The Colettine Sisters

The Abandonment & Surrender of love.

Dear Little hearts,

The word abandonment has a variety of definitions, but to begin with let us focus upon abandonment as a total and utter surrender to God. To learn to be able to abandon oneself to God is a life long journey, and it means letting go of everything, our fears, our perception as to how things should be, how a  situation or person , should be, and how it and they actually are.

But the way of abandonment it is way so pleasing to God. Above all it asks trust of us, and because we are often so wounded by life and others this is anything but easy, BUT by His grace we can do all things. This challenging prayer from the heart of Charles de Foucauld was the fruit of a life that underwent a deep conversion and transformation. It is not an easy prayer to pray if we really assent to all it says, but it is an ideal to pray and work towards.

Over the next few days let us look at this prayer more closely and see what it will say to each of us.

Father,

I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you:

I am ready for all, I accept all.

First of all and above all it is addressed to our Heavenly Father, the God and Father who loves me. It is a prayer in relationship to a Father.

It is a trust that underneath all life’s circumstances are the everlasting arms, that we can lean on and be held by.

The prayer reveals the total confidence and trust by the one who composed it that whatever happens  God knows what He is doing and that He knows best even if we are in total perplexity. I can only be ready, if I prepare my heart and soul  to surrender in the ordinary, daily duties that my state of life asks of me. If I make the effort to live in his will

(To be cont)

Prayer of Abandonment

Father,

I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you:

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,

and in all your creatures -

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul:

I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,

and with boundless confidence,

for you are my Father.

Charles de Foucauld

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A Leper for Christ: St. Damien of Molokai and Solidarity

When St. Damien of Molokai contracted leprosy in 1884, he wasn't angered by the disease. He appeared poised and resolute to friends. As Brandon Vogt demonstrates today, in this excerpt from his forthcoming book, "Saints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World", St. Damien considered his suffering the ultimate act of solidarity. 


When Damien de Veuster arrived in Hawaii in 1864, he found an island-community beset by infections. Over the years, travelers and seamen had introduced diseases like influenza and syphilis. Yet none were as bad as Hansen’s Disease, more commonly known as leprosy. First reported in Hawaii in 1840, leprosy devastated people in many ways. First, because the disease was highly contagious and untreatable until the 1930s, people contracting it had no hope of recovery. This often led to deep depression among its sufferers. Second, leprosy caused a progressive degeneration of their skin, eyes, and limbs. It thus disfigured people and eventually immobilized them. Finally, few diseases isolated people from their communities as much as leprosy. Sufferers were seen as outcasts and cautioned to stay away from everyone else. 

In 1866, to curb the spread of the disease, Hawaiian authorities decided to consign lepers to an isolated community on the island of Molokai. On three sides, the colony, called Kalaupapa, bordered the Pacific Ocean, and the fourth side featured massive, 1,600-foot cliffs. Once the lepers were out of sight and no longer a threat to the general population, the government turned a blind eye to their basic needs. Shipments of food and supplies slowed down, and the government removed most of its personnel. The result was a highly dysfunctional community marked by poverty, alcoholism, violence, and promiscuity. 

Puritan missionaries became convinced that leprosy stemmed from the people’s licentiousness. But Damien knew that wasn’t true. He believed the people on Molokai were basically good, not corrupt, and that sin did not cause the spread of the disease. 

In time, Damien came to see the neglected colony as the answer to his boyhood longings for adventurous missionary work. He asked the local bishop for permission to go to Molokai, and the bishop not only granted approval, but personally accompanied Damien to the island. He introduced Damien to the 816 community members as “one who will be a father to you and who loves you so much that he does not hesitate to become one of you, to live and die with you". 

This introduction didn’t surprise Damien, who had no illusions about what his mission would entail. He knew working in the disease-ridden colony virtually guaranteed that he would become infected, too. Yet he never wavered in his commitment. 

At first, the conditions around the lepers proved overwhelming. Damien often felt as if he had opened a door to hell. Victims wandered about, their bodies in ruin and their constant coughing the island’s most familiar sound. Damien could hardly bear the stench: 

"Many a time in fulfilling my priestly duties at the lepers' homes, I have been obliged, not only to close my nostrils, but to remain outside to breathe fresh air. To counteract the bad smell, I got myself accustomed to the use of tobacco. The smell of the pipe preserved me somewhat from carrying in my clothes the obnoxious odor of our lepers."

Eventually Damien overcame the distressing sights and smells. His superiors had given him strict advice: “Do not touch them. Do not allow them to touch you. Do not eat with them.” But Damien made the decision to transcend his fear of contagion and enter into solidarity with the Molokai lepers. He committed to visit every leper on the island and to inquire of their needs. 

One early realization was that to show the lepers the value of their lives, he had to first demonstrate the value of their deaths. So he built a fence around the local cemetery, which pigs and dogs regularly scavenged. He also constructed coffins and dug graves, committing that each leper, even if marginalized throughout his life, would receive a decent burial upon death. This had a remarkably uplifting effect on the community. 

Damien also devoted his attention to the sick. He brought the sacraments to bedridden lepers. He washed their bodies and bandaged their wounds. He tidied their rooms and did all he could to make them as comfortable as possible. 

What surprised the lepers most was that Damien touched them. Other missionaries and doctors shrank from the lepers. In fact, one local doctor only changed bandages with his cane. But Damien not only touched the lepers, he also embraced them, he dined with them, he put his thumb on their forehead to anoint them, and he placed the Eucharist on their tongues. All of these actions spoke volumes to the dejected lepers. They showed that Damien didn’t want to serve them from afar; he wanted to become one of them. 

Damien was careful never to present himself as a messianic figure. soaring in from a higher, more privileged position. He invited lepers to join in the work, turning his service to the community into an act of solidarity. He had them help build everything from coffins to cottages. When the colony expanded along the island’s peninsula, his leper friends helped construct a new road. Under his supervision, the lepers even blasted away rocks on the shoreline to create a new docking facility. Damien also taught the lepers to farm, raise animals, play musical instruments, and sing. Although the lepers were used to being patronized or bullied, Damien spread among them a new cheer and sense of worth. 

This refreshing spirit impressed visitors to the island. "I had gone to Molokai expecting to find it scarcely less dreadful than hell itself," wrote Englishman Edward Clifford in 1888, "and the cheerful people, the lovely landscapes, and comparatively painless life were all surprises. These poor people seemed singularly happy." 

Despite the idyllic community Damien had built through a decade of work, the moment he feared finally arrived in December 1884. One day, while soaking his feet in extremely hot water, Damien experienced no sensation of heat or pain—a tell-tale sign that he had contracted leprosy. The disease quickly developed, causing Damien to write to his bishop with the news: “Its marks are seen on my left cheek and ear, and my eyebrows are beginning to fall. I shall soon be completely disfigured. I have no doubt whatever of the nature of my illness, but I am calm and resigned and very happy in the midst of my people. The good God knows what is best for my sanctification. I daily repeat from my heart, ‘Thy will be done.’” 

Soon, he also wrote home to his brother: “I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.” 

Even before contracting the disease, Damien spoke of himself and the people of Molokai as “we lepers.” He identified closely with those he came to serve and thus, before and after the disease, offered a powerful, concrete expression of solidarity. And it was for that reason he become known not by his homeland, but by the island community he served—St. Damien of Molokai, patron of lepers. 



Brandon Vogt is the Content Director at Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. His forthcoming book, Saints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World, debuts later this month.

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A component of FaithND, an initiative of the Notre Dame Alumni Association.

5/6/2014

Gospel - May 6, 2014 Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter JN 6:30-35 The crowd said to Jesus, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Reflection - May 6, 2014 I’m not sure what classic movies play in your house around the Christmas season but we always watch “The Santa Clause.” One of my favorite moments is when little 6-year old Charlie turns to his step-father, a well-trained psychiatrist, and says, “Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” In today’s reading, people ask for a sign so they can believe. They know the story of their ancestors receiving manna, so they are searching for some source of outward proof in order to establish their belief. Instead of a sign, Jesus tells them to turn inward: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” We claim to have faith. We claim to believe in Jesus. But how many of us can truly say we approach Jesus as our bread of life? He invites us to completely and fully come to him. To do so, we must leave other attachments, but we will find that Jesus nourishes us deeply. What do we hunger for? New shoes? A fancy car? Signs or symbols? A miracle? Imagine not hungering for anything. What a sense of fulfillment and peace this would bring! Today, let us feed the spirit. Let us contemplate that for which we hunger and give God the chance to fulfill our deepest longings. Stephanie Felicetti ‘09 Director, Student Athlete Career Program

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Not registered to receive daily?   Signup  A component of FaithND, an initiative of the Notre Dame Alumni Association. 5/5/2014   Gospel - May 5, 2014 Monday of the Third Week of Easter JN 6:22-29 After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea. The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.      Reflection - May 5, 2014 For all the great insights of a Dostoevsky or a Shakespeare into the follies of our human nature, I hope that one day someone will write more of refrigerators and pantries. We all know that moment of idly scanning an open fridge, curious and lethargic, searching between the condiments and cold pizza for something to amuse our stomachs, if not our boredom. John 6, containing the “Bread of Life” discourse begun by our Gospel passage today, is a challenging and beautiful meditation on our hunger for the Lord. Jesus, finally discovered in Capernaum by the crowd, does not greet his followers warmly but openly reprimands their spiritual complacency. Have they followed him just to be entertained with miracles and to eat their fill of bread? Then again, when we come to Mass, do we intentionally nourish our trust in God? Or do we try to fill an empty faith with divine amusements, looking for Christ the spectacle? I often wonder whether I am one of the crowd in today’s Gospel. How easy it is to turn the altar into an open fridge door. This coming Sunday, again we have the opportunity to seek after Christ, and crowd around him in the liturgy to be fed the Bread of Heaven. What an amazing gift to join Pope Francis and delight in the “Joy of the Gospel,” the Word of God that ignites every love of our lives! Therefore, let us trust in God’s love and hope in the resurrection. Let us feed off of eternity like Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, and seek our faith that is the “food that endures for eternal life”—faith in Christ whom God has sent us like a shepherd to lost and hungry sheep. Thomas Graff ‘14     Prayer - May 5, 2014 Lord, we are often tempted to work for “food that perishes.” Too often we take the easy road and the sure thing. We come to you today with open hands, that we may be filled with the food that endures for eternal life. Father Thomas Jones, C.S.C.

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Feast of St. Athanasius of Alexandria

*St. Athanasius of Alexandria*

Courtesy of University of Norte Dame

 Athanasius applied his heart and mind to articulating Jesus' divinity and humanity and faced exile for his work, which helped shape the way the Church understands this mystery.

He was born in 297 in Alexandria, Egypt, at the end of the Roman persecution of Christians and at the start of the ascension of the Emperor Constantine. His parents were Christians, and he received an excellent education. He learned the Scriptures inside and out, and for a time he followed St. Anthony the Great, who established a life of prayer in the desert. 

Athanasius was ordained a deacon at the age of 21 and was assigned as a secretary to the bishop of Alexandria. It was in this role as an aid to the bishop that Athanasius attended the great council of Nicea, which gave us the Nicean creed that we still recite at Mass today.

The council was called because of the rapid spread of a strain of thought—named Arianism, after its first teacher, Arius—which claimed that because Jesus was born as a man, he could not have existed before his birth, and therefore was not fully divine. The council definitively stated that Jesus was, in fact, divine, and had existed as part of the Trinity before the Incarnation. The bishops condemned Arius and articulated the creed as a standard of orthodoxy.

Shortly after the council, the bishop died, and Athanasius was appointed his successor, even though he was not even 30 years old. Arianism, despite its condemnation, was still a popular belief, and Athanasius spent most of the rest of his life dealing with that heresy. 

He steadfastly proclaimed the conclusions of the council, even in the face of threats. His Arian opponents accused him of treason and even murder. Because they had connections to powerful people in the empire, they succeeded in having Athanasius removed and exiled. Political maneuvers resulted in his restoration and exile several more times—by the end of his life, he had been banished five times and spent 17 years in exile. He was a constant thorn in the side of the powerful who wanted a more convenient version of Christianity, and for this reason was called the “Champion of Orthodoxy.”

Athanasius was known as the greatest man of his day, and is one of the greatest religious leaders the world has ever known. He defended the faith when everything seemed stacked against him, and without his steadfastness, we would not have received the fullness of the faith that we have today. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and he is depicted there in stained glass windows, including one with an image showing him faithfully handing on doctrine, in the form of a scroll, to the Church.

St. Athanasius, who, against all odds, preserved and passed on the fullness of our faith in Jesus, pray for us!

• Gospel Reading

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Reflection Fridays!

Friday is a perfect day  to sit and reflect upon the things you should have done and you didn't , for the things you did that you shouldn't have. It is through prayer and reflection that God speaks to us . It is through reflection that we look upon our lives and seek how to not only make ourselves better but how to make the lives of others better. For if we truly take our daily bread, we truly live the gospel.

"I have done what is mine to do. May Christ show you what is yours to do."

 St. Francis of Assisi

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*St. Joseph the Worker*

St. Joseph (San Jose) the worker  St. Joseph was the Spouse of Our Lady and adoptive father to Our Lord. Tradition teaches us that he was a carpenter by trade. He is known as the patron of the Catholic Church, as well as many causes including all laborers and families. His feast days are: St. Joseph Husband of Mary - March 19, St. Joseph the Worker - May 1.  Prayer  Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your devine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers. Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for me. This prayer was found in the fiftienth year of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In 1505 it was sent from the Pope to Emperor Charles when he was going into battle. Whoever shall read this prayer or hear it or keep it about themselves, shall never die a sudden death, or be drowned, not shall posion take effect of them; neither shall they fall into the hands of the enemy; or shall be burned in any fire, or shall be overpowered in battle. Say for nine mornings for anything you may desire. It has never been known to fail, so be sure you really want what you ask. - See more at: http://prayertostjoseph.org/#sthash.rfxN9Cao.dpuf

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