The Grace of Every Moment

The way to the possession of Jesus is in each hourly duty assigned to us. It is the thousand details and actions of daily life. We have only to bring to each of them a spirit of faith, and each moment will hold for us a grace, and will hold for us God.

It is God's desire to manifest Himself to us, but He wills to take created forms for this manifestation- forms of persons, events, circumstances, which call for faith if we are to recognize Him, a faith that can discern the divine through and in the human.

For each one of us, the star shining in the heaven of our souls is pointing out to us the place where we shall find Jesus. It is the star of grace contained in the Will of God of every moment, that Will which leads us to God.

~Fragrance from Alabaster by Mother Aloysius of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD

Special Novena for a Priest Unjustly Accused

From Esther:

I would ask that you join me in praying a novena for Father Gordon MacRae. As you know, he is the priest who was falsely accused of abusing a minor.  He was convicted and has been imprisoned for many years because he would not plead guilty to something he did not do.  There is a specific reason why I will be praying this novena for Father Gordon's special intentions. Without giving out too many details, I share the following statements with you. (Read entire post.)

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Actions and Deeds

From Holy Cards for your Inspiration:

Our actions have a tongue of their own;

they have an eloquence of their own,

even when the tongue is silent.

For deeds prove the lover more than words.
~St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Clothing Ceremony

Christine of Laudem Gloriae describes the ceremony in which she was clothed in the Scapular of Carmel.

In a simple ceremony last Sunday, I was invested with the scapular of the Secular Discalced Carmelites, and am now officially a novice. It isn't the same as the brown scapular that many wear; it's larger, with two patches of brown cloth about a foot square each, laid over the chest and back, much like that in the photo to the right. After the novitiate, one proceeds to make temporary promises, and three years after that, definitive promises. If one wishes, one may afterwards make simple vows (according to one's state).

Catechesis on Human Love

Fr. Angelo quotes an extraordinary interview with Bishop Jean Laffitte, secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, saying:

There is a danger of vulgarizing here a crucial truth of our Faith that needs rather to be contemplated.   It requires a silence. Sometimes in reading Blessed John Paul II’s Catecheses, you read only half of a page and then have to stop … you cannot continue … because it provokes within you a kind of loving meditation of what God has made. You enter into the mystery. . . .

The beauty of the body reflects the presence of the spirit, which is a mystery. And yet, we still have to contend with the reality of sin. Man and woman have sinned, and in our bodies we bear the consequences of this wound in our nature. That’s why it’s unrealistic – even a kind of angelism – to imagine that we can discuss or express our sexuality in an indifferent manner. (Read entire article.)

St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Contemplative Life

A beautiful reflection.

With most intense and sacrificial prayer, decided upon a project to fight against the enemies of the Church, under the command of the universal Queen, of the invincible Warrior:  the Immaculate Virgin.His close friend, Fr. Paul, gives this testimony: "Fr. Maximilian’s hope in Our Lord was unshakeable and infinite since it was strengthened by a great trust;  because just as one can easily arrive through Mariam ad Jesum, in the same way, one may obtain everything from Jesus per Mariam.  From the beginning, he had founded the Militia Immaculatae on the same hope with which he would often greet Our Lady: cunctas haereses interemisti in universo mundo." (Read entire article.)

Darkness

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta experienced the "reparatory" dark night of the soul, which is unusual even among the greatest saints. I was once told that The Little Flower also experienced the darkness that is beyond the dark night. According to Zenit:

[Bl. Teresa's] experience of darkness within union is very rare even among the saints because for most, the end is union without it.

Her suffering, then, to use the Dominican theologian Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange's term, is reparatory, much more for the sins of others, not purificatory, for her own sins. She is united to Jesus in enough faith and love to share in his experience in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross.

Mother Teresa made the comment that the suffering in the Garden was worse than the suffering on the cross. And now we understand where that was coming from, because she understood Jesus' longing for souls.

The important thing is that it is union, and as Carol Zaleski pointed out in her article in First Things, this kind of trial is a new kind of trial. It is a modern kind of experience for the saints over the last 100 years or so, to suffer the feeling that one does not have any faith, and that religion is not true.