Daily Reflection – We Become What We Love
Daily Reflection – The Power of Prayer
Minute Meditation – At Home with Angels and Beasts
We humans belong to both realms, the realm of the senses and a realm that goes beyond them. This stretches us. To avoid the tension of this stretching process we are apt to settle for half of our rightful inheritance. Still, our human birth gives us a dual citizenship. Only by claiming both realms as home can we avoid the polarization of our human consciousness. Our noblest task is to make the most of this creative tension. If we neglect what goes beyond our senses, we sink below animals. But if we deny being animals and neglect or reject our senses, we clip the very wings on which we are meant to rise to higher spheres. Unless we claim our dual citizenship and are at home with both angels and beasts we become alienated from both, alienated from what is truly human; we become—in Christopher Fry’s apt image, “Like a half-wit angel strapped to the back of a mule.”
— from the book The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Everyday Life, by Brother David Steindl-Rast
//Franciscan Media//
Saint of the Day – September 22 – Saint Ignatius of Santhia
St. Ignatius of Santhia (1686-1770) was born in Italy to an upper-class family. He received his early education from a devout priest, a relative of his mother, who inspired him to join the priesthood. He studied philosophy and theology, and after his ordination served as a diocesan priest for six years. St. Ignatius earned a reputation as an excellent preacher of retreats and missions, and he had a promising future within the diocese. His family and parishioners were surprised and disappointed when he decided to join the Capuchin Franciscans in Turin as a poor, humble friar. However, St. Ignatius flourished in the poverty and simplicity of the Franciscan way of life. He became well-known for his wisdom and sanctity, and many people from all walks of life came to him for confession and spiritual direction. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayed the rosary faithfully. He served God with humble obedience and inspired this virtue in the Franciscan novices over whom he had charge. He spent his last years on a sickbed where he continued to hear confessions and give direction to his visitors. St. Ignatius of Santhia’s feast day is September 22nd.
//Catholic Company//
Verse of the Day – Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
Meditation of the Day – Perfection
Morning Offering – Grant Me, O Lord
“Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you.”
— St. Thomas Aquinas
//Catholic Company//
Morning Offering – Prayer is a Surge of the Heart
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
— St. Therese of Lisieux
//Catholic Company//
Daily Message from Pope Francis – Everything that Exacerbates the Differences Between People Often Causes Discrimination
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2021
“Everything that exacerbates the differences between people, often causing discrimination – all of this, before God, no longer has any basis, thanks to the salvation effected in Christ. What is important is that faith that operates according to the path of unity indicated by the Holy Spirit. And our responsibility is that of journeying decisively on along this path of equality, but an equality that is sustained, that was created by the redemption of Jesus.” Pope Francis
Daily Reflection – Deferred Joys are the Sweetest
