Tag: Joy

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Minute Meditation – God Desires to Dwell in Everyone

Teresa of Avila’s theology offers an elevated, enticing vision of the human capacity for God. At the outset of The Interior Castle, she wrote: “It is a shame and unfortunate that through our own fault we don’t understand ourselves or know who we are—that is loved by God.” Spiritual self-knowledge includes both positive and negative qualities. It does not mean simply gathering information about ourselves, but seeing ourselves truly in the light of God which brings about humility, repentance, and joy.

— from Accidental Theologians: Four Women Who Shaped Christianity
by Elizabeth Dreyer

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Gospel Poverty

Francis believed that without God we are nothing, and his rejection of wealth and power was a statement of his total dependence on God, the giver of all gifts, whose overflowing love is beyond our comprehension and who, as a Provident Father, is lavish in bestowing gifts on his children. Francis identified with the poor because he understood his own poverty, and he knew that without God he was utterly empty and could do nothing without God’s help. In renouncing his father’s wealth and his own patrimony he was free to be truly dependent on God. This was the source of his profound peace and joy. For Franciscans today, material poverty is not the greatest concern but rather an acknowledgment that their “poverty of being” is essential. Poverty exists first in the heart, or it doesn’t exist at all.

—from the book Franciscan Field Guide: People, Places, Practices, and Prayers
by Sister Rosemary Stets, OSF

//Franciscan Media//

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Get Clear About What Christmas Really Is

“It’s not easy to have a great Christmas in a world where everyone is striving for what isn’t worth having.

Welcome back to 28 obstacles that will prevent you from having your Best Christmas Ever. Click subscribe to ensure you don’t miss out on any of this series.

Obstacle #2 is… Lack of purpose.

If you are unclear about the purpose of Christmas it will be impossible to have your best ever. So, take some time over the next couple of weeks to get clear about the purpose of Christmas. This series should help you get very clear.

Find your joy. Guard your joy. Follow your joy. Not just happiness. It seems our culture has confused happiness with comfort, and following comfort will lead you to misery. Find your joy. Cherish your joy. Guard your joy. And follow your joy.

Today’s gift… Off Balance. Who should you give it to this Christmas? Anyone who seems overwhelms or exhausted and anyone trying to redesign their lives. Most people can’t remember what they got for Christmas two years ago. This Christmas give life-changing unforgettable gifts.”

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Minute Meditation – Lives Marked by a Spirit of Joy

The Lesser Brothers became a fraternity open to all, living lives of prayer, penance, and penitential admonition. They used songs, hymns, exhortations, and example, making them clearly different from other penitential movements of the period. In choosing to be marginal they embraced humility, accepted hostility, and demonstrated compassion for the destitute in society. Their lives were marked by a spirit of joy, and in the life of Francis and the brothers, many began to recognize a mirror of Christ. Francis and his companions became a new reality in thirteenth-century society, not only through the personal charisma of Francis, but through the inspiring lived example of the fraternity. People noted the correlation between what they said and what they did, their spirit of penance, refusal of money, and inner joy.

Unlike many of the local clergy, Francis and the lesser brothers spoke to the hearts of their listeners in terms that they could understand, inspiring them to embrace a penitential conversion and to follow this authentic example of living a Gospel life.

—from the book Franciscan Field Guide: People, Places, Practices, and Prayers
by Sister Rosemary Stets, OSF

//Franciscan Media//