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“For true hearts there is no separating ocean; or, rather, God is their ocean, in Whom they meet and are united; they love, and lose themselves in Him and in each other.”
— St. Théodore Guérin
//Catholic Company//
“If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament of the Eucharist, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude.”
— St. Angela of Foligno
//Catholic Company//
Mary’s virginity is not some kind of strained enclosure or an unnatural denial of the body. It is a choice that leads to a new kind of fruitfulness born of love that is human and inclusive and deeply spiritual, as well. St. Francis writes:
We are mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ when we carry him in our hearts and in our bodies, lovingly and with a pure and sincere conscience, and give birth to him through the working of his grace in us which should shine forth as an example to others. We are his spouses when we are wed to Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are his brothers and sisters when we do the will of his Father who is in heaven (“Letter to All the Faithful”).
— from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
By Jim Poelman — Sunday, May 16, 2021
Scripture Reading: Psalm 46; Revelation 8:1-2
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Revelation 8:1
With the opening of the seventh seal we might have expected the story to come to a speedy conclusion. But we do not meet a cosmic display of God’s almighty forces. Instead, we are surrounded by heaven’s silence for an extended time—so that we can receive an important message.
In our fast-paced lives there are very few places where we experience silence. Not only that, but we generally don’t like to have times of prolonged silence. We’ll do anything—listen to a radio, watch TV, send text messages, read or listen to a book, play games or sports, work, do hobbies, and more—to avoid staying in silence for very long.
Silence gives us space, however, for God to speak to our hearts. It is God who speaks in Psalm 46, saying, “Be still, and know that I am God.” With the opening of the seventh seal, the story line in Revelation moves toward darkness and devastation, destruction from powers that are allowed to test and challenge people on the earth. As those who live by faith in Jesus, however, we need heaven’s silence—the stillness in which God can make himself known to us—to face any challenges to our faith.
You may be facing challenges today. The prolonged silence in today’s Bible reading promises to be God’s way of assuring us that we are not alone. God is with us as “our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Slow me down, Lord. I need to stop the noise and distractions so that you can reassure me of your presence, strength, and care. Protect me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
//ReFrame Ministries//
“Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to My mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy. Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is-trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts.” —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul p. 560
//The Catholic Company//
“[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might.” Ephesians 1:17-19
//The Catholic Company//
//Prayer Room Network//
SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021
“Whoever seeks the truth, that is, who practices what is good, comes to the light, illuminates the paths of life. Whoever walks in the light, whoever approaches the light, cannot but do good works. This is what we are called to do with greater dedication during Lent: to welcome the light into our conscience, to open our hearts to God’s infinite love, to His mercy full of tenderness and goodness, to His forgiveness.” Pope Francis
“The Bible says that Moses spoke to the Lord face-to-face, like a friend, and this is how prayer must be: free, insistent, with arguments, even reproving the Lord a little: ‘But you promised me this and you didn’t do it!’ Prayer is like speaking with a friend: in prayer one opens one’s heart. Following his face-to-face with God, Moses went down the mountain reinvigorated, saying, ‘I got to know the Lord better.’ And that strength allowed him to resume his work of leading the people to the Promised Land.”—Pope Francis
During Lent, most of us decide to pray more. We begin the season with a fresh new plan for improving our prayer lives. We might decide we’re going to say the rosary every day or pray the Liturgy of the Hours. We might plan to go to daily Mass more often. We find a new prayer book and commit to using it at a set time during the day. These are all worthy goals, but as we come to the end of the fourth week of Lent, we have to admit that our intentions are often defeated by our inertia or simply by the day-to-day realities of life. Pope Francis reminds us that prayer is not about us and the things we do, it’s about our relationship with God. He describes for us a very vivid image of talking to God as we would talk to a friend, a lover, a trusted confidante, a caring parent. He reminds us not to keep God at a distance, not to behave as though God doesn’t know our innermost thoughts and feelings. Too often our prayer is what we think God wants to hear. And sometimes we do that to keep ourselves detached from our deepest needs as well. Sometimes it takes talking to a close friend to discover what’s really bothering us. Pope Francis reminds us that God can be that close friend, as he was to Moses, to Abraham, to Noah, to Jesus, to all the saints through the ages.
Set aside your formal prayers today and bring before God the deepest desires and fears that you hold close in your heart. Talk to God the way you would talk to your closest friend. And then take time to sit in silence with God. Let yourself be held in God’s love, listening to the divine heartbeat in the world around you and in the depths of your own heart.
— from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis
by Diane M. Houdek
//Franciscan Media//