If you are suffering from infertility, you are not alone

Jesus said to his disciples: “ In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,

May your name be held holy,

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done

On earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test,

But save us from the evil one.’

Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.”

Dear Little hearts,

Today’s reading at Mass brings us back to the very heart of Christ, his mind and his prayer. In our Lenten journey we so often have good will, enthusiasm, and in our endeavour to respond to Christs call search and take on too many spiritual practises or prayers. It is not the quantity of what we pray or read but how much of ourselves we surrender to the Lenten journey, and how much love we invest in what we do.

All down through the ages millions of Christians have prayed and lived out the Our Father, long before the Rosary came to birth, ‘Paters’ were prayed to enable the soul to focus upon God and to embrace all others in that prayer.

For an example in our own tradition, as Poor Clares, and in other Monastic traditions, for those who could not read ( for whatever reason) or whom at times were unable to pray the Divine Office, ‘ Paters’ (Our Father’s) were to be prayed instead. The same practise is still ours today. Many great saints St Francis, Teresa of Avila, and others prayed the OUR FATHER in such a way as it became a truly contemplative prayer and this can be within the reach of us all.

All it needs is space and the desire to ‘go deeper’ deeply reflecting upon each line and making it our own.

This prayer was Jesus’s gift to us all, it unites us as Christians and it brings us to a greater love of God as Father.

God is a God of peace, so be at peace, pray from your heart and do not allow anxiety draw you into thinking, this is not enough, what else can I do in Lent, what else can I read, listen too, don’t take on overload with spiritual things but rather invest a deeper love into what you already do.

We each have our way to God, listen to HIM, and what you feel within you that the Holy Spirit is genuinely leading you into …. that follow, that could be a specific reading, retreat, etc etc after all that would then be HIS WILL, but do not of yourself simply because you think on the spur of the moment it would be a good thing take on the works and then get spiritual indigestion which can bring you to that state where inwardly you scream, I can’t do this it’s all too much.

Be generous with your God, Yes, but discern what he really wants or is asking of you this Lent.

Behold- Hold- Enfold.

Lectio Divina

Prepare. ( Silencio) -We prepare by making ourselves aware that we need to come to stillness, surrendering to the silence, and then pray from the Heart, in our own words, to the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us through this time of prayer.

Read. (Lectio)- Now read the text slowly, then pause- read it again, allowing the Holy Spirit space to breathe, then pause, and read it or even sing it out aloud. When you find that your heart connects with some word, phrase, verse in particular, allow time for that verse to speak its own message.

Reflect. (Meditatio)- Re-read the Passage , the verse over again, and then reflect quietly what this word is saying to you at this moment, …….. sit in silence thinking upon the word, what is it saying to you in your life now. Try and enter in to the scene.

Pray. (Oratio)- Now pray with the text in your own simple words, respond to what God has given to you in this word, tell God what your response is, enter into a conversation, an exchange with him, pray with this word as you feel the Holy Spirit is enlightening you.

Rest ( Contemplatio) Now abide- rest in His Presence, allow him to enfold you in his love, just be!! Words at this stage are not needed, or if they are whispered words of love and praise between your hearts. The time that you allow for this is your choice.

*The latin terms used here are of course from the Benedictine Tradition and give one a good framework, but the steps of :

Behold- (read), Hold-( ponder in the heart), Enfold (Embrace, let the silence of love speak, surrender to the Lord, dwell in His love ).

These three steps are easily remembered and practised, but both approaches have their place.

……………………………………

community@marianhouseoftheholyspiritpcc.org

Made for Love Ep 9: Love that is Fruitful in Infertility – SoundCloud

Posted on March 2, 2020 by t garcia

Listen to Made for Love Ep 9: Love that is Fruitful in Infertility by USCCBClips on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/usccbclips/made-for-love-ep-9-love-that-is-fruitful-in-infertility

Poor Clare Colettines TMD Email Share March 2, 2020

Posted on March 2, 2020 by t garcia

‘You have seen how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus19 4-6a.

Dear Little hearts,

The beginning of the first week of Lent, the reading above comes from morning prayer of the Divine Office for today, in all the Lenten readings seek to see the love, the great love behind all Gods words, the mercy and compassionate and how he longs for us individually and as his people.

With our loving prayers for you all.

Behold- Hold- Enfold.

Lectio Divina

*The latin terms used here are of course from the Benedictine Tradition and give one a good framework, but the steps of :

Behold- (read), Hold-( ponder in the heart), Enfold (Embrace, let the silence of love speak, surrender to the Lord, dwell in His love ).

These three steps are easily remembered and practised, but both approaches have their place.

……………………………………

This below was the Holy Fathers Ash Wednesday sermon and well worth repeating and reflecting upon, please keep Pope Francis in your prayers as is somewhat unwell with heavy cold at present.

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

Basilica of Santa Sabina
Ash Wednesday, 26 February 2020

We begin the Lenten Season by receiving ashes: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return (cf. Gen 3:19). The dust sprinkled on our heads brings us back to earth; it reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return. We are weak, frail and mortal. Centuries and millennia pass and we come and go; before the immensity of galaxies and space, we are nothing. We are dust in the universe. Yet we are dust loved by God. It pleased the Lord to gather that dust in his hands and to breathe into it the breath of life (cf. Gen 2:7). We are thus a dust that is precious, destined for eternal life. We are the dust of the earth, upon which God has poured out his heaven, the dust that contains his dreams. We are God’s hope, his treasure and his glory.

Ashes are thus a reminder of the direction of our existence: a passage from dust to life. We are dust, earth, clay, but if we allow ourselves to be shaped by the hands of God, we become something wondrous. More often than not, though, especially at times of difficulty and loneliness, we only see our dust! But the Lord encourages us: in his eyes, our littleness is of infinite value. So let us take heart: we were born to be loved; we were born to be children of God.

Dear brothers and sisters, may we keep this in mind as we begin this Lenten season. For Lent is not a time for useless sermons, but for recognizing that our lowly ashes are loved by God. It is a time of grace, a time for letting God gaze upon us with love and in this way change our lives. We were put in this world to go from ashes to life. So let us not turn our hopes and God’s dream for us into powder and ashes. Let us not grow resigned. You may ask: “How can I trust? The world is falling to pieces, fear is growing, there is so much malice all around us, society is becoming less and less Christian…” Don’t you believe that God can transform our dust into glory?

The ashes we receive on our foreheads should affect the thoughts passing through our minds. They remind us that, as God’s children, we cannot spend our lives chasing after dust. From there a question can pass into our hearts: “What am I living for?” If it is for the fleeting realities of this world, I am going back to ashes and dust, rejecting what God has done in my life. If I live only to earn money, to have a good time, to gain a bit of prestige or a promotion in my work, I am living for dust. If I am unhappy with life because I think I do not get enough respect or receive what I think is my due, then I am simply staring at dust.

That is not why we have been put in this world. We are worth so much more. We live for so much more, for we are meant to make God’s dream a reality and to love. Ashes are sprinkled on our heads so that the fire of love can be kindled in our hearts. We are citizens of heaven, and our love for God and neighbour is our passport to heaven. Our earthly possessions will prove useless, dust that scatters, but the love we share – in our families, at work, in the Church and in the world – will save us, for it will endure forever.

The ashes we receive remind us of a second and opposite passage: from life to dust. All around us, we see the dust of death. Lives reduced to ashes. Rubble, destruction, war. The lives of unwelcomed innocents, the lives of the excluded poor, the lives of the abandoned elderly. We continue to destroy ourselves, to return to ashes and dust. And how much dust there is in our relationships! Look at our homes and families: our quarrels, our inability to resolve conflicts, our unwillingness to apologize, to forgive, to start over, while at the same time insisting on our own freedom and our rights! All this dust that besmirches our love and mars our life. Even in the Church, the house of God, we have let so much dust collect, the dust of worldliness.

Let us look inside, into our hearts: how many times do we extinguish the fire of God with the ashes of hypocrisy! Hypocrisy is the filth that Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that we have to remove. Indeed, the Lord tells us not only to carry out works of charity, to pray and to fast, but also to do these without pretense, duplicity and hypocrisy (cf. Mt 6:2.5.16). Yet how often do we do things only to be recognized, to look good, to satisfy our ego! How often do we profess to be Christians, yet in our hearts readily yield to passions that enslave us! How often do we preach one thing and practice another! How many times do we make ourselves look good on the outside while nursing grudges within! How much duplicity do we have in our hearts… All this is dust that besmirches, ashes that extinguish the fire of love.

We need to be cleansed of all the dust that has sullied our hearts. How? The urgent summons of Saint Paul in today’s second reading can help us. Paul says: “Be reconciled to God!” He does not simply ask; he begs: “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). We would have said: “Reconcile yourselves with God!” But no, Paul uses passive form: Be reconciled! Holiness is not achieved by our efforts, for it is grace! By ourselves, we cannot remove the dust that sullies our hearts. Only Jesus, who knows and loves our heart, can heal it. Lent is a time of healing.

What, then, are we to do? In journeying towards Easter, we can make two passages: first, from dust to life, from our fragile humanity to the humanity of Jesus, who heals us. We can halt in contemplation before the crucified Lord and repeat: “Jesus, you love me, transform me… Jesus, you love me, transform me…” And once we have received his love, once we have wept at the thought of that love, we can make the second passage, by determining never to fall again from life into dust. We can receive God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance, because there the fire of God’s love consumes the ashes of our sin. The embrace of the Father in confession renews us from inside and purifies our heart. May we allow ourselves to be reconciled, in order to live as beloved children, as forgiven and healed sinners, as wayfarers with him at our side.

Let us allow ourselves to be loved, so that we can give love in return. Let us allow ourselves to stand up and walk towards Easter. Then we will experience the joy of discovering how God raises us up from our ashes.

community@marianhouseoftheholyspiritpcc.org

Poor Colettines TMD Email Share

Posted on March 1, 2020 by t garcia

“ Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus ”

Dear Little hearts, To all our much loved and missed friends in Wales, we remember you all especially today, a very blessed Feast of Saint David !!

Oh! How we recall the Daffodils and leeks ! Lovingly all your sisters

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Part 3 of Sundays Gospel /Matthew

‘Next taking him up a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.

“I will give you all these” he said, “If you fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus replied, “Be off, Satan! For scripture says:

YOU MUST WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ALONE.”

Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him. (Matthew 4)

Dear Little hearts,

May this be for you all a grace filled, joy filled lent, if Lent discourages you, oppresses you, or makes you sad, pray for the grace to see how great is the love of Our Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ for each and every one of you, and dwell upon that and all that he has done for you!!

Today we look at the third temptation.

Who is the source of all mischief, division, and confusion kidding here? Here Satan is gabbing from his own mouth, it seems like that having failed with his first two attempts, he has given up trying to use scripture and now it’s a more direct hit at Christ, in a word he reveals what he is really after the power that belongs to God alone !! But Jesus again responds with the WORD, which is the truth against the devils lies.

What pride and arrogance on the part of the evil one he speaks as if everything already belongs to him to give.

In all this we can see what sin consists of, what it leads to, that is a good thing because then we know how to make the right choices.

Again this is an enduring temptation in man, the desire to possess more and more money, more possessions, leading to endless excesses. We see it all too often on the media, in the papers, celebrities, mega-stars who own billions and in so many cases it destroys them and does not bring happiness.

There is nothing wrong in having money, but it’s what the person does with the money that matters, some very rich people have put great sums of money at the service of the poor or contributed to other humanitarian causes and that is praiseworthy. We should pray for the rich ( only by appearances) for in fact they are the poor ones, having everything they have nothing… for man was made for God and without him we are and have…nothing.

Speaking from the point of our religious life there is such a deep joy in non-possession of goods, away from such attachments one is free to fly!!0

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Behold- Hold- Enfold.

Lectio Divina

Prepare. ( Silencio) -We prepare by making ourselves aware that we need to come to stillness, surrendering to the silence, and then pray from the Heart, in our own words, to the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us through this time of prayer.

Read. (Lectio)- Now read the text slowly, then pause- read it again, allowing the Holy Spirit space to breathe, then pause, and read it or even sing it out aloud. When you find that your heart connects with some word, phrase, verse in particular, allow time for that verse to speak its own message.

Reflect. (Meditatio)- Re-read the Passage , the verse over again, and then reflect quietly what this word is saying to you at this moment, …….. sit in silence thinking upon the word, what is it saying to you in your life now. Try and enter in to the scene.

Pray. (Oratio)- Now pray with the text in your own simple words, respond to what God has given to you in this word, tell God what your response is, enter into a conversation, an exchange with him, pray with this word as you feel the Holy Spirit is enlightening you.

Rest ( Contemplatio) Now abide- rest in His Presence, allow him to enfold you in his love, just be!! Words at this stage are not needed, or if they are whispered words of love and praise between your hearts. The time that you allow for this is your choice.

*The latin terms used here are of course from the Benedictine Tradition and give one a good framework, but the steps of :

Behold- (read), Hold-( ponder in the heart), Enfold (Embrace, let the silence of love speak, surrender to the Lord, dwell in His love ).

These three steps are easily remembered and practised, but both approaches have their place.

community@marianhouseoftheholyspiritpcc.org

March 1, 2020

Feast of St. David

Poor Clare Colettines Email Share

Posted on February 28, 2020 by t garcia

February 28, 2020

‘A reading from the Holy Gospel/Matthew’

‘Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for 40 days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry and the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.” But he replied, “ Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Dear Little hearts,

Now we again look forward to the Liturgy of the first Sunday of Lent.

The key points are, the WORD, Fasting and Temptation. Fasting takes real effort and self-discipline on our part, but there is no doubt about it that it sharpens up our spiritual sensitivities and helps us regarding self-control in various areas of our lives. Fasting as it is understood in a Christian sense is much abused, it is not about dieting. It is about saying no to our self-indulgences, greed, and self-gratification with food etc

Jesus’s 40 Days of fasting enabled him to have the strength he needed to resist the Devil, it took all he had physically to persevere but he was motivated by love, love for his Father and his mission. As St Clare says, ‘our fasting needs to be seasoned with salt’ meaning we are not too fast to such an extent that we abuse our bodies and make ourselves ill , a degree of prudence is called for.

Many of us are not able to fast from food, so what then? Then in prayer we have to find and name our own abuses, misuses of our eyes and tongues, and it is a very real fast to fast from a lack of charity, to refrain from the unkind word, gestures, to refrain from ignoring the difficult person(s) in our lives.

Each of us knows where we fail, and it is the attitude we have that needs changing.

If we are able to fast from excesses in food that is praiseworthy providing we keep it between us and the Lord. Always examine your motivation.

Jesus defended himself against Satan with the WORD, true the evil one knew the scriptures, but his use of it was a lie, a distortion of truth, it certainly was not spoken in love, desiring the good.

We too this Lent need to defend ourselves by immersing our hearts and soul in the word.

We all know how compelling, all engaging our temptations can be, especially when they pertain in some way or another with our relationships with others.

Sometimes a temptation can be relentless and there are varying degrees of the temptation, but its aim is to lead us into sin. The Christian journey is a battle it is not an easy option, so be prepared and ward the shadows off with fasting and PRAISE!! The evil one hates singing!! So Praise the Lord !!

…………………………………………………………..

Behold- Hold- Enfold.

Lectio Divina

Prepare. ( Silencio) -We prepare by making ourselves aware that we need to come to stillness, surrendering to the silence, and then pray from the Heart, in our own words, to the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us through this time of prayer.

Read. (Lectio)- Now read the text slowly, then pause- read it again, allowing the Holy Spirit space to breathe, then pause, and read it or even sing it out aloud. When you find that your heart connects with some word, phrase, verse in particular, allow time for that verse to speak its own message.

Reflect. (Meditatio)- Re-read the Passage , the verse over again, and then reflect quietly what this word is saying to you at this moment, …….. sit in silence thinking upon the word, what is it saying to you in your life now. Try and enter in to the scene.

Pray. (Oratio)- Now pray with the text in your own simple words, respond to what God has given to you in this word, tell God what your response is, enter into a conversation, an exchange with him, pray with this word as you feel the Holy Spirit is enlightening you.

Rest ( Contemplatio) Now abide- rest in His Presence, allow him to enfold you in his love, just be!! Words at this stage are not needed, or if they are whispered words of love and praise between your hearts. The time that you allow for this is your choice.

*The latin terms used here are of course from the Benedictine Tradition and give one a good framework, but the steps of :

Behold- (read), Hold-( ponder in the heart), Enfold (Embrace, let the silence of love speak, surrender to the Lord, dwell in His love ).

These three steps are easily remembered and practised, but both approaches have their place.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Pope: During Lent, turn off TV, smartphones, open Bible

· Feb 27th, 2020

Source: Vatican News

During his General Audience with pilgrims in St Peter’s Square on Ash Wednesday, Pope Francis said “Lent,” Pope Francis is a time in which to turn off the television and open the Bible.”

During his catechesis the Pope reflected on the 40 days spent by Jesus in the desert as He prepared for His public ministry and said that, in a sense, it is a time for us to imitate Jesus and seek a place of silence, where we are free to hear the Lord’s word and experience His call.

“In the desert one hears the Word of God,” he said, “one finds intimacy with God and the love of the Lord,” noting that Jesus taught us how to seek the Father, who speaks to us in silence.

He remarked on the fact that, for many of us, it is not easy to be in silence as we live in an environment that is “polluted by too much verbal violence,” by so many “offensive and harmful words” which are amplified by the internet.

“Lent is a time to disconnect from cell phones and connect to the Gospel,” he said, recalling that when he was a child there was no television, but his family would make a point of not listening to the radio.

“It is the time to give up useless words, chatter, rumours, gossip, and talk and to speak directly to the Lord,” he said, it is a time in which to dedicated ourselves to an ecology of the heart.

In a world in which we often struggle to distinguish the voice of the Lord, Jesus calls us into the desert and invites us to listen to what matters, Pope Francis explained. And he recalled that when the devil tempted Him, Jesus replied “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Thus the desert, represented by the journey of Lent, he continued, is a place of life, a place in which to dialogue in silence with the Lord who gives us life.

The Pope also reflected on how an important part of our Lenten desert experience is the practice of fasting, which trains us to recognize, in simplicity of heart, how often our lives are spent in empty and superficial pursuits.

“Fasting is being capable of giving up the superfluous and going to the essential. Fasting is not only losing weight, it is seeking the beauty of a simpler life,” he said.

The Pope also noted that the solitude of the desert increases our sensitivity to those who quietly cry out for help.

“Even today, close to us, there are many deserts, many lonely people: they are the lonely and the abandoned. How many poor and old people live near us in silence, marginalized and discarded, “he said.

The desert of Lent leads us to them, he continued. It is a journey of charity towards those who are weak and in need.

Pope Francis concluded his catechesis reiterating that the path through the Lenten desert is made up of “prayer, fasting, works of mercy”, so that it may lead us “from death to life”.

“If we enter the desert with Jesus, we will leave it at Easter when the power of God’s love renews life,” he said, and just like those deserts that bloom in spring with buds and plants suddenly sprouting from the sand, if we follow Jesus, our deserts will also bloom.

At the end of the audience Pope Francis expresses his closeness to those who are ill with the coronavirus, to doctors, nurses, hospital staff caring for them and civil authorities working to contain the spread of the virus.

Latest figures show that Covid-19 is spreading in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world, while parts of China begin to lower their emergency response level as the number of new cases reported there continues to slow.

More deaths have been reported in Italy, while South Korea on Wednesday said an 11th person had died of the disease there.

Globally, at least 80,000 people have been diagnosed with the illness.

community@marianhouseoftheholyspiritpcc.org

Saint Ephraem and Prayer

Posted on February 27, 2020 by t garcia

Prayer of Saint Ephraim

O Lord and Master of my life,
Grant not unto me a spirit of idleness,
of discouragement,
of lust for power,
and of vain speaking.

But bestow upon me, Thy servant,
the spirit of chastity,
of meekness,
of patience,
and of love.

Yea, O Lord and King,
grant that I may perceive
my own transgressions,
and judge not my brother,
for blessed art Thou
unto ages of ages.
Amen.