I Lift my Head to God for Joy

Sunrise over the hermitage, March 31, 2017

“Another day is a new creation. We are in a new day fresh from the hands of God. I have risen from the tomb of my bed, from the death of my sleep. The world is in a time that is a new time, a virginal time that never was before and is created and given me now. The world is all new. This great universe is where it never was before, for we have all sped through space to a new day, both a new time and a new place. Today is lone, unique, solitary. I stand alone before my Creator as at the dawn of the first day. One with Adam, I lift my head to God for joy. One with Christ, I come forth to do the Father’s will. I put on my socks, my shoes, and go forth on the ways of my Lord and Brother.” ~Fr. Matthew Kelty, OCSO

From the Crib to the Cross

“The Christian mysteries are an indivisible whole. If we become immersed in one, we are led to all the others. Thus the way from Bethlehem leads inevitably to Golgotha, from the crib to the cross. When the blessed virgin brought the child to the temple, Simeon prophesied that her soul would be pierced by a sword, that this child was set for the fall and the resurrection of many, for a sign that would be contradicted. His prophecy announced the passion, the fight between light and darkness that already showed itself before the crib.” ~Edith Stein

We’re missionaries. That’s our primary vocation.

“We have a duty as Catholics to study and understand the world around us. We have a duty not just to penetrate and engage it, but to convert it to Jesus Christ. That work belongs to all of us equally: clergy, laity, and religious. We’re missionaries. That’s our primary vocation; it’s hardwired into our identity as Christians. God calls each of us to different forms of service in his Church. But we’re all equal in Baptism. And we all share the same mission of bringing the Gospel to the world, and bringing the world to the Gospel.” ~Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM, Cap.; Strangers In A Strange Land

March 25: The Annunciation

WE beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sincerity

Sincerity is a Christian virtue of the highest order; we could not be good Christians if we did not live it with all its consequences. Sincerity with ourselves leads us to acknowledge our faults without any pretense and without seeking false excuses. Sincerity puts us on our guard against ‘fabricating’ the truth, or pretending that what suits us is true, like those who try to deceive themselves by saying that ‘for them’ something forbidden by God’s law is not a sin. Subjectivity, our passions, lukewarmness, can all contribute towards our not being sincere with ourselves. The person who does not live this radical sincerely easily deforms his conscience and falls victim to interior blindness as regards the things of God. ~Fr. Francis Fernandez

Dare to be a Disciple

“From the outset, conversion is expressed in faith which is total and radical, and which neither limits nor hinders God’s gift. At the same time, it gives rise to a dynamic and lifelong process which demands a continual turning away from “life according to the flesh” to “life according to the Spirit” (cf. Rom 8:3-13). Conversion means accepting, by a personal decision, the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple. The Church calls all people to this conversion…” ~St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio 

March 21: St. Enda of Aran

God of Mercy, You gave us Saint Enda of Aran to proclaim the riches of Christ. By the help of his prayers may we grow in knowledge of You, be eager to do good, and learn to walk before You by living the truth of the gospel. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen

St. Joseph, Pray For Us

St. Joseph, pray for us.

“And sooner or later, if we follow Christ we have to risk everything in order to gain everything. We have to gamble on the invisible and risk all that we can see and taste and feel. But we know the risk is worth it, because there is nothing more insecure than the transient world…” ~Thomas Merton, Thoughts is Solitude

A Heart at Leisure from Itself

If I am soft to myself and slide comfortably into self-pity and self-sympathy, if I do not by the grace of God practice fortitude, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have “a heart at leisure from itself,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.…That which I know not, teach Thou me, O Lord, my God. ~Amy Carmichael

Feast of St. Patrick

O God, who chose Saint Patrick to preach your glory to the peoples of Ireland, grant, through his merits and intercession, that those who glory in the name of Christian may never cease to proclaim your wondrous deeds to all. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen