Daily Thought For September 17, 2018

Jesus Never Fails His Friends

How little too is our faith when we doubt whether the storm will abate! Too often we allow ourselves to be discouraged by circumstances: sickness, work, reverses of fortune, opposition to us in our surroundings. Fear is a phenomenon which covers almost every aspect of life. It is often the result of ignorance or of selfishness stemming from an excessive concern for oneself or anxiety over things that perhaps will never happen. But, above all else, fear often stems from the awareness that the security of our life is based on very weak foundations. Here we are forgetting an essential truth: Jesus Christ is our constant security. This does not mean to say that we are insensitive to events, but that we should have more confidence in using the human means at our disposal. We must never forget that to be close to Jesus, even when he appears to be asleep, is to be safe. When we are confused and going through unpleasant times, Jesus does not forget us. As St Teresa said: he never fails his friends.

 

from In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez Volume 1 p. 270

 

Daily Thought For September 14, 2018

Be The Expression of God's Kindness

 

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.

 

 

St. Teresa of Calcutta

  

Daily Thought For September 13, 2018

A Reflection On Being Merciful

Lectio

Luke 6:27–38

Meditatio

“Do good … pray for … give … love … forgive.…”

When I read this section of Jesus’ teachings, I always seem to snag on the part where Jesus says, “the measure with which you measure will … be measured out to you.” It makes me shiver when I imagine the half plateful that would be placed in front of me! Jesus’ words make me reflect on how generous I am to others. He is giving us a way of life based on honesty, lending, gentility, loving concern, and selfless giving. Am I up to the challenge?

I imagine that Jesus is speaking to a large group of people who want to hear what he is teaching, people who are more interested in the trials and challenges of everyday life than in the intricacies of the Law. Jesus is sharing his view of a life lived as God’s child, and it is a picture of light, goodness, reaching out, mercy—all done with the great courage that comes from believing the best about one another. Jesus is asking me to live that life. This is his recipe for a life of love. The ingredients are truly demanding! Still, I cannot turn my back on his words if I want to be among the “children of the Most High.”

I wonder how this lesson would sound if it were put on prime-time TV as an advertisement. How very not Wall Street these words of Jesus would sound. But their force and value for today’s world and my life cannot be ignored. In the last decade we have seen how misplaced confidence in money, careless monitoring, and unchecked greed have carried us to the brink and damaged the trust upon which relationships in every society are built. But I know that Jesus has redeemed the world, through a relationship full of eternal, infinite love. We can always trust and learn from this infinite love.

Oratio

Jesus, I ask you to give me the courage I need to look at everyone with the eyes of love, not suspicion. If I want to follow you, I need to begin with myself and help to transform our world. I want to place my footsteps firmly in those you traced out for us all, you who are the only true Way. Trust is the big stumbling block for me, Jesus. Teach me to trust you and others. Give me some of the infinite goodness of your heart, a heart that knows the secrets and yearnings of every heart, and loves us all into gratitude and hope.

Contemplatio

Jesus, make my heart like yours.


Daughters of St. Paul. (2011). Ordinary Grace Weeks 18–34: Daily Gospel Reflections. (M. G. Dateno & M. L. Trouvé, Eds.) (pp. 108–109). Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media.

Daily Thought For September 11, 2018

Life In The Spirit

Living in the risen Christ, we baptized Christians have new powers. We have become adopted children of God (Galatians 4:5; 3:26) and are aware through the Holy Spirit that we live in a relationship similar to that which exists between God the Father and his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, because we now have same life within us. In Baptism we become like Christ. 

Fr. George Maloney, "The Mystery of Christ in You" p. 27  

Daily Thought For September 10, 2018

Generosity    

          A characteristic of generosity is knowing how to forget quickly those little irritations that can crop up in daily life. It is knowing how to smile and make life more agreeable for those around us, even though they may be suffering setbacks; to give others the benefit of the doubt; to do the least pleasant tasks first in our work or in family life; to accept people as they are, without attaching too much importance to their defects; to be ready with a pat on the back for a job well done; to give a positive tone to our conversation and, if the occasion arises, to a possible correction that we ought to make; to avoid negative criticism, which is often useless and unfair; to open up wider horizons, both human and supernatural, for our friends. All these betoken generosity of spirit, but above all, if we are to be really generous in loving our neighbor, we must do our best to make it easier for those around us to come closer to Christ. That is the best thing we can do. 

     Every day we have a treasure to distribute. If we don't give it, we lose it. If we share it, Our Lord multiplies it. If we are attentive, if we contemplate his life, He will find for us opportunities of serving voluntarily where, perhaps, few people would wish to do so. Like Jesus who, at the Last Supper, washed the feet of his disciples, 11 we will not be deterred by the lowliest chores, which are often the most necessary and will involve us in the most thankless of tasks. We will learn that the occasions of serving are turned to reality through sacrifice, as the fruit of an interior attitude of abnegation and renunciation. We will realize that to find these opportunities of service it is necessary to look for them, thinking of the personalities of the people with whom we live or work, of what they need, of how we can be helpful or useful to them. The selfish person who lives far away from God is aware only of his own needs and whims. 

 

from In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez pp. 194-195

Daily Thought For September 9, 2018

Do What You Can

 

We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self.

 

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Daily Thought For September 7, 2018

Patching a Coat

 There is a holiness and a power in the things that belong to holy people. If your making is worship, if you make because you love what you set out to make and because you love men, but most of all because you love God, then you will be trebly a maker, and your work will serve humanity because it will help to lead humanity back to God.

Think of some very humble and ordinary form of making, like the sewing of a patch on a coat. You can regard it as drudgery, and do it with careless or perhaps with savage impatience; and then you turn it into a job….

 You can regard the patch very differently. You can do it with pride in your workmanship, so that it becomes a thing of beauty; then you are already an artist. You can do it with love, and so turn it into love-making; and then you are twice an artist. You can do it as an act of worship of God—“I patch this coat for this poor child for whom I am for ever responsible, as a part of our life together that you have given us and that we turn into worship of you”—and then you are three times an artist; you are completely alive. And why should not every action that you do be like this? But we are enslaved by a system that despises art and has no room for love and reverence; and so we can be excused if we think sometimes that the end draws near; the soil is stale.

  Unless there can be a rebirth our world is doomed; and it must be a rebirth of reverence.

Father Gerald Vann, o.p.

Father Vann († 1963) was an English Dominican and a popular preacher, lecturer, and author. [From The Heart of Man. © 1945, Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., an imprint of Pearson Education.]