Prayer
Are You Too Busy Working For God?
"Let those who are fully taken up with activity, who imagine they can move the world by their preaching and their other external works, reflect here for a moment; they will easily understand that they would be much more useful to the Church, and more pleasing to the Lord, not to mention the good example they would set around them, if they dedicated half their …
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Review
Books Read: July 2023 Edition
Holy Thirst by Paraclete Press Catechesis and Ritual: The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis Misled by Allen Parr Majesty by Katharine McGee American Royals by Katharine McGee On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak Too Much Money by Dominick Dunne The Microstress Effect by Ro…
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Prayer
Not Enough Tme
"THE PROBLEM OF NOT ENOUGH TIME 'I’d really like to do mental prayer, but I don’t have the time.' How often this has been said! And in a hyperactive world like our own, the difficulty is a real one and should not be underestimated. But time is not always the real problem. That real problem is knowing what really matters in life. As a contemporary aut…
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Prayer
Rescue Your Time
"Regarding this problem of time, we should make an act of faith in Jesus’ promise: 'There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time!' (Mk 10:29). It is legitimate to apply this to chronological time as well: whoever giv…
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Book Recommendations
Here Am I
"It is God who by His presence creates the holy ground which man discovers by recollecting himself and where, having done so, he stands. God shows man the place where he really belongs, where he will find himself and his true world; where the call can reach him and where he must answer it. Recollectedness, therefore, is the condition which enables man to say, …
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Book Recommendations
Dark Night
"We have mentioned here the 'night of the spirit,' the great trial of passive purification, by means of which God works in the very depths of the soul, and thus prepares her for the supreme ascent and final transformation. This trial is a terrible one, a veritable purgatory here below, according to St John of the Cross, who has described the angu…
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Book Recommendations
Who You Truly Are
"And a fourth and last meaning: to recollect oneself is to awaken. With people who are not recollected there is always something tense, some preoccupation; and as soon as this preoccupation and tension lessens, they become all of a sudden empty and listless. When there is no object which draws them, no motive which pushes or stimulus which agitates them, then t…
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Book Recommendations
Put on Jesus
"To imitate Jesus is no longer copy Jesus, but to be transformed into Jesus, to become Jesus. It is no loner to bring out in herself the features of the beloved Model, but to allow Christ to develop and reproduce himself in her. It is the imitation ab intra . There is no question of becoming merely like Jesus, but of being one with Jesus, the God-Man... …
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Prayer
Put Down the Phone!
"No sooner has he started to pray than conjured up by his inner unrest, all sorts of other things clamor for attention: a task at work, a conversation, an errand, a newspaper, a book. All these suddenly appear most important, and prayer seems a sheer waste of time. But no sooner has he stopped praying than there is plenty of time, and he fritters it away with …
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Book Recommendations
The beauty of God
"Each flower, each blade of grass, each insect says to her, 'See how beautiful God is!...'" page 35 "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12 If the beauty that is around us is seeing in a mirror dimly, how Beautiful is …
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Review
Books Read: June 2023 Edition
The Art of Praying by Romano Guardini A Biblical Walk Through The Mass by Edward Sri The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - reread Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg - reread The Fault in Our Stars by John Green The Letters of Ignatius by St. Ignatius Time for God by Jacques Philippe Tomorrowmind by Gabriella Rosen Kellerman Turtles All the Way Down by John Gree…
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Prayer
Forget Your Feelings
"It is often asserted that true prayer cannot be willed or ordered, but must flow spontaneously, like water from the spring, from within. If this does not happen, if it does not well up from our innermost being, one had better not pray at all, for forced prayer is untrue and unnatural. This sounds, at first, convincing; however, if one has gained a fuller under…
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Book Recommendations
It's Not About Me
"For what she asks of Christ is to live his own life in her, and for his own sake, not for hers . She wants Jesus to continue his own life within her, not to bein in her a new life...She will feel the heart of Christ beat within her breast; Christ will henceforth live his own life in her. She has made her own all the interests, views, loves and desires of C…
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Prayer
Importance of Mental Prayer
"First, we need to be convinced of the vital importance of mental prayer. 'He who avoids prayer is avoiding everything that is good,' said St. John of the Cross. All the saints have spent time praying. Those who were most involved in the service of their neighbor were also contemplatives. St. Vincent de Paul began each day with two or three hours of men…
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Prayer
In God's Presence
"To hear the words of God is a serious matter. At Mount Sinai, the people of Israel prepared themselves for three days before God spoke to them the words of the covenant. In the Mass, we prepare ourselves for this holy encounter with God's Word through the Introductory Rites - the Sign of the Cross, the Confiteor, the Kyrie , and the Gloria . Having marked…
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Prayer
Discouragement in Prayer
"Since purity of intention consists of seeking and pleasing God instead of oneself, the devil sometimes tries to discourage us with the following argument. 'How can you imagine your prayer could ever please God, when you are so full of faults!' The reply is truth at the heart of the Gospel- a truth that the Holy Spirit moved St. Therese of Lisieux to r…
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Prayer
We Are The Tabernacle
"Therefore the illustrious contemplative often complained that many souls given to prayer seek God very far from them in a distant Heaven, instead of seeking and very easily finding him in their own heart."pg 11 We are the Tabernacle! Oh Lord, reveal yourself to me in a new way!
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Prayer
Perpetual Adoration
"Not enough stress is laid on the fact that, though we cannot, whenever we wish, enjoy the company of the God-Man on our altars, it is, however, possible for us to withdraw, like St. Catherine of Siena, into ourselves to commune with the God of our hearts." pg 4 Drawing our attention to our Lord's dwelling place within, we enter adoration. As we mov…
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Book Recommendations
Proud Title of Nobility
"The divine adoption through sanctifying grace received in baptism, the mysterious participation in the Divine Nature, the incorporation with Christ, the mystic priesthood of all Christians, and above all the real presence of God in human souls, are all so many proud titles of nobility of which they are not even conscious. They bear God within them, and do no…
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Review
Books Read: May 2023 Edition
Night Broken by Patricia Briggs Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs River Marked by Patricia Briggs Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs Prayer by Hans Urs von Balthasar Moon Call…
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