CHRISTmas
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts!
Benjamin Franklin
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CHRISTmas
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts!
Benjamin Franklin
Carry the cross
"Let us love the Cross and let us remember that we are not alone in carrying it. God is helping us. And in God who is comforting us, as St. Paul says, we can do anything." — St. Gianna Molla
Pray without ceasing
"Every pious desire, every good thought, every charitable work inspired by the love of Jesus, contributes to the perfection of the whole body of the faithful. A person who does nothing more than lovingly pray to God for his brethren, participates in the great work of saving souls."— Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
advent
“What is our personal part in the making of Christmas? After all, that is the most important question for us. We cannot do any other one’s part—and no other can do ours. Some people spend so much time looking after their neighbor’s garden, that the weeds grow in their own and choke out the plants and flowers. What about the little patch of God’s great world that is given to US to tend?” -J.R. Miller
good/bad= grace
"The most important and most fruitful acts of our freedom are not those by which we transform the outside world as those by which we change our inner attitude in light of the faith that God can bring good out of everything without exception. He is a never-failing source of unlimited riches. Our lives no longer have in them anything negative, ordinary, or indifferent. Positive things become a reason for gratitude and joy, negative things an opportunity for abandonment, faith, and offering: everything becomes a grace."— Fr. Jacques Philippe, p. 58
advent
"Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope." — Pope Benedict XVI
Women of Influence
Women of influence. That’s what was featured on the cover of the magazine. The fifty faces of women who’ve been recognized as having significant influence. A truly impressive collection.
So I don’t know why it had this effect on me, but I looked at those 50 women and immediately felt small. Inconsequential. Unknown. A nobody. Because, of course, my picture will never be on the front of that magazine. Not that I’ve ever aspired to such a place. But still… I was somehow struck by my insignificance.
I know it’s not right – or even reasonable – for me to think this way. Yet it managed to stir up so many of my insecurities and self-doubts that I began questioning whether I’d do anything meaningful with my life. Ever.
After all, who am I? No one really.
The dark, defeating doubts swirled around as I brewed a fresh pot of coffee for my husband and continued with me as I trudged up the stairs to his home office. I poured him a cup and then began pouring out my pitiful-me thoughts before him. Poor meaningless me.
I jabbered on and on about how I never amounted to much and probably never would….When suddenly and unexpectedly my pity-party came to a complete stop. I realized that my husband wasn’t paying the least attention to me. He wasn’t really listening at all, but smiling at something in front of him.
What? What was distracting him? Then I saw it. Right smack in the middle of his desk sat a nicely framed photograph of his beloved wife. Yes, that would be me.Nobody else. Not one single photo of the Fifty Women of Influence was placed before him. Just little, simple, wifey me.
And then came the moment of revelation: I am a woman of influence. Tremendous influence. You see, it’s my face that’s featured on the cover of his life. Because amazingly enough, the Lord has chosen this woman to be that man’s wife. Which means it’s me – and only me – who completes him.
Who recognizes his strengths.
Who balances out his weaknesses.
Who builds him up.
Who understands him like no one else.
Who encourages him when he’s down or discouraged.
Who sleeps by his side at night.
Who stands behind him.
Who brings out the best in him.
Who loves him for who he is.
It had never occurred to me before, but I’m becoming a woman of great influence.
But you know what else? So are you. You also are a woman of consequence and have a powerful role to play in your husband’s life.
You are the most influential woman in his world. And to my way of thinking, that is one of the highest honors and privilege a woman can hold.
So it looks like I am significant – even if it’s only in the eyes of one man.
Yet it’s the one man who matters most in my life.
My photograph is placed prominently where all the world can see it. Or better yet – where he can see it.
A powerful woman of influence.
The pure soul is a beautiful rose, and the three divine persons descend from heaven to inhale its fragrance.
St. John Vianney
Advent week 1, day 3
Doing and having are natural, normal, and necessary aspects of our daily lives. Especially during Advent and Christmas, the challenge is to do and have in accord with our essential purpose. Until we discover our essential purpose, nothing makes sense, and our busyness leads us into lives of quiet desperation.
Pray
Jesus, help me to focus less on doing and having and more on who I am and who I am supposed to become.
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Advent week 1, day 2
We choose, and in doing so, we design our lives. Every choice, every decision that we make, either helps us achieve our dreams or takes us away from our dreams. We have the power to truly be ourselves, and to experience the Christmas and the life that we have imagined.
Think about the choices you make today. Will your choices help you achieve your dreams for Christmas and the life you want to live?
Pray
Jesus, help me to master the moment of decision so I can live a life uncommon.
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Advent Week 1, Day 1
Jesus, open my heart this Advent, and help me to dream again.
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No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ.
St. Leo the Great
Prayer is powerful! It fills the earth with mercy, it makes the divine clemency pass from generation to generation; right along the course of the centuries wonderful works have been achieved through prayer.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end … and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.
St. Teresa of Ávila
“Genuine love rises above creatures and soars up to God. In Him, by Him, and through Him it loves all men, both good and wicked, friends and enemies. To all it stretches out a hand filled with love; it prays for all, suffers for all, wishes what is best for all, desires happiness for all, because that is what God wants.”
Our Lady in the Cemetery by Lawrence OP on Flickr.
Ardent flame
Such is the nature of faith that the greater are the obstacles it encounters, the more ardent it becomes.
St. Charles Borromeo