Daily Thought For June 15, 2018

Spending Time With Jesus Is Never A Waste Of Time

“Even for you this remains a struggle.  There are so many lesser things that pull you away, that eat up your time, that put stumbling blocks in the path of your coming to be with Me.  Learn to recognize these obstacles for what they are. Some of them are your own doing; others are the work of the Evil One; still others come from the ordinary cares of life in a world that has forgotten how to be still in My presence.  Do not let yourself be stopped by any of these things.  Learn to come to Me quickly, generously, and gladly.  I wait for you in the Sacrament of My love, and you will not be disappointed in coming to Me.  This is really all I ask of souls…that they come to Me.  And I will do the rest.” 

In Sine Jesu, p. 104

Daily Thought For June 14, 2018

Refuge

And in every disappointment, great or small, let your heart fly directly to your dear Savior, throwing yourself in those arms for refuge against every pain and sorrow. Jesus will never leave you or forsake you.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Daily Thought For June 9, 2018

Knowledge & Love

There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is vanity. There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Daily Thought For June 8, 2018

Saints Have Complicated Problems

The two, Paul and Barnabas, disagreed at the beginning of the second missionary journey because Barnabas was determined to take with them as a companion John called Mark, whereas Paul was against it, since the young man had deserted them during their previous journey (cf. Acts 13:13; 15:36–40).

Hence there are also disputes, disagreements and controversies among saints. And I find this very comforting, because we see that the saints have not “fallen from Heaven”. They are people like us, who also have complicated problems.

Holiness does not consist in never having erred or sinned. Holiness increases the capacity for conversion, for repentance, for willingness to start again and, especially, for reconciliation and forgiveness.

So it was that Paul, who had been somewhat harsh and bitter with regard to Mark, in the end found himself with him once again. In St Paul’s last Letters, to Philemon and in his Second Letter to Timothy, Mark actually appears as one of his “fellow workers”.

Benedict XVI. (2013). General Audiences of Benedict XVI (English). Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Daily Thought For June 6, 2018

Love Is.....

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

St. Augustine

Daily Thought For June 5, 2018

What Is Gossip?

We are tubes, open at both ends. And what we do with our lower end in the smallest and plainest room in our house, we often do with our upper end in the largest and fanciest room.

Peter Kreeft — A Turn of the Clock (A Book of Modern Proverbs) p.28

Daily Thought For June 4, 2018

The Fountain of Grace

 

The fountain of grace heals us and strengthens the life of grace by guiding the flow of purest love to the deep recesses of the heart. So often we forget the depths for which we are created. We rush through the day from one thing to another, without realizing the meaning available in this very moment. As the Holy Spirit moves within us a change takes place and an interior conversion emerges. The mysteries of the faith more easily suffuse the soul's most original depths. The heart itself becomes contoured to receive a deeper influx of the life of grace. Like a fountain, the Holy Spirit generates his love from the very center of our existence. This is not automatic or without difficulty. We do not become immune to the ups and downs of life, but we find a deeper stability and purpose in them. A fountain is always transcending itself by giving itself away, pouring itself out. Through grace, the Holy Spirit's gift of love encounters our weaknesses, our faults and bad habits, our secrets, and also our sins. The Spirit's love transforms us so that today, in this time and space, our love can be renewed. We will still feel the same pressures and stress. We will still encounter difficulties and burdens. But we will discover a new momentum, a new spaciousness opening up even in anxious moments. This newness invites us to respond with love where we used to become upset, flustered, or angry. This new momentum comes from grace and prompts us to make a self-giving sacrifice of obedience by which we live the life of virtue on the way to salvation. 

 

from Living the Beatitudes -A Journey to Life in Christ  J. Brian Bransfield pp. 189-190