centre is the dignity of the human person. Why? Because the human person is in the image of God, he was created in the image of God and we are all in the image of God!
The Vatican Radio translation of Pope Francis’ homily follows below:
The first reading reminded us of the characteristics of divine wisdom, which liberates from evil and oppression those who place themselves at the service of the Lord. In fact, he is not neutral, but in his wisdom he is close to people who are fragile, discriminated against and oppressed, who abandon themselves in trust to him. This experience of Jacob and Joseph, recounted in the Old Testament, reveals two essential aspects of the life of the Church. The Church is a people who serves God; the Church is a people who lives in the freedom that he gives.
First of all, we are a people who serves God. Service to God is realized in different ways, in particular in prayer, in adoration, in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the witness of charity. And always, the icon of the Church is the Virgin Mary, the “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1,38; cfr 1,48). Immediately after having received the message from the Angel and having conceived Jesus, Mary leaves in a hurry to go to help her elderly relative Elizabeth. And, in this way, she showed that the preferred way to serve God is to serve our brothers and sisters who are in need.
At the school of the Mother, the Church learns to become every day “handmaid of the Lord”, to be ready to go to encounter situations of greatest need, to be caring toward the small and the excluded. But we are all called to live the service of charity in ordinary life, that is, in the family, in the parish, at work, with neighbours. It is the charity of everyday, ordinary charity.
The witness of charity is the main path of evangelization. In this, the Church has always been “on the front line”, a maternal and fraternal presence, which shares the difficulties and frailties of the people. In this way, the Christian community seeks to instil in society that “supplement of the soul”, which allows you to look beyond and to hope.
It's what you also, dear brothers and sisters of this Diocese, are doing with generosity sustained by the pastoral zeal of your Bishop. I encourage you all, priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful, to persevere on this path, serving God in the service of others and spreading everywhere the culture of solidarity. There is much need for this commitment, in the face of situations of material and spiritual precariousness, especially in the face of unemployment, a plague that requires every effort and much courage on everyone’s part. Because this challenge of work calls upon, in a particular way, the responsibility of institutions, of the business and financial world. It is necessary to place the dignity of the human person at the centre of every prospect and every action. Other interests, even if legitimate, are secondary. At the centre is the dignity of the human person. Why? Because the human person is in the image of God, he was created in the image of God and we are all in the image of God!
Therefore, the Church is the people who serve the Lord. For this, it is the people who experiences his freedom and lives in this freedom that He gives. The Lord always give true freedom. First of all, the freedom from sin, from selfishness in all its forms: the freedom to give of oneself and to do so with joy, like the Virgin of Nazareth, who is free from herself, she does not close in on herself in her condition – and she would have had reason! – but thinks of those who, in that moment, has greater need. She is free in the freedom of God, which is realized in love. And this is the freedom that God has given us and we must not lose it: the freedom to adore God, to serve God and to serve him even in our brothers and sisters.
This is the freedom that, by the grace of God, we experience in the Christian community, when we put ourselves at each other’s service, without jealousy, without taking sides, without chatter… Serving one another. Serving! Then the Lord frees us from ambition and rivalry, which undermine unity and communion. He frees us from distrust, sadness — look, this sadness is dangerous because it casts us down. It casts us down. It’s dangerous. Be careful. He frees us from fear, internal emptiness, isolation, regret, and complaints. Even in our communities, in fact, there is no shortage of negative attitudes that make people self-referential, more concerned with defending themselves than with giving of themselves. But Christ frees us from this existential greyness, as we proclaimed in the Responsorial Psalm, “You are my help and my deliverer”. For this reason, we disciples of the Lord, though still always weak and sinners – we are all so – still weak and sinners, we are called to live our faith with joy and courage, communion with God and with our brothers, adoration of God, and to face with strength the labours and trials of life.
Dear brothers and sisters, may the Holy Virgin, who you venerate in particular with the title of “Madonna della Libera”, attain for you the joy of serving the Lord and of walking in the freedom that He has given us, the freedom for adoration... May Mary help you to be a maternal Church, welcoming and caring towards everyone. May she always be beside you, your sick, your elderly, who are the wisdom of the people, and your youth. For all your people, may she be a sign of consolation and sure hope. May the Madonna della Libera accompany us, help us, console us and give us peace and joy.
Source: ICN/Vatican Radio
